A disturbing number of new books (new to us--some were used) entered our home in 2019. 280 at a minimum. Looking at records, we're sure there were more as those listed don't take into consideration every Dzanc Book or every book from either Lemuria's or Literati's First Edition Clubs. Nearly a third of these were complimentary review copies which are always extremely appreciated and at the very least posted up on Facebook and usually Instagram, and occasionally reviewed or more heavily remarked upon. The vast majority of those purchased new were from Pages, Literati, Lemuria, Nicola's, and 27th Letter Books--independent booksellers, all but one fairly local. Especially those purchased after April, when our main reason for using The Behemoth was to get the details for those stores to be able to track down titles. Will we ever read all of these titles? We certainly hope so but realize odds are low--but we like supporting the stores, the publishers, the authors putting out work in an artform we consider important. Every one of these titles that is a story collection or poetry collection has had at least one or two of the efforts within read, if not more.
Of this avalanche of titles, the following ten listen in alphabetical order by the author's last names are the ten that wouldn't let us put them down until we were done, wouldn't be forgotten, and in every case, has made us pick it back up at a later date (or numerous dates) to dip back in for more (note--one WAS published in 2018 but seen until 2019 on our end):
The Archive of Alternate Endings by Lindsey Drager
A book we've had the pleasure of reading multiple times from proofreading the eBook to enjoying the print copy when it arrived, to skimming sections over and over. Drager gives us a post-modern novel that actually has heart, has characters you feel about. Using the time periods that Halley's Comet is visible from Earth over the last (and one future) visits, as well as Hansel and Gretel she touches on themes of family, or gender, of sexuality, and does it all seamlessly and gracefully. It's a book we have had a difficult time describing as each time we start to we begin trying to touch on various points at the same time. Those that have taken the blathering as a good sign and picked it up as well have let us know we weren't wrong at all.
Severance by Robert Fanning
The first of a quartet of poetry collections on our list. We thought Fanning had peaked with Our Museum and while we knew we'd get to read more great work from him, we believed it would be very difficult for it to meet that collection's level. Than he dropped this manuscript on us in a very kind gesture and we were blown away and then very excited to hear that Salmon would be putting it out, as they had his prior collection. Fanning has written a quasi-sequel to that earlier collection, but done so with an entirely different world with very intricate connections. The poems collected all have to do with a puppet/marionette style show in a theatre, and the various characters and their thoughts and actions. Yet, it ties in perfectly to the real-life instruments from Our Museum and in a way that sneaks up and smacks the reader in the back of the head, in a good way. We're no longer thinking we'll know when Mr. Fanning has peaked and can't wait for his next effort.
Buried on the Beaches: Cape Stories for Hooked Hearts and Driftwood Souls by Colin Fleming
The third story collection from a criminally under-read writer. If all goes as it should maybe 2020 will be the year that ends as he should see the publication of his first novel, two non-fiction titles and we know he's got another collection sold--just not sure when that's slotted to be published. Fleming's stories get you right into the situation immediately, has you feeling what the characters feel, be it positive or negative. They give you characters and situations to care about, to become engrossed with. This collection should have been a big beach read selection, if nowhere else than certainly the cape area. We've had the opportunity to see some of the work that's yet to be published by Fleming and look forward to the day that many others do as well.
The Road South: Personal Stories of the Freedom Riders by B.J. Hollars
Another non-fiction effort from Hollars that delves into the civil rights era and like his past efforts, this one is a great read. It's also maybe an easier read than the previous titles (Thirteen Loops and Opening the Doors) in that it's broken into shorter chapters, each one taking on an individual Freedom Rider as Hollars tells their story, talks with them, and gives the reader as close a feel for their situations as can be had via the page. It's always nice to see Hollars dip into a title one might consider more fun (Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country, for instance) in between these delvings into this difficult time period as one might worry that staying in this time frame for too long would be detrimental to ones health and mental well being. This was gripping reading for events that happened decades ago.
Lives Laid Away by Stephen Mack Jones
Not too deep in yet (2nd title in series) but we're loving the August Snow mystery series Stephen Mack Jones is putting together. Set in Southwest Detroit's Mexicantown area with a former police officer (rich due to suing the city for improper firing after he pointed out some illegalities from a former mayor) who is trying to create a nice enclave where he grew up, which leads to him getting involved in checking out some nefarious dealings. This title seemingly had way more gunplay than the debut (August Snow) from the previous year, but it maintains the hard-boiled patter, the misdirections, and also continues the ridiculously great sounding food details. What we think we really want to do is spend a day with Jones eating--the details are mouth watering. Setting a detective or detective-type up in SE Michigan means as an author you're going to get compared to Leonard, to Estleman, and maybe Jon A. Jackson, and so far Jones is sliding right onto those shelves and not skipping a beat--we anxiously await the third in this line in 2020.
Adult Night at Skate World by Christina Kallery
No surprise here as we've clamored for this collection of poetry for years. We've carried loose sheets of paper with these poems printed out on them the previous few years prior to being able to wander around with this collection in hand instead. Kallery's poems for us bring forth nostalgia the right way, remind us of growing up, of seemingly better times, while also chopping a little below the knees with remembrances of attractions being wrong or not reciprocal. It is a collection we can no longer even guess how many times we've paged through and know we will countless more times in the future.
Teacher/Pizza Guy by Jeff Kass
A collection of poetry from Jeff Kass that we found important when giving it our first read and then again since with further readings. A main focus of this collection can be found in the title--while the author is a long-time teacher in a great district like Ann Arbor and has been for years--that isn't cutting living in the current day, leading him to get a 2nd job as a pizza delivery guy a couple of nights a week. The poems capture both the frustration of the situation in general and many specifics--having the younger boss, teaching while exhausted, wrong addresses, the people one meets when in such a 2nd job, and so much more--all the while reminding the reader of what the current work environment is like--maybe unemployment is down, but comfort levels aren't high because of it.
The Ambrose J. And vivian T. Seagrave Museum of 20th Century Art by Matthew Kirkpatrick
It might say something about where we're seeing novels these days that my trio of favorites are a hard-boiled mystery, and two very non-traditional efforts in the earlier mentioned Drager, and this one from Kirkpatrick. He merges an almost overseeing voice with a storyline being told via the little cards one would find by a painting or statue in a museum--the descriptions of the work. Only Kirkpatrick's descriptions of the works in question run extremely wild. It's hard to imagine who such an idea developed and maybe even harder to understand how he kept pushing it forward, actually creating a narrative where one shouldn't have been able to appear. Another we've found ourselves dipping into numerous times this year.
Premonitions by Elizabeth Schmuhl
The fourth and final poetry collection on this list, it's different than the others to our mind by being less straightforward than that trio--which is new for us. We tend to like our poetry where it's something we at least think we understand. Schmuhl's collection includes numbers and colors in a way we're not sure we'll ever crack, but it also invokes nature in an absolutely lovely way. Sunlight, insects, various plants on a farm, and so forth that might have led to us using our imagination to envision the scenarios being poem'ed about more than any time we've done so in the past.
Tuesday Nights--Milk Street
That's right, we've snuck a cookbook onto this list because in all honesty, this book has probably been cracked open and affected our lives at least as much as every other title on this list, if not more. A great collection of recipes that fit either into a Fast, Faster, or Fastest category for excellent, yet quick, week night cooking. Bringing flavors of the world to our table at home and in a manner that we can duplicate fairly well and the family of damn picky eaters actually enjoys. Tough not to include this one on the list this year.
We can only hope you've found just as many titles in 2019 that you know you'll dip back into in 2020 and beyond as we did.
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