Tuesday, January 1, 2013

2012: best reads

I fell in love a few times this reading year:  with Nikky Finney, with Sharon Olds' most recent book.  I discovered Jody Gladding, whose work electrified me, and am so glad Eduardo's book came out.  I reviewed Quan Barry's most recent, which finally gave me a reason to read her previous, read two delicious books by Jim Moore, and revisited Carolyn Forche through the Loft Mentor Series.   I read a lot of awful books, both prose and poetry, but I choose not to remember them here, or anywhere, if I can help it.  Instead, I'll extra-recommend The Grand Permission, In the Lake of the Woods, and Two Kinds of Decay, all very different, all lingering a great deal with me.  And Of Woman Born is a must-read for feminists, for breeders, for poets, for thinkers.

1]  Of Woman Born:  Motherhood as Experience and Institution by Adrienne Rich

2]  Invisible Strings: Poems by Jim Moore
     Lightning at Dinner: Poems by Jim Moore

3]  Rooms and Their Airs: Poems by Jody Gladding

4]  The Grand Permission:  New Writings on Poetics and Motherhood

5]  Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

6]  I Remember Nothing: And Other Reflections by Nora Ephron

7]  Slow Lightning:  Poems by Eduardo C. Corral

8]  Lit by Mary Karr

9]  Asylum by Quan Barry
     Controvertibles by Quan Barry

10]  Body of Work by Christine Montross

11]  Roofwalker by Susan Power

12]  The Children by Paula Bohince

13]  The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obrect

14]  The Angel of History by Carolyn Forche

15]  I Wish I Had a Heart Likes Yours, Walt Whitman by Jude Nutter

16]  In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien

17]  The Seasons on Henry's Farm by Terra Brockman

18]  The Two Kinds of Decay by Sarah Manguso

19]  The Particular Sadness of the Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

20]  Homeland: Stories by Barbara Kingsolver

21]  Head Off & Split by Nikky Finney

22]  Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds

23]  The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow

24]  Wild by Cheryl Strayed

If anyone, aside from myself and a few wandering friends reads this space, I am wondering:  what lovely books did you get to experience in 2012?  I have so many to look forward to in 2013, but that's for another day.

3 comments:

Angie said...

I completed a whopping 9 books in 2012. How did I ever sink that low? Criminy...

My highest rated were A Game of Thrones #1 and Reamde, but that's not saying a lot based on the pool of contestants, sadly.

Molly said...

I think Ryan really liked Reamde--at least, I know he's re-read it at least once at this point. Do you think he might like the Game of Thrones? I'm always looking for something new to get him to try. (Otherwise, it'd just be all nerd books all the time.)

Yes, nine is very low for you, Angie, but I have a feeling a certain derby kept you distracted, and you have a new year to keep count! I'm trying to keep my expectations post-tadpole on the lower side. I get most of my work done around now, when Ryan and Maya are asleep, and I have a sneaky feeling this one isn't going to be cooperative to our routine. I'll have to find a new one.

Denise | Chez Danisse said...

A few look familiar, but many do not. Thank you. It seems I'll be making additions to my to-read list.