Bookwormish, 4th quarter of 2017
Dec. 30th, 2017 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarTime for that thing where I tell you my favorites out of the many books I read this quarter of the year!
...Wait, I have to pick just some of them as favorites? But I read 29 books this quarter and I liked almost all of them... Arggggh. These "favorites" lists get longer every time...
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – As excellent as advertised! A deep and personal look at racism and police brutality in America through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, but also an amazing portrait of a family and a community. Even better, I listened to the audiobook read by Bahni Turpin, and she's so good. The voices, and the characters' code-switching between different registers in different social contexts, brilliantly brought to life.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – I always forget, until I read him again, how Alexie excels at this impossible-seeming mix between tragedy and humor. Really deep tragedy and yet really true humor. Also, he reads the audiobook of this himself, and it's great!
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón – You can tell this author is a poet (he's written with Björk, in fact) because this novel has so few pages but there's so much in there, a whole world of global forces coming together in tiny 1918 Reykjavík. World War I, national independence, personal freedom, the flu epidemic, homosexuality, homophobia... All centered around a rebellious gay teenager and the almost surreal, cinema-inspired world he inhabits.
The Power by Naomi Alderman – Another one that's as great as advertised! Really thoughtful and fascinating exploration of what might happen if women suddenly developed superior physical strength to men, what upheavals might happen and in what directions the world might change. Hint: it's nowhere near as simple as you might imagine. Described as a Margaret Atwood-esque book...and also as a better Margaret Atwood book than Atwood herself has written lately.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – I don't know how to describe Oyeyemi. Somehow different from anyone else I've read, I think. This is a Snow White retelling (sort of) in racially segregated America. It's strange and fascinating.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I finally read Maya Angelou! I'm ashamed it took until now! A beautiful and terrible story of growing up. Somehow, this line really caught me: "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity." Also this: "The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance."
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle – Ah, this one too was as excellent as I'd always heard. Doyle does an amazing job of conveying the sound and feel of working class Dublin, by telling the story almost entirely in dialogue, in the dialect of the characters.
MORE TOP BOOKS:
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro – Can you tell I'm on a roll of "authors I really should have read by now"? Munro is good. I don't know if she's someone I would pick up to read for pleasure, but she's impressive and excellent and thought-provoking. A collection where every story sent me online looking for reviews and discussions, because there's so much in there to chew on.
Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig – A delightful and sometimes heartbreaking story about an incredibly resilient girl determined to find her birth mother. Not because she wants to live with her birth mother (who was abusive) but because Ginny has to fulfill a promise she made five years ago. Ginny is autistic (not to mention has suffered enormous trauma and abuse) so everything is filtered through her first-person POV, and it's so empathetically done. The author isn't himself autistic, but he has a daughter who is, and consensus seems to be that he did a good and respectful job.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – Cleverly, complexly interwoven stories that span from the '60s to a near (and slightly dystopian?) future.
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett – Such a good book! I've been meaning to read more Pratchett, but I didn't totally love the one Discworld book I'd read so far, so I decided to try out his YA series instead – and was much rewarded. This is everything a children's story should be, strong child protagonist, nice worldbuilding and tons of silly humor.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson – Another beautiful but terrible portrait of growing up female and Black in the US, in this case in turbulent 1970s New York.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – I definitely want to read more Jemisin, who is an amazing writer and worldbuilder. Her Inheritance Trilogy is what was recommended to me, but I picked up this one (first in the Broken Earth series) instead, because it's what I was able to find in the library here – and after this I may wait and seek out the Inheritance Trilogy instead of continuing with this one. The world and characters Jemisin sets up here are so good, but the world and its events are also so bleak. Excellent writer I am very excited about, I may just follow her through a different series instead of this one!
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – Just finished this so I'm still digesting it, but very good and very thoughtful, about what it would actually be like for a modern person to be thrust back into the era of American slavery. With the most disturbing part being how much of it the protagonist is able to get used to.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – Ah, Diana Wynne Jones. Quirky and unexpected and a very good storyteller.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov – I know I'm missing so much of what's going on here by not being conversant with the Russian history and culture that informs it, but it was still a surprisingly compelling read!
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing – An interesting nonfiction meditation on the experience of loneliness, mostly through examining the lives of a series of artists.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart – Sweet, nice girl transforms into the "criminal mastermind" of pranks at her posh boarding school. Surprisingly lighthearted and also surprisingly on point in its feminist takedown of old boys' clubs.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden – I'm of a mixed mind; the characters and worldbuilding were great, but the book was soooo slow. Like seven ninths set-up for two ninths stuff actually happening. (I freely admit this was probably made worse by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was...okay. Twelve hours is a long time to listen to someone being just okay!) Not going to read the sequels, but I'm glad I read it, and that wonderful, wintry Russian folklore landscape has definitely stayed with me.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton – The YA book that started it all. I read this shortly after reading Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give and was surprised to find myself feeling resonances between the two books, in the ways they look at prejudice and reputation and the way society treats an act by one person as forgivable, and the same act by a person from a different social group as a serious, perhaps fatal, offense.
I also read more short stories than usual this quarter; some standouts were “Madeleine” by Amal El-Mohtar (so good and so satisfying! you can find it online!), “Previous Condition” by James Baldwin, “Or All the Seas with Oysters” by Avram Davidson, “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges, various stories by Amy Hempel including “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried,” and of course the Alice Munro collection mentioned above.
Overall summing up of the WHOLE YEAR'S READING coming soon!
.
...Wait, I have to pick just some of them as favorites? But I read 29 books this quarter and I liked almost all of them... Arggggh. These "favorites" lists get longer every time...
VERY TOP BOOKS:
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – As excellent as advertised! A deep and personal look at racism and police brutality in America through the eyes of 16-year-old Starr, but also an amazing portrait of a family and a community. Even better, I listened to the audiobook read by Bahni Turpin, and she's so good. The voices, and the characters' code-switching between different registers in different social contexts, brilliantly brought to life.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – I always forget, until I read him again, how Alexie excels at this impossible-seeming mix between tragedy and humor. Really deep tragedy and yet really true humor. Also, he reads the audiobook of this himself, and it's great!
Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón – You can tell this author is a poet (he's written with Björk, in fact) because this novel has so few pages but there's so much in there, a whole world of global forces coming together in tiny 1918 Reykjavík. World War I, national independence, personal freedom, the flu epidemic, homosexuality, homophobia... All centered around a rebellious gay teenager and the almost surreal, cinema-inspired world he inhabits.
The Power by Naomi Alderman – Another one that's as great as advertised! Really thoughtful and fascinating exploration of what might happen if women suddenly developed superior physical strength to men, what upheavals might happen and in what directions the world might change. Hint: it's nowhere near as simple as you might imagine. Described as a Margaret Atwood-esque book...and also as a better Margaret Atwood book than Atwood herself has written lately.
Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi – I don't know how to describe Oyeyemi. Somehow different from anyone else I've read, I think. This is a Snow White retelling (sort of) in racially segregated America. It's strange and fascinating.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou – I finally read Maya Angelou! I'm ashamed it took until now! A beautiful and terrible story of growing up. Somehow, this line really caught me: "Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity." Also this: "The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance."
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle – Ah, this one too was as excellent as I'd always heard. Doyle does an amazing job of conveying the sound and feel of working class Dublin, by telling the story almost entirely in dialogue, in the dialect of the characters.
MORE TOP BOOKS:
The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro – Can you tell I'm on a roll of "authors I really should have read by now"? Munro is good. I don't know if she's someone I would pick up to read for pleasure, but she's impressive and excellent and thought-provoking. A collection where every story sent me online looking for reviews and discussions, because there's so much in there to chew on.
Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig – A delightful and sometimes heartbreaking story about an incredibly resilient girl determined to find her birth mother. Not because she wants to live with her birth mother (who was abusive) but because Ginny has to fulfill a promise she made five years ago. Ginny is autistic (not to mention has suffered enormous trauma and abuse) so everything is filtered through her first-person POV, and it's so empathetically done. The author isn't himself autistic, but he has a daughter who is, and consensus seems to be that he did a good and respectful job.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – Cleverly, complexly interwoven stories that span from the '60s to a near (and slightly dystopian?) future.
The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett – Such a good book! I've been meaning to read more Pratchett, but I didn't totally love the one Discworld book I'd read so far, so I decided to try out his YA series instead – and was much rewarded. This is everything a children's story should be, strong child protagonist, nice worldbuilding and tons of silly humor.
Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson – Another beautiful but terrible portrait of growing up female and Black in the US, in this case in turbulent 1970s New York.
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – I definitely want to read more Jemisin, who is an amazing writer and worldbuilder. Her Inheritance Trilogy is what was recommended to me, but I picked up this one (first in the Broken Earth series) instead, because it's what I was able to find in the library here – and after this I may wait and seek out the Inheritance Trilogy instead of continuing with this one. The world and characters Jemisin sets up here are so good, but the world and its events are also so bleak. Excellent writer I am very excited about, I may just follow her through a different series instead of this one!
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – Just finished this so I'm still digesting it, but very good and very thoughtful, about what it would actually be like for a modern person to be thrust back into the era of American slavery. With the most disturbing part being how much of it the protagonist is able to get used to.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – Ah, Diana Wynne Jones. Quirky and unexpected and a very good storyteller.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS:
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov – I know I'm missing so much of what's going on here by not being conversant with the Russian history and culture that informs it, but it was still a surprisingly compelling read!
The Lonely City by Olivia Laing – An interesting nonfiction meditation on the experience of loneliness, mostly through examining the lives of a series of artists.
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart – Sweet, nice girl transforms into the "criminal mastermind" of pranks at her posh boarding school. Surprisingly lighthearted and also surprisingly on point in its feminist takedown of old boys' clubs.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden – I'm of a mixed mind; the characters and worldbuilding were great, but the book was soooo slow. Like seven ninths set-up for two ninths stuff actually happening. (I freely admit this was probably made worse by the fact that I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was...okay. Twelve hours is a long time to listen to someone being just okay!) Not going to read the sequels, but I'm glad I read it, and that wonderful, wintry Russian folklore landscape has definitely stayed with me.
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton – The YA book that started it all. I read this shortly after reading Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give and was surprised to find myself feeling resonances between the two books, in the ways they look at prejudice and reputation and the way society treats an act by one person as forgivable, and the same act by a person from a different social group as a serious, perhaps fatal, offense.
I also read more short stories than usual this quarter; some standouts were “Madeleine” by Amal El-Mohtar (so good and so satisfying! you can find it online!), “Previous Condition” by James Baldwin, “Or All the Seas with Oysters” by Avram Davidson, “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges, various stories by Amy Hempel including “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried,” and of course the Alice Munro collection mentioned above.
Overall summing up of the WHOLE YEAR'S READING coming soon!
.
