Back to Books!

January was full of reads (including a few STELLAR novels)

Reading-wise, this year has kicked off STRONG. I read 14+ books this month, including two new 2024 novels that knocked my socks off, and a lot of fantastic tomes overall. Another great thing about January is I’m taking a cathartic writing class on broken bindings/ “living” grief (aka, mourning the death of relationships and places, not the demise of an actual person). I’ll be sharing more on that in coming weeks. Finally, I had a virtual Sundance pass (something I recommend if you’re into films and can’t fly to Utah) and saw a handful of indie movies that I quite enjoyed, including one by the artist Titus Kaphar entitled Exhibiting Forgiveness, loosely based on his life. It starred André Holland, good in many things but particularly hot, hot, hot in The Knick. (RIP, The Knick, a show that really pushed many buttons for me.)

Also, I’m turning 50 on Saturday. BANANAS. My trainer (and friend) convinced me to buy myself this, and man…it’s a splurge, but it is changing my (superficial) life. I’ve never relied on my looks for much, but it’s still fun to feel cute, you know? I’m thinking a lot about what I want the final chapters of my life to look like, and it’s nice to have a bouncy bob while I float into my second half-century.

On to the books!

5 Star Reads

Beautyland (2024, Fiction): I don’t know people who have read this yet, so I can’t judge how much of my feelings are “this book spoke so deeply to my soul” and how much are “this book is actually quite good”. The premise sounds too bonkers to some - our protagonist makes “ Earth observations” from childhood through adulthood because she believes she’s an alien (reporting to her home planet by fax machine!). I would not classify this book as “sci-fi” in any universe though. Instead, it’s a device for notes on the human experience and aging that had me both cracking up and sobbing throughout the pages. I can’t remember the last time I felt so seen by a book. Adina and I have a lot in common, and when I reached the bittersweet ending, I sat in my chair and cried for a good 20 minutes for both our tender hearts.

Martyr! (2024, Fiction): Another new release that wowed me, and - I can say with confidence- many, many others. Cyrus immigrated to the U.S. from Iran as a child after his mother was murdered when the U.S. shot down an Iranian passenger plane in the Persian Gulf (a true event). His childhood with his father and his young adulthood is pretty unhappy as he struggles with addiction and trying to decide if he wants to keep on living. This plays out in a fascination with historical martyrs and how to make one’s life worth something. This novel is inventive and soulful and, as a poet, author Akbar’s sentences flow easily and had me turning pages quickly. This will be a Big Read for 2024.

The People Who Report More Stress (2023, Short Stories): Honestly, I don’t know what took me so long to reach for this off my shelves. I loved Alejandro Varela’s debut novel, Town of Babylon, and this short story collection was just as good, if not better. The stories absolutely sing with witty banter, social commentary and neuroses as they cover everything from open marriages to playdates to immigrants’ survival in NYC. I devoured it.

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead (2021, Fiction): A recommendation from my gorgeous Rosamond, this one took me back to my 20s (ugh, absolutely thrilled I’ll never have to do that in IRL, what a terrible time!) as we follow our heroine through a series of comic missteps but real anxiety. I dog-eared and highlighted so many expressions in this book that captured things I, too, find true about the world. I also giggled and tittered through the blunders of early adulthood around dating, career paths and family. This one is perfect for a trip or a time when you don’t want to overly concentrate, but would still love something more than pure fluff.

4 Star Reads

The Hundred Years War on Palestine (2020, Nonfiction): Like many, I’ve been trying to educate myself more on the conflicts in the Middle East while dealing with the reality of what is taking place now. Khalidi is an academic by trade, but as a Palestinian, this book definitely has a point of view, and I appreciated the direct perspective. It’s a good length for a nonfiction book and includes a global critique of Israel-Palestine history, along with an analysis of how public perception has been influenced and shifted by various involved parties that I found quite helpful.

The Vulnerables (2023, Fiction): This book is definitely for nerds. It’s loosely autofiction about a NYC senior who gets stuck living with a college student and an exotic bird during the pandemic quarantine, but it’s really a series of vaguely connected ramblings on literature, writing and connection. I don’t know what to tell you - I read it in a day and absolutely adored it.

Open Throat (2023, Fiction): This slender novel ripped my heart out. Based off of the life of P-22, a mountain lion that lived an isolated existence in the hills of Los Angeles, it’s told from the POV of the cat. Yes, at some point, it kind of veers off the deep end of imagination, but it’s so short and the rest of the book is so poignant and touching, I can forgive it. I often think about the hubris of humans in thinking we are the end-all-be-all on this planet, and this book is the perfect illumination of our extreme folly and its dire consequences. Another one where I had to sit and bawl after.

Holy Land (1996, Nonfiction): Backlist from the 90s about the building of a late 1940s LA suburb, I am the exact kind of dork this type of nonfiction would appeal to. The author alternates between giving us facts (the book is composed of numbered entries) about the design and execution of the suburb and reflections from his own life and family experience (he still lives in the same house from his childhood in the 50s). I was thrilled by his shaping of a subject most of the world regards as “boring” and alchemizing it into a psychological study of Americana.

Erasure (2001, Fiction): Percival Everett-a GOAT. Yes, Cord Jefferson reshaped this into more of a crowd pleasing work with American Fiction, but go to the source for the true fire! Everett is a writer who DGAF if you decide he’s palatable or not, and his tangents in the novel (including a whole separate novella within it and a very academic presentation from a conference included in its entirety) give much greater depth than the movie could. (Though I did like the movie a lot!) A Black writer whose work produces only modest sales writes a “Black” novel as a lark and to prove something about the publishing industry. But when that novel takes off, complications (both light and heavy) ensue. There is also a concurrent plot about family and success that swirls in and out of the book world drama.

Bluets (2009, Nonfiction/Poetic): Maggie Nelson just purely Maggie Nelson-ing here. Is it poetry? Is it micro-essay? Is it a painting in words? These reflections on heartbreak and color are idiosyncratically her, and I can’t wait for her new book this year.

No Matter the Wreckage (2014, Poetry): If you haven’t seen Sarah Kay perform live, please do (or hit up You Tube). She’s one of the greatest performing poets living today. Still, her first collection on the page mostly lives up to her presentation, lending us missives about love, family and a sense of place that come vividly alive.

3 Star Reads

Idlewild (2023, Fiction): I also went back to high school (no, thank you!) in books this month. Idlewild is the story of two teenage friends, attending a Quaker school in downtown NYC circa 2001-2003. While I had some issues with the construction of the story (constantly shifting POVs and time frames, plot lines that went nowhere), its examination of teenage questions around identity, gender and sexuality were truly fresh and like nothing I’ve read. The author does an excellent job of crafting the ache of trying to figure out who you are and how to live into that. There are plenty of light moments, as well as nostalgic ones, throughout the pages.

The Liberators (2023, Fiction): I rarely say this, but…this book was too short? The author attempts to craft a multigenerational saga about a Korean family in under 200 pages, and while it wasn’t bad, I felt it lacked depth. Not unpleasant to read, but I’ve already forgotten a lot of it. (Probably not ideal for book club tonight!)

1 Star Reads

Jonathan Abernathy, You are Kind (2023, Fiction): The description of this book intrigued me - a dystopian-type novel about late stage capitalism and controlling of dreams- but the execution felt like CHAOS (and not in a good way). This book was extremely tedious for me to read, by halfway I was shouting, “NOT ANOTHER DREAM SEQUENCE” into an empty room. I could not follow the logic, the metaphors, or really give a shit about Jonathan. An unusual concept, but a little too amorphous for me.

Hey, thanks for being here! The world is a rough place, and what we have is each other. And sometimes, a good book! xx