The Book Thread Book • Page 179

I too am planning to read* In Search of Lost Time next year.

*start

 

I ended with 30 books this year. Favorites were Blood Meridian, It, and Salem’s Lot. Rereading American Psycho now

 

i also have my brilliant friend on my shelf and want to do that one soon. swann’s way i read when i had covid a few years ago. really interesting time to do that lol but i loved it.

 

My wife absolutely LOVED My Brilliant Friend and that series!

 

faves of the year

1. Sens-Plastique - Malcolm de Chazal
2. 2666 - Robert Bolaño
3. Delta of Venus - Anaïs Nin
4. The Fourth Century - Édouard Glissant
5. An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures - Clarice Lispector
6. Go Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin
7. The Holy Days of Gregorio Pasos - Rodrigo Restrepo Montoya
8. Miss Lonelyhearts - Nathanael West
9. The Mountains Sing - Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
10. Adventures in Immediate Irreality - Max Blecher

also great

• The Water Statues - Fleur Jaeggy
• Asleep - Banana Yoshimoto
• Falling to Earth - Kate Southwood
• A Coney Island of the Mind - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
• Rarity of the Century - Fawzy Zablah
• Light Years - James Salter

other things

I published a novel this year, cowritten with two other authors (this is my fourth book published, and my second novel!)

• Drinkers of the Wind by Carl Raswan was an interesting memoir about Bedouin lifestyle and horseriding in the desert. probs worth checking out
• I wanted to like Orlando by Woolf more than I did. great book, just not my fav from her
• I tried my first Paul Auster novel with Invisible this year shortly after he died. good book, didn't blow me away or anything, but I enjoyed it. is there anything else worth reading by him?
• Ghassan Kanafani's short story collection as a whole wasn't as fantastic as the title story in All That's Left to You, but that book is worth reading for that one story alone. truly impeccable Palestinian literature.
• I stopped reading Shōgun at around 870 pages. My friend told me it picks up at about 950. Well that's too fkn late IMO. Reading that was torturous, kudos to all who've finished it. Def not my cup of tea. I felt like I was becoming a worse writer from reading it (I'll still watch the show).
• Everyone needs to read Sens-Plastique. Truly one of a kind book. Carrying that in my backpack for over a year, ready to go at any time, was one of the best literary experiences of my life.

 

'it picks up at page 950' is an insane thing to say lol

 

Absolutely, but considering it has about 1200 pages, I know he wasn’t lying. I just couldn’t… Made me want to commit seppuku myself lol

 

I just finished the audiobook for All the Sinners Bleed and I'm awestruck by how great it was. It has the vibes of season 1 of True Detective, but the storyline is so much better and the ending was very satisfying.

 

Favorite books I read this year:

- Island of the Lost by Joan Druett
- A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
- Pet Sematary by Stephen King
- The Body by Stephen King
- Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
- We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson
- Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

 

I think Tolstoy's Hadji Murat must be my favourite read of the year.

 

The book NEGATIVES (a photographic archive of emo 1996-2006) by Amy Fleischer Madden is normally $45, but is on sale for $19.48 right now! Get on it! Merry Christmas to meeee

 

I only read like eight books this year. Hoping to do better in 2025. Favorite was probably Motherthing.

 

Once again plugging my book from three years ago—the first novel I ever wrote. It’s a trippy, poetic Christmas coming-of-age story with a dash of magical-realism and I’ll always be proud of it. Copies still available if you’d like one! Happy to also send a signed copy if you want to buy direct from me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JR1Z9MH/?tag=absolutepunk-20

 

This was the year I really got back into reading and it has been great for my mental health and I find a far better unwind from parenting than spending the night online.

Top non-fiction : Killing Thatcher (about the IRA plot to assassinate UK Prime Minister in the mid-80s)

Top fiction : Kala (murder investigation in small-town Ireland mixed with a coming of age story. A page turner with relatability).

Fiction runner-up : Mania by Lionel Shriver. Dark comedy in a dystopian future where it becomes illegal to assign merit/achievement based on intelligence and capability.

 

Just finished Please Kill Me, which had been on my book bucket list for years. Good fucking god, what a harrowing read. I was constantly disgusted, shocked, heartbroken, but entertained. I loved it.

 

I’m reading my first Sally Rooney book, Intermezzo, and it is reminding me why I like reading so much.

 

Reading a fantastic memoir from the 1940’s, a French aristocrat’s time spent living with the Inuit people in the Arctic. Truly an incredible character study of indigenous people in a region of the world that otherwise seems unlivable. Highly recommend! Kabloona by Gontran de Poncins.

 

Went on a huge harry crews kick and got most of his books. Blood and grits is definitely one of the best books I read this year

 

My 2024 goal was 24 books and I got to 26. Read some amazing shit and very few lowlights. Gonna go for 25 books this year.

• 1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being - Rick Rubin
• 2. Ninety Days in the 90s - Andy Frye
• 3. Where Are Your Boys Tonight? - Chris Payne
• 4. World Within a Song - Jeff Tweedy
• 5. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C Clarke
• 6. The Road - Cormac Macarthy
• 7. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck - Mark Manson
• 8. The Angel of Indian Lake - Stephen Graham Jones
• 9. The Watchers - A.M. Shine
• 10. Dumb Ideas - Eric Andre and Dan Curry
• 11. Comedy Book - Jesse David Fox
• 12. How To Sell A Haunted House - Grady Hendrix
• 13. A Head Full of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay
• 14. The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek - Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal
• 15. Horror Movie - Paul Tremblay
• 16. T-Shirt Swim Club - Ian Karmel
• 17. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - Quentin Tarantino
• 18. I Was A Teenage Slasher - Stephen Graham Jones
• 19. Malort - Josh Noel
• 20. Night of the Living Rez - Morgan Talty
• 21. Rosemary’s Baby - Ira Levin
• 22. On Writing - Stephen King
• 23. Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain
• 24. Down With the System - Serj Tankian
• 25. Joyful Recollections of Trauma - Paul Scheer
• 26. Please Kill Me - Gillian McCain and Legs McNeil

 

wake up babe Lucy Dacus 2024 book highlights dropped: here is the list because it keeps getting wrongly read as a mastodon post

 

@OotyPa did you have a poetry 2024 list?

 

I read less poetry than I had in previous years (but not really because I read/vote on chapbooks for a small press). anyway, here are the poetry books I read and my GoodReads reviews of them:

Briggflatts - Basil Bunting

Long-form British modernist poem that actually has more in common with the American Beat poets than his contemporaries. The poem itself is untranslatable due to its focus on sound and lyricism. Truly a symphonic, musical piece, that spans the seasons as a symbolic reflection of Bunting's homeland history -- while also mixing in autobiographical elements. I threw on a video of Bunting reading aloud his poem after completing this, and the man's voice is an instrument all-its-own.

Diving into the Wreck - Adrienne Rich

Stark, cathartic, almost-rageful poems published in the 70's. Mostly directed at the heteronormative status quo, but covers a range of topics from gender equality to Vietnam to ecological destruction to class discrimination. Great stuff, though a bit disjointed, and some of the pieces lose their edge when reading at a faster pace. However, that might speak more to my ability as a reader than Rich's poems.

Sens-Plastique - Malcolm de Chazal (not really poetry but still fits, and it was my fav of the year)
A world-reinventing goldmine of language. Malcolm de Chazal was a mysterious Mauritian writer and painter whose primary mode of expression was aphorisms, flights of imagination, wise proverbs, and poetic reflections that seek to describe reality. Like any of the most brilliant mystics, he wrote of known truths that are hardly acknowledged or understood. Here are hundreds of fantastic, often humorous, often otherworldly insights on the universe; nature, colors, emotions, senses, the body, sexuality, spirituality, the occult. It's best to take this slowly, absorbing each passage. I doubt I'll ever encounter another book like this, and it's so re-readable that I'm bound to return to it one day. I'll add that it's a great palette cleanser, a perfect alternative to scrolling social media.

All Things Holy and Heathen - Chelsea Jackson Received this as an ARC direct from the author themself. Below is my blurb.
A beautiful and bold embrace of the dualities of our universe and the circle of life. Poem after poem, Jackson emerges as an unabashed, exhilarating voice for the sentimental, the curious, the devoted; as well as for the hungry, the malevolent, and the solitary. This moving book maps the human spirit, bearing witness to the dirty and the divine, and, at times, where the lines blur enough to seem like both. Jackson is instantly recognizable as a good poet with an original style and wit. But it is after spending time with All Things Holy and Heathen, one comes away feeling stirred, reminded that we are but a small part of something much greater. A testament to a wonderful poet’s awe for a world of passion and sorrow.

Choose Your Own Beginning - Amy Saul-Zerby

Beautiful, soul-baring collection by local poet Amy Saul-Zerby who read at Mystic Orchards' (my own collection's) launch. This one's a page-turner; sparse, intimate, immediate, where every word stirs with lived-in memory and wisdom.

In the Cairngorms - Nan Shephard

An evocative, mystical portrait of isolation among the Scottish mountains. Each of these lyrical poems are saturated in a spiritual wonder and sense of sublime terror at the immensity of nature. Some poems are written in the author's native Doric dialect, which were fun to read. A handful of other poems, love sonnets, and more, in the later sections.

Everything is a Deathly Flower - Maneo Mohale

A beautiful debut by South African queer poet Maneo Mohale, and it's a powerful, bold testament to survivorship. The poems narrate an arc of recovery and redemption after sexual assault. Though that seems dark, the poems are life-affirming, gender-affirming, race-affirming, history-affirming.

Collective Amnesia - Koleka Putuma

South African poet Koleka Putuma's debut collection, a series of poems at the intersections of politics, race, religion, sexuality, and queer identity. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did -- Putuma writes with righteous conviction but at times feels like scrolling my Twitter feed. Not that Putuma is virtue-signalling, but it felt more like a political statement than a work of art. Her poems are like image collages of systemic oppression and personal resilience. As I read through them, I found myself weary, hoping for something unexpected (or even challenging) to penetrate through the rage.

To the God of Rain - Tim Liardet

Playful, thoughtful, jazzy collection. Intricately constructed poems, rich with imagery and quirky observations. Liardet's sentences dance with unpredictable turns, spanning long distances to their destinations. I found myself re-reading for the joy of their sounds and for my own comprehension.

A Coney Island of the Mind - Lawrence Ferlinghetti

My introduction to Beat poet Ferlinghetti, who passed a few years ago. Ecstatic, musical, with an interesting use of form across the pages, these poems imagine a surreal Coney Island to symbolize the American soul. I adored this classic work.

What the Light Was Like - Amy Clampitt

Clampitt has an unbelievable mastery over her vocabulary, use of sound, myriad of poetic forms, and ambiguity. I enjoyed reading and rereading these rich poems. There's an extended sequence in this that narrates John Keats' life and career, sort of like an epic poem, which I had fun with. Def would recommend to fellow poets and lovers of Literature with a capital L.

 

Omg yay

 

Who are some of your faves? Maybe I can give more pointed recs since those are all over the place

 

I need to read more Rich. Dream of a Common Language is one the best poetry collections I've read.