Giovanni’s Room and Swimming in the Dark were a paired read for me. I wanted to read the latter, but knew the former featured in the story, and wanted to be able to understand any references. I’ve never read anything by James Baldwin, but I’ve heard him speak, and the man had an obvious gift for words, a genius of the human experience. In all honesty, I was a little intimidated to read his book. But oh my—the language. It’s sublime, even when describing the most terrible things. I can see why the characters in Swimming in the Dark were so affected by Baldwin’s book. Swimming is set in Poland in 1980, and the two main characters, both men, also struggle with many of the same things as the men in Giovanni’s Room, even when some of the context is different. I’m very glad I read both books.