Best Books of 2020

As much of a roller coaster as 2020 was, there was no stopping the publishing of great books. The following are the ones that I would definitely recommend. This link on Bookshop will give you purchase links for these books. Without further ado, in no particular order:

Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir

Memorial by Bryan Washington

Network Effect by Martha Wells

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

A Promised Land by Barack Obama

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel 

The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark

Chosen Ones by Veronica Roth

A Peculiar Peril by Jeff VanderMeer

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

Beowulf by Maria Dahvana Headley

Just Kids

When reading is a priority you find yourself reading many books. Especially in pandemic times escapism seems to be the most important goal when reading. Looking at my shelves I can see many genre books waiting to be read: Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter, Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, Network Effect by Martha Wells… and the list goes on. We want space skyscrapers and long magical blades. Dragons, robots, nymphs. Anything but what is happening outside our front door where we dash around maskless neighbors like they are lumps of fiery hot magma.

There comes a time in all of this fantasy that one may tend to get burnt out. If you are a writer you will find yourself writing about things that could not exist on Earth’s terra firma, writing within a bubble on an astroid hellbent on crashing into a lunar ocean.

So we turn to a different TBR pile. Memoirs, biographies, science, nature. Instead of escapism one decides that they want reminders that the world, under all of this sickness and pain, is still a beautiful place. A place that has beauty in spades but we, if only for a moment, forgot. We’ve been sipping air through our masks and haven’t gotten the sharp scent of grass that had been our lifeblood. Learning tends to be its own kind of escapism. Especially when we can exit our own brains and follow the life of another.

This brings me to Patti Smith’s Just Kids.

I am not entirely sure why this book hit me at just the right time. I have always noticed that Smith had published books and it has always left me curious. Isn’t she a musician? When does she have time to write? This all through the lens of someone who didn’t know a thing about her. Now that I do, I understand.

Patti Smith was a poet before she was anything else. The fact that she came into music was merely a small twist of fate. Just Kids is not a book of poetry but it still reads like one just the same. The relationship between Smith and Robert Magglethorpe, the late renowned photographer, is unlike any I have heard or read before. Filled with love, frustration, friendship and, most importantly, trust. Just Kids is a look at two artists and how they bolster one another through each other’s creative endeavors. This fact alone is very inspiring to me. To me there is no greater love than helping another rise to their fullest potential, no matter what you fear about their art. It is selfless and beautiful.

Without giving anything away there is much heartache, as is in most of these kinds of relationships. But that doesn’t mean it ends on a negative note. Smith turns everything into poetry while at the same time never sounding pompous of over-elegant. Her prose, as I’ve found with nature writers like Annie Dillard and Mary Oliver, forces you to pay more attention to your world and your relationships. To love with reckless abandon when you have the chance. To make time for your art and to find the ones who see the spark in you and help keep it alive.

Reading Recos (October 2020)

Currently Reading:

Cory Doctorow, Attack Surface

Currently Listening To:

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Hello, and welcome back to what seems to be a once-a-month helping of scatterbrained writing by yours truly. I thought I’d share a couple of books that I’ve read recently and have taken up space in my brainhole:

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab — This book took me by the heart and did not let go. Come for the beautiful prose, stay for a story that can only come from a master of craft and fancy coats.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow — I’ve read a handful of books by Doctorow now (Radicalized, Walkaway, Homeland) but Little Brother lands at the top. He is an expert on writing in such a way that makes complicated topics—in this case, much “computer-speak”—without making it boring. Recommended for any and all, especially those interested in all things cyberpunk.

Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson — Sanderson is a beast when it comes to the fantasy and world-building. Already blown away by the Mistborn trilogy, I was surprised that Way of Kings could top it. Such a dense universe with characters that jump off the page. Daunting in size but such a rewarding read. Also reco its followup, Words of Radiance.

Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley — This collection of stories by Mosley, known for his detective fiction, took me off guard. I admit I have only read the first in his “Easy” Rawlins series, Devil in a Blue Dress, and came to this collection with limited knowledge. How Mosley could weave such stories with such alive characters baffled and inspired me. Awkward Black Man made me want to look more closely at my own stories and how I could write such complex characters.

Ring Shout by P. Djeli Clark — I am a sucker for Tor.com’s novellas. Not only are they always beautiful to look at and hold they always pack a punch. This was my first foray into a Clark novel, after only reading a short story on Fantasy Magazine’s site (“The Things My Mother Left Me”). Ring Shout left me wanting more, but not in a bad way. Clark created a lush world that I wanted to spend more time in. This novella takes topics of race and the evils of white supremacy and uses it to make a “fun” revenge story. As fun as it may be, however, it is packed with commentary that is important in today’s dialogue.

I’ll try and do this a little more often, maybe as monthly write-ups. The more I blog—and the less I blog, in this instance—I realize that there isn’t a whole lot to say. But I do spend a lot of time reading when I am not writing, so why not recommend?