Heavy: an American memoir, by Kiese Layman

 

This is a powerful memoir by Rice University Professor and 2022 MacArthur Fellowship recipient Kiese Laymon. Written as a letter to his mother, Kiese strives to tell the truth about his childhood and young adulthood, including the many formative events and traumas that he never before revealed or admitted. He grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, the son of a single mother who was first working on her Ph.D., and later a professor at Jackson State University. Kiese was repeatedly sexually abused by a babysitter and observed sexual coercion and violence at the home of friends where he was supposed to stay while his mother was studying or working. He was highly intelligent, a trait that was encouraged and strengthened by growing up in a house full of books and having a mother and grandmother who regularly gave him writing assignments about his reading. But his mother violently beat him for even small transgressions, a practice that began after she started dating a man who beat her. Kiese also faced bigotry and racism in his schools, colleges, and later workplaces. While Kiese was able to avoid involvement with drugs or alcohol, he developed addictions to both food and gambling, the latter of which his mother also experienced. As an adult, he comes to realize the depth of his mother's addiction and realizes the depth of her lying to him about her need for money or inability to pay the bills or maintain her home. Heavy is Kiese's attempt to finally tell the truth about all of his childhood traumas and get his mother to acknowledge how she hurt him. Her admonitions throughout his youth that he has to be perfect to avoid becoming a victim of white people didn't protect him from her own abuses. This is a tough and incredibly sad memoir. Kiese doesn't tell us whether or how he was able to escape his demons and overcome his addictions, so it left me with as many questions as answers.

The Clancys of Queens: a memoir, by Tara Clancy

I really enjoyed this memoir about growing up in a large, complicated family in Queens. Tara Clancy is a writer and storyteller who has published in the New York Times, the Paris Review Daily, and other venues, and told stories on The Moth Radio Hour. Her parents split when she was two so she grew up not only bouncing between their two households, but also her grandmother's home and her mother's boyfriend's home in the Hamptons. Full of energy, this frenetic existence seemed to suit her well, especially given that her immediate and extended families were very loving and caring. I found her tales of childhood very charming and funny, although I got a little concerned when she recounted some of her teenage exploits. But she grew out of that misbehavior without causing any significant damage to herself or others, so all is well. This was a very fun book, and since I'm sure Ms. Clancy left a lot out of it, I think she has many more stories to tell about her family and growing up in Queens, and I hope to read more by her in the future.
 

Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

 

I read this book when I was a teenager, but my memories of the plot really come from the more recent film version. I enjoyed reading it again, and now I want to watch the film again! 

The age of innocence, by Edith Wharton

 

I really enjoyed this novel about Newland Archer, an attorney, and his struggle to decide whether to stay with his conventional fiancé or leave her to run away with her scandalous cousin, the married Ellen Olenska, who is estranged from her abusive husband. The novel paints a vivid picture of 1870s high society (the 1% of its time) and all of its strict and stifling social conventions. Whether realistic or not, the characters in the book never say out loud what they really think; instead, they voice platitudes and whatever they think is expected of them. When Newland does express emotion regarding the prejudice society has against Ellen, he is subtly but unknowingly ostracized from future discussions or decisions made regarding her. It's only towards the end of the book that he realizes that he has been masterfully outsmarted by his fiancé, and later, wife, and that he had very little agency in his own future. The book takes place over the course of about a year, then ends with a short chapter that takes place 26 years later. Without giving anything away, I have to say that I was unhappy with the ending, but I understand the author's desire to end it that way.

The book of Atlantis Black: the search for a sister gone missing, by Betsy Bonner

 

This is a sad and touching memoir about a woman who disappears and presumably dies of a heroin overdose after many years of a downward spiral. Atlantis Black grew up in a family with significant mental illness, including a mother with bipolar disorder and others suffering from depression. Her father was physically abusive, on at least one occasion pounding Atlantis' head repeatedly on the floor, as witnessed by Atlantis' sister Betsy, the author of this memoir. As the older sister, Atlantis was on the receiving end of the majority of the abuse, but Betsy did not go unscathed, as she recounts at least one violent incident in this book. Atlantis was a musician and actor, but also had degrees in geographic information systems and pharmacology, and briefly worked in both of those fields. However, her volatile nature and drug abuse led to her losing relationships, jobs, and eventually her home. She talked repeatedly with Betsy about disappearing by changing her identity, so when she's found dead in Tijuana, Mexico, and there are conflicting stories from the police, Betsy is left wondering whether her sister is really dead or not. Given that, I wondered why Betsy didn't follow up on potential evidence, such as a DNA test that would prove the remains found in Mexico were really Atlantis'. (In addition to being the recipient of Atlantis' ashes after her cremation, she had requested a lock of her hair, which was delivered to her with bits of the scalp attached (yuck). Betsy throws this away when it might have been used for a DNA identification.) Betsy is left not only mourning her sister's death, but also wondering whether she might still be out there. The book doesn't resolve any of these questions, so it remains a mystery that may never be solved.

Listen to the Squawking Chicken...A memoir (sort of), by Elaine Lui

 

This is a memoir like no other. Canadian author Elaine Lui wrote this memoir about her relationship with her mother, a Chinese immigrant to Canada from Hong Kong. Ms. Lui's mother, nicknamed in Chinese "Squawking Chicken" because of her loud and screechy voice, is a powerful and dominant personality who controls much of her daughter's life and choices, including everything from her morning routing (put moisturizing drops in her eyes and eat a papaya) to her choice of boyfriend or which house they purchase. Much of her demands are attributed to the principles of feng shui, but even she will contradict those principles when it suits her. Many of the anecdotes that Ms. Lui tells in this book are outlandish, including a series of ghost stories, but her mother uses these tales as "proof" for why Ms. Lui should behave a certain way, and Ms. Lui seems to take these stories at face value. Some of the tales are gross and uncomfortable; I found one in particular, (involving a dead pet), to be heartbreaking, although Ms. Lui presents it in such a deadpan manner that I wonder about her level of empathy. Overall, I liked this book, and found both the comedic and cultural aspects to be interesting and fun.

Memorial Drive: a daughter's memoir, by Natasha Trethewey

This is a touching and emotional memoir by former U.S. poet laureate Natasha Trethewey. In this book she tells the story of her childhood, when she lived with her parents in her grandmother's home in Mississippi. The story takes a sad turn when her parents divorce and she moves with her mother to Atlanta where her mother remarries. Ms. Trethewey's stepfather emotionally abuses her for years before she realizes that he is also physically abusing her mother. This is not a year by year recounting of their lives; in fact, there are many years missing from the story. It skims over Ms. Trethewey's teenage years until she's 19 and her mother is shot and killed by her stepfather, who was recently released from prison. She writes a lot about how she left Atlanta after the trial with no intention of ever going back, but she eventually does move back to take a job at Emory University. It's then that she is given the police records from the investigation, which eventually leads to her telling her story in the form of a memoir. The book is very well-written, and it's a potent and frightening story; however, there is so much left out that it really left me wanting more information: for example, what happened to her father, half-brother, and stepfather (after he completed his sentence)? And what happened during those intervening years?
 

Fierce: how competing for myself changed everything, by Aly Raisman

 

Aly Raisman is a retired Olympic gymnast who starred and medaled in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. She is also one of the young gymnasts who was abused by Olympic team doctor Larry Nasser. In this highly engaging and well-written memoir, Ms. Raisman tells the story of her gymnastic career from when she started with a "Mommy and Me" class at the local gym through her 2012 Olympic wins and successful 2016 comeback. She does not make her encounters with Nasser a focus of the book, but she does touch on the impact they had on her and makes a strong case for girls recognizing when something makes them uncomfortable and letting others know about it. I've always enjoyed watching gymnastics during the Olympics but this book really explained how the competitions work so that I understand it all much better now. It has given me a greater appreciation for the work and effort that goes into creating and developing an elite athlete. It was also heartwarming to read about the strong support that Ms. Raisman received from her family, coaches, and others.

Americanized: rebel without a green card, by Sara Saedi

I really enjoyed this memoir by Sara Saedi whose family traveled to the United States in the hope of applying for asylum. When their paperwork was lost they began a decades-long process to apply for residency status and ultimately citizenship, which was granted to Ms. Saedi in 2005. She was only two years old in 1982 when her family decided to leave Iran, which had become too dangerous for them. They met up with family in the U.S. who were already established, and Ms. Saedi's parents were able to open their own business and achieve a modicum of stability. However, their undocumented status weighed heavily on all of them, and they worked tirelessly to procure the documents that would allow them to first work in the U.S. and ultimately apply for citizenship. Ms. Saedi's tells their story from her own perspective: that of a child who only slowly becomes aware of their perilous situation. Her personality really comes through in this intimate and loving story about her family and their efforts to fit in. Because this book tells her tale from childhood on, I think it would be a great read for both adults and the YA crowd. Published in  2018, this book touches only lightly on the anti-immigrant policies of the first Trump administration. It was almost painful to read how quaintly hopeful Ms. Saedi was about the future of immigration and immigrants in this country, given the current political climate.
 

From Doon with death, by Ruth Rendell

After reading The babes in the wood, an Inspector Wexford novel, I decided to read all of them, starting with this first one. In From Doon with death, Margaret Parsons has been reported missing by her husband. While initially reluctant to accept that something is wrong, they nevertheless begin to investigate her disappearance and eventually her murder when her body is found. When they find a trove of valuable books gifted to Mrs. Parsons from someone nicknamed "Doon," they begin trying to identify the many former friends and acquaintances from Mrs. Parsons' school days. I enjoyed this book with its many eccentric characters and plot twists and turns before the murderer is ultimately found.
 

Rising from the ashes: the Chimney Tops 2 wildfires in memory and art

 

This book documents the illustrations that were commissioned by the University of Tennessee Libraries to accompany its oral history project about the Chimney Tops 2 wildfire of 2016. The fire resulted from the combination of drought conditions, high winds, and possibly arson, and caused 14 deaths, 200 injuries, the loss of or damage to 2,500 homes and buildings, and 17,000 acres burned. Four artists, Paige Braddock, Charlie Daniel, Marshall Ramsey, and Danny Wilson were asked to contribute art to the show, and the text of the book was written by Stephen Lyn Bales. This is a very touching and emotional account of how the fires affected many people.

Lord Edgware dies, by Agatha Christie

In this mystery involving both Hercule Poirot and his sidekick Captain Hastings, Lord Edgware is murdered, but the prime suspect has an alibi. Lord Edgware is singularly unlikable, so there are many who might be potential murderers, and Hercule Poirot must sift through all of the competing possibilities to arrive at the true culprit. Without giving anything away, I will say that this is (so far) one of only two Christie mysteries that I figured out along the way. In this case, the culprit seemed obvious, along with the general method, although the specifics of how it was carried out needed Poirot's explanation. As usual, this was an enjoyable read, although, as with earlier books, there is a fair amount of anti-semitism and racism evident, through the use of slurs and stereotypes. While not necessarily unusual for 1933, it's a little jarring these days. As I move through my project to read all of Christie's mysteries in chronological order, I'll be curious to see how her writing changed with the approach to WWII and its aftermath.