bgates's
2025
Reading Wrap-Up

Books by new authors

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Things in Nature Merely Grow

Yiyun Li

172 pages • 2025 • 22 editions

nonfiction memoir emotional reflective sad medium-paced
4.5 bgates's review
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Siddharth Kara

11h 18m • 2023 • 23 editions

nonfiction history politics sociology emotional informative sad medium-paced
3.0 bgates's review
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

The House of My Mother

Shari Franke

7h 9m • 2025 • 78 editions

nonfiction memoir dark emotional sad medium-paced
3.75 bgates's review
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation

Kristin Kobes Du Mez

12h 6m • 2020 • 15 editions

nonfiction history politics religion challenging informative reflective medium-paced
2.25 bgates's review
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Martyr!

Kaveh Akbar

331 pages • 2024 • 74 editions

fiction lgbtqia+ literary dark emotional reflective medium-paced
5.0 bgates's review
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Ocean Vuong

246 pages • 2019 • 130 editions

fiction contemporary lgbtqia+ literary emotional reflective sad slow-paced
4.75 bgates's review
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James

The Bullet Swallower

Elizabeth Gonzalez James

257 pages • 2024 • 16 editions

fiction historical literary magical realism adventurous challenging dark medium-paced
4.25 bgates's review
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Barbara Demick

12h 30m • 2009 • 77 editions

nonfiction history politics dark informative sad medium-paced
4.25 bgates's review
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

Michelle Alexander

16h 57m • 2010 • 35 editions

nonfiction history politics race challenging informative reflective slow-paced
3.75 bgates's review
Instructions for Traveling West: Poems by Joy Sullivan

Instructions for Traveling West: Poems

Joy Sullivan

135 pages • 2024 • 4 editions

nonfiction poetry emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced
4.75 bgates's review