Nonfiction
The
Monarchy of Fear by
Martha Nussbaum
A very
good pop philosophy work on why fear is so detrimental for democracies, with
some good tips at the end for dealing with America’s crisis… in 2018. Nussbaum
is a major writer in philosophy, and this is a bit fluffy at times – with a few
wrong notes – but overall worth a read.
On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
Twenty
lessons from the twentieth century – a nice little guide of what to look out
for, and why the Trump administration is dangerous.
Fiction
Human
Acts by Han
Kang
The
brilliant work of South Korea’s first Nobel Laureate in literature is an
account of a massacre during the dictatorship, and the ripples it had through
society.
Angle
of Repose by
Wallace Stegner
A
Pulitzer-winning work of historical fiction which incorporates real Victorian
letters of a remarkable woman, Susan Ward, who was and author and illustrator
of the East Coast smart set, who lived much of her life in the wild west with
her husband, a mining engineer. The author, her grandson, is also dealing with
his own parallel marital struggles, a century later. A worthwhile read.
The
Devils by
Fyodor Dostoevsky
The
fourth of the Russian’s masterpieces, and possibly my second favorite. It’s a
bit slow going in parts, and like lots of novels of the era, assumes a level of
French I don’t possess. But the characters are good, and the story of a
terrorist cell in a provincial town is intriguing.
Their
Eyes Were Watching God by
Zora Neale Hurston
Glad to
have finally encountered this classic, even if I didn’t get much out of it. The
dialect was irksome, and the frame conceit of telling a yarn is appropriate,
since that’s really what it is.
Five
Indian Masters by
Rao, Tagore, Premchand, Anand, and Singh
I
wanted to get to know Rao’s work, but this was a bad way to do it. His “short
stories” made up half the volume, but all three were excerpts from his novels –
and the second made no sense out of context. As for the other authors, I’d read
Tagore previously, and his stories were nice. Anand and Premchand were both
very moralistic, the former in an annoyingly melodramatic way. Singh’s stories,
though, were very good – I wanted to read more.
White
Teeth by Zadie
Smith
A
great, laugh-out-loud, comic novel. The fact that the last joke is played on
us, the reader, is slightly irritating, though. That said, the characters are
strong, the story is mostly good, and the writing is great.
Women
of Algiers in Their Apartment by
Assia Djebar
This is
a totally fine collection of short stories, collected from the 1950s to 1970s,
and a short essay as a coda. I am glad of the perspective of Algerian feminism,
but would have preferred more consistent literary quality.
Midnight
Stories by Su
Tong
As I
continue to try to broaden my global literature, China is a region where I’ve
not read hardly anything since the 1930s. Su Tong came to prominence for ‘Raise
the Red Lanterns’. These short stories are totally fine – they are well-crafted
– but have no particular depth to them, with maybe two exceptions.
Black
+ Blues by
Kamau Brathwaite
A nice,
short collection of the celebrated Barbadian poet. A few real gems, and the
rest all solid.
Oromay
by Baalu Girma
An
interesting portrait of a disastrous campaign led in the 1980s from Ethiopia
against Eritrea. The main character, a state propaganda journalist, sees the
disgusting side of war up close, but doesn’t lose faith in the revolution and
its cause – only in war and humanity. It’s an unusual take, and it requires a
certain naïve simplicity from our narrator that can be a bit wearisome.
Wearing
the Lion by
John Wiswell
What if
Heracles, after his violent trauma, decided not to – or couldn’t – be violent
anymore? How does he handle the hydra? The Nemean lion? Wiswell produces
another strong work on themes of family, healing, and pathos. A compelling
page-turner, the work is so strong it now feels like canon.
Citizen:
An American Lyric by
Claudia Rankine
This
tremendous work of prose poetry essays deals with race in America in a
captivating way. Interspersed imagery adds to the powerful reflections of a
modern classic.
The
Rainbow by D.H.
Lawrence
I’d not
read Lawrence since Freshman year in college, and didn’t care for him them. So
I decided to give him another shot. The writing strikes me as almost bad –
poorly constructed. The psychology is, on the other hand, very deft, in parts.
And then there’s the tinge of racism not unusual to the time. A very uneven
reading experience follows, which is difficult to recommend.
This
Earth of Mankind by
Pramodeya Ananta Toer
An
interesting, if slightly melodramatic, look at the experience of living under
19th century Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia. Caste and race
determine everything, rather than ability or merit, which is a profound blow to
the protagonist – one of the first natives who manages to achieve a European
education.
The
Antipeople by
Sony Labou Tonsi
This is
not good literature – but even finding Congolese novels is a challenge. The
narrative structure is odd – particularly with regard to time – and the plot is
unpleasant, relying on the terrible ‘falsely accused of rape’ trope to get
started. Lastly, the characters aren’t super well-developed, and there’s a lot
of tiresome philosophizing. Only if you really want a glimpse into Congolese
lit, would I potentially recommend.
Grief
is the Thing with Feathers by
Max Porter
There
were one or two nit-picking missteps – usually around the characters of the
boys. But the father and the crow were excellent, and the whole work is
well-worth a read as one of the best works of grief I know.
Revolutionary
Road by Richard
Yates
I
suspect, in time, this portrait of 1950s suburbia will become as universally
acknowledged as Gatsby is for Long Island in the 20s, or Grapes of
Wrath for the dustbowl. Initially, I was concerned this was just another
entry in the Bad Husbands Parade (John Updike, Richard Ford, JP Donleavy).
Thankfully, it is a much richer work than that, and has more meaningful depth
than those other works which try, without success, to capture failing and
failed marriages. Moreover, this work captures a particularly important moment
in America’s development and identity.
Interpreter
of Maladies by
Jhumpa Lahiri
A great
collection of short stories, often focusing on the South Indian diaspora in the
greater Boston area. Well-crafted, and enjoyable to read, they are, oddly not
super memorable – but still a worthwhile collection of short fiction.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by
Carson McCullers
I really enjoyed the character work, and the
story-telling in this 1940 novel about life in the South. It had all the right
themes, and major developments. But, oddly, despite a lot happening… nothing
really happens? Which may be the point, but left me a somewhat letdown.
2666 by Roberto Bolano
Split in five sections, four of them seem exemplars
of critical darling types: a section on academics trying to solve a mystery, a
section on an existential single father, a section on an American black man’s
journey of masculinity and identity, and a section on a transformative WWII
experience. The fifth section (#4 in the book), however, is a numbing litany of
dead women, which, on the one hand, doesn’t fit neatly into the other story’s
conventions, but also… was a slog? Bolano is a gifted writer, but it almost
felt like he was saying “see? I can do every type of vaunted literature.”
Impressive, and probably a worthwhile read, but… left me cold.
Allegria
by Giuseppe
Ungaretti
A
collection of radically modern, moving poems composed during the First World
War, which established Ungaretti as a major Italian author.
Selected
Poems by Paavo
Haavikko
A
moderately obscure Finnish poet, once celebrated, Haavikko’s poems are not
super memorable, on the whole, with repeating themes that drag even in a slim
volume. That said, some of the self-aware poems are striking, and engaging.
Lincoln
in the Bardo by
George Saunders
Brilliant
and innovative, the premise – based on historical fact – is that Lincoln
visited his son’s grave the evening he was interred. Remarkably blending the
poignant, the comic, and the grieving, a cast of spirits creates an engaging
panorama of humanity in what seems destined to be a classic.
Murambi,
the Book of Bones by
Boudacar Boris Diop
A
remarkable account of the Rwandan genocide, especially given the obvious
challenges tackling such subject matter. Profound, moving, and expertly
crafted, the work made me wonder if it was even possible to write the story any
other way.
Graphic
Novels
Saga vol. 12 by
Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
The saga continues! It’s still a good read – but at
the end it underlined just how many characters and arcs I’d forgotten over the
years. Once it wraps, I’ll need to do a reread from the start, without the
years-long gaps in-between publications.
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Finally got to enjoy this classic – and found it
just as wonderful and worthwhile as everyone else.
Captain America Penguin Classics
Marvel Collection
I’ve long been interested in this collection of
Marvel titles, having never been a comics reader, and was excited to begin a
journey of learning these iconic stories. It was nice to start with punching
Nazis, and to see the evolution of the panels and format.
Black Panther Penguin Classics
Marvel Collection
If the Captain America collection is designed to give
the basic vibes of a character, the Black Panther collection is the opposite: a long,
sustained narrative arc. Most of that arc is based on Killmonger (far better in
the movies, unfortunately), and a coda, at the end, on the Klan, which was
enjoyable. It was interesting to see how the comic came about. The writing,
however, is overdone.
Top 5 8! Wow!
Murambi, The Book of Bones
Lincoln in the Bardo
Revolutionary Road
Grief is the Thing with Feathers
Human Acts
The Arrival
Citizen: An American Lyric
Allegria
