Review: The Botany of Desire

A plant’s eye view of the world is a non-fiction book written by journalist Michael Pollan in 2001. In the botany of desire, Michael Pollan challenges the one sided notion that humans are domesticators and plants are domesticated. With sections divided by plant type: apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato, Pollan skillfully captures their evolution to match human desires. By pairing common plants with artful descriptions of common human emotions, he forces us to rethink our relationship with plants as reciprocal instead of domineering.

Nonfiction: Environmentalism

Between the World and Me, written in 2015 by celebrated author Ta- Nehisi Coates, is written as a letter to a teenage son. In the letter, Coates reveals his own discontent about the way young black men are disregarded and profiled in the United States. Coates expertly incorporates historical events into his letter so his son understands the “racist violence that has been woven into American culture”. Through major themes of identity, race, education, fear, and love: Coates offers a sobering depiction of what it’s like to send a young black male into the world.

Nonfiction: Race/Immigrant Experience

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir written by Jewish author Allison Bechdal. It tells her story from young girl to young adult as she comes to terms with her identity as a lesbian. Through piecing together fragmented memories from her mysterious father who she suspects to have been grappling with his own queer identity, Bechdal discovers what it means to live freely.

Nonfiction: Gender/LGBTQ+

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 1937 novel by the prolific author Zora Neale Hurston. It tells the story of “Janie Crawford’s evolving selfhood through three marriages”. Janie Crawford, because of her closer proximity to whiteness, is able to experience life as an independent black woman. Although her story doesn’t end in the best way, she proclaims that she has done “two things everybody got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.”

Fiction: Gender/LGBTQ+

Native Speaker, first printed in 1995, is Korean- American author Chang Rae Lee’s debut novel. The novel follows an assimilated Korean man named Henry Park, who’s harsh upbringing and experiences as an immigrant lead him to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. As a private hired spy, he is ordered to infiltrate the office of a popular Asian-American politician running for mayor. As Park struggles with his work assignment, his identity is tested, and he comes to terms with the way he views the world as a non-native speaker.

Fiction: Race/Immigrant Experience