Year in Reading 2015

End of year lists. A bit played out and commenting on them being played out is too. But I think it's important to look back on what this year meant for me, literaturely. Along with starting to volunteer at Open Books as well as working on an event with Asymptote (stay tuned!), I've been writing more, sometimes for money, sometimes creatively, sometimes not at all (more often than I should). But the bones of a novel came out of it. If you're reading this blog and are interested in reading a surrealist tale about language, identity, memory, and perception, with indulgent experiments in form and more namedrops to philosophers, writers, musicians, and other pop culture references than I probably should have made, I will absolutely let you read it while I figure out where to go with it next.

But enough about what I wrote, here is what I read:

Non Fiction
I read more non-fiction this year than probably ever. From the first book of the year about Nazis seeking asylum in Argentina and Albert Camus's collection of political essays, to Carrie Brownstein's memoir and collections put out by Belt Magazine and n+1, I read a lot about the world around me. But the two that stood out were Leslie Jamison's beautiful Empathy Exams and (predictibly) Between the World and Me. The world couldn't get enough of this book and I am no different. It truly is required reading for anyone in America, no matter your race or where you live. It is a singular experience that speaks to a vast majority of people in this country, no matter the color of one's skin.

Additionally, it was sort of weird how it turned out that out of nine books I read released this year, only three were novels (I snuck in Kundera on December 31st, although that's technically a novella). Two others were short story collections, two were memoir, and two were essay collections. Even going back to 2014, of which I read six books, two were fiction and four were essay collections. None of this was conscious on my part, though it's probably for the better I take myself out of these fictional worlds every now and again. 

The Year in Bookstores
I traveled quite a bit this year. NYC, DC, Memphis, Austin, San Francisco, Boston. San Fran. I spent about one hour in St. Louis on the way to Memphis. The reason we took this detour? For a book store. An employee at Left Bank Books wrote a blog post, about the response to postering their windows with Black Lives Matters placards, that compelled me to support their bookstore. Instead of purchasing something online, I decided it was worth the hour+ out of our way to go to the store, talk to the employees, and tell them to keep fighting the good fight. Fittingly, that's where I purchased Coates's book.

San Francisco, well that was more for fun. My good friend Craig took me around to about four or five different bookstores that left me about a hundred bucks lighter and twenty pounds heavier for the return trip. City Lights was the obvious choice (and I predictably bought the first publication they ever put out), but I also found a random gem in Albertine Sarrazine's L'Astragal, which coincidentally, I saw the film adaptation of back in Chicago a few weeks after. I didn't have time for bookstores during my short trips to Austin or Boston, but I did read Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs on the way to and from Logan International; the book takes place primarily in Cambridge and Sommerville where my girlfriend and I were staying: another coincidence for the books.

Last but not least, as previously mentioned, I've started volunteering at the Open Books store and literacy center in the West Loop. While my general responsibilities include banal tasks like shelving and reorganizing the children's section, I have plenty of time to browse and discover new literature that may have passed under my radar. I've stocked up on plenty of books that never would have caught my eye had I not spent so much time there. Obviously giving back and volunteering time is rewarding in itself, but I have to admit a small part of me is doing this for myself too.

The Weirder, the Better
This was the year I finally introduced myself to some seminal writers. Well, I feel weird describing Kathy Acker as seminal. She probably wouldn't have liked that. Portnoy's Complaint however would certainly take the moniker; that was the first book I've read by Philip Roth. I'm currently working my way through the brilliant work of collected fictions by Borges. Why did I wait so long to read him? Douglas Adams, Arthur Koestler, these too did neither disappoint. On the other hand, Ishiguro, Ehrdich, and Pamuk, fell a bit short of the mark for me.

Translated Works
Yet another thing I failed at. I read ten translated works, only two were non-European writers (Daoud: Algeria, Andujar: Santo Domingo). I seemed to forget that entire continents existed. Which for someone that volunteers with Asymptote is probably not a good thing. Not to mention, only one translated work by a woman. Time to turn my attention back to the East and the South in 2016. 

Year In Reading: 2016

Here's what I predict I will be reading a lot of, based on books I already own.

• Women: I'm going to be reading lots of women this year. It's always my goal to try to keep my male-to-female ratio of writers even (OK, yes, that binary is problematic, but point is: I'm not trying to just read a bunch of white dudes). But as you'll see below, I sorta failed at that. Again. But. I am more than prepared for next year. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Edwidge Danticat, Maaza Mengiste, Gertrude Stein, and Erika T. Wurth just to name a few. 
• Chicago: Nelson Algren, Art Shay, Mackinley Kanton, and Bill Hillman all currently have spots on my to-read shelf. Likewise, I'm always keeping an eye out on new works from local writers.
• Classics: Which is to say, classic European dudes. I know. So it goes. Gogol, Chekov, Kundera, Camus. I see myself revisiting some Kafka too while I'm at it.
• More non-fiction: Primarily, cultural studies. Sontag, Adorno, and Zizek. I'm getting ready to confuse the fuck out of myself.

As always, I'll discover new works by old favorites, and new works by underheard voices. Looking forward to an excellent year of reading and writing.

Here's the final tally for 2015.

1. Uki Goni - The Real Odessa (2002)
   
2. Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go (2005)
   
3. James Tadd Adcox - Does Not Love (2014)
   
4. Jami Attenberg - The Melting Season (2011)
   
5. John Darnielle - Wolf in White Van (2014)
   
6. Leslie Jamison - The Empathy Exams (2014)
   
7. Aleksandar Hemon - Nowhere Man (2002)
   
8. Eugene Ionesco - Rhinoceros and Other Plays (1994 edition / originally written in 1959)
   
9. Louise Erdich - The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse (2001)
   
10. Orhan Pamuk - My Name is Red (1998, trans. 2001)
    
11. Ron Currie Jr - God is Dead (2007)
    
12. Albert Camus - The Rebel (1951, trans. 1954)
    
13. Djuna Barnes - Nightwood (1936)
    
14. Wallace Shawn - The Fever (1990)
    
15. Italo Calvino - Marcovaldo (1963, trans. 1983)
    
16. Jack Kerouac - The Dharma Bums (1958)
    
17. Jessica Hopper - The First Collection of Criticism By A Living Female Rock Critic (2015)
    
18. Aleksandar Hemon - The Making of Zombie Wars (2015)
    
19. Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979)
    
20. Ron Currie, Jr. - Everything Matters! (2009)
    
21. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five (1969) (reread) (just as good as it was in high school)
    
22. Wallace Shawn - The Designated Mourner (1996) (reread)
    
23. Kathy Acker - Hannibal Lecter, My Father (1991)
    
24. Kamel Daoud - The Merseault Investigation (2013, trans. 2015)
    
25. Cyn Vargas - On the Way (2015)
    
26. Rey Andujar - Saturnalia (2011, trans. 2013)
    
27. Rachel Kushner - Telex From Cuba (2008)
    
28. Ta-Nehisi Coates - Between the World and Me (2015)
    
29. Ploughshares Summer 2015
    
30. Dispatches from the Rust Belt (2014)
    
31. Martin Amis - The Information (1995)
    
32. Jennifer Egan - Emerald City (1993)
    
33. Jesse Ball - The Way Through Doors (2009)
    
34. Albertine Sarrazin - L'astragal (1965, trans. 1967)
    
35. Chad Harbach (ed.) - MFA vs. NYC (2014)
    
36. David Sedaris - Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls (2013)
    
37. WG Sebald - Austerlitz (2001, trans. 2001)
    
38. Claire Messud - The Woman Upstairs (2013)
    
39. Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon (1940, trans. 1940)
    
40. Carrie Brownstein - Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl (2015)
    
41. Sarah Ruhl - 100 Essays I Didn't Have Time to Write (2015)
    
42. Philip Roth - Portnoy's Complaint (1969)
    
43. Megan Stielstra - Once I Was Cool (2014)
    
44. Jhumpa Lahiri - Interpreter of Maladies (1999)
45. Milan Kundera - The Festival of Insignificance (2014, trans. 2015)