The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

This can include fiction or non-fiction, old books or new. Or even short stories. Any of the best stuff you've read this year that you care to mention.

Group rankings for best new books are done near the end of the year, but if you'd like to include those here, by all means go ahead.

My top five of the year so far:

1     Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann   My review
2     Spring by Ali Smith   My review
3     Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman   My review
4     Lanny by Max Porter   My review
5     El Hacho by Luis Carrasco   My review

El Hacho was published in 2018, the rest are new, or in the case of Stalingrad newly translated.

Others I gave 5-stars to (in some cases maybe a little generously):
6     The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg   My review
7     Zed by Joanna Kavenna   My review
8     Daniel Deronda by George Eliot   My review
9     Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson   My review
10     Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli   My review
11     Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi   My review
12     Getting it in the Head by Mike McCormack   My review
13     Painter to the King by Amy Sackville   My review
14     The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas   My review
15     Trieste by Daša Drndić   My review
16     The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf   My review
17     Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin   My review
18     Second-Hand Time by Svetlana Alexievich   My review
19     The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson   My review
20     Mothers by Chris Power     My review
21     According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge     My review
22     Saville by David Storey     My review
23     Notes from a Coma by Mike McCormack     My review
24     The Archipelago of Another Life by Andreï Makine     My review
25     Patience by Toby Litt     My review

The Woman's Hour by Elaine Weiss
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carre
Circe by Madeline Miller

Old books

5 stars
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
Nada by Carmen Laforet

High 4 stars
Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Mirror Shoulder Signal by Dorthe Nors
Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan


New Books (published since beginning of 2018, incl new translations)

Vernon Subutex 2 by Virginie Despentes
The Years by Annie Ernaux
The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg

2018–2019 publications, in no particular order and definitely subject to change:

Animalia by Jean-Baptiste del Amo
Crossing by Pajtim Statovci
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
Love in the New Millennium by Can Xue
The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg
Lanny by Max Porter

Highlights of older releases include The Melancholy of Resistance by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, still haunting me after finishing it in early Jan (also thanks to the excellent movie), and a reread of Ulysses. As always, reading early modern lit for postgrad studies, which never really shows on my GR, and I’m currently in awe of a very niche book called Literature and Nature in the English Renaissance: An Ecocritical Anthology.

Memories of the Future - Siri Hustvedt
The Man Who Saw Everything - Deborah Levy
Spring - Ali Smith
Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry
The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas - Daniel James

Here's mine:

https://thebobsphere.wordpress.com/20...

1 Panthers and the Museum of Fire by Jen Craig
2 Lanny by Max Porter
3 We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner
4 The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel James
5 Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli
6 Spring by Ali Smith
7 The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg
8 Animalia by Jean-Baptiste Del Amo
9 The Females by Wolfgang Hilbig
10 The Tartar Steppe by Dino Buzzati

First 9 are all recentish in English - the first is currently seeking a UK publisher to come out here so could become prize eligible.

The last was a wonderful discovery from the past.

Five stars, ordered by date read, Jan-June.

Insurrecto
Milkman on audio
Praise Song for the Butterflies
Black Leopard, Red Wolf
Her Mother's Mother's Mother and Her Daughters
Master Georgie
The Atlas of Reds and Blues
Bad Marie
Lanny
Orange World and Other Stories

Five Star Books:

These are not in any particular order yet and some of them will probably be left off my final list, but I'll list all of my 5 star books so far.

New

Spring
Murmur
Milkman
Pig Iron
The Overstory
Us Against You
Becoming

Poetry

The Tiny Journalist
The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems

Older:

The Birds
Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America

These are my most-outrageously-amazing reads so far this year:

Optic Nerve
Season of the Shadow
Lucia
The Blizzard (this was my second read of The Blizzard and my perspective really changed the second time through)

Mid-year favorites (in no particular order):
New(er):
Where Reasons End
The Other Americans
Lanny
Spring
Bottled Goods
Happiness

Oldies but goodies:
Kristin Lavransdatter
Matigari
Native Son
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem
The Grass is Singing
A Woman's Life

These are my five star reads so far. It’s been a good reading year!
Adding The Tenth Muse. I loved it

Most of the books I rated 5 stars this year seem to be older books that I just happened to read this year.

These are my 5 star reads in no particular order, beyond the order I read them inverted:

The Trick is to Keep Breathing -- Janice Galloway
A Place for Us -- Fatima Farheen Mirza
Heavy: An American Memoir -- Kiese Laymon
Lanny -- Max Porter
So Much Blue -- Percival Everett
The Postman Always Rings Twice -- James Cain
In Our Mad and Furious City -- Guy Gunaratne
The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations -- Toni Morrison
We Cast a Shadow -- Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Milkman -- Anna Burns
The Great Believers -- Rebecca Makkai
The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War -- Ben Macintyre
If Beale Street Could Talk -- James Baldwin
The Heart's Invisible Furies -- John Boyne

Rereads that are still worth 5 stars:
Our Man in Havana -- Graham Greene
A reread of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn w/ my sister's kids also rated 5 stars for the twins and me (rarely do we all like a book, so that's a good sign.)

My list. I am surprised I am the first to mention Lanny and Spring

Five star reads so far

Spring https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Lanny https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Memories of the Future https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Where Reasons End https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Blush https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Alabaster https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Re-reads for book groups or prize lists

Midwinter Break
Milkman
Lucia
Sweet Home

Non fiction

Hidden Christmas
Prodigal Prophet
The Squires of Heydon Hall
Rena’s Promise

You didn’t click my link ;)

Guessing that might be sarcasm as there are five previous mentions of Spring and six of Lanny even without Robert's blog post

Yes I was joking as well hence the wink

Spring
Lanny
Freshwater
Crusoe's Daughter
The Summer Book
Bottled Goods
The Wandering Falcon
Sheepshagger

Reread of Beloved

WndyJW wrote: "Reread of Beloved ..."

I wish I could re-read Beloved! I keep trying to read it for the first time and I get stuck somewhere between "wow this is the best writing I've ever read" and "I'm so sleepy"...

I don't think I've read any books published in 2019 yet. That said, the books I've read so far this year that I rated 5 stars:

Freshwater
Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions
Absalom, Absalom! (my first time reading Faulkner -- finally!)
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (fun)

Honorable Mention:
Ellen Foster
Insurrecto
Bottled Goods
Seventeen

And, I rarely read series or sci-fi, but I have read the first two Murderbot Diaries & have found them easy, entertaining, brain candy type reading. All Systems Red was a decent intro; Artificial Condition (book 2) was a step up & was quite a fun ride. Waiting on book 3 from the library....

Lark wrote: "WndyJW wrote: "Reread of Beloved ..."

I wish I could re-read Beloved! I keep trying to read it for the first time and I get stuck somewhere between "wow this is the best writing I've ever read" an..."


I read it the Sunday before it was discussed on the Backlisted podcast. I’m a little surprised that it has you nodding off. I think Beloved and The Bluest Eye are two of the most important American novels.

2019, unranked:

Night Theatre by Vikram Paralkar
Spring by Ali Smith
Lanny by Max Porter

Pre 2019, unranked

Some Trees by John Ashbery
Orkney by Amy Sackville
The Aviator by Eugene Vodolazkin
Max, Mischa und die Tet-Offensive by Johan Harstad
Thomas l'obscur by Maurice Blanchot
The Big Green Tent by Lyudmila Ulitskaya
Die Hauptstadt by Robert Menasse
Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai
The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti
Le Quatrième Mur by Sorj Chalandon
Confessions by Jaume Cabré

Night Theatre (aka Wounds of the Dead) sounds fascinating - author is a Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino fan and I've also seen comparisons to Saramago. If it lives up to those influences definitelt sounds one to add to my reading list.

Have you read The Afflictions (which seems more explicitly Borgesian)?

Paul wrote: "Night Theatre (aka Wounds of the Dead) sounds fascinating - author is a Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino fan and I've also seen comparisons to Saramago. If it lives up to those influences defini..."

Not yet, it's on my tbr. Night Theatre is more emotional than Borges or Calvino. Read it in one single night :)

Coincidentally I just reviewed Night Theatre and wasn’t overly impressed. It’s very much possible I didn’t see all nuances and read (or actually listened to) it as a somewhat straightforward story with a little too much focus on surgical details. Happy to see a fan of the book anyway!

Good tip Tommi in your review that this may be one for the Wellcome Prize

I came across the book in the Wellcome bookshop as a matter of fact – not that it is in any way indicative of what judges will pick, but I found it interesting because none of the major Waterstones or Foyles were displaying the book at least back in May.

Of the 50ish novels I've read, here are my top 15 (alphabetically):

An Orchestra of Minorities - Chigozie Obioma
Disoriental - Negar Djavadi
The Distance Between Us - Renato Cisneros
Drive Your Plow . . . - Olga Tokarczuk
Elefant - Martin Suter
Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo
Fox - Dubravka Ugresic
Little - Edward Carey
Midwinter Break - Bernard MacLaverty
Optic Nerve - Maria Gainza
The Porpoise - Mark Haddon
Southernmost - Silas House
Spring - Ali Smith
T. Singer - Dag Solstad
The Years - Annie Ernaux

Scott wrote: "Of the 50ish novels I've read, here are my top 15 (alphabetically):

An Orchestra of Minorities - Chigozie Obioma
Disoriental - Negar Djavadi
The Distance Between Us - Renato Cisneros
Drive Your P..."

Thanks for this list, Scott. A few of them jumped my TBR and went straight to library hold :)

You're welcome, Nadine. Should perhaps amend the list with those I haven't read, my next 10, sitting on my nightstand:

Ash Before Oak - Jeremy Cooper
Murmur - Will Eaves
Celestial Bodies - Jokha Alharthi (a re-read)
Animalia - Jean-Baptiste Del Amo
Crossing - Pajtim Statovci
A Modern Family - Helga Flatland
Freshwater - Akwaeke Emezi
Tokyo Ueno Station - Yu Miri
Insurrecto - Gina Apostol
Death is Hard Work- Khaled Khalifa

That's a very strong TBR pile - you've lots of excellent reading ahead!

Indeed. It will certainly keep me busy before the Booker announcement in three weeks, which will create yet another list.

Lanny.
Disappearing Earth.
Where the Crawdads Sing

Thanks Erin - Lanny certainly seems the consensus choice (I make that the 10th listing)

I have been waiting till the month ended to add my two cents but my pocket is empty. The 2019 books I have read so far this year, have been overshadowed by better books from the Mookie Madness, the 2019 BTBA longlist, and my ongoing read of Richard Powers suggested by Neil. If I had to pick one favorite, it would be Boy Swallows Universe, because the book put a big smile on my face.

My 5-Star Reads of 2019 (so far!):

Lanny
Everything Under
The Last Animal
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
One Part Woman
Look How Happy I'm Making You

Lanny
Memories of the Future
Spring

Perhaps I should change my name to Little Miss Echo.
Published 2019
Spring
Optic Nerve
Lanny

Published 2018 (in the edition I read), Read 2019
Tell Them of Battles, Kings and Elephants
The Devils' Dance
The Old Slave
Bottled Goods
CoDex 1962
plus an honourable mention (not quite 5*)
Praise Song for the Butterflies

Re-reads
The Leopard
Freshwater
Written on the Body

I have realised, now I come to list them, that nearly 60% of them are translations.

Longtime lurker, first time posting.

Favorites read in 2019, in reverse order:
Spring
Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants
Katalin Street
Everything Under
Codex 1962: A Trilogy

Summer vacation is here, so I'll finally have time to catch up on what I've been missing...

My six five books of the year so far are a mixed bag. Couldn't recommend any of them highly enough, especially the M&G favourite Ezra Maas:
C by Tom McCarthy
The Flame Alphabet by Ben Marcus
The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas by Daniel James
The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
What We’re Teaching Our Sons by Owen Booth

Gumble's Yard wrote: "Thanks Erin - Lanny certainly seems the consensus choice (I make that the 10th listing)"

Lanny is pure joy.

WndyJW wrote: "Gumble's Yard wrote: "Thanks Erin - Lanny certainly seems the consensus choice (I make that the 10th listing)"

Lanny is pure joy."

I agree. It was totally wonderful.

My top 5 so far this year:

There There by Tommy Orange
The Overstory by Richard Powers
A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

I know these aren't translations... or even considered literary - but I am enjoying Abir Mukherjee's Wyndham & Banerjee Series . It's probably the book "discovery" I'm most excited about. The fourth book in the series comes out at the end of this year.

It also got me to finally start reading Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India - which has been sitting on my shelf for much too long and is very good.

Oh, and a book I absolutely loved last year was Léonora Miano 's Season of the Shadow

Paul wrote: "1 Panthers and the Museum of Fire by Jen Craig
2 Lanny by Max Porter
3 We Are Made Of Diamond Stuff by Isabel Waidner
4 [book:The Unauthorised Biogra..."

Bad Marie is wonderful! Dermansky has a new book out I've been wanting to pick up.

1. Embassytown by China Mieville
2. El Hacho
3. Season of the Shadow

Michele wrote: "1. Embassytown by China Mieville
2. El Hacho
3. Season of the Shadow"

So glad to see another Season of Shadow fan!

Jan 3, 2020 update - only one fiction 5-star from December to add - Olive, Again. Since I cannot pick one, I'm doing "best of categories." The below ranking is done without looking at my reviews, which means I'm picking them based on what I remember about the book - if I don't remember what it was about, it wasn't considered.

Best recent translation: The Faculty of Dreams

Best classic: It is a 3-way tie - Frankenstein, Anna Karenina, Kristin Lavransdatter (all read in audio)

Best modern British classic (a/k/a Best Mooske Madness): 3-way tie - Moon Tiger, The Bookshop, The Remains of the Day

Best 2019 published US-author book: Olive, Again

Best fun read: The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax

Author with most 5-star books on the list: Ali Smith (3)



The first half of the year (Jan thru June) was a great six months for reading. I have 20 five star reads out of 90 books. It is a mixed lot of new, newish, old, translated, and classic. They are below in reverse chronological order --
There but for the,
Autumn (reread),
Disoriental,
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous,
Death on the Edge,
Fox,
Lanny,
Just Above My Head,
Commonwealth,
Unsheltered,
The Faculty of Dreams,
The Remains of the Day,
The Years,
Lost Children Archive,
The Aviator,
Anna Karenina,
The Bookshop,
The Gray House,
Kristin Lavransdatter,
Moon Tiger,
The Strange Case of Rachel K

It is now November and since I'm reading non-fiction in November, I'm going to add my 5* reads since July. I'll add December's and try to rank them all in beginning of January.
The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax
Frankenstein
Transit
The Dutch House
The Nickel Boys
Optic Nerve
Inland
The Need
Quichotte
The Man Who Saw Everything
Cat's Eye
Girl, Woman, Other
Horror Express
The H-Bomb and the Jesus Rock
Chasing the King of Hearts
Winter

Lost Children Archive
The House of Broken Angels
Milkman

I haven't read as much as previous years, but the quality made up for the lack of quantity. My favourites so far were:
Spring (who would have thought spring could be even better than autum?),
Milkman,
All My Puny Sorrows (I only discovered Miriam Toews last year, but it's the third 5-star book I've read by her),
River (my first, but probably not my last Fitzcarraldo),
I Who Have Never Known Men (I had no idea Belgium had such brilliant writers, and I'm Belgian ;)),
Slip of a Fish (picked it up at random in my book store, intrigued by the title and what a surpisingly good novel it turned out to be),
Mouthful of Birds (wonderfully weird short stories).
And Ducks, Newburyport is bound to join this list, once I've finished the remaining 850 pages :).