The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Sally Rooney's newest novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You; the brilliant Isabel Wilkerson's nonfiction book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents; and Wholehearted Faith, the late Rachel Held Evans's upcoming compilation of essays, thoughts, and anecdotes about searching for faith.
Which books are you reading and enjoying these days, bookworms?
01 Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
“I will probably continue to make poor life decisions and suffer recurrent depressive episodes...”
Am I ready for another Sally Rooney book? I read Conversations with Friends a few weeks ago (and I loved Normal People last year).
Novelist Alice just met Felix, but she invites him to travel to Rome with her. Meanwhile, Alice's best friend Eileen has just gone through a breakup and has reunited with a childhood crush.
I predict that at this point Rooney will cue the characters' linking up, having sex, worrying about linking up, and worrying about sex.
02 Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
“As we go about our daily lives, caste is the wordless usher in a darkened theater, flashlight cast down in the aisles, guiding us to our assigned seats for a performance. The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power—which groups have it and which do not.”
In Caste, Wilkerson explores the unspoken, entrenched caste system in the United States--a system that has dictated the fates of those in our country more powerfully than traditionally considered factors such as race or class.
I'm going to use up all my highlighters trying to mark just a portion of Wilkerson's endless brilliant reflections that I want to remember.
03 Wholehearted Faith by Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans was the author of Faith Unraveled, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, and Searching for Sunday and died at just 37 in 2019.
Wholehearted Faith is a posthumously published collection of Evans's essays, talks, and anecdotes, including some that were unpublished, about faith and Evans's reflections about seeking spiritual wholeness.
Evans's friend and fellow author Jeff Chu compiled the pieces of Evans's work into this collection that asks questions about belief, belonging, doubts, and the exploration of faith.
I received a prepublication digital edition of this book courtesy of HarperOne and NetGalley.