On the eve of the new year, here's my round-up of reading past, present, and future. Obviously future. I mean, have you seen my To-Be-Read pile?!?
Favourite Books Read
in 2014
• Leonard S. Marcus, ed., Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom: I wish I had known
Ursula Nordstrom. Her letters are so witty, and this collection lets us inside
the mind of the twentieth century's top book editor for children. A pivotal
book for my academic work this year, and a captivating book for my professional
interests. I can't believe I waited so long to read this book!
• Markus Zusak, The
Book Thief: I wanted to read this book before the movie came out — or at
least before I saw the movie. I've read other books by Zusak, but this one is
definitely my favourite so far. I raced through it, fearful for the ending; I
see myself re-reading this novel this year, so I can enjoy the word play, the
narrative, the smartness of its construction. A Holocaust story, but also so
much more. Published for children but written for anyone with a soul.
• Teresa Toten, The
Unlikely Hero of Room 13B: I will be using this novel in my seminar that
starts next week. It has not received the praise it deserves, in my opinion:
it's a sensitive yet funny book — and much, much better than OCD, The Dude, and Me. It's a story of mental illness, love, and
growing up, written with tremendous insight and compassion. I loved this book!
• Andrew Piper, Book
Was There: Reading in Electronic Times: Such a pleasure to read a book by a
scholar roughly my age who "gets" the pleasure of the book. In the
future, I might require this text for my print culture course; it's rich with
observations, personal stories, and bright imagery, and I admire the fresh
scholarship. A small but outstanding book.
• Gabrielle Zevin, The
Storied Life of A.J. Fikry: If you love books — and you know I do — you
cannot miss this story of a curmudgeonly bookseller and his relationship with
books. This year books and reading have had the spotlight; as I've argued
elsewhere, reading snobbery has been a big feature of 2014, with personal,
aesthetic, sociological, economic, and moral significance being attached to the
act of reading. Zevin's book is a fully human
response to the culture of reading. I loved this book.
• Miriam Toews, All My
Puny Sorrows: A tear-jerker, but never sentimental; as in most Toews novels,
comedy is snuggled up tight with despair. This novel tells the story of a
suicide and its aftermath, but it is also about resilience, family, and choice.
There's a reason this book has showed up on so many critics' Best of 2014
lists. I'm glad I read it, though I don't know whether I'd have the strength to
read it again.
• James Daschuk, Clearing
the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life:
Probably not a book that would show up on most people's "favourite"
lists, but I found this book deeply disturbing and profound in its
accomplishments. Since my supervisor requested a new angle on my dissertation
research, I've been making a point of trying to understand the history of the aboriginal
peoples in western Canada. This book took me a giant step forward. But be
warned: it implicates contemporary Canadian governments in an ongoing effort to
destroy "the Indian". Powerful, chilling, thought-provoking.
• Charlotte Gill, Eating
Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe: Spending
several weeks on the BC coast made this book much richer for me, but I'd been
meaning to read it for years. I like memoir, and this one is well
written; I also like sociology, and this book delivers that, too, plus some
environmental observations. A thoroughly enjoyable read.
• Janice A Radway, A
Feeling for Books: The Book-of-the-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class
Desire: I've been meaning to finish this book for years and am so glad I
finally did. This book led directly to a conference paper and will likely
influence my thinking about reading, books, and class for the next few years. The
book is part ethnographic study of the Book of the Month Club and part critique
of the social construction of professional-managerial–class readers. For anyone
interested in print culture, this is a must read.
Books I'm Glad I Read
• Jacqueline Woodson, Brown
Girl Dreaming: Memoir of the author as a child, cast in verse. I've read a
couple of Woodson's YA novels in the past and since reading Brown Girl Dreaming, I've read some of her books for younger readers
as well. This year, American publishing has realized it has a diversity
problem: that is, there's very little diversity in who writes, edits, publishes,
markets, and sells books. I hope readers who encounter Brown Girl Dreaming push for more books like this: it's a story of resilience, of beauty in the ordinary,
of life becoming.
• Michael Kutz, If, By
Miracle: A Holocaust memoir written by a scrappy boy who survived. I have a
life-long fascination with Holocaust writings, and I was very glad to read this
book, which I probably would never have encountered had I not been reviewing
it. It's intended for a teen audience but makes no compromises. Adult readers will
learn something about how great adversity can produce great people.
• Neil Gaiman, The
Sleeper and the Spindle: Not yet published in North America, this book
arrived from the UK earlier this week, and I'm glad to have read it (although
it's too short to count on my annual list). This smart, strong retelling of Sleeping
Beauty has received a lot of publicity because of the kiss that awakens the
sleeper, but that's not the most significant element of the story. The
illustrations are glorious, and the writing is playful, clever, and powerful.
Loved it!
Honourable Mention:
Favourite New Author Discovered in 2014
Lemony Snicket. Well, this is a little unfair, because I
first read a Lemony Snicket book about ten years ago, but it didn't take at
that time. This year I received a new Lemony Snicket book to review (When Did You See Her Last?) and enjoyed
it, so I read back through the Snicket catalogue (still haven't returned to the
Unfortunate Events series, though). Snicket/Handler
has been in some trouble for thoughtless remarks lately, but I think he's a
good guy. I'm still a fan.
Books I Wanted to
Like More Than I Actually Did
• Julie Schumacher, Dear
Committee Members
• Jo Walton, My Real
Children
• Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet
the Spy
• Allie Brosh, Hyperbole
and a Half
• Laura Moriarty, The
Chaperone
All of these books are very good in their own way, but in my
mind I'd built them into something greater before I'd read them. Dear Committee Members is an excellent
takedown of contemporary academia — so identifiable! I'd hoped My Real Children would affect me the way
Among Others had; still, I puzzled for
days about the core of My Real Children. Maybe I can go back to it again when I've changed. Harriet the Spy bothered me as a socialist; perhaps it's a book
I'll want to write about in a few years. I liked the Hyperbole and a Half blog, but found it didn't translate to book
form very well. And The Chaperone was
thoughtful and surprising, but my expectations were misplaced; that said, the
novel is really worth reading, Louise Brooks or no.
Books Acquired in
2014 That I'm Most Looking Forward to Reading
• Ted Bishop, The
Social Life of Ink
• Daniel J. Levitin, The
Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload
• Peter Mendelsund, What
We See When We Read
• Al Silverman, The
Time of Their Lives: The Golden Age of Great American Book Publishers, Their
Editors and Authors
• Pamela Smith Hill, ed., Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography [of Laura Ingalls Wilder]
So that's it for 2014. Here's to great reading in the year
to come.
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