My top five books this year are an interesting mix. With one being published over 40 years ago, one being published 9 years ago, one being published five years ago, and two being brand new. There’s an unexpected memoir showing up, a gorgeous piece of literary fiction, and not so surprisingly three books from the science fiction/fantasy genre.
#5 Kindred by Octavia Butler (1979) – I finally went back and read Octavia Butler’s first novel< Kindred and found a writer who was already fully formed, to create such an original and seminal work the first time out of the gate. Published in 1979 by a black woman; the first science fiction novel published by a black woman, and one that tackles the challenging and disturbing topic of slavery, and more, the complex, fraught relationship between master and slave, this novel is a revelation.
Dana is 26, living in modern day when she is suddenly, inexplicably wrenched through time to the Antebellum South — drawn there to save Rufus’ as he nearly drowns. Moments later, when faced by the barrel of Lucas’ father’s gun, she vanishes, returning to her home and her perplexed husband who watched her vanish and reappear. So begins this time-hopping, piece of historical fiction that examines a topic most people have trouble exploring in 2021, much less 1979. Butler doesn’t flinch or look away, but forces the reader to confront the barbaric practice that is a part of our history, but more, she digs into the varied inner psyches of those involved, both white and black. It’s singular, it’s passionate, and it’s intense. Truly a must for ever reading-list.
#4 Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star by Tracey Thorn (2013) – I’ve always enjoyed the 80’s pop group Everything but the Girl. My interest in them ebbed and flowed depending on their output, but in many ways I think it followed their trajectory with the public — which makes sense the way lead singer, Tracey Thorn explains it in her first memoir, Bedsit Disco Queen. They started fairly strong, and quickly found a steadily climbing trajectory, before dipping sharply into mediocrity after a handful of albums. Their career could have gone a few ways, most easily dissolution, or inexplicably, a sudden sharp spike in quality and popularity, then, rather surprisingly, semi-retirement. It was during this semi-retirement in the 2000’s that Tracey Thorn turned her songwriting voice into a prose writing voice, to great success.
Thorn is an accomplished writer and a compelling story-teller. She spends a lot of time on the origins of her pop stardom, notably as a teen punk follower who formed a quiet little subversive all-girl band, Marine Girls. When she met her musical and domestic partner, Ben Watt, the two formed Everything But the Girl where she merged her punk attitudes with his more sophisticated musical interests into music that sounded pretty pop with jazz influences, but featured lyrics that were from a decidedly intelligent, post-punk mindset. Thorn’s arc as a musician/pop singer also followed her band’s trajectory, and she insightfully considers that their mid-career dip in popularity aligned with the quality of the music they were creating, or at least the interest she had vested in the music they were creating. After a life-threatening illness that took Ben out of commission for nearly a year, the two found a rebirth of sorts, and they produced their career high album, Amplified Heart, which produced the massive international single, Missing. I had forgotten as well, how Thorn’s collaboration with the trip-hop band, Massive Attack and the song Protection, impacted Thorn and EbtG;s career.
Most of all, I was impressed by the way Thorn is able to weave story that reels the reader in, and keeps you engaged throughout. Besides the fact of her sublimely listenable voice when she performs, her voice when she writes is similarly enchanting. With that wry sense of humor and healthy amount of self-deprecation that comes with her punk background, Thorn has created one of the best rock & roll memoirs I’ve experienced.
#7 The Guncle by Steven Rowley (2021) – 76ers I find grief to be one of the richest subjects for storytelling, whether that be books, movies, TV, music, etc. Everyone reacts to grief in different, sometimes unexpected ways, and it’s usually a lengthy process to deal with. Steven Rowley knows grief, and handles it well creatively. His first novel, Lily and the Octopus was all about grief… the grief of losing a friend, a beloved pet dog, and how her owner dealt with an impending terminal illness. It was beautiful and fantastic and kicked off his career strongly.
#6 – Honor by Thrity Umrigar (2002) – Accomplished writer, Thrity Umrigar returns with a heart-wrenching, dramatic novel, Honor. Smita, A journalist covering hard-hitting, international, humanitarian stories returns to her home city of Mumbai after years of avoidance, when she she receives a call from a close colleague who needs her. To her surprise, her colleague doesn’t need her for emotional support or assistance after a difficult surgery, but summoned her to finish a story she was covering about Meena, a Hindu village woman, who married a Muslim man to tragic consequences. Meena’s brothers, old-fashioned and conservative are outraged that their sister has married a Muslim, and burn their home down with the two of them inside. Meena is horribly disfigured, nearly dying, and her husband is killed.
#9 Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album by Ken Caillat and Steven Steifeld (2012) – As we move into the Top 10, we’ve got a pair of musical books making the list. At #9, I continue my journey reading about the excessive hijinks of one of my favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac. Last year, my 
#10 The Healing Power of Singing: Raise Your Voice, Change Your Life by Emm Gryner (2021) – I’m not one for self-help books, nor did I think to myself, I need to read a book to help me with my singing voice, but I am an admirer of Emm Gryner the musician, so I thought it might be interesting to read her first book. It was more than interesting, it was entertaining, and illuminating, and has even gotten me singing again. Mainly around the house, but I’m ready for my next performance at the Chlotrudis Awards — an event that finds me singing with some other movie geeks every few years.
#11 – Memorial by Bryan Washington (2020) – Washington’s first full-length novel, was an interesting read. There were times throughout the book where I grew impatient and wasn’t sure I was enjoying it, but by the third and last section, it all came together for me, and I felt it was ultimately a successful and moving story. Benson is a black man, raised in a middle class, fractured family, who is involved in a relationship with Mike, a Japanese man whose parents are also divorced and carrying a lot of baggage. When Mike learns that his father is struggling in the last phases of terminal cancer, he invites his mother to come visit them in Houston, and the day she arrives, he leaves to return to Osaka to see his father from whom he has been estranged from for years. While Ben and Mitsuko begin an awkward dance getting to know one another under less than ideal circumstances in Houston, Mike is dealing with a similarly awkward reunion with his father. All of this while Ben and Mike’s relationship appears to be unraveling.
#10 – Sex with Strangers by Michael Lowenthal (2021) – To be honest, a short story collection with the title, Sex with Strangers, made me a little wary. I wasn’t really in the mood for a series of stories focusing on tawdry hook-ups, whether they might be sexy, or funny, or dark. Thankfully, and I should have known better, Michael Lowenthal uses sex… or perhaps more accurately, desire, as the starting point, or perhaps, the driving force behind the motivations or actions of the characters in this handful of stories, some written specifically for this collection, others collected from his career. In fact, there’s actually very little explicit sex in the book at all.
#13 – If I Knew Then: Finding Wisdom in Aging and Power in Failure by Jann Arden (2020) – Jann Arden is a Canadian pop star, and an accomplished writer, who has written a memoir, and collections of essays. She talks about aging, and how she is embracing her Crone as she enters that phase of her life. She talks about the difficult relationship she had with her father, who was an alcoholic. She discusses her own battles with alcohol and self-esteem. She talk about lots of difficult experience she had when she was younger, and how they have all contributed to the person she is today, her success, but more importantly, her failures. While Jann’s trademark humor is not as up front as in some of her other work, her conversational language makes it’s seem like you’re just having a chat with her. The book is filled with platitudes, but Jann makes them meaningful, and you can’t help but believe in her.
#12 – The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson (2019) – I know G. Willow Wilson from her work with comics; her creator-owned Invisible Kingdom, her Vertigo series, Air, and her Marvel superhero landmark series, Ms. Marvel. Recently learning of her prose work, I picked up her latest novel. This delightful fantasy tome takes place in the area that was to become Spain under the conquering Spanish monarchy. Fatima is a concubine in the royal court of the sultan of Granada. While she lives comfortably and has certain benefits form her station, she is essentially the sultan’s property. Her one true friend is Hassan, the palace mapmaker, who has two secrets that become a huge danger to his life when when an envoy for the Spanish monarchy comes to negotiate the terms of the sultan’s surrender to their new power. It turns out that this envoy, Luz, is part of the Spanish Inquisition, and Hassan’s penchant for lying with men, and more importantly, his unexplainable ability to draw maps that become reality target him for conversion or death.