Unlike many book lists that enumerate the best books published during the year, The Book Shopper blog can boast that even though none of the books on our list were published in 2020, at least all the selections have been read cover to cover, and gleaned from a list of 30 books, which is a personal high (but I realize I don't qualify as a "voracious" reader).
The major qualification to make the list below is that besides enjoyment, each book influenced me by either a) leading to other books which I eventually read, or b.) slightly changed my thoughts or actions in my little 2020 world. There is no significance in the order and the links go to other locations on the blog where I wrote about them in more detail.
Brian Dillon. On Essayism: On Form, Feeling and Nonfiction (2017)
Viet Thanh Nguyen. Nothing Ever Dies Vietnam and the Memory of War (2016)
Thomas Pynchon. Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)
Leah Penniman. Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm Practical Guild to Liberation on the Land (2018)
On Essayism
Not only does Dillon deconstruct essays to assist in my own writing, but he mentions authors that I have read recently (like W.G. Sebald who made last year's 2019 list), but he pointed me in the direction of Elizabeth Hardwick's Sleepless Nights (1978) a peculiar but interesting read. Dillon's book required 3 index cards of notes to properly document. (The index card system is for people who prefer stars and such to rate stuff.)
Nothing Ever Dies
Nguyen received a shoutout on the 2018 list for his amazing novel, The Sympathizer (2016), which led me to read earlier this year his collection of short stories, The Refugees, (2017), which did not disappoint. Not only does Nguyen give us a lesson in history and how it favors the victors, but he makes a recommendation for other books, such as Monique Truong's The Book of Salt (2003) which I am reading now. The Book of Salt is about a Vietnamese peasant who learns the basics of French cooking in Vietnam and ends up in 1929 Paris cooking for Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Nothing Ever Dies merited three index cards too.
Gravity's Rainbow
When rereading a book requires two to three months to read, and a special notebook and the formulation of a Gravity's Rainbow Support Group (GRSG) , it must be on the list. The GRSG did not disband and we have since read Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin (1953) and are finishing up Ernest Becker's The Denial of Death (1976) just in time for Christmas. The latter rates right up there with Albert Camus The Plague (1948) for not-so-light pandemic reading. By reading The Plague it should have tipped me off that these outbreaks can last a long time.
Farming While Black
This book qualifies because I spent more time at the community garden in 2020 and I did a pop up book stall called Destination: Books at the Freedom Farmer Market early in 2020. The book introduced me the Chelsea Green Publishing and I did end up carrying several of their books before going into a lockdown mode. The book is a rare mix of the history of black farming, community activism, and how to grow better veggies.
Photo Credit: In 1969, I won a trophy for reading the most books in my 8th grade class, which required keeping a list of everything I read during the school year (so list making goes back to my childhood.) But what this further illustrates is that if you only win a few awards in your lifetime, you hang on to them.
If you purchase any books highlighted here by clicking through to the Destination:Books page, this blog and independent book stores will receive a small commission.
Wonderful and succinct writing as usual, and, as usual, your reading has resulted in additions to my alarmingly burgeoning list of Books Cal Want to Read. Thanks for blogging!
Posted by: Cal Gough | December 04, 2020 at 09:10 AM