This week I read 3 books! I finished the two I mentioned in last week’s check-in:
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I
also read Half a World Away by Cynthia Kadohata, which is a really sweet
kids book.
Binti was really interesting. I’d heard a lot about it as a sci-fi book with a black main character, it’s popped up on a lot of lists of books for if you’re tired of all white protagonists. I didn’t really know much more besides that. I was really excited because it’s more than just her being a black character, she’s of the Himba people. I was expecting a sort of African American type of thing, but her entire character is deeply steeped in this African culture that I knew very little about. I did a lot of pausing the book and looking things up, not because I needed to, but because the culture was really interesting. I had seen a couple pictures online before, but I learned a lot more because this book introduced me to it more. The characters were very vibrant. Binti is the first of her people to be accepted into an off planet university, but her family don’t want her to go because being Himba involves strong ties to family and the land. She sneaks away and boards the ship anyways, but midway through their journey they are attacked by an alien race, the Meduse, and the ship is massacred, with her as the only survivor. She finds out that the university she is going to has wronged the Meduse, and she agrees to speak with as a mediator for them to broker peace. I thought the plot was a little simplistic, she’s the perfect one in many ways, and problems are solved just by virtue of who she is. But the world building was very interesting, for instance the ship she flew to space on was really a fish! Some of it seemed more like space fantasy rather than science fiction, but all in all a good read. And it was just a novella so a quick read.
I adored A Man Called Ove. I’ve recommended it to like 4 people already. I cried several times while reading it, but mostly out of happiness. It’s a very sweet book. It’s about a grumpy curmudgeonly man called Ove who doesn’t really have anything left to hang onto after his wife dies and he loses his job, but then a new neighbor moves in and starts pulling him out of his shell. I’d say that the main point of the book is really about how important human connections are, but it was so lovely seeing this grumpy old man doing all these nice things for others and forming all these relationships. It sort of switched between present time and how he had become who he was; his past and how it shaped him. I often don’t like time jumps in novels, but this was done more as him recalling or remembering events in his past, which I found much more tolerable. It was really beautiful, and I really recommend it. It looks like they also made it into a movie, which I’m planning to watch shortly. The trailer looked pretty similar to the book, so if you’re considering reading the book and don’t mind a little more information, I’d watch the trailer. My mom was on the fence about reading it, but I showed her the trailer, and now she’s very excited about reading it.
Half A World Away popped up in the Asian & Pacific American Heritage month collection in my library, and I figured that since it was just a kids book it wouldn’t take much time to read. I also cried a little while reading this one. It’s about a boy, who was adopted as an older child and still remembers his biological mom and therefore has had some trouble connecting with his adoptive family. His parents are trying to adopt a new baby from Kazakhstan which he thinks is because he’s “broken” he’s brought along but when they get there, the baby that they expected to adopt has already been given to another family, and they’re meant to pick a new baby in the space of a few minutes. His parents pick another infant, but he starts falling in love with a toddler who’s about to age out of the adoption agency. He doesn’t want this little kid to go through the same thing he did. But the child seems to have some special needs, so his parents don’t think they can adopt the toddler, because they already have enough on their hands with him. It’s really moving, his frankness and perspective. I didn’t expect a book for kids to be such a gut punch.
I’ve started actually 3 more books. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson; Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (the sequel to Binti); and The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis.
As always, you can see all the books I’ve read on my reading list.
Binti was really interesting. I’d heard a lot about it as a sci-fi book with a black main character, it’s popped up on a lot of lists of books for if you’re tired of all white protagonists. I didn’t really know much more besides that. I was really excited because it’s more than just her being a black character, she’s of the Himba people. I was expecting a sort of African American type of thing, but her entire character is deeply steeped in this African culture that I knew very little about. I did a lot of pausing the book and looking things up, not because I needed to, but because the culture was really interesting. I had seen a couple pictures online before, but I learned a lot more because this book introduced me to it more. The characters were very vibrant. Binti is the first of her people to be accepted into an off planet university, but her family don’t want her to go because being Himba involves strong ties to family and the land. She sneaks away and boards the ship anyways, but midway through their journey they are attacked by an alien race, the Meduse, and the ship is massacred, with her as the only survivor. She finds out that the university she is going to has wronged the Meduse, and she agrees to speak with as a mediator for them to broker peace. I thought the plot was a little simplistic, she’s the perfect one in many ways, and problems are solved just by virtue of who she is. But the world building was very interesting, for instance the ship she flew to space on was really a fish! Some of it seemed more like space fantasy rather than science fiction, but all in all a good read. And it was just a novella so a quick read.
I adored A Man Called Ove. I’ve recommended it to like 4 people already. I cried several times while reading it, but mostly out of happiness. It’s a very sweet book. It’s about a grumpy curmudgeonly man called Ove who doesn’t really have anything left to hang onto after his wife dies and he loses his job, but then a new neighbor moves in and starts pulling him out of his shell. I’d say that the main point of the book is really about how important human connections are, but it was so lovely seeing this grumpy old man doing all these nice things for others and forming all these relationships. It sort of switched between present time and how he had become who he was; his past and how it shaped him. I often don’t like time jumps in novels, but this was done more as him recalling or remembering events in his past, which I found much more tolerable. It was really beautiful, and I really recommend it. It looks like they also made it into a movie, which I’m planning to watch shortly. The trailer looked pretty similar to the book, so if you’re considering reading the book and don’t mind a little more information, I’d watch the trailer. My mom was on the fence about reading it, but I showed her the trailer, and now she’s very excited about reading it.
Half A World Away popped up in the Asian & Pacific American Heritage month collection in my library, and I figured that since it was just a kids book it wouldn’t take much time to read. I also cried a little while reading this one. It’s about a boy, who was adopted as an older child and still remembers his biological mom and therefore has had some trouble connecting with his adoptive family. His parents are trying to adopt a new baby from Kazakhstan which he thinks is because he’s “broken” he’s brought along but when they get there, the baby that they expected to adopt has already been given to another family, and they’re meant to pick a new baby in the space of a few minutes. His parents pick another infant, but he starts falling in love with a toddler who’s about to age out of the adoption agency. He doesn’t want this little kid to go through the same thing he did. But the child seems to have some special needs, so his parents don’t think they can adopt the toddler, because they already have enough on their hands with him. It’s really moving, his frankness and perspective. I didn’t expect a book for kids to be such a gut punch.
I’ve started actually 3 more books. An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson; Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor (the sequel to Binti); and The Cat at the Wall by Deborah Ellis.
As always, you can see all the books I’ve read on my reading list.
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