ASRC 2022 Week 3 (7/4-7/10/22)

Hello and welcome to Adult Summer Reading Club 2022 Week 3! Don't forget to register. And if you need a refresher, here are the rules.

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Week 2 Board

You're back? Great! Here are our staff reviews for the week:

Elias: I got very lucky this week with a four and landed on Free Parking, which let me read whatever I wanted. I didn't have anything in mind so I just read what was next on my nightstand pile, which turned out to be Our Colors by Gengoroh Tagame, author of My Brother's Husband. Both manga are excellent explorations of family, homophobia and the complex intersections of identity and acceptance, both of others and oneself. While My Brother's Husband was focused on adults, Our Colors centers a high schooler, Sora, as he navigates that tumultuous time as a closeted gay kid in Japan, torn between wanting to be who he is openly and being safe in a society that still is, or at least makes one feel, unsafe.

Our Colors is about many things but what made it so resonant is its willingness to be messy and human without being a miserable parade of awful moments. There is a kindness and a hope at the center of the story that acknowledges reality, like how Mr. Amamiya is viewed with suspicion because he's openly gay or how Sora is hurt by his crush laughing at a belittling gay joke, while asking its readers, especially it's non-gay readers, to question said reality and work to change it without ever preaching. It simply presents.

I particularly like where the manga leaves us. It doesn't wrap things up or resolve every question. Instead we're left looking towards the future with hardships and joyous memories behind us, the unknown ahead ready to be painted with any number of colors.

5/5 stars

Michelle: My last book was The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. It's got a good story and keeps the reader guessing until the end. The story itself goes back in time from the past to the current throughout the book which is interesting and many of the characters are colorful which makes the story more enjoyable. It is a good summer read as a good portion of the book takes place on a lake.

We'll see you back on the 11th for the start of week 4!