A Year of Reading

I am still reading furiously to achieve my log of one hundred books this year. I just hit ninety and feel confident I will make it by December 31st. I was charmed by the lovely holiday card from the extraordinary Stephen Raher, who I knew when we were both kids and now he has gone on to things even more extraordinary than I would have imagined. Stephen included in his holiday card the books he has been reading. A smart, politically engaged, and righteous list. I do not think I can comparing with his, but here are the books that I found most compelling from my reading this year.

I completed reading through the entire oeuvre of Helen Humphreys. She is a writer I recommend to everyone; smart, lyrical, deeply in touch with humanity. My favorite two books of hers were Wild Dogs, an extraordinary novel (though not one for people who cannot abide animal cruelty in books), and Nocturne, a memoir about Humphreys’s brother’s death. If you are going to start with her books, start there, unless you are a huge fan of historical fiction, then start with The Reinvention of Love and read all of the other books.

I read lots of poetry collections this year. My favorite new collection was Marilyn Hacker’s A Stranger’s Mirror, but I enjoyed collections by Mary Oliver, Jacqueline Osherow, and Carrie Fountain.

My favorite memoir was Elizabeth Alexander’s The Light of the World. It is a gorgeous, incantatory memoir of the sudden death of her husband. Equally compelling, though not new, was Betsy Warland’s Bloodroot: Tracing the Untelling of Motherloss. I also read and loved Catherine Reid’s book, Falling into Place: An Intimate Geography of Home.

I reread a few old favorites this year, including Stone Butch Blues and The Delicacy and Strength of Lace. Both books I treasure. If you have not read them, do.

These are some of the highlights. I am excited about reading more in 2016. As an avid reader, I am always looking for the next book that is going to change my life.

Filed under: lesbian, personal writing, Uncategorized Tagged: hacker, oliver, poetry, reading