only read one book in november, but it was a long one (does that redeem me somewhat?):
the lincoln highway, by amor towles (i really enjoyed this book, by the author of a gentleman in moscow. the story of some boys on an adventure on the lincoln highway...if you read it, i really want to talk about the ending with someone, and i've passed it on to my mom, so perhaps she will be that person. this won't be my favorite book of the year, but it was an enjoyable read.)
my reading slowed down at the end of the year. in october i read:
a darker shade of magic, by v.e. schwab (this was my suggestion for the book club i'm in, and it kind of disappointed. it was 450-ish pages long, but if the story had been told in 250 pages, i think i would have liked it a lot more. it just...it dragged for me. and i don't really love magic, so not sure why i thought i would love this book? anyway. this book definitely has a following, and if magic is your thing, go for it. i won't be reading any more from the author.)
migrations, by charlotte mcconaghy (from my bookshelf - this is one that mom bought me for christmas last year, and i finally read it and LOVED it. the story of a woman in a future year where many animals have gone extinct, and she is following the last batch of arctic terns on their migration from greenland to antarctica. there is biology and such, but it's mostly the story of the people she encounters and her own reckoning with her past. beautifully written, i highly recommend it.)
catching up on posting about my reading this fall! september's books were:
caste: the origin of our discontents, by isabel wilkerson (i listened to the audiobook of this one, which was fantastic - this author is a beautiful writer and her research is fascinating and important. put this on your list!)
the book of longings, by sue monk kidd (i kind of can't stop talking about this book, the author's imagining of the life of jesus, told from the perspective of his wife. i found so appealing her vision of jesus without the miracles but with the incredible moral code that draws me to some of the things he taught. highly recommend this one.)
the bomber mafia, by malcolm gladwell (another audiobook - five or six hours long, so totally manageable, and with excellent audio clips from the 1940s in it. if you like gladwell, this will not disappoint. i recommend listening to it.)
a fire in the night, by christopher swann (the third book by a former coworker of mine from atlanta. it's not as good as his first book, but i loved that it was set in the mountains of north carolina, and i did find the plot compelling. don't rush out and buy this, but if you happen upon it it's worth a read.)
behold the dreamers, by imbolo mbue (this had been on my list for a long time and then my book club picked it; i really enjoyed this book for a look into a world different from my own. this is the fictional story of a cameroonian family who are in the US illegally - what their lives are like, what the next generation's lives are like, and what the husband and wife's perspectives are about what they should do when the husband's immigration status becomes public. it's beautifully written, the story line is well constructed, and the look at privileged white america through the main characters' eyes is fascinating. definitely recommend!)
spying on the south, by tony horwitz (from my bookshelf, but i ended up listening to the audiobook. this nonfiction book is the author's tale of following the path of frederick law olmsted through the south when he traveled and wrote about it for the new york times in the 1950s. the author does it in 2016 - down the ohio and the mississippi, then through louisiana and texas, all as the 2016 primaries are in full force. i really enjoy a travelogue (not as much as a memoir, but close!) and i would highly recommend this, particularly to anyone who lives in the areas he travels through.)
real life, by brandon taylor (from my bookshelf. my friend nora lent this to me, and after i read it i texted her "okay, i read real life and...i don't know what to think. the violent sex and how shitty miller treated wallace got to me. he is never going to be your boyfriend! you are only going to be hurt by letting him in! it was like watching a depressed friend get walked all over. ugh! but man did i have a reaction to it, so that's something, right?" nora wholeheartedly agreed with my hot take ("THIS IS MY REACTION TOO") so...this book was not for me, but it might be for you?)
this must be the place, by maggie o'farrell (i thoroughly enjoyed this book, as i did hamnet which i read a few months ago. highly recommend her as an author with funny and gorgeous writing who weaves together multiple story lines with ease!)
we are the brennans, by tracey lange (you can go ahead and skip this one, a book of the month club selection that was fine but not life changing. i'll amend that: if you need a book to read on an airplane, in a waiting room, or on a beach, this is a perfectly great pick, but i was not moved or inspired or changed by it.)
the gifts of imperfection, by brene brown (love me some brene brown, and i read this while listening to a six part podcast on it that she did with her sisters. highly recommend you read a brene brown book (or consume her greatness in some way) if you haven't already!)
in june i read:
how lucky, by will leitch (this was a book of the month club pick and i really liked it - the story of a disabled man who witnesses a crime and then works to solve it. sweet, great plot, great voice for the narrator, loved the character development, and really appreciated learning more about this particular kind of disability. i'd highly recommend it!)
the one, by john marrs (you can go right ahead and skip this one or read it only if you are literally on a beach in the sun. it's fine and i definitely finished it and all, but not super memorable - the premise is a world where the "love" gene has been found in our DNA and people can take a DNA test to find the other person in the world who is their perfect match.)
broken horses, by brandi carlile (i listened to this audiobook of my favorite artist and it was really interesting and better written than i had feared it might be. the audiobook version includes a ton of recordings of brandi singing songs after explaining the story of how they were written. listen to the audiobook! read by the author! if you're a fan, definitely read this.)
the last policeman, by ben h. winters (another book you can go ahead and skip though i didn't totally dislike it...the story of a policeman trying to solve a homicide as the earth gets closer to the date much of humanity will be destroyed by an asteroid. didn't hate it, didn't love it. premise is almost better than the book...is that too harsh?)
it's been a while*, but i think i only read one book in may:
detransition, baby, by torrey peters (from my bookshelf - my friend nora sent me this one, and i loved it. a fictional story of a trans woman who detransitions back to living as a man. he gets a cis woman pregnant, and then has to confront fatherhood. i wouldn't recommend this to a teenage reader (there is some pretty explicit sex-y stuff), but i'd highly recommend this to others - it was a situation that happens but that i hadn't conceived of, and the complexities of it were super interesting and nuanced. the story is so well written, too, and the author is trans herself.)
*both since may ended and since i only read one book in a month
catching up on my posting! in april i read:
gods of howl mountain, by taylor brown (from my bookshelf - i liked the setting (mountains of north carolina during prohibition - we follow a bootlegger), but this didn't blow my mind nor have i thought about it a lot since i read it. i liked it but didn't love it!)
smoketown, by mark whitaker (ooh, i loved this one, a story of black pittsburgh in the first half or two-thirds of the 20th century - the pittsburgh courier newspaper, sports, music, how black pittsburghers lived in the city. i have been talking about and recommending this a lot since i finished it, and if you have any interest in the subject area, i would HIGHLY recommend it. i listened to the audiobook, which was well-narrated.)
dear edward, by ann napolitano (this was fine. it had gotten a fair amount of hype when it came out but it didn't blow my mind. a decent beach read, i'd imagine, but nothing special!)
somehow i read a ton in march (spring break helped, i guess!), including two books from my bookshelf. the challenge to read some books i already own has been helpful to guide me. as i write this, most of my books have been moved to the new house, so i'll probably be relying on my kindle as we transition into our new space.
in march i read:
the mother of all questions, by rebecca solnit (from my bookshelf - this is a collection of feminist essays it was good but not great. i liked her first collection, men explain things to me, to be better - or maybe i'd just gotten her point from the first book and didn't need this one?)
outlawed, by anna north (this was a book of the month club pick and it was pretty good - i won't be shouting its name from the hilltops, but it was an entertaining story of barren women becoming outlaws, and maybe we're supposed to think the sundance kid (of butch cassidy fame) could have been a woman and a lesbian? colorful characters, beautifully described scenes, entertaining plot. i give this one a B+.)
all things bright and beautiful, by james herriot (this is a book i've been reading in little snippets for a while and finally finished. i love reading these books as an adult and seeing the interpersonal relationships more than the stories of animals. i'm excited to watch the PBS series, which i haven't tried yet. i will definitely continue reading these books, and i got the third one out of a free little library in my neighborhood.)
klara and the sun, by kazuo ishiguro (i really enjoy ishiguro's writing and this one didn't disappoint. highly recommend! intriguing, ethical questions, bizarro universe. enough said.)
notes on "camp," by susan sontag (from my bookshelf - this is a tiny book that just contained two essays, but i loved reading sontag describe what "camp" is (as in, that movie was so campy) and thinking about pop culture, what's in style and what's not and what becomes in style because it purposefully rebelled against past styles. this is not necessarily my genre or wheelhouse, but i really liked this. definitely worth reading.)
a ladder to the sky, by john boyne (thank god john boyne redeemed himself from that last book of his that i read. this is wonderful, the story of one man told mostly through the lives of those he affected (spoiler alert: negatively) over the course of his life. really great writing, really interesting story, and it all comes together at the end in a satisfying way. recommend!)
the midnight library, by matt haig (oh boy, did this one disappoint. i guess when a book is super popular sometimes that's because it's not really very high brow? this one felt like a beach read to me, and it seemed like a total rip off of a lot of elements of it's a wonderful life and i was annoyed by that. i guess i don't recommend this? i mean, i don't. i suggested it for my book club and we haven't discussed it yet, so i will have to see if others saw redeeming qualities in this book that i didn't.)
this month it snowed a lot and there was nothing to do because: pandemic, and i read:
the office of historical corrections, by danielle evans (i heard about this from the book of the month club but didn't end up buying it - i got it from the library on kindle, which, honestly, is my preferred medium. i don't tend to love short stories, but i really liked these - the author is a black woman and the stories touch on race in different ways. the book ends with a novella that i liked the least of any of the stories, but i'd definitely recommend this book even if, like me, short stories aren't your thing.)
a traveler at the gates of wisdom, by john boyne (i have REALLY enjoyed the two john boyne books i've read before now and i heard about this one and my library didn't own it, which was surprising to me. i requested it and they bought it, and you know what: there is a reason they didn't already have a copy. you can go ahead and pass on this book. it's long. it has a shtick: each chapter continues the story that is begun in the first chapter, but in a different culture and different time in world history. AND THEN IT DOES NOT EVER TELL YOU WHY IT IS DOING THAT. they never come together. at like two places in the book there is some acknowledgement that it is happening. and that is it. so this is a book with a shtick instead of a book that is doing anything profound. i'm not even sure it was published in print (i got it on kindle) in the US.)
bone, by yrsa daley-ward (this is a re-read of a book of poetry. i thought about giving it away after reading it now for the second time, but i can't. some of the lines i need to have in my home to go back to. highly recommend!)
on earth we're briefly gorgeous, by ocean vuong (this author is "coming" to pittsburgh in a few weeks as part of a lecture series (presumably he'll be at home and the lecture will be pre-recorded, like others in the series this year), so i wanted to read it in advance of the lecture. i didn't hate it (my friend Q didn't even finish it), and there were some really interesting relationship in it: narrator with his grandmother, narrator with his mother (to whom the book is addressed, like a letter, but like many epistlary books i found myself being like "you would never put that in a letter to your mother - you are telling us this because the audience needs to know, not your mother"), narrator with his first lover. there were some pretty graphic sexual parts, which i wasn't necessarily expecting (again: see "letter to mother problem," above). i'll be interested in seeing what the lecture is like. this is getting a lot of critical acclaim.)
what doesn't kill you makes you blacker, by damon young (i heard the author interview ta-nehisi coates in the same lecture series i referenced above; he is a pittsburgher and i decided to listen to the audiobook of his memoir. it was really funny and also quite poignant and i always like listening to books read by the author. he grew up in the part of pittsburgh where we live, but when it was a primarily black neighborhood. it was really interesting to hear his take on east liberty and shadyside today (spoiler alert: "portlandia with pierogies"), and this was altogether a book i really enjoyed and would definitely recommend if you like memoir.)
one thing i'm going to try to commit to this year is reading one book each month that i already own and that sits on my bookshelf waiting to be read. i have...a lot of these. 20 or 25 books, maybe? so i'm trying to chip away at that. i'll indicate which books fit that category throughout the year!
everyone brave is forgiven, by chris cleave (from my bookshelf. there are so many WWII in britain books that if i'm going to read a new one it needs to be really good. this one was fine. and had some excessive use of the n-word that seems unacceptable by a white author but maybe you could get away with five years ago when this book was written? it really turned me off, though. i read a blog post by the author where he talked about wanting his readers to understand that ordinary white brits at the time were racist and by using that word he was able to make his point. okay...and that presupposes that you have to make that point to a white audience, and thus that all your readers are white. what about the nonwhite readers, for whom seeing this word all over your pages is going to cause a lot of pain, and not, from my opinion, for your art because i think your art could have survived without the word. i don't know. not highly recommending this one, i guess, though i have liked chris cleave books in the past.)
the snow queen, by michael cunningham (from my bookshelf. besides the fact that i don't think this is the right title for this book (i'd love to know if he picked this title or had it thrust upon him by the publisher), i really liked this book. it didn't follow any overused tropes - it really felt unique in its plot and in how the characters developed. new york city, friends, life and death, apartments that feel like another character in the book. i'd recommend this one!)
hamnet, by maggie o'farrell (this one started off slow for me but i really came to enjoy it. it's more the (fictionalized) story of shakespeare's wife than his son, hamnet, which is how it was advertised. but a really interesting look into 16th century england, families, the plague, gender...and i like books that go back and forth in time to tell us some of the past to help us understand the plot in the present. you don't have to care about shakespeare to like this book!)
hidden valley road, by robert kolker (i was captivated by this from the get go - the story of a family with 12 children, born between 1945 and 1965, of which 6 have schizophrenia. it's both a story of the family and also the research around the disease and the debate about nature vs. nurture. it's the very best kind of narrative nonfiction and i would highly recommend it! i listened to the audiobook, with a great narrator.)
over the past 10 years, i have blogged about my reading here, and in the process of documenting it and being purposeful about prioritizing it, i have increased the amount that i read. in 2011 when i started this with the goal of reading 25 books, i read 38. i peaked in 2016 with 58 books, and this year i read 50, about a book a week. i've tried to make note when i read a diverse book (as in, the main character or the author is not white), and this year i read 14 of those books. (put another way, i read 36 books this year where the main character AND the author were white, so i've clearly still got a ways to go.)
my favorite books of 2020:
golden child, by claire adam
a woman is no man, by etaf rum
one day, by gene weingarten
disappearing earth, by julia phillips
how to be an antiracist, by ibram x. kendi
the vanishing half, by brit benett
leave the world behind, by rumaan alam
i finished out the year with these books:
the invisible life of addie larue, by v.e. schwab (this is from the book of the month club and it was getting a lot of press - the premise is that the main character makes a deal with the devil, and is cursed to live forever but have no one remember her. and then, 300 years later, someone DOES remember her. it was slow in places and definitely won't be my favorite book i read this year, but i liked this one and it kept me interested.)
dept. of speculation, by jenny offill (this is short, in a non-traditional format, with not a ton of plot. it was one of those books that got a lot of great critical acclaim and i liked it and all, but i wouldn't have said it was one of the 10 best books of 2014, but the new york times did. and because they did, it seems like i should really love it because that makes me smart and nuanced and cultured? i guess what i'm saying is: this book didn't make a huge impact on me, but i did enjoy it and i thought it was beautifully written, and take that as you will.)
transcendent kingdom, by yaa gyasi (i was highly anticipating this book because i loved her first book (homegoing), and this one was really different - a more narrow story of a scientist, her relationship with her immigrant mother, their relationship to her father, and the reckoning with her brother's death. i think this author is a beautiful writer and i really liked the way the story was told - going back and forth between the present, as she works in the lab and deals with her mother's depression, and the past, where you see the difficulties arise for her family. in some ways this is a black immigrant story and in others it's a really universal story of families, and liked that. i'd highly recommend it!)
this month i read:
wonder boys, by michael chabon (arron had recommended this to me when i moved to pittsburgh - it's set here, and it was fun to read the book and know a lot of the locations. this book was very MALE, is maybe the best way to describe it. and very IRRESPONSIBLE. men making bad life decisions, one on top of the other. so i got frustrated with the book, but i was talking about it a lot while i read it and then i did really want to watch the movie to see how they depicted it...so i guess i'm saying there was a lot in this book, but i didn't necessarily like it, mostly because the main character was a mess and i really wanted him to get his life together. i have liked other chabon books better. read kavalier and clay instead.)
memorial, by bryan washington (oooh i liked this one a lot. the author is from houston and i'd heard good things about his work, so when this showed up as a book of the month club choice, i knew i wanted to read it. modern love story - or maybe falling out of love story? - the first half told from one person's perspective and the second from his boyfriend's perspective. some really interesting cultural stuff here - they are an interracial couple and we watch them navigate that, plus a lot of the book is set in japan. it's a little nontraditional in terms of format - no quotation marks for dialogue, for example - but i really enjoyed it. i was having trouble sleeping for part of the time i read this book, so it was with me by book light in some early mornings and i want to thank it for that!)
writers & lovers, by lily king (i really liked her book euphoria and picked this one up because she did a virtual lecture in pittsburgh this fall that i would have gone to in person in a different version of 2020. this book is about lovers (bad and good - who you think you want and who you really want) and writing and the jobs you work while trying to get a book published. there are some great scenes in this restaurant where the main character works that were so vivid and hilarious and sad. i liked this book a lot, and after two books that were very male, this book with a 30-something female protagonist was welcomed and felt more relevant to me. her lecture was great, too.)
leave the world behind, by rumaan alam (oooh this is a good book to read right about now. a white family rents an airbnb with bad cell phone reception in the area and on the second night the black couple that owns the airbnb shows up at the door and asks to stay with them - there has been a blackout in new york city. then weird stuff starts to happen. there's some cool stuff where the narrator changes and you get these omniscient narrator scenes and then it pops back into the airbnb where they don't know much...it's creepy without being a full on thriller and it was a book i really wanted to talk about while i was reading it. highly recommend!)
in october i read:
anxious people, by fredrik backman (i like backman's writing, and this had some good twists and turns, with that same great balance of tender moments and hilarity that i find in all his writing. he isn't my favorite author, but he's in the top 20 of reliably enjoyable writing. i'd recommend!)
girl, woman, other, by bernardine evaristo (this author is coming to pittsburgh for a lecture in april (well, it will be online now), and i wanted to read her book before i heard her speak. this is a really well done collection of fictional stories of women's experiences that often cross each other or come together in really cool ways. this is a book that i wish i'd had an english teacher to walk me through - or i need to read it a second time or something - because the writing is SO good and i know there was more going on here than a first reading would let me take in. i'd definitely recommend!)
never turn back, by christopher swann (a former coworker of mine's second book, this is a great thriller set in atlanta. take it with you on a weekend away in a cabin, or on a beach trip. if we do those sort of things any more.)
the heart goes last, by margaret atwood (creepy post-apocalyptic writing: classic margaret atwood. in this version of the future, people voluntarily go to jail for a month in order to have a safe home to live in for the next month. during the month in jail, another family comes out of jail and lives in your house - so it's a time share relationship. and then nefarious things happen to our main characters. i love atwood's world creation and her ideas about a future that is maybe not too far from what people would sign up for...)
the vigilante, by john steinbeck (this was a little set of three short stories, none of which i'd read before, that i bought a year or so ago. honestly, i forgot how dire things are in steinbeck's stories, and how devastating his clear and simple writing can be. these stories were tough to get through and i'm not sure i'd recommend steinbeck in this already depressing year, but i was glad to read this book that had been on my shelf.)
still life, by louise penny (people who love mysteries love this author, and this is the first in a series. i thought it was fine? it really didn't do much for me (oops, sorry, to all you mystery lovers) but i think that reflects more on my genre interests and not on the author. mystery just isn't my jam and i was happy to have that confirmed.)
the water dancer, by ta-nehisi coates (a beautifully written book with a really interesting story line, that was another depressing read (and which i should have seen coming, given the subject matter - slavery and the underground railroad). i'd highly recommend this book, but it was a bit of a slog for me because life in september 2020 was a bit of a slog. that said, i love coates and this book is fantastic.)
august was a crazy month, as we finalized everything to go back to school in person. honestly, it feels like it was years ago. apparently i only read one book!
just mercy, by bryan stevenson (this is a re-read - i originally read it in december 2016 after seeing the author speak. my initial write up is here. i re-read it this summer with some coworkers after the police shootings and black lives matter protests brought the book back to the forefront of my mind. i highly recommend it if you haven't read it!)
