My reading slowed down this year. I can’t attribute it to anything in particular, but there were a couple of books that I read slowly, which kept me from picking up something new.
My reading had its seasons. There was winter & early spring, full of family health concerns and two long-ish transatlantic trips. This time was defined for me by the visual poetry books of Robert Seydel, which were a comfort, and two books about Putin, which were a fascinating distraction: “The Man Without a Face” by Masha Gessen, about the rise of Putin and how awful he is, and “A Very Expensive Poison,” by Luke Harding, about the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.
The summer months were dominated by poetry, which is not dead. I took part again in the Sealey Challenge—the call to read poetry every day in August. Favorites in summer poetry were “A Dangerous Place” by Chelsea B. DesAutels, and “Alphabet” by Inger Christensen. Elsewhere in non-summer poetry I loved the Seydel books and “Sorrow Arrow” by Emily Kendal Frey.
Fall was two great novels and “The Diaries of Dawn Powell, 1931-1965,” which were stand-out reads. The novels were “Sweet Days of Discipline” by Fleur Jaeggy, which I loved for its crisp prose and cold poise, and “The Wall” by Marlen Haushofer, which I loved for its plot and focus. Those were the two five-star fiction reads this year.
Powell’s Diaries was the book I felt I most inhabited this year, having spent more than two months following this largely forgotten writer through the seasons of over 30 years up to her death. Many of her diary entries are about where she went and who she hobnobbed with and what problems she had with money or her son or husband, though she never gets too intimate. The essence of it, however, is her devotion to writing.
Year-end has been spotty. I put down two books without finishing and am now waiting for the flame to catch on “Strangers I Know” by Claudia Durastanti. It’s one of my daughter’s favorites and all marked up lovingly with her notes and German translations. The beginning bogged me down but the last stretch has brought in observations on art, which helps.
I read plenty of books I disliked and/or gave up on. Some disappointments came in part from high expectations. My advice is don’t buy 2-3 books by an author you haven’t read before because you’re somehow sure you’re going to love them — wait to be convinced.
Index Cards by Moyra Davey (Jan 5)
The Endarkenment by Jeffrey McDaniel (Jan 6)
A Picture Is Always a Book by Robert Seidel (Jan 12)
They Knew Mr. Knight by Dorothy Whipple (Jan 20)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Jan 21)
The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita Laski (Feb 13)
Plainwater by Anne Carson (Feb 14)
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (Feb 16)
The Book of Ruth by Robert Seidel (Feb 27)
The Priory by Dorothy Whipple (Mar 20)
William: An Englishman by Cicely Hamilton (Mar 27)
A Dangerous Place by Chelsea B. DesAutels (Mar 28)
The Rampage by Miroslav Holub (Apr 1)
To Bed With Grand Music by Marghanita Laski (Apr 20)
Balikbayan by Dujie Tahat (Apr 3)
The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen (Apr 7)
A Very Expensive Poison: The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko by Luke Harding (Apr 26)
Cold Pluto by Mary Ruefle (Apr 29)
Dear Memory by Victoria Chang (May 2)
Wendy Battin: On the Life & Work of an American Master by Martha Collins (ed) (May 21)
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli (May 25)
The Memory Police by Yoko Ozawa (May 31)
Sorrow Arrow by Emily Kendal Frey (Jun 4)
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen (Jul 3)
Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (Jul 7)
Assembly by Natasha Brown (Jul 10)
The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani (Jul 23)
Alphabet by Inger Christensen (Aug 1)
Inheritance by Taylor Johnson (Aug 2)
Doll Apollo by Melissa Ginsburg (Aug 3)
Lean Against This Late Hour by Garous Abdolmalekian (Aug 6)
Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey (Aug 9)
Her Wilderness Will Be Her Manners by Sarah Mangold (Aug 13)
The Black Forest by Christopher DeWeese (Aug 18)
Greenwood by Michael Christie (Aug 23)
50 Things Kate Bush Taught Me About the Multiverse by Karyna McGlynn (Aug 26)
Zong! by NourbeSe M. Philip (Aug 28)
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz (Sep 3)
The Man Suit by Zachary Schomberg (Sep 10)
Classic Crimes by William Roughead (Oct 5)
The Clerk’s Tale by Spencer Reece (Oct 5)
Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy (Oct 8)
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer (Oct 18)
Laura Hershey: On the Life & Work of an American Master by Meg Day (ed.) (Oct 30)
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (Nov 8)
The Witch of Eye by Kathryn Nuernberger (Nov 13)
The Diaries of Dawn Powell, 1931-1965 (Nov 18)
Minml Poems by Mag Gabbert (Nov 21)
Faserland by Christian Kracht (Dec 8)
The Sellout by Paul Beatty (Dec 11)
Map: Exploring the World by Victoria Clarke (Dec 23)