THE SCENE/read
LilacLit
world of words by Sharma Shields
IT’S NOVEMBER, the month of gratitude, and I’m grateful for the profound, powerful and, yes, unsettling books that I read this year (my taste tends toward the literary, the dark, the brutally honest). Here’s a list of some of my favorites, in alphabetical order by title, along with a sentence describing my why: Book of No Ledge by Nance Van Winckel (Pleiades Press). Spokane writer Nance Van Winckel is a master of mischief and insubordination. In this volume, she toys expertly with prose, poetry and images, creating fun-to-read “photoems” as amusing as they are profound. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (Riverhead), translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell. This was one of my two very favorite reads of the year (tied with Kintu, below), a short, nightmarish, precise novel about uncertainty, connection and ecological destruction. A propulsive, intriguing, spine-tingling book. Idaho by Emily Ruskovich (Random House). Ruskovich grew up in Northern Idaho, and the landscape lives vividly in her prose. This is a haunting novel about memory and regret, all circling around the death and disappearance of two young girls.
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I’m Fine But You Appear to Be Sinking by Leyna Krow (Featherproof Books). Krow, a Spokane writer and a graduate of Eastern’s MFA program, has an imagination like no other, and these funny and meaningful stories will take you to the ocean, to outerspace, to a Palouse covered with snakes, even to the end of the world. Krow is one of my favorite up-and-coming Northwest authors. The Impossible Fairy Tale by Han Yujoo, translated from Korean by Janet Hong (Graywolf Press). The novel begins by comparing two girls, Mia, a “lucky” girl who seems to have it all, and the Child, so unfortunate she isn’t even given a name. This is an eerie, fascinating read that becomes increasingly self-aware as it shuttles toward its unpredictable ending. Isadora by Amelia Gray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). Based on the tragic life of the rebellious and strong-willed dancer, Isadora Duncan, this title is a multi-faceted reflection on artistic talent, individualism and grief. Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Transit Books). This tied for the award for my Very Favorite Read of 2017 (see Fever Dream, above). An epic reminiscent of One Hundred Year’s of Solitude and Midnight’s Children, Makumbi’s novel fleshes out Uganda’s patriarchal history, particularly involving colonization and the horrors it brought to the region’s people. It follows the curse of the Kintu family from the eighteenth century all the way through to present day, and each character and story told is engaging and remarkable. I hope Makumbi will be included in the literary cannon alongside García Márquez and Rushdie. Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith (Graywolf Press). This is a bit of a cheat, since this book came out way back in 2011, but I’m putting it here because Tracy K. Smith became our nation’s 22nd Poet Laureate in June of 2017, such AWESOME news in a year of bad news. Get this poetry collection and keep an eye out for her next collection, Wade in the Water, which will drop from Graywolf Press this coming April.