What I read this year
2017 was garbage, huh? Sorry for ambushing you with such a *hot take*. But there were good moments amongst the Hell. My sister became pregnant. Uhhh... we didn't all die? I don't know, that's all I've got. As always, throughout all the bad and good, I read a lot of books. Let's close out the year with a look back at every book I read, along with a quick mini-review, shall we? Because this is the time of year when you really start phoning it in, and this newsletter is no exception. I'll even star the reviews, like a real professional!
If you're scrambling for a book to give a loved one for the holidays (and you should always give a loved one at least one book this time of year), I hope this helps at least one of you.
Swing Time by Zadie Smith - ★★★★☆
The first book I read in 2017 was technically started in 2016, but let's not quibble. I remember loving this book at the time, but, a year later, I have a hard time remembering what happened in it (I fear this will be a common theme). Hard to believe I was reading this book while we had President Obama. Let's not go down that train of thought.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - ★★★★★
Goddamn, this book. Read in the first two weeks of the year thanks to the Tournament of Books, and still probably the best book I read all year. Unlike Swing Time, this one is burned into my brain. Yaa Gyasi? More like YAAAAAASSSS Gyasi (sorry).
Moonglow by Michael Chabon - ★★★★★
The beginning of 2017 was rough for all of us, but particularly rough for my family, who suddenly lost two major family members nearly back-to-back. In between flying back and forth between New York and Michigan for what felt like 400 funerals, I decided to read Michael Chabon's latest book, about a dying grandfather's recollections. Probably not a smart choice, but in a horrible way it kind of helped me cope with what was happening. In retrospect, I'm not sure this was that fantastic of a book, but it was exactly the book I needed during those difficult months.
The Sport of Kings by C.E. Morgan - ★★☆☆☆
Does a book count as "read" if I gave up 200 pages in? I'm going to say yes. I don't care how well-written a thing is, I just think I am incapable of caring about horse racing. Why do writers have to describe horses in such sexualized terms, too? I don't want to hear about a horse's supple flesh, sorry.
Version Control by Dexter Palmer - ★★★☆☆
I wanted to love this book so much, but it just couldn't grab me. The writing was strange, and the interdemensional shenanigans never really paid off. Another book I barely remember. :(
Black Wave by Michelle Tea - ★★★★☆
What the hell was this book? I didn't know what to expect, and it took a while to grab me, but eventually I couldn't put it down. It was strange and unsettling in the best of ways.
Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter - ★★★☆☆
I'm so bad with poetry. I want to love it, and every once in a while a poem will really GET me, but more often than not I just get annoyed. That's what happened with this book. Some parts were incredibly affecting, but other parts (the parts with the bird, mostly) were so unbearably pretentious to me. My little sister, however, LOVED this book, so it's probably really good and I'm just an idiot.
The Vegetarian by Kang Han - ★★★★★
One of those books that has gotten better with time. I devoured it (sorry) in like two days, and the titular character is still stuck in my head.
The Mothers by Brit Bennett - ★★★★☆
Well-written and engaging all the way through, but a little too MFA-y for me to fully love. I can't wait to see what Brit writes next, though.
We Love You, Charlie Freedman by Kaitlyn Greenidge - ★★★★☆
Three stars for the writing, plus an extra for how fucking uncomfortable this book made me (a large portion of the book consists of the racist practice of scientifically comparing black people and chimpanzees). A book to make you think about a lot of uncomfortable shit, in a year full of that.
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - ★★★☆☆
Eileen was fine.
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters - ★★★★☆
The first of two books I read this year, written by white men, that mashed up sci-fi concepts with the real-world horrors of being an African-American in this country. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, but found myself incredibly conflicted upon seeing a white guy in the author photo. I still think it worked (it definitely worked better than Lovecraft Country, which we'll discuss shortly) but I can't shake the feeling that this is a book about Black issues, written by White people for White people. Which isn't a bad thing, necessarily! But, hmm. Is it offensive? Ugh, books are hard, y'all.
All The Birds In The Sky by Charlie Jane Anders - ★★★☆☆
I wanted to love this so badly. But reading it felt a bit like 400 pages of this GIF:
The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead - ★★★★★
I can't believe I finally read this book in 2017. I love it so much I can hardly stand it. No offense to The Underground Railroad but this has to be my favorite Colson Whitehead book of all time.
The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way To Freedom by Blaine Harden - ★★★★☆
Lots of great details about North Korea in here, as well as some much-needed reality checks about the U.S.'s actions' effects in creating and strengthening the Kim regime as we know it. Sorry for injecting some HARD TRUTHS into this email.
The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee - ★★★★★
I never would have thought I could love a book about opera and, like, descriptions of ball gowns as much as this, but this is the kind of book I'd clutch to my chest for a few seconds after fishing a chapter. Probably not for everyone, but if a dolt like me can enjoy it, anyone should be able to.
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales by Margaret Atwood - ★★★★☆
You can never go too wrong with Margaret Atwood, and there were a few good stories in here. Mostly, I was just happy to be reading this while everyone was talking about Hulu's version of the Handmaid's Tale, so I could let everyone on the subway see that I'm no newcomer to dear old Margaret.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders - ★★★★☆
I suspect everyone read this book this year. I loved a lot of it, had issues with other parts, but overall I admired it. Mostly I will treasure this book for the hour or so in which I read it poolside during my birthday weekend upstate surrounded by friends, after eating half a weed cookie that allowed me to fall into the sentences. Highly recommend doing that sometime, if you have the chance.
The Accusation: Forbidden Stories from North Korea by Bandi - ★★★★★
We've already discussed this.
The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux - ★★★★☆
I never know how to feel about Paul Theroux. I love his writing, but when he reports on his travels it can be hard to tell if he's being honest, a curmudgeon, or a bigot. Maybe some combination of all three? Either way, this book, in which he embarks on a train trip across Africa and then, after some fascinating soul-searching, gives up halfway through, was a welcome shift in the genre of Paul Theroux Goes Places, Angrily.
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin - ★★★★★
Ursulaaaaaaaaaaaa. Everything she writes is perfect, so of course this was.
Everything Is Awful and You're a Terrible Person by Daniel Zomparelli - ★★★★☆
This was okay. I don't think anyone who isn't a gay millennial would enjoy it. Buy it for your gay cousin who spends all of family Christmas on Grindr.
Before The Fall by Noah Hawley - ★★★★☆
I love Noah Hawley's TV shows so much, but this didn't grab me like Fargo or Legion ever did. It would make a decent Noah Hawley-directed movie, though.
Eating Viet Nam: Dispatches from a Blue Plastic Table by Graham Holliday - ★★★★☆
Read this if you're going to Vietnam! Or if you really like descriptions of pho.
Tenth of December by George Saunders - ★★★★★
Finally read this, like, 3 years after everyone else did. It was good, duh!
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - ★★★★★
Good, quick writing, enjoyable twist. This is what "Version Control" (reviewed earlier in this list) wanted to be. I could see this being a Netflix Original Movie some day.
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson - ★★★★☆
I enjoyed this, but got mad and jealous after learning the writer is also an advertising copywriter. I should be writing more in my free time.
The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber - ☆☆☆☆☆
I loooooved the movie Under The Skin, so I wanted a similar feeling from this, as the same dude wrote both. This... was not Under The Skin. This was oddly religious, in a too-earnest way, and shockingly racist. Is there a need to ever have your narrator describe the black characters as apes and the women as dogs? Apparently Michael Faber thinks there is! For that reason, this book earned the title Worst Book Danny Read In 2017.
Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H.W. Bush by Geoff Dyer - ★★★☆☆
Geoff Dyer is a fun writer, but I didn't love this as much as I was hoping to. NEXT.
Imaginary Cities by Darran Anderson - ★★★★☆
For some reason, I decided to spend a portion of this year reading an incredibly dense academic survey of fictional cities and architecture. And, somehow, I mostly enjoyed it! Buy this for that boring in-law who's an urban planner and is usually impossible to shop for.
The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales - ★★★★☆
My little sister texted to ask if I had read this, and I hadn't even heard of it. I picked it up immediately based on her recommendation and fell in love in like 2 pages. Some parts are stupid and overly simplistic, but I dare you to tell me this isn't exactly the perfect summer book.
A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin - ★★★★★
Beautiful, silly, heartbreaking stories about the people literature never focuses on.
The City & The City by China Mieville - ★★★★★
A strange and lovely book that has stuck with me half a year later and pops up again every time I realize how easily I can not see the people around me in this city. I wish I could erase my brain and re-read this for the first time.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - ★★★★★
Why hadn't I read this before???? I LOVE REBECCA. I LOVE DAPHNE DU MAURIER. The kind of book you stay up late reading in bed and GASP to yourself when someone in the story is caught, like, lingering in a doorway while overhearing something illicit, or whatever. I immediately lent this book to my friend Nora and I don't expect to ever see it again.
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson - ★★★★☆
We've also already discussed this.
The Idiot by Elif Batuman - ★☆☆☆☆
My god was this book ever not for me. Nora lent this to me when I lent her Rebecca and I promptly returned it after giving up 150 pages in. I know others loved it, but I do not need to re-live every waking second of someone's Freshman year.
Galactic Empires edited by Neil Clarke - ★★★★☆
A good collection of mostly great stories, designed to make you look like a total fucking nerd when reading in public.
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen - ★★★★☆
Some damn good stories in here. I think this Viet Thanh Nguyen guy might be a good writer! I'm the first one to ever say that about him.
Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman - ★★★★★
This book RUINED me. I can't wait for the movie to do the same.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 edited by James Patterson - ★★★☆☆
Sometimes you just need some dumb mystery stories from 3 years ago to read on your Kindle during a flight.
Memories of a Pure Spring by Duong Thu Huong - ★★★★☆
I wanted to read a Vietnamese author while in Vietnam, and boy did this ever pay off. Slow at first, but builds to exactly the melodramatic ending I was hoping for.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene - ★★★★☆
You have to read this when you're going to Vietnam as an American. It's the law.
The Last One by Alexandra Oliva - ★★★☆☆
I picked this up at Powell's in Portland after reading the back cover and finding a plot that sounded exactly like a book idea I had years ago. I'm hoping that won't lead you to suspect I'm biased when I say that I didn't really enjoy this book that much. The flashback sections grew increasingly useless to the story, and I found the author's Woke descriptions of character's racial appearances to flirt with tipping into straight-up offensiveness. Sometimes you don't need to describe your brown character's "caramel skin!"
The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson - ★★★★★
The last few years, I've dedicated the weeks around Halloween to reading Shirley Jackson. I hadn't yet read this perfect book, and I loved it more than I even anticipated. If I had read this as an angsty teenager, I probably would have gotten passages as tattoos. Thank god I read this at 30 instead. (I still might get a Shirley Jackson tattoo.)
Dark Tales by Shirley Jackson - ★★★★★
I mean, the woman was a perfect writer, what more can I say?
La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) by Philip Pullman - ★★★☆☆
I waited over a decade to be kind of disappointed by this. But I'm optimistic about book #2, because I'll always have a soft spot for the Golden Compass universe.
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell - ★★★★☆
David Mitchell books are always 75% great and 25% terrible and this was no exception. He's such a showoffy writer when it comes to voices, though, so it was fascinating going back and reading a book from when he was younger, cockier, and more rough around the edges.
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff - ★★★★☆
Just finished this last night. I mostly enjoyed it, although the chapters near the end started to fall through the trapdoor any X-Files fan knows: the more overarching mythology and less one-off-weirdness in a story, the worse it is. I also found this to really suffer from having a White Guy Writer. Pairing Lovecraftian horror stories with Jim Crow racism is a great idea, but the book never really explored the latter idea more than just, basically: racism is bad, guys! Definitely a book written for a white audience. THAT SAID, Jordan Peele is producing an adaptation of this for HBO, and the idea of what he can do with this material is making me giddy. It will be the best show on television when it comes out, without a doubt.
That's a lot of books! How did I even do anything else all year? God bless the failing loser MTA trapping me underground for hours at a time, I suppose.
Feel free to reply to this telling me how wrong I am! Or, please recommend any books you loved this year. My stack of to-reads is threatening to topple the dresser in my bedroom, but I'm sure it can stand a few more on the pile. Good luck shopping out there while Mercury is in retrograde!!!!!!!!