I spent 2015 touring and teaching and touring and teaching so I had to get my reading in where I could. Every time I got on a plane I thought, “I am going to read,” but then I usually ended up watching movies. I watched Furious 7 on at least four flights, is all I am saying.Â
A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara
The Small Backs of Children by Lidia Yuknavitch
The Invaders by Karolina WaclawiakÂ
Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
Bad Sex by Clancy Martin
Today I Am a Book by xTx
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
Sable Venus and Other Poems by Robin Coste Lewis
Night at the Fiestas: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade
The Cartel by Don Winslow
Gutshot by Amelia Gray
My absolute favorite book of the year was A Little Life. This was a book that tore my heart out as I read it. There was no mercy, particularly for Jude, the man at the center of the book and four friend throughout their lifelong friendship. Yes, the book was overwrought and melodramatic and intensely dark. That’s why I enjoyed it. I loved this book so much that all I can say is I LOVED THIS BOOK SO FUCKING MUCH.
The Small Backs of Children was challenging and provocative and showed me of the full reach of war. The Invaders was such a fine book about the terrible ways of the well-to do. Preparation for the Next Life managed to create a love story between a vet with PTSD and an undocumented immigrant who find a way to love in complicated circumstances. Bad Sex was unapologetic and louche and sexy and so much fucking fun. Today I Am a Book was wildly imaginative and impeccably written. Delicious Foods was amazing storytelling and offered a new kind of happy ending. Sable Venus and Other Poems was simply stunning and full of intimidating intelligence and grace. Night at the Fiestas offers some of the best short stories I’ve ever read; The Five Wounds is a highlight. The Cartel was a wholly engrossing look at the drug war, so much brutality very well rendered. Gutshot was bizarre and witty and voracious as I’ve come to expect from the author.Â
Books I blurbed so definitely check them out as they are released:
Loving Day by Mat Johnson
How to Pose for Hustler by Andrea Kneeland
The Hundred-Year Flood by Matthew Salesses
The Unfinished World and Other Stories by Amber Sparks
So Sad Today by Melissa Broder
Mothers, Tell Your Daughters by Bonnie Jo Campbell
I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison
In the Country by Mia Alvar
Negroland by Margo Jefferson
Delicious Foods by James Hannaham
The Sacrifice by Joyce Carol Oates
The warm and incredibly charming book I read that made me feel so fond of the Midwest even though I live there:
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J Ryan Stradal
The book that reminded me of the absolute wonder great fiction creates:
Upright Beasts by Lincoln Michel
The classic book I read because I am writing an introduction for a reprint and I am basically more than a year over deadline and full of self-loathing about that but the book itself is incredible and makes me so glad I wasn’t a woman in ye olden times:
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The book I really enjoyed with such a dark, fucked up twist, I am still kind of stunned and also I did blurb this:
Damage Done by Amanda Panitch
The book that made me feel a bit better about my obsession with airline miles and airline status programs:
Up in the Air by Walter Kirn
The book I read because I love novels about Los Angeles:
Oh You Pretty Things! by Shanna Mahin
The book by a feminist icon I read because I got to have a conversation with her in Chicago:
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem
The book I read knowing it was going to be trash because I had already read it under a different title and yes, indeed, it was trash or something worse than trash but I am part of the problem because I read it:
The book I really disliked even though it was well written and totally fine, just not my cup of tea:
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
The book by a beloved author I read even though I only have vague memories of the book the beloved author is renowned for:
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The book I read because I was curious because of the buzz about the huge advance because writers are terrible when it comes to publishing gossip:
City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
(I enjoyed this book; the writing was outstanding but the novel was unnecessarily overlong and I wanted to feel closer to the characters.)
Something to Hide My Face in by Doug Paul Case
Heaven by Rowan Ricardo Phillips
How to Be Drawn by Terrance Hayes
Bright Felon by Kazim Ali
Unpeopled Eden by Rigoberto González
Salt is for Curing by Sonya Vatomsky
Fat Daisies by Carrie Murphy
The awesome, strange, dark, fiercely intelligent collection of short stories I loved:
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
The book that challenged my understanding of nonfiction and inspired the structure I am bringing to my next book, Hunger:
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
The book about Detroit that I didn’t love but still admired, particularly because of the unexpected and beautifully written relationship between the protagonist and his girlfriend:
The book about excellent lesbian poet adventures:
Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles
The book I read because there I was, at an awards ceremony, having just lost, and then there was the final category where I was rooting for a couple books that didn’t win, and the winner was announced and I wasn’t familiar with the book so I wanted to get familiar with the book:
The book with an excellent cover and an excellent premise that I thought was good and smart but still left me wanting a more I can’t quite specify:
The rockstar book, the writer of which I interviewed:
Between the World And Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
The book I greatly anticipated and was thrilled by:
Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
The books that made me angry at all the injustice and unfairness in the world:
Missoula: Rape and Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer
Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
The book that made me think DIVA over and over:
Writing by Marguerite Duras
The book coming out in 2016 that is gorgeous and haunting and concise:
Eleven Hours by Pamela Erens
The book with the great cover that disappointed:
Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin
The book set in space that was a masterful feat of world building and exploring mental illness and grief:
Planetfall by Emma Newman
The gorgeous photography book that impressed me with it’s look into the lives of a working class black family:
The Notion of Family by Latoya Ruby Frazier
A couple graphic novels I read:
City of Clowns by Daniel Alarcon
Turning Japanese by Mari Naomi
The comic I read because I met the author at the PEN Literary Awards and she was really nice and then the comic turned out to be awesome:
