It's that time of year when various publications (virtual and physical) have been releasing their "best of" year-end lists. My list of favorites is not as encompassing. It's based on what I've actually finished reading, not on what I've only started.
But I did enjoy the time spent living in these pages. As dire as the time we are living in, being able to read has been a balm and a way to recharge. I'd love to know what books you feel that way about.
The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis
Five girls being raised by their grandfather on an Oxfordshire farm face scrutiny from the villagers. Do they turn into hounds, or has the ferryman who claims he saw that happen been drinking too much again? A brilliant fable of what a community can do to people who just want to be themselves.
Heart the Lover by Lily King
A beautiful story of a girl who loves two boys during their university years, and how they grew up. King captures what it is like to be young and in love with another person and with the wide world of learning, and then she illustrates what it's like to be part of a loving family. That the end of this novel shows it is a companion to an earlier King novel is an extra dollop of heart.
The Payback by Kashana Cauley
Living under the weight of eternal student loans that will never be paid off, loving fashion, a clever young woman sees a chance to have the kind of life she had only dreamed of, and takes audacious advantage of it. A novel about Black women to cheer.
Audition by Katie Kitamura
An accomplished actress meets a young man at a New York restaurant, just avoiding seeing her husband by accident. The young man claims to be her son. Halfway through, this novel switches most of what was revealed in the first half. Kitamura delivers another novel of ideas told through emotional thoughts and actions.
The Antidote by Karen Russell
A Dust Bowl prairie witch takes on the stories of others, not remembering what they said but carrying the weight for them. One day she wakes up much lighter, the stories having been taken from her. Meanwhile, a young Black woman travels Nebraska trying to take photographs for FDR's New Deal programs. What the photographs reveal go far beyond what is seen at the time. An epic story to absorb the way the Antidote absorbed people's stories.
So Far Gone by Jess Walter
An old-time investigative reporter, the kind who types with two fingers and worked for actual paper newspapers, has lived off the grid and away from society for years. Until his grandchildren are left at his cabin's front step. Walter uses whimsy, humor and experience to chronicle the Spokane area's neo-Nazi legacy. Family and relationships are the heart of this novel.
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey
A father and his children live on an otherwise deserted island on the edge of Antarctic waters. Due to be evacuated soon from the island, where an abandoned seed bank is the obsession of one of the children, a woman washes up on the beach. As frightening as any horror novel, this dystopian story is too close to being true. As with other McConaghey fiction, though, it is the characters that drive the narrative. A haunting tale of different kinds of love.
Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
A masterwork of a devastating American sin that has not been reckoned with. A 19th century diary written by a pioneer Lutheran pastor is found in the 21st century. It recounts his dealings with a once-young Blackfeet, Good Stab, who suffers and causes suffering before and after he is infected by a vampire. Blackfeet history and culture are honored in a vibrant way. The pastor and Good Stab's voices provide an encompassing story to fall into. And, there also is Weasel Plume.
I would like to revisit all of these novels, but my favorite would be Buffalo Hunter Hunter. It's as much a great American novel as Moby Dick.
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