I’m back with a few more book picks, this time with a fun twist! If you are interested in a digital, or socially-distanced book club, I’d love to hear from you! Comment on our Instagram (@culture_hype) or email me at amber@culture-hype.com. Can’t wait to read with you all!

My three picks for this month are very timely given the presidential election & other things happening around the world. These novels discuss topics such as immigration, family, violence & societal issues like masculinity. I definitely learned a thing or two & I hope you do as well!

American Dirt by Jeanine cummins

This particular novel has quite a bit of controversy surrounding it, so of course I decided to see what all the hype is about. This book details the life of Lydia Quixano Pérez. Lydia is an upper-class Mexican woman living in Acapulco, Mexico. She is married to a journalist, Sebastián Pérez Delgado, who has devoted his career to publishing riveting cartel exposés. When hit men from a notable cartel murders Lydia’s husband & sixteen other family members because of a piece her husband wrote & published, she & her son, Luca, hastily join a migrant caravan to make their way toward el Norte to seek safety. Cummins’ novel is definitely a moving, eye-opening account detailing the sufferings of real people. Cummins gives a representation of men, women & children behind the crisis at the border stories that flood the media today. At times this book is tough to read, but overall I recommend!

patsy by nicole dennis-benn

In this novel, Nicole Dennis-Benn intimately engages with the choices women make with a kind of structured grace. The main character, Patsy, is 28 when readers meet her in the year 1998. At this point in time, she is living in Jamaica with her mom, Mama G, & her daughter, Tru. While she truly loves her mother & daughter, Patsy yearns for a life that goes beyond the traditional roles of motherhood & living a life at home - & she knows just how to achieve her aspired life. As the beginning of the novel unravels, we see Patsy approaching the American Embassy, hoping to be reunited with her best friend & lover, Cicely, in New York City. Patsy is granted a travel visa, ultimately leaving her daughter & mother behind & battles internally with her decision.

Despite her internal struggle of leaving her daughter behind, Patsy knows the United States will grant her the freedoms unwelcome back in Jamaica. Readers then begin to realize what’s happening - Patsy plans to overstay her visa, remain undocumented & attempt to handle the consequences of that decision. Dennis-Benn dives deep into the themes of gender, sexuality, motherhood, freedom, colorism & classism & the way these aspects compare in Jamaica & the United States.

The love of men by liz plank

This nonfiction book focuses on an investigation into masculinity & provides steps on how to be a man in the modern day while exploring how being a man has evolved over time. Masculinity is something that has been both rewarded & sanctioned into certain characteristics & behaviors. Boys are taught it isn’t ‘manly’ to cry or show sensitivity, playing with dolls is just for girls & the color pink isn’t masculine, among many other things. Boys and young men are taught that their masculinity must always be proven & showing. Men must always be the sole provider, the romantic pursuer.

In this book, author Liz Plank offers insight into masculinity & how men & women alike can do something about their preconceived notions. This book definitely ignites the conversation on men’s issues in society & how we can break away from traditional gender roles & discourses.

Happy reading!

-Amber

Like many of us during quarantine, I reignited my love for reading & have absolutely enjoyed exploring different writers, genres & themes! Each month I hope to share a few of my favorites with you. Whether you are an experienced bookie or a new reader, I hope you find the coziest spot in your space, grab a book, settle in & read with me!

My first pick is Julia Alvarez’s “Afterlife.” This novel will, without a doubt, pull on your heartstrings as it explores themes of complex familial devotion, tragedy, crisis & the struggle to maintain hope, compassion & love when everything seems to be going to sh*t. The narrator, Antonia Vega, is a widow who lost her husband in a car accident. The novel opens up with Antonia’s struggle to, “…comprehend how someone she loved…can be nothing but dust / unread emails, fragments, unpaid bills, memories.” In an attempt to navigate retirement & the death of her husband, Antonia takes up poetry citation to try & find purpose in her new, seemingly empty life. As her birthday approaches, Antonia is still drowning with grief & does not want to celebrate. Until, that is, her three sisters - Tilly, Izzy & Mona - show up and stir the pot, causing gripping drama & introducing complex familial dynamics.

Antonia & the inner workings of her family drama cast no shadow on Mario, an undocumented immigrant working at the farm next door. Mario’s girlfriend, Estela, is traveling north from Mexico with the help of a coyote who demands a financial price neither her nor Mario can provide. Antonia has the means to help, she just isn’t sure if she should involve herself. Through this moral dilemma, Antonia & readers analyze who we consider to be our neighbor & worthy of our help.

In “Afterlife,” Alvarez explores the complex workings of moral dilemmas & private decisions that mirror the workings of today’s society, which is inherently structured to oppress minorities & people of color.

My second pick is Brit Bennett’s novel “The Vanishing Half.” This novel is a multigenerational family tale that discusses issues such as racial identity, bigotry & the keeping of secrets. Covering almost half a century (the 1940s to the 1990s), the novel follows twin sisters Desiree & Stella Vignes. The two were raised in Mallard, Louisiana, a fictional small town founded by their great-great-great grandfather as a place for light-skinned blacks such as he. Bennett describes Mallard, “…like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream.” The twins themselves have cream-colored skin, wavy hair & hazel eyes. But just because the twins & their family are fair-skinned does not mean they are free from racism. Desiree and Stella’s father was lynched by a gang of white men & their mother cleans for rich, white families in a neighboring town. Similarly, being light-skinned will not save Desiree & Stella from similar acts of racial violence & injustice. At 16, the twins ran away to New Orleans, but as time goes on, “…their lives split as evenly as their shared egg.”

Looking beyond the themes of race, “The Vanishing Half” explores how someone’s past can shape their decisions & desires, & navigates why people feel compelled to live a life completely separate from their upbringing.

Lastly, for a refreshing, light-hearted rom-com, I recommend reading “Get a Life, Chloe Brown” by Talia Hibbert. WARNING: steam alert! This story is witty, fun & utterly hilarious. Chloe is a woman tired of being boring, so she recruits her super sexy neighbor to help her experience new things. Chloe is chronically ill & after almost dying, she constructs a list of seven items to help her “get a life.” These seven items? Move out of her family’s mansion, enjoy a drunken night out, ride a motorcycle, go camping, have meaningless but enjoyable sex, travel the world & do something…bad.

However, for Chloe, it’s not easy letting loose, hence her need for a teacher, aka her sexy neighbor Redford ‘Red’ Morgan. Red is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle & copious amounts of sex appeal. He’s also an artist, but he never shows his work. The only reason Chloe knows he’s an artist by night is because she spies on him - just a wee bit. When she seeks Red’s help in her mission to get a life, she learns things about him she never would’ve just by the occasional spy sesh…like what he’s really hiding behind his rough exterior.

I loved Chloe’s feisty, independent nature & her ability to navigate through her fears while also tackling tough issues like chronic pain and insecurity.

That’s all for this month. Thank you for reading with me!