My April in reading

In the immediate aftermath of my dad’s death, April was a rough month for me. But I still managed to read some incredible books. To devour some incredible books might be more accurate.

Dear America: Dreams in the Golden Country by Kathryn Lasky

Read a bunch of this series when I was little, but I’m not sure I ever got to this one—until now, when my friend Gena loaned it to me. It was her favorite when she was little, and I have to say—holds up! This entry in the epistolary series follows Zipporah Feldman, a young Jewish girl who immigrates to New York City with her family in 1903 and begins to dream of a life on the stage. Given that it’s targeted to younger audiences, I thought the book did a great job of explaining cultural differences and historical events without being condescending or repetitive. Now I wonder if the other Dear America books I read as a kid are still this good…

Lore Olympus, Volumes 1-3 by Rachel Smythe

A charming romance webcomic series about the Greek gods? Sign me up! My friend loaned me the first three volumes and I read them all in less than 24 hours. In Smythe’s retelling, Hades and Persephone’s relationship is an entirely consensual slow burn—much to Demeter’s dismay. The will-they-won’t-they tension is delightful—not to mention low-stakes, because even a dolt like me who never went through a childhood mythology phase knows the answer. Aside from the romance plot, the other gods are wonderful, hilarious, terrifying. And the series addresses difficult topics like sexual assault in a remarkably empathetic way. Lore Olympus manages to be sexy and comforting and cathartic all at the same time. And if you don’t want to do the books, you can read it online for free!

Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua (narrated by Catherine Ho)

During my junior year of undergrad, I spent a semester in Beijing, where I took a history class on the Chinese Cultural Revolution. (Don’t ask me how the Jesuits managed to get a class like that approved over there! They’re notoriously wily!) The Cultural Revolution is a harrowing topic, but it was one of my favorite classes of all time—so I was very interested to read this fictional depiction of the period. The novel follows Mei, a teenage girl from a rural village selected to join an elite dance troupe in the capital that regularly performs for government officials. Eventually, Chairman Mao takes her on as a mistress, and Mei uses what influence she has to secure a leading role in the rising Cultural Revolution—only to watch in horror at the destruction it causes. Though Mei isn’t a real person, the dance troupe was real, and Mao did use them in the way he used Mei. Obviously, big content warnings here for sexual assault and abuse. Hua clearly did tons of historical research—the novel describes many real events in detail. And I was amazed by how much I remembered, even though I took that class over a decade ago. It isn’t exactly a nuanced examination of the Cultural Revolution, but I don’t think Hua owes us nuance—the situation certainly isn’t nuanced for Mei. If you’re looking for some historical fiction this summer, I recommend it.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

As someone who graduated right into the Great Recession, reading this novel was a trip. Though the novel tells the story of several different characters, it mainly follows a woman named Vincent, whose mother died when she was very young. She is a poor college student, then a bartender at the exclusive Hotel Caiette in Vancouver. Later, she is the wife of an obscenely wealthy man—who will soon be exposed as the head of a massive Ponzi scheme. Finally, she disappears from a container ship at sea. Mandel perfectly captures the surreal quality of the 2008 financial collapse—there was a distinct before and after for everyone, regardless of your age or social standing. The Glass Hotel doesn’t wrap up as neatly as Station Eleven, but I don’t mind that—the ending gave me a little more to chew on.