That’s right, it’s a blog.
The theme for my year was acquisition. Some years you pare down, shed and streamline, and some years you gather, nest, gain. All that to say, I bought a house, with a lovely big yard, in the country. Much of my energies this year went into this process, obtaining and making this new place my home. It’s been deeply fulfilling, and I feel grateful, and it’s also dominated my thoughts and actions in a way that nudged other pursuits out. We must honor our bandwidth. Sometimes balance is a long game. So I present the slim list of books I read this year, a wispy 27 titles. Though the quantity is small the quality is excellent. I hope you find a few titles to dig in on, and I look forward to hearing about the best of your books. 2025 stands before us, let us begin.
- The Amateur Marriage, Anne Tyler, 2004
Anne Tyler is one of my favorite authors, and what I love about her is how she writes about marriage and families specifically. She is detailed, meticulous, reverent, curious, and honest. She is also an incredibly gifted writer, a real artist, and in her hands these stories, that some might view as small, or unimportant, blossom and reveal depth and power and truth. This novel follows Michael and Pauline, two kids that meet and fall in love in the 1940s in a Baltimore neighborhood. They marry, they have children, they struggle to connect, communicate and find meaning in their lives. The novel spans 60 years and three generations. The last few pages of this book surprised me, and moved me deeply. There is a lot more Tyler on my list this year, but I would say that this book is special, elevated, and kind of perfect.
2. Salvage the Bones, Jesmyn Ward, 2011
In 2021 I read Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied Sing (2017) and was blown away, clocking it at #2 for the year, and now again I go on another journey with her and am amazed. She is an amazing writer, and I love how she tells stories and the types of stories she tells. Salvage the Bones is a brutal novel about a very poor family living in rural Mississippi in 2005. The Batiste family consists of Daddy, his daughter Esch (the narrator), his sons Randall, Skeetah, and Junior, and Randall’s dog, a pit bull named China. Esch’s Mother died giving birth to Junior. This is an intense and relentless novel that deals with poverty, loss, sexual abuse, dog fighting (yeah you heard me) and culminates in goddamn Hurricane Katrina ripping through, so be warned. It’s Shakespearean in it’s scope and tragic nature, it’s poetic and gorgeous and it’s hard.
3. Lungfish, Meghan Gilliss, 2022
This debut novel by Portland, Maine resident Meghan Gilliss is absolutely superb. Tuck, our narrator, is wife to a man in the grips of addiction, and a mother to a young daughter. This little family finds themselves living on a tiny island off the coast of Maine in a seasonal house once owned by Tuck’s grandmother. This is not by choice but because they have nowhere else to go, and the island and the small house offer little in the way of security. Tuck watches her shifty, lying, stranger of a partner zip away each morning to the mainland, ostensibly to find work, but most evenings, if he returns at all it is without money, or food, and winter is coming. Motherhood, marriage, doubt, addiction, co-dependence, and the harsh realities of nature all shimmer around in the evocative and transformative language. This is a dark, beautiful and unexpected book.
4. Rouge, Mona Awad, 2023
A delicious and dark little tale. Mirabelle (aka Belle) is a skin care vlog obsessed Montreal shop girl who returns to southern California when her estranged Mother dies suddenly. Belle is soon drawn into mystery of her mother’s life and death, her own life in the shadow of her mother’s beauty, and the messed up culty spa that seems to be at the center of it all. Modern gothic fairy tale, I loved the vibes.
5. The Nightmare and Her Foal and Other Stories, Dahlov Ipcar, 1990
Dahlov Ipcar is one of my favorite artists, and although I knew she was a children’s author this was my first read of her adult fiction. A dark and delightful short story collection that somehow captures all the raw wildness of her paintings on the page. Timeless, unsettling, taut, and raw, I loved each of these stories. Dahlov also illustrated the book, of course, and each work is a masterpiece.
6. Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler, 2001
Rebecca Davitch is 53 and awakes one morning wondering if she is an imposter in her own life. Rebecca was 20 years old and engaged to her high school sweetheart when Joe Davitch, a 33 year old divorcee with three daughters came along and swept her off her feet and into a new life bursting at the seams. Joe runs a family business out of his big Baltimore house with his brother Zeb and Uncle Poppy, and his mother. Rebecca is thrust into the center of this whirlwind and soon finds herself mother to 3 prickly girls, running The Open Arms (their event business), then pregnant with a daughter of her own. Six years later Joe dies suddenly. Cut to Rebecca at 53, a widower, and grandmother, and caretaker to the elder Davitch clan suddenly looking around her and wondering how in the world this life became her own. This novel overflows with humanity; messy, and moving and wonderful.
7. You Like it Darker, Stephen King, 2024
I loved this short story collection. As the title intimates these are scary, scary stories, some of the most chilling he’s written of late. Also Stevey is thinking about death, it’s a theme running through the whole collection and I am here for it. Who among us isn’t wrestling the reaper in those dark hours of the night? Don’t sleep on this one.
8. The Distinguished Guest, Sue Miller, 1999
9. Holly, Stephen King, 2023
10. Anything is Possible, Elizabeth Strout, 2017
11. Saint Maybe, Anne Tyler, 1996
12. The Whisper Man, Alex North, 2020
13. Digging to America, Anne Tyler, 2006
14. While I Was Gone, Sue Miller, 2000
15. The Luck of Ginger Coffey, Brian Moore, 1960
16. The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave, 2021
17. The Man Who Understood Cats, Michael Allen Dymmoch, 1993
Nonfiction
- The House of Hidden Meaning, Ru Paul, 2024
I don’t know exactly when Ru Paul became my spiritual guide, but the man is an enigma. This memoir covers his childhood and early years and it’s really wonderful. He is unlike anyone else.
2. The River of Consciousness, Oliver Sacks, 2017
Published after his death this delightful gift of 10 essays gives us one last glimpse into the brilliant and beautiful mind of Oliver Sacks.
3. Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, Lindy West, 2016
I came to this through the wonderful Hulu series. I love a good feminist essay collection and this is a big, bold, and beautifully written example.
4. The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls, 2005
Along with feminist essay collections I love a memoir about strange, messed up childhoods. Late to the party on this one, but it’s an incredible story about a dysfunctional and nomadic family.
5. Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris, 2022
Sometimes you just need to laugh, and if you want to be a snob about it, you can do it with David, my favorite snob. I’ve seen him twice now and would jump at the opportunity to see him again.
6. The Annotated Alice, Lewis Carroll with notes by Martin Gardner, 1999
I put this here even though it’s the complete Alice in Wonderland text (fiction, clearly) because the so called “notes” by Martin Gardner are an exhaustive deep dive into everything Alice and everything Lewis Carroll. This wont appeal to everyone but I spent a lot of time exploring this book, learning a lot of about a complicated and rather odd man, and the complicated and rather odd story of Alice in Wonderland. Detailed and wonderful. If you love footnotes longer than the original text get on board.
7. The Woman in Me, Britney Spears, 2023
I’m a lady of a certain age so Britney is, of course, my spirit animal, caged and defeated no more, now she gets to tell her story, and it’s upsetting and compelling. #freebritney
8. American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal, Neil King Jr., 2023
Kind of pretentious, but interesting. I am a lover of long walks, so a 330 mile walk from Washington D. C. to Central Park in NYC certainly spoke to me.
9. Blood: The Science, Medicine, and Mythology of Menstruation, Jen Gunter, 2024
10. You Just Need To Loose Weight & 19 Other Myths about Fat People, Aubrey Gordon, 2023
I love Aubrey Gordon, the podcast Maintenance Phase, and her previous book What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat (#1 on my 2021 nonfiction list), but this new book was a disappointment to me. Recycled information for those in her orbit, and perhaps just not for me (it’s structured as a response to common questions/accusations hurled at fat people). Also I hate the title, like really hate it.
If you’re interested in reading some of my fiction check out:
https://roifaineantarchive.wixsite.com/rf-arc-hive/post/the-hotel-harris-by-eryne-thibeau
Previous book blogs:
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