1. His mother and father died when he was 15, and his first super-8 film was of chalk drawings in darkened spaces: where he imagines the poses and places where his people died.
2. On forms and applications he checks the box “Other Disability:”
He writes in the explanation box:
“I’m moderately misanthropic. I hate crowds, and the excessive inane conversation of mindless individuals. It’s an attitude-disorder.”
3. He tells the barista : “l’m a multidisciplinary artist, working at the intersection of physical texture, shadow, and sound.
My works explore what could have been, by tracing the physical gestures and material qualities of everyday things.”
4. He tells the patrolman he’s driving his inner child home after the stabbing.
He talks to other policeman all night long, without stop.
5. When they ask him why he did it he says:
“ I’ve got the KetoFuelDoctor1 tracking me down. He fills my junk mailbox daily! What are you trying to say Doc? Do I look fat in these pants?
Well I am fat, doc! But I don’t want what you’re pedaling.
What the hell is he pedaling?
I’m not clicking on the links in his emails!
But I read the subject lines…”
“The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.”
I suppose that at a certain point this past year — during the second month of the COVID-19 lockdown here in Massachusetts — I must have felt like Henry Bemis, the Burgess Meredith character in the Twilight Zone episode pictured above. That show, appropriately entitled ” Time Enough at Last,” remains one of the most popular and memorable Twilight Zone episodes ever.
But instead of having all that time available left to read voraciously because I was the last man on earth after a nuclear war, I was just one of the millions of people who suddenly had a surfeit of time to dispose of in whichever way they found fit within the confines of four walls. I chose to read the maximum number of books I could manage in a year’s time.
I read more than I ever did at any time in high school, college, or graduate school: I read 185 books in 2020. I finished the last one this afternoon: PoetryDecember 2020.
185 books is nowhere near a record — look around on goodreads.com and you’ll find dozens of folks who manage to read 200-300 books a year — but 185 books in one year is my personal record. A record I don’t wish to repeat, because if I have that much time on my hands again, it would be an augury of bad things afoot in our world.
My reading resolutions for next year: again, is to read 100 books (2 books a week, really, so 104 books are acceptable) and that 50 of those come from the 185 tsundoku books arrayed about the house. Tsundoku are books that amass in one’s keep, sometimes for years, that go unread.
If you’re not already connected to all the benefits your local public library has to offer — I strongly recommend availing yourself of services and apps that are offered free through your library such as Overdrive (ebooks & audiobooks), Libby (ebooks & audiobooks), Hoopla (ebooks, audiobooks, movies/tv, and music), RBG Digital (magazines & audiobooks) and Kanopy (films). You’ll never have to step foot in your library, especially helpful during a pandemic, and all you need is an active library card, and those services will provide countless hours of edification and entertainment. I used those services liberally this year.
Ray Bradbury’s advice got me through this most unusual year: “Just write every day of your life. Read intensely. Then see what happens.”
I wish you have a safe and happy new year. It is bound to get better.
Thanks for stopping by and reading in 2020. All the best to you in 2021!
***
Below I share with you what I read this year: by month, title, author, year of original publication, a brief response to the book, the format of the book, and the date I finished the book.
(Note: I often read 3-6 books simultaneously (sometimes more) — high school and college style — and that accounts for sometimes finishing fairly long books in such close temporal succession)
This is what I read this year. This is Part 4, October – December:
October
A Burning / Megha Majumdar (2020)
What resonates most with me is that despite the specific locale and culture this book depicts situations that are universal. Raw political power, class chauvinism, and human determinism will steamroll over the unlucky and the unfortunate — it’s the same the world over. No matter the country or the “-ism” in practice. And it’s a very good tale to boot.
The braided story form is ambitious and very well done. The time Majumdar takes to develop the characters, add dimension, and allow the narrative to unspool on its own particular timeline, belies that this is a debut novel.
So well done and deserving of consideration on the Booker Prize shortlist and the National Book Award. It’s heartening to see/read A Burning in light of some other underwhelming and overhyped books.
I look forward to whatever Majumdar has on deck next. / hardcover, 10/01/20.
Zen Pencils: Creative Struggle / Gavin Aung Than (2018)
Enjoyable graphic retelling of inspiring quotes, life experiences, and “aha!” moments from some of the greatest artists, writers, painter, scientists, etc., including 8 helpful daily rituals from Than himself. / ebook, 10/06/20.
Upstream: Selected Essays / Mary Oliver (2016)
An excellent collection of essays, usually keeping the natural world in the forefront. Oddly, I found the only somewhat flat parts to be the middle section essays on writers: Emerson, Poe, Wordsworth, and Whitman — all good, but not what I wanted which was Oliver’s unique views on the natural world and juxtaposing it with the human condition. Great read. / ebook, 10/08/20.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body Healing of Trauma / Bessel A. van der Kolk (2014)
Important book about the trauma/brain-behavior circuit. Effectively shows how trauma leads to physiological changes (re-wiring) in the brain, and how it leads to less than ideal outlooks and behaviors. The author provides different approaches/disciplines to dealing with these difficulties and how to go about achieving equanimity. / ebook, 10/09/20.
The Glass Hotel / Emily St. John Mandel (2020)
I really enjoyed the temporally disjunctive narrative and the convolutions of the plot, and how eventually all the loose ends come together in denouement.
The trip back to 2008 and the Madoff-like ponzi was bracing — the horror as everything seemed to be in meltdown… wow, sounds familiar 12 years later.
Anyway, really well done. A gripping yarn. I like that we don’t always get what we want — tha’ anti-Hallmark is always welcome. Emily St.‘s got it going on. / ebook & audiobook, 10/10/20.
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness and Creativity / David Lynch (2006)
What’s not to like? Plenty of factoids about most of Lynch’s films, his meeting Fellini and Lynch’s favorite films; his time in art school; a great account of how TM has helped Lynch creatively and through life (this is not a how to meditate book or how to do TM, go elsewhere for that); and plenty of theory on how to be creative via an extended fishing metaphor.
I read the physical book while listening to Lynch read it on Audible and it was a treat. Lynch’s deadpan quasi-whine is pitched perfectly over the proceedings.
I’m a huge Eraserhead fan, and it was fun to be reminded that it was once Kubrick’s favorite film.
Very quick read or listen, but concentrated with good stuff. Definitely “a must” for Lynch fans. / ebook & audiobook, 10/11/20.
Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World’s Greatest Nuclear Disaster / Adam Higginbotham (2019)
Very well researched and chilling story of the Chernobyl disaster. Deep background on the USSR’s secretive nuclear program and the culture that led to the disaster. Expertly told and written. Hard to put this book down. / ebook, 10/14/20.
Dada & Surrealism for Beginners / Elsa Bethanis, Peter Bethanis, & Joe Lee (2007)
Yes, for beginners, but still entertaining and has the added benefit of the graphic illustrations. / ebook, 10/15/20.
To You We shall Return: Lessons About Our Planet from the Lakota / Jospeh M. Marshall III (2010)
Very enjoyable ruminations of a Lakota childhood; sobering reminders of hateful hegemony; and a paradigm for living in unison with the earth and each other. I’m not hopeful, but I am grateful for those who are. / audiobook, 10/16/20.
Leave the World Behind / Rumaan Alam (2020)
For me this was almost a perfect novel. At its best it reminded me of what I love so much about Waiting For Godot, The Myth of Sisyphus, or even Eraserhead. Except the absurd and existential here is married to a novel of mores. There is never truly an ability (or need) to know everything when one finds oneself in an existential quandary, only that one has to act — or not.
Alam is masterful at brining an omniscience in on occasion to comment on what is going on — or maybe going — in the wider world. There are plenty of absurd moments, and a fair amount of serious social commentary implied.
I don’t really enjoy how certain sex scenes are rendered — while I have nothing against such scenes — I don’t enjoy knowing how cum goes down a particular character’s throat, et al. This is market driven stuff, crass calculations made by a writer that doesn’t need to do so. I don’t enjoy Sex in the City intruding in this great narrative. These are the only jarring moments for me. The rest of the suspense (which I feel is of a literary, not potboiler bent) is expertly done.
This is the first of Alam I’ve read. I have no interest in reading his first novel — it sounds precisely like the made for market tripe I like to avoid. And if going forward this is the sort of work and issues he takes on, I will be an expectant reader.
Really very good. It could also be a perfect work of theater or film (or limited series) if done well. I would be shocked if this isnt already optioned to be filmed or adapted. Doesn’t skrimp on intelligence or excellent characterization.
A near classic, and certainly a perfect work for our times. 2020 in a nutshell. / ebook & audiobook, 10/17/20.
The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds / Caroline Van Hemert (2019)
Amazing adventure. The sometimes super-heavy navel gazing is tempered by the truly expert nature/expedition narrative.
I learned about birds I never knew existed — E7 the legendary godwit? seriously?! — and what true affinity to one’s calling can be like. And an incredible long distance adventure to boot — with some of the gnarliest close animal encounters I’ve ever read about.
The images are great too. It’s nice that Van Hemmert sorted it all out. Btw/ she and Pat built an incredible looking cabin. He’s got some serious design chops. / hardcover, 10/18/20.
Tender is the Flesh / Agustina Bazterrica (2017/2020)
First translation in English. Memorable book. Memorable characters. Memorable scenes.
There are a handful of chapters in the first third of this book that are among the most hair-raising and creeped-out pages I’ve ever read. I don’t think this is merely a genre book (horror/sci-fi) that would diminish it.
This is a book about big ideas akin to 1984, but its main conceit, I think, holds it back from being a classic in the same vein — it’s just so unsettling on a visceral level.
But it is an outstanding book, and it’s guaranteed to stay with you long after reading. The deadpan declarative approach makes it all the more unsettling.
“Soylent green is people!” will, in retrospect, seem merely a cavil after this.
Great mind. Great writer. / paperback, 10/20/20.
Dream of Fair to Middling Women / Samuel Beckett (1932/1992)
This took a month to read. It was a virtuosic slog.
It’s hard to believe that the same man who wrote Godot, Endgame, The Unnameable, anything post-1946-48, is the person who wrote this.
The first section reads at times like a dada confluence of glossolalia & logorrhea meet Gertrude Stein. Wow! The prolixity, the dam break of allusions and proto-eurotrash pre-jet set flotsam… seriously, it was a slog — five or six pages at a time.
Imagine The Wasteland without the end notes over 241 pages. No wonder he didn’t want this published during his lifetime.
It’s not bad at all, but it defies Beckett-ian expectations. My favorite work of lit is Waiting For Godot, and while this has some of the same sensibility it has none of its economy or deadpan style. It’s funny, yes, but in a sophomoric way.
It is such a showy work — in modernist style: disjointed narrative, excessively allusive, stylistically disjunctive. I would have enjoyed this as an undergrad if it had been published then.
I mostly enjoyed it because it’s Beckett. It’s at turns intelligent, funny, and flummoxing. Did I mention it was a slog? / paperback, 10/21/20.
Beckett in 90 Minutes / Paul Strathern (2004)
I read this because I love Beckett’s work, but mostly because I’d just finished Dream of Fair to Middling Women. I wanted more insight on that work. I got it; it’s a short passage, and then I was reminded why I love Beckett so much. And I learned some great new stuff too, especially about his life and the manner in which Suzanne Dechevaux saved his career and by extension his life which seemed at a complete standstill. A very good introductory look into Beckett’s life and work — warts and all. / audiobook, 10/21/20.
Journal of a Trapper: Nine Years in the Rocky Mountains, 1834-1843 / Osborne Russell (1921)
One of the rare books of this type that admits that the depredations inflicted by white men on the fauna of the west was a terrible mistake, but it’s only one sentence toward the end of his time in the western lands — and he certainly had no compunctions about killing the numerous Indian people already there.
The main drawback of “journal” narratives is that in most cases they’re really not. They’re just a quotidian accounting of events, often laconic, e.g.,November 1 — camped by the Powder River. Eight inches of snow fell. November 2…
These books still offer a look back at the exploration (though it’s mostly extirpation of Indians, beaver, and bison) of a previously pristine and changing landscape, and that’s why they attract, but too often it’s a look back in horror. Nonetheless, it doesn’t detract from Russell’s intrepidness and determination at making a life for himself (at too great a cost, I believe). We can’t change history. We can only hope not to repeat our terrible mistakes. / ebook, 10/21/20.
Schopenhauer in 90 Minutes / Paul Strathern (1998)
I got more of Schopenhauer in this 90 minute gloss than I did in a semester-long undergraduate Intro to Philosophy course at a Jesuit University.
It’s a good departure point for further exploration if one is so inclined. It’s odd how the same mind can conjure such bright and exacting views on existence and still have room for misogyny, racism, and anti-semitism.
It’s a good introduction that doesn’t really touch on much of the latter, but the older I get the harder it is to parse and rationalize any of that away.
I did “jump off,” read a little more and found that I don’t need to spend more time with Schopenhauer than this.
This for me is the best of Schopenhauer:
“Our life is not only short, but our knowledge of it severely limited… our consciousness is a momentary flicker in the midst of night…” — Arthur Schopenhauer / Parerga and Paralipomena
audiobook, 10/22/20.
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear / Elizabeth Gilbert (2015)
I haven’t read any other Elizabeth Gilbert. Eat, Pray, Love seems like the sort of book tailor made for the Hallmark Channel… no, thanks. Someone suggested I read this. Gilbert has a lot of intelligence and experience when it comes to creativity and the discipline of writing. I enjoyed her take on art. / ebook-10/24/20.
Averno / Louise Glück (2006)
Amazing poet. Now a Laureate. Fantastic collection. “Telescope” is one of my all time favorites. paperback, 10/25/20.
Nothing to See Here / Kevin Wilson (2019)
An absolute hoot! Fantastic voice and persona throughout, odd characters, and absurdly surreal kiddies catching fire. Good stuff. I’m going back to read earlier Kevin Wilson. / ebook & audiobook, 10/26/20.
My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired / Benjamin Spall & Michael Xander (2018)
Curious to see what others do, but didn’t represent enough artists and writers — more CEO’s and business folk than engaged my full interest. Still full of some practical and useful info, and a couple of bizarre folks and routines. / audiobook, 10/31/20.
November
The Body: A Guide for Occupants / Bill Bryson (2019)
Bryson does as marvelous a job with our human bodies as he did with Australia, the year 1927, the AT, et al. He makes any subject engaging and witty — especially when it comes to his own life. An amazing mass of information reintroduced and made more interesting than any high school or college class on the same subject. / audiobook, 11/01/20.
Intimations / Zadie Smith (2020)
Life in the time of pandemic. The closing essay is astounding and worthy of canonizing. All dealt with the pandemic in one form or another, so it’s topical. But a few were slight. I did not enjoy the “Intimations” postscript thingamajiggy that does more for the writer than it does for the reader. Still good stuff overall. / ebook, 11/03/20.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost / Rebecca Solnit (2005)
Always an entertaining and educational experience reading Solnit. Loved the strands throughout the collection about her days as a youngster in San Francisco and being a denizen of punk and alternative film movements. All “The Blue of Distance” essays were excellent. Great book to get “lost” in. / ebook, 11/06/20.
Poetry October 2020 / Holly Amos (ed.) (2020)
Enjoyed the poems of Nathan Spoon, Adrienne Su, Katie Hartsock, and Nikki Wallschlaeger, et al. / paperback, 11/07/20.
Look: Poems / Solmaz Sharif (2016)
Excellent and difficult collection that reads like a litany of the worst types of iniquities and death that we rain upon each other — specifically as it relates to war and the delusions the US operates under as it moves through the world with its awful logic and nomenclature. Searing stuff. / paperback, 11/09/20.
Several Short Sentences About Writing / Verlyn Klinkenborg (2012)
Use this book as a soporific. Successful? Yes.
It’s loaded with good advice, tho… (just broke two rules) / audiobook, 11/14/20.
The Violent Bear It Away / Flannery O’ Connor (1960)
Has all the elements of O’Connor’s masterful storytelling ratcheted up to “11.” Imagine Wise Blood on steroids and you’ve got the Tarwaters of Powderhead, TN. She took many of the concepts she first explored in Wise Blood and took them to their (ill) logical and more violent conclusions here. / ebook & audiobook, 11/15/20.
The Harpy / Megan Hunter (2020)
Amazing narrative of the inexorable breakdown — and liberation (of sorts) — of the narrator Lucy Stevenson. Her husband Jake’s deception leads to Lucy’s quasi-surreal transmogrification that explodes every aspect of her acculturated life as a housewife / mother. Great counterpoint in the narrative. / ebook, 11/18/20.
Verge: Stories / Lidia Yuknavitch (2020)
This may be the most disappointing Yuknavitch book I’ve read — I’ve yet to read them all, this is the fourth I’ve read — it’s nonetheless an OK book. Some stories are excellent, strange, and evocative (exactly what one expects from Yuknavitch) — “The Pull,” “The Organ Runner,” “Cosmos,” “A Woman Refusing,” are examples.
Other stories in this collection feel bloated and overwrought, despite the short word counts. It’s up and down with this collection. Many more “down beats” (narratively repetitive moments) during the last half: “Shooting,” “A Woman Apologizing,” “Second Coming,” “How to Lose An I,” et al.
I left with a feeling of tawdriness and underachievement I never felt during The Chronology of Water despite the similar themes and incidents. It read as “one notey” on the way out. / hardcover, 11/21/20.
The End We Start From / Megan Hunter (2017)
Nothing else quite like it. I’d read Hunter for the first time a few days prior when I finished The Harpy, which was very engaging with its quasi-surreal story and braided narrative approach. This is even more engaging (I thought) in its sparse narrative and poetic flourishes, and I enjoy how Hunter counterpoints the narrative here with mythological jump-cuts (of sorts). At times reminiscent of the best qualities I enjoyed in The Road (the narrative sparseness, the lack of a certain knowledge, and the wandering through an end times event with child) Children of Men and a touch of The New Wilderness which this is far superior to. Keen to see what Hunter cooks up next. / ebook, 11/22/20.
Poetry November 2020 / Holly Amos (ed.) (2020)
Oy! on the verge of cancelling my subscription to this journal.
I did love the Avery R. Young and Vanessa Stauffer. / paperback, 11/24/20.
December
The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity / Toby Ord (2020)
We’re in for some hard times ahead, and yet Ord ends up feeling more optimistic than not about humanity’s chances. The first five chapters are riveting, then the book loses steam in a chapter devoted to statistical analyses, and never really regains its form, despite some pragmatic ideas. Worthwhile read. / audiobook, 12/11/20.
The Orchard Keeper / Cormac McCarthy (1965)
Big fan of the author’s “mature style.” This reminds me of Samuel Beckett’s first novel, which I recently read, lots of flash and style (it’s painfully detailed natural descriptions here) and a far cry from the “weight” and ascetic quality of later work. Still, it’s McCarthy and worth the time. Just don’t expect No Country for Old Men or The Road style McCarthy. / papaerback, 12/12/20.
How to Break Up with Your Phone / Catherine Price (2018)
Practical advice about putting the blasted “devil machine” down… for a bit, anyway. / ebook, 12/13/20.
1968: Eye Hotel: A Novella / Karen Tei Yamashita (2014)
Interesting reading, great sense of time and place, and a very engaging look at this cultural milieu. Don’t know if I’ll read all ten, but will definitely read 1970: I Hotel next. / ebook, 12/16/20.
1970: “I” Hotel: A Novella / Karen Tei Yamashita (2014)
Engaging look back at the height and the start of the wane of radical countercultural philosophy and just how hard it was to make pragmatic. Riveting characters here. / ebook, 12/18/20.
1974: I-Migrant: A Novella / Karen Tei Yamashita (2014)
The most engaging section/novella in the first half of the massive I Hotel. The histories of numerous emigres, mostly Philippine in this section, overlaid on the the history of the first half of the 20th century. Rich characterizations and development. Very good. / ebook, 12/19/20.
MOME Vol. 10 / Eric Reynolds (ed.) (2008)
Interesting anthology, good variety of artists. Wonderfully askew. But admittedly hit or miss. Favorites were “The Five Oracles of Gossip” by Ray Fenwick, Jim Woodring’s “The Lute String, part 2,” and “Life with Mr. Dangerous, part 8.” Too much Sophie Crumb for my palate. I really enjoyed the interview with Tom Kaczynski more than I enjoyed “Phase Transition.” Good read. / ebook, 12/23/20.
The Best of America: Seven Classic Short Stories / Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, O. Henry (2012)
All classics, indeed — except Alcott’s “Mermaids,” which was the only story here I was unfamiliar with, and better suited for an 8-year old girl, the reading was so treacly, and the story despite being a child’s story was as dull as could be. Most of it purple prose, but I suppose the best of American purple prose. / audiobook, 12/24/20.
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work / Mason Currey (2013)
Re-read. Piecemeal reading works best here, I spread it out over two months this time — reading about the working routines of others is very interesting but could make for a dull book if read in a two day session. Making a daily ritual of Daily Rituals works very well. Illuminating, intriguing, and always fun to compare others working routines to your own. / hardcover, 12/25/20.
The Writing Life / Annie Dillard (1989)
Re-read. A fitting bookend read. This is one of the first books I finished after the outgoing President’s inauguration, and one of the last I’ll read at the end of his pathetic term. Just to say, I enjoyed it so much more this time around in this cultural milieu.
Dillard’s book revealed much more of itself this time around. I went into it the first time expecting a direct engagement with the writing life(as Anne Lamott, Walter Mosley, and Stephen King did in their books about the writing life) e.g., practicalities, how Dillard did this and that, her approach, etc., and there is that here, but in a more subsumed form. It is is a much more poetic book that engages creativity on a grander scale, not merely the practicalities of the art/discipline.
As I was expecting this approach on the second read (nearly 4 years later) I was able to take more from it. It’s quite a marvelous book about the creative life, and naturally “the writing life” is part of that too. / audiobook, 12/29/20.
This Year You Write Your Novel / Walter Mosley (2007)
Re-read. I still consider this one of the best and most encouraging books on writing. Mosley’s focus is on the novel, but his approach to writing is good for any discipline one attempts. I think this re-read begs a re-read next year of Mosley’s Elements of Fiction, which I read earlier this year and was disappointed and confounded by — must have been the virus in the ether. This is a top 3 book on writing — along with Lamott & King’s entries in the subject.
Poetry December 2020 / Holly Amos (ed.)
That’s the way you finish out the year — with the best issue of the year! Noor Hindi’s “Fuck your Lesson on Craft, My People Are Dying” is the best among an excellent selection of poems from Brayan Salinas, Agne Minko, A.D. Lauren-Abunassar, et al. / paperback, 12/31/20.
“Oh, there is a hell coming that is incomprehensible to people—we’re going to lose a lot of people. And the government is not going to get us through, and the business mind is not going to get us through. We’ll have to learn to take care of each other locally and wait for that to spread from one community to another. But I think it’s possible.”
— Barry Lopez / Sierra, interview, August 20, 2019.
Above you see the the tsundoku pile that lived atop my nightstand for most of this year, and in the photo below: the bottom shelf of my nightstand, where I didn’t touch a single book in that tsundoku pile this year. They’re both there to be reduced next year.
The odd thing about the image above is that 7 of those 12 books I purchased this year — 3 of those were published this past summer. As I read books off the pile I acquired new ones that took their place, and therefore spun my reading wheels in place.
I purchased 2 of the books in the picture below this year, the rest I’ve owned anywhere between 2 to 28 years. A tsundoku 28- years old(!) and there’s yet an older book I own that I’ve yet to read. I know that’s the case for many book lovers — we’ll eventually get to them.
Working on this list some trends became evident. Starting in February and lasting through mid-summer I read many books about plagues, pandemics, epidemics, and infectious diseases; then sometime in mid-summer I segued into post-apocalyptic themes and dystopias.
And what I think is really odd is that I’ll get books I really want to read when they’re published and they’ll often sit on the shelf for a year (or more) as I’m open to reading whatever piques my interest at the moment, despite what I had set out to read. I’ll sometimes read half-a-dozen books simultaneously, and if I’m not enjoying a book I started at the beginning at the month, I might finish the five other books before the one I’m not enjoying s — and maybe drag it into the next month and finish 10 books before finishing the one I’m having issues with.
I really try to finish a book once I’ve started it. I’ve read the synopsis, maybe a couple of critic’s blurbs on LitHub or Book Marks, certainly the book jacket remarks — so I know I want to read it. But on occasion I hit a wall with a book that I just can’t finish because it feels like a waste of time and there are so many books out there (mostly on my nightstand and bookshelves) waiting to be read. So a couple of times a year I DNF (do not finish) a book — but only after I read well past halfway (usually 65%) — because if you get that far into a book and you’re still not wringing anything from the experience it’s time to move on. That only happened twice to me this year with People of Paper and Vernon Subutex, two books that seemed to be right in my wheelhouse.
Anyway, below is what I read this summer trimester; a summer of no travel but lots of reading.
And even if there were travel and vacations there would have been plenty o’ reading — just not this much. I believe reading is an imperative. The great Werner Herzog said it best:
“Read, read, read, read, read. Those who read own the world; those who immerse themselves in the Internet or watch too much television lose it… Our civilization is suffering profound wounds because of the wholesale abandonment of reading by contemporary society.“
***
Below I share with you what I read this year: by month, title, author, year of original publication, a brief response to the book, the format of the book, and the date I finished the book.
(Note: I often read 3-6 books simultaneously (sometimes more) — high school and college style — and that accounts for sometimes finishing fairly long books in such close temporal succession)
This is what I read this year. This is Part 3, July – September:
July
Fruit of Knowledge: The Vulva vs. The Patriarchy / Liv Stromquist (2014)
Chock full of recondite knowledge: some funny and plenty that is enraging. How stupid we (men) are — or really, the patriarchy is. So much useless pain and loss, but presented and drawn fantastically by Stromquist. Really well done. / e-book, 07/02/20.
Devolution / Max Brooks (2020)
I suppose this is more disappointing than not due to my expectations. I was a big fan of his previous book World War Z.
A very clunky structure here, very limited and strained POV (given what Brooks is trying to do) and the narrative flow suffers for it. It feels filmic (was there an eye to a film deal already roiling in the mind) and not very literary. But that’s OK if it’s done well. This isn’t that well done.
It’s hard to conceive that especially into the second week of the siege that Katie would still be journaling in the fashion she does, but it’s not just that it gets in the way of willing suspension of disbelief it’s also the unlikely changes in character so many of these people undergo, without justification.
The characterizations are mostly flat — and there have been many central characters in lit that have been unsympathetic, but most of these characters (except maybe Mostar) are so one dimensional — due to the structural conceit — as to be uninteresting.
I was hoping they’d all get drawn, quartered and consumed quickly so that maybe Katie might become truly dimensional via the intense self-reflection (that most journaling becomes) as opposed to a mere journaling narrative.
And many of the McCray and Schelling “interviews” are shoehorned in at such inconvenient places — ostensibly to add context — but become narrative burps. So much that what should be narrative becomes quick exposition.
And that pages long IDF book quotation/insertion so late in the story is really incongruous, it may be thematically congruous, but it really sticks out like a Frankenstein suture.
But Brooks knows how to write thrilling scenes and set up good cliff hanger like episodes. It didn’t matter that I knew I was sometimes reading cheesy writing he still had me hooked — and that’s worth something. The sign of good craft, despite of all the “sewing mistakes” and obvious suturing.
I read it in two sittings and I wanted to get to the resolution — that’s the sign of a writer who is on to something. It’s just not really very good literature — but a good yarn told at turns well and very “clunkily.” / hardcover, 07/04/20.
Pale Horse, Pale Rider / Katherine Anne Porter (1939)
An excellent Modernist fever dream. / e-book, 07/05/20.
Midnight’s Children / Salman Rushdie (1981)
Too many notes… Baroque-o-rama… So-o-o-oh-oh Rococo… At turns masterful, brilliant and amusing and yet wearying, taxing, and so full of its own unusual self. Quite an experience. Quite unlike anything else — like G.G. Marquez on steroids! Amazing and frustrating all at once. Oy! / ebook, 07/07/20.
Vernon Subutex / Virginie Despentes (2015)
DNF’d 16 chapters in — about 65% of the book. More and more vapidities, torrents of insipid characters, and just plain “dumbassness” caught up in a eurotrash toilet bowl eddy. I had to bail out on this, there are too many good and middling books out there to justify spending any more time with Vernon’s traipsing through the vacuous Paris scene.
Yeah, we get that these people / “scenesters” are supercilious and shallow but make the damn thing interesting! Wait, don’t tell me, all the interesting characters and situations show up in Chapter 17. Ah, well…
God damn! this was insanely imbecilic. Frustrating.
And the worse thing transgressive lit. can afford to be is dull. And this got dull quickly! Not a whiff of Burroughs, Acker, or even Allemann about.
For all its purile reaching and trying this was just incredibly stupid. Booker short listed?! (what acid was passed out on that jury?)
This got worse and more uninteresting the further it went along, until it became like an abscess on the back of your throat that you just have to lance immediately to stop the pain… unfortunately some of the pus manages to dribble its way down your esophagus.
I stuck around waiting for the pivot… it never came through 16 chapters… and… I didn’t want to devote anymore time to this abortion. I can’t say “stupid” enough in relation to this “schlocky turd.” / ebook, 07/08/20.
Little Brother / Cory Doctorow (2008)
The concept was great. The writing and situations at turns good and sophomoric. And the deus ex machina in chapter 20 and the lacking denouement — but then again the multipart series is paramount — nearly ruined a decent yarn. Not a good enough flourish at the end to interest me in the rest of the series (won’t be reading it) but a topical tale in its time. / ebook, 07/09/20.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. / Alice Birch (2017)
This Play Rages! This is righteous. This is anarchic. This is absurd. And this deserves to be seen (it reads like it), but alas I’ve only read it… maybe it’s out on the intertubes somewhere? Anyway, very good stuff! Ends brilliantly, especially Acts 3 & 4.
“It failed. The whole world failed at it. It could have been so brilliant. How strange of you not to feel sad. Who knew life could be so awful.”
Nails it all! / ebook, 07/10/20.
Thank You for Voting: The Maddening, Enlightening, Inspiring Truth About Voting in America / Erin Geiger Smith (2020)
If this were more of a deep dive about the history and machinations around voting then it would be a really solid book. It does some of that around historic voter suppression, gerrymandering, and Supreme Court cases but not enough.
A lot of space is devoted to how recent organizations go about working up voter aggregation, how social media is used by various players, and even how a documentary film about voting came to be at the Tribeca Film Festival.
It does provide factoids, but do I need a checklist? I was looking for history and substance, and that’s not the primary focus here. I guess I didn’t read the book synopsis closely enough.
I did appreciate the nonpartisan approach!
This book maybe best for first time voters, or completists amassing a shelf devoted to books about voting.
Most engaged voters don’t need guidance on how to distinguish viable news sources or how to figure out how to sort out voting.
I loved the Electoral College chapter. One whole star for that alone.
Props for being so topical that it manages to include a mention of how Covid-19 might potentially impact voting. Great book for a novice voter. An OK book. / ebook, 07/11/20.
Lost Girls / Robert Kolker (2013/2019)
I don’t read much in the “true crime” genre, but if it’s all this good perhaps I should be paying more attention.
I came to this because I enjoyed Kolker’s new book Hidden Valley Road so much last month. I took this all in in two sittings. A page turner.
I don’t follow true crime on TV either, but one had to be under a rock in 2010 not to be vaguely aware of this story.
Kolker covers it well, and the added bonus is that the e-book version included a 2019 “Afterword” that tied up some loose ends nicely.
After reading both of Kolker’s books it is obvious that he is a top notch nonfiction writer with an amazing ability to braid multiple narratives into a solid engaging whole. Looking forward to his next work. / ebook, 07/13/20.
The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time / John Kelly (2005)
Another really good, and very well researched, narrative history of the great plague of the mid-1300’s. I’ve read well over half a dozen in the past few months — plague reading through a pandemic.
Along with Barbara Tuchman’s Distant Mirror (which was about so much more than the plague, but spent a good deal of time of the book focused on the numerous outbreaks during 14th century) — those two are the best books on the subject I’ve read yet. / ebook, 07/15/20.
Life Is Short — Art Is Shorter: In Praise of Brevity / David Shields (2015)
Over three dozen micro fictions, micro nonfictions, and hybrids in between.
Varying qualities: some old, some new, and without doubt every section annoyingly preceded by the editors providing a synopsis and “writing assignment” on what you’re about to read.
This was so intrusive that I read the book sections from back to front after the midway point. So instead of being told what I was to read, it became a recap.
Some gems here, and some duds. / ebook, 07/18/20.
Break It Down / Lydia Davis (1976)
Great collection of micros, short-shorts, flash fictions and any other diminutive one can imagine. Davis is a master of the short form. Among my favorites were one of the longest (at 10 pages) “The House Plans” and one of the shortest (at 9 lines) “The Mother.” / paperback, 07/20/20.
An African American and Latinx History of the United States / Paul Ortiz (2018)
I wish there was more contextualization of the history recounted here into the wider history we’ve been told. It should have been more engaging because it’s such an important subject.
I was happy to hear a different take on some of the Cuban history I grew up with, but overall while this is good, it’s merely a starting point on getting a more rounded understanding on how Latinx and African Americans impacted dominant US History.
A more cohesive narrative and dovetailing into the hegemonic history is still needed. Good. / ebook, 07/21/20.
Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back / Mark O’Connell (2020)
I enjoyed the eschatological bent of this book, which was made all the more engaging due to the dark comic undertones — which were often overtones.
It softened up a bit and became a tad lachrymose during the last chapter “The Redness of the Map.” Otherwise I enjoyed the unusual characters and situations from South Dakota to Chernobyl, and really enjoyed O’Connell’s writing.
Looking forward to his next book… if we’re still around. / ebook, 07/22/20.
How to Be an Antiracist / Ibram X. Kendi (2019)
Staggering. Another necessary tonic for everyone in this country, and in the Western world by extension. I’ve got Kendi’s earlier books on my to read list now.
What a personal story, too — beyond the theorizing and historical context. Amazing.
This is a necessary discomfort. / ebook, 07/23/20.
The Middle Road: American Politics: 1945 – 2000 / Christopher Collier (2001)
Entertaining history of US in the latter half of the 20th century.
Less obscure surprises for me here (as I wind down with the 22nd book of this 23 book series) as many of these events took place during my lifetime, and I read differing opinions about them in real time.
One more book to go. This is a YA U.S. history series, which is informative and entertaining for adults as well. Very quick read. / ebook, 07/25/20.
Undiscovered Country Volume 1: Destiny / Scott Snyder (2020)
I checked this digital version out on a whim.
The synopsis read: “Journey into an unknown region that was once the United States of America — a land that’s become shrouded in mystery and literally walled off from the rest of the world.”
I thought this might be topical dystopia. Why not? We’re living through one.
The first 6 issues at once… sure!
How do I get my two hours back? Oy!
Suffice to say, on a good year I might read a dozen book length graphic novels, and I tend toward the memoir or halfway plausible material. So I’m not the intended audience for most of this genre.
At he tail end of this, Valentina — a journalist, says: “I want to see where the road leads.”
Not I.
I disembark here… ain’t coming back for more. / ebook, 07/26/20.
Poetry June 2020 / Don Share (ed.) (2020)
Kudos for the Rita Dove, Cynthia Guardado, Rodney Gomez, and Divya Victor. Pages 249-276 are utterly forgettable. / paperback, 07/29/20.
August
The Painted Bird / Jerzy Kosinski (1965)
Searing, strange, and unforgettable — in all the best ways. / ebook, 08/02/20.
Forget Sorrow: An Ancestral Tale / Belle Yang (2010)
A multigenerational family tale replete with lots of Chinese history — both nuggets of ancient history and mostly 20th century Chinese history.
But this is not a “history” graphic novel, it’s the story of multiple generations of one family living through the upheavals of family intrigue and unfolding historic events in China — and the US in parallel sweeping jump cuts.
Enjoyable artful graphics and an excellent story — kicks into gear about 2/3’s of the way thru. / ebook, 08/06/20.
The Cold Vanish / Jon Billman (2020)
A compelling and fascinating book for any day hiker or wilderness backpacker.
The thread organizing the narrative is the heart rending search of the Gray family, especially that of the paterfamilias — Randy — for his son, Jacob, who disappeared on a bike ride through ONP in 2017.
Author, Jon Billman, was an active participant throughout.
Because of the dearth of logical details about the numerous other disappearances Billman relates — a fair amount of time is spent entertaining Sasquatch, alien abduction, and preternatural vortex theories (more than I appreciate) — and maybe one too many cases are considered.
A solid book. Enlightening about Search and Rescue methods and entertaining to boot. / hardcover, 08/10/20.
S-27 / Sarah Grochala (2009)
Sparse and short — a terrifying play.
Terrifying in that it is based on true accounts of a handful of survivors at S-21, the former Cambodian high school turned torture prison by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970’s.
“Beckett-ian” in its sparse but evocative language and stage direction.
A powerful work, and made all the more horrifying because it is recent history. / ebook, 08/12/20.
The Lorax / Dr. Seuss (1971)
Just read it for the first time, didn’t read it when I was a kid.
I read it because Mark O’ Connell (in his terrifying book Notes on the Coming Apocalypse…) wrote so highly of it, and how the book had transformed his relationship with his son.
I’m glad I read it. I love its message:
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
And I love the classic Dr. Seuss drawing style and language. Better late than never! / ebook, 08/17/20.
Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina / Chris Frantz (2020)
The most enjoyable aspect of this book is the “inside stuff” I never knew about, despite having read a few books and many articles about Talking Heads — and obviously having all their records. By “inside” I mean how certain songs and records were conceived, the dynamics of the NYC scene from Frantz’s POV — much of this is well known, but there were a few obscure and sharp nuggets offered here by Frantz. I also enjoyed hearing more detailed info about his experience at RISD.
What I didn’t much enjoy is the personal sniping (which seems to border on vendetta), or hearing about who did what drugs with who, how often Frantz had “love interludes” with Tina Weymouth, of what he was wearing or eating (to a painful degree of minutiae) 50 years ago, 37 years ago, or 10 years ago — seriously? Who remembers that shit?!
I’m aware that “gossipy” type anecdotes sell some books, but for someone who constantly takes pains to tell us to what lengths TH went to be “outside of the mold” — some of the more prurient details are straight of of a Kitty Kelley biography or takes from TMZ. Some “color” is good, too much is…
Frantz is not a rocker/writer in the league of Patti Smith or even David Byrne, which in my estimation are better writers of memoir / nonfiction — it doesn’t detract from his right to tell his story (I was glad to find, in theses pages, that Tina is writing her own memoir) — but Frantz tells it in a sophomoric manner/style of rote personal essay. He could have used some more editorial guidance — especially around cliche, triteness and treacle.
It’s, nonetheless, a mostly enjoyable read — beyond style, beyond the areas of anachronistic lack of clarity, and some spots of sheer dullness.
It’s also a reminder of how talented these four players (and the supporting cast) are, and a reminder that no matter how successful all the Heads have been on their own, and how enjoyable a lot of that work has been — it’s never completely attained the same level of what they were able to accomplish together.
I hate hearing how so many of the artists I enjoy are assholes in their full-time lives. I guess it’s better to know than not.
I don’t think I’d read this again, but I’m glad I read it. / hardcover, 08/19/20.
Earth Abides / George R. Stewart (1949)
Interesting and mostly entertaining take on a post-apocalyptic cataclysm — and unusually topical during today’s pandemic.
The second-third of the book, as well as the tail end of the first section, was a slog. Endless vacillation on a number of issues by Ish, a dull settling in the narrative, and some characters I didn’t care for, especially Joey.
I also didn’t enjoy Stewart’s italicized parallel narratives — sometimes heavily biblical, sometimes forward looking, often intrusive to the unfolding narrative.
Gimme The Road every time over this.
Chock full of good ideas hampered by mediocre execution. / audiobook, 08/20/20.
Atomic Habits / James Clear (2018)
Read it all before in other guises. To Clear’s credit, he repackages and presents anew all those self-help books of previous decades — now here for millennials. A bit of a “jock” mentality, but nonetheless “punchy” and crisp in presentation. No new concepts here — they’re just called something different than what you’ve heard before. / ebook, 08/21/20.
Poetry July/August 2020 / Don Share (ed.) (2020)
Really enjoyed his edition of Poetry — including the Edwin Morgan Portfolio & Poetry Award sections, and the Comment section.
Outstanding poems from Roseanne Watt (“Nightingales”) and Penny Boxall (“Fabric”) and James McGonigal’s “Edwin Morgan…” essay.
All five poems by Eduardo C. Corral were excellent (“God is circling like a vulture…”).
Joyce Carol Oates’s “The Blessing” was a treat — of sorts. / paperback, 08/23/20.
The Dog Stars / Peter Heller (2012)
Very well imagined and written. Such an improvement over Earth Abides, which I recently read. The first half was taut and engrossing. It’d been a long time since I’d come across passages in a book that were so riveting that in a couple of sections I couldn’t read fast enough to get to the resolution of tension. Heller does that very well.
The book’s soft spot — is literally its soft spot — the unspooling of a love story, and the attendant sexuality, which to my palate was neither credible or necessary… Heller’s prerogative, it’s where his muse took him. But it seems out of place to delve into an annoying (or was it a crass editorial ploy to engage a certain readership?) romance novel” diversion. Truly off-putting and a tear in the fabric of the narrative.
Otherwise, it’s full of well rendered characters and situations — pulse-pounding in places, surprising, and a very good entry into the post-apocalypse sub-genre. / ebook, 08/25/20.
The Changing Face of American Society: 1945-2000 / Christopher Collier (2001)
Started this series two years ago, and 23 short and entertaining volumes later… I’m done.
Oddly, I found the books less interesting the closer I got to the period which I actually lived through. Again, being a YA series, you get short, punchy writing, and some serious glossing over is done.
The series does an excellent job providing a primer and in a number of cases a first exposure — even to a fan of history.
Well done series of books. / ebook, 08/26/20.
1984 / George Orwell (1949)
Re-read in 2020. Fourth time around with this one, and ever more prescient — now more than ever… (if you say it enough it becomes truth?)
The best book I’ve ever read to get at the gist of political power and the human condition in relation to that power. Just astonishing in the complexity ensconced within the simplicity of the writing and the stark situations portrayed.
Amazing.
Still at the top of my reading heap — up there with Beckett’s Godot and Camus’s Sisyphus. Will return to these works time and time again as long as I can read. Although 1984, in my estimation, is the bleakest of the three — but the most palpably possible.
First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers / Loung Ung (2000)
Amazing what Ung lived through. The story is amazing.
The writing choices and style are a hinderance and a burden on the narrative. Too many times I was taken out of the narrative flow by the 1st person present tense POV, ostensibly a 6-10 year old? The adult observations were jarring.
More power to Ung for surviving it and doing such great work as an adult, but an editor or better editorial guidance would have made this a classic.
Congratulations on the film, which I’ll see soon, and the series of memoirs. An amazing story, imperfectly told. / ebook, 08/28/20.
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me / Ellen Forney (2012)
Engaging graphic novel. Good pen work.
Too long tho, spun its wheels about 3/4 of the way through.
As a BP2 individual I know how long it can take to sort through everything Forney went through after a diagnosis — we just don’t have to live and relive every med recalibration.
A tighter edit would’ve made this very good. Still enjoyable (to the extent someone else’s difficulties could be empathized with) and enlightening — especially to those who may be starting down the potentially long path to balance, and understanding for family members. But not a “second read-thru” or ownership candidate.
Still glad I borrowed it from the library. Good. / ebook, 08/20/20.
Arctic Oil / Clare Duffy (2018)
Interesting intersection where the maternal dynamic, environmental terrorism, and North Sea drilling intersect.
A couple of moments of melodrama and pendantic sloganeering that detract a bit, but this is a good short play.
Evocative line: “Did you know that every dawn is an apocalypse?” / ebook, 08/30/20.
438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea / Jonathan Franklin (2015)
Well written recounting of Salvador Alvarenga’s hellacious 438 day drift across the Pacific Ocean from Costa Azul, Mexico to Ebon, in the Marshall Islands, in a 25-foot long “sharking” launch.
Truly one of the greatest feats of survival I have encountered in a book. Franklin did meticulous research and fashioned a crisp and direct narrative, continually incorporating expert accounts and other instances of forays into the doldrums in the Pacific.
He detailed and provided background for just about everyone who who came into the orbit of Alvarenga’s drift into castaway history.
Amazing story. Very good book. / ebook, 08/31/20.
September
Night Sky with Exit Wounds / Ocean Vuong (2016)
The first section of this collection is among the most evocative poetry I’ve encountered. Amazing juxtaposition of images and unusual allusions. At turns violent and searingly beautiful. Well worth repeated readings. / ebook, 09/01/20.
One Man’s Wilderness: An Alaskan Odyssey / Richard Proenneke & Sam Keith (1973)
Enjoyable journal narrative of Richard Proenneke’s year and a half in the wilds of Alaska as he built his cabin, refined it, and stayed 16 months — venturing out to spot wildlife, fish, fell lots of wood, and generally enjoy the pristine scene at his lakeside setting nestled within the rim of a mountain range.
Sam Keith did an excellent job of editing through the narrative and creating an engaging story. Unfortunately the slight problem with this stylistic choice is that a lot of journal writing focuses on some of the dullest quotidian stuff in a person’s life, e.g. what he eats, how much wood he saws, how he cooks, what packages are flown into the cabin, et al. So there is a fair amount of repetitive and uninteresting information among the thrilling wildlife encounters (including a near death experience).
But it’s such a grand endeavor that Proenneke sets out on, and lived through, that it more than obviated the diaristic approach. Good read! / ebook, 09/03/20.
Down and Out in Paris and London / Geroge Orwell (1933)
Mostly very enjoyable reading.
Intending to read the Orwell oeuvre — being only familiar with a smattering of essays, Animal Farm, and 1984 (four times) — I was surprised by the strength of his first book, but also put off by some wisps of anti-semitism (that I’m not certain is only a “put-on” projection for the narrator) and some of the judgmental “class chauvinism” I detected.
I always considered the “Goldstein” caricature a necessary narrative trope in 1984, to illustrate the lengths totalitarian states go to vilifying “the other,” but in conjunction with some of the vitriol here in his first complete book it makes me curious.
The narrative here, in this fictionalized memoir (as best I can tell), is very good. Typical clear simple prose conveying complex ideas, great roman a clef conventions, and some very funny episodes in both Paris and London are illustrated, but there is a darkness in Orwell’s class and race observations that is off-putting to this 21st century reader — especially here, where it is unclear to me where the author’s POV ends and the narrator’s begins. One in the same? How much is fictionalized in this ostensible memoir, and just how much of this did Orwell believe himself?
Still a worthwhile read. And still looking forward to the rest of the Orwell shelf. / ebook, 09/04/20.
Fight Club / Chuck Palahniuk (1996)
All I expected and more, having seen the film ages ago, and already having read Pygmy and Damned. (Consider This is the next Palahniuk I read.) What a brilliant way to start a literary career. The tsundoku list is one volume shorter! / paperback, 09/05/20.
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage / Alfred Lansing (1959)
Fantastic read. Lansing did an amazing job weaving a solid narrative from many sources.
Amazed that there isn’t the slightest afterword mention of expedition members lives post-rescue — just a couple of paragraphs?!
Gripping stuff. / ebook, 09/07/20.
Good Citizens Need Not Fear / Maria Reva (2020)
Very good debut collection of short stories. Novelistic in that they are linked — a number of characters make repeat appearances in the stories, and a crumbling apartment block (pre and post Perestroika) are the common link to these darkly comic and absurd stories. I’d definitely read Maria Reva’s next book. / hardcover, 09/09/20.
Blue Ticket / Sophie Macintosh (2020)
I found this at turns interesting (conceptually) and flat. In the abstract I enjoyed the ideas, the narrative was a bit on the “meh” side. I enjoy some of the amorphousness — enough space to allow the reader to bring in their propensities in exegesis and prejudices, and fill in the narrative; but after thinking about it at length, I think that it was too decontextualized to be the type of book I would want to re-read, though I truly appreciate the ideas about freedom / control therein. / audiobook, 09/11/20.
Darkness Visible / William Styron (1990)
Moments of sheer desperation tempered by the same flatness in the narrative that affected Styron in life. It’s tremendously intimate with odd moments of being held arm’s distance away from his experience. He captures depression so well and yet oddly oblique. / ebook, 09/16/20.
Horizon / Barry Lopez (2019)
(Barry Lopez passed away last week, on Christmas day. Barry Lopez’s righteous voice will be sorely missed.)
The writing and sensitivity are virtuosic. Impressive look back at a peripatetic life, through numerous visits to the same places layered over each other. “Palimpsestic.” Quite a vision of the world.
But on occasion there are one too many tangents, one too many notes, and one too many navel gazes. I loved everything but the middle “Jackal Camp” section.
This is incredible volubility of mind.
I’m a newish fan of Lopez’s, this is only the second book of his that I’ve read. I’ll obviously be back for more. / hardcover, 09/18/20.
The New Wilderness / Diane Cook (2020)
An astounding melodramatic mediocrity made all the more disappointing by its shortlist for the Booker Prize, and all the hype surrounding this book.
Half-baked soap opera in the wilderness state of a nebulous dystopian society. Full of unsympathetic characters — I can’t tell you how often I wished Bea, Agnes, Carl or Glen would have been dismemboweled by wolves, felled by falling trees, swept away during a river ford, or ingested toxic mushrooms.
Hallmark Channel Dystopia.
This may be all the more disappointing because I’d been mildly disappointed by Blue Ticket, a dystopian Booker Prize longlister. I may ignore next year’s Booker list. Oy! / hardcover, 09/19/20.
Walking / Erling Kagge (2019)
Meandering meaditation on the central act of walking and its connection to just about everything else in our lives and culture. Covers a lot of ground — family, epistemology, exploration, philosophy, the arts & writing, and how these are interconnected with walking. As varied as the author is peripatetic, and he walks a lot. Uplifting and engaging slim volume. / ebook, 09/21/20.
Rachel Carson / The Sense of Wonder (1956)
A lovely exploration of childhood wonder. Should be required reading for any parent — and any adult that wishes to rekindle that glorious state of approaching the world. Truly lyrical and a touch rueful that Carson didn’t get to complete this fantastic little book. / audiobook, 09/25/20.
Hiroshima Mon Amour / Marguerite Duras (1959)
I can’t imagine reading this in a vacuum, i.e., not having the Alain Resnais film as context. While the images here are helpful they don’t capture the true genius that was the film, and neither does this script on its own. Very nice that appendices are included with the scenes that were cut from the film, including the character studies and background. / ebook, 09/27/20.
Red Pill / Hari Kunzru (2020)
Mind-warpingly good. Intelligent and dense high concepts. One of the year’s best books.
What seems an odd and meandering tale of recondite academicism and lassitude, during a writing fellowship in Wannsee, turns into a slide into the heart of darkness.
One of the best depictions of a descent into acute madness I’ve ever read.
Foreboding and cautionary (in the best way) and darkly humorous to boot. More Kunzru going on my reading list! / ebook & audiobook, 09/28/20.
Dream Work / Mary Oliver (1986)
Very good collection of poetry. Oliver is masterful at pulling out the analogues of natural world situations and juxtaposing them with human situations, and then presenting it in a very original and distinct manner.
“Dogfish,” “Rage,” “Wild Geese,” “Storm in Massachusetts…,” and “1945-1985…” were especially resonant.
“… in your dreams you have sullied and murdered, and dreams do not lie.” / ebook, 09/30/20.
“Our children and grandchildren, seeing how tentative our response has been to global climate disorder and to whatever else might conceivably be coming along—the sudden collapse of an international financial institution like Deutsche Bank or a pandemic for which there is no immediate cure—have framed already their objections: Why did you not prepare? Why were you so profligate while we still had a chance? Where was your wisdom?”
A year in books. A pandemic year in reading. The goal was to read 100 books this year.
The other objective was to shrink my tsundoku pile by 25 books. Tsundoku is a Japanese word for a universal concept that most book lovers are all too familiar with — the amassing of books for later reading, and ending up with piles of books strewn all over the house: on night tables, desks, bookshelves, et al. That last bit is how tsundoku manifests itself in my house.
I read a fair amount of those 25 tsundoku books that were piled atop my nightstand at the beginning of 2020. So why do I feel like I failed to make any headway? Well, because like many book lovers I continued buying new books, not quite as quickly as I read them, but at a fair pace. I also checked out dozens of e-books and audiobooks from the Boston Public Library (BPL) — and when they reopened, all the books I had on “hold” went back into circulation. The BPL remains open only for pick-ups and drop-offs, so the books placed on hold keep coming.
I began 2020 with 194 tsundoku books and audio books, and I ended the year with 174 of the old tsundoku books still unread. But I also bought a dozen-and-a half new books! So I’ll start 2021 with 192 tsundoku books — a net gain of 2 books read from the back-up pile! I’ll take those sorts of problems every time, as long as we’re safe and healthy.
This next trimester, April-June, was the busiest in terms of reading for me this year. In that springtime trimester I read 59 books. Obviously, with a lot less time in front of the TV, and everything in lockdown here in Massachusetts, there was copious time for reading — and so we read a lot.
Why read so much? Well, to pass pandemic time — but I think William Faulkner said it best:
“Read, read, read everything – trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it is good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out the window.”
It’s a better way of passing through life than zombifying in front of Facebook, Instagram, or the television.
My reading resolution for 2021 is to check out less books from BPL, buy fewer new books, and read 50 books from my tsundoku piles en route to another 100 books next year. Hope lives. Parts 3-4 of this retrospective will follow over the next couple of days. Thanks for reading.
***
Below I share with you what I read this year: by month, title, author, year of original publication, a brief response to the book, the format of the book, and the date I finished the book.
(Note: I often read 3-6 books simultaneously (sometimes more) — high school and college style — and that accounts for sometimes finishing fairly long books in such close temporal succession)
This is what I read this year. This is Part 2, April – June:
April
The Plague / Albert Camus(1947)
what an odd (synchronistic) time to be reading this book… as evocative, resonant and metaphorical as it is, it is spot on and eerie / e-book, 04/06/20.
The Bell Jar / Sylvia Plath(1963)
sylvia plath self-critiqued this work as: “a potboiler really…” as far as “potboilers” go… it’s an exceptional one / paperback, 04/11/20.
Progressivism, the Great Depression, and the New Deal: 1901-1941 / Christopher Collier(1997)
succinct… easy to read… engaging history / e-book, 04/12/20.
Viruses, Plagues & History / Michael B.A. Oldstone (2000)
solid survey on historic pandemics and newer epidemics… ranges from preston-like thrilling anecdotes to somewhat recondite and super dry science sometimes… good / e-book, 04/14/20.
Caffeine / Michael Pollan (2020)
enjoyable, breezy and entertaining audiobook from one of the best nonfiction writers around today… sometimes slight, but always chock-full of information about the #1 drug… read by author / audiobook, 04/15/20.
Epidemics: Hate and Compassion from the Plague of Athens to AIDS / Samuel K. Cohn Jr.(2018)
an exhaustive — and exhausting — survey of pandemics and epidemics back thru recorded history… all as refracted through the limited lens of either compassionate help or scapegoating… really chock-full of great historical factoids and at its best when elucidating how the more times change, the more they remain the same — especially, re: finding others to blame (oh, so topical there!)… but often, all too often, reads like a dry ph.d. thesis… still worth the near-700 page effort… just once, not re-read material, unless “referencing” / hardcover, 04/16/20.
Neither Here Nor There / Bill Bryson (1991)
just what i needed after a near-700 page book about pandemics and scapegoating since the ancients… this is a slight and funny travelogue where bryson travels the length of europe… often retracing his travels 20 years earlier with the falstaffian katz… very funny on occasion, but not bryson’s best in my estimation… worth the read, though / e-book, 04/17/20.
Marooned: Jamestown, Shipwreck, and a New History of America’s Origin / Joseph Kelly (2018)
fascinating history of the first permanent english settlement in what is now the u.s. … as refracted through the concept of “marooning” predating jamestown and other concurrent ‘maroonings’… entertaining historical read / hardcover, 04/24/20.
Heart of a Dog / Mikhail Bulgakov (1925)
good satire on a number of different levels… by turns laugh out loud funny and devastatingly spot-on acerbic… i read this in the middle of reading m train, because patti smith raved so much about bulgakov, and i was totally unfamiliar with his work… now master & margarita, et al., are on my “to read” list… good stuff / e-book, 04/25/20.
M Train / Patti Smith(2016)
truly enjoyable memoir about loss, artistic creation, writing, dreams, literature — i added 6 books to my “to read” list from reading this… reading the paperback allows for “new material” a postscript which ties up some matters rather nicely… listened to the audiobook while simultaneously reading it because there is nothing like hearing smith read her work (or the phone book, for that matter)… good stuff / paperback, 04/27/20.
Weather / Jenny Offill (2020)
apocalypse obsessions… climate change fears… mindful meditation… gratuitous podcasting… a certain recent election through a glass obliquely… the only way this would have been more topical is if offill had included a pandemic… maybe next time… smart… engaging… slender volume… well written / hardcover, 04/29/20.
Heads or Tails / Lilli Carre (2012)
entertaining graphic short story collection… oblique stories and sharp art work… middle third of the collection is strongest, especially “the thing about madeline” and “the carnival” / e-book, 04/30/20.
May
My Sister, the Serial Killer / Oyinkan Braithwaite (2017)
a quick read confection… a bit on the over-hyped tip… not a waste of time… but not one worthy of a re-read either / paperback, 05/01/20.
The United States in World War II / Christopher Collier (1997)
very quick read… concise history of wwii, with precursors… interesting illustrations / e-book, 05/02/20.
The Petting Zoo / Jim Carroll (2010)
i wish this were a better book, i wanted it to be… it’s a disappointing last work… thinly veiled autobiography with far too much roman catholicism (for my palate) coursing thru it, odd flatness throughout, and tons of maudlin emotion… frustrating… carroll was still working on it when he died… the fugue states are obvious and the cascading crises pounded this reader into submission… i had given up caring about wolfram about halfway thru, but still plodded on… some very good ideas and passages, but too far and few… oy! / e-book, 04/06/20.
The Decameron / Giovanni Boccaccio (1351/2006)
came for the plague and got only the soft core. huh?! i wasn’t ready for the 1100 page dive into the entire decameron, but in search of “plague” reading, i thought these selections might do for now. no. after the interesting and historic introduction, it seems the editor (was it a 13 year old boy?) was interested in only the bawdy and ribald tales — the couple of dozen here, at least one from each of the 10 days, are absolutely inane.
i don’t mind sex or erotica — but these read like emmanuel meets the 3 stooges! the naxos production (the readers and period music) is excellent tho — it’s the narratives that are sorely lacking.
i know these aren’t representative of all 100 tales, but these selections are downright dumb, unfunny, and so terribly wrought and twisty… it would embarrass o. henry. i’ll have to sample some of the others…
where’s my norton anthology? oy! / e-book & audiobook, 05/07/20.
Exile and the Kingdom / Albert Camus (1957)
even “not my favorite” camus is good reading. all quite different stories — from the experimental “the renegade” (“gra gra gra”) to the darkly humorous “the artist at work” — all steeped in absurdist-moralist-extientialist (heck, even anarcho-syndicalism “the silent men”) atmospherics. the standouts for me were “the adulterous woman” and “the guest.”
it ain’t the plague or the myth of sisyphus, but it’s camus — and that’s enough… one must imagine the reader happy. / e-book, 05/09/20.
The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the Present / David Truer (2019)
“If you want to know America — if you want to see it for what it was and what it is — you need to look at Indian history and at the Indian present.”
This book does that so well… staggering! / hardcover, 05/12/20.
Rashomon and Other Stories / Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1915)
ended up reading this collection due to patti smith’s raving about it in m train. good stuff — especially “in the grove,” “rashomon,” and “martyr.” / e-book, 05/13/20.
Altered States / Paddy Chayefsky (1978)
excellent stuff! the ken russell film was seminal for me as a teenager went back to it often, but waited 39 years to read the novel for some unknown reason… the novel fills out the lacunae the film always had, and the film re-contextualizes the few flat spots in the novel / e-book, 05/14/20.
A Journal of the Plague Year / Daniel Defoe (1722)
re-read. second time thru this in 2 years, ‘cept this time it is extremely topical, and instructive — the more times change the more humanity stays the same. still repetitive in sections, but the minutiae actually supports the narrative history here. everything you always wanted to know about the 1665 london plague but were afraid to ask… 1665 or 2020? same shit, different year / e-book, 05/15/20.
The Center of the Cyclone: An Autobiography of Inner Space / John C. Lilly (1972)
First read it as a teenager in 1980. Enjoyed it — did I really?! — along with Catañeda’s Journey… and Huxley’s Doors…, but a bit less than those, as I found the second half of the book difficult and uninteresting — this second time around was… worse.
I recently (finally!) got around to reading Chayefsky’s Altered States (after indelibly scarring the Ken Russell film into my eyes/brain in the ’80’s-’90’s) and thought I’d give this another go.
Oy! No!
It’s the tale of two books really: I breezed through the first half of this book — an interesting 3-4 star book over the first 112 pages — wherein the author explores the limits of being and awareness via isolation tank studies and varying altered states of consciousness in a generally sober manner using the scientific method.
And then he bends scientific method to meet his needs in the second half of the book — which is at times unreadable, and often laughable, and reminds me of everything I detest about new-agey / quasi-scientific clap trap. The Oscar Ichazo section is absolutely “TURD-U-LENT” and makes up most of the second half of this book. The “state category” converstion transcript between Lilly and Ichazo; the astrological mumbo jumbo; the Gurdjieffian vibration level / States of Consciuosness / Samadhi “Levels of Consciousness” tables…
NO! (more power to u for ur enjoyment) NOT FOR ME!
It still doesn’t detract from a very interesting (“Faustian”) first 112 pages… but what a let down. Even more so the second time around with 39 years under my belt.
Backstory: I have a history with this book. My father gave it to me and offered to drop acid with me (such a skeezy and creepy proposition) — which I naturally declined — but I think it’s safe to say this book is “charged” for me.
Needless to say, for myriad reasons, (namely temporal ones) I won’t be giving this one another “go round” in another 39 years (tho, I would read the first 100 pages again if so inclined)… ugh! / e-book, 05/17/20.
The Friend / Sigrid Nunez (2018)
National Book Award fiction winner, 2018. Intriguing, slim, novel about loss, grief, an enormous dog, and lots about writing — I really found that aspect of this book so engaging (really enjoyed a quasi-David Markson aspect to some of the passages) — and the surprise (for me) that is “Part Eleven” makes it worthy of a reread… and I will… “DEFEAT THE BLANK PAGE!” Yay! / hardcover, 05/19/20.
The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic That Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics / Stephen Cross (2016)
Good, solid, history about so much more than the small pox epidemic of 1721 in Massachusetts, especially Boston. There is more than one “fever” afoot — wide ranging: pre- revolutionary “fever,” bad governance “fever,” the “fever” behind colonial publishing, the small pox “fever” of course, the “fever” of open sea piracy, the “fever” between the Anglican Church and Puritanism, and sundry other “fevers.” Spends a great deal of time outside of 1721 and the small pox, and it’s all the stronger for it; but as I’m concurrently reading Tuchman’s lively history, Distant Mirror…, of the 14th century — this book, unfortunately pales (a bit) in comparison — the narrative is a bit flat and straightforward, and that’s fine. Very well researched. / e-book, 05/21/20.
Poetry April 2020 / Don Share (ed.) (2020)
The Gertrude Stein / Bianca Stone reimagining was great, so was Madeline Gins’ “Tranformatory Power” piece, and Sally Wen Mao’s “Nucleation” (easily the strongest piece in this collection), et al… both Joy Landin pieces (the poem and the essay) were the black hole here (oy! what a way to end… a deflating hiss…) / paperback, 05/22/20.
The Devils of Loudon / Aldous Huxley (1952)
Masterly synthesis from a sharp mind and keen writer that actually makes the over-the-top Ken Russell film seem tame at times. Many boundaries tested and extremes crossed in this 17th-century history of “demonic” possession. But there is at times a recondite quality to the narrative, and a slightly haughty pose affected here and there — nonetheless very good! / hardcover, 05/23/20.
Tsim Tsum / Sabrina Oran Mark (2009)
If the ontological imperative crashed into Bjork’s “Human Behavior” video and cracked the pixilated dimension open — and out ran the “felty” moth and bear, and they in turn fractured Gertrude Stein’s toy box — here be Walter B. & Beatrice.
From the “hello kitty twee” of the “Oldest Animal Writes A Letter” (s) oy! (So many letters!) to the great opening lines of “Walter B.’s Extraordinary Cousin Arrives for a Visit” … “...Beatrice and Walter B. were in the bath reciting scenes from their favorite sentences.”
Not a bad way to spend an hour… if u can stomach the twee.
Talented writer. Will check out Mark’s Wild Milk. / e-book, 05/24/20.
So You Want to Start a Podcast… / Kristen Meinzer (2019)
Simple, straightforward, and delivers what it promises (except the hit show… that’s up to u): a primer… that’s it. / e-book, 05/25/20.
Year of Wonders / Geraldine Brooks (2001)
Another tale of plague, this time it’s 1666. An astounding story with overly wrought bits of “twisty-ness and contrivance” that would have impressed O. Henry. One of the twists was foreshadowed early and so it was expected. But I was quite put off at first — because I’m not entertained, nor do I feel edifed by that particular genre turn (which is ever so popular but repellant to me) — and I kid you not about the umpteen denouements and twists as the narrative winds down.
But as much as I dislike those elements, nothing can really detract from what Brooks does here through the first 80% of the book. What a sublimely researched — and then imagined story!
I wish the Hallmark Channel “crapulousness” could have been avoided, but Brooks does such an amazing writerly job up to that point that while (for me) the story becomes ludicrously frangible, rushed, and way too twisty the preceding 80% was so GENIUS (and topical) that it’s nonetheless a very worthwhile read. / e-book, 05/27/20.
A Man Without A Country / Kurt Vonnegut (2005)
Mostly funny book of short essays, memoir-ish, about humanity, writing, war, culture, growing old, politics… just about everything. Sometime KV pulls up his pants to his chest and waves his fist at the kids in the yard, but it’s mostly sepia-toned wistfulness and frustration at human absurdity. Nicely done short read. His last (before the posthumous releases). / e-book, 05/28/20.
Hidden Valley Road / Robert Kolker (2020)
Bound to be one of the best books of 2020. How schizophrenia destroyed a family: harrowing, tiring, frustrating, life-affirming and so well put together. Will go and check out Kolker’s Lost Girls next. What a journey! / audiobook, 05/29/2020.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus / Charles C. Mann (2005)
A good, strong, tonic against our national miseducation. / e-book, 05/30/20.
Little Eyes / Samanta Schweblin (2020)
Wow! Read it in one sitting. Disquieting. So well done. Tiniest bit of flatness around the 75% mark. I loved the truncated narratives we never reclaim. Great stuff. Moving on to Fever Dream immediately. What talent and imagination! / e-book, 05/31/20.
June
Introducing Postmodernism / Richard Appignanesi, et al. (1995)
A fresh presentation of sometimes dense material in appropriately pastiche fashion… the certainty of reason is a tyranny. / e-book, 06/01/20.
Fever Dream / Samanta Schweblin (2017)
On the heels of having read Little Eyes, which I loved, I immediately dove into this… oy! Reminds me of my frustration reading Henry James’s Turn of the Screw. I hated this, almost DNF’d it three times. Don’t want to hear about rescue distances, worms, horses, green houses, gold bikinis, iced teas, the 28 graves… stop! This book belonged in the 29th grave. Everybody die already and go to hell! Frustrating for me. I LOVED Little Eyes and liked Mouthful of Birds — this conceit wasn’t for me. I still love Schweblin’s writing, ideas & themes. / hardcover, 06/02/20.
Experimental Fiction: An Introduction for Readers and Writers / Julie Armstrong (2014)
Neat survey of experimental fiction from modernist era to new era (post-post modern). I enjoy reading a book that expands my “to read” list by 5%. The writing prompts / exercises are mostly useless. / paperback, 06/03/20.
On Imagination / Mary Ruefle (2017)
I really enjoy Ruefle’s poetry, and so I imagine that this chapbook on imagination is better than it is — and I am thankful to have been introduced to Emily Dickinson’s white goat in the attic. / e-book, 06/04/20.
Zap Comix #16 / Robert Crumb, et al. (2015)
graphic anthology… ah… no! maybe if i were a 14-year old boy… the saving graces are the many ailene & r. crumb collabs… smells as bad as an s. clay panel looks. / e-book, 06/07/20.
The United States Enters the World Stage: 1867-1919 / James Lincoln Collier (1997)
Slim, and solid, primer about US’s imperialist beginnings thru WWI. / e-book, 06/08/20.
Guest Book: Ghost Stories / Leanne Shapton (2019)
Oblique artifact, in book form, of haunted (haunting) narratives: some absolutely “Marienbad-esque” (“The Couple” & “Middle Distance”) some inscrutable (“Gymnopiedes”) some darkly funny (“Billy Byron” & “Etre Chez Soi”) and everything in between. Love the marriage of found (and set) photography, original art, and narrative. Will check out more Shapton. / e-book, 06/09/20.
Master Harold and the boys / Athol Fugard (1982)
So poignant and powerful in its simplicity. An act of betrayal so simple — yet disgusting — it reminds us why we are like hamsters running endlessly on the wheel… Sam: “…Open a newspaper and what do you read? America has bumped into Russia, England is bumping into India, rich man bumps into poor man. Those are big collisions, Hally. They make for a lot of bruises. People get hurt in all that bumping, and we’re sick and tired of it now. It’s been going on for too long. Are we ever going to get it right?”
apparently not… / e-book, 06/10/20.
We / Yevgeny Zamyatin (1921)
Re-read. Second time around and I still think it’s the least (though still good!) of the big 3 modernist dystopias — even though it was the first. Each successive author: Huxley, then Orwell, improved upon the themes and made it a stronger, more horrifying dystopia. Orwell, in my estimation, wrote the best, most horryfing (and by extension most engaging) story… then again he had two decades and 20 million deaths (wars, concentration camps, gulags) to improve upon the subject.
Looking Backward / Edward Bellamy (1888)
Dull and pedantic attempt at the Utopia narrative. Discursive, unimaginative and overly didactic and so far away from being remotely engaging. Like reading distribution reports or an OBM report. Mesmeric time tripping tripe. The fact that it sold so many books, and was the source of so many Bellamy clubs, begs us to remember that Dianetics and Fifty Shades of Grey were best sellers and had cult followings… ‘nuff said. I wanted to give it one star, but that I reserve for DNF’s — which I almost did with this half a dozen times. Bellamy ain’t no Swift. / e-book, 06/11/20.
Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century / Barbara Tuchman (1978)
More plague! An astounding history and master narrative of 14th century Europe (mostly France) seen through the lens of the noble Coucy family: plague, papal schisms, wars, debauchery, knaive-ishness, vainglory, crusades… it has it all in spades, as it recounts one of the darkest centuries in western history. Great, long read! / hardcover, 06/12/20.
Postmodernism for Beginners / James N. Powell (2007)
Enjoyed the fist 3/4’s of this book and then it seemed to fizzle and read as something quite dated — at this point it is, obviously (25-years later). But I really enjoyed the marriage of graphics and Q&A to “deconstruct” a dense field of thought. / e-book, 06/13/20.
A Shameful Life / Osamu Dazai (1948)
“There is a word: ‘pariah.’ In human society this word is used to indicate those who have failed, the pathetic, the immoral. Ever since I was born, I felt I was a pariah…” and then it’s all downhill from there! Bleak house-o-rama. Good stuff. / e-book, 06/15/20.
The Salt Path / Raynor Winn (2019)
As a long distance hiker I gravitate to walking journey/backpacking stories, and this one delivered the truth about a long walk: the tedium, the bad breaks, the awful food, bad weather, the Sisyphean repetition of all day walking tens of miles and sleeping outdoors (rinse, repeat… endlessly… or at least as many weeks or months as you’re walking) — but it also delivers on the transcendent moments of beauty and exhilaration, of pushing one’s body to and beyond its limits, and the exultant feeling of finishing a long distance hike.
It’s also a rumination on the issues around homelessness — it operates as an amazing concurrent motif. Well done there!
Sure, Winn could have benefited from some better editing, but given how the book resolved — and the obvious follow up (The Wild Silence) coming in a few months — it, ostensibly, was a strategy to leave something out, and maybe overlook some extraneous or repetitive passages.
An editing oversight? Or crass tactic to fill out the book instead of cutting back on the repetition?
If the publishers / editors would have chosen one well told, tight, book at 250 pages, instead of two books at 288 pages — it might have been more satisfying — with fewer cavils from some.
But every time I got frustrated with the narrative I had to re-engage with my empathy and remember why they were doing what they were doing in the fashion they were doing it.
Still a great narrative, with a lack of tightness and denouement (especially at end) but well worth the read… and even a re-read in the future.
Amazing bits of bad luck, balanced out with some great luck, and hard earned triumph (despite the foreboding) at end of this first book. Winn’s talented with natural description. / paperback, 06/16/20.
Medallion Staus: True Stories from Secret Rooms / John Hodgman (2020)
Another set of solid and funny nonfictions, with a couple of near-shrill moments (midway thru) that broke the spell, but finished strong with stories about Petey, Scientology/Trump, and tying it up with Maine again. Hard to follow up the brilliance of Vacationland, but still very good. / hardcover, 06/19/20.
On The Beach / Nevil Shute (1957)
If this is bleak now it must have seemed especially apocalyptic, five years after publication in October of 1962, during the Missile Crisis.
Now we’re merely inured to inhumanity, and this is still a searing book, suffused with sadness. We’re so good at killing each other, and the planet — without the Cobalt bombs! (today)…
But Shute spends his time showing us what the dignity of humanity might be like when staring at the very final hours. Very much a product of its mid-20th century time, but also potentially timeless. An engaging speculation.
The film is an abomination in comparison to this book — utter melodramatic tripe. I’m glad I read the book first. Had I seen the film, I might have skipped the novel.
I think I’ll read some more Shute. / e-book & audiobook, 06/20/20.
Hiroshima / John Hersey (1946/1985)
Re-read this after finishing Nevil Shute’s On The Beach — seems Shute did some very good research about the effects of radiation. I was struck by the power of this book (especially the first four chapters) again. I’d originally read it without the 1985 update (chapter five), and it certainly answered many unanswered questions that had accrued during the 40 years after its publication. Should be required reading everywhere. / paperback, 06/21/20.
Literary Theory / David Carter (2006)
Short survey of literary theory of the 20th century, not exactly leisure reading, but a decent reference for a refresh. / e-book, 06/22/20.
People of Paper / Salvador Plascencia (2005)
DNF’d (did not finish) abandoned reading at Chapter Sixteen, about 65% of the way in — first (and hopefully only) DNF this year.
In theory it has everything I like: a postmodern approach, a great structural conceit, a Latinx subject (I’m Latinx) and an obviously talented writer.
But the narrative doesn’t hold together for me — nor do I find it interesting — and after 5 weeks of slowly plodding through it, and putting it down — I’ve had enough.
I can’t imagine going another 80 pages with this. Maybe I’ll come back and try it again in the future. There’s so much else to read (and enjoy) right now. / e-book, 06/24/20.
Feed / M.T. Anderson (2002)
Recommended by a professor of Utopian/Dystopian Lit. — I maybe read one YA (young adult literature) book every few years, and didn’t expect much, especially as the previous recommendation was Looking Backward (not YA lit) and it was a bomb (not thee bomb: a bomb!).
Surprisingly good stuff here! I like where MT Anderson defies our expectations — and especially his skewering of our culture and his futuristic speculations. Doesn’t downplay to young adults, and quite engaging for the oldsters. Will check out more Anderson. / e-book, 06/24/20.
Poetry May 2020 / Don Share (ed.) (2020)
I really disliked the “Comment” section again.
Loved all the Mary Ruefle, especially “Red” (heh!); also standouts from Kyle Carrego Lopez’s “(slang)uage”, Inua Ellams (both “Fuck/…”(‘s), Safia Elhilo, Dean Browne, TC Tolbert’s “T”, and Helen Mort, et al.
Maybe next time I’ll read “Comment” first and then the poetry… so I walk away with a better impression? / paperback, 06/25/20.
The Motion of the Body Through Space / Lionel Shriver (2020)
Disappointing. Shrill. One dimensional — even after the “Afterword” which tries to humanize these curmudgeons.
Chapter 6 is a contrived travesty of ham fisted situations, and stark cartoonish characterizations. Almost DNF’d there, but held on…
See, I really liked her last novel, The Mandibles, despite a problematic characterization there as well — that was a near genius “dystopic” take on American culture. And I also liked Property: Stories… These were the only two Shriver books I’d read so far, but this?!
Cover to cover acrimony and unengaging. I had to stop reading and check out some blurbs on LitHub — a couple of outlets found it OK, and one said hold out until the last chapter for a payoff — so I read on…
Then I imagined an author working away, cracking a smile, and so full of herself, hovering over her keys, thinking she’s meting out some “Trumpian come-uppance” but it’s merely shrill and meretricious posturing.
You’re a lot more talented than that, Lionel. Caricatures! There isn’t a single truly complex character here — certainly not Serenata or Remington “Alabaster”… really? How infantile! So glad I checked this out of the library, and didn’t spend a penny.
I’m pissed because now it seems like she hoodwinked me with The Mandibles. This is a waste of time and talent. Shriver is talented. But this book is tripe.
Best to let this book speak for me via Serenata:
“This whole venture, it’s so joyless, what’s the point?”
And later (this book is):
“… a torture of the sort they would have contrived at Guantanamo or Bergen Belsen…”
This was a (literary?!) sucker punch… and I didn’t even get to read “… Talk About Kevin” before Shriver lost me.
¡Hasta Luego, sistah! / e-book, 06/25/20.
Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis / Jared Diamond (2019)
One of those solid, engrossing, and enlightening histories. Deals with the critical moments of six nations in the last two centuries. Crises points for Finland, Chile, Japan, Germany, Australia, and the U.S.
Chapter 10 should be required reading for all U.S. citizens.
Masterfully researched with great personal anecdotes. Will read the first two in the trilogy soon. Very well done. / e-book, 06/26/20.
Treasure Island / Robert Louis Stevenson (1879)
Shiver me timbers, that’s a rippin’ yarn! About time I got around to it. / e-book & audiobook, 06/28/20.
The United States in the Cold War: 1945-1989 / Christopher Collier (1997)
A tad jingoistic to close. Ok. Brief history of US 1945-1990, as seen through prism of the Cold War. e-book, 06/29/20.
The Book of Eels / Patrik Svensson (2020)
A remarkable book that I didn’t know I needed to read. An engaging, braided, nonfiction narrative I couldn’t imagine would be so engrossing, about a subject which I’d never deeply considered: eels!
But Svensson weaves in history/philosophy (Aristotle, Freud, Bering, et al.) with deep philosophical isssues (existential and ontological questions) and adds literary intersections (Grass, Carson) over the backdrop of his relationship with his father over the course of years spent eel fishing and all things eel related (and so much more).
Amazing little book! One of the best books this year. / hardcover, 06/30/20.
“I have studied what we have done to the planet and I object. I object to the exploitation of, and the lack of respect for, human laborers. I object to the frantic commercialization of the many realms of daily life, I object to the desecration of what is beautiful, to the celebration of what is venal, and to the ethical obtuseness of the king’s adoring enablers. I object to society’s complacency.”
Were you like me this year? At a certain point of the year you knew, that if you didn’t become infected and sick —or worse (you know the score) — you’d end up reading a lot more books than usual.
The activities I enjoyed most became potentially dangerous to my health. Museums shut down, concerts were cancelled, theaters shuttered, ballparks went players and cut-outs only, eating out at restaurants became a health hazard, if you were smart you cancelled your vacation — or modified it to day hikes out in the nearby national forests or parks. In short, life outside the home was radically altered. This was my cultural life this past year — outside of the home, anyway.
My last museum visit was to the PAMM in downtown Miami on February 24, 2020. The last movie theater I visited was the Tower Theater in Miami, and the last film I saw there was Corpus Christi (an excellent Polish import) on the same date. The next day February 25, 2020, was the last day I ate at a restaurant — Shorty’s Bar-B-Que, an oldie and a good one — and my last airplane flight was two days later, February 27, 2020 —when I flew back from a family visit to Miami (the last time I saw my extended family in the flesh) and arrived back at Logan Airport in Boston. The last concert I attended was Kronos Quartet at Zankel Hall at the Carnegie Hall complex in New York City on January 25, 2020. The last play I attended was Gloria: A Life on February 8, 2020 at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge.
I was supposed to see U.S. Girls on the first leg of their U.S. tour at The Dance (a club now permanently closed due to COVID-19) in New York City on February 18, 2020, but I sold the tickets as COVID-19 was starting to spread in the U.S. What followed was a slew of concert ticket reselling, e.g., Dry Cleaning in New York City on March 8, 2020, and a torrent of rescheduling and cancellations from Thom Yorke in Virginia on March 27, 2020 to Bikini Kill in Burlington,VT on November 24, 2020 — and a host of other shows we had tickets to: The Swans, Juana Molina, The Decemberists, Dead Can Dance, Billy Joel, Madness, Julia Wofe’s Anthracite Fields, They Might Be Giants, Stereolab, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were cancelled and refunded.
We cancelled our cross country vacation to San Diego. I cancelled a cross-Oregon bikepacking trip. Just like everyone else all our plans were dashed.
Yet we are thankful, and fortunate, to be unaffected by COVID-19 (health-wise). Both Pattie (my life-partner) and I are very thankful to be healthy and not have close family affected by COVID-19, although we both know people affected, and I have a cousin and aunt in Miami who were sick with COVID-19 and recovered.
Over the past 3-years I set out to read 100 books a year (2 books a week). I realized that as an English Literature and Creative Writing graduate there were so many classic (and not so classic) books yet to read — more than I’d ever be able to read in a lifetime — and so many books I’d leave unread. So I purposefully cut down on TV-viewing and general time-wasting. In 2017 I read 101 books; in 2018 I read 160 books; and in 2019 I read 147 books as per my goodreads.com page: https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/11621?ref=nav_profile_rc
In March, when Massachusetts went into COVID-19 lockdown, I had a feeling I might read more books than ever before — the 160 I read in 2018. (I’ll let you know if I did on Thursday) The intention was there, but admittedly I spent most of March glued to the TV taking in every bit of COVID-19 information available — nearly a dozen hours of TV daily. I managed to unglue myself from “the tube” in April.
Stephen King said, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
Below I share with you what I read this year: by month, title, author, a very brief response to the book, the format of the book, and the date I finished the book.
I made very good use of the Boston Public Library e-book and audiobook collection. I also intended to read through, and minimize, my “tsundoku” pile (look it up) of 182 books, but I’ve finished only a fraction at this point — I kept on buying and checking out new books.
(Note: I often read 3-6 books simultaneously (sometimes more) — high school and college style — and that accounts for sometimes finishing fairly long books in such close temporal succession)
This is what I read this year. This is Part 1, January- March:
January
Grand Union / Zadie Smith(2019)
short-story collection… some good, a few very good, a couple a’ clunkers… see fer’ yrself — thank u, ms. smith… / ebook, 01/01/20.
Kathy Acker / Blood and Guts in High School(1984)
reread… third time around and it continues to reveal more of itself — doubtless i’ll b back in another decade for another spin… / paperback, 01/02/20.
And the Hippos Were Being Boiled in Their Tanks / Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs(1945/2008)
surprising and pleasant anachronism saved from the floorboards of time, a hard-boiled few hours o’ pre-beat sensations… / e-book, 01/03/30.
Big Sur / Jack Kerouac (1962)
yea for the sea — yay for auspicious walden-like weeks turning delirium madness — yeah for insanity of mind and some o’ the most memorable paranoiac-critical moments committed to the page (that i’ve crossed in a good long while, anyway)… yes, i say — “o’ harbinger of death…” / e-book, 01/04/20.
Endgame / Samuel Beckett (1957)
“old stancher! no… yes… no… yes… yes!
i turn aside, reflect. i write no more.” / paperback, 01/06/20.
Miami / Joan Didion(1987)
febrile, insightful, and picayune all at once… a bit of nostalgia for the old hometown (i left in ‘89) and a stark reminder of why i left. / hardcover, 01/07/20.
How Music Works / David Byrne(2012)
should be required reading for anyone with even a passing interest in music, very well researched and written. / hardcover, 01/08/20.
Tom Waits on Tom Waits: Interviews and Encounters / Paul Maher Jr. (2011)
some great interviews and writing here from disparate sources, but also lots of repetition… lots of repetition… lots of repetition… lots of repetition… lots of repetition… lots of repetition… lots of repetition… / e-book, 01/11/20.
The Minuteman: The Forgotten Legacy of Nat Arno and the Fight Against Newark’s Nazis / Greg Donahue (2020)
short audible audiobook… resonances of philip roth’s (fictional) plot against america… seems like the perfect nonfiction analog to that… three cheers for kicking nazi’s asses! / audible original audiobook, 01/12/20.
William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll / Casey Rae (2019)
interesting factoids abound… the strength of the book is the subject… the achilles is the writing… one for burroughs completists… / hardcover, 01/16/20.
The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming / David Wallace – Wells (2019)
relentlessly grim, but this needs to be understood by all… pass the morphine drip… a must read! / e-book, 01/17/20.
Your Writing Coach / Jurgen Wolff (2004)
ah… oh… meh… eh… hmm… one must love books about the act of writing to read so many of them… eeees ok…with caveats on the author’s particular focus on the pecuniary… / e-book, 01/19/20.
The Chairs / Eugene Ionesco (1951)
all ye need to know… “Perhaps it’s because the further one goes, the deeper one sinks. It’s because the earth keeps turning around, around, around, around…” / e-book, 01/20/20.
It Burns / Marc Fennell (2019)
odd little audio book… full of sound and fury… ultimately signifying nothing… but fascinating nonetheless… / audible original audiobook, 01/22/20.
Basic Illustrated Bike Touring and Bikepacking / Justin Lichter & Justin Kline (2015)
basic guide intended for the neophyte… / paperback, 01/29/20.
The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays / Albert Camus (1955)
re-read… a life-long touchstone… a good way to begin each decade, over the last 3 decades… my fifth time thru this book… faceted and always revealing something new… / paperback, 01/31/20.
February
Unexpected Stories / Octavia Butler (2014)
ok… “a necessary being” being the better of the two… “childfinder” felt rushed and somehow incomplete… a nice posthumous find… / e-book, 02/03/20.
The Best Small Fictions 2017 / Tara Lynn Marsh
great flashes here.. another tsundoku down… / paperback, 02/08/20.
Magical Negro / Morgan Parker (2019)
fierce… fiercer… fiercest… “white propaganda is a stutter of imagination…” / paperback, 02/11/20.
Poetry / October 2019 (2019)
ok… naoko fujimoto’s quaterfold “lake michigan” alone is worth the price of admission to this poetry anthology… / paperback, 02/12/20.
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy / Ta-Neishi Coates (2017)
difficult and necessary tonic… so well written, from an author willing to constantly reconsider and grow… a must read… / hardcover, 02/14/20.
Between the World and Me / Ta-Neishi Coates (2015)
amazing that after nearly 60 years these 2 short plays not only seem more relevant but also retain their power to shock… astounding and uncomfortable… necessary discomforts without palatable resolutions.. / paperback, 02/17/20.
Malcolm and Me / Ishmael Reed (2020)
short memoir of a time and place in reed’s life with malcolm x as the unifying figure… deals with much more than malcolm… / audible original audiobook, 02/18/20.
Elements of Fiction / Walter Mosley (2020)
an immensely disappointing read… i’m such a fan of this year you write your novel, truly one of the top five books i’ve ever read about writing, and i like to read ‘em all… this read like what trying to juggle bags of gel must feel like… potboiler set-piece examples… trying, dull, storylines as paradigms… there’s no heat here for me outside of pages 105-108, and very little that resonates for me… so happy to see others are getting something from this monograph… i’m thoroughly perplexed and unhappy that I didn’t enjoy it… and this really dragged for me for such a short book… / hardcover, 02/20/20.
The Bear / Andrew Krivac (2020)
slight and pleasant enough post-apocalyptic fantasia… if one removes the greatest threat from the post-apocalypse — other humans and their brutal determinism — one is left with this “edenic” allegory… has a slight y.a. feel for my sensibility… well written… okay enough… / e-book, 02/22/20.
Friday Black / Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah (2018)
great imaginative collection… standouts: “lark street,” “finklestein 5,” “friday black,” “light spitter,” & “zimmer land,”… love the absurdism… love some of the “fresh” speculative fiction turns… look forward to anything new by adjei-brenyah… good stuff… / paperback, 02/24/20.
True Grit / Charles Portis (1968)
surprisingly, unexpectedly, good… looking forward to reading more portis (unfortunately posthumously) after a belated start… / e-book, 02/26/20).
March
The Flu of 1918: Millions of Dead Worldwide! / Jessica Rudolph (2010)
topical… historical… wash your hands… / e-book, 03/01/20.
Influenza: The Hundred-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History (2018)
interesting enough… full o’ factoids about the 1918 pandemic… and much more recent stuff like the tamiflu scam… topical enough… / e-book, 03/03/20.
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention / Manning Marable (2011)
an exhaustive dive into the life of malcolm x and beyond… goes further than haley’s the autobiography... way beyond… captures the heroic rise and the conflicting/conflicted impulses of x… very well researched… good scholarship… / e-book, 03/06/20.
Crisis in the Red Zone / Richard Preston (2019)
i couldn’t put this down after starting… so well researched and written… and even more gripping than the hot zone with the continual cross cutting and temporal jumps… masterful nonfiction like all of preston’s nonfiction books thus far… / hardcover, 03/09/20.
Native Son / Richard Wright (1940)
taut and well written first 2/3’s (“fear” & “flight”)… overly didactic and heavy handed last 1/3 (“fate”)… still powerful, important & seminal… still shocks today… prescient… a necessary foundation for ellison & baldwin to follow & fine tune… / paperback, 03/12/20.
Cane / Jean Toomer (1923)
re-read… read this as an undergrad years ago… still a classic at seamlessly marrying poetry and prose… the height in my mind of harlem renaissance writing… / paperback, 03/15/20.
“Underneath the particular image in question, the particular short story or musical composition, we’re looking for a source of hope.”
less of our fellow human beings
not that it ever did
but
life seems
especially meaningless
chaotic when surveyed
from the tail end
of a year such as this
sharp loss
seasoned with terror
at the close of the deadliest
year in our history
the horrible
the unnecessary
the senseless
death
“Colonizers write about flowers.
I tell you about children throwing rocks at Israeli tanks
seconds before becoming daisies.
I want to be like those poets who care about the moon.
Palestinians don’t see the moon from jail cells and prisons.”
— Noor Hindi / “Fuck Your Lectures on Craft, My People Are Dying”
I forget what that final word is. Time fog is hellish. What more do you require on the day of your death at 5:26 am?
“I like to get up when the dawn comes… The morning is the best time, there are no people around. My pleasant disposition likes the world with nobody in it.”
— Georgia O’ Keeffe / “Georgia O’Keeffe at Ghost Ranch”
I overhear them talking of justice served brusquely — of a red white and blue slap on the face. I hear them consider who to bring justice to next: the sliver of sharp approbation, the soft formless rejections of mercy. They’d kill just about anyone if they could get away with it, and they get away with an awful bruising lot. No cause for concern if you don’t cross their smoke-filled path, their grimy brows, or their sweat-impregnated clothes — the smell of fetid napalm drops absorbed on the hem of their soiled pants. One slicks his hair back in the countenance of Lugosi’s Dracula. Another has hair perfectly combed and sprayed in all the right places. One has an oily, dandruff speckled shock — the combination of the two as improbable as snow in Homestead. They mean business, and their business is booming.
“Who the hell wants unity with Nazis until and unless they stop being Nazis? … Deference to intolerance feeds intolerance.”
thee istsfor manity reader 