I squeaked over the 50-book barrier last year, despite a lot of work and tumult. I read less poetry than usual, but I'm not scolding myself. I won't lie and say, oh but I read so much poetry online, because it's not true. Because I spent much time on airplanes, I listened to a number of story podcasts. Perhaps I'll try to remember them all for a separate list.
My favorite book this year was
War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, a somewhat hybrid memoiry-fiction about WWI that was very affecting.
There were books that disappointed, like Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. I also listened to a podcast of one of his stories, which I also disliked. I quite wanted to like Calvino, him being a legend and all, but there you have it. I found Invisible Cities a bit of a yawn, and the story, whose title I forget, sexist and ridiculous.
I likewise disliked A Little Life by Hanya Yanaghihara, with its bad writing decisions, emotional-disaster tourism and sappy shot at "affirmation." I put this in a category with Bel Canto, which I also dislike, of books that try above all to say oh yes life can be awful but we're alive and did our best and love triumphs over death etc etc and here are some sunrises to prove it, which turns my stomach.
I did back-to-back Dickens, which was fun. Dombey and Son beat out Our Mutual Friend, which has a fatal flaw, in my opinion, though it was still enjoyable.
I also read two Brenda Hillman poetry collections and am happy to say she's wonderful.
I read Clarice Lispector for the first time this year, both The Hour of the Star and The Passion According to G.H. I admired her writing a lot and hope to read more this year.
I sought out dystopian & apocalyptic novels but was underwhelmed. The best of them was Margaret Atwood's Oryx & Crake and The Year of the Flood, which were imaginative and, most importantly, well written. I skipped the last of the trilogy out of fear of disappointment.
Other books I'd recommend are Édouard Levé's Autoportrait and How to Be Both by Ali Smith, one of my favorite writers.
1. Pieces of Air in the Epic by Brenda Hillman (Jan 2) USA
2. War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans (Jan 13) Netherlands
3. The Best American Mystery Stories, ed. Carl Hiaasen (Jan 17) USA
4. Eventide by Kent Haruf (Jan 21) USA
5. The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson (Jan 22) USA
6. A Little Life by Hanya Yanaghihara (Feb 4) USA
7. The Old Cities by Marcel Brouwers (Feb 11) USA
8. I Love Dick by Chris Kraus (Feb 17) USA
9. The Ground I Stand on Is Not My Ground (Feb 25) USA
10. The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink (Feb 26) USA
11. Ice Mountain by Dave Bonta (Mar 9) USA
12. Loose Sugar by Brenda Hillman (winter) USA
13. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (Mar 26)* UK
14. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (Apr 30) UK
15. Hot Milk by Deborah Levy (May 6) UK
16. Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (May 10) USA
17. Fortune Cookies by Andrew Cox (May 14) USA
18. How to Be Both by Ali Smith (May 21) UK
19. The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes (May 27) UK
20. Karate Chop by Dorthe Nors (May 31) Denmark
21. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (May 31) - gave up USA
22. I am Legend by Richard Matheson (Jun 1) USA
23. Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Jun 3) Argentina
24. The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Lhosa (June 18) Peru
25. The Indifferent World by Ken Craft (Jun 18) USA
26. The Summer Book by Tove Jannson (June 21) Finland
27. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller (July 4) USA
28. Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (July 15) USA
29. The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (July 21) USA
30. The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh (July 28) UK
31. What a Carve Up! by Jonathan Coe (Aug 9) UK
32. Night Fever: Interior Design for Bars and Clubs, ed. Frame Magazine (Aug 9)
33. Animals by Simon Beckett (Aug 10) UK
34. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Aug 13) Canada
35. Recyclopedia by Harryette Mullen (Aug 13) USA
36. The Calling of the Grave by Simon Beckett (Aug 15) UK
37. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (Aug 22) Canada
38. Tinkers by Paul Harding (Aug 27) USA
39. Dark Blonde by Belle Waring (autumn) USA
40. Anna Édes by Dezso Kosztolányi (Sep 3) Hungary
41. Artless: Art by Simple Means by Marc Valli (Oct 15)
42. The Book of the Bird: Birds in Art by Angus Hyland (Oct 17)
43. Experimental Film by Gemma Files (Oct 27) USA
44. Underground Fugue by Margot Singer (Nov) UK
45. Tales of H.P. Lovecraft (Nov 11) USA
46. The Mirror Thief by Martin Seay (Dec 10) USA
47. Autoportrait by Edouard Leve (Dec 11) France
48. Paintings in Proust by Eric Karpeles (Dec 15) USA
49. Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino (Dec 16) Italy
50. The Passion According to G.H. by Clarice Lispector (Dec 27) Brazil
51. Lawrence Booth’s Book of Visions by Maurice Manning (Dec 27) USA
I’ve been able to finish some new Misery poems this past week, though I am facing a disheartening glue conundrum. The stick doesn’t hold forever, and wet glues eat the thin pages. I’ve spent more than 50 euros trying different glues, to no avail. I ordered extra-strong glue sticks a couple days ago, and hope that brings a solution. Glue sticks are super because they don’t warp and well and they don’t weaken the paper. But they’re not lasting.
