This year I upped my annual Reading Challenge to 45 books. I know that's nuthin' for some people, but it was a lot for me! Let's take a look, shall we?
I have screen-grabbed my Goodreads list for you in 5 sections. This list runs backward in time, so Alison Bechdel at the top was finished two days ago, and Elizabeth Gilbert at the bottom was finished in early January.
I starred the books that I really LOVED this year, which were:
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner--Michelle Zauner does a great job telling the story of her relationship with her Korean mother, and her grief when her mom died a few years ago. There is a LOT of amazing-sounding food in this book.
Umma's Table by Yeon-Sik Hong--This is a graphic memoir that covers some similar territory. The author and his family are Korean and live in Korea, and the story is an homage to his mother: how she cooked and cared for him and his brother, and what happened as she aged and grew ill. A fascinating glimpse into Korean culture that ALSO features a lot of amazing food.
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi--This novel is excellent, a masterpiece of layered, thoughtful, rich storytelling. It is so well written and very contemporary. It's about a PhD student in neuroscience who is studying addiction in mice, and has lost her own brother to opioid addiction. I love what author Roxane Gay wrote about this book on Goodreads: "Not a word or idea out of place. Completely different from Homegoing. THE RANGE. I am quite angry this is so good."
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill--There is something deeply satisfying to me in piecing historical time periods together. Cahill's book helped me to put together what happened after the fall of Rome (around 450) up until the Viking invasions really crumbled the Irish monasteries about 400 years later. An excellent resource for anybody interested in the dark ages, monks, Irish myth, or just plain Irishness. It's a perfect pair with a fave book from last year, Confessions of a Pagan Nun. It also goes very well with the film "The Secret of Kells"--which seems so exactly about the same thing that I wonder if the film-makers also read this book.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke--This novel is fantastic, like literally. The main character lives in a world of hallways and rooms and statues, and keeps very careful notes... but what has he forgotten? How did he get there? How can he piece together things he notices or half remembers or finds in his old journals but can't recall at all? This book is so creative and draws you into its world and its language inexorably. Pretty much perfect.
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto--This book contains two novellas, Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow, and was published in the 80s. The two stories were entrancing... something about the odd characters and the rather flat translation had a slow, calming burn. The stories seemed unremarkable upon consumption, like a warm bowl of plain broth, but later I kept thinking back to how I felt while reading these, which was nourished and interested and curious about what some of the strange flavors might be.
You may notice some awkward blue arrows on my booklist. I was trying to show a reading train of thought. The Index of Self-Destructive Acts was a sweeping family saga set in New York City with the parents and the adult children each having various life-changing experiences. I thought it was intricate and pretty well-written. It reminded me of The Corrections and I thought maybe Jonathan Franzen had done it a little better. So then I picked that up and read it--and yes, Franzen is superb. In his sweeping mid-western family saga, Franzen has full command over each character and the full arc of what happens to him or her and its proper place in the whole story. Then, I thought maybe Charles Dickens might be the REAL master of the saga and character, so I decided to re-read Great Expectations. Honestly... the Dickens was dear, but I liked The Corrections best amongst these 3 books. (I KNOW.) I admire how Franzen has utter control over his material AND over the English/American language, and how it really shows.
So... what did you read this year? Did you read anything on my list? What did you LOVE? Tell us in the comments below!
