Rogue Readers' Advisory

I read less fiction than I usually do this year, and it included a lot of rereads of favorite series books (like all of the Jackson Brodie mysteries). I also gravitated more to lighter fiction, probably due to it being a stressful year generally. Of the new fiction I did get around to this year, these were some of my favorites:

North Woods by Daniel Mason

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

All Fours by Miranda July

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Weyward by Emilia Hart

We Could be so Good by Cat Sebastian

A Mourner’s Bestiary by Eiren Caffall: I was a bit reluctant to start this one because I worried it would be too much for my climate anxiety, but it ended up being my favorite nonfiction book of the year. The author weaves together a memoir about her experience of hereditary kidney disease with the lives of various creatures populating endangered coastal ecosystems. This is a really beautiful book about the grief of living in a damaged body and a damaged world that is also ultimately a story of hope and survival.

I also really enjoyed:

By the Fire We Carry: The Generations Long Struggle for Justice on Native Land by Rebecca Nagle

Cue the Sun! The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum

Challenger: A True Story of Disaster and Heroism on the Edge of Space by Adam Higginbotham

Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna

And an honorable mention goes to Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac for being way too relevant to the current political dystopia we find ourselves facing in 2025.

This book was a revelation! Originally published in 1970, Daddy Was a Number Runner by Louise Meriwether is a book I should have read long ago but I wasn’t aware it existed. This book has many parallels with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, which has been one of my favorites since I was a kid. They both follow young girls named Francie growing up in NYC, but instead of a young white girl in Brooklyn in the 1910s/20s, Number Runner focuses on a young Black girl in Harlem in the 1930s. Francie faces challenges like poverty and family stress while navigating the particulars of her Harlem neighborhood and the racial oppression of the 1930s. It’s definitely a classic that should be read more widely, and one I know I will revisit again.

I read mostly brand new books, which is an occupational hazard of constantly reading pre-pub reviews for my job and seeing all the new books when they come in to the library. I do sometimes make time for classics and older books, and probably should try to do so more often because two of them were among my favorite reads this past year.

The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman probably isn’t technically a “backlist” book because I think it is out of print, which is ridiculous because I should be a well-known classic. I had never heard of it before I saw an essay about it on CrimeReads earlier this year. It was published in 1962, and is the story of Lydia McQueen, a resilient woman striving to take care of her family in post-Civil War Appalachia amid personal hardships and the tensions of the Reconstruction era. I loved following this deeply developed character over a lifetime, and all of the details of the challenges women of this particular time and place faced in just keeping themselves and their families alive. (If you are looking to read this one, interlibrary loan is probably your friend, as I could not find it at any local libraries here.)

Most everyone is already familiar with Lonesome Dove, and I have had a copy of it sitting around in my house for awhile. I kept putting off reading it because it is LONG (the paperback copy I read was almost 1000 pages, and I alternated with the audiobook which is about 37 hours). I’m glad I finally made time for it because it is a deeply enjoyable story with some unforgettable characters (I particularly enjoyed the parts that focuses on Clara, and it is hard not to fall a little in love with Gus). Be prepared, though… McMurtry is an incredibly wordy dude. It takes something like 200 pages before they even set out on the cattle drive, and he is forever adding additional characters and switching to their point of view. But, if you happen to need a distraction from the current state of the world, the troubles of a band of charming and difficult men on a rather misbegotten cattle drive might be just what you need!

There were so many novels that I loved this year. Apparently I was in the mood for fiction, who can blame me? Here are some of my favorites that were published in 2020:

Series entry honorable mentions:

Still Life (Karen Pirie # 6) by Val McDermid

Once You Go This Far (Roxane Weary #4) by Kristin Lepionka

Network Effect (Murderbot Diaries #5) by Martha Wells

What is there to be said about this year that we haven’t already said a million times? Like many people this year, I had a brief time early in the pandemic where I had trouble focusing enough to read as much as usual. Thankfully it didn’t last long, because a bunch of great books came out this year so there was always something new to read.

Here are some of my favorite nonfiction books I read this year:

Mudlark: In Search of London’s Past Along the River Thames by Lara Maiklem: This book is so lovely and fascinating and I recommend it to almost anyone. There are just so many nuggets of British history, all told through items that the author has found while mudlarking on the banks of the River Thames.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl: This was one of the first books I read in 2020, way back in early January, but it has stayed with me. It’s a really moving blend of nature writing and memoir, and definitely made me cry more than once.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo: This was my favorite book about race that I read this year, in a year when the racial divisions in this country were thrown into heartbreakingly stark relief. Ijeoma Oluo is particularly adept at explaining potentially fraught topics in frank and straightforward language that gets to the heart of thorny racial issues. Not gonna lie, I wish I could assign this one as required reading for a lot of people that I know!

Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb: This memoir, told in the voice of the author’s grandmother, is incredibly charming and very funny. It really made me miss my grandma!

 

 

I loved this book so much! It is seriously sweet and romantic and delightful. It’s also a nice alternate universe political fantasy, in case you are need of one of those these days (and who isn’t?!). In fact, maybe I should reread it right about now…

Honorable mentions:

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

 

I read quite a bit of nonfiction this year, and apparently my favorites were all quite depressing. Choose from historically depressing (The Five, which vividly details how absolutely horrid life could be for women in the Victorian age); environmentally/existentially depressing (Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore); or depressing looks into pressing current issues (immigration in The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez and violence against women in No Visible Bruises). The only selection here that I would not describe as depressing is She Said, which does illustrate some atrocious behavior but is a really great and empowering journalism story and shows how exposing sexual abuse and harassment can eventually at least begin to hold perpetrators accountable. Even though they may not exactly brighten your day, all of these titles are illuminating and powerful and I highly recommend them!

 

Many of my favorite books are memoirs, and this year had so many great ones! Here are my top two:

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado: Wow, this book! In short snippets, the author vividly illustrates her experience of being in an abusive relationship with a woman, while also reflecting on the lack of societal understanding of abusive lesbian relationships. It is an extremely visceral read, especially if you have experience with any sort of emotional manipulation, abuse, or gaslighting in a relationship (so be forewarned!). Very innovative and emotionally powerful.

Know by Name by Chanel Miller: I think everyone should read this book, especially anyone out there who has ever wondered why someone would not report a sexual assault. You are probably already familiar with Chanel Miller, although not by name, from her devastating victim impact statement that went viral during the trial of the man who assaulted her at Stanford University. Here she reclaims her story and describes the nightmare of navigating the criminal justice system as an assault victim, and the lengths that our society goes to to try to defend sexual predators.

Honorable mentions:

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom

 

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk: I found this one to be completely mesmerizing! I loved getting sucked in to Janina’s remote Polish village and her strangely off-kilter voice. If I had to pick only one fiction favorite of the year this would be it. I hope more works by Tokarczuk are translated into English now that she has won literary awards for both this one and Flights (which I’m reading right now).

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: This autobiographical novel by Vuong, an acclaimed poet, is told in the form of a letter from a young man, known as Little Dog, to his illiterate Vietnamese-American mother. Try this if you are in the mood for beautiful and emotionally powerful writing about growing up and complicated family ties.

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips: This novel, set in the remote Kamchatka peninsula in Russia, has a mystery involving two missing young sisters at the center but is really more of a character study of the lives of various women who are connected to the disappearance in different ways. The unique setting and the daily lives of the characters added extra interest to the suspenseful plot.

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout: Strout excels at turning ordinary moments of ordinary lives into meaningful and surprisingly moving stories, and crotchety, complicated Olive Kitteridge is perhaps her best character to date. I loved catching up with her in Olive, Again. It made me realize how few fiction writers depict the lives of elderly characters with any real depth, which is something I found particularly moving in this one.