My Top 5 Books of 2020

Plus Commentary

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson

From my Goodreads review: This book is a key to understanding our country, our communities, the books we read, etc. Like the Rosetta Stone unlocking the meaning of ancient Egyptian scrolls, Caste provides a framework for understanding why some people in the dominant group (such as whites) act against their own best interests in their attempts to suppress others. If you teach history or have any desire to give public commentary on the state of our society, this should be required reading - a prerequisite before engaging in dialogue with others.

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

From my Goodreads review: This book offers a nuanced approach to dealing with our hyper-connected lives. While other authors recommend turning off the smartphone, Odell advocates for "doing nothing" as a form of resistance to the cult of productivity. It's finding a third space in which to recognize our current reality but not feeling obligated to participate in it on the society's terms. Well-researched, personal, and accessible.

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

From my Goodreads review: Such a well-written and insidiously creepy book. This study of a privileged suburban community, with their attachments to material things, makes a perfect context for a haunted house story. What do people fear losing the most? The house knows!

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

From my Goodreads review: A story with the same power as Whitehead's previous novel The Underground Railroad, yet maybe even more relevant because it is based on an institution from our recent history. The author's voice is spare and straight-forward. The events at this juvenile detention center could have happened anywhere, as Whitehead notes. What are we going to do about it?

Recursion by Blake Crouch

From my Goodreads review: Sprawling, unpredictable science fiction that puts relationships and loss at the center of the story. The author doesn’t water down the science and treats the reader with respect in assuming they can understand the details of time travel. I am not always sure I did, yet it didn’t prevent me from enjoying this story.

Commentary: One Book Opens the Door to Another

Midway through the year, and considering current racial tensions, I realized that I had not been reading books from or about persons of color very often. I have since adjusted.

One I most recently read was The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I borrowed it from our staff lending library. It is fiction, based on an actual male juvenile detention center in Florida that was recently closed. Over the years, many of the inmates were beaten and some killed for minor transgressions. The harrowing story takes place against the backdrop of Jim Crow and racial segregation.

I was grateful to read Caste by Isabel Wilkerson beforehand. This nonfiction account of the United States’ terrible legacy is not just about racism. It goes beyond, to the separation and devaluation of certain groups of people globally - Jews in Germany, Dalits in India - based on arbitrary distinctions such as one’s skin color, heritage, or family name. Caste helped me interpret The Nickel Boys at a more conceptual level. For example, I better understand how the system in Whitehead’s novel would allow Elwood, the main character and innocent of the crime he is accused of, to be detained without quality legal representation.

The lessons of Caste extend into other books I have read prior. For instance, I now see The House Next Door not just as a horror novel, but also as social commentary about the differences we hold onto and even create anew within a perceived class. Comparison among the neighbors about wealth and status caused as much strife as a haunted house. I am sure future books I read will also be impacted; Caste has sharpened my vision for how I see the world in general.

This idea, that one text opens a door for comprehension of other texts, has me wondering about current reading instruction. For example:

●       What does it mean that my understanding of one book improved not because I reread it or that I had the support of someone else, but because another text caused me to think about it differently?

●       How do teachers position students for these types of situations? Should they expect a class to sometimes engage in whole book studies of keystone texts so they ensure better comprehension and appreciation for other texts they read?

●       If time to plan with colleagues and ensuring excellent literature is available to students are essential for this to occur (and they are), then what do we give up as educators? What gets cut from the classroom experience?

●       While the quantity of words a student reads matters, could a case be made that the quality of the text and a student’s experience with it might be more important?

All these questions cause me to rethink the teacher’s role in guiding and accelerating the literacy development of their students. Asking these questions is healthy. It means I am reexamining my beliefs and potentially editing them in light of new information. All because I kept reading with an eye toward considering new perspectives. This is not reading for the sake of reading but reading with intention.