Last year, I decided to put a little spin on things. Rather than list my own favorite reads of 2011, I reached out to a bunch of authors - all of them have appeared here on TNBBC in some way, shape, or form - asking them to share with us their favorite reads. I thought it would be really cool to throw it out there again and see what they've been reading and enjoying this year....
The response has been overwhelming and I am so incredibly honored to share them with you today. And without further ado...
The TNBBC Author Series: Top Reads of 2012
Heather Birrell
1.
The Juliet Stories by
Carrie Snyder (House of Anansi)
I reviewed The Juliet Stories, a wonderful
novel-in-stories, on my blog when it first came out. Here are a couple of
excerpts:
The Juliet Stories is about being an outsider
— how that feels — whether it be an outsider in a country not your own, an
outsider as a child in an adult world or an outsider to your own inscrutable
self. The first half of the book, set in Nicaragua in 1984, during the
post-revolutionary war, traces 10-year-old Juliet’s life on the fringes of a
group of American peace activists (including her parents), while the second,
more fractured half, follows the adult Juliet as she grapples with the way her
life has evolved.
As a novel-in-stories, the book borrows the best of
both worlds. The short story form — with its compression of events, dismissal
of the particulars of plot and preoccupation with small shifts in consciousness
— is used to full effect, and the novelistic arc and recurrence of characters
gracefully pulls a reader from story to story. The Juliet Stories is a
lovely meditation on the meaning we create with the gifts and flotsam of our
lives.
2. The Cloaca by Andrew Hood (Invisible
Publishing)
I fell in love with this collection when I read the
book’s opener, ‘Manning’, in Canada’s most recent Journey Prize Anthology. The
book is worth the admission price for this story alone, a first person coming of
age narrative about a boy selling baseball cards (!) that is both funny and
poignant, but never feels sentimental or overwrought. I was struck by the
liveliness of its language (which made me want to run to my own notebook) and
the down-to-earth accuracy of its insights. Finally -- I loved this story’s
ending, which is both unexpected and totally fitting, and made me understand
something mysterious and essential about the mother and son at the story’s
core. In general, Hood excels at summing up people in short, judicious
strokes. Here’s an example from ‘The Price You Pay for Leaving the House’: “The
woman was attractive in a mature, tired-looking way, the way women are
attractive on the bus after everyone’s had an ungovernable day.” Hood’s people
are often hapless, their actions random or seemingly uncontrollable, but the
author’s control of his craft is exemplary.
3. Malarky by Anakana Schofield
(Biblioasis)
Malarky is a book deeply rooted in the
consciousness of a middle-aged Irish farmer’s wife and mother, Philomena, or
‘Our Woman’, who is grieving the loss of both her husband and son. Philomena’s
story is remarkable for the way in which it immerses a reader in the extreme
disorientation and overpowering sorrow of loss. The narrative is fractured and
discursive; it loops and soars and doubles back. But if this sounds overly
complicated or esoteric, it isn’t, mostly because Philomena is so brave and
flawed and strange a character and her means of dealing with her losses so,
well, human. This is a funny, raunchy, moving read, written in beautiful, brave
prose.
Heather Birrell is the author of Mad Hope and I know you are but what am I?. She lives with
her husband and two daughters in Toronto, where she teaches high school English
by day and creative writing to adults by night.
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Ryan Bradley
To be as unbiased as possible I will leave out the books I
published this year, though I would not have published them if I didn’t think
they were among the best. Those books are Temporary
Yes by Kat Dixon and So Hold Me Tight
And Hold Me Tight by bl pawelek. ADP also re-issued Ben Tanzer’s debut
novel, Lucky Man and a collaborative
poetry collection, You Are Jaguar by
myself and David Tomaloff, and in order to not sound conceited I will give
credit here to Tomaloff.
Fiction:
The World of a Few Minutes Ago by Jack Driscoll
It is a wonderful gift to see a new story collection from
Driscoll, whose debut collection Wanting
Only to be Heard is, in my opinion, one of the best story collection of all
time. The World of a Few Minutes Ago
does what all of Driscoll’s books do, it breaks your heart bit by bit, but with
such an immense amount of love for his characters and his readers that you
manage to be filled with the worlds he creates and feel the truest range of
emotions possible. Driscoll cements himself as one of the finest writers of his
time and certainly the best practitioner of three-dimensional characters I’ve
ever read.
Falcons on the Floor by Justin Sirois
Sirois’ debut novel took me by surprise. It is a story of many
kinds, it is a quest story, a war story, a story of friendship, and a story of
love. The book manages to be political without being political, it manages to
humanize the effect of war on civilians and also make us forget the war
background by deftly portraying the struggle of existence. In focusing on his
heartfelt characters Sirois manages to do more to show the wrongs of the world
at large than could have been done with a heavy hand.
Honorable Mention: Fast Machine by
Elizabeth Ellen; No One by Gwenaelle
Aubry; A Hologram for the King by
Dave Eggers; Telegraph Avenue by
Michael Chabon
Poetry:
My Love is a Dead Arctic Explorer by Paige Ackerson-Kiely
This year I stumbled on Ackerson-Kiely’s work and I couldn’t be
happier that I did. My Love is a Dead
Arctic Explorer is her second collection and it is phenomenal. The poems
have art, soul, and humanity. Everything you can ask for, and I can’t wait to
read more of her work.
This Is What They Say by M. Bartley Seigel
I expected Seigel’s debut collection to be good, but not this
good. Inspired by the midwest, Michigan in particular, Seigel’s poems do for
the economic struggles of small towns and small town people what Falcons on the Floor does for politics
and war. THere is nothing but humanity here. Battered, scarred, but never quite
down for the count.
I Was There for Your Somniloquy by Kelli Anne Noftle
Noftle’s poetry accomplishes the trick of combining science,
nature, and facts in general into deeply personal and beautiful works of art.
Noftle deftly uses each poem to create transitions between sleeping and waking,
between the brain and the heart.
Honorable Mention: Blue Rust by Joseph
Millar; The World Will Deny It For
You by Janaka Stucky
Ryan W. Bradley is
the author of three chapbooks, a story collection, PRIZE WINNERS (Artistically
Declined Press, 2011) and a novel, CODE FOR FAILURE (Black Coffee Press, 2012).
In 2013 Curbside Splendor will publish THE WAITING TIDE, a poetry collection
homage to Pablo Neruda. He received his MFA from Pacific University and lives in
Oregon with his wife and two sons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tod Davies
GOSSIP FROM THE FOREST, by Sara Maitland
This book got sent to me in galley form by an indie bookstore pal who knows
my twin passion for fairy tales and content that mixes subjects artificially
kept in separate ghettoes--and I haven't been able to thank him enough. "Gossip
from the Forest" grows from essays about the forests of Great Britain, the
author walking in them with her dog and a series of friends, and musing on their
history, their relationship to our shared past--most of all, their relationship
to the stories that form our present. She adds to each of these essays one of
her own takes on a fairy tale, each one absorbing, entertaining, and more than
worthy of extended contemplation. Preferably while you walk in a wood of your
own.
ENDER'S GAME, by Orson Scott Card
Given to me by a scientist friend, who enthusiastically endorsed it as his
favorite book of all time--and I could see why from page one. Framed as a
traditional action packed
science-fiction-we-must-save-the-world-from-alien-invasion-and-we-only-have-this-much-time
plot, it twists and subverts that plot by making the only possible savior a six
year old boy, born, raised, and trained for just this mission. An extended
meditation on the cruel ways we drive and abandon our children in a culture
increasingly driven by competition and dominance needs, it hides this deeper
meaning in a thrilling plot that reveals rather than betrays its own
significance. The end is astonishing. A classic. Really.
WIND IN THE WILLOWS, by Kenneth Grahame
Speaking of classics...I came to this book in adulthood, when it was
described to me as a favorite of a favorite niece. And I've never looked back,
rereading it every year, and more than that--whenever I find myself in the
depths of the Slough of Despond, I turn to a copy and, reading about the
adventures of Mole as he discovers his true self in the world of the Wild Wood,
the River, and Toad Hall, never ceases to raise all of my spirits back up to
their best level. When I'm homesick,I re-read the chapter "Dulce Domum," because
when I cry again and laugh again, I remember how lucky I am that I, like Mole,
have found a home of my own to love. In my experience, finding a book that you
love is the first step to finding that home, and "Wind in the Willows" is a
great first best step.
Tod Davies is in constant communication with the world of Arcadia, about
how fairy tales affect that world and our own, resulting in the first two of The
History of Arcadia books, Snotty Saves the Day and Lily the Silent.
She's also the editor and publisher of Exterminating Angel Press,
concentrating on books that show how stories form culture, and what they can do
to make that culture a more human place. Which is what we all want, right?
RIGHT?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve Himmer
I was lucky
enough to review some terrific books in 2012 for Ploughshares, TriQuarterly,
and Necessary Fiction, and I could
make a solid best of the year list from only those. I could also make a list of
great books including only those published by friends, but I'll resist (though
I genuinely believe Robert Kloss' The
Alligators of Abraham and
Amber Sparks' May We Shed These Human Bodies—to name only two—belong on a best of
2012 list, friends or no).
But as for
my actual list, here goes:
Hawthorn & Child by Keith Ridgway
This is a
book I learned of via the promotional efforts of John Self, on Twitter, his blog, and at the Guardian.
It sounded so good I ordered a copy from the UK (though there's now an American
edition forthcoming from New Directions, thank goodness), and it more than
lived up the hype, never mind the cost of shipping. It's a terrific novel, or un-novel, or
whatever you want to call it, and a brilliant play on the genre of detective
fiction. I love a book that strings me along, confounding my readerly
expectations to lead me somewhere unexpected, and Hawthorn & Child does just that. Masterfully. Ridgway's earlier
novel The Parts also relied on
interwoven and sometimes overlapping storylines (and I've really enjoyed
thinking about how one book may have led to the other), this time the stories
overlap in only the most peripheral ways—sometimes literally, as the recurring
characters of detectives Hawthorn and Child are glimpsed at the edge of someone
else's story. At first I was looking for those connections, trying to
"solve" the mystery of the novel and how to read it, and expecting it
to behave in a familiar way. But the more I read, and the more Ridgway dropped
clues about how to read the book (and how not to), the more I reveled in the
absence of connections and the sheer unsolvability of it. The unlikeliness of
any story resolving, or adding up to something, became almost hilarious—albeit
bleakly, pretty much like our lives, or like mine anyway—and the process of
looking for clues became more satisfying than any answers I might have
initially wanted to find, which is also like life, isn't it? I'm already
looking forward to rereading this, and to talking it up even more when the US
edition is published in 2013.
Parsifal by
Jim Krusoe
Jim Krusoe
has been a favorite novelist of mine for years. There's a deadpan absurdism to
his style, which is probably my favorite type of fiction—it's what draws me to
writers like Jean Echenoz, Stacey Levine, and Grant Bailie, among others. And I
think Parsifal is Krusoe's best book
to date: the voice is as understated as ever, and as always there's an
emotional and intellectual complexity lurking under a deceptively simple
surface. But this time he's played with structure in a way previous novels
didn't, and has created a one of a kind work about an orphaned fountain pen
repairman and his quest for a lost cup—that's right, Parsifal and his
grail—from childhood. It's dark, and funny, and sad, and strange, and all the
things I love best in fiction.
The Islands by
Carlos Gamerro
This is a
novel I actually did review, but I couldn't list my books of the
year without it. It's a sprawling, violent, surreal, heartbreaking story about
war and politics and national memory and the Falklands War and Argentine
history and drugs and capitalism and... well, pretty much everything else in
one way or another. It's one of those big books that becomes fully immersive,
pulling you (at least, me) so deeply into its world that hundreds of pages go
by in a blink and even when you put the book down to do other things you're
still in it. Inexplicably, it hasn't (so far as I know) been picked up for US
publication, but it really should be. It should be read and talked about and
thought about and learned from in any number of ways.
And finally,
a couple of fantastic books that weren't new this year but were new to me:
The Driver's Seat by
Muriel Spark
For no
particularly reason I'd never read Muriel Spark before, but The Driver's Seat is a creepy, compact
novel with masterful control of how much the reader knows, and how soon. It's
the kind of book you could read several times in a row to marvel at in
different ways each time.
Homesickness by
Murray Bail
Before
picking this up I knew Bail from his short stories, mostly through anthologies
of Australian fiction, but this novel is the best I've read by him. It's
follows a group of package tourists on a trip around the world city by city and
museum by museum, with an unsettling but often hilarious tension around how
literally to take what's going on. Every location and object and scene seems
rich with suggestion and metaphor, but in ways that are never quite reduced to
clarity so never sapped of their momentum and intrigue.
Steve Himmer is author of the novel The Bee-Loud Glade, and editor of the webjournal Necessary Fiction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Collin Kelley
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson's memoir of growing up in bleak Northern
England is compelling, lyrical and honest – unlike so many other recent memoirs.
I read it one sitting.
NW Once again, Zadie Smith
captures the essence of London in this striking novel about a group of young men
and women trying to find themselves amid class struggles, racial divides,
marriage and familial discord.
Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah: Poems Patricia Smith continues to dazzle with this new collection that has the
migration of African Americans from the south to the north at its uncompromising
core. It's also a love letter to her native Chicago. A
must-read.
Collin Kelley is the author of the novels Conquering
Venus and Remain
In Light,
a 2012 finalist for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and the eBook short story
collection, Kiss
Shot.
His poetry collections include Better
To Travel,
the spoken word album HalfLife
Crisis, Slow
To Burn, After
the Poison and
the forthcoming Render
(April
2013, Sibling Rivalry Press).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathe Koja
The books I chose to highlight for 2012 are books I've read before; many times before. And rereading them gives me just as much oomph and pleasure and, yes, surprise - because when a piece of writing is a piece of art, it never gets stale, it meets you where you are and gives you the gifts you can accept at that moment. And when you grow more, and expand as a reader, it's waiting for you there, too, to offer even more.
I was twelve when I first read WUTHERING HEIGHTS and fell in love - now I'm somewhat older, and my love for Emily Bronte's creation has only deepened. Her characters are not "characters," they're people, they're indelible, they're selfish and impossible and live their lives fearlessly, crashing headfirst into the pain ... The greatest beauty of this book, its enormous achievement, is in its strength, its refusal to make nice, to be kind, to be anything but exactly what it is. And no one will ever say Cathy and Heathcliff make "a cute couple." (And Edgar Linton is a twit.)
"Ernie Pook's Comeek" introduced me to the genius of Lynda Barry. THE FUN HOUSE exists in several media - words, pictures - but its real terrain is Youth: not an idealized or ironic or everyone-learns-a-lesson visit, but a current native's view of what it feels like to grow up, hurl dirt bombs and experiment with barrettes, worship your teenage sister, look askance at adults, cry because you know, know, that no one has ever been as sad as you are now. I wish I had read this when I was eleven. I recommend it everyone who has ambitions to write YA.
THE SATYRICON is a martini with a diamond for an olive: sharp, brilliant, chilly, and after you've drunk it down, hilarious. Gaius Petronius tells a story of Nero's court with a wink, a sneer, without naming names, like the best gossips who flatter you as if you're already in the know. I have the William Arrowsmith translation; there are many available, or you can imbibe it in the original Latin. There's a reason this story has lived for so very long.
Detroit native Kathe Koja's award-winning novels include THE CIPHER, BUDDHA BOY, TALK, SKIN, UNDER THE POPPY and the forthcoming THE MERCURY WALTZ; her work has been optioned for film and adapted for performance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lavinia Ludow
1) The Grievers - Marc Schuster
"The Grievers is a dark-humored and geeky story of Charley Schwartz, an aspiring PhD in Fine Arts man-boy scraping the bottom of the barrel for ambition. He is socially ambivalent but certain that he doesn’t want to deal with the hard facts of adulthood like change, death, and 9-5ing. In addition to struggling with an overgrown quarter-life crisis, Charley finds himself tormented over the suicide of a former classmate. Having ignored and avoided his childhood friend, Billy Chin, the years following high-school, Charley feels the need to redeem himself by arranging a fundraising memorial in Billy’s memory. All in all, Schuster has an amazing sophomore novel on his hands. His writing has matured; he’s fine-tuned his approach and can effectively drive a story from start to finish with subtle tactics and engaging characterizations."
2) Wally - Don Peteroy
"An epic emotional
journey, Wally is more than a slew of diary entries and letters home.
This novel uncovers a man’s psychological transformation as his medications
leach from his system, and he travels the distance of nearly two countries.
Wally exposes how his dysfunctional and abusive upbringing has left him a
shattered man who passes his childhood horrors onto the only person who has ever
truly loved and trusted him. A hard-hitting and beautifully written book, Don
Peteroy takes readers on a gravely emotional and thought-provoking journey, one
that resonates long after Wally reaches his destination."
3) Watch the Doors as They Close - Karen Lillis
"This is a common tale told in an uncommon fashion about an “ended before it began” relationship which was strained and then destroyed by the behavior patterns of a manic-depressive named Anselm. Lillis has paired the ordinary storyline of a dysfunctional relationship with her eccentric writing style, and together, they work wonders for the underlying goal of the novella. One of the finest pieces of independent contemporary literature of 2012, Lillis has broken the mold of the classic New York City love story."
Lavinia Ludlow is a musician and writer currently residing on the West
Coast. Her debut novel alt.punk can be purchased through major online
retailers as well as Casperian Books’ website. Recently, her sophomore novel
Single Stroke Seven was signed to Casperian Books as well. Follow her
reviews, news, and other tidbits over at: http://ludlowlavinia.wordpress.com/
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