BEST BOOKS OF 2015
Dear Ones -
These were my nine favorite books of 2015.
Why 9, and not 10? Because 9 looks more tidy and symmetrical when you display the covers like this... isn't that just the prettiest patchwork quilt you ever saw?
Full disclosure: This is the world's most subjective list. I did not read ALL the books that were published in 2015 — not even all the ones I was dying to read. It's also possible that I read some amazing books in 2015 and totally forgot about them as I was compiling this list — because I wasn't keeping very close track.
There are so many great books published every year that I know I miss. It can make a person go mad. The tricky thing about being a writer is that I don't have as much time to read as I wish I did. (Then again: WHO DOES?) I spent much of 2015 reading books from the 1940's, in order to do research for a novel that I'm working on — so if you need reviews of novels by John O'Hara and Mary McCarthy, I'm very much up to date on that!
But for now, these are the new books that moved me, soothed me, educated me, and delighted me this year. They all come with my most heartfelt recommendation:
1) CONSOLATIONS, by David Whyte — Keep this book by your bedside forever. I know that I will. Beautiful, elegant, tiny essays on the consoling power of words, written by one of my favorite living poets. I think Whyte is as much a mystic as an author, and this book proves it. Beautiful, soulful, thoughtful.
Beginning with ALONE and closing with WORK, each chapter is a meditation on meaning and context, an invitation to shift and broaden our perspectives on the inevitable vicissitudes of life: pain and joy, honesty and anger, confession and vulnerability, the experience of feeling besieged and the desire to run away from it all. Through this lens, procrastination may be a necessary ripening; hiding an act of freedom; and shyness the appropriate confusion and helplessness that accompanies the first stage of revelation.
CONSOLATIONS invites readers into a poetic and thoughtful consideration of words whose meaning and interpretation influence the paths we choose and the way we traverse them throughout our lives. (less).."
CONSOLATIONS invites readers into a poetic and thoughtful consideration of words whose meaning and interpretation influence the paths we choose and the way we traverse them throughout our lives. (less).."
2) H IS FOR HAWK, by Helen MacDonald — This memoir of a British woman's lifelong devotion to falconry (and her efforts to soothe her grief over her father's death by training a hawk) made my heart race, and made me want to fly. I burned through it like I was reading an action novel — because, in the end, it is one.
"...When Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer, Helen had never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk, but in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of Macdonald's humanity and changed her life.
Heart-wrenching and humorous, this book is an unflinching account of bereavement and a unique look at the magnetism of an extraordinary beast, with a parallel examination of a legendary writer's eccentric falconry. Obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history combine to achieve a distinctive blend of nature writing and memoir from an outstanding literary innovator. (less)..""...When Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer, Helen had never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk, but in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own. Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of Macdonald's humanity and changed her life.
3) GIRL WAITS WITH GUN, by Amy Stewart — My favorite novel of the year. A rollicking, hilarious, intelligent, and based-on-a-true-story tale of three unmarried sisters in early 20th century Patterson NJ who stand up to the Mafia...and win. Features one of the coolest female heroines I've ever encountered. Needs to be a movie.
"...A novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs
Constance Kopp doesn’t quite fit the mold. She towers over most men, has no interest in marriage or domestic affairs, and has been isolated from the world since a family secret sent her and her sisters into hiding fifteen years ago. One day a belligerent and powerful silk factory owner runs down their buggy, and a dispute over damages turns into a war of bricks, bullets, and threats as he unleashes his gang on their family farm. When the sheriff enlists her help in convicting the men, Constance is forced to confront her past and defend her family — and she does it in a way that few women of 1914 would have dared.""...A novel based on the forgotten true story of one of the nation’s first female deputy sheriffs
4) FATES AND FURIES, by Lauren Groff — A haunting, gorgeously constructed novel of a marriage, told in two parts (one from the husband's perspective; one from the wife's.) This is one of those incredibly clever novels that make me think — writer-to-writer — "Man, how I wish I could do that." It was also President Obama's favorite novel of the year, so that's pretty cool!
"...Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.
At age twenty-two, Lotto and Mathilde are tall, glamorous, madly in love, and destined for greatness. A decade later, their marriage is still the envy of their friends, but with an electric thrill we understand that things are even more complicated and remarkable than they have seemed.""...Every story has two sides. Every relationship has two perspectives. And sometimes, it turns out, the key to a great marriage is not its truths but its secrets. At the core of this rich, expansive, layered novel, Lauren Groff presents the story of one such marriage over the course of twenty-four years.
5) THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, by Elizabeth Alexander — My favorite memoir of the year, about a woman who has unexpectedly lost her husband. It is difficult to write a true love story that is also convincing in real-world terms, but this is TRULY a true love story. Not to pick favorites, but if you read only one book on this list, make it this one. Just don't read it in public, because it will make you cry. But it will also make you believe in love, and perhaps even to believe in destiny.
".In THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD, Elizabeth Alexander finds herself at an existential crossroads after the sudden death of her husband. Channeling her poetic sensibilities into a rich, lucid price, Alexander tells a love story that is, itself, a story of loss. As she reflects on the beauty of her married life, the trauma resulting from her husband's death, and the solace found in caring for her two teenage sons, Alexander universalizes a very personal quest for meaning and acceptance in the wake of loss.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is at once an endlessly compelling memoir and a deeply felt meditation on the blessings of love, family, art, and community. It is also a lyrical celebration of a life well-lived and a paean to the priceless gift of human companionship. For those who have loved and lost, or for anyone who cares what matters most, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD is required reading."
6) STRANGERS DROWNING, by Larissa MacFarquhar — For those of us who grapple with the moral question of how best to do good in the world, this brilliantly thought-out book by a gifted NEW YORKER magazine writer is a must read. It explores true stories of extreme altruists — people who truly believe (and live by) the notion that we are our brother's keepers. If you don't think harder about your own ethics after reading this important book, then you ain't thinkin'.
Evocative, unprecedented, and profoundly moving, Strangers Drowning combines real-life stories of unimaginable selflessness along with deep meditations on the shocking implications of these ethical acts. How best to live in a world of suffering? How much can I afford to give, and should I give more? Am I responsible for other individuals, even at the expense of my friends and family? What am I entitled to as an individual, knowing that so many others lack so much?Exploring these questions gracefully, MacFarquhar grounds her philosophical inquiry in the lives of do-gooders ranging from central India to a desolate part of Baltimore, from the foster homes of Vermont to the suicide clinics of Japan. With admiration and a healthy skepticism, MacFarquhar shows that such individuals are far from perfect and their actions often explosively backfire. Yet in their courageous attempts to reach for a higher ideal, to rescue as many people as they possibly can, these do-gooders show us the deepest and strongest foundations of the human species.
What MacFarquhar ultimately reveals is that the difference between the do-gooder and the majority is simply one ofperspective. The mind-set of the do-gooder can be compared with those living in wartime: where strangers become comrades, where heroism becomes expected, where “above and beyond” suddenly becomes the altogether ordinary. Showing that the first step to changing the world is to simply change our own minds, MacFarquhar offers unforgettable insights that allow us to decisively examine our own convictions.
Elegant, provocative, and unforgettable, Strangers Drowningilluminates those remarkable few who know they are their brother’s keeper—and act on it."
7) HOLD STILL, by Sally Mann — You could do worse, as a creative aspirant, than to study this memoir by the brilliant and controversial photographer Sally Mann. The subtitle could have easily been, "How to be an artist." She is a fierce lioness of creativity, and I bow down before her. Also, the photos in this book are amazing.
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
"..A revealing and beautifully written memoir and family history from acclaimed photographer Sally Mann.
In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her.
Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs she finds more than she bargained for: "deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land . . . racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of the prodigal son, and maybe even bloody murder."
In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life."
"..A revealing and beautifully written memoir and family history from acclaimed photographer Sally Mann.
In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her.
Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs she finds more than she bargained for: "deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land . . . racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of the prodigal son, and maybe even bloody murder."
In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life."
8) RISING STRONG, by Brene Brown — You guys, what would we do without Brene Brown? What did people do with themselves before there was a Brene Brown to lead us? Once again, our favorite teacher on vulnerability and whole-heartedness sorts through the data (and her own emotional life) on our collective behalf, in order to teach us how to live better, stronger, and more resilient lives.
"..The physics of vulnerability is simple: If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall. The author of the #1 New York Timesbestsellers Daring Greatly and The Gifts of Imperfection tells us what it takes to get back up, and how owning our stories of disappointment, failure, and heartbreak gives us the power to write a daring new ending. Struggle, Brené Brown writes, can be our greatest call to courage, and rising strong our clearest path to deeper meaning, wisdom, and hope."
"..Gloria Steinem—writer, activist, organizer, and one of the most inspiring leaders in the world—now tells a story she has never told before, a candid account of how her early years led her to live an on-the-road kind of life, traveling, listening to people, learning, and creating change. She reveals the story of her own growth in tandem with the growth of an ongoing movement for equality. This is the story at the heart of My Life on the Road."
So that's my list...which I only just now realized features 8 female authors, and only one male author (who happens to be a poet, which makes sense, in context!) So...if you're worried I'm not getting enough testosterone on the list, let me just add, in all sincerity: I really loved reading THE MARTIAN this year. I know, I know, it was published in 2011. But it was freaking awesome.
HAPPY READING, EVERYONE!
Can't wait to see what the New Year brings...
ONWARD,
LG
LG
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