New Year, New Books: Anticipated Book Releases of the Winter

By Elizabeth Jacob ’24

Staff Writer & Copy Editor

As 2020 comes to a long-overdue close, there is boundless curiosity as to what trials and tribulations 2021 has in store. To distract yourself from whatever the new year holds, here are some books releasing in December 2020 and early January 2021 to get excited about. Ranging in topics from race theory to mystery novels, the following books are sure to educate and intrigue readers this winter.

“Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America” by Ijeoma Oluo 

Release date: Dec. 1, 2020
“Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America” by Ijeoma Oluo aims to educate readers on the destructive consequences of white male supremacy on American society, specifically for women, people of color and other minority groups. From the election of President Donald Trump to the correlating rise in white male anger and entitlement, it is easy to wonder exactly how the U.S. came to this point. In this engaging survey of American history, Oluo uses multiple sources to determine that historically, the pedestal white American men are placed upon is more than just destructive. These men actively use “women and people of color [as] scapegoats for all the ways in which white men feel cheated out of what they believe they are due,” elaborated a Seattle Times review. Oluo concludes that white men have sustained a dishonorable hold on leadership in the U.S. and have actively “undermined the pursuit of happiness for all.”

Oluo is a Nigerian American bestselling writer based in Seattle. Named as one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans in 2017, Oluo’s work primarily centers around race, identity and feminism. With work featured in The Washington Post, Time magazine and The Stranger, Oluo is most notable for writing the New York Times bestseller “So You Want to Talk About Race.”

“The Mystery of Mrs. Christie: A Novel” by Marie Benedict 

Release date: Dec. 29, 2020

“The Mystery of Mrs. Christie: A Novel” by Marie Benedict is a reconstruction of Agatha Christie’s notorious 11-day disappearance. When Christie goes missing in the cold December of 1926, no one knows where she could be. With all of England engaged in a nationwide search party for the author, no leads turn up — that is, until Christie herself unexpectedly turns up nearly two weeks later with amnesia and no explanation for her disappearance. This mystery raises the question: What happened to Christie that December, and what followed? Benedict aspires to provide answers. Asking what was real, what was fabricated and what role Christie’s unfaithful husband played, Benedict submerges the reader into the enigma that is Christie and her disappearance.

Benedict is a lawyer and a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author. With a desire to bring the stories of women of the past to light, Benedict has written multiple novels, including “The Other Einstein,” about Albert Einstein’s first wife and the role she might have played in his theories, and “The Only Woman in the Room,” a Barnes & Noble Book Club Pick about the inventor Hedy Lamarr. Benedict is currently co-writing “The Personal Librarian” about the intrigue surrounding J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, with Victoria Christopher Murrary, set for release in June 2021.

“Nick” by Michael Farris Smith 

Release date: Jan. 5, 2021

Michael Farris Smith intends “Nick” to be a prequel to “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Smith writes the origin story of Nick Carroway, the narrator of Fitzgerald’s classic novel. Beginning in the muddy trenches of World War I and moving from Paris to New Orleans, the reader is transported into Carroway’s journey of self-discovery in a brilliant story that, according to the blurb, “breathes new life into a character that many know but few have pondered deeply.” If you are a lover of classic literature or a fan of the inscrutable Carroway, this novel is for you.

Smith is an author with awards ranging from the Mississippi Arts Commission Literary Arts Fellowship to the Transatlantic Review Award for Fiction. Smith’s novels have placed him on notable literary lists, such as Barnes & Noble Discover Pick and Indie Next Selection. His work has appeared in publications including The New York Times and Catfish Alley. Smith is currently an associate professor of English at the Mississippi University for Women.

Class of 2024 Book Club Connects Students Through Literature

Image above: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning Nigerian author.

By Elizabeth Jacob ’24

Staff Writer

In the midst of COVID-19 and its accompanying social distancing guidelines, I and other college students are dealing with the loss of a traditional college experience. Not only has this loss manifested in a suspension of in-person classes and physical socialization, but it has led to a decrease in our ability to interact with people in general, whether that be through clubs or on-campus activities. 

When envisioning what Mount Holyoke would be like in the fall, I never imagined it full of online assignments and meeting friends and professors through Zoom. Actually, I pictured waking up in my dorm for Mountain Day, excitedly anticipating elfing, walking around campus with new friends and feeling a growing sense of belonging. In light of all we’re missing, students have been working to create and join their own clubs and activities in the hope of simulating this on-campus experience.

As a first-year and self-proclaimed bookworm, trying to socialize with other students and create a normal college experience has been a difficulty, one that has resided in me since the beginning of the pandemic. For casual readers and bibliophiles alike, finding a place to interact with other literature enthusiasts has proven to be particularly hard. Without the opportunity to congregate in the campus library or to meet others in English classes, I felt like there was a significant loss to my freshman experience. In order to fill that gap, I decided to start an informal book club through the class of 2024 Facebook group, very appropriately titled The Mount Holyoke Book Club.

What originally started out as a desire to meet a handful of students with a similar interest soon grew to be a club of around 30 members, all looking for a way to meaningfully connect with one another in the midst of the pandemic. Since we wanted to establish a routine of meeting at the end of every month, we only had about two weeks to pick and read a book. We all expressed interest in reading something that was short and discussed issues that we were interested in, such as women’s rights. Through different polls and opinions, we decided on the book “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an award-winning Nigerian author, to begin with. This book is a compressed essay adaptation of Adichie’s TEDx talk on what it means to be a feminist and how societal standards and masculine identity have influenced how women are treated. 

While our Zoom book club discussion took place, we noticed a lot of parallels between Adichie’s experience as a woman and our collective experience. Both experiences are characterized by flagrant sexism and societal expectations that serve to pigeonhole women. In conversation, we expanded upon the rights — and the lack thereof — that women have in comparison to men, and how this has worked to actively prevent women from reaching for and achieving goals that men have historically had easier access to. As the meeting concluded, we touched upon our collective fear as women not only in the U.S. but internationally. In the midst of the current political climate, we noted that we fear that any rights we currently have could be taken away, especially as the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election may determine the fate of gender equality and women’s rights.

As everyone left the Zoom call, I walked away feeling happy and inspired. Not only did the connection with other people who were passionate about reading help me feel more involved in the Mount Holyoke community, but I felt I had learned something new about how feminism on a global scale is approached, thanks to our discussions that began with Adichie’s book. 

Through our different backgrounds, experiences and characteristics, everyone in the club had their own unique definition of feminism and what it means to be a feminist — definitions that transcend dictionary verbatim and societal standards, that they all brought individually to our meeting. I noticed that, while we may have had different experiences with feminism, or a lack thereof, we all agreed on one thing: Being a feminist is important and advocacy for women’s rights needs to be centered on both domestic and global scales.

Through the creation of this informal book club, the novel-sized space in my mind that had been created by the pandemic began to heal itself. Meeting monthly, I finally feel like I am starting to become a part of MoHome while at home.