REVOLUTION FOR DUMMIES: LAUGHING THROUGH THE ARAB SPRING | BASSEM YOUSSEF

I’ve had a comedian-crush on Bassem Youssef ever since he first showed up on the Daily Show. Turns out, he’s a hell of a lot more badass than I realized. I take a lot of inspiration from his righteous sass. And to top it off, the guy writes with humility and clarity on his political influence. The parallels between the ideological and social forces at play in the politics of Egypt and Trump’s United States is reminiscent of heavy handed science fiction. I read this book to research Egyptian revolutionary politics for a writing project, and I got one of the clearest insights into the Arab Spring that you’ll ever find. A

THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS | CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI

Bless Divakaruni for publishing a novel-length rarepair fanfic for Hindu mythology. I’m not being facetious, by the way. This book fully brought me around to a new interpretation of one of the most fiery, badass women in Hindu mythology, Draupadi, without sacrificing the integrity of the Mahabharat. There were a few choices she made with which I found lacking, particularly in relationship to the spiritual or supernatural elements. .But on the whole, she tells poignant story, something which I aspire to do with my own interpretations of Hindu myths in the future. Her main departures from the original epic bring depth and coherence where it was often lacking. I also appreciate her interpretation of one of the characters as trans, before it was ‘in vogue’ to do so, while also not making that his defining characteristic. B+

I KNOW I AM BUT WHAT ARE YOU? | SAMANTHA BEE

Samantha Bee’s backstory is not exactly what I would have expected, but once I read it, it made total sense. I’ve read a lot of comic memoirs, and Bee has some of the stranger (and more fun) stories of the lot. I felt, because of this, that I was really getting to know a place and a time, not just a person. Bee is sometimes criticized for her tone of outrage on her show, and I felt this memoir really captured where that comes from. She’s not gibbering, she’s a tightly controlled explosion of righteousness, for better or worse. Because above all, her writing comes from a place of having completely processed and come to terms with her sometimes dark childhood experiences, which is what allows her to be so wildly funny and charming about it all. B+

NAKED | DAVID SEDARIS

If you’re planning to read Sedaris’s work, you don’t need my thoughts on it to make up your mind. He’s extremely popular, and I get a kick out of his style for the same reasons everybody else does. I do soappreciate someone who can take the sheer agony of a childhood anxiety disorder and expertly communicate it with intensity but also humor. And on the other side of the coin, I found the part about his mother’s death reminiscent of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, where the darkness fuses with the humor so it’s not recognizably either. The most interesting moments in Naked are when his younger self comes to terms with his sexuality, step by step, which wasn’t something I hadn’t yet read in his work. Those parts brought out the best combination of his weird observations and the raw visceral experience. A

SHARDS OF HONOR: A VORKOSIGAN ADVENTURE | LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD

Quality sci-fi with a romance at the center? Is it possible? In the hands of Lois McMaster Bujold it is. Kind of Romeo and Juliet-ing your main couple is the perfect avenue to contrast the cultures or politics of different science fiction factions, but ultimately reconcile them and provide a footing for an optimistic series about defying the odds and collaborating for the greater good. The character building, particularly of the female protagonist, is well rounded and stands out among sci-fi characters, regardless of gender. Unfortunately, I wasn’t especially drawn in to the greater plot of the series, despite having endless good things about the Vorkosigan Saga. A-