Reading has served two purposes in my life: reduce screentime and help me put my feelings in place. I’ve become a voyeur. It has helped me feel less alone.
I don’t think I’ve ever read as many books as I did when I moved to Colombia in 2018. I think I got close to 30. Life has since gotten in the way and 15 now is an achievement. Recently, I revisited my handwritten list of read books and four titles stood out. These books all dealt head on with themes of identity and have helped me express things I’ve always felt but never knew how.
Where The Past Begins by Amy Tan
We’ve taken the family stories we’ve heard as factual. We don’t even think to challenge them. Probably because we’ve grown used to our heros and villains. In her memoir, Amy Tan goes through seven bins of family memorabiliia challenging every idea and story she had about herself and her family. In most instances she reaffirmed what she’s always known but she learned that lies are often weaved into stories with many versions.
Mi País Inventado by Isabel Allende
The most publish Latin American author wrote her famous novel La casa de los espíritus based on the stories she heard from her grandfather. Her grandfather spoke about his big house on the corner so much, she thought she had lived in it and felt compelled to write about it.
Sometimes we inherit our memories. We own them and treat them like they are ours. But they aren’t. Its good to appropriate memories to help us understand where we come from but they can be tricky because they’ll have us believing something that doesn’t exsist.
Stay True by Hua Hsu
We like to complain about how people are represented in media. Most of the time we’re caricaturized, white people included. But what happens when there is no representation at all? These are some of the things Hua talked about with his late friend, Ken who had tragically passed away in a car jacking.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
It so much more than a love story. This novel is about the intricacies of how race and class work in both the United States and the UK. It forces the reader to confront how identity, especially within the Black communities, belonging, and perception change across borders.
