It was a strange year. I can’t say it’s been a good year. I started a lot of books and didn’t finish them. By my count, I only finished 82 books this year. Half of those were probably comic books.
In no particular order, here were some that really stood out:
My Heart is an Idiot by Davy Rothbart
A book of autobiographical essays. Charming and memorable. The one with the lottery tickets was my favorite.
To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North
Hamlet turned into a choose-your-own-adventure story. A delightful mashup.
Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon
Along with Inherent Vice, one of Pynchon’s most readable books. A strange ode to a pre-9/11 world.
Saga by Brian Vaughan
The best comic book I read all year. A true delight. And captures something true about the wonders and horrors of bringing new human beings into the world.
Triton by Samuel Delany
This book captured more closely, in retrospect, the mood of 2014 at large more than anything else I read this year. Written in 1976.
The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer
Not my favorite of his work, but still an amazing three books. There’s nothing else like it that I’ve ever read. I prefer his more surreal stuff, but good for him for doing what he needed to do to get on the NY Times Bestseller List.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Yeah, I cried. What can I say. It’s heart wrenchingly charming and sad.
Tigerman by Nick Harkaway
I’ll sing Harkaway’s praises until the cows come home. This one’s well worthwhile, even though it’s such a dude’s book.
Not such a bad year in reading, I suppose. Still, here’s to a better reading year in 2015. It’d be nice to find that rhythm again.