So Many Good Books to Make Time For
It's the "best books of" lists. I don't make those. I don't really review books. I feel squicky giving stars on Goodreads so I don't, so far.
I enjoy a lot of books, and a lot of writers, and a lot of book businesses. And a lot of book-adjacent things, like book statistics, and when and why characters might name items. Sometimes I write about things here, and sometimes I don't.
That said, here's another book I greatly enjoyed: Daughters of Silence, by Rebecca Fisseha. I hope it appears on lots of "best books of" lists. It should.
It's challenging in the BEST ways.
Relationships aren't what they seem. Some are more destructive, some are more delightful, all are deliciously complicated.
Cultures clash, several times over: several cultures, none has the "right" answers, all make demands that while obviously conflicting, all seem reasonable. At first.
Fisseha is somehow able to covey the weight of family expectations, especially when those expectations have complex personal histories, without making the writing burdensome. Similar to when a storyteller is able to convey the absolute unending tedium that is boredom, but without boring the reader.
Dessie, the protagonist, radiates sharp honesty. She's charming and prickly and self-aware and insensitive and just not there for your expectations.
The language is lovely--you can relax into it, and it takes you into beautiful and extremely difficult places.
So, I still don't make "best books of" lists. But if I did, this would be on it.
I actually received this book in a giveaway from Briny Books, speaking of businesses around books and other book-adjacent things.
I enjoy a lot of books, and a lot of writers, and a lot of book businesses. And a lot of book-adjacent things, like book statistics, and when and why characters might name items. Sometimes I write about things here, and sometimes I don't.
That said, here's another book I greatly enjoyed: Daughters of Silence, by Rebecca Fisseha. I hope it appears on lots of "best books of" lists. It should.
It's challenging in the BEST ways.
Relationships aren't what they seem. Some are more destructive, some are more delightful, all are deliciously complicated.
Cultures clash, several times over: several cultures, none has the "right" answers, all make demands that while obviously conflicting, all seem reasonable. At first.
Fisseha is somehow able to covey the weight of family expectations, especially when those expectations have complex personal histories, without making the writing burdensome. Similar to when a storyteller is able to convey the absolute unending tedium that is boredom, but without boring the reader.
Dessie, the protagonist, radiates sharp honesty. She's charming and prickly and self-aware and insensitive and just not there for your expectations.
The language is lovely--you can relax into it, and it takes you into beautiful and extremely difficult places.
So, I still don't make "best books of" lists. But if I did, this would be on it.
I actually received this book in a giveaway from Briny Books, speaking of businesses around books and other book-adjacent things.