Kelly > Status Update

Pizarnik, Mandelstam and Stevens are all astonishing portals of the Infinite.

Aside from verse, the biography of Walter Benjamin was the best I’ve read this sometimes blighted year.

These are not necessarily my most recent reads, but they are all-time favorites--

Fiction: Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel (a must!), Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (experimental but brilliant)

Nonfiction: Underland by Robert Macfarlane (he has some of the most beautiful prose. The introduction alone...!), Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Kelly. Listen. I wouldn't mislead you about something so important. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, and its sequels, are probably the best high fantasy I've ever read.

If grimdark isn't to your taste, somehow, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn is a heartwarming tale of a condescending gorilla who bullies the narrator into a sort of pacifist ecoterrorism. Worth your while. Swearsies.

In descending order of sheer, utter brilliance (all of them five-stars in my book (sic!)):

Extremely modern and, yes, liberal, multi-layered, emotionally moving, outstanding stories: Girl, Woman, Other

Sci-Fi with a strong emphasis on the "sci" and great execution of the "fi": Project Hail Mary

Physician-gone-comedian. You'll laugh till it hurts and in the end, it is going to hurt and it will have been well worth it: This Is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

Thank you all! Biographies, verse, fantasy and Robert Macfarlane are all to my taste. I have listened to three different interviews with him about that book but somehow not read it yet. Thank you!

The closing story from which the collection it appeared in draws its title, "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, left me literally shaking - as it did for my friend, to whom I immediately recommended it - and the rest of the collection is also wonderful. i just finished Louise Erdrich's "The Round House", which is a remarkable combination of thriller and coming of age story (with a healthy dose of social commentary thrown in). "Medicine Walk" by Richard Wagamese, another indigenous author, has to be among the best novels ever written by a Canadian. Oh, and in non-fiction I finally got around to reading Kolbert's brilliant "The Sixth Extinction" this month, which was a stimulating and wide-ranging examination of the myriad ways humans negatively impact the environment.

Piranesi by susannah clarke

Yes, Piranesi was my last five star read-my last of 2020. :)

Thank you Douglas for the Carver idea- it's been a long long time since I've dived in there..

Underland was brilliant. I’m glad to see others suggesting it! And, a surprise delight this year: Becoming Duchess Goldblatt by *anonymous* — warm and witty, and so well written.

If you like Piranesi have you read Jonathan Strange? Five solid stars.

Yes one of my all time favs! I think I’ve read nearly everything Clarke has ever written- she’s wonderful.

Thanks for this- I don’t have many five stars in 2021 and I’m not sure I could recommend the ones I have without reservations! These are helpful comments!