2009: the year in books

[decemberthirty]

It's time once again for my summary of what I've read in the past year. As usual, grad school makes precise record-keeping difficult--I read many books at once, I skim some books and read only pieces of others. So I will simply do the best I can.

I think that this year I will list my reading in two ways: my usual chronological list, and a second list in which the books are grouped in categories. My reading is usually 90% novels and just a few other things here and there, but I have the feeling that there was more diversity to what I read in 2009, so I'm curious to see how it breaks down.


1. All Odd and Splendid by Hilda Raz
2. The Customer is Always Wrong, Jeff Martin, ed.
3. Home by Marilynne Robinson
4. Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
5. Voice Over by Céline Curiol
6. Break It Down by Lydia Davis
7. Sex Talks to Girls by Maureen Seaton
8. King of Shadows by Aaron Shurin
9. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
10. Things That Pass For Love by Allison Amend
11. Forgetting English by Midge Raymond
12. Once by Rebecca Rosenblum
13. The Withdrawal Method by Pasha Malla
14. Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
15. The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín
16. Runaway by Alice Munro
17. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
18. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
19. Searoad by Ursula K. Le Guin
20. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
21. Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin
22. Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
23. "Ward No. 6" by Anton Chekhov
24. "The Dead" by James Joyce
25. Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
26. "At the Bay" by Katherine Mansfield
27. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
28. We Don't Live Here Anymore by Andre Dubus
29. Strange As This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake
30. Sugar by A.S. Byatt
31. "Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx
32. Women With Men by Richard Ford
33. In the Bedroom by Andre Dubus
34. The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley
35. Pastoralia by George Saunders
36. The Sea by John Banville



There will be overlap between some of these categories.

Novels
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Voice Over by Céline Curiol
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin
Strange As This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake
The Sea by John Banville

Short Story Collections
Break It Down by Lydia Davis
Things That Pass For Love by Allison Amend
Forgetting English by Midge Raymond
Once by Rebecca Rosenblum
The Withdrawal Method by Pasha Malla
Runaway by Alice Munro
Searoad by Ursula K. Le Guin
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
Sugar by A.S. Byatt
In the Bedroom by Andre Dubus
The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley
Pastoralia by George Saunders

Novellas
"Ward No. 6" by Anton Chekhov
"The Dead" by James Joyce
"At the Bay" by Katherine Mansfield
"We Don't Live Here Anymore" by Andre Dubus
"Adultery" by Andre Dubus
"Finding a Girl in America" by Andre Dubus
"Killings" by Andre Dubus
"The Age of Grief" by Jane Smiley
"Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx
"The Womanizer" by Richard Ford
"Jealous" by Richard Ford
"Occidentals" by Richard Ford
"Pastoralia" by George Saunders

Non-fiction
The Customer is Always Wrong, Jeff Martin, ed.
Sex Talks to Girls by Maureen Seaton
King of Shadows by Aaron Shurin
Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

Poetry
All Odd and Splendid by Hilda Raz

Re-reads
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Searoad by Ursula K. Le Guin
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
"The Dead" by James Joyce
"Brokeback Mountain" by Annie Proulx

Unassigned reading
Home by Marilynne Robinson
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín
Runaway by Alice Munro
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth
Empire Falls by Richard Russo
Searoad by Ursula K. Le Guin
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Very Far Away from Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
Enormous Changes at the Last Minute by Grace Paley
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Strange As This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake
Sugar by A.S. Byatt
The Sea by John Banville


Well, it's nice to see that I was able to do more reading that I chose for myself this year, as opposed to my previous years in grad school, when it's been all I could do to keep from drowning in the reading for various classes. Also, it was the year of Marilynne Robinson; I read all three of her novels this year, heard her read on twice, got my copy of Gilead signed by her (it's a first edition!), and attended a very interesting Q and A with her during which she and I talked about the intersections of real and imaginary geography in writing. In addition, it's quite clear that short fiction was the theme of the second half of the year--lots of novellas and story collections in the latter part of my list.

These are a few of my favorite books of 2009:

Break It Down by Lydia Davis. Davis's stories are extremely short and extremely precise. She can do so much with just a few words. Not all of the stories are successful, but she has a way of hiding deep insight in these little paragraphs about mundane matters. When you're not looking, these stories will cut you.

Runaway by Alice Munro. Alice Munro is brilliant. Her stories are the opposite of Lydia Davis's: long, rich, and full. But they too will cut you.

"The Dead" by James Joyce. This is a re-read, so I guess I'm not supposed to mention it, but reading it again after so many years was a revelation. It is a novella that is perhaps even more enjoyable on a second or third read, when the characters feel like old friends to you, as they are to each other. It has the most beautiful ending ever written.

Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. I can't remember the last book that demanded as much of me as this one. I had to read mindfully, and try to hold whole chapters in my mind as I read. Beautifully written (though occasionally a bit overwritten), the book is Dillard's attempt to come to a spiritual understanding of the natural world. This one will merit a second reading at some point.