A random assortment of some
of the books on my list(s)
Presenting my annual “best books”
list, along with the accompanying list of caveats: these are, simply put, the
best books I read over the course of the year. I try to narrow things down to
10ish books, which is awfully hard. I definitely read (and ADORE!) books by my
writer friends, but I keep those books off this list. It goes without saying,
but I’ll say it anyway: ALL lists are subjective. In my personal definition of
“best,” I mean some magical alchemy of this book at this time
that hit me this way. The order is chronological, so don’t
spend time parsing out why one book is first, another last. Also, I had to
eliminate some VERY EXCELLENT books to keep my list tidy, and YES, I feel
terrible about doing so. You’ll see that I cheat a little at the end, but all’s
fair in love and books.
DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara
Kingsolver
I always nod kindly and
knowingly when people mention Barbara Kingsolver, but I’ll confess that this is
the first book by her I’ve read, and what a doozy! I was all in from the very
first paragraph, though I often resist reading loooong books (you’ll see what
an outlier this year was on that matter as my list progresses!). This novel about
Appalachia and opioid addiction and resilience moves fast, is smart, and offers
a political point of view without turning preachy or predictable. The first-person
voice is extraordinary and convincing. Yeah, maybe it’s cheating to rely on a
genius like Charles Dickens and swipe the plot of David Copperfield…or
maybe that tack is its own genius. I must have recommended this book a zillion
times.
WIDE SARGASSO SEA by Jean
Rhys
I read this novel back in
college and retained only vague memories, which just shows I was assigned way
too many books back then because I should have a better memory of this artful
book about Rochester’s “madwoman” wife in the attic (definite red flag, Jane
Eyre!). Deeply-evoked characters and perfectly evoked landscapes ranging from
the Caribbean to that awful attic in England, meant that the minute I finished
the last page, I immediately wanted to know everything about Rhys, wanted to
reread Jane Eyre, and wanted to study Caribbean history. A hard-eyed
look (wrapped in lush writing) at class, money, race, history, gender, and it
has to be repeated: money.
SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: MEMOIRS
by John Updike
Because I was lucky enough to be
selected by the John Updike Society for a writing residency in Updike’s Tucson,
AZ, casita, I thought I should study up. I read a fair number of his books in
college (though then he went on to write many, many more over the years and I failed
to keep up), so I sort of thought I knew what he was “about.” But these autobiographical
essays gave me a fresh view, seeing how his life intertwined with his fiction
(not that he called his fiction “autobiographical”) and seeing how he viewed
his own career and life. Immense honesty in these pages about his insecurities,
his painful and debilitating battle with psoriasis, the chip on his shoulder,
his recognition of his failures as a parent. For a writer with such an absolutely
dazzling writing style (those sentences! oh, sigh!) and with such a charmed
career, he’s as messed up as the rest of us! I’ll confess that I didn’t read
the entire book because the last two essays felt indulgent and probably should
have been excluded. Does a writing style of such precision, bordering on
ornateness translate to our world of TikTok videos? I can’t say—but I can say
that when I was focusing on his words, I was transported.
OPEN: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by
Andre Agassi
You ever buy a cheap, used
paperback you plan to read quickly and leave behind on the plane? You ever put
that book on your “best books list”? For me, now, YES, and YES. What an
exciting surprise this book was! It’s not that I care about tennis or Andre Agassi,
but I do like an artful, honest memoir, and I’m always fascinated by what celebrity
means. Ghostwritten by J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and
author, OPEN is beautifully written and well-structured (covering 40ish years)
and even suspenseful. The voice is consistent and feels authentic and natural (I
mean, of course I don’t know for a fact if this is Andre’s voice, but by the
end, I was eager to hang out with him). Apparently, Andre hated playing tennis
for most of his life yet he kept playing, and at the highest level. What is
ambition? What drives us to success? What is enough? Who are we without that which
has defined us for decades? These are the questions that kept Shakespeare awake…here
in a tennis book.
THE LONELY CITY: ADVENTURES
IN THE ART OF BEING ALONE by Olivia Laing
I absolutely loved everything
about this book: its smarts, its bleakness, its bold and honest exploration of
what loneliness is and does to a mind. While we get the author’s personal experiences,
this is also a book of thoughtful research, as loneliness is examined through a
series of visual artists (i.e. Hopper, Warhol, Wojnarowicz) who coped with
their outsiderness and loneliness in a variety of (often unhealthy) methods…all
the while continuing to create art. This book pushed deep—and uncomfortably—into
my brain. While the book reflected New York City, my favorite place, we see
here that unsettling aspect of New York City that tourists don’t always
witness: the way one might feel utterly, helplessly alone while surrounded by an
ocean of people. (Wait, that’s not exclusive to New York….)
HELP WANTED by Adelle Waldman
Who’d guess a novel about an
early morning crew of warehouse workers unloading deliveries at a Target-like
store would be artful, compelling, funny, and infuriating? I liked how the
author melded a strongly narrative story based on seemingly low stakes (which employee
will get the promotion!?) with understated (yet biting) political commentary on
how American capitalism uses/abuses the working poor. The large cast of characters
and mix of POVs worried me a bit, but I adapted quickly and ultimately had no
problem keeping people straight. I also liked that this was no sad-sack story:
these workers maintained dignity and connection despite the odds perpetually
stacked against them by forces beyond their control.
*NINTH STREET WOMEN: LEE
KRASNER, ELAINE DE KOONING, GRACE HARTIGAN, JOAN MITCHELL, AND HELEN FRANKENTHALER:
FIVE PAINTERS AND THE MOVEMENT THAT CHANGED MODERN ART by Mary Gabriel
Longest title and longest book,
at 926 pages(!!), including notes. I think I spent about a month immersed in
this book, and what a glorious month it was. Every year I’ve got at least one
“girl comes to New York City” book on my list, so this one’s that, but also so
much more. I’m a fan of abstract expressionism, but museums mostly show the men
(Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, etc.), so what a joy to learn about these
fierce, independent, brainy, dedicated female painters, forced to wrestle both the
muse and misogyny. I’m also a fan of reading about subcultures of artists, and hearing
firsthand from denizens of the Cedar Bar was intoxicating (speaking of intoxicating,
oh lordy, those artists PARTIED!). And I’m
a HUGE fan of reading about New York City, especially the 1950s, so no surprise
that all these elements coming together made this my most favorite book of the
year. If you read this book (and I insist you do), have your phone handy so you
can look up the paintings under discussion. I was lucky enough to get to MoMA
shortly after finishing this book, and I about cried to see a real, live painting
by Joan Mitchell right there on the wall—as if that’s where it was destined to land
all along. *My favorite book of the year
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP
by John Irving
I first read this novel back in
the days of yore, probably when I was too young to appreciate it. I remember
being bored by the detours into reproducing Garp’s short story and novel
chapters, but this time I absolutely adored every detour Irving took us on,
admiring how each tangent reverberated eventually. A book ahead of its time, as
the reader is presented with questions about women’s rights, sexual assault,
and a transgender character who is (IMHO) the most interesting and memorable
character in the book (and the movie). (Reminder: this book was first published
in 1978.) By making Garp a writer, I felt Irving was showcasing his own
theories and strategies on writing and creativity, which was a bonus for me. In
the end, the highest praise I have is that this book absolutely is like no
other.
THE GALES OF NOVEMBER: THE
UNTOLD STORY OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD by John U. Bacon
I grew up in Iowa, with
relatives in Michigan, and went to college in Chicago, so the Great Lakes stretch
through my early days. Yet I knew nothing about the ships navigating these
bodies of water and little about the underpinnings of the manufacturing economy
that made the industrial north (now Rust Belt) the envy of the world. Yes, yes,
there’s a (truly) devastating shipwreck in these pages, but the bigger
revelation for me was the compelling and comprehensive examination of the culture
of Lake Superior and sailors, iron ore mining and manufacturing, ship-building
and captaining a laker. The relentless push of capitalism to get the goods
delivered. The vagaries of weather. Luck, good and bad. Finding the way to a mournful
hit song that might seem to trade on the misfortune of others. I liked reported
facts and research balanced here with the personal recollections and
reflections of family members of the dead men, and sailors who worked the Fitz
back in its glory days, and other experts and observers. Clear and compelling
narrative nonfiction with the emotional pull of a great novel. Plus, excellent maps!
SOME SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS I
ADMIRED:
Goodbye Columbus & Five
Short Stories by Philip Roth (OMG! Impossible this is his debut book!)
The Stories of Breece D’J
Pancake by Breece D’J Pancake (desperate men clawing through Appalachia)
Are You Happy? by Lori
Ostlund (complicated contemporary lives evoked with flair)
The Continental Divide by
Bob Johnson (dark & artful midwestern violence)
SOME BOOKS BY FRIENDS THAT I
READ & LOVED:
Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s
Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop by Paula Whyman
(memoir; funny & an education about native plants without being “teacherly”)
King of Broadway by Dan
Elish (novel; charming and insider-y take on writing for Broadway)
Stay Here With Me: A Memoir
by Robert Olmstead (memoir; lyrical & retrospective)
We by Sarah Freligh (short
fiction; compact & powerful)
The Body Is A Temporary
Gathering Place by Andrew Bertaina (essays; brainy & dreamy &
Proustian)
Pink Lady by Denise
Duhamel (poetry; the sorrow and disorientation as an elderly mother declines)
One Last Ride by Dan
Elish (YA; boy at camp & I bet you’ll cry)
POETRY!
At my free-writing dates on
Thursday afternoons, I start each session by reading poetry and copying down resonant
lines. Here are the books that kept me company in 2025 (to be transparent, I
know many of these poets IRL). If you’re looking to add more poetry in your
life, I suggest you start here.
Bodies of Light by Susan
Tekulve
In Which by Denise
Duhamel
Sky Mall by Eric Kocher
Everyone at this Party Has
Two Names by Brad Aaron Modlin
Late Summer Ode by Olena
Kalytaik Davis
The Place That Is Coming to
Us by J.D. Smith
The Odds by Suzanne
Cleary
