The Book Thread Book • Page 99

I’m reading White Teeth for the first time. It’s cool.

 

i started this at a dumb time and got like 100 pages in or something and i also thought it was cool. i need to go back and finish it one of these days

 

We were asked to pick our favorite “Winter/Christmas” book for the faculty board at work, so I picked Less Than Zero and now I have students coming up to me asking to borrow it. I’m very interested in their feedback. I just started it for the first time in probably 10 years

 

It sucks that BEE is such a piece of shit now, but that book did so much for me in high school, could be a great gateway for some students

 

Right? I have to preface it by saying “it’s super weird and you might not like it at first” and also that the author has turned into a total piece of shit.

I’m about 40 pages in and this still hits like it used to, though. He had such energy back in the day.

 

Absolutely, I think I was around 14/15 and my librarian (knowing I was one of few who cared) gave me Less Than Zero and The Corrections, quite honestly changed the trajectory of my life

Good on you

 

So excited I found this thread! Gonna take my time reading through and hopefully can find some good books to read (and also can hopefully give some recommendations too!)

 

What are you currently reading?

 

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. I like it so far! How about you?

 

This feels like a fitting place to share my favorite books of 2019. I was tempted to be more thorough and divide it by category (nonfiction, fiction, poetry) but that would've been too tedious so this consists of books from all those categories - the cream of the crop from each that stood out to me this year:

1) Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg

2) Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli

3) Sabrina and Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine

4) A Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib

5) The Waterdancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

6) Never a Lovely So Real: The Life and Work of Nelson Algren by Colin Asher

7) The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson

8) Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellman

9) Democracy May Not Exist but We'll Miss It When It's Gone by Astra Taylor

10) In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machadp

11) Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell

12) Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the US Border Around the World by Todd Miller

13) You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian

14) Our History is the Future by Nick Estes

15) On Swift Horses by Shannon Pufahl

16) Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown

17) Being Numerous by Natasha Lennord

18) My Seditious Heart by Arundhati Roy

19) Paul takes the form of a mortal girl by Andrea Lawlor

20) On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

21) Feed by Tommy Pico

22) The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews

23) On Fire by Naomi Klein

 

how'd you like ducks, Newburyport? my roommate is planning on reading that soon and I was gonna pick it up after but it looks intimidating. thanks for posting this, there's a few things here that I'm interested in picking up

 

Now You See Me by Chris McGeorge

Been working through it for a few weeks

 

My choice in books tends to not be what most others in here enjoy, just a heads up

 

Explain!

 

all he reads is The Hardy Boys

 

I just tend to gravitate more towards genre fiction (mystery/thriller)

And stuff that's more for the masses than Pulitzer worthy

 

And Nancy Drew, you bastard!

 

lots i liked and lots i’ve had my eye on in here, thanks for sharing!

i am in a very long line for ducks, newburyport at my library

 

added Ducks as I've heard some good things about it. I'm generally into literary fiction (especially those with a more lyrical edge to them)... not so much genre fiction or nonfiction. Can someone specify which of these fit that vibe? Want to add to my goodreads list.

 

Ducks took me a long while to complete but it was worth it. For a story that's mainly told in run-on stream of consciousness prose, I was impressed at how well done the whole thing was.

I hope you eventually get around to Ducks soon! It's like slipping into a black hole of prose!

That's the type of fiction i'm drawn to as well. From my list, Sabrina and Corina fits that description -a powerful short story collection focusing on a multigenerational Latinx family in the Denver area. Fajardo-Anstine's a great writer, blending poetic prose with gritty realism. Same goes for On Swift Horses. I liken it to Baldwin's Another Country but set in the 1950s West. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is also a stunning work of literary fiction. Same applies to Coates' Waterdancer.

 

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado blew me away too. It's a memoir that also deconstructs the memoir genre. It's an intense a read for the most part since it deals with Machado's time in an toxic abusive relationship. With her surreal lucid prose, she immerses you in that experience. It's intense but highly recommended.

 

Loved On Earth so damn much... was def one of my faves of the year. Thanks for the suggestions- will make sure to add them to my (long-ass) list

 

this is great, thank you. helped me pick a few gifts actually

plus I have A Fortune for Your Disaster on order, cannot wait for it to arrive. They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us is the best book I've read in the past 5 years

 

Got this for Christmas. I’m excited to read it.

Also I’m almost done with White Teeth and it has been continuously growing on me. I recommend it to anyone who hasn’t read it or hasn’t finished it.

 

Finished White Teeth. Great book. Now I’m reading this one:

Night Train to Lisbon - Wikipedia