The Mookse and the Gripes discussion

Better late than never, I would like to start taking nominations for our now annual best of the year poll. We will give you until Wednesday 14th December to nominate up to three favourite books, then we can run dynamic rankings for the rest of the year (and maybe beyond that). Please use this thread to nominate.

As in previous years we will allow books first published in English in October to December 2021* or 2022, and for translations the earliest date (1 Oct 2021) may be a first English edition of an older book, no matter how old. Dead authors are allowed, as are dead translators.

Note that my preference is that books published in 2021 should only be nominated if you read them for the first time this year, but that is just guidance, as I have no intention of trying to check (sometimes it takes a while for books to find the right readership, particularly when prize judges surprise us).

When nominating, please link to the book using "Add book/author" in desktop mode. If you can't manage that please include the author's name, since a title alone may be ambiguous or difficult to find thanks to the vagaries of the GoodReads search function.

These are the valid nominations so far:

Absence by Lucie Paye (21/6/2022, Sonia)
Activities of Daily Living by Lisa Hsiao Chen (12/4/2022, Lee, Mohamed)
After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz (15/7/2022, Hugh)
The Book of Mother by Violaine Huisman (19/10/2021, Julie)
Call Me Cassandra by Marcial Gala (11/1/2022, WndyJW)
Children of Paradise by Camilla Grudova (7/7/2022, Alwynne)
Chinatown by Thuận (21/6/2022, Roman Clodia)
Cocoon by Zhang Yueran (4/10/2022, Mohamed)
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au (23/2/2022, Vesna)
The Colony by Audrey Magee (3/2/2022, Susan)
Companion Piece by Ali Smith (7/4/2022, Hugh)
December Breeze by Marvel Moreno (15/11/2022, Roman Clodia)
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (18/10/2022, Lee)
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi (9/8/2022, Arun)
Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham (30/8/2022, Lark)
Diego Garcia by Natasha Soobramanien & Luke Williams (25/5/2022, Suzanne)
The Doloriad by Missouri Williams (1/3/2022, endrju)
The English Understand Wool by Helen DeWitt (27/9/2022, WndyJW)
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (18/1/2022, Arun)
I Am Not Your Eve by Devika Ponnambalam (24/3/2022, Hugh)
I'm a Fan by Sheena Patel (5/5/2022, Gumble's Yard)
Imagine A Death: A Novel by Janice Lee (4/10/2021, Paul)
The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara (3/5/2022, Joy)
Little Boy by John Smith (29/4/2022, LindaJ^)
Losing the Plot by Derek Owusu (3/11/2022, Gumble's Yard)
Love in the Big City by Sang Young Park (28/10/2021, Julie)
Lungfish by Meghan Gilliss (13/9/2022, Tracy)
The Man Who Sold Air in the Holy Land: Stories by Omer Friedlander (12/4/2022, Ruben)
Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer (31/3/2022, Susan)
MUEUM by S.J. Fowler (28/6/2022, Lee)
My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura (11/1/2022, Stacia)
My Volcano by John Elizabeth Stintzi (8/3/2022, endrju)
Mystery Train by Can Xue (18/10/2022, David)
Nothing Is More Real Than Nothing by Daniel James (11/11/2022, Gumble's Yard)
The Pachinko Parlour by Elisa Shua Dusapin (18/8/2022, Vesna)
Pollak's Arm by Hans van Trotha (15/2/2022, LindaJ^)
Pure Colour by Sheila Heti (15/2/2022, Lark)
Querelle de Roberval by Kevin Lambert (2/8/2022, endrju)
Rivers of the Unspoilt World by David Constantine (1/10/2022, Emily)
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (5/4/2022, Susan)
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich (9/11/2021, Carol)
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunaratne (4/8/2022, Joy)
Seven Steeples by Sara Baume (7/4/2022, Alwynne, Emily)
Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (21/10/2021, Vesna)
Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu (25/10/2022, Mohamed)
Solo Dance by Kotomo Li (7/6/2022, Alwynne)
Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi (16/11/2021, Paul)
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel (22/6/2022, Ruben)
Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm (15/11/2022, WndyJW)
Tender by Ariana Harwicz (15/2/2022, David)
Thirsty Sea by Erica Mou (17/5/2022, Sonia)
Thread Ripper by Amalie Smith (1/6/2022, LindaJ^)
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (10/5/2022, Joe)
A Tiny Upward Shove by Melissa Chadburn (12/4/2022, Lark)
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara (11/1/2022, Cindy)
Too Much of Life: Complete Chronicles by Clarice Lispector (1/9/2022, Roman Clodia)
Treacle Walker by Alan Garner (28/10/2021, Paul)
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy (14/4/2022, Cindy)
Twilight of Torment: Melancholy by Léonora Miano (8/7/2022, David)
Valli by Sheela Tomy (25/7/2022, Arun)
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama (17/5/2022, Joy)
The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn (9/6/2022, Cindy)
What We Fed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri (6/9/2022, Tracy)
When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà (15/3/2022, Tracy)
When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold by Alia Trabucco Zerán (3/3/2022, Stacia)
Whisper by Yu-Ko Chang (15/10/2021, Stacia)

Additions since Friday 9th Dec
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (5/4/2022, Erin)
Love Marriage by Monica Ali (3/2/2022, Erin)
Chouette by Claire Oshetsky (4/11/2021, Karen Michele)
Learwife by J.R. Thorp (4/11/2021, Julie)
Saint Sebastian's Abyss by Mark Haber (10/5/2022, Joe)
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel (26/4/2022, Fane)
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr (22/2/2022, Fane)

These were excluded by the date rule, pending more thought on the Trees and Tomb of Sand:
Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro (13/7/2021, WndyJW)
The Beasts They Turned Away by Ryan Dennis (11/3/2021, WndyJW)
The Trees by Percival Everett (21/9/2021, Joe)
Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree (26/8/2021, Emily)
What You Can See from Here by Mariana Leky (22/6/2021, Ruben)
Bolla by Pajtim Statovci (6/7/2021, Fane)

Thanks, Hugh. This is one of my favorite things we do all year. I'll go with:

Tender
Mystery Train
Twilight of Torment: Melancholy

Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies
The Colony
Sea of Tranquility

The Immortal King Rao
We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

Cold Enough for Snow
Small Things Like These
The Pachinko Parlour

ETA: dropped The Trees*, swapped it with Joe
*it was first publish on 21 September 2021 in the US but in 2022 in the UK.

A Tiny Upward Shove

Pure Colour

Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta

December Breeze
Chinatown
Too Much of Life: Complete Chronicles

Activities of Daily Living
Demon Copperhead
MUEUM

I’m so grateful to be able to participate in this exercise this year. My apologies but I’m a luddite and can’t figure out how to copy the link to each book.
Valli
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida
How High We Go In The Dark

Arun

Arun, on my phone at least I can’t add links, even if I access Goodreads through a browser. I can link to books when on my laptop, though, by clicking on the link that appears at the top rh corner of every comment box.

I'm happy to see Valli and Call Me Cassandra, which I both read recently and loved. I'll be hard pressed to pick a favorite. Glad to see MUEUM and Chinatown as well.

I'm intrigued by December Breeze and some of the others I haven't read too.

Lark, you have nominated what might be my least favorite book of the year. I like how reading tastes are like Venn diagrams. Even when there is substantial overlap, there's always part of the circle that doesn't intersect!

Lark - thank you so much. I have been using my mobile. I shall try and do this from my laptop in the future.

David I’m guessing it’s the book with the big green splotch. I can’t defend myself.

No defense needed. I'm glad it found the right reader :)

Ok now I’m doubly intrigued - David, you and I have both loved the same books ( such as Valli) and then differed on others ( such as Kingdom of Sand). This is what us extraordinary about the complexity and chemistry which inform our literary tastes.
Lark - Im now compelled to read the book with the big green splotch!

…even more so after seeing it was shortlisted for the Giller.

We actually have two Giller shortlisted books nominated so far. Joy nominated We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies, which you might like as well, Arun.

Yes I saw that! I think I will enjoy it!

Has anyone else read How High We Go In The Dark? I really loved it.

Arun wrote: "Has anyone else read How High We Go In The Dark? I really loved it."

I think some members of this group read it back in the spring but I haven't read it yet.

Lark and Arun, since one of your picks was already nominated by someone else (Call Me Cassandra and The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida), you might want to nominate something else in its place.

Arun wrote: "Has anyone else read How High We Go In The Dark? I really loved it."

I did, it really hit me in the feels. Quite good, I agree.

Just downloaded the book with the big green splotch, which as a librarian is a way of identifying a book that I really relate to.

David - perhaps I misunderstood…is only one nomination per book permitted?

Arun wrote: "David - perhaps I misunderstood…is only one nomination per book permitted?"

There's no rule against nominating a book that's already been nominated, but it's in essence a wasted nomination since the book will already be on the list. You're free to keep your nominations as they are, but if you want to select another book in its place, you're welcome to do so and they will all show up on the final list next week. Either way is fine.

Ok, yes, tomorrow, I’ll pick another candidate to take the place of my duplicate. Thanks. Maybe the one I’m reading now…

Thanks David. I appreciate that insight. Ok will redo my list tomorrow then !

I'll be out walking today but hope to catch up with these and add my nominations tomorrow.

Yes, it's exciting to see the range of books being nominated, especially ones I haven't read yet. So many 'best of the year' lists are full of the usual suspects, nice that this one isn't.

I tend to read more backlisted books than current, but of the current ones I have read these two have stuck with me.
Absence
Thirsty Sea

Sonia wrote: "I tend to read more backlisted books than current, but of the current ones I have read these two have stuck with me.
Absence
Thirsty Sea"

I really liked Thirsty Sea, and Absence looks excellent as well. What did you think of Thread Ripper, Sonia?

It awfully hard to choose only three. I mean I have no doubts about the first place but then I want this one and that one and the other one...

The Doloriad
My Volcano
Querelle de Roberval

Difficult some of my favourites like Chinatown, Cold Enough for Snow, have already been nominated and a few were ARCS Our Hideous Progeny, Owlish, 1,000 Coils of Fear. And like Sonia a number have been older titles.

So I'll plump for a provisional list, favourite in the context of the parameters outlined:

Children of Paradise

Seven Steeples

Solo Dance

David wrote: "Sonia wrote: "I tend to read more backlisted books than current, but of the current ones I have read these two have stuck with me.
Absence
Thirsty Sea"

I really lik..."
I enjoyed Thread Ripper and the weaving together of the story, but it hasn't stuck with me. I think however, that it is a book that could reveal more on a reread. Am thinking of giving my sister-in-law the book for Christmas as she is an Ada Lovelace fan. So maybe we will have a buddy read.

Sonia wrote: "I enjoyed Thread Ripper and the weaving together of the story, but it hasn't stuck with me. I think however, that it is a book that could reveal more on a reread."

It's interesting how some books bowl us over when we first read them, but then they don't stick with us, while others sneak up on us on a reread.

I am struggling to think what to add as pretty well all my genuine 5 star reads (ex ARCs) have been listed already as well as a couple which were let’s say not my favourites (Doloriad and Pure Coo Coo Colour - I am looking at you).

I didn't recommend some of my top favorites because I don't expect too many groups members have read them (that would be Time Shelter, The Pachinko Parlour or A Mountain to the North[...]) and this list is a bit different from others as there will be individual votes on the suggestions from other members.

Arun and Lark, you can access the link for books on your phone through a browser. Just scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and choose "Desktop Version" (right side of the page under the copyright notice). That should set you up correctly.

I've the opposite issue to GY - of my 11 eligible 5 star reads of 2022, only two have been nominated (The Colony, MUEUM) so 9 are missing.

There is one absolutely glaring omission so I have to nominate

Treacle Walker

But I wonder if many have read the other 8 books, so instead I will nominate two of my top 4.5 star reads:

Somebody Loves You (heavily award featured)
The Pachinko Parlour (I will add it Vesna as that makes two of us who love it)

The 8 other 5 star reads for me where I'm not sure enough others have read to make it an interesting vote:
Waypoints; Nothing is More Real Than Nothing; Strega; I'm a Fan; Losing the Plot; Imagine a Death a novel; Saint Sebastian's Abyss and Reverse Engineering.

But if anyone is keen to add those, and doesn't want to nominate themselves, I could swap out for say Pachinko Parlour.

I’ll admit I was hoping to see Imagine a Death (I’m reading it now and v impressed), but Pachinko Parlour looks quite good too.

My Annihilation
Whisper
When Women Kill: Four Crimes Retold

Excited for this! Here are three that I think have not been mentioned thus far:

To Paradise
The Whalebone Theatre
Trespasses

Yay, desktop version!

Thanks, Stacia.

Vesna and Paul, my favorites were already nominated except for Time Shelter which I would like to nominate. If Vesna wants to swap The Trees (one of my top reads this year) for The Pachinko Parlour which I haven't read, then I would include The Trees in my nomination and Paul can then replace The Pachinko Parlour with one of his other favorites. How does that sound?

Glad that someone already mentioned Treacle Walker and The Pachinko Parlour! I'll add:

Seven Steeples
Rivers of the Unspoilt World (barely anyone's read this though and some of you didn't like it...)

I'm not sure that The Trees is eligible, Joe, although it's been nominated above. Some of the others nominated might be outside the time frame as well, but I'll defer to Hugh.

Agree re Trees being ineligible
Seven Steeples has already been nominated Emily

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "I am struggling to think what to add as pretty well all my genuine 5 star reads (ex ARCs) have been listed already as well as a couple which were let’s say not my favourites (Doloriad and Pure Coo ..."

I'm a Fan seems to be a fan favorite (couldn't resist). Or you could put forward Lapvona and complete your trifecta of bottom dwellers.

Gumble's Yard - Golden Reviewer wrote: "Agree re Trees being ineligible"

I think Elena Knows and The Beasts They Turned Away were also published too early in 2021 for our list.

Joe wrote: "If Vesna wants to swap The Trees (one of my top reads this year) for The Pachinko Parlour which I haven't read, then I would include The Trees in my nomination and Paul can then replace The Pachinko Parlour with one of his other favorites. How does that sound?"

It sounds complicated :-)