343 Frankenstein in Baghdad

by Ahmed Saadawi, 2014
translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Wright

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a retelling of a classic of the canon, fairytale, or myth by an author of color.

I was incredibly excited to read this retelling of the first science-fiction story, originally conceived as a commentary on society, brought to a contemporary light with a focus on the ravages of violence within a war-torn Middle Eastern country. While the idea was ripe for translation, I found the execution to be sorely lacking, to say the least. Perhaps this was a situation of unmatchable expectations – the combination of one of my favorite classic stories and the nomination of a Booker International Prize left me with high hopes – but I was ultimately let down by author’s lofty goals and his failure to offer a story as eloquently conveyed as that which inspired it.

332 They Called Us Enemy

by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, and Harmony Becker, 2019

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a graphic memoir.

In our rush to proclaim all the greatness that is America, we often forget all of the terrible things we’ve done. This fact is no surprise to many, but even those of us who are brutally aware of the country’s inequities look over groups who have been victimized in the name of “freedom.” George Takei’s (yes, that George Takei) graphic memoir recalls a time when the US declared all inhabitants of Japanese descent, regardless of citizenship status or how long they had lived in the country, to be political enemies. Just a young boy at the time, Takei, his parents, and his younger brother and sister were shipped to an internment camp in Arkansas, where they lived through brutal, air-conditionless heat, in barracks made of paper-thin walls without indoor plumbing, under constant surveillance by the military. America was at war with the Axis powers, but so too were they engaged in an unjust war with their own people.

310 All the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr, 2014

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: Read a book with a main character or protagonist with a disability.

It’s the early 1940s and war is breaking out across Europe. Young Marie-Laure LeBlanc, who has gone blind due to congenital cataracts, accompanies her father to a Paris museum, where his routine work belies his genius at creating intricate designs that he uses to delight and educate his daughter. When Paris becomes too dangerous for them, they leave the city on foot and take up residence in Saint-Malo with Marie’s great uncle Etienne and his housekeeper Madame Manec. Unbeknownst to Marie, her father also carries with him one of four versions of a precious artifact, the Sea of Flames, which is known for keeping its possessor alive while simultaneously bringing them great misfortune. Several hundred miles away, Werner Pfennig and his sister Jutta enjoy listening to the strange radio broadcasts of a French man until all radio broadcasts are shut down by the German government. Werner finds himself drafted into the Hitler Youth, where his astounding capabilities with radios – he rebuilt the one he found in his attic – brings him a certain amount of respect and awe. These are their stories as they grow up in the same war, in two very different worlds, amid unimaginable hardship and loss.

201 Night

by Elie Wiesel, 1972
translated from the French by Marion Wiesel

This is one of the most affecting pieces of literature I’ve ever read. Elie Wiesel was 15 in 1944 when the Nazis entered Hungary and he and his family were moved into concentration camps. Separated from his mother and sister, it was not long after that he and his father were moved to Auschwitz and Buchenwald, some of the most infamous concentration camps of the war. Wiesel’s treatise is, in a word, harrowing. His short, direct manner of writing (perhaps due in part to the translation) gives a stark portrait of some of the greatest evil known to mankind. Night is an exceedingly difficult book to read and, despite being barely more than 100 pages, was one that I found I could only consume in short bursts. However, it is one of the most necessary books that I have ever had the opportunity to encounter and it is imperative that we continue to read this story and hold this terror close to our hearts.

198 Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

by Joby Warrick, 2015

One of the things committing to reading prize-winning books has done is force me to read books on subjects I would normally overlook. I would have never picked up the Wayward Children series because it’s fantasy, and I doubt I would have ever gotten around to reading Evicted, even though the subject matter does interest me. Black Flags is another book I would have never endeavored to read, were it not for its having won the Pulitzer Prize, but, in this case, I think I would have been just fine not having picked this one up. Call me an ignorant American, but I only have a certain amount of mental and emotional energy to spend on the world’s ills and ISIS is not close enough to me to make the cut. Don’t get me wrong – to say they’ve committed terrible acts would be an understatement, but I’m more worried about someone walking into the school where I work and shooting up the joint. That’s just the world I live in at the moment. (Is that privilege? Yes. Yes it is.)

184 The Sympathizer

by Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2015

Man, I really wanted to enjoy this book. There is a certain disappointment in picking up a much lauded book only to find yourself struggling through it every step of the way. In this case, I wasn’t necessarily disappointed in the book – I was disappointed in myself. I’m certain The Sympathizer contains a fair amount of genius within its pages, but, either because I did not have sufficient background knowledge of the Vietnam War, thus exposing my own ignorance, or because I could not follow the stream-of-consciousness narrative, calling into question my English Master’s degree, I clawed my way through every page. You guys…this book made me feel dumb.

123 Beasts of No Nation

by Uzodinma Iweala, 2005

Some books exist to give insight into another part of the world. Some books exist to give insight into another culture. Some books exist to give insight into another way of life. Beasts of No Nation exists for all three, but mostly it exists to tell the horrifying story of a young boy caught up in the middle of a war.

93 Trinity: A Graphic History of the First Atomic Bomb

by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm, 2012

I don’t remember where I ran across this book, but its title and subject matter immediately caught my eye. You see, I grew up at White Sands Missile Range, a place whose large territory encompasses the Trinity testing site. Nuclear weaponry is part of our specific narrative as New Mexicans and it’s as common to learn about this in history class as it is to learn about the presidents. I wouldn’t say nuclear science is a particular area of my interest, but the idea of the area’s history told in graphic form was something I hadn’t seen before and the WSMR school child in me just had to get her hands on it.

6 Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption (Laura Hillenbrand, 2010) is the biography of Olympic distance runner and World War II prisoner of war survivor Louie Zamperini. It is both an enthralling action story and harrowing account of the strength of men, and a trove of history for people (like me) who have the luxury of not really knowing what happened during that dark time in our world. It is an utterly compelling book whose pages beg to be turned while being overwhelmingly heartbreaking. I could not put it down.