We start every year with the best of intentions. We set new goals, ambitions, and resolutions for ourselves and hope we have enough stamina and dedication to see them through. Whatever your goals and resolutions were for 2020, this year turned out drastically different that any of us could have possibly imagined. That being said, 2020 was the year of the introvert and the year of the homebody. I, personally, identify as both. It is with immense privilege that I say I thrived in quarantine because of my introverted tendencies. I am aware this was a truly horrific and unprecedented year for most with so much sickness and death, but I am grateful for my personal inner growth and learning that occurred throughout 2020.
Earlier in 2020 I published a blog post with literature directly relating to systemic racism and Black Lives Matter. I still recommend each of those books. I chose not to include them in my year in review simply because I read so many amazing books this year about many different topics that I wanted to share.
Fiction
The Beach by Alex Garland
We'll start off with the lightest book on this list,
The Beach by Alex Garland. For anyone who desperately missed travel and adventure this year, this one's for you! A young British backpacker named Richard arrives in Thailand. Shortly after his arrival, the man in the room next to him at his hotel gives him a hand-drawn map with directions to a beautiful island and hidden lagoon, seemingly completely untouched by tourism. Richard befriends a French couple and together they set off in search of the beach. After quite the adventure, they find it. About 30 other backpackers are already there. The community lives a slow-paced life shut off from the rest of the world. When Richard and his friends arrive, however, they are met with suspicion. The community is not used to newcomers because the beach is so difficult to find. At the same time, they cannot send the newcomers away because that could jeopardize their secrecy. The community lives in relative harmony for a while but an incident of food poisoning and a shark attack cause things to unravel quickly. Without giving away too much, utopia seemingly cannot last forever. I did say this book was the lightest on the list, mainly cause it is completely fiction, but there are still many dark themes and events throughout.
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris is completely heartbreaking. If you've read her previous book, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, you know how captivating her writing style is. This book is based on a true story, but since the author identifies it as a novel rather than a memoir, I have placed it in my fiction section of this post. Cilka survives Auschwitz-Birkenau because Nazi commanders find her particularly beautiful. As a result, when the war ends and the camp is liberated, she is deemed a Nazi collaborator for literally sleeping with the enemy, although she is obviously forced to do so. She is immediately sent to a prison camp in Siberia where she is sentenced to 15 years of hard labour. At the Siberian labour camp, Cilka is forced to confront suffering, terror, and death on a daily basis. Cilka's story, and the one's of other women like her appear to be widely forgotten parts of history. But, these stories are important. The world failed Cilka twice, first during the Holocaust, and again when she was forced to go to Siberia. Despite these unfortunate circumstances, she remains resilient and capable of love. These are lessons everyone can stand to learn.
The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
Ruta Sepetys is one of my favorite historical fiction writers. Her books are always so well researched and well written. When I saw she had released a new book, I had to read it. Sepetys' previous historical fiction books, Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Grey taught me about some dark historical events which I did not about learn in school. The Fountains of Silence was the same. Based in 1957 under the fascist leadership of General Francisco Franco in Madrid, this novel follows two very different main characters. The first is Daniel Matheson, the teenage son of an American oil businessman who is spending the summer in Spain. He, like me before reading this book, is completely ignorant to the socio-political situation in Spain at this time. Fate caused him to cross paths with Ana, a poor woman working in his hotel who lost her parents because they resisted Franco. Despite all odds, they fall in love. However, they are linked in more ways than one when it is understood that nuns and doctors are taking healthy children from their Spanish parents and selling them to wealthy families for adoption. Sepetys reveals to readers the horrors of Franco's Spain and an important history that is simply not covered in schools today. Like Cilka's Journey, these stories are important for us to read and understand. Although the characters in this novel are completely made up, the events discussed actually happened. Knowing these parts of history make us more aware and more understanding.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
When I say this book made me bawl like a baby I am not exaggerating. This novel is set in occupied France and Germany leading up to and during World War II. It chronicles the lives of a blind French girl named Marie-Laure and an intelligent German boy named Werner. Anyone familiar with Nazi ideology knows they despised anyone with a physical disability, so Marie-Laure's fate seems bleak. However, she has a father than loves her unconditionally and travels from Paris to Saint-Malo to keep her safe. Many citizens in Saint-Malo also actively engage in Nazi resistance activities. Werner is an orphan who is exceptionally bright and is given the opportunity to study at the National Political Institute of Education, which is a boarding school that teaches Nazi ideals. As fate would have it, Werner becomes disillusioned with these Nazi ideals when he is forcibly conscripted to the German army at just sixteen years old. Both Marie-Laure and Werner are simply trying to survive the devastation of the war. This heart-breaking novel shows how, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. This book has inspired me to seek out more books by Anthony Doeer because his writing is simply brilliant. Some of his other books are on my 2021 reading list.
Memoirs
Love and Courage by Jagmeet Singh
Even if you fundamentally disagree with his politics, this memoir by Jagmeet Singh tells a powerful story, and one that is very important to the Canadian immigrant experience. When Jagmeet Singh was just a toddler, his parents emigrated from India to Canada, leaving him with his grandparents for a year while they settled here. His father was a doctor, so the first place they were able to settle was Grand-Falls Windsor, Newfoundland. They later relocated to Windsor, Ontario. While in Newfoundland, the Singh family gained two new members, Gurratan and Manjot, Jagmeet's younger siblings. The Singh children faced immense discrimination and racism in school. They were constantly reminded that they were not like their white classmates and they felt like they didn't belong. As Jagmeet got older, his father succumbed to alcoholic and abusive tendencies, which put his medical career and his family at risk for years on end. Jagmeet was also a victim of sexual abuse, which only confused him more as he came of age. This is not a political memoir in the slightest. It is the story of a boy from an immigrant family who overcame all adversity to become the national political leader we know today. Evidently, this memoir has proven to be impactful in numerous ways as it tells the hard truth of immigration and racism in Canada, dealing with addiction, and male sexual abuse. Jagmeet urges readers to meet all adversity with love and courage, as he continues to do throughout his political journey.
Captive by Catherine Oxenberg
This memoir by Catherine Oxenberg traces her daughter's indoctrination into the cult NXIVM. Personally, I have been interested in NXIVM since CBC Uncover did a podcast called 'Escaping NXIVM' a few years ago. Catherine and her daughter India joined NXIVM's leadership seminars called the Executive Success Program (ESP) in 2011. While Catherine quickly became disillusion by ESP and disagreed with many of their principles, her twenty year old daughter only became more enthralled. Catherine watched in horror as her daughter became brainwashed by the cult and it's charismatic leader, Keith Raniere. For almost a decade, Catherine essentially completely lost India to the cult and arguable sex ring that was NXIVM. Keith Raniere and his inner circle were arrested in 2018. Raniere was later convicted of sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labour. Catherine went to every length imaginable to try to save her daughter from NXIVM. This is every parent's worst nightmare. Anyone fascinated with cult activity and group psychology should look into this book. There are also a number of documentaries and other books about NXIVM available.
From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
This book follows the story of Jesse Thistle, a Metis-Cree man who refused to give up. As a toddler, Jesse and his two older brothers were abandoned by their parents. For awhile, they were in foster care where they were traumatized and abused. In the modern era, there are more indigenous children in foster care in Canada than there were in residential schools. Eventually, the three boys found their way to their paternal grandparents' house in Brampton, Ontario, where they were cut off from their Cree family in Saskatchewan. Jesse, however, follows in his father's footsteps and becomes a victim to addiction. His grandparents kicked him out, leaving him homeless and at an all-time low. He becomes so desperate that he commits petty crimes because he knows there will at least be food in prison. He ends up in Maplehurst Correctional Complex for part of his time in prison, which is in my hometown of Milton, Ontario. While in prison, he rediscovers education which motivates him to go to rehab and actually complete it this time. Today, Jesse Thistle is a well-fed indigenous scholar but he says he would not be where he is today without his previous struggles. This book sheds light on so many important issues such as indigeneity, foster care, addiction, and homelessness. A worthwhile read for everyone!
The Sun does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
I discovered this book after my blog post in July about books relating to the Black Lives Matter Movement. In 1985, 29 year-old Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged for two murders in Alabama. These were murders he did not commit. Hinton believed the truth would prevail and he would soon walk free. However, being a poor black man in the south, his innocence was overlooked. He was sentenced to death by electrocution. This man spent close to THIRTY years on Death Row. Despite his unfortunate circumstances, he never gave up hope. He even became a source of hope for other inmates on Death Row. This memoir is just another taste of how unfair and racially biased the justice system is, specifically in the American south. Then again, how can we expect such an institution to not be racist? With the help of civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson (author of
Just Mercy), Hinton won release in 2015. It also begs the question of the morality of the death penalty. What if Hinton had been put to death only for his innocence to become apparent after the fact? Currently, there are around 2,500 prisoners slated for execution in the United States. Dustin Higgs and Julius Jones are two black men at risk of being put to death for crimes they didn't commit. Know their names and their stories.
Justice for Dustin Higgs:https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-dustin-higgs/
https://www.change.org/p/donald-j-trump-to-get-dustin-john-higgs-off-death-row?recruited_by_id=2d1738a0-bacd-11ea-9471-d30dcff120d9
Justice for Julius Jones: https://www.justiceforjuliusjones.com/
https://www.change.org/p/julius-jones-is-innocent-don-t-let-him-be-executed-by-the-state-of-oklahoma
Non-Fiction
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
This is actually a collection of essays about feminism from the eyes of Roxane Gay, a Haitian-American woman. It is through Gay's intersectional feminist lens that readers can come to the conclusion that being a 'bad' feminist is better than not being a feminist at all. While many argue we live in a 'post-feminist' world, the rise of the #MeToo movement and the gender pay gap have only emphasized that we still have such a long way to go.
On Fire by Naomi Klein
Naomi Klein has become one of my favorite climate change authors over the past few years. Her most recent book,
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal, warns that our collective home, the earth, is already on fire. Yet, we are still failing to act. Once a climate change denier herself, Klein explains that the bold ideas within the Green New Deal could avert the climate catastrophe while simultaneously leading to a more just society by transforming our current economic systems. Klein claims our individual behaviors and choices will only have short term impacts, systemic societal-wide change is required. A lot of people will disagree with her politics, but when it comes to facing climate change, something drastic and radical has to change. The current trajectory we are on is unsustainable and completely inequitable. As a student in environmental policy and sustainability, I am personally very passionate about the issues presented in this book and I plan to do a post solely on decarbonization in Canada very soon!
Here is a video explaining the Green New Deal (Narrated by AOC)
https://twitter.com/theintercept/status/1118517713322823682?s=20
The Defining Decade by Meg Jay
Every twenty-something should read this book! But also if you're not in your twenties a lot of the advice Dr. Jay gives is universal. I think a lot of people feel lost in their twenties or feel they don't matter, so they let them slip by. Dr. Jay uses stories she has heard through her work as a therapist to define three key areas of personal development in your twenties; work, love, and your brain/body. She urges readers to get to know and work with people outside their circle of close friends. This allows one to see the world from different perspectives. It is so important to break out of the circle you are comfortable with, at least sometimes. She also talks about how important it is to start thinking about the type of person you want to marry, even if you are not in a serious relationship. This helps ensure you do not simply settle for 'good enough' with a partner. And if you believe in manifestation, if you vision your ideal partner you just might find them sooner than you think! Forming good habits in your twenties is especially important because brains at that stage have the most neuroplasticity. Your twenties matter! I know after reading this book I was inspired to make the most of my twenties.
Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid
This might have been the most difficult book I read this year, and I read A LOT of heavy literature. The Highway of Tears is a 725-km corridor of Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia. It is notorious for the disappearances and murders of hundreds, if not thousands, of women. A disproportionate percent of victims on the Highway of Tears are indigenous. Indigenous people are over-policed and under-protected as the RCMP are slow to respond to disappearances along the highway because of poverty, drug use, and racism. This is Canada's dirtiest secret. It is ongoing colonial violence and injustice. Every Canadian should read this book and understand what is happing to our indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit folk. McDiarmid is herself a white colonizer, but she is actively using her privilege to tell the stories of these women and girls and the families they left behind. She is telling the story of our ongoing failure to provide justice, despite various reports and recommendations. We cannot stand by while this form of colonial genocide continues in Northern BC. The first step for everyone is understanding and acknowledgment.
I am hoping this 2020 Reading Year in Review may inspire you to pick up more books in 2021. Reading gives us a place to go when we have to stay where we are, and we are all staying put for the foreseeable future. These books are magic. All books are magic. They allow you to escape your own reality, even for just a little while, and live in a different time and place. Happy reading and Happy New Year!
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