Welp. It's that time again. Time to talk about the best books of the year. Not that which was published this year, but that which was read this year. By me. Which ones stand out in my mind? Well I'll list them here. In another post, I'm going to look at the list from years past and try to pick a best of list for all these. We'll see, right?
Here goes.
Well, if you've been reading here, the first book that comes to mind is:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. This novel is epic in more ways than one and it really does a great job of essentially creating a host of characters, then clashing them together. Here you also get a glimpse of what imperial "destabilizing" does to a nation (and to the perpetrator). Definitely one worth reading.
The Certificate by Singer is about Jewish life in Warsaw right between World War I & II. It shows how people try to grasp for anything when old gods are being toppled ("when the wind picks up, garbage rises to the top"). In that sense it's like The Doll (below).
A Treatise on Shelling Beans. Another novel I read on my trip to Poland. I found it not only to be interesting, but also
The Warsaw Ghetto by Heydecker. Mainly photos, but ones everyone should see. And though the author only writes a little, it packs quite the punch. Check it out as soon as you can (wrote about it here).
Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment by Stephen Kotkin. Good breakdown of what happened in Eastern Europe during the fall of Communism. Worth reading because, at least I, didn't know that it was austerity that caused this fall (and Gorbi saying he wouldn't use tanks). So these days with protests all over the world (some induced via sanctions or other forms of austerity upon the poor, like neoliberalism) one sometimes wants to hope, but in all reality, the no tanks/violence/coercion part of the equation is still there, isn't it?
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets Paperback – March 21, 2017 by
Toussaint Louverture: A Revolutionary Life by Girard. Worth it because the man it's about, though flawed, is quite brilliant. First successful slave rebellion in history. And after reading about Eastern Europe and their failed peasant rebellions, this one is a great contrast.
White Rage by Anderson is a brilliant book on race relations in this country.
The Doll. Based in Warsaw in the 19th century, this is a dizzying novel with a great reach in terms of ideas and showing a set time. That being said, it meanders sometimes for too long, and I sense I liked it only because I was reading up about Poland. Again, I found out a lot about this time (to include how much Napoleon was loved by those trying to throw off their noble classes).
Honorable Mention:
Here are some solid books, that should be on your list, but which I'm not sure should are in a must-read category:
Flights by Olga Tocarczuk is solid and it really aims for being a different kind of novel, and yet it really just falls short in my mind (how can anyone talk about travel in the age of Climate Change without mentioning what those "flights" are doing?).
We was Eight Years in Power. Coates is brilliant. And this book is as good as any with regard to domestic politics in the US and the Obama years. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
The House at Ujazdowskie 16 Interesting book about a building where Jewish people lived, but it's not well laid out (goes back and forth too much). I get why the author did it, but that took away a lot of the book's punch. Still worth a read if you want it.
Finks: How the C.I.A. Tricked the World's Best Writers is a good book, and quite possibly a paranoid inducing one. Still, it ended up being very dense and hard to get through. Worth it if you want to see how the CIA had influence over our American literary landscape. (to that end you should see this post and the link at the bottom which takes you to a piece on how someone like Algren was basically blacklisted into obscurity).
Freshwater by Emezi. Book was solid, but it didn't stick to my mind. I do look forward to what the author will create next.
Mr. Potter by Kincaid. I love Kincaid. Think she deserves the Nobel (so of course she won't win it), but I'm of the mind that this book is very much unlike her. Instead of being sharp and succinct, it's long meandering and repetitive. I do not recommend it.
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