August 2023 – Checking off items on my reading challenge list

It’s a bit late in the year for this, but in order to confirm that I’ve checked items off my 2023 reading challenge, I should probably share what the challenge was that I set for myself! With credit to the podcast Reading Glasses, I separated my challenge list into two parts: “books” and “activities”. This is how it fell out:

Books:

1. Read a favourite book of a close friend or loved one
2. Read a graphic novel
3. Give a book a second chance (basically, try again to read a book I previously abandoned)
4. Read a book by a non-cis-white author
5. Read a book by a local PEC author

Activities:

1. Figure out my wheelhouse and my doghouse (a fun list coming in Dec, and yes, “wheelhouse” will definitely include murder mysteries!)
2. Write a blog about the books I have read (since you are reading this, check!)
3. Read at least 2 books per month
4. Buy books from independent booksellers, ideally local stores OR borrow from the library
5. Read more diversity

If you haven’t heard of or listened to the Reading Glasses podcast, I encourage you to check it out. There is plenty of range, and you should be able to find a reading topic that appeals to you. Beach reads, anyone? How to give up on a book that you are hating? How to bust out of a reading slump? You name it.

Better Living Through Birding, by Christian Cooper

You all know Christian Cooper. Think back to the early pandemic days of May 2020, when a Black man went birdwatching in Central Park and encountered a Karen* by the coincidental name of Amy Cooper who was walking a dog off-leash in an on-leash area. Short version: Christian asked Amy to put her dog on a leash and Amy told Christian she was going to call the police and tell them an African American man was threatening her life in the park. On the same day the George Floyd was murdered the police, I am not sure how this can be construed as anything other than a threat to cause harm or even death. There is no excuse for her behaviour. She is a terrible person.

[Aside: as a now-avid birder, I can attest that during migration season, which May certainly is, migrating birds are looking for places to stop on their journey to fuel up for the next stage of flight, and several species of birds are ground-foragers. Which is partly why there are on-leash areas in parklands, and which is why I’m sure Christian wasn’t taking “no” as an answer. I’ve had my own run-ins with off-leash-entitled dog-walking Karens*, and those people suck. Just put your damn dog on a leash!]

Irrespective of the viral park incident, Christian Cooper has led a very interesting and colourful life. His book is not a response to the park incident (although he does cover it in the second to last chapter), but the park incident may well have sparked the writing of it. Ultimately, it’s a biography of his life, growing up a gay, nerdy, Marvel-loving, Black man who finds himself enamored with birding at a young age. He sprinkles life lessons as well as birding pro-tips throughout, and segues elegantly between his birding experiences and what birding brings to his life. (This is what the book “Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder” wanted and failed to be.)

Although I bought this book for the birding (and to support Cooper, who absolutely deserves to have us all buy his book), it turns out that it also checks a box for me: read more diversity.

*With sincere apologies to my cousin Karen, who is one of the nicest people I know, and is most definitely not a “Karen”!

Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is my “give it a second chance” book. My wonderful Vancouver book club chose this book back in 2015 and I gave it up mid-way through. There is no particular reason other than I just couldn’t stay interested. There was SO MUCH talk about Ifemelu getting her hair done!

For this second chance (check!) I borrowed an e-copy from the library (check!) and read it over a couple of weeks. It was still a slog for me, TBH, but this time I did finish it and I’m glad I did. Truthfully, I didn’t love it, but I didn’t hate it, either. I suspect that it was too much a character-based book and I am mostly a plot-based reader. There are moments that I did love – when Ifemelu is writing her blog. And there are moments that I did not love – when the characters are sitting around talking philosophy. In fact, I’m going to just go right ahead and add “characters discussing philosophy” to my doghouse right now!

And that’s it for August. Stay tuned for September, when I read a book that makes NO SENSE to me whatsoever. Revel in my bookish ignorance!