Chess Story Stefan Zweig - short novella, gripping despite the somewhat unlikely premise, decent fall at the end, characters were a little overdrawn, writing style was simple and effective, very effective use of narrator as tool
Howl’s Moving Castle Diana Wynn Jones - because I rewatched the Miyazaki film; much more heternormative and less about freedom, wonder, and finding oneself than the movie

Midnight’s Children Salman Rushdie - not a hot take, but loved Midnight’s Children. the language, the shape of the narrative, the scope of the characters, the humor, the integration of a horrendous and enormous historical event into something chaotic and violent but not overreaching. I think about it a lot.

︎Rakesfall Vajra Chandrasekera - listened on audiobook, bought the paperback immediately. inventive novel  interweaving myth, technology, relationship, and what it means to be a being across vast scales of time, space, and consciousness. not at all similar but still reminded me of This Is How You Lose the Time War

Lost to time 

The Saint of Bright Doors Vajra Chandrasekera - an interesting premise, and a good character, but didn’t quite land for me, very much a debut novel, bought because his second (Rakesfall, see above) was transcendent

Teaching a Stone to Talk Annie Dillard - I’ve returned to this essay collection many times. I read and taught from “An Expedition to the Pole” on the icefield.

A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine - second time reading this book, a tremendously fun space opera based on Byzantine politics where a poem can topple a dynasty
Burntcoat Sarah Hall - did nothing for me
The Last Samurai Helen DeWitt - I fucking love this book. Uh, I dunno what can be said that hasn’t. DeWitt takes on language, motherhood, genius, agency in this story about a (genius?) mother and her (genius?) son, using an improbable premise that not just works, but is the only way this story could be told. Somehow the complexity doesn’t slow down the reading. Wanted to start again as soon as I finished. Love all of DeWitt’s pettiness and vendettas. 

Calculation of Volume I & II Solvej Balle - read the first two in this series about a woman who gets stuck in a day while going to the hospital with my dad and playing Zelda, both of which somehow exactly mirrored the Groundhog day experience of the narrator. No idea how she’s going to land these, but really enjoyed reading these, like drinking an excellent cup of coffee, they set out to do something and did it very well

Calculation of Volume III Solvej Balle - I don’t know how I feel about the introduction of new characters, but also something needed to happen (I think?) to add more than just interior tension to the story. Not as good as the first two, but still very enjoyable to read.

︎Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago Octavia Butler - I listened to Butler’s Lillith Brood out of order on accident (Imago, Dawn, Adulthood), so the stories are one now. As with other Butler I’ve read, these are bursting with ideas about how to be, what could be, what it means to live a meaningful life with limited choices, etc, but I also find the writing/plotting to be a little stilted, so actually audio was a great way to take these in. 

Ways of Seeing John Berger - had read the book in piecemeal but never all at once; also watched the 4-part BBC series from the 70s; a reference I return to often.

House of Days House of Nights Olga Tokarczuk - similar to reading Kavalier and Clay, I constantly was looking things up to see if they were real or not. really savored my time with this one, my first Tokarczuk
︎Sea People Christina Thompson - an interesting history of Polynesia, navigation, mapmaking, and colonisation, with facts and incidents and people I still think about. But it went on a bit and the tone alternated between between extremely personal and conversational and quite dry, and could have been edited down. Perhaps this would have been better as a book where I could skim more
︎The Mysterious Affair at Styles Agatha Christie - great romp to listen to while recaulking the bathroom but yeah Christie’s antisemistism and racism does come through on this one

TOAF Renee Gladman - love how Gladman thinks, big fan, though her prose doesn’t always work for me, but took a lot from this autobiographical-ish novella about letting go of a story that doesn’t work

Washington Square Henry James - read some Henry James after listening to Renee Gladman talk about how much inspiration she gets from him. I looked out for his sentences. Someone help me appreciate him more?
Daisy Miller Henry James - same as above

Solenoid Mircea Cărtărescu - the world building and linguistic faculties are immense, but I struggled to get through this book; it’s density defeated me about halfway through. perhaps will return again.

The Two Worlds of Andrew Wyeth - picked this up at random from my parent’s house and absolutely floored by this interview and Wyeth’s articulation of his process: how he sees, draws, paints, and thinks; his compassion and relationships with people and place are obvious in his oeuvre and on each canvas. I went to see the Wyeth foundation on November and seeing his paintings in person was a quasi-religious experience