32 Books

Radiance - Catherynne M. Valente

My favourite book I read in 2016. It had me at the blurb about being a deco-punk space opera mystery, but its so much more than that. The language is lush, and switches seamlessly between mediums (movie and commercial scripts, magazine articles, diaries, novel narrative...) and genres (gothic, hardboiled noir, a summation-gathering-murder-mystery, space opera...etc). Valente manages to pull together this huge trembling, romantic, beautiful view of the solar system, better than the stories from vintage pulp mags. French colonies on the moons of Neptune. Giant life-sustaining flowers on Pluto. Brave, blue-skinned girls from the Moon.

It’s also a perfect tale of trying to force closure when there isn’t any, and the way we roll stories over in our minds to create the ideal endings we desire. 

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

Pretty Deadly, Volume 1 - Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios

All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Toews

Nimona by Noelle Stevenson

Get In Trouble - Kelly Link

#10 - Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy - Noelle Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, and Brooke A. Allen

This is the first book this year that I just couldn’t finish, and won’t be picking up again to give another try. ‘I, Bificus’ should check a bunch of boxes for me (local interest, feminist music, memoir) but the narrative pace started to get on my nerves. It’s made up of very short sections (41 in about 250 pages) and they end rather abruptly. A bit like punk songs, which makes sense given her background, but not so great for prose. 

#9 - Love and Louis XIV - Antonia Fraser

Antonia Fraser’s biographies are usually so good, but this one was just kind of flat. Maybe because it’s so much smaller than the others (like 400 pages compared to 650+), and there isn’t the cruelty and upheaval of the stories of Henry VIII’s wives or Mary, Queen of Scots? Or I’m just unreasonably confused because the French like to reuse the same names over and over, and aristocratic titles pass from one person to another over the course of the narrative and I really should put sticky notes when one person dies so I know she’s talking about the next Duke? 

#7 - Shrill - Lindy West

I thought I had a lot to say about Shrill, but it really just boils down to this:

When Lindy West writes about the ways women’s bodies are policed and judged, she cuts through the bullshit and shreds my insides to pieces. The crux of it is: When you make the decision to stop hating yourself, there are still a lot of people out there who hate you for existing. 

8 - Manties In A Twist - J.A. Rock

#6 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - Caitlin Doughty

This is a bit of a cheat, because I’ve read it before. And I’ll read it again. It’s in a pile of books I reach for because they’re familiar and comforting. Yes, I just called a book about cremation comforting. It’s encouraging to know that I’m going to die, Caitlin Doughty knows I’m going to die, and that funeral directors like her demystify what happens when our mortal coils give us the final fuck off.

#5 - The Invention of Nature - Andrea Wulf

I’ve got a tendency to romanticize the pre-20th century past. (Even though I also answer any conversational questions about backward time travel with, “Is there a good time in human history for women? Can I go to there?”) The Invention of Nature explores a time when science blossomed because of poetry and revolution. Andrea Wulf deftly pulls all of these threads together and neatly lays out changes and innovations of the 18th and 19th century. Obviously, I adored this book. 

The central premise of this biography is: Why haven’t more people heard of Alexander von Humboldt, a brilliant polymath who used the poetic bent of the times to call attention to the idea that all of nature is interconnected? 

#4 - Bitch Planet Book One - Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro

Bitch Planet. Bitch Planet! BITCH PLANET!!

Vocal fangirling is not my usual M.O., and I’m not going to get a tattoo. But I’d fucking rock out these leggings, and will forcibly shove this comic into the hands of anyone who has even the slightest criticism of patriarchy.

The premise is that (in a not so distant future?) women who are considered “non-compliant” (which includes crimes like murder down to petty disappointments like being fat or a husband’s wandering eye) get sent to a prison camp colloquially known as “Bitch Planet.” Kotaku has a pretty thorough review of the first few issues, which are gathered in Book One. 

When a male friend idly flipped through it and said “I don’t get it?” I may have impatiently growled, “It’s not for you.” Because it’s tiring to give 101-level lectures on all the things women do that can get them branded as bitches and why men don’t experience anything similar. (Not going to lie, it also felt really satisfying to invert the idea that comics are guy things, not for girls and women.) Me being snaky aside, yes read it for the feminism but also because the framing of the story is good. The Mary Sue describes it like this: “Would you be interested in a bleaker Orange is the New Black, without the lily-white lead, in space? How about a ’70s woman-in-prison exploitation flick with all the exploitation replaced by women being actual characters?”

#3 - Belle - Paula Byrne

What to say about Belle other than it’s a complete shame that Dido Elizabeth Belle’s personal history isn’t much more detailed than this Wikipedia article. That we can’t know much about her, because history is unkind and dismissive of women of colour. Paula Byrne skillfully writes about those around Belle and the abolitionist movement of the late 18th century, and the frustrating absence of information about Belle herself is what makes stories of other POC and race relations in 18th century England stand out in stronger relief. 

#2 - The Drunken Botanist - Amy Stewart

From the moment I saw the cover, I knew that this was a book for me. Looks like an old-time medicinal ad or an artisanal bitters bottle? Yes, please. (That joke about craft beer making being drinky into an acceptable hobby? Also me.)

This book is set up like an almanac, divided into types of plants and the drinks they make or flavour. It’s dense with history, full of recipes, and quirky tidbits. Stewart even offers instructions for growing your own plants for use in syrups, cocktails, and shrubs. It’s so brightly written and well-organized that I was half-tempted to pull up Pinterest and plan a gorgeous home bar.

#1 - Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl - Carrie Brownstein

For my birthday this year, I was given Kobo e-reader. Having dropped many books into the tub, I thought a Kobo wasn’t for me. My clumsy hands would shake, and I’d be out over $100 after it took a dunk. But this one is waterproof, and I’ve had it for two months without once tipping it underwater. It’s a magical game changer.