3 Books That Defied My Reading Slump

My blogging absence has sort of felt like the elephant in the room - for me at least. Blogging was a big part of my life, so I admit that it does feel strange not to be doing it on a regular basis. The reality is that reading has been very difficult for me for almost a year now. Maybe I'll get into that more another time. While my reading has slowed to a mere fraction of what it was before, that doesn't mean that I've stopped reading entirely. Every once in a while there is a book that brings back that excitement about reading that I've missed. Here are three of those books that I've read in the past couple months.

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
Publisher: Riverhead Books. January 2017.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Library
Pages: 192



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Holy shit, this is my kind of book. If you like your literature short, tense, and deeply unsettling, Fever Dream is an absolute must read. The whole (tiny) book is a conversation between main character, Amanda, and a mysterious little boy named David. She is in a hospital. It's not clear why. David asks her to recall what happened that got her there from the very beginning, fixating on small details here and there. Once I picked this book up, there was no chance that I was going to put it down. They talk about children, worms, motherhood, dying horses, pollution, fate, weird spirit stuff, etc. It is all the scariest. Nothing explicitly horror-y happens, but the dread throughout is so so real. And some seriously weird shit goes down... or does it?? This book feels like a dream for sure, and it will not disappoint you. Highly recommended for fans of Helen Phillips, Clarice Lispector (sort of, in her very close focus & claustrophobic writing), or Jesse Ball. So beautiful! So amazing! Read it and be astounded by Schweblin's clarity of voice and vision in her murky and hypnotizing story.

Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Publisher: Del Rey. April 2017.
Genre: Science Fiction
Source: Publisher
Pages: 325



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Last year I read a book called Sleeping Giants, which was a glorious combination of Ancient Aliens and Pacific Rim in a a super fun and easy to read interview style. I had some problems with flat characters in the first book, but the sequel, which came out this year, really blew me away. It was action packed, the characters felt less forced and more confidently written, and it was an incredibly quick read. We also got to learn more about the nameless narrator who I thought was kind of cheesy as an idea in the first book. He's just like your general nameless spy dude who seems to have his fingers in every governmental activity (classified or otherwise). Part of me sort of didn't want any actual background, but I ended up really enjoying what we got. This book did not pull any punches AT ALL and it kept surprising me throughout. It is a great read, and it's worth checking out the first book to get here.

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrea Burnet
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing. October 2016.
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Library
Pages: 300



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I've definitely been on a true crime kick these past couple months, and it was a delight to experience this fiction book that reads like bonafide true crime. His Bloody Project was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize in 2016, which I find to be a super interesting, and well deserved, pick. In it, we have a series of documents that all pertain to the case of Roderick Macrea killing a family in his village. There are neighbors' accounts, his own personal written account, and a transcript of the trial - all of which are biased. Roderick Macrae is such a fascinating guy to be in the head of - and to see from the outside after you know what's going on in his head. It's not a book where you come away knowing exactly what happened at the end of it. It's one that you'll keep thinking about, trying to puzzle out the details and decide who exactly to believe. Burnet places some amazing little hints throughout the book that close readers and true crime fans will be delighted by.

What books have helped you during a reading slump?

Best Books Read In 2016

I was so close to being able to call this a "Best Books of 2016" post, but there are 3 from 2015 oops. 2016 honestly wasn't astounding for books and there are definitely amazing books that I didn't get to because of my hardcore reading slump. Here are my top ten best books read in 2016, sort of in order but not really. Stay tuned tomorrow (my birthday) for my top 10 weirdest books read in 2016!

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin

MY REVIEW

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The best collection of short stories I have EVER read. Every story is a masterpiece. I feel so lucky that this book came into my life and I will treasure it forever.

Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt

MY REVIEW

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I can't stop recommending this book to people. If you are at all interested in cults and/or Carl Sagan, you're going to get suck a kick out of this novel. Incorrectly categorized as horror in the Goodreads Choice Awards, this weird-ass literary novel will blow your mind in so many ways. All of the seemingly disparate weirdness comes together in the most beautiful way. I want more Samantha Hunt NOW.

Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

MY REVIEW

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My new favorite horror novel! This is especially fun for Shirley Jackson fans and avid watchers of horror movies. Clever, but not ridiculous, and genuinely scary. Horror novels very very rarely scare me.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
MY REVIEW

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This book got me in the fucking heart. A small punch in the gut about a family who loses their mother and the crow that stays with them once she's gone. As someone who lost a parent, Grief is the Thing with Feathers nails what grief feels like. Meeting Max Porter this year was an amazing experience for me.

Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein

MY REVIEW

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This is just the collection of short stories I needed during my reading slump. Very Black Mirror. If you like dark sci-fi-ish short stories that are near future to the point where they feel scary and not ridiculous or hyperbolic, read these. It definitely won't make you feel better about the world, but it's soooooo good.

Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

MY REVIEW

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I'm SO HAPPY I read this. The audiobook was so solid. Great political fantasy a la Game of Thrones with LGBTQ representation. This book is enthralling and Baru is the baddest bitch. I'm so hyped that Seth Dickinson is working on a sequel.

The Red Car by Marcy Dermansky

MY REVIEW

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Marcy Dermansky is amazing, please read this. Weird, quirky, raw, funny, real af. And it's super quick to read. So you don't really have an excuse, do you? Perfect for fans of Miranda July.

Version Control by Dexter Palmer

MY REVIEW

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This is some amazing literary science fiction. It has it all: online dating, wormholes, memory, loss, big data, difficult marriages, and technology. I love books and movies about time, so this was definitely a book for me. But it is such an immersive and moving novel, even readers who haven't read a lot of genre fiction would love this book. So powerful!

The Long Shadow of Small Ghosts by Laura Tillman

MY REVIEW

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Whoa, a nonfiction book made it onto this list!! That's nearly unheard of for me. This was an absolutely beautiful and throat provoking look at a horrific crime, an American city, and the death penalty. Highly recommended.

Tender by Belinda McKeon

MY REVIEW

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Beautiful! I had so many feelings! This is a novel I couldn't put down at a time when I was putting down books left and right. Tender captures the insecurity and mania of being in love in your college years. It is bananas. So real, so moving. My heart is breaking just thinking about it.

15 Weird Dream-like Reads

If you're looking for some more #weirdathon picks, look no further. Atmosphere is probably the most important thing to me in writing. If the atmosphere of a book can make me feel like I'm somewhere else, I'm satisfied. If that place is strange and dreamy, I'm in love. It's no wonder that half of these weird dream-like books are all-time favorites.

You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by 
Alexandra Kleeman

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I want everybody to read this book. In this bizarre debut, main character, A, lives with her roommate, B who is starting to get more and more like her. Their world is strange. A is weirdly obsessed with the complex and disturbing commercials for a not-really-food called Kandy Kakes. Grocery stores shift aisles around regularly to optimize time spent wandering confused, buying things they don't need. And don't even get me started on the cult. Every sentence Kleeman writes is beautiful, disturbing, funny, and/or startling. This novel is some insane and clever commentary on society and body image.

Silence Once Begun by Jesse Ball

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In this quiet (ha!) novel, a man confesses to committing a crime where eight elderly people disappeared from their homes, despite not having done it. Then he refuses to speak ever again. This incident is explored through a collection of interviews with related individuals, documents, and photos. And it's not gimmicky at all. I felt like I was carefully looking through peculiar evidence. Many individuals tell what seem like unrelated, dreamy anecdotes. I still can't stop thinking about them and what they could mean. Beautiful.

Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann

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This standalone graphic novel is fuuuucked up. It's a whimsical little garden party with tiny characters, but it's also a gruesome horror show. Very much a fairy tale. A disturbing fairy tale. The cutesy drawings of maggoty little fairies continue to haunt, and delight, me. So much fun to read. Startlingly funny.

Jagannath by Karin Tidbeck

MY REVIEW

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This is one of my favorite short story collections ever. Swedish author Karin Tidbeck creates the most sublime little realities that we get to visit. They are VERY dreamy and very Scandinavian. There's a link to one of the stories from the collection in my original review. If you like speculative fiction, this is not a collection to miss.

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera

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A girls journey in crossing the border from Mexico to America is chronicled in strange, fluid storytelling. At once gritty and fairy tale-like. This is a short lyrical tale about language, family, and culture. I felt like I was floating through it. It wasn't a favorite of mine overall, but there were some parts that got me right in the heart.

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

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Through the Woods is a collection of short comics from Emily Carroll. They are all so creepy and stunning, I don't even know where to begin. It's like light-hearted horror with some of the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen. If you're a fan of comics, you must check this out. They're a delight to read. I felt like I was in a quiet, wintry nightmare the whole time. You can read one of the comics from the collection here. DO IT.

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

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This is a straight up horror novel for fans of Blair Witch Project. The story follows some campers as they get lost in a forest where things aren't quite what they seem. It is HEART THUMPINGLY tense almost the entire time. I was so spooked. But then, halfway through, Nevill flips the script and takes the story to a whole different place. I liked the first half better, but the second was definitely dreamy and weird. I felt like I had been hit over the head as the madness ensued.

Of Things Gone Astray by Janina Matthewson

MY REVIEW

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In this novel, a collection of unrelated people lose stuff. Their sense of direction, the front of their house, their place of work (like physically it's gone), etc. Also a girl turns into a tree? It's a really whimsical read.

X'ed Out by Charles Burns

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The first in a trilogy, X'ed Out is a graphic novel that opens with the main character waking up to see a hole in his wall. And when he climbs through it, following his cat who had died, he ends up in a CRAZY world. You can tell the difference because he suddenly looks cartoony. Also there are significantly more worm things with faces. The book moves fluidly back and forth between his adventures in this strange world and flash backs of what went wrong in his real life. If you've read Black Hole by Charles Burns, expect the same kind of disturbing nonsense that you could never dream up on your own. This trilogy is great.

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

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Karen Russell is the word goddess of my life, and this is one of my favorite books. Her writing is actually superb. Some of the most gorgeous writing I've ever encountered. So she can deftly whip up some weird ass atmosphere. Having your setting be a run down theme park in a swamp certainly helps with that atmosphere. A family copes with the death of the mother in very different, surreal ways. The main character is like always wandering around in a dream. There are definitely ghost boyfriends too. Among SO MANY things. Please go read this, it's beautiful.

The Woods, Vol. 1 by James Tynion IV

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Do you like LOST? Do you like comics? Read this one. A high school is all of a sudden transported to some whole other, slightly magical world that nobody can make heads or tails of. It is just my type of weird. There's a hint at maybe aliens or at least something Ancient Aliens-y?? It's like The Breakfast Club, but with more angry monsters.

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

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Actually one of my favorite books of all time that I NEED everybody to read. Jake White lives on her own on an island with some sheep. But something starts to kill her sheep. The atmosphere is so tense; Wyld's writing so amazing. Every other chapter it switches back to Jake's past and how she got there. But it's told reverse chronologically, so at first it's confusing, but then you appreciate how things are being revealed to you. Very dreamy, very recommended.

The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips

MY REVIEW

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Back in nightmare town!! Everything about The Beautiful Bureaucrat is uncanny and odd and tense. Her boss doesn't have a face. Her job doesn't make sense (hellooooo anxiety dreams) and she just types strings of numbers in a tiny office that has dirty handprints on the wall. One day her husband disappears then a couple days later he's back with no explanation. And learning more about the corporation she works for doesn't seem to help. I laughed, I cringed, I gasped. Helen Phillips is one hell of a writer. I couldn't leave this nightmare world once I had started; it was too good to put down.

The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac by Sharma Shields

MY REVIEW

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In this novel, there are sasquatches and witches and other cryptids hanging out with humans. And they seem metaphorical. But also they're just characters in the novel, nbd.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

MY REVIEW

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Of course I have to mention the Southern Reach Trilogy for the umpteenth time. Annihilation, the first in the trilogy, is like the most tense, surreal nightmare/dream you could ever had. A group of four unnamed women take an expedition into a place called Area X. Every expedition beforehand has failed (everyone dies or everyone kills each other or everyone disappears or everyone shows up much later than dies of cancer, etc.). They have no idea what to expect. It's a short, transporting read that you can finish in one sitting. Oh my goodness, I love this book.

What are your favorite dream-like books?

Books I Loved & The Bloggers Who Pushed Them

Day 3 of Book Blogger Appreciation Week is today, and it's all about celebrating books you wouldn't have picked up without the push of a book blogger. Soooo much of my reading is shaped by what my favorite book bloggers are reading, so this list just barely scratches the surface. And, I'm going to be real, my memory is not amazing. I'm sure multiple people recommended certain things or I read many reviews about specific books. So accuracy is not guaranteed, but all the reviews I link to are so solid. Thanks, book bloggers! 

What I love most about the bookternet is when it feels like a horde of people running toward you with a particular book, and the horde keeps getting bigger and bigger. I don't remember all of the people who recommended The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips to me, but I'm pretty sure Shannon from River City Reading, Sarah from Sarah's Bookshelves, and Katie from Bookish Tendencies were some hardcore book pushers.
[Shannon's review] [Sarah's review] [Katie's review]
[My review]

Here's one that I sort of caught wind of on Twitter then got coerced into needing. The people I watched reading The Shore by Sara Taylor were I THINK Shannon, Sarah, and Shaina from Shaina Reads. But, again, there could have been more.

[Shannon's review] [Sarah's review] [Shaina's review]

[My review]

This book was sort of a given for me, because it combined horror and reality TV. And I had the book on my bookshelf. I just needed a little motivation to read it when I did. Lauren from Malcolm Avenue Review originally pushed A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay and I was pretty much sold despite her and I having some mild disagreements sometimes. But then Sal from Motion Sick Lit also said I needed to read it (after having heard about it from me), so I took the plunge. Neither let me down.
[Lauren's review] [My review] 

Seeing the cover of Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer was pretty much love at first sight, but luckily it was also accompanied by a fantastic review by Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings. This is one of my favorite books ever and I don't know that I would've found it otherwise.

[Carl's review] [My review]

M from Rain City Reads actually bought me Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, just because she loved it so much and it must have been my birthday or something. I was avoiding it because of the hype (as I do), but it's actually really, really good. Thanks again, M!
[M's review]

Leah from Books Speak Volumes has written tons of reviews that have convinced me to pick up books, but Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce was kind of notable. I almost refused to pick it up just because the cover was too good. I was trying not to be so shallow. But I read her review and was like yup, I need this. And it was so so good.

[Leah's review] [My review]

Andi from Estella's Revenge was right. Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt was the perfect kind of weird for me. She gets it.
[Andi's review] [My review]

I had never heard of Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation until Monika from Lovely Bookshelf wrote a great review of it. I'm so glad I read it, because I'm really bad at reading nonfiction and it's probably something I wouldn't have heard of on other blogs. It was an incredible, thought provoking experience. 

[Monika's review]

I hadn't delved into grit lit at all until reading Shannon's blog. And I probably would've skipped over The Animals by Christian Kiefer completely because it almost sounds too much like a thriller for my picky self. But it was SO BEAUTIFUL and also thrilling. What more could you want?
[Shannon's review] [My review]

THE FIRST CHAPTER. Thanks for the great review of Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich, Katie.
[Katie's review]

A trend I'm noticing: I often avoid books that I might like because there's no way I'd actually like them... or something. I had heard mixed reviews about Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, but Naomi from Consumed by Ink's review and comments got me super excited to pick this on up. And I'm glad I did.
[Naomi's review] [My review]

Ursula Le Guin was someone both Shaina and I put off reading. I'm glad we read The Lathe of Heaven together, because obviously we would both love her (and we did), and I loved hearing Shaina's insights as we read. Thanks for being a great buddy reader, my love <3.

[Shaina's review] [My review]

What book have you read and loved because of a great recommendation from a book blogger?

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin: Review

A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. August 2015.
Pages: 432
Genre: Short stories
Source: Library



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A MANUAL FOR CLEANING WOMEN compiles the best work of the legendary short-story writer Lucia Berlin. With the grit of Raymond Carver, the humor of Grace Paley, and a blend of wit and melancholy all her own, Berlin crafts miracles from the everyday, uncovering moments of grace in the Laundromats and halfway houses of the American Southwest, in the homes of the Bay Area upper class, among switchboard operators and struggling mothers, hitchhikers and bad Christians.- Goodreads

I wasn't going to review this book. I really wasn't. Because how does one even begin to go about describing what it feels like to be in love? Ok, maybe that's hyperbolic, but at the same time I'm feeling the same excitement and utter loss for words. I almost skipped this book because of all the hype. Because that's the kind of person I am. I figured there's no way I won't be disappointed by a book getting this much press and acclaim. But I am here to tell you that I, the coldest heart this side of the Mississippi, always ready and willing to hate, believe the hype is entirely justified and that this book needs more. This collection of short stories is a masterpiece.

I've only had this feeling with a few other authors. Shirley Jackson, Lydia Davis, Vladimir Nabokov. You just have a moment when you're reading where you go "wow, this person is actually a literary genius and I am not worthy." Prepare yourself for that feeling. Lucia Berlin is incredible in the least pretentious way possible. When you read her stories it's like being told a story by a friend. Granted, a friend who's seen a lot of life. Her writing is beautiful without it being easy to put your finger on why. Not a word is wasted and her voice is so strong and compelling. Normally I mark a bunch of passages that I like, but I had to give up with Berlin, because I loved it all so much. I was running out of book darts.

After a long time the cranes did come. Hundreds, just as the sky turned blue-gray. They had landed in slow motion on brittle legs. Washing, preening on the bank. Everything was suddenly black and white and gray, a movie after the credits, churning.
As the cranes drank upstream the silver water beneath them was shot into dozens of thin streamers. Then very quickly the birds left, in whiteness, with the sound of shuffling cards.

The stories in this book are a selection of her best works put in order chronologically. What's brilliant about this is that Lucia Berlin writes very autobiographical stories. It essentially feels like you're growing beside her, like you're watching her life unfold. And this lady has been through all sorts of shit. For a while she lived in mining camps in America, then she moved to Chile where she lived flamboyantly into her 20s. She moved back to America and lived much less flamboyantly. She worked as a maid. She was married 3 times, had some kids, had some affairs, and struggled with alcoholism for most of her life. Most of her stories are about poverty, alcoholism, relationships, family, death. That's part of why I thought I wouldn't be interested, but I was wrong. Berlin is sharp as a tack, she has all sorts of hutzpah, and boy can she tell a story (often in only a few pages or less).

Women’s voices always rise two octaves when they talk to cleaning women or cats.

I still really don't know what to say about this collection of short stories. I'm tongue-tied. I don't want to try to describe the pieces, because I know they'll all fall flat in my summation. All I can ask is that you please take the time to AT LEAST read this excerpt from it. "Carpe Diem" was one of the stories that really got to me and you can read it online here. I'm so grateful to have read A Manual for Cleaning Women. I genuinely feel lucky to have had the opportunity, which is an incredible feeling to have after reading a book. I want you to feel that too.

The only reason I have lived so long is that I let go of my past. Shut the door on grief on regret on remorse. If I let them in, just one self-indulgent crack, whap, the door will fling open gales of pain ripping through my heart blinding my eyes with shame breaking cups and bottles knocking down jars shattering windows stumbling bloody on spilled sugar and broken glass terrified gagging until with a final shudder and sob I shut the heavy door. Pick up the pieces one more time.

Best Comics of 2015

I'm being sneaky again and calling this a "best of" list next to "2015," but it's really just the best of the comics/graphic novels I read during 2015. GOTCHA! To be fair, 7 of them were published in 2015 (or one in their series was).

As I've mentioned before, 2015 was the year of sequential art for me and I really loved exploring what the format has to offer. For the sake of this list, I'm only counting comics that have been published in bound volumes. Otherwise it would be WAY too complicated.

I noticed I don't really review comics/graphic novels here, because I'm not sure if it's too niche an interest. Let me know if you feel otherwise and maybe I'll consider ~changing my ways~.

This week: - Best Backlist of 2015 - Weirdest Books of 2015 - Best Books of 2015 -

1. // Rat Queens, Vol. 1 by Kurtis J. Wiebe
I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed with volume one (Sass & Sorcery) and I'm obsessed with volume two which actually came out this year. The characters are just phenomenal, the story is fun, and the dialogue is hilarious. Always excited to get a new issue in my pull.

2. // Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan
Yup, I finally started Saga. And got caught up with Saga. Realizing that I had no more volumes to read in the middle of the year was absolutely devastating, because this series absolutely lives up to all the hype. READ IT.

3. // Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
This standalone graphic novel simultaneously gave me all the feelings and made me feel not well-read at all. Bechdel is super smart and incredible at story telling. Her life is worth hearing about. It will definitely move you.

4. // Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
Sweet, sweet Nimona. This is a graphic novel that's technically for kids, but it is pure unadulterated fun at any age. An absolute hilarious delight to read.

5. // Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick
BADASS. SO GOOD. Like Orange is the New Black in space. But more sci-fi-y. You don't need me to tell you how glorious this feminist series is. I'm sure you've already heard.

6. // Lumberjanes, Vol. 1 by Noelle Stevenson
This series for kids is also a delight to read at any age and, SURPRISE, it's written by the same beautiful person. Stevenson really knocked it out of the park with volume one and volume two of Lumberjanes. Girl power! Friendship! Magic!

7. // The Divine by Boaz Lavie
I wrote about how beautiful this is before, and I still find myself plucking it off the shelf at the bookstore just to gaze at the colors. A graphic novel with a Princess Mononoke feel, you will be unsettled and in awe.

8. // Black Hole by Charles Burns
Black Hole is perhaps the weirdest thing I read/saw all year. If weird sex-related mutations is off putting to you, maybe don't check this one out. But I really loved it. The black and white illustrations are bizarre and the story will leave you saying "what the fuck" every other page. It's a good one.

9. // Pretty Deadly, Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Kelly Sue DeConnick can do no wrong. I'm so excited that this series started its second arc and I'm getting Pretty Deadly in my pull a year or so after the first volume was published. Manga-y western magic folklore is my new favorite genre.

10. // X'ed Out by Charles Burns
And by X'ed Out, I pretty much just mean the entire trilogy that this book begins. Charles Burns' work is so startling and strange. It's like a beautiful acid trip of a car crash that I can't look away from. And it helped that the plot sort of vaguely reminded me of Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, everyone's favorite Gameboy Advance game (right?).

What was your favorite comic or graphic novel of 2015?

Best Books of 2015

Without further ado, the top ten list that's actually focused exclusively on 2015 releases. Let me know if any of these picks made your personal top ten!

This week: - Best Backlist of 2015 - Weirdest Books of 2015 - Best Comics of 2015 -

1. // A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
This book actually made me weep. Like actually weep in the middle of the night. More of an experience than a book. If you haven't witnessed Yanagihara's writing yet, you must.

2. // The Shore by Sara Taylor
Dark, female-driven grit lit? Sign me up. This collection of interlinking stories that jump back and forth in time is an astounding debut. The writing is incredible and the stories are intense. I want to read it all again just thinking about it.

3. // The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
WEIRD AND CREEPY AND WONDERFUL. This little book is impossible to put down once you start and Phillips has a startlingly disturbing/very funny mind.

4. // Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller
Here's another book that I raced through AND cried about. Parallel stories about a girl's past where her survivalist father steals her away and convinces her that the apocalypse happened and they're the only ones alive, and her present when she finally leaves the woods to go home. Actually amazing.

5. // Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
After reading a couple dud memoirs this year, I didn't have particularly high hopes for this book written by the Sleater-Kinney musician and Portlandia star. Luckily, it blew me away. Incredibly well written, this account of Brownstein's life and struggles is honest and relatable.

6. // Sweetland by Michael Crummey
Old curmudgeonly white dude on an island didn't originally appeal to me plot-wise, but here's another 2015 release that made me sob. Moses Sweetland is so endearing, even when he refuses to move off the island he's called home for all his life, and the book is haunting and emotional. Please read this.

7. // The Animals by Christian Kiefer
A dark, raw, emotional literary thriller that impresses with some really gorgeous prose. Bill's childhood friend is released from prison, which spirals our main character down a path where he has to confront his own past and try to protect the life he's built as the owner of a wildlife sanctuary.

8. // Hammer Head by Nina MacLaughlin
Maybe this book just came to me at exactly the right time and that's why it made my list, but I'm also pretty sure that it's really good. Journalist Nina MacLaughlin decides that she needs a drastic change in her life and she answers a CraigsList ad looking for a carpenter's assistant. Her short memoir is both inspiring and beautifully written.

9. // The First Bad Man by Miranda July
Miranda July's first novel is impossibly funny. Being in main character Cheryl's head is both cringey and delightful on so many levels. If you liked July's quirky, twee, and often moving short stories, you will love this novel.

10. // You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
Despite part of the ending not being super impressive, this debut novel edged out a runner up to make it into my top ten mostly on how delighted I was the whole time I was reading it. It was dark, it was clever, it was quirky and weird. I wanted to write down every other sentence Kleeman wrote. There's a roommate with boundary issues, there's a bizarre chain of grocery stores, there's a cult, and there's commentary about consumerism and body image. What more could you want??

What was your best book of 2015?

Weirdest Books of 2015

This reading year was a really good year for weird books. I've pretty much honed in on how to find just my type of weird/creepy/quirky/dark books. But I'm always on the lookout for surprises!
To be clear: These are the weirdest book I personally read in 2015. I was going to keep it to only books published in 2015, but I wanted the weirdest of the weird featured in this post. So I think at least half of them were published in 2015, which is close enough, right?

This week: - Best Backlist of 2015 - Best Books of 2015 - Best Comics of 2015 -

1. // Three Moments of an Explosion by China Miéville
These stories are some of the most inventive, strange, and disturbing that I've ever read. Glaciers suddenly appear floating above London? Dead people suddenly acquire a new condition where they're always perfectly horizontal and they swivel around so their feet face you? I don't know how he comes up with this stuff.

2. // Black Hole by Charles Burns
I wasn't going to put graphic novels on this list, but I couldn't help myself and I didn't really have a reason not to. Not only are Burns' illustrations bizarre and very dark -- the plot is centered around sexually transmitted mutations like being able to molt and having a second mouth on your neck, etc. Just the usual stuff.

3. // The Sasquatch Hunter's Almanac by Sharma Shields
There are literal monsters/cryptids in this (yeah, I said cryptids. I listen to coast to coast fm every once in a while, whatever). At first I thought the sasquatch was a metaphor, but one of the characters is literally just a sasquatch (and also sort of a metaphor, but mostly a sasquatch).

4. // Of Things Gone Astray by Janina Matthewson
Somebody loses the front wall of their entire house. Someone loses their place of work (like it's gone gone). Someone begins to turn into a tree. This book is so charming and whimsical.

5. // Light Boxes by Shane Jones
February has gone on for many many years in one town. And February is also a god/person. Also the format is a bit experimental. Tiny and magical book.

6. // The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips
A man with no face is the main character Josephine's new boss in her new horrifyingly claustrophobic and nonsensical office job where she enters strings of letters and numbers into a database for hours. The walls of her office have grimy handprints on them. There are weird doppelgangers?? This book was incredible, please read it and be creeped out.

7. // The Blue Fox by Sjón
This novella is so dreamy and interesting. It feels like a fairy tale and it has a lot of layers for so few pages. A man in Iceland hunts a magical blue fox that can sort of talk. I don't even know. I really don't know how to talk about it.

8. // Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann
OH my god, this is so dark and strange. Another graphic novel pick that uses the form incredibly. At first it feels like a fun illustrated kids' book with little fairies and animals, but then they are also living inside a dead girl. These adorable little fairies are much more vicious and charming than you could ever have expected. I laughed, I gasped, I cried.

9. // You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine by Alexandra Kleeman
Man oh man, this is a good book. It's like a quirkier, more contemporary version of "White Noise" by Don DeLillo. Kleeman's writing never lets up in being beautiful, funny, and disturbing -- often all in the same paragraph. If you want some social commentary with your weird, here you go. Also there's a reality show in the book where if you can't recognize your significant other, you're contractually obliged to sign a restraining order and never see them again. MAKE THAT A REAL SHOW, PLEASE.

10. // The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink
The characters are what's weird in this book. They're pretentious, they're bad at being loyal or communicating anything, and their lives float around in the strangest non-structure I've ever read. And suddenly eco-terrorism out of nowhere?? This tiny book is very difficult to define.

What's the weirdest book you read this year? PLEASE TELL ME.

Best Backlist of 2015

I have put off posting my "best of" lists, because I was SO convinced that I could read another 10+ books in the second half of December, but it looks like my reading has pretty much wound down for the year. I'm starting with the completely Julianne-specific list of best backlist books I read this year (there were a lot and they were so so good). You may see that there are no comics/graphic novels featured here despite how many I read in 2015. Fear not! They're getting their own list, so I don't have to make any hard decisions. That is my Christmas gift to myself.

This week: - Weirdest Books of 2015 - Best Books of 2015 - Best Comics of 2015 -

1. // The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
I've gushed about this book so much, I don't want to bore everybody. Yanagihara is a spectacular writer and this book goes to to some very strange and dark places. New favorite author? She's up there.

2. // All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
One of the first books I read this year and one of my new all time favorites that I only ever mention in passing. Chilling, well paced, and beautiful. Just read it.

3. // The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin
This book made me reconsider my weird bias against fantasy. Ok, I wasn't necessarily biased against it. I knew I loved Lord of the Rings, but figured I wouldn't be able to focus for as long as fantasy books/series are. But BOY WAS I WRONG. N.K. Jemisin's world building based on Egypt is so fascinating and well done. This book has no flaws.

4. // Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
This book continues to fix my life and make me cry and be introspective in a way I hadn't before. Strayed's writing is beautiful.

5. // Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
I absolutely devoured this book. The experimental format is done brilliantly and everything Offill says is true, funny, and often devastating. SO GOOD.

6. // The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin is my new sci-fi goddess. This short book about what happens when man tries to play god is well written, clever, thrilling, and thoughtful. Absolutely loved it and I'm mad I didn't read it until now.

7. // We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
I already knew I loved Shirley Jackson, because of her short stories. This novella only solidified those feelings. Perfectly creepy and funny.

8. // Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
I had also been sort of biased against historical fiction, and this new favorite readjusted all of my thinking. A beautiful book about the last woman put to death in Iceland. Stunning.

9. // White Noise by Don DeLillo
White Noise stayed with me in ways I didn't expect it to. I find myself making references to it all the time. Weird, funny, dark social commentary and overall a really good read. DeLillo just gets it.

10. // Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Everybody loved it and I did too.

What backlist book did you love this year?

6 Reasons Why The People in the Trees is Perfect

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
Publisher: Doubleday. August 2013.
Pages: 384
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: Publisher
First Line: March 19, 1995 Renowned Scientist Faces Charges of Sexual Abuse


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In 1950, a young doctor called Norton Perina signs on with the anthropologist Paul Tallent for an expedition to the remote Micronesian island of Ivu'ivu in search of a rumored lost tribe. They succeed, finding not only that tribe but also a group of forest dwellers they dub "The Dreamers," who turn out to be fantastically long-lived but progressively more senile. Perina suspects the source of their longevity is a hard-to-find turtle; unable to resist the possibility of eternal life, he kills one and smuggles some meat back to the States. He scientifically proves his thesis, earning worldwide fame and the Nobel Prize, but he soon discovers that its miraculous property comes at a terrible price. As things quickly spiral out of his control, his own demons take hold, with devastating personal consequences. - Goodreads

1. // It's a book within a book.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm delighted whenever this happens. If you're a little hesitant, fear not. This is no gimmick. There is no better way this strange story could be told. The book is framed as Norton Perina's memoir that he's writing from jail. The introduction, editing, and footnotes are done by his friend, Ronald. At one point, Norton Perina says about his life:

...I have found that contemplating the events of that year becomes tolerable only when I consider them as things that happened long ago and to someone else--some series of misfortunes and tragedies that befell someone I once admired and had read about in a dusty book in a grand, stone-floored library somewhere far away, where there was no sound, no light, no movement but for my own breath, and my fingers clumsily turning the rough-cut pages.

That's what reading this book feels like. And it's a glorious feeling.

2. // There are unreliable narrator(s).

Remember Ronald who edits the memoir? He admits to being biased toward Norton Perina, as they're friends, and he also says that he has edited things out that seem unnecessary. That paired with a main character whose only focus seems to be success and who is in jail for a horrible crime he says he didn't commit? You always have to be on your toes as you read this story. Not all is as it seems.

3. // There are some disturbed characters.

As Yanagihara proved this year with A Little Life, she can take you to some dark places in her books. And the darkest places are within the minds of her characters, which she creates so richly and thoughtfully. The complexity of these people is revealed so subtly, it feels like you're discovering secrets as you read. Every revelation about a character is well placed and well timed. Norton Perina is a troubling individual on so many different levels and I love that.

4. // Hanya Yanagihara's writing is so immersive.

I really don't know how she does it. I mean a lot of it has to do with the context of this being a memoir that you're reading, but you get completely immersed in the story and the characters she has created. Her written landscaping of this fictional island is so in depth and atmospheric, you can feel the heat and darkness and claustrophobia of the jungle. None of the weirder plot points took me out of the story at all; they only helped to suck me in. 

5. // It's also really beautiful. 

My arms cramped up from how many paragraphs I typed up. Because it's written as a memoir by a scientist with extensive footnotes, it looks and feels like it should be dense. I'm not going to say you can race through it in one sitting, but there was no point in this book that I was bored. Yanagihara's prose is so lyrical. I mean, look at this.

I stood periodically and listened to the dry palm fronds chattering against one another like bones, and to the ocean, its remorseless, lonely conversation with itself, a sound that—though I did not know it at the time—I would not hear again for months to come.

6. // Physical immortality is acquired through eating mystical turtles.

Ok, this isn't always criteria for me, but it's definitely a bonus. Despite how human the plot is, the fantastical elements really take it up a notch. The discovery of "The Dreamers" (the people who are 100+ years old, but incommunicable due to mental deterioration) is so intense. Not knowing how many more are in the jungle is more so. The tribe of islanders and their customs are fascinating. The folklore behind the turtles that provide physical immortality is so interesting to read. All of these strange elements adds a richness through its inventiveness and layering, and it only helps magnify the the real life issues: exploration, globalization, mortality, progress, ego, etc.



I don't want to say too much about Yanagihara's stunning debut novel. I just really want you to read it. Do you look for any of these things in the books you read?

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far in 2015

The Broke and the Bookish runs this business.

This is SO TOUGH. I feel like my reading year (which has been 47 books) has been so good so far. Whittling this down to ten books that were "the best" was intense. Some five star books got edged out by four stars, just because they've stayed with me more despite having some problems. Such is life. If you haven't read one of these yet, please do. Trust me. Then tweet me all of your feelings as you're reading them.

The First Bad Man by Miranda July - I still can't get over how hilarious this novel is. The humor is so on point and the characters are so odd. Like for a week I was just reading quotes to people. If you haven't read anything by Miranda July yet, read this pronto. Or one of her books of excellent short stories.

All The Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld - I've been strangely quiet about my love for this book unless you talk to me personally, which is kind of odd. Maybe it's out of some sort of reverence. If you want dark and haunting and amazing atmosphere, this is the book for you.

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin - Fantasy has never explicitly been my thing, though I haven't been averse to it. I just hadn't really read any apart from Lord of the Rings. This was the best possible choice of series to start. A fascinating world. I ripped right through it and found no flaws. FANTASY BASED ON EGYPT. TRY IT.

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin - Ursula, my queen. If you're looking for somewhere excellent to start if you're unfamiliar with sci-fi, I think everyone can be delighted by this book. Be sure to check out me and Shaina's chat review of it.

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan - I should probably be specific and choose a volume of this comic, but like... all of it. All four volumes that are out are so good. The worlds and characters are fantastical and bizarre, but they have real depth to them. And the art is stunning. Saga saved me from a reading slump.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill - This experimental little novel was made for me. It starts hilarious and wildly relatable as we're stuck in the narrator's head. It gets heavier, but it never stops ringing true. Beautiful.

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara - I just finished this yesterday, but I can already declare it one of the best books I've read. Period. Yanagihara's writing and formatting is beyond immersive and her portraits of characters are astounding.

Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller - Such a fast, but intense, read. Watching Peggy develop as she is raised by her survivalist father in a cabin after he tells her everyone in the world, including her family, is dead is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. Definitely one not to miss.

The Shore by Sara Taylor - Man oh man. Where to begin on Taylor's debut "novel" which is more like a collection of interconnected stories. Dark, gritty, Gothic Southern fiction focused mostly around female characters. It takes you places you don't necessarily want to go, and it's done so so beautifully. A worthwhile read.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara - Aaaand Hanya Yanagihara again. Everybody loved this one and everybody was right (ok, maybe that's a generalization, but...). More an experience than a book, this hulking novel sucks you into the head of a brilliant but horribly abused man and spits you out sobbing 700+ pages later. But like in a very good way. 


And an honorable mention: We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. It broke my heart not to list this.



What are the best books you've read so far in 2015? Do any of these make your list?