Category: Uncategorized

SEVERAL SHORT SENTENCES ABOUT WRITING by Verlyn Klinkenborg

A fantastic and pragmatic book about writing. The most interesting part was when he said most of what blocks you from writing is worrying about whether it’s in-general-good-enough. In fact, if you just work on fixing whatever sentences hit your ear oddly, then there is nothing to be blocked about. I found this quite inspirational

YOU, AGAIN by Kate Goldbeck

I had Covid (second time round) and felt dreadful, so decided to read this fun romcom recommended to me by Instagram. I’ve never read anything quite like it before. I think it is what is called commercial fiction, and I am ready for MORE. It was a sort of classic friends-to-lovers story, and it was a towering achievement of EDITING. There was nothing in it that was not fun, funny, or moving the plot forward. The time flew by. TOLSTOY TAKE NOTE. It is not easy to cut a story down to only the parts you want to read. Now to be fair, I cannot any more recall much about what it was about, or the characters, or anything, but it passed the time most delightfully

THE MARCH by EL Doctorow

A novel showcasing a really remarkable skill. It tells the story of Sherman’s march south during the American civil war through many tiny vignettes of people of all kinds. What artistry! What ability! I don’t know who this EL Doctorow is, but he is amazing.

Writing aside, it was also interesting to learn more about the war. Sherman apparently went along burning down houses and towns to get the South to surrender, only not burning them down if the Southerners had already done it themselves. Particularly extremely heart-breaking to read about is how the slaves waited on their plantations for Sherman to arrive, and when he did, simply followed him away. It is just wild and sad and happy to read about their first days of freedom

WHAT I READ IN 2022

Every year I enjoy this last post of the year, where I tot up everything I’ve read. It makes me feel like whatever else has been going on, at least I have not been totally wasting my time. I like looking at the pictures, which remind me where I have been physically, but even more looking at the titles, which remind me of where I have been not-physically. Greenland in the 1950s? Italy in the 1250s? Ohio in the opiod crisis? Stockholm in the middle of someone’s insane crush? I counted up and 15 countries are represented. To my surprise I also read a large majority of female writers (43 of the 69), and for the first time ever a big chunk was memoir or non-fiction. Best of the year was:

MY FIRST THIRTY YEARS by Gertrude Beasley, a mild-alteringly angry and inspirational memoir about overcoming poverty and the patriachy (before they catch up with you and throw you in an insane asylum)

MY PHANTOMS by Gwendoline Riley, which is a lacerating examination of a woman’s relationship with her mother. Small talk has never been so excruciating. Deservedly on many best-of lists this year

MRS PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT by Elizabeth Taylor, a wonderfully funny and sad novel about the steely optimism needed to face old age

MICHEL THE GIANT: AN AFRICAN IN GREENLAND by Tete-Michel Kpomassie, a book about how you can live the life of your wildest and most eccentric dreams. Written by someone who should be considered an African ICON.

WILFUL DISREGARD by Lena Andersson, which shows how love can be madness, and not in a cute fun way. Shows how easy it is to slip into mania, be it a about the second coming, hand washing, or, as in this case, about a boy

That’s just the short list, not even getting into THE MERCHANT OF PRATO (most complete documented account of a Medieval life) I’M GLAD MY MOTHER DIED (memoir of child star), or GIOVANNI’S ROOM (being gay not easy).

That was 2022. I’m surprised I didn’t read more, given how long I was sick with Covid. But I guess reading takes a certain kind of focus. Here’s to a better 2023.

Full list:

  1. BURMESE DAYS by George Orwell
  2. THE GREAT FIRE by Shirley Hazzard
  3. SMALL THINGS LIKE THIS by Claire Keegan
  4. EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert
  5. MY FATHER’S DIET by Adrian Nathan West
  6. THE PURSUIT OF LOVE by Nancy Mitford
  7. EILEEN by Otessa Moshfegh
  8. REVOLUTIONARY ROAD by Richard Yates
  9. THE GRASS ARENA by John Healy
  10. MY PHANTOMS by Gwendoline Riley
  11. FLUDD by Hilary Mantel
  12. THE RUIN OF ALL WITCHES by Malcolm Gaskill
  13. ORIGINAL SINS by Matt Rowland Hill
  14. I’M GLAD MY MOM DIED by Jeanette McCurdy
  15. THE HOUSE BY THE DVINA by Eugenie Fraser
  16. THE GROWING PAINS OF ADRIAN MOLE by Sue Townsend
  17. MY FIRST THIRTY YEARS by Gertrude Beasley
  18. OCTOBER’S CHILD by Linda Bostrom Knausgard
  19. HAPPY ALL THE TIME by Laurie Colwin
  20. SISTERS BY A RIVER by Barbara Comyns
  21. THE KRAKEN AWAKES by John Wyndham
  22. QUARTET IN AUTUMN by Barbara Pym
  23. SELECTED STORIES by Dorothy Parker
  24. GIOVANNI’S ROOM by James Baldwin
  25. ACTS OF INFIDELITY by Lena Andersson
  26. THE CHRYSALIDS by John Wyndham
  27. MEATY by Samantha Irby
  28. MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY by Winifred Watson
  29. CARNIVAL OF SNACKERY by David Sedaris
  30. THE MINISTRY OF FEAR by Graham Greene
  31. THEIR SOULS AT NIGHT by Kent Haruf
  32. CODES OF LOVE by Hannah Persaud
  33. MARY BARTON by Elizabeth Gaskell
  34. WILFUL DISGREGARD by Lena Andersson
  35. WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE by Samantha Irby
  36. PERSUASION by Jane Austen
  37. NOTES ON A SCANDAL by Zoe Heller
  38. THE SECRET DAIRY OF ADRIAN MOLE AGED 13 AND 3/4 by Sue Townsend
  39. FIRST LOVE by Gwendoline Riley
  40. THE SHOOTING PARTY by Isabel Colegate
  41. THE NEW ME by Halle Butler
  42. A TIME TO BE BORN by Dawn Powell
  43. THE VET’S DAUGHTER by Barbara Comyns
  44. A GLASS OF BLESSINGS by Barbara Pym
  45. SINS OF MY FATHER by Lily Dunn
  46. THE SHELTERING SKY by Paul Bowles
  47. KLARA AND THE SUN by Kazuo Ishiguro
  48. LADDER OF THE YEARS by Anne Tyler
  49. THE MERCHANT OF PRATO by Iris Origo
  50. YOUNG MUNGO by Douglas Stuart
  51. IN THE DISTANCE by Hernan Diaz
  52. THE IDIOT by Elif Batuman
  53. MICHEL THE GIANT: AN AFRICAN IN GREENLAND by Tété-Michel Kpomassie
  54. HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY by Richard Llewellyn
  55. DID YOU HEAR MAMMY DIED by Seamas O’Reilly
  56. GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell
  57. STOLEN FOCUS by Johann Hari
  58. OF LOVE AND HUNGER by Julian MacLaren-Ross
  59. MRS PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT by Elizabeth Taylor
  60. EMPIRE OF PAIN by Patrick Radden Keefe
  61. LUSTER by Raven Leilani
  62. DEVOTION by Madeline Stevens
  63. THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED BY F Scott Fitzgerald
  64. LOVE IN THE BIG CITY by Sang Young Park
  65. TRAVEL LIGHT, MOVE FAST by Alexandra Fuller
  66. THE VIRGIN SUICIDES by Jeffrey Eugenides
  67. IN A SUMMER SEASON by Elizabeth Taylor
  68. THE BEST OF ME by David Sedaris
  69. BEST YEAR YET by Jenny Ditzler