I know reading changed for a lot of people in 2020 — some people read less, some read more, some read very different types of books than usual. For me, reading mostly stayed the same. It was one of the things that stayed stable in my life and that helped, and continues to help, get me through. (The other big thing that stayed the same and helped me get through is cycling — if you don’t know, I’m an avid cyclist and the hours I spent on the bike were a much needed diversion and escape.)
One thing I realized about my reading in 2020 is that when I want to find comfort in books, I turn to rereading. I’m still thinking through what I mean by this, but I rarely “lose myself” in a book. I like books where I’m thinking my way through them, so plot-driven books don’t help me escape, or at least that doesn’t happen often. Instead, to get away from current reality, I like to spend time in someone else’s brain, thinking through what they’re thinking. I like to meet another consciousness on the page. When I’m tired and stressed, getting into this kind of idea-driven, consciousness-driven writing can be difficult, and that’s where rereading comes in. I reread much more this year than I have in a long time, and I reread books with narrators that I like spending time with (whether it’s fiction or non doesn’t matter much). I could “lose myself” in the familiarity of their brains and ideas. That was comforting.
My favorite authors in this vein include Kate Zambreno, whose new novel Drifts I read twice this year in addition to reading three of her other books (Book of Mutter, Screen Tests, and Appendix Project). I also reread Deborah Levy’s Things I Don’t Want to Know, Elisa Gabbert’s The Word Pretty, and Zadie Smith’s new essay collection Intimations. I adore all these books.
Should I have learned this about myself much earlier than this? Absolutely. I can be slow sometimes.
2020 Favorites
It’s very hard to pick favorites! I read a lot of great books this year that I genuinely loved. Here are the ones that stand out as being particularly great, in no particular order:
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning by Cathy Park Hong (One World): An essay collection on poetry, art, friendship, being Asian American, race in the U.S., and more. One of the smartest books I read this year.
Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor, Translated by Sophie Hughes (New Directions): A person called “the witch” is found dead and the village investigates. This is a powerful, innovative novel; Melchor’s writing hypnotic and beautiful.
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (Algonquin): Gay set out to write short essays, “delights,” every day for a year, and this book is the result. The pieces are charming and wise. This is perfect pandemic-year reading.
Unfinished Business by Vivian Gornick (FSG): Gornick rereads authors such as D.H. Lawrence, Marguerite Duras, and Natalia Ginzburg, and writes on how her feelings about them have changed. Gornick is a delightful essay writer, entertaining and smart.
A Girl’s Story by Annie Ernaux, Translated by Alison L. Strayer (Seven Stories Press): A memoir about Ernaux’s life as an eighteen-year-old in France in 1958, leaving home for the summer and entering a different world. The story itself is fascinating, as are her reflections on this experience many decades later.
The Bitch by Pilar Quintana, translated by Lisa Dillman (World Editions): This book is not for the faint of heart, but it’s a powerful short novel about a woman in Colombia who is looking for companionship and adopts a dog. Problems ensue.
Drifts by Kate Zambreno (Riverhead): This novel charts the thoughts of a woman as she goes about her life reading, writing, teaching, walking in the neighborhood. It’s utterly absorbing and I loved it. This is probably my favorite of the year.
Real Life by Brandon Taylor (Riverhead): Wallace is working on a graduate degree in science in a midwestern university. As a Black, gay man from a poor family, he feels out of place. The novel is full of close observations of people’s interactions. It’s intense and full of emotion in a way I love.
Intimations by Zadie Smith (Penguin Books): This short essay collection is about Zadie Smith’s early experiences of the pandemic. They are absolutely wonderful! You may think you don’t want to read one person’s experiences of the pandemic, but you really do.
Things I Don’t Want to Know by Deborah Levy (Bloomsbury): This is a memoir of sorts about how Levy became a writer. She begins in crisis mode at age 50 and then looks back at formative childhood stories. A smart, personal, moving, feminist book about being a woman and a writer.
That Time of Year by Marie NDiaye, Translated by Jordan Stump (Two Lines Press): A literary horror novel about a family that stays on vacation one day too long. Finding out what happens after that is satisfyingly weird and disturbing.
Index Cards by Moyra Davey (New Directions): This is an essay collection that touches on photography, art, writing, and Davey’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiences. It’s digressive, meditative, and absorbing.
MOTHERs by Rachel Zucker (Counterpath): I’m sorry to say this book is hard to get hold of; I managed to find an affordable copy online but most copies are $100+! If you find it used somewhere, buy it. It’s fabulous. It’s a memoir of sorts about being a mother, having a mother, and mothers who are mentors.
Suite for Barbara Loden by Nathalie Léger, translated by Natasha Lehrer and Cécile Menon (Dorothy Project): You will hear more about this from me soon.
And a few more categories:
Books that utterly freaked me out and got me close to a full-on existential crisis: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam and What Are You Going Through by Sigrid Nunez
Most charming, heart-warming books that are perfect for 2020: Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession and The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
Favorite audiobook: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
The most disturbing, grossest depiction of life on a farm (and also a very good book): The Discomfort of Evening by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, translated by Michele Hutcheson
Strangest, best, weirdest satire: Temporary by Hilary Leichter
Most absorbing novels (I do get absorbed in novels now and then): The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels and The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein
Other books I really, really liked: The Undying by Anne Boyer; My Autobiography of Carson McCullers by Jenn Shapland; Heaven by Emerson Whitney; Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz, translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff; Four by Four by Sara Mesa, translated by Katie Whittemore; On Lighthouses by Jazmina Berrera, translated by Christina Macsweeney; This is One Way to Dance by Sejal Shah; The Unreality of Memory by Elisa Gabbert; Essayism by Brian Dillon; The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada, translated by David Boyd; Stranger Faces by Namwali Serpell
As I said, it was a good year in books.
Don’t Forget About
Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki, Translated by Karen Van Dyck (NYRB 2019, originally published in 1946): The story of three sisters growing up near Athens in the years before World War II. It’s perfect summer reading — or perfect for when one is longing for summer: the characters are always walking through fields and falling asleep in meadows and falling in love. It’s a fascinating portrait of the opportunities available to women in that time and place and how three young women dealt with those limitations.
Newly Acquired
Childhood by Nathalie Sarraute, Translated by Barbara White (First published in 1983, translated in 1985): The great book-recommender Dorian Stuber suggested I would like this book and so, of course, I got a copy ASAP.
Frontier by Can Xue, Translated by Chen Zeping and Karen Gernant (Open Letter): The publisher Open Letter had a sale back in November and I bought this and then forgot about it, so it was a great surprise.
Death in Spring by Merce Rodoreda, Translated by Martha Tennant (Open Letter): Another book bought in the Open Letter sale.
Pigeons on the Grass by Wolfgang Koeppen, Translated by Michael Hofmann (New Directions): This is the first part of one of my Christmas presents — a New Directions Classics Club subscription! That means I have eleven more books on the way over the course of the next year. This novel was originally published in 1951.
The Way It Wasn’t by James Laughlin (New Directions): This book comes free with the New Directions subscription.
Imaginary Museums by Nicolette Polek (Soft Skull Press): Another Christmas present, a collection of strange, unsettling short stories.
Seven Kinds of People You Find in Bookshops by Shaun Bythell (David R. Godin): Another Christmas present, a funny book about book people.
Currently Reading
Pigeons on the Grass by Wolfgang Koeppen, Translated by Michael Hoffmann (New Directions)
The Cormac Report
One of Cormac’s (many) bookish obsessions is the Who Would Win? series, which imagines two animals in a fight and predicts the winner. It’s a brilliant way to get kids interested in reading and in nature — the books are full of facts AND exciting competition. I mean, Cormac is a kid who reads encyclopedias for fun, so he doesn’t need plot, but he does like it.
One of his favorite activities is writing and illustrating his own Who Would Win books, as well as his own animal encyclopedias, Dog Man books, superhero graphic novels, etc. Does this mean … he’s going to be a writer when he grows up???
Quote of the week: “Without books, this family wouldn’t be what it is!”
Happy New Year everyone!
"It’s perfect summer reading — or perfect for when one is longing for summer"
So it's perfect always then right?
Amazing newsletter! Excellently written, and so informative. Now I need to decide what to read first! I shared this with a group of friends. Thank you!