As I did with nonfiction, I’m listing my favorite novels and short story collections read this year. It’s quite an interesting selection!
Have you read any of these, or would you like to? What were your books of the year?
Little by Edward Carey – Finished February 15. I had no idea of the history behind Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London — but this fantastical grotesque novel brought Madame T. wildly to life, from childhood in Switzerland to Paris during the Terror.
V for Victory by Lissa Evans – Finished March 5. Continuing the WWII found-family story begun in Crooked Heart, and complemented by the prequel Old Baggage, I think this was my favorite of the three—I’ve grown to love these characters and will miss them. The human ties that can transcend the horrors of war really came through.
Kalpa Imperial by Angelica Godorischer, translated by Ursula K. Le Guin – Finished March 16. These dreamy, fable-like stories are set in an “empire that never was,” yet manage to make wry commentary on humans as they always have been and always will be.
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler – Finished May 18. I was completely absorbed by this historical fantasia – the story of a strange and haunted family, intertwined with the nightmare of racial injustice that was woven into the foundations of America.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – Finished May 22. Powerful stories of parallel generations in Ghana and the United States. A whole people’s divided history is encapsulated, with compelling storytelling. Each story contains pain and heartbreak and yet also a seed of hope.
The Abandoned by Paul Gallico – Finished June 1. On one level, a wonderfully imagined tale of “how to be a cat,” written with a cat-lover’s fondly observant eye for feline characteristics. On another level, a drama about friendship, loyalty, and personal growth, with two protagonists recovering from the way they have been or feel themselves to be “the abandoned”, and finding strength through their bond with each other.
Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais – Finished July 11. Plausible? No. Entertaining? Yes! So long as you take to narrator Mireille’s quirky voice, this book offers a fabulous girl-empowering road trip through southern France, with a foodie touch.
Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz – Finished July 19. I don’t usually like puzzle mysteries, but this one disarmed me with its amusing meta-fictional touches, including a police detective who complains about how unrealistic such books are. Lots of fun.
Bird Cottage by Eva Meijer, translated by Antoinette Fawcett – Finished July 31. A meditation on nature and the way humans have distanced themselves from it, beautifully written (and translated) and a bit sad, as the main character finds communion with the birds, but loses it with humans. Still, a powerful call for us to slow down and pay more attention to what is happening around us, not merely our greedy, selfish ends.
The Woman Who Borrowed Memories by Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal and Silvester Mazzarella – Finished September 4. Jansson is always worth reading, if you want to encounter an original mind at work. Many stories concern art making and artists, the creative process gone awry or grown painful.
The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin – Finished October 19. A tremendous work of the imagination – some of my favorite books of all time. With this edition, hefty and uncomfortable as it is to read, I appreciate having all of Earthsea in one place, including UKL’s illuminating commentary on her own process. Though I’d read the six novels before, some of the stories were new to me, thus I’m including it in this list (which otherwise omits rereads).
The Collected Enchantments by Theodora Goss – Finished November 1. Goss’s fairy tale sensibility is delicious — complex but not overly dark, preserving hope through the irrepressible power of imagination. Truly enchanting.
Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather – Finished November 8. Lucy’s tragic story, my final Cather novel, provided one more poignant example of the author’s eternal quest: finding the true life behind the shadows of the outer world, which are so compelling yet ultimately empty if not breathed through with something higher.
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