Printing Press: Best Reads of the Year
I guess I liked the Nonfiction/Fiction Hybrid feel going on...
I read 34 books this year and whenever I read anything, I also keep a annotated bibliography on my computer because I’m a weirdo. Anyway, here are some of my favorite reads this year along with my synopsis and feels. All are available on my lists at Bookshop.org or you can click on the links in this post.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver: Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel tells the story of Damon, a young Melungeon boy growing up in the ‘90s in Lee County, Appalachia. Son of a single mother in a trailer park, Damon, called by other Demon, has a tough go at life, which only gets worse with issues in his family that leads to his entrance in the foster care system. Written from Demon's perspective, which gives a distinct narrative voice, this is a fascinating novel that takes the chronological narrative timeline of Dickens and places a modern take with a young boy growing up in poverty, struggling with the opioid epidemic and feeling that the only way to greatness is through star athleticism in sports.
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart: Born in the late '70s in Glasgow, Scotland, Shuggie Bain is the youngest son to Agnes, a woman with two older children from a previous man she left. They live in her parents' apartment with Agnes' husband, Shug, a taxi driver and well-known womanizer in town. Shuggie takes it upon himself to care for his mother, who struggles with alcohol on a regular basis. Written in omniscient narration and moving into third-person in different sections, this novel is a close-up look into a family, specifically children dealing with a parent with addiction. It is a gripping, well-written book. Some of the details are so strong that I feel the story is more nonfiction than fiction. For Douglas to write it, he decided to take the fiction route, which allowed him to move into the minds of other characters. There are so many marvelous passages that I had to collect as examples for my writing classes.
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey: C.M. Lucca is a former-journalist-now-widow dealing with the death of her wife, X. X is the name she had chosen for herself, and most of the information about her past was unclear to Lucca. In 1996 when X dies, Lucca goes on a journey to better understand X, starting with exploring the Southern Territories, an entire section of the U.S. that divided after WWII and was under a theocracy for decades until reunification occurred. X was born in there, married young and had a son, only to escape to the north and try on numerous identities in different parts of the country. While moving, she became adept at tracking down people and becoming close to them, making them her friends or lovers. In this novel framed as biography, Lucca tries to work out what she actually knew about X and the years of her life she spent in their abusive relationship.
The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty: Vacca Vale, Indiana is an abandoned town. A booming place for Zorn automobiles which later folded, Vacca Vale has become more of a wasteland than a town, with outside developers coming in wanting to revitalize the place. Blandine, a young girl out of foster care, is living with three other boys in an apartment complex. She is fascinated with women mystic saints in Catholicism. In her apartment complex, she lives above and below several other locals, and in this narrative, we journey into the lives of many of them, jumping from one thread to another, knowing that it will all intertwine by the end. This is a novel about the effects of rapid industrialization on midwestern town and how the class system pervades the ongoing crisis of economics and crime. The novel ends with a horrific violent act that leaves us haunted. This was a well-written book with lovely sentences and a way of moving us to different people without it feeling off-topic.
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin: Greta is forty-five and living in a run-down Dutch house in Hudson, NY where she has landed a job transcribing for a sex therapist. Haunted by her mother's suicide, she has wandered aimlessly in life. Then during transcribing, she finds herself interested in one of the patients, a Swiss woman she does not know by name but she calls Big Swiss. As she learns her story in the audio, she suddenly runs into her. They begin an affair that rocks both of their lives. While an innovative story, what really works in this novel is the sharp language, which is comical, snarky, and a breath of fresh air. The voice is new and enticing.
Trust by Hernan Diaz: This novel is made up of four books written from four different people. It's about a couple, Andrew and Mildred Bevel, who lived in New York in the early 1900s. Andrew became masterful in the realm of finances and investments and created a large empire off of the empire his ancestors in tobacco had left him. His wife, Mildred, was from a well-off family that had become destitute, relying on the social relations for stays. In their marriage, Mildred became ill and moved to Switzerland where she died. After her death, there was much speculation about what happened, which was made into a novel. Then Andrew himself wished to write his own memoir where he set the record straight. Following that comes Ida Partenza, a secretary for Bevel, who narrates her experience crafting a book for Andrew and learning how he had intentions for Mildred to be portrayed a certain way and yet he would avoid actually regaling Ida with any details and anecdotes. The final section is Mildred's own journal from Switzerland, which details that she was more than a simple wife that enjoyed music. It's a well-written book showing the effects of capitalism and how individuals will project narratives about themselves in the most positive light rather than facing accountability for their actions.
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang: Juniper Hayward's writing career is dismal compared to her friend, Athena Liu. Athena, a beautiful Chinese-American woman, has hit literary stardom at a young age with her well-regarded novels. And June is the reluctant friend who puts up with Athena, but inwardly envies everything she has. When Athena tragically dies, June finds an opportunity. June takes Athena’s manuscript and makes it her own, catapulting her into an overnight success. But suspicion circles, as June is a white woman who has written a historical novel about Chinese laborers during WWI. Written from June's perspective, this novel is a new take on the problems in publishing and the issue of writing beyond your background. I see how this novel came to be. With the current events of professors pretending to have certain ethnic backgrounds in order to keep their tenured postings, it's obvious that the current fervor for diversity in capitalism has led white people in general to clamor to be a part of that. There are a lot of times in the novel where I feel the information is over-the-top. June's envy for Athena sounds like Salieri to Mozart. But what does work is that Kuang has provided us an unreliable and unlikeable narrator, whose words hint at her sense of superiority and entitlement.
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller: In a rural area outside of London in 1969, Frances, a middle-aged woman, comes to the crumbling estate of the Lyntons family to write a report about the architecture. While staying in the large old house, a couple, Peter and Cara, are living right below. Told from the perspective of Frances, a story unfolds between these three people who have come together randomly. Frances has had a solitary life, having had a brief period of study in Oxford before leaving to care for her dying mother. She quickly attaches to Cara, who unfurls her story of life in Ireland and later meeting Peter. As the friendships grow, small eccentricities happen. There are holes to Cara's story and how she has created the narrative of herself and with Peter. When things finally come to a climax, the twists keep coming, surprising any reader. This is a marvelous novel that becomes very gripping to read. It is well-written and carries an ominous mysteriousness to it.
Thanks for these recommendations, much appreciated!
I love getting suggestions from you!