Wow. Turns out I didn’t know anything about Harriet Tubman. I love how this novel really brought me into the world of the underground railroad, inspired me to learn more about an important historical figure, and blew my mind when it veered into magical realism. It almost reminded me of the great gatsby with the light on the water, but just so much better. Did you know Harriet Tubman died surrounded by family and friends at the ripe age of 91? And that she successfully led over 70 enslaved people to freedom. She is from the eastern shore of maryland, and led an armed platoon during the civil war to free 750 enslaved african american people! Also did you know the underground railroad wasn’t actually an underground railroad? The things that really stick when learning them in elementary school. And that Maryland was a slave-holding state! Goodness.

This is another one of the books that Lyndsey recommended to me. Such a joyful wild ride. A cursed performer/teacher of violin, and multiverse traveling donut shop family, and trans acceptance and belonging. I would read this again.

This is an incredibly beautiful and heartwrenching novel. A letter to his mom who cannot read. A novel-length letter to his mom. The themes of love, addiction, poverty, and tenderness are poetry on the page. I read this book when I was at Salt Spring Island, feeling sad, and needing to be met in that feeling. And goodness was I. I have much thanks to give Vuong and his bravery in writing this. This book instigated my digging into the history of the opioid crisis and the involvement of the Sackler family.

Written from the point of view of a child, Bit, growing up in a commune in rural New York, and then progressing to Bit having his own family and reflecting on the ruin and impact that the commune had on him and his family. This book is a beautiful, painful take on utopian dreams, trauma, and growing up. Another incredible recommendation from Lyndsey.

This is the first book of a trilogy, one in which travel across the world can happen in mere hours, and thus nation states become a thing of the past. Instead, there are groups that you can choose to be in, humanists, utopians, etc. The central question of this trilogy asks: is war innate to humans? Can peace on earth only be brokered by violence? And as a fun bonus, gender has become a taboo kink practiced by the most elite ruling class.

This book spans hundreds of thousands of years and got me into the universe of speculative fiction. Stephenson traces the question of - what happens if the moon blows up? to fascinating and terrifying lengths.

This is a non-fiction reporting of multi-generational networks of friends, families, and lovers in the Bronx, deeply affected by drugs and poverty. A crazier story couldn’t be made up, this novel hits to the core, a necessary and haunting accounting of as goodreads says “the intricacy of the ghetto”. Jonah recommended this book to me and I remember reading it during a thanksgiving visit to LA, and just being utterly shook.

These books have long been my favorite when asked. They make up the basis of my spiritual beliefs. I try to read them once every few years. They hold up every time.

I had this on my bookshelf for years, taking it from one house that I lived in to another, before finally picking it up towards the middle-end of the pandemic. And wow. a whole universe packed inside these pages. I have this strong memory of reading this book, maybe in the summer of 2021, and then after I finished it I biked to the contact jam, it was warm out, and I felt like I was both myself and a huge gigantic being biking through the world. This book is about caste, family, love, siblings. The prose is mystical and entrancing.

This is an intense novel. It made me realize how much relative safety and acceptance I have as a queer and trans person living in the bay area in this day and age. The police brutality, rape, and suicide happening to the queer community that Leslie wrote about feels important and painful to take in, and to know that that is how it has been and how it still is in many communities across the globe.

Aiano introduced me to this book just before covid started. There is a story of a queer woman living through an apocalyptic epidemic. I remember bringing this book to read with Amira and Wei-Li by the tree that got cut down by the marina. What struck me about the story, was that the character just was queer, it wasn’t a coming out story.

One of the best books I’ve ever read. Even in a list of my favorite books. I read this in a book club sort of thing with Ben Cook, and really appreciated having someone to discuss the chapters and themes with. Telling the experience of urban indigenous youth and community networks, I remember the understanding of the city that I live in in a different way, by seeing it through Orange’s eyes and writing.

Ok I don’t remember that much about this book except how intense it was! And that I both loved getting to understand more about the vietnam war through a non-american lens, and also the intensity of political warfare and upheaval. But I also remember the end torture scenes to be, harrowing. But this book definitely follows a long-standing love of getting to know a different culture and time/place through the narrative of a story.

Ok. what I remember most is that they drink water out of the tank of a toilet, and realizing that that water never actually comes in contact with sewage. weird thing to remember but true.