Before resuming life’s usual chaos, allow me to tell you a little about a dozen books that were my favourite reads of the year (in the order I read them):
1. The Hare With Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
Great depth of research spinning together politics, art, and family history in a very personal narrative. I felt the researcher’s pain at unravelling so many incidents of antisemitism, from what we would nowadays call microaggressions to the violence and theft of the Nazis. I learned a lot of art history, European and Japanese.
2. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
I guess I’m a little late to the bandwagon on this one, and it’s about time I read it. It’s a classic for good reason. The genius of this
novel is its scope, how Steinbeck shows with the Joads the price of the sins of an economic system that favours the few over the many, and over the land itself. The environmental imagery and symbolism is powerful. The ending is unforgettable.
3. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
I met Amanda not that long before this book came out and became a really big deal. I can say (I think without much bias) that it lives
up to the hype. Her prose is direct and completely engaging. The result here is a beautiful and moving story of separation—individual and cultural, the damage of dislocation. And finding deep meaning in finding your way home.
4. The Prince by Steve Maher
I reviewed this for The Miramichi Reader and quite enjoyed th e deepdive into the ups and downs of Justin Trudeau’s years leading up to and in office as our Prime Minister. In the review, I wrote: “…a valuable political recent history and overview heading into the year of an election that looks destined to end Trudeau’s ‘turbulent reign.’ (Then again, as Maher explains, he’s the consummate comeback kid, and a political campaigner yet to meet his match.) Although I follow the issues closely, I come from this reading experience more informed on many of the issues that will drive Canadian votes into one box or another.'”
5. Minaret by Leila Aboulela
I saw this in a Free Little Library outside the Ummah Mosque in Halifax and realized I haven’t read many novels by Muslim women. It contained straightforward, assured storytelling. The protagonist, Najwa, has a compelling voice, and that of a Sudanese refugee. Faith and cultural values are lifesaving after the fall of her wealthy family. But they are simultaneously freeing and limiting. Her travels in circles of rich Arabs (from being to serving) are the main focus. The class distinctions are captivating, especially when contrasted with her difficult romantic relationship (when young) with a socialist writer.
6. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
I loved A Fine Balance and finally got to reading another of Mistry’s novels. I found this to be an excellent character study. Thematically, it demonstrates the power of religion to first give solace (when one’s world seems hopelessly chaotic), then to seep into the pores of the lives of others in proximity, restricting their movements and choices, eating away at their essence. Mistry does a great job bringing these impacts full circle, embedding family and culture. He is a great weaver of a story.
7. Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin
I’ve been meaning to read this for years and I’m glad I finally did. It’s a lot of fun to read, with plenty of word play with some
hard-to-follow intermixed Yiddish and swashbuckler speech, but it was poetic and enjoyable and the context carried the
story. I did learn some new terms. Also had some observations on the nature of humans (or perhaps just colonial humans) and violence, trauma, and the cycle we’re all stuck in now, from a pivotal 400+-yr-old perspective. Plus it was narrated by a parrot!
8. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kenney Toole
Yet another book I probably should have read when young and more easily corrupted. Regardless, it felt ahead of the time it was written but perhaps behind the current time. A study of the madness of individuals in a mad mad world (where everybody seems mad all the time). But the resulting chaos is genuinely funny, with insights that remain relevant half a century later. I longed for these characters to shut up and listen to others, to show a little compassion, to have the humility to earnestly consider another’s experience and perspective. Like real people, they let me down. Burma Jones and Dorian Greene were favourite characters, each something of a stereotype but then transcendent of societal assumptions.
9. Thyme Travellers edited by Sonia Sulaiman
An anthology of speculative fiction by Palestinian writers living in the diaspora. Lots of themes of place, time (nostalgia, history, and hope for a better future), and politics, the speculative nature of these stories finds hope in what must feel like an incredibly bleak reality. But these writers do not shy away from it. They are defiant
and strong and proud. My favourite stories were “Down Under,” “The Generation Chip,” (honing in on the theme of the road not taken, but bequeathing that possible story on a computer chip), “In the Future, We Can Go Back Home,” “Remembrance in Cerulean,” and “Gaza Luna.”
10. Civilization Critical by Darrin Qualman
This is stuff we know about our situation already, that humans need to drastically change and soon, or we’re done. But Qualman’s thinking and the information he supports it with is a fresh take because his calculus is a bit different, they are presented very well, and brought together cogently. Qualman makes an important case for how we think about the world and how our economies work. He recommends changes both abstract and practical.
11. Soldiers and Kings by Jason de Leon
This was a relentless ethnography of Honduran human smugglers working mostly through Mexico. You get to know them as people, with traumas, hopes, dreams, and seemingly insurmountable frustrations. They can be vicious and cruel at times, and their stories don’t excuse that. But they are much more soldiers than kings, players in a gross inequity just like everyone else. Really these are stories of poverty, less chasing the American dream more running from hell on earth.
12. 6 @ 60 anthology from Goose Lane Editions
This came out 10 years ago to celebrate the publisher’s 60th year in business. Six short stories by renowned writers Mark Anthony Jarman, Alden Nowlan, Lynn Coady, Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, Douglas Glover, and Shauna Singh Baldwin. All excellent and captivating little worlds. This collection was a fine night-cap to my reading year.