Diving into the Top 10 finds the first of TWO titles by Jennifer Haigh and a graphic novel.
#9) American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang – Gene Luen Yang’s Award-winning graphic novel unfolds as three distinct stories that weave together by the book’s end. Jin Wang is the only Chinese-American student at this school, and he wants nothing more than to blend in. Danny is an All-American high school basketball star who is mortified when his Taiwanese cousin, Chin-Kee visits for a couple of weeks every year. The Monkey King strives for divinity, looking to transform his identity to something far more than he is. With an insightful eye on American youth, Yang creates a tale that will resonate with anyone.
#8) Mrs. Kimble by Jennifer Haigh – Jennifer Haigh’s first novel is a tough read. Not in the sense that it is boring, or dense, or lacks punctuation or anything like that. The subject matter was just upsetting in a subtle way that felt like part of another time. Perhaps that’s a good thing in this day and age, but Mrs. Kimble focuses on a charming man of dubious ethics, who woos women, marries them, and then inevitably disappoints them. What upset me about this novel was the desperate way the three Mrs. Kimbles loved their husband. Not that it felt false, which was probably the most upsetting thing about it.
Haigh is a great writer. Her prose is easy and enticing. Her characters nuanced and varied. I very much enjoyed the through-line of Charlie’s story, Mr. Kimble’s first child, and the way he grew up from an enterprising young boy, to a mistrustful, yet kind adult. As domestic dramas go, this is a winner, but one that may be occasionally frustrating in the best possible way.
#11) Engines of Oblivion by Karen Osborne – Osborne’s second offering in her series, The Memory War, took some time to draw me in, but ultimately succeeded in telling a complicated story about the ongoing saga of first contact that turns to interstellar war, and the women who change the course of history. Engines of Oblivion picks up with Natalie Chan, a supporting character form the first installment of the series, Architects of Memory, who frankly, took a while to emerge back into my brain even after having read the previous novel only a year or so ago. The main characters from Architects do return, and their presence is felt throughout, but this is really Natalie’s story, and her evolving relationship with the Master Node of the mysterious Vai. The challenge with Osborne’s novels is that her plots are so dense, and convoluted, that I often don’t really know what’s going on. Ultimately, the characters are real enough, and the story engaging enough that it almost doesn’t matter that I’m missing the larger story she is trying to tell, but part of me is frustrated by that as well.
#10) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – This sweet story is, at its heart, a story about family lost and family reunited. 70-year-old Tova lives alone with the 30-year-old grief of her son’s death, ruled as a suicide. Her husband has also recently passed away, and Tova lives her solitary life in the the small tow of Sowell Bay, WA among the company of the KnitWits, friends who she enjoys, but more accurately tolerates. When Cameron, a young lost man comes to town searching for his father in a desperate attempt to get his life on track, the two invariably collide and find they have more in common than they could ever imagine. What makers Remarkably Bright Creatures stand out from its someone pedestrian, albeit well-constructed central story, is the only real joy in Tova’s life — her job cleaning at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, and the unusual relationship she develops with Marcellus, the Giant Pacific Octopus who is a resident there. How Marcellus affects the trajectories of both Tova and Cameron’s lives adds a unique twist to Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel.
#13) Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice – This slight novel is filled with atmosphere. Far to the north, in a remote Anishinaabe community, winter approaches. When all power and networks suddenly fail, the people of the town find themselves cut off from the rest of the world, and it is only through a small number of unexpected arrivals do they learn this phenomenon is widespread. Where some folks have prepared for a long winter by following older traditions, like hunting to stock up on meat, others are ill-prepared, and it’s up to the community to support everyone. While things are tough in town, it soon becomes apparent that things are far worse in the larger cities to the South.
#12) Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami – Acclaimed Tokyo writer Haruki Murakami collection of short stories, Men Without Women, published in 2017, explores a variety of scenarios where men find themselves without women and their lives a thrown into upheaval. Two of the stories contained in this collection, ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘Scheherazade’ were combined to create the marvelous screenplay for the 2021 film, DRIVE MY CAR, by filmmaker Ryûsuke Hamaguchi to great effect, which is why I decided to read Murakami’s collection. While an adept and accomplished writer, I wish I could read the stories in the original Japanese, because I felt that the quality of the writing was impacted by the translator, two of which are used for this group of stories. The bulk of the stories in this collection were beautifully done, but a couple toward the end were not as strong. 
#14) Cress Watercress by Gregory Maguire – Young rabbit Cress Watercress, is relocating with her mother and younger brother after losing their father to a mysterious, but most certainly dire fate. Cress is in the early throes of grieving, and is more unhappy about leaving her home. The beleaguered family finds sanctuary, and a steep rent, at the Broken Arms, a near dead tree with a strict, blind owl as landlord, and takes residence in a tiny apartment beneath its roots.
As we all age, I knew we would be losing some of my favorite performers in the coming years. Earlier this summer, it was hard to hear about Olivia Newton John’s death, but the loss of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie in November hit me hard. She was my keyboard idol since the 70’s. She was a master pop songwriter. She was a superstar who preferred to stand out of the spotlight and just be one of the band. It was a dichotomy that underscored her talent and made her even more special. Christine is right up there with Kate Bush when it comes to my musical pantheon.
Her songs on that album were some of her best. Warm Ways, Over My Head, Say You Love Me and Sugar Daddy all made indelible impressions on me. I thrilled to her organ licks, and her rhythmic piano playing. The incredible harmonies that she spun with her bandmates, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were intoxicating. Rumours followed and Fleetwood Mac became one of the biggest bands in the world, selling more copies of an album than anyone before them. I went back and bought all of Fleetwood Mac’s earlier albums that featured Christine, starting with 1971’s Future Games, and through 1972’s Bare Trees, 1973’s Mystery to Me, and Penguin, and 1974’s Heroes are Hard to Find. Then came the rest of the catalog including 1979’s Tusk, 1980’s Live, 1982’s Mirage, 1987’s Tango in the Night, 1990’s Behind the Mask, 1995’s Time, 1997’s The Dance, as well as three solo albums, 1970’s The Legendary Christine Perfect, 1984’s Christine McVie, 2004’s In the Meantime, and an album with her bandmate Lindsey Buckingham in 2017 simply titled Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie. That was to be her last recorded music.
To honor Christine, I have compiled a ranked list of my favorite songs written by her. It was going to be a Top 40, but I couldn’t cut off there and ended up with my Top 46 Christine McVie songs. It’s not a comprehensive lists; there are many songs that didn’t make the cut, but it’s a great representation. Most are from her time with Fleetwood Mac, but her solo work is represented as well. Somewhat surprisingly, the top two songs were during Fleetwood Mac’s more obscure days, just before Lindsey and Stevie joined, helping to propel them into superstardom. In fact, both of the top two songs came from the Heroes Are Hard to Find album. Her first non-Fleetwood Mac song comes in at #15 from her self-titled solo album. 
