These books stood out for me in 2020. Here are the notes I wrote after finishing each one. (It was difficult to start reading fiction again after lockdown, but after reading some memoirs and nonfiction, I was able to get back to reading novels and short stories. Whew!)
The Art of Noticing, by Rob Walker (personal growth)
Lots of inspired and inspiring ideas here to jump-start your creativity, many of which I have been employing over the years. A balm during difficult times.
Blind Spot, by Teju Cole (essays and photographs)
This collection is a beautiful meditation on how pictures and place trigger memories, sensations, and connections with other places, ideas, and forms. I felt I was in the hands of a caring and loving world guide. It is brilliant. A must-read.
Cleanness, by Garth Greenwell (short stories)
The last story, “An Evening Out,” ends perfectly, with a gesture that sums up this golden book. I felt like the dog Mama, in the narrator’s arms, feeling treated to something so pure and loving. First-person narration doesn’t get any better.
Deaf Republic, by Ilya Kaminsky (poetry)
Wow. I was blown away by the first poem in this book: it distilled America down to its current essence, and it’s grim, because we are satisfied consumers. What follows is a parable about State oppression and protest—a rally cry for the fuckedupedness that’s happening right now as the GOP continues to impose its menace. Do read this! Find the beauty.
Don’t Call Us Dead, by Danez Smith (poetry)
A deep and upsetting and elegiac collection of poems by the brilliant poet. Should be required reading, especially the opening poem, “summer, somewhere.”
Fiskadoro, by Denis Johnson (novel)
I love Johnson’ writing: a tour de force of language and storytelling set in postapocalyptic Key West, where survivors and progeny of nuclear war try to create meaning in their new world. The beauty in his sentences slowed down my reading and made me sigh and mark passages.
500 Handmade Books Volume 2, curated by Julie Chen (art)
What a source of inspiration! So many ideas now bouncing around in my head for book-making ideas. I have been wanting to make a book for over thirty years. It’s time.
Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson (novel)
I love this book. I saw the movie Housekeeping over thirty years ago, but nothing prepared me for the beauty and poetry of this word conjurer’s novel. One of the best novels I’ve read. Is it too soon to reread it? (All hashtags are rendered useless and reductive.)
In Awe, by Scott Heim (novel)
I was blown away by the poetry in the writing in this deep, deep character study. Everyday objects and nature are personified, as if each thing has a spirit and will. The last fifty pages set my heart apace: so much beauty in agony. Macabre, but truly about how one survives abuse and creates a sense of family and love where none exist.
Inside/Out, by Joseph Osmundson (memoir)
It took a lot of courage to write this brief but powerful memoir about his psychologically abusive relationship. Many of us have been through what he experienced; it’s hard to break free but so liberating and empowering once the strings are cut.
Just Kids: Illustrated Edition, by Patti Smith (memoir)
I read this nine years ago and loved it deeply. I remember her emerging in the ’70s and was captivated by her androgyny and voice. I would stare at her photos at the record store. In the ’80s I became enraptured by Robert Mapplethorpe’s photographs.
Later, by Paul Lisicky (memoir)
This is a memoir of place and contagion, a deep study of the self, as a gay man navigates life, love, and AIDS in Provincetown (a main character) during the early ’90s. I love Lisicky’s writing, his ability to keenly analyze every breath, every glance. This man is not afraid to hold a mirror up to himself. He navigates his own queerness through a lens of disease and self-worth. The writing is brilliant at times, probing the microaggressions that others impose on us and we impose on ourselves. Communication is never easy. For older queers, it is a long journey to know/love thyself.
My Struggle: Book 6, by Karl Ove Knausgaard (fiction/memoir)
I brought this longest and final My Struggle with me to Hawaii. Read the last words upon touchdown in NYC. This memoir/novel of ideas and searching for authenticity moved me on so many levels. The Hitler section is riveting. Knausgaard integrates his own life and past with Hitler’s life story. He deals with his wife’s mania and learns to find love. I was fascinated the whole time. Moving. A man grows up. Grateful to have read all six books. Defies genre.
On Writing: Tenth Anniversary Edition, by Stephen King (craft of writing)
I liked this so much. Very practical. He is definitely not boring. He is a writer for the people, but he does not abase himself. He also is not trying to be a writer he is not. I like his turns of phrase and his potty mouth at times. His advice is practical and he tells is like it is: not everyone can be a great—or even good—writer. The memoir portions interspersed were terrific! Time to read another of his novels. Perhaps Christine, but Misery keeps calling.
Runaway, by Alice Munro (short stories)
I identified with so many of the main characters in this collection of longish short stories of people dissatisfied with the status quo and what is expected of them. Each story a lifetime of searching for something “other,” “better,” “truthful,” “fulfilling.” Deep. What a probing and gifted writer.
Spring, by Ali Smith (novel)
Ah, spring. In which a girl tries to aid detainees interred in horrible conditions in the UK while the world stands around watching. Another brilliant novel from Ali Smith. This one will get your dander up. I love Smith’s style. It’s all her own and bloody readably good. And the novel is told out of time, which is wonderfully jarring at times.
Telling Stories, by Lee Martin (craft of writing)
Attention fiction writers and memoirists. Have you read this remarkable book? Martin’s insight into writing has inspired me to start short story writing again. The exercises—to energize your writing and get you back on track while providing examples for literature and his own writing—work wonders if you are stuck. Time to lift myself out of the muck and into the light.
The Urban Sketching Handbook: Understanding Perspective, by Stephanie Bower (art technique)
Helpful for the newbie, a refresher for the skilled. I tried a perspective drawing using this book; it helped. I was actually gobsmacked by how much it helped!
The Written Word, by Martin Puchner (nonfiction)
What a delightful journey through the history of foundational texts, such as The Iliad, The Epic of Gilgamesh, holy scriptures, The Tale of Genji, One Thousand and One Nights, Popol Vuh, The Communist Manifesto, The Epic of Sunjata, and Omeros. Fun and scholarly.
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