Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston

A novel about being black in the south in the 1930s, and making your own way in life -- idk, I feel like any description like that is going to miss the point here.

This really is as beautiful and moving as everyone had told me, Hurston really had The Thing. The audiobook is phenomenal, not like any other I've heard -- the actor is in some sense trying to speak like people actually speak, instead of how people speak in books, if that makes sense, with all the warmth and vibrancy and elision that implies, and for me it really works. (It reminded me to a small degree of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood, which is similarly musical in its language, but Under Milk Wood is almost an abstract painting and I enjoyed Their Eyes Were Watching God more for being a coherent story as well).

You should read my friend Josh's review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4582033878