- Looking back at books that I read in 2017, like looking back to a year of memories and moments. Each book bringing back to that time and place. Here is 2017, a recap:
This year I
read about HALF of what I usually read.
What was I doing rather than reading?
Listening to podcasts rather than reading books, not finishing books,
and going on dates. (Oh, and writing a
bit, too. But only a bit.)
Version Control by Dexter Palmer
The best book
I read all year, no question. This book
was engaging, heartbreaking, wonderful.
Maybe one of my top favorite books of all time. I could just really relate to the characters,
not really to anyone specifically, but in the general “this is reality and I
can relate to this” type way. Just a fabulous book. I actually hated pretty much every character,
but that’s part of what I liked about it – the mastery to write a book with entirely
unlikeable characters but still create an engaging story.
I was trying
to get into Celtic stuff more early in 2017 and Patricia Monaghan talks about
Yeats a lot, so I figured I’d read him. Not
my fave, but glad to have read it. Charming,
and good to read a “source material” that’s referenced so many times in other
things. The Celtic thing didn’t really “stick”
for me, but I tried.
Fabulous and
wonderful and terrifying. Another book
that spoke to me for that time/place where I was when I read it (melancholy and
anxious.) Gaiman continues to be one of
my favorite writers of all-time ever, and this book was wonderful.
A re-read from
college. Fascinating to return to
something I read when I was 18 – the age of the “young poet”, and to be the age
of Rilke while re-reading it! Completely
different perspective, to read it as a young woman and as a more mature
individual. I could relate to Rilke
more, and that makes me feel like maybe I’m doing something right about this
whole “adulthood” thing. I love Rilke so
much. I read a lot of his poems this year, too.
I think I should read more of him.
I tend to not enjoy poetry, but he might be my fave poet.
The first time
I started reading this book I did NOT like it.
Meh. Another travel book of a
woman with more money than me! The envy
was strong. The second time I started
reading it, during the winter of 2016 with a lot of ice and snow, I liked it
more. Reading this book in the winter is
the way to go. 2017 was another winter
of cold, and I finally finished it.
Wonderful. Really solidified
“Ireland” to me in a way I hadn’t quite understood. Might put it on my “recommended reading list”
as a good source on Ireland, Celtic Paganism, and even Christo-Paganism. This is a really magical book (without being
a book about magic.)
Sigh. Rilke.
Late in 2016 I met someone who made me want to read poetry and be sad. So I read a lot of poetry and was sad. But it was very beautiful.
Read because I
watched the movie Pontypool many years ago, and wanted to read the book until I
realized it was the second in a trilogy.
I do this thing to myself where I have to read every book that goes with
every movie, and if it’s in a series, well, then I’m just screwed. Hellmouths is STRANGE. and FUCKED UP. and SO
FUCKING WEIRD. I liked it, but it’s one
of those books that I wonder if I should feel bad for reading it. Who reads this stuff? Better yet, who WRITES it?
A sexy book
for fat folks who want to feel sexy and be sexy and do sexy things.
So… I LOVE
Anais Nin, but she is STRANGE. and FUCKED UP. and SO FUCKING WEIRD. but her writing is beautiful, but it’s so
strange? another one where I wonder if I
should feel weird for liking it so much. but ah, that tragic beauty!
I started
reading this book 1843789 years ago, and finally got to it this year, since I
wanted to watch the series on Netflix.
Clarke plays the slooooowwww game, but this book really paid off in the
end. I liked it, in general, and I’m glad I finally finally made time for
it. The series was very good, too, a
great interpretation of the book. Both are really beautiful.
Short
vignettes about working in a video rental store that also rents/sells
porn. Very interesting and also with
content that I can relate to, as someone who has worked retail, in a video
store, and has done writing for the adult industry. Was not amazing. Going into
it I didn’t realize it was basically blog entries that were turned into a
book? (like Waiter Rant, which I read a
few years ago.) at least it was short.
Ali Davis makes some attempt at commentary and depth, but it falls short (like
the book Orange is the New Black. Good
attempt, at least.)
I liked this
book but I didn’t love it. I don’t think
I’m a huge fan of Coelho, even though a lot of my new agey friends seem to LOVE
him. I think I’m too jaded and too much
of a nihilist. It was pretty, but… seriously, life is never this simple. Coehlo lacks subtlety and nuance. There is no gray in his world.
A re-read,
since I wanted to watch the mini-series (I never did because of my bad internet
connection). I read this in high school
as a young woman who thought “this could never happen!” and then as an adult
woman it was scary to think “wow, is this going to happen?” There’s a scene where she gets up and goes to
work and can’t use her cards for anything, because decisions were made
literally overnight, and she basically overnight becomes a non-citizen. That
was really scary to me. Lots about this book is scary to me. Atwood is
amazing. I read her a lot in college and
wonder if I should re-read (like Alias Grace, which I read and loved, which is
also a new mini-series, too)
One of my
pleasures is gastro-history or plant/food anthropology. I just love this stuff. (The History of the World in Six Glasses or
the book Salt) I really enjoyed this
book, especially the section on cannabis – not because I’m a pothead because I’m
not, but because I’m really excited about the plant medicine possibilities with
cannabis, both as a witchy person and as a psychotherapist. There’s a lot of stuff here! Other sections
included potatoes, tulips, and apples. (on standby – a book about bacon, a book about
butter.)
A re-read from
college! Sometimes I’m just amazed at King’s
ability to write SO MUCH about not really anything at all, but like, at the
same time to paint this very detailed, complex, alive scene. He’s a master, for
sure. Right now I’m in the middle of the 4th book and trying to
decide if I want to jump right into #5 or read another fiction maybe look at
something for work *yawn*
Meh! As part of the Gaia’s Circle special study
group. Didn’t love it, though I do want
to give him credit for a few exercises that I did enjoy. In general I appreciate Chris Penczak, but I
don’t adore him. when he’s good, he’s very very good. When he’s bad, he’s
problematic and potentially dangerous.
Also, Shamanism just isn’t really my thing…
A class that I’m
glad I got to. Easy to read, short. The
movies are not good. But it did help get me into a spooky mood for Halloween.
I loved loved
loved John Dies at the End (the movie was not good.) This was great. Really sweet, meaningful, tragic, touching. I
have the third in the series on standby.
About this time in 2017 (August?
September?) I was starting to dive deep into Lovecraft/body horror
stuff, and this book fit right in. Ugh.
That ending. Also it was super creepy
and gross, without being annoying.
Sigh. <3
I started this book in June, and didn’t finish it until the autumn. I did not love it as much as Version Control,
but I knew that Steve would love it more.
Perpetual Motion is his first novel, and in many ways, it reads like a
first novel – bold, poetic, beautiful, strange.
Again, I hated all of the characters, but I appreciate the bold choices
he made with his narrative. A tragic
story, and masterfully written.
borrowed from
a friend, a short graphic novel. Like
most 80s kids I grew up loving Andre the Giant. was great to learn more about
him, and I also remembered how much I adore graphic novels. (I have some on standby that I really want to
get to.) It was when I read this that I remembered
how much I love reading, like, sitting down with a physical book and reading,
and not just listening to audible or a podcast or a reading a few pages of
something trashy on my phone, but sitting down on my sofa with hot tea and
reading. I’ve resolved to do more of
this in 2018 – to intentionally read.
Another
graphic novel. Another graphic novel
that plays off of 80s nostalgia. Who
doesn’t love Tetris? I play it a lot
with my clients.
Not THE Necronomicon,
but a complication of a few dozen Lovecraft short stories and novellas. This was an inclusion in my trend of
Lovecraft/Body Horror. Also watched the
Fly, the Re-animator, and a few other spooky, kooky, and gross movies around this
time. Some of these stories were great,
some I just didn’t understand, and some were meh. I don’t love Lovecraft, but I do really
admire the undoubted influence he has had on spooky kids everywhere. Maybe
one day I’ll go through and read the ones that weren’t included in this
collection, but it was so long, I was happy for the break when it was over. But
the thing with short stories and novellas, I guess, is that I can take a break
in between narratives (and at that time I listened to Welcome to Nightvale.)
Yawn. At some
point I thought I needed to take a break from fiction and read a work-related
book. I am a CBT clinician, and I
thought I could use a refresher. This
book is poorly done. The first section
is about some basic CBT stuff, which was useful I guess, but wow, the
presentation was just super misogynistic.
I resented the examples of “men’s stress is about women cheating or about
work” and women’s stress is “being too fat or shopping too much.” Like, what?
So the examples were super dependent on gender stereotypes. Yawn!
Also I feel like this perpetuates dangerous stereotypes about who goes
to therapy and for which things. The
middle section was basically an overview of different mental illnesses that
could be treated with CBT, which was such as weird overview. Is this book written for clinicians or patients? Make up your mind, James Ashley! Also, stuff like this is dangerous because
folks start to self-diagnosing, which I have strong feelings AGAINST. Finally, the last section was about DBT. I guess?
it was included as an afterthought.
So, in general, it was a decent review, but I found it to be sexist,
insulting, and poorly compiled.
Finally made
it about halfway through the Nightvale podcast this October. I had started it years ago, stopped, started
it again in grad school, stopped, and again last December. I finally stuck with it this year, and I’m all
caught up. Thank goodness! I really adored this book. It was sweet, and weird, and filled in a lot
of the weird Nightvale lore that I had forgotten or that was never explained over
the years. I can’t imagine it as a
stand-alone novel, but maybe? Also my head
canon is still that Nightvale is Alamogordo, New Mexico. There are quite a few elements of the story
that make me feel this way. (Just like
how the story John Dies at the End/This Book of Full of Spiders” makes me think
of Lubbock, Texas.
Another that
has been on my list for years and year.
Finally got to it this year, especially after so much
Nighvale/Lovecraft/Weirdness. The first
story starts off with a BANG, wow! From
there it’s eehhhh… I hadn’t quite realized that the last part of the book was
weird French romance stories about art students in Paris and the prostitutes
they were in love with. So, Chambers’ writing
reminds me a ton of Anais Nin, so I kept on expecting the stories to turn
weirdly erotic, OR, to become creepy like the first stories in the
collection. (MORE King In Yellow.) Admittedly, I’m a little sad that neither of
these things happened. BUT, in general,
I liked the King in Yellow and glad I finally have that background so I understand
the cool jokes the nerds/chaos magicians make.
I read Dark
Eden two years ago, and Mother of Eden a year ago, both in December. I really adore this story. It’s strange and patriarchy and sometimes predictable,
but beautiful and interesting. This was
my favorite out of the three, though the first was spectacular. Given the context of the three books
together, the second makes much more sense to me. A beautiful book, hard to put down, and quite
unlike any other sci fi I’ve read. It’s refreshing
to read something science fiction that isn’t “Cold War Fiction.” (but this one is still rather colonial, in
its own way.)
honorable mentions: a lot of Rilke, Yeates, Welcome
to Nightvale, and Social Work Podcast, the Tibetan book of the Dead, Goddess
Alive!, Alice Isn’t Dead, The Romeo Catchers, the Last Temptation of Christ,
and a handful of other books half read and also forgotten
No comments:
Post a Comment