2017: The Big Bookish Wrap-up of the Year

Whew. 2017.

When I look through my files, I guess I managed to get some stuff done–books written, a poetry collection accepted for publication (!!!), a play finished and performed–but I can’t estimate the number of hours I spent reading the news with my stomach aching and my TMJ in overdrive, writing postcards and emails, leaving phone messages for politicians while clenching my jaw even harder (thanks, phone phobia!). I know it’s a privilege not to live in constant, fearful awareness of politics, but–really selfishly here–I’d like a little of that privilege back. A year or two from now, I’d love to apply the KonMari method to my brain and go through all the names of cabinet members and lawyers and congresspeople who are no longer in those positions, all the “there’s no way they really said that” quotes, and fill up a few dozen garbage bags.

I’ve got a lot of reasons to look forward to 2018 — I’ll have three (!!!!!!!!) books coming out, for starters — but for me, one of the biggest ones has to do with voting. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so enthusiastic about voting in my whole life. And that’s a positive thing, right?

So bring it on, 2018. Ready and waiting.

Writing-wise:

– Books written: 2 (YA project and Story Pirates mystery)

– Books revised: 3 (THE COLLECTORS, YA project, and Story Pirates mystery)

– Short stories written: 2 (and they’re both pretty crappy! Woohoo!)

– Short stories published 1 (“The Scarecrow” in Stinkwaves Magazine)

– Poems written: 8

– Poems published: 1 (“Yanys” reprinted in THE DRIFTLESS READER)

– Poetry collections finished: 1 (CANDLE AND PINS: POEMS ON SUPERSTITIONS will be published by Alban Lake Press this spring)

– Plays revised, rehearsed, and premiered: 1 (SNOW DAY: A Dark (and Cold) Comedy about Climate Change, performed by Red Wing’s Soapbox Players from December 1 – 9, 2017).

Reading-wise:

(Re-reads are marked with an asterisk, and read-alouds are in bold.)

THE INQUISITOR’S TALE – Adam Gidwitz

DAD IS FAT – Jim Gaffigan

LIZARD RADIO – Pat Schmatz

LET ME TELL YOU – Shirley Jackson

SCRATCH: WRITERS, MONEY, AND THE ART OF MAKING A LIVING – Manjula Martin, ed.

FREAKONOMICS – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES – Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

THE POET’S DOG – Patricia McLaughlin

SHOW YOUR WORK! – Austin Kleon

MONSTRESS 1 – Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda

THE SOMEDAY SUITCASE – Corey Ann Haydu

THE NATURAL WORLD OF WINNIE-THE-POOH – Kathryn Aalto

ARE YOU LOATHSOME TONIGHT – Poppy Z. Brite

BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME – Ta-Nehisi Coates

HILLBILLY ELEGY – J.D. Vance

NOVEL DESTINATIONS: A TRAVEL GUIDE – Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon

AMERICANAH – Chimamanda Ngozi Adiechie

WHAT WE DO NOW: STANDING UP FOR YOUR VALUES IN TRUMP’S AMERICA – Dennis Johnson and Valerie Merians

HOUR OF THE BEES – Lindsay Eagar

ONE SUMMER: AMERICA 1927 – Bill Bryson

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden

THE RAVEN BOYS – Maggie Stiefvater

THE NIGHT GARDENER – Jonathan Auxier

THE HATE U GIVE – Angie Thomas

NORSE MYTHOLOGY – Neil Gaiman

*THE LOTTERY AND OTHER STORIES – Shirley Jackson

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE? – Maria Semple

ONCE AGAIN, TO ZELDA: THE STORIES BEHIND LITERATURE’S MOST INTRIGUING DEDICATIONS – Marlene Wagman-Geller

I REMEMBER NOTHING – Nora Ephron

DARK MONEY – Jane Mayer

SAGA, VOL. 1 – Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples

PATHFINDER – Angie Sage

TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN – Lauren Graham

THE MAGICIANS – Lev Grossman

THIS IS AN UPRISING: HOW NONVIOLENT REVOLT IS SHAPING THE 21ST CENTURY – Mark and Paul Engler

BOOKED – Kwame Alexander

BAPTISM OF DESIRE: POEMS – Louise Erdrich

A FIELD GUIDE TO GETTING LOST – Rebecca Solnit

OH CRAP! POTTY TRAINING – Jamie Glowacki

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE – Laini Taylor

ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO’S LIBRARY – Chris Grabenstein

*THE WESTING GAME – Ellen Raskin

MOCKINGBIRD – Kathryn Erskine

COUNTING BY SEVENS – Holly Goldberg Sloan

SHIRLEY JACKSON: A RATHER HAUNTED LIFE – Ruth Franklin

VICIOUS – V.E. Schwab

SKY BLUE WATER: GREAT STORIES FOR YOUNG READERS – Jay D. Peterson and Collette A. Morgan, eds.

SOME KIND OF HAPPINESS – Claire LeGrande

BAD GIRLS GO EVERYWHERE: THE LIFE OF HELEN GURLEY BROWN – Jennifer Scanlon

CHARLIE AND THE GREAT GLASS ELEVATOR – Roald Dahl

AL FRANKEN, GIANT OF THE SENATE – Al Franken

DARING GREATLY – Brene Brown

CIRCUS MIRANDUS – Cassie Beasley

A BOTANIST’S VOCABULARY: 1300 TERMS EXPLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED – Bobbi Angell and Susan K. Pell

*BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA – Katherine Paterson

THE ANNIE YEAR – Stephanie Wilbur Ash

THE DOOR: POEMS – Margaret Atwood

SAGA Vol. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 – Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

THE BIG BAD BOOK OF BOTANY – Michael Largo

PAPER GIRLS 1, 2, and 3 – Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, etc.

THE AMERICAN WAY OF DEATH, REVISITED – Jessica Mitford

STARGIRL – Jerry Spinelli

THE MEMORY BOOK – Lara Avery

THREE DARK CROWNS – Kendare Blake

*A WRINKLE IN TIME – Madeline L’Engle

THE SPELLBOOK OF THE LOST AND FOUND – Moira Fowley-Doyle

THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE PERSON – Elaine Aron

THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE – Stephanie Perkins

A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH: RACE IN MINNESOTA – Sun Yung Skin, ed.

THE JUMBIES – Tracey Baptiste

THEFT BY FINDING, Vol. 1 – David Sedaris

THE SECRET OF DREADWILLOW CARSE – Brian Farrey

ROLLERGIRL – Victoria Jamieson

BLACK PANTHER, Vol. 1: A NATION UNDER OUR FEET – Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze

WE ARE THE ANTS – Shaun David Hutchinson

VOODOO DREAMS – Jewell Parker Rhodes

A FIERCE AND SUBTLE POISON – Samantha Mabry

THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP – Marie Kondo

THE LITTLE BOOK OF HYGGE – Meik Wiking

TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN – John Green

HOW TO HYGGE – Signe Johansen

A WALK IN THE WOODS – Bill Bryson

WISHING DAY – Lauren Myracle

Quite a bit of brutal and necessary nonfiction this year (A GOOD TIME FOR THE TRUTH is excellent, DARK MONEY raised my blood pressure by several points, and BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME left me feeling like I could barely breathe), some amazing comic/graphic novel stuff (Hello, SAGA! Hi, ROLLERGIRL!), and some books that I wanted to shove into the hands of every young reader I meet (like THE HATE U GIVE, THE INQUISITOR’S TALE, and THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE’S HOUSES). My personal favorites were Bill Bryson’s ONE SUMMER: AMERICA 1927, which Ryan and I tore through on trips to and from St. Paul for critique group meetings (Bryson is always charmingly readable, but this one was extra charmingly readable, and with its confluence of amazing historical events, it felt like a way less murderous version of THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY), TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN, which has some of the strongest character creation John Green has pulled off yet, Shirley Jackson’s LET ME TELL YOU, and SHIRLEY JACKSON: A RATHER HAUNTED LIFE, which might be the best literary biography I’ve ever read.

Writing SNOW DAY and seeing it produced here in my hometown was definitely the writing highlight of my year. I’m sad that it’s done, but so happy and dazzled and grateful that it happened in the first place. (Here’s a shot of the entire cast looking up in wonder at the northern lights, the incredible old barn where Soapbox Players performs–See the lighted windows? That’s the stage!–and one of my little guy at the Christmas tree lot. Because cute.)