reading Archives

I got a good start on my reading list in January. Also, I added to it, and it’s growing faster than I can read, though I read a lot. Writing, not so much. I know that writing every day is where I need to get, but for now reading is the daily work I’m doing. I’m learning a lot and there’s a lot to admire and model in these books.

Station Eleven: A novel — Emily St. John Mandel – I had high expectations for this novel that has been made into a series. The idea of a traveling “symphony” (really a troupe of theater and music performers) after the viral apocalypse was novel and interesting. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t enough to distinguish this book from others in the genre.

The Last Thing She Ever Did — Gregg Olsen – Engaging while I was reading it, but unfortunately it wasn’t particularly distinctive or memorable.

Welcome to Cooper — Tariq Ashkanani – So noir you can almost smell the smoke, taste the whiskey, and feel the air of Cooper, Nebraska pressing you down, down, down. This first novel by Scot (!) Tariq Askanani grabbed me from the opening page and kept me reading to the end. A couple favorite lines: “She leaned in close and her perfume leaned closer.” “I tasted blood in my mouth and it wasn’t mine.” I only caught one Britishism: “torch” for “flashlight”.

Her Name Is Knight (Nena Knight Book 1) – Yasmin Angie – This novel about a kick-ass assassin with the darkest imaginable backstory unfolds in two parallel threads: past and present, and both are compelling and (too often) disturbing. I can’t wait to see that Nena in Book 2, coming later this year.

Norwegian Wood — Haruki Murakami – I’m not sure entirely why I picked up this book—something about the title and a picture of a Japanese wood gave me a sense of intrigue and, at the same time, peace. Unfortunately, though often told beautifully, I didn’t really care about the characters, their angst, or their sex lives (and there wasn’t much else there). Maybe it was ground-breaking in 1987, but I think maybe this was a literary moment that I just missed, or that missed me (this was, after all, the same era as Less Than Zero, another book filled with self-loathing characters I didn’t care about when I read it back then). To be honest, I did something I very rarely do: I skipped ahead to find that the inevitable conclusion was reached, and half the book was enough (too much, really) for me.

Edgar Nominees – Best Novel

In January, the Edgar nominees were announced. I started reading the five nominees for Best Novel and finished these three before the end of January. I’ll give a more complete report in a later post when I rate the nominees and pick my winner.

The Venice Sketchbook – Rhys Bowen – Beautifully drawn historical drama set in Venice with the backdrop of Nazism and Fascism and the start of the second World War, with a modern protagonist trying to piece things together.

How Lucky – Will Leitch – Quirky, engaging story with an unconventional protagonist.

No One Will Miss Her – Kat Rosenfield – City meets Country in this tale of murder with some interesting twists.

Reading is a writer’s homework, and in 2021 I pulled a massive all-nighter (all-yearer?). I read 51 books (listed below)—far more than I ever have in a year. There’s a lot of mystery/thriller content here, along with what turned out to be some romance-leaning mystery/thrillers, but not everything falls into those categories. There are some series (one notable one that I read end-to-end), and a lot of standalones. I don’t think I made a concerted effort to read more Black authors, but I ended up doing so and these were among the best I read this year.

I’ve provided some notes on the books I found most memorable, but there are many others I’m happy I read. A few I enjoyed reading, but when putting together this list I had to go back and check whether I’d really read them because they just didn’t stand out. Just one book didn’t make this list because I abandoned it early on (which is a pretty good run rate, I think).

Note: I’ve provided goodreads or Amazon links because they are easy and because I read most of these in the Kindle app on my phone, but I do not benefit in any way if you follow these or any other links on mcx.page.

Most Memorable

Open Water — Caleb Azumah Nelson – This is a novel of vulnerability and pain, of need and desire, of love and heartbreak. I will never truly know what it’s like to be young and Black in London, but this book pulled me through a window into that life for just a little while. But that’s just me becoming less naive—it’s Nelson’s mastery of the words, the language, the poetry of Nelson’s prose that I’ll remember and go back to.

The Good Lord Bird: A Novel – James McBride – Told from the perspective of a young black boy who pretends to be a girl to stay alive, this National Book Award-winning historical novel is populated with larger-than-life, crazy characters, and impossible situations—most of which are based on real people and events. All told so believably and with enough intrigue to keep me turning the pages.

Klara and the Sun: A novel – Kazuo Ishiguro – Somehow I’d never read any of Nobel-prize winner Ishiguro’s novels, but this one I found as an audiobook recommendation, so I listened to it while driving, walking the dog, cooking, etc. Sura Siu gave Klara a voice and diction that have stuck with me even six months later. Like the two above this one, highly recommended. As you can see in the next section, I subsequently read Never Let Me Go (which also moved me) and The Buried Giant. I’ll definitely read more Ishiguro in the future, but Klara is a singular character that I will remember and re-read.

Lonesome Dove — Larry McMurtry – Not sure why I picked up this old book. I’d never read it nor seen the mini-series, and I had the impression that it was some kind of romance/soap opera (I suppose from the name). It is not. McMurtry’s characters are alive on the page, and I could taste the dust, feel the heat (and cold), and smell the whiskey. It’s a portrait of a violent time and place, so not for everyone, but the characters ring true.

The Chaos Kind — Barry Eisler – Speaking of violence… I picked this up on a whim and found myself drawn into Eisler’s world where (some of) the assassins are the “good guys” (not all guys), and all the characters have depth, flaws, and endearing traits. I really enjoyed this book and then went back and started from the beginning with Eisler’s John Rain series (which have all been renamed at least once, I think—his website has a definitive chronology).

Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel (Before You Waste Three Years Writing 327 Pages That Go Nowhere) — Lisa Cron – I’m still working my way through this one, but it is already helping me build my characters more realistically and interestingly. Hopefully you’ll have a chance to tell me whether it’s working or not some time soon(ish).

Best American Mystery And Suspense 2021 — Anthology – This series has been rebooted with a new Series Editor (Steph Cha, who chose 50 stories) and Editor (Alafair Burke, who narrowed the field to 20), with an eye toward finding talent in a more diverse areas and subjects. All the stories were great, and yes, a little different. The last (and longest) story (Let Her Be, by Lisa Unger) was particularly engaging. If you prefer a more traditional mystery anthology, Otto Penzler, the previous Series Editor, now edits the Mysterious Bookshop version of the Best Mystery Stories of the Year, which you can find in my “didn’t get to yet” section below.

The Trees: A Novel — Percival Everett – This funny, disturbing, and thought-provoking story of what I can only call a revenge serial killer movement also sheds light on the atrocious, tragic, and inexcusable history of lynchings in America. Did I mention it’s told with humor? And yet… and yet… so many innocent people senselessly (but very intentionally and systematically) killed—with impunity. The kind of book that can make one laugh one moment, cry the next, but never forget.

Leviathan Wakes (The Expanse Book 1) — James S. A. Corey

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse Book 9) – James S. A. Corey

The bookends for my reading year. The first eight books of the series were the first eight I read in 2020, and the ninth (which came out late in the year) was the last. This series is interesting in a speculative, science fiction way, and was meticulously researched so it is scientifically accurate as far as the pre-speculative stuff goes, but that’s not what makes it great. It’s the characters, what they do, and why that makes it so worth reading. These are novels of big questions: of ethics, morals, and politics as much as they are of intrigue, suspense, and mystery (and they are very much books of intrigue, suspense, and mystery). The authors (James S. A. Corey is a pseudonym for two people) created worlds—a universe—that I won’t soon forget.