Jan 2023 Reads

It's already an amazing reading year, folks. Some January highlights:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

This is an inch-worm of a book, the past and future touching, only to separate and come back together. Márquez is the kind of writer that doesn't shy away from the taboo and uncomfortable, and every page of this tome was like watching a car crash. He manages to interweave the stories of family cycles, Latin American cultures, and historical events in a way I've never seen done before. Definitely a classic worth your time.

The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi

What a beautifully strange book. This is one that I think works better if you know less going into it. Emezi writes with a vivid paintbrush, showing everything from daily occurrences to the weight of grief and identity in a new light. I also recommend her other novel, Freshwater.

Several People are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Shoutout to my coworker for sorta-kinda recommending this one. It happens in Slack. Literally, the whole thing. It sounds kinda cringey, and in places, it is. But it's a fun look at ho our lives can quite literally be consumed by work. Are we more than our Slack messages? Kinda scary to think about.

Seeing by José Saramago

This is the sequel to Blindness, where everyone goes blind instead of one woman. But in this story, we look at a perceived threat from the perspective of a political party. If you like Catch-22 and similar voices, you'll probably like this one. But be forewarned, it's a weird one.