As with all my annual lists, the books themselves could have been published in any year, but they must be new to me. I didn’t read as many as I had hoped this year, but I am happy I was able to broaden my reading world with a lot of new authors I hadn’t explored before. If you hadn’t read any of these yet, I highly recommend them!
10. Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth
After seeing the Spike Lee film, I had to get this one. What I love about this book is how Stallworth’s personality shines through on every page with anecdotes, personal thoughts, and as much wry “can you believe this shit?” humor as drama. It adds so much to the story of weeding out white domestic terrorist groups by a black police detective, and it puts the focus on the man as much as the extraordinary events. If you liked the film, definitely check this one out.
9. You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann
A quick, intense read about a family staying in a remote yet luxurious cabin that begins to alter and shift the perceptions of the narrator, affecting his relationships, his grip on reality, and his ability to physically navigate the world around him in any logical manner. It moves fast and goes back and forth between the man’s story and a story the man is also writing, adding more layers and psychological confusion. A very cool book full of suspense right out of the gate.
8. Suicide Woods by Benjamin Percy
Much like Joe Hill’s collection later in this list, this book of eerie, dark tales really stayed with me. I especially enjoyed the stories that deal with isolated individuals who are forced to deal with shocking and supernatural situations, from the opening tale of a young boy who drowns under his uncle’s supervision only to return as something very different, the ending tale of geographic explorers lost in the remote Alaskan woods who are picked off one by one by a strange cult, and even the tale about how a pandemic reshapes and breaks down the societal structure of a small town. Very gripping and creepy stuff.
7. Murder in the Adirondacks: An American Tragedy Revisited by Craig Brandon
This was much better than I expected. I thought it was going to be one of those locally published books by someone who only did half their homework and cranked out a vaguely legible tale (like many of those “Haunted in [insert location]” type books you see in gift shops). This is not that book. Rich in historic detail, this text explores one of the most famous murders in New York history and gives an in-depth picture of life in rural and small-town America in the first twenty years of the 20th century. Highly recommended for fans of true crime and local history focusing on central New York and the Adirondacks.
6. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
I’ve always enjoyed reading and learning from Baldwin’s essays, and these are some of his best. The personal and emotional letter to his nephew and the longer exploration of his experiences as a black man in a world that is changing but not changing enough were moving, especially the scene in which Baldwin and others were denied a drink in a Chicago airport bar, and after the situation was begrudgingly resolved by a manager, Baldwin’s disdain for the liberal white man who came up to say how sorry he felt for him and how unfair that situation was really hit home. If you have a chance to say something, you must. Because if you don’t, you’re just as much for blame for racial injustice. Being a silent supporter helps no one. Excellent essays.
5. The Flame by Leonard Cohen
A gorgeous collection of poetry, notes, and artwork. I hadn’t read Cohen’s poetry before but it’s beautiful, lyrical, tragic, and playful. You can see how the two worlds of poetry and songwriting blend into his very unique style and voice, and it was a pleasure to slowly work through over the course of the year.
4. The Hunger by Alma Katsu
A fictionalized horror novel about the Donner Party’s infamous trek into the mountains? Sign me up! This one was a bit less gruesome than I expected by the end given how Katsu slowly and methodically ratchets up the tension, the scenes of horror, the flashes of gore, and fear permeating the isolated pioneers as they travel deeper and deeper into the unknown ahead of them. But it works. It balances gore with drama, realism with the supernatural, and it forces the characters into situations where they don’t know who to trust or why this insatiable hunger for violence and flesh consumes them one by one. This one kept me up at night.
3. Fatherland by Robert Harris
This one is a slow burn, but after the first third it really starts heating up and shifts from your typical detective murder mystery to pure espionage and noir. The book is an alternate history novel that takes place in the early 1960s, decades after the Nazis successfully won WWII after America refused to enter the war. Now the country is preparing for Hitler’s 75th birthday celebration, but a Berlin police detective (the handy trope of the “Good German” who doesn’t like the Nazi regime) is drawn into a murder mystery that could disrupt the entire political structure and alter Germany’s future, as well as its history. If you stick with the slow start, you’ll be rewarded with a full-speed race to the finish.
2. Full Throttle by Joe Hill
This collection blew me away. Almost every story brought something cool and unique to the table (although I did skip one or two in the middle), and I especially liked “Faun,” about big game hunters who are invited to a secret and otherworldly game farm where they get far more than they bargained for; “Late Returns,” about a mobile library driver who may or may not be lending books to folks who are no longer among us; “In the Tall Grass,” about a brother and sister who hear a call for help in a field of grass only to become trapped themselves; and the opening “Throttle,” about a group of bikers who are hunted down by a vengeful truck driver in a big rig. Fun, imaginative, and easily as good as anything his father has ever put out. Maybe even better in some cases, although he did work with Stephen King on a couple in this one, which must have been great for both of them.
1. Cruising Paradise by Sam Shepard
Shepard is one of my favorite short fiction writers and is easily one of the best of all time. Shepard’s stuff is the grit and grime of the real world, the cowboys and actors and drivers and nobodies who populate the peripherals of our lives. The stories are concise yet beautifully depicted even at their most austere. They’re masculine yet delicate at just the right moments. Most of all, they’re authentic. No other author has affected my own writing as much this year than Shephard, and that’s why this one gets the top spot over a few others that were more “entertaining” overall. When a writer inspires you to write, you found gold.