THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES
Suzanne Collins

I read the original Hunger Games books along with everyone else like fifteen years ago or whenever that was, and I liked the first one and don't remember anything about the two sequels. This new prequel was dumb and boring and bad so I sold it to someone on Depop for twelve dollars.

BEST OF ENEMIES:
A HISTORY OF US AND MIDDLE EAST RELATIONS vols. 2 and 3
Jean-Pierre Filiu and David B.

I read the first volume of this series seven or eight years ago hoping it would be a good overview of the history of US involvement in the Middle East, but it was confusing and disjointed, and full of lazy tropes and bizarre attempts at narrative framing. I wasn't planning on ever reading the remaining volumes, but when I went to the Johnson County library at the beginning of the month, I was so excited to have access to a library again - and comics books in particular - that I included these in my check-out pile. They were a little better than the first one. The most confusing narrative devices have been dropped, and both of these volumes are "only" trying to explain about three decades worth of complex regional history in 100 pages, instead of instead of almost 200 years like the first one. Still feels convoluted at times, but the slightly narrower focus allows a bit more context and depth, letting me feel like I have at least a basic understanding of events like the Yom Kippur War and the lead-up to the Iranian Revolution. As always, David B's art is excellent, skilfully intertwining hallucinatory visual symbolism with more straightforward drawings to add drama and clarity to the sometimes disorienting text.

RETHINKING INCARCERATION:
ADVOCATING FOR JUSTICE THAT RESTORES
Dominique DuBois Gilliard

When my cousin Holly pointed out that Intervarsity Press was offering free digital versions of its books on racial justice (it isn't anymore, but lots of these are still worth reading), I immediately downloaded this one. It's an indictment of amerika's mass incarceration system, of the white amerikan church's general willingness to ignore or participate in state-sanctioned racist crime and prison policies, and a look at how certain types of theology might lead to pursuing "justice" that is based more on retribution than restoration.

"As we move toward restorative justice, we must confess that our criminal justice system is, and has been, inextricably bound to race and class. Our justice system has legislatively stripped some citizens of their civil and human rights and bestowed unearned benefits on others. Racism has been legislatively sanctioned, sustained, and enforced. Nevertheless, it must be noted that racial declarations of the state would ring hollow if they were not ultimately undergirded and legitimated by coded theological justifications of racism."

I wish that the church was at the forefront of the current renewed push for racial justice and police accountability, but so far, from what I've seen, it's struggling just to keep up. Giving good attention to thinkers and leaders like Gilliard and following their lead in moving forward would be a good way to begin to correct that.

other books I read this month:
THE ADVENTURES OF HERGE - Jose-Louis Bocquet, Jean-Luc Fromental, Stanislas Barthelemy
THE ROAD TO DONAGUILE: A CELTIC SPIRITUAL JOURNEY - Herbert O'Driscoll
HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST - Ibram X Kendi
THE ARAB OF THE FUTURE vol. 4 - Riad Sattouf
SUPERMAN SMASHES THE KLAN - Gene Luen Yang, Gurihiru