MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2015BEST FINALE (ALONG WITH MAD MEN, OF COURSE)The Story of the Lost Child by E

MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2015BEST FINALE (ALONG WITH MAD MEN, OF COURSE)The Story of the Lost Child by Elena FerranteFerrante Fever is real. The fourth and final book of the Neapolitan Novels may not be the best (Book Two 4 EVA), but it closed out what was one of the most profound and satisfying reading experiences I’ve had in recent years. Ferrante’s Italy is where the personal is political, the male gaze is visceral, and the past clings to the present with potent force. Bonus points because the flimsiness of the central romantic relationship of the series can be consummately mapped onto Angela, Jordan, and Rayanne from My So-Called Life. BEST DIALOGUEThe Sellout by Paul BeattyIt turns out that the most important political novel of the year is also the most hilarious. What Beatty’s satire about “post-racial” America lacks in cohesive plot it makes up for with a voice that is so unabashedly profane, so unflinchingly silly and smart that it’s impossible to look away. And I could not believe how many perfect jokes are embedded within so many individual sentences. BEST LITERARY FEATA Little Life by Hanya YanagiharaTrigger warning: literally every other page of this hefty novel about the bleak lives of four college friends requires a trigger warning. But Hanya Yanagihara’s greatest feat is that she makes A Little Life’s unrelentingly devastating subject matter so compulsively readable. I can’t remember ever being so addicted to despair, and I listen to a lot of Fiona Apple. Prepare to put the rest of your life on hold while this book destroys your weekend. Side note: If you loved A Little Life but want a more realistic yet similarly artful, captivating take on what it’s like to love an existentially unhappy person, might I suggest All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews? The 2014 novel contains all of the anger and frustration and real talk that  around the discussion of suicide that the weird alt universe of A Little Life sometimes lacked. And yes, it’s even funny, at times.MOST EPICFates and Furies by Lauren GroffIt’s so much more than the story of a marriage! Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking that Fates & Furies is a domestic drama, a Gone Girl without the psychosis. Lauren Groff’s novel is epic in scale and subject matter, and it’s got some of the best, most perfect sentences I read this year. BEST NEO-NOIREileen by Ottessa MoshfeghSuspenseful as shit, Eileen is the story of a prim little nobody in a small town in 1960s New England whose interior life is full of anger and lust and just the right amount of perversion. How Eileen went from meek mouse to a tougher (and perhaps wiser–unclear) city lady is one of the most satisfying mysteries of 2015.BEST SUBURBAN ANGSTThe Invaders by Karolina WaclawiakContemporary American literature is rife with novels about the lives of the aging, booze-swilling denizens of fancy suburban towns where country club politics rule. Karolina Waclawiak gives new life to the genre by adding little shocking bursts of violence that jar the reader out of typical angsty novel expectations. The Guardian’s review of The Invaders called the setting “Lynchian” (which we all know is the greatest compliment in all of suburbia) and I’d have to agree. MOST UNDERRATEDThe Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela VidaVendela Vida’s slim and fast-paced novel is as unsettling as that nagging feeling when you leave your home and realize you’ve left something important behind–your wallet, your phone, your keys. You’d think this would be a recipe for a panic attack, but the humor found in these pages keeps the unease from getting too out of hand. BEST RIDDLEA Cure for Suicide by Jesse BallIn trying to sum up Jesse Ball’s work for a friend last year, I said, “He’s kind of what would happen if M. Night Shyamalan was actually good.” I don’t mean to solely invoke a mostly mediocre screenwriter to describe an author whose work also brings to mind Kafka and Orwell, but Ball’s high concept experimental writing feature the kinds of philosophical riddles that Shyamalan seems to want to solve, complete with revelatory endings that might make you cry.BEST VIGNETTESThe Odd Woman and the City by Vivian GornickVivian Gornick moves to the top of the list of writers (Patti Smith, Teju Cole) with whom I’d wanna walk around NYC. The cultural critic captures the cadences of the streets so well, as well as the many characters she’s encountered on her journeys.BEST HEROINESaint Mazie by Jami AttenbergI love unlikeable characters–that’s how I usually distinguish myself from most Goodreads reviewers! But every now and then a protagonist comes along who is smart and complicated and witty, but also so earnestly, unabashedly good that she might make you wanna be a better person. The title heroine of Jami Attenberg’s luminous novel set around the Lower East Side of the Depression era is a tough dame with a proverbial heart of gold, a perfect antidote to the snark I so regularly ingest.BEST JUXTAPOSITION The Argonauts by Maggie NelsonMany attempt but few can pull off what Maggie Nelson does so beautifully, combining the academic and the personal to examine and elucidate both. The story of Maggie’s pregnancy combined with her partner’s gender transition provide plenty of opportunity for comparison and contrast and metaphor, and her intimate observations are footnoted seamlessly with great works of theory and criticism.BEST SUBTEXTKilling and Dying by Adrian TomineI read so many pages about death and loss this year that it came as a relief to consider the subjects in a different way. Adrian Tomine was my gateway into the world of graphic novels many years ago (as I’m sure he was for many readers), and he continues to innovate in the ways that he combines images and colors and words to tell stories that have new layers of sentiment and subtext.Other Books I Loved in 2015Get in Trouble by Kelly LinkOutline by Rachel CuskAfter Birth by Elisa AlbertThe Story of My Teeth by Valerie LuisellaThe Small Backs of Children by Lidia YuknavitchThe Mark and the Void by Paul MurrayThe Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon & Shana KnizhnikDelicious Foods by James HannahamAmong the Ten Thousand Things by Julia PierpontThe Folded Clock by Heidi JulavitsThe Sunlit Night by Rebecca DinersteinThe Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen PhillipsAnd please remember that You Blew It is a brilliant masterpiece that makes a great gift for anyone who’s ever exited a public bathroom with toilet paper stuck to their shoe (literally or figuratively). -- source link
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