Well, 2020 was quite a year, one like no other. In terms of my reading, I thought perhaps the the social isolation would be a boon to the number of books I read throughout the year. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I found during the first several months of the pandemic, I didn’t have the required focus to read anything beyond comic books for any sustained length of time. That did change as the year when on, and I did manage to surpass my total books read in 2019, but not by much. I’m not going to make any promises about 2021, but I’m going to try!
In the meantime, I read some great books in 2020, and some not so great as well. Here is my list of the books I read this year that I feel deserve a mention. This year that comes to twelve titles.
#12 – Hammered by Elizabeth Bean
I have dabbled with Elizabeth Bear’s bibliography, reading four or five of her novels from different genres. I finally went all the way back to the beginning to read her first novel, Hammered. A bold debut, Hammered is a mash-up of genres, from gritty, crime novel to cyberpunk exploration of advanced A.I., and some quirky, imaginative additions thrown in throughout. Ostensibly the first in the Jenny Casey series, we are dropped into the middle (or perhaps the sunset years?) of Jenny’s life. About to turn 50, former military, fitted with a prosthetic arm after a traumatic injury, with an insanely complex history, Jenny is gruff, tough, someone to turn to with a problem, but not someone to mess with. She has interesting allies, and very dangerous opponents.
The first allies we meet, in her stomping grounds of Hartford, CT, include the areas most significant crime lord, Razorface, whose teeth have been modified to be three, razor sharp steel plates. Morally ambiguous, but exceedingly loyal and reliable, Razorface comes to Jenny for help with one of his boys who is suffering from an overdose of what appears to be a doctored drug. Unable to turn him away, Jenny is drawn into a web of murder that might involve a woman who looks very much like her.
Soon after we learn that Jenny’s life is in serious danger, after years to the modifications made to her body to control her mechanical arm, or rejecting the technology laced throughout her spinal column and brain, and may only have a very short time to live. A powerful, authority figure from her past emerges, as do a past love and a family figure, that draw her into the promise of a complete overhaul of her cybernetics that will save her life, but in return, conscript her into a mysterious mission involving travel to outer space. Jenny’s complicated life is caught in two different worlds that are somehow, mysteriously connected.
Hammered is fun, with great characters, a convoluted plot that lures you in. The gradual emergence of Jenny’s very complicated past is a little overdone — there’s a lot to keep track of, and it’s hard to know at this point what might be relevant or important to remember — and the very late-introduced romance is a distraction that was frankly, in my opinion, disappointing, but overall it’s an auspicious start to a three part series, and I enjoyed it enough to eventually read the follow-up.
#13 – Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski
Tomasz Jedrowski’s debut coming-of-age novel may be on the brief side when it comes to page count, it certainly tackles some serious themes in a way that has a powerful impact, yet never comes across as heavy-handed. Set in the Poland of the early 1980’s as the decline of communism forces the Party to tighten its stranglehold on the people, University student Ludvik finds himself in the throes of first love. At a summer agricultural camp, he finds himself drawn to Janusz, dark and handsome, who thrills him but also reminds him of the deep shame he hides so deep within himself. The two boys bond over the novel Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, and as they extend the summer after camp is over, spending a couple more weeks alone camping in the forest, they find their bond growing and deepening into something powerful and lasting.
Back in the city, however, real life intrudes, and while Ludwik dreams of leaving Poland to go to the west, namely the States, Janusz allies himself with the wealthy, to use the declining system to better himself, even while other struggle to find food or medicine. It’s a philosophy that threatens to tear the two young men apart. Jedrowski weaves a lovely, simple tale of first love and coming-of-age, with the transformation of a country and a moment in time that affected a culture profoundly. It’s a quick read and one well worthwhile if the subject intrigues you.
I’ve enjoyed many a quirky novel by Kevin Wilson, starting with The Family Fang, and I tore through his latest, Nothing to See Here, hooked by the intriguing premise, and propelled by the fine writing and character development. Lilian and Madison were unlikely friends, coming from extremely opposite sides of the tracks. Madison from an impossibly wealth family and destined for great things, Lilian with a single Mom who doesn’t seem very interested in anything but her next boyfriend and gambling away any money that comes into the house. But Lilian is smart, and she ends up as Madison’s roommate through a scholarship at an elite boarding school. She doesn’t quite last the year though, as she is forced to leave the school unexpectedly in a cloud of scandal that propels Lilian deeper into a funk, and an aimless life. She does stay in touch with Madison though, solely through written correspondence, until a letter arrives from Madison years later begging for help.
#1 – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin – What an intricate, dark and fascinating world N.K. Jemison has created in The Fifth Season. It starts with the beginning of the end of the world, and it spools out in three separate tales that tell one complete and fascinating story. This world is filled with fascinating and varied people. There are stills, who are basically regular humans, who are divided into different classes based on their skillsets. There are Orogenes, feared and depended on, who can still the tremors in Father Earth, freeze the life out of any living thing, or far, far worse. There are the Guardians, whose job is to keep the Orogenes in check, through love, through fear, through cruelty. There are the mysterious and unfathomable stone-eaters, who pass through stone the way we pass through the air.
#6 – The Dutch House by Ann Patchett – Ann Patchett can write a compelling novel on just about any topic. In The Dutch House, she focuses on a family who becomes wealthy, and spends part of their life in a beautiful mansion in Pennsylvania. But things don’t last forever in this world, and the two adult children, Maeve and Danny find themselves unceremoniously banished from their childhood home to make their own way in the world. Danny narrates this tale, but Maeve is the powerful presence, beloved guardian, fierce force of nature. The hold the house has over this family is a strong one, even as past secrets emerge, and future lives are built.
#5 – The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – I have become obsessed with the octopus. I had already decided that I just couldn’t eat them anymore because they’re so smart, someone suggested I read The Soul of an Octopus, by Sy Montgomery. I’m not a big non-fiction reader, but Montgomery’s book and the octopus itself, is so fascinating, so compelling, that I just devoured this.
10. Leading Men by Christopher Castellani – How I wanted to love this book the way I love Mr. Castellani. Critics and casual readers alike fell all over themselves praising this novel that looked back at the life of Tennessee Williams, and particularly, his on again off again lover Frank Merlo. Let me preface all of this by saying I’m not a fan of historical fiction at all, nor am I exceptionally interested in Tennessee Williams. I should also point out that I started reading this book on October 8, 2018, and didn’t finish it until February 24, 2019, which should tell you something. I just couldn’t get into it.
9. The Ethical Slut: A Practical Guide to Polyamory, Open Relationships and Other Freedoms in Sex and Love by Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy – Easton and Hardy’s book, originally written in 1997 and revised most recently in 2017 is been widely accepted as the bible on polyamory and open relationships. It is an easy-to-read, sex-positive book that posits lots of alternatives to the societal norm of monogamy. It addresses sexual relations for all types or relationships, both gay and straight. Polyamory is much more accepted in today’s culture, especially with millennials, and it makes a lot of sense. But it’s hard.