2020 In Books (So Far)
When my brain isn’t flipping itself inside-out like a 90’s ponytail, I read. I've always been like this. Blame my mother, who limited my TV time but never what I checked out from the library.
My last haul from Denver’s library system before the shutdown (above) was all pretty heavy material, so a few weeks later I caved and bought a Kindle, secondhand, which took longer than expected to arrive and was then discovered to be functionally broken. Desperate for a little instant gratification, I got a partial refund and bought a brand new one for pickup from a big box store the next day.
After a few months, it’s clear my e-reader is going to stay. Still, I’ve got a major bone to pick with a corporation data-mining my reading and book-buying habits on their hardware, not to mention whatever else they’ve picked up via buying out Goodreads. Greater than that, I deeply believe in the importance of us all spending more time away from any type of Screens.
Paraphrased from Foreign Bodies: Reading to produce change in regards to personal growth and development—bibliotherapy, in shorthand—has incredible benefits regardless, but especially if you’re dealing with “mild to moderate” symptoms of mental illness. In general, studies have shown reading increases your ability to empathize, reduce stress, help you sleep, and, as with other mentally stimulating activities done throughout one’s life, can decrease age-related cognitive decline. While the research doesn’t show favor to any particular genre, it is partial to print books.
You can only imagine how excited I was when I got an email last week about DPL circulating materials again; it’s nice to see the broad binding of The Pink Line join the orange-wrapped instrument of the Amazon illuminati* next to my bed.
All the books I’ve read in 2020 (so far):
Recommended Reads of 2020 (so far)
I’ve been thinking of assembling a more frequent list (a la my seasonal playlists), but for the time being I’ll stick to the highlights. My notes below are meant to be book reviews, not book reports.
Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
Richard Morgan’s world-building is not conducive to hit TV. So forget the Netflix series; it’s a terrible representation of the book. Besides, the current state of affairs makes me suspect you’d appreciate the adventures of Takeshi Kovacs in your life.
All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg
Nobody writes about interpersonal dynamics, especially the familial, like Attenberg. I’ve previously recommended her books The Middlesteins and All Grown Up.
The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays by Esme Wang
This is different from most mental health memoirs, which is probably why she included the word “Essays” in its title. Esme Wang is a very skilled writer, and another reviewer pointed out, she talks about her mental illness from a frame of having been the best at everything, which can make some portions… economically grating. It’s a different approach than I expected based on the reviews I read, but no less intriguing for it.
The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath by Leslie Jamison
This is the first fresh take on the alcoholic’s memoir in a very long time – partly because the author has included the history of all the admitted drunks that came before. There’s gems in here for sober and non-sober readers alike. See also: The Small Bow newsletter.
Luster by Raven Leilani
The author really knows how to pack a lot of story per sentence, and deployed this skill throughout book. Experientially, it felt less like I was reading a novel than time traveling back to the late aughts to stay up late reading well-wrought retellings on some city dweller’s blog.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
This is a novel about trying to write a novel, which is a hard type of fiction to write. Lily King succeeds wonderfully in detailing the experiences of an unmoored woman coming into her thirties. Complements the previous recommendation quite well, if you’re looking for a duo.
I’ve been musing on ideas, like if the world needs a(nother) curated list of books that belong on #EveryAmericansBookshelf; a series of suggestions for self-paced bibliotherapy from yours truly. I tweeted about this vaguely before bed the other night, but it’s been on my mind for months.
I know my perceptions have been changed, opened, and challenged by things I’ve read – aside from engaging with the comments (no!), how can I make use of that?
Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451, observed in 1993, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” I’d like to believe that one good book is stronger than any single 18-minute video meant to incite hatred, or clever memes shared elsewhere that couch sociopathic dehumanization of a perceived enemy with dark humor. (My sense of humor remains macbre af, but there’s limits.)
Can a book overcome consistent exposure to Google search results, all of which are influenced by their recommendation algorithm? Probably not YouTube’s, from what we’ve seen over the last five years. Can a book penetrate the echo chamber of private Facebook groups and subreddits, let alone the minds of habitual internet trolls?
My gut says no, but this list isn’t for them – it’s for the rest of us. Based on climate change forecast, it sounds like we, as in the whole planet, will be collectively running too hot 25 years from now, anyway. Seems this is as good a time as any to learn how to be better to ourselves, and each other.
The list would clearly be a product of more than myself, having cherry picked recommendations from far more knowledgeable sources I plan to link back to. There’s the very necessary subjects of racism, the prison industrial complex and abolition, and a hefty number of less immediate topics: the importance of sleep, mis/use of digital connectivity, exercise, diets & drug use. Yet these are the subjects where I have the most to say, or at least the most ground to stand on. Stay in your lane, as the kids say.
If there’s a subject or book you think belongs on the list, drop me line or a comment below.
From my slice of hell to yours,
The Devil
* This is a joke about Qnon and not reflective of my actual beliefs.