21st Century Literature discussion

This can be some favorite reads of the year, a reading goal(s) you achieved, an author you discovered, a book you finally tackled, a literary event you particularly enjoyed, etc. Just let us know some of your reading/book highlights from the past year.

One happened in March when I reread Anna burns Milkman, a book I initially disliked and loved it. I took it with me to Valencia during the fallas festival. When everybody was having their siesta I would read the book in little chunks.

Tackling this year's Booker longlist was a joy - I liked every book, that last happened in 2014.

I also got to interview Irish children's author Dave Rudden : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlMpX...

Plus the blog is starting to gather a bit of notice, which is a total surprise!

I guess one highlight was getting a book via NetGalley, getting into discussion with the publisher about it and ending up with some changes I suggested being incorporated into the final edition that went to print.

Also being mentioned, although not by name, by Vesna Main when she was interviewed in the national press about “Good Day?”.

I have enjoyed quite a diversity of books this year, despite following several prize lists pretty closely. My personal and rather idiosyncratic top ten for 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     El Hacho by Luis Carrasco   My review
5     The Faculty of Dreams by Sara Stridsberg   My review
6     Zed by Joanna Kavenna   My review
7     Lanny by Max Porter   My review
8     Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi   My review
9     Daniel Deronda by George Eliot   My review
10     Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli   My review

I didn't really set any specific goals, though I did manage three rereads (very unusual for me), I'd put Daniel Deronda in the "finally tackled" category, and perhaps the best discovery of the year was Bernardine Evaristo, whose Booker win was refreshing and well merited. I have also enjoyed participating in a book group at my wonderful local independent bookshop Five Leaves (in fact I am introducing a discussion for the first time today, which makes me a little nervous). I have also greatly enjoyed the increasingly regular face to face discussions with a wonderful small group of friends met through GoodReads.

I'm still working through Ducks, but it has been a highlight of my year. Because it's so long and I'm reading it so slowly, it's become more of a companion than just a read. For a while, I was cat sitting at a house a few blocks away, and I think I got a reputation in my neighborhood for being "the gal who walks around with the big book."

It's also been nice that so many other people are reading it. There's always someone who gets my tweets about it, or new a new interview or article to read that compliments it.

I have nothing as cool as Neil and Hugh to report re: contributing to edits on a book or leading discussions at independent libraries.

My revelatory book for the year was Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong's memoir centering around his relationship with his mother. The book isn't prose poetry, but it has poetic language in every paragraph. Even more amazing as an audiobook.

My most memorable reading experience was Miss MacIntosh, My Darling, which I tackled with a group on Facebook reading one chapter a day. A long and dense (in the good way) book that I doubt I would have read any other way. If anyone else has this on their TBR, our fearless group leader left the discussion and all his notes up on the Facebook group.

Some of my other favorites from the year are Fen, Circe, A General Theory of Oblivion, Milkman, The Devil's Highway: A True Story, and Exhalation: Stories.

I had set a goal for myself to read 60 books this year, 40 of them by women. So far, I’ve read 77 books, 46 by women. It’s been a good year for reading and a good year for writing. In addition to writing my own stuff, I write reviews of all the books I read because it helps me to remember them.

I have a long list of favorites in no particular order.

For books in translation:
Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir.
The Book of Collateral Damage by Sinan Antoon.
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've read DQ. I try to read it once every ten years. I get something new from it every time I read it. I enjoyed the Edith Grossman translation this year.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I'm embarrassed to admit it's the first time I read this classic.

Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi.
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

For short stories:
The Collector of Treasures and Other Botswana Village Tales by Bessie Head.
What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah.
Minutes of glory by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o.

Non-Fiction
Studies in Bible and Feminist Criticism by Tikva Frymer-Kensky.
Chaucer's People: Everyday Lives in Medieval England by Liza Picard.
How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at An Answer by Sarah Bakewell.

Novels
An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma. This is the second Obioma novel I've read. I've loved both of them.
What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje.
Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli.
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield.
Outline, Transit, and Kudos by the wonderful Rachel Cusk.
Border Districts: A Fiction by the brilliant Gerald Murnane.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson.
Autumn, Winter, Spring by the amazing Ali Smith.

A fairly eclectic list.
Although I don’t participate in group reads very often, I do follow the discussions and, as you can see by the list of novels I’ve enjoyed, I get a lot of my reading recommendations from people in this group. I particularly appreciate being introduced to Rachel Cusk, Ali Smith, and Gerald Murnane. My thanks go out to you for these wonderful introductions.
Wishing you all a happy new year full of happy reading.

Sara G wrote: "For a while, I was cat sitting at a house a few blocks away, and I think I got a reputation in my neighborhood for being "the gal who walks around with the big book."..."

This brought back an old memory! A few decades ago I was on jury duty in Los Angeles, and while I was in the 'bullpen' waiting to be called to a courtroom for jury selection I was reading a big, fat book. A judge in one of the courtrooms noticed me carrying it and commented on how big it was. I was sent to his courtroom a number of times over my 10 day jury duty, and as I walked in he'd ask how it was going and I'd hold up the book an show him how far the bookmark had moved.

The most influential thing I did this year was suggesting an idea - the Women in Translation top 100 poll:
https://twitter.com/antonomasiabks/st...
(from an idea by Catherine Taylor in her 2018 FT review of Boyd Tonkin's 100 Best Novels in Translation, which no-one seemed to been doing anything about over the year since the review appeared.)
I don't really like Twitter but being able to have conversations like that from time to time, with publishers and bloggers, stuff I felt cut off from before, have made having the account worthwhile.

I also did the MBI Shadow Jury, which had been a sort of bucket list thing for me since 2013/14. It was only in March-May but it seems a long time ago now. A lot to read in a very short time - the fiction equivalent of overeating at Christmas dinner, perhaps?

It has been incredibly satisfying to finally read substantially more from a set of classics I'd been wishing I could finish for 25 years, (first list in this post)
and from July-Nov at least to have managed a steady pace of 3 new authors from it per month.

Hugh wrote: "I have enjoyed quite a diversity of books this year, despite following several prize lists pretty closely. My personal and rather idiosyncratic top ten for the year (so far
What a treat to see Daniel Deronda on your list. I listened to the audio book in the summer while driving to and from work.
There were many "driveway moments" when I couldn't leave the story to go inside. It was every bit as engaging as any Netlix series or more contemporary novel of the year.

Robert wrote: "One happened in March when I reread Anna burns Milkman, a book I initially disliked and loved it. I took it with me to Valencia during the fallas festival. When everybody was having their siesta I ..."

I had a similar experience with "Hot Milk". Loved it the 2nd time, and all her other books, since. I re-started "Bridge of Clay", and its now a favourite. Doubt if I will even try "Milkman", again.

I did not read as much contemporary literary fiction as I would have liked. The two that were most memorable were.
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. It reminded me a lot of Possession but the contemporary part of the story involves an older woman professor and her younger student who are investigating some papers that will shed light on the Jewish community in England in the 17th century. I thought it was both fascinating and well constructed.
The Nix by Nathan Hill was in many ways the opposite. Stuffed with too many ideas and kind of a mess, but some parts were just laugh-out-loud funny. As someone all too familiar with academia and the lures of online gaming, I recognized a few people I know.

I reread two classic novels.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott which I don't think I've read since I was a child. It was much preachier than I had remembered, but there's some interesting stuff there. I'm looking forward to the new movie. While I was at it I read some of her sensational short stories which were a hoot.

I also reread A Room with a View Even though I had read it not so long ago, things that flew right over me the first time I read it seemed so obvious now. It was like going back to a college reunion after everyone came out of the closet. Everything made so much more sense.

I read a fair amount of sci-fi and fantasy. I'm catching up on some of the old award winners so finally read
The Broken Earth Trilogy: The Fifth Season, The Obelisk Gate, The Stone Sky. Wow. Amazing world building, amazing characters, amazing use of language.

Totally different, but so much fun are the Murderbot Diaries a series of novellas by Martha Wells which starts with All Systems Red. Murderbot is an AI with a wonderfully snarky voice who has learned to get around her programming. Like most books about AI, you end up thinking a lot about what it means to be human, or sentient. I've also been re-reading the Liaden series by Steven Miller and Sharon Lee – it's romance, sci-fi, fantasy, and a comedy of manners all rolled into one. Great fun, though some books are much better than others.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but in the vein of memoir/reflections on spirituality and religion I've been reading
Madeleine L’Engle's The Crosswicks Journals They are very restful and a nice antidote to current politics. I'm not a particularly religious or spiritual person, but she more than anyone else (except perhaps C.S. Lewis) has made me understand why religion works for people.

Lesley wrote: "Robert wrote: "One happened in March when I reread Anna burns Milkman, a book I initially disliked and loved it. I took it with me to Valencia during the fallas festival. When everybody was having ..."

You never know :)

It was a pretty good year reading-wise for me, and this past month has been especially great. This month, so far, my favorites have been The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (a reread, but just as good the second time!), and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. The Things They Carried was so intense that I needed something much lighter afterwards. I'm listening to Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood now, which, truthfully, isn't very light in subject matter but is often hilarious in presentation :) At least, so far! I'm only 1/4 of the way through it.

In this year when so much of my reading time was probably squandered in following newspaper and magazine articles on the fraught American political scene, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment by Francis Fukuyama stands at the top of my list of 2019 book reads for its exploration of “identity” as understood by philosophy, history, politics, ….

I was brought to it by the opening chapters of Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America - Volume 1 & 2 , a Western Canon board selection. From DIA, I probably gained as much from ancillary materials, like its Great Courses discussion (William R. Cook) and biographies of Tocqueville, as from the text itself. At times tedious and obscurely both current and out-of-date, DIA continues to provide a rich source of rhetorical quotations for the spectrum of today's American political positions! At times, it seemed useful to remember that Tocqueville wrote for 19th century France, even more than for his continuing American audience.

Somehow 2019 found me stuck among some of the amazing figures of the mid-1700’s, from The Infidel and the Professor: David Hume, Adam Smith, and the Friendship That Shaped Modern Thought (a delightful read on the happiness friendship can bring, imho) by Dennis C. Rasmussen to Walter Isaacson’s Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. Now I am finishing the year with a romp through Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the book I refer to as the SNL (Saturday Night Live) show of its day.

Along about late summer-early autumn (vacation time), I felt a need for an escape from the those heady hours with 18th century Establishment musings and indulged myself with Rachel Cusk’s trilogy (Outline, Transit, Kudos) and Murnane’s Border Districts: A Fiction. Each raised provocative questions about the evolving role of characters and character creation in literature, challenging comfortable assumptions and conventions. I leavened it all with a few novels featuring NYC landmarks – then and now, by ex-Brit, Columbia trained journalist, and Broadway actress Fiona Davis.

Now Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present tries to gain my attention from my bedside reading collection, sometimes successfully. Barzun might provide some shape and continuity....?

Lily wrote: "Now I am finishing the year with a romp through Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the book I refer to as the SNL (Saturday Night Live) show of its day..."

Exactly! Laurence Sterne is a hoot for the ages :) I loved the movie based on the book. You'd think this would be an unfilmable story, but I loved it. I think it's successful because it's a playful adaptation rather than a literal one. And Steve Coogan was the perfect choice to star. Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

I guess we're a bit far afield of '21st Century Literature', but the movie qualifies ;)

Nadine wrote: "...I loved the movie based on the book. You'd think this would be an unfilmable story, but I loved it. ..."

I am waiting for the new year before asking for the film on interlibrary loan. A copy does exist in my library system, but I did not want to get mixed up with the holidays. I have heard others say much as you do, Nadine.

Some do say that the style of Sterne presages our modern 20th and 21st century literature. His is one variety of stream of consciousness.