Winter: Five Windows on the Season
by Adam Gopnik. Anansi, 2011
4.5 stars (re-read) - Dec 2019
I loved this years before, and I got so much more out of it in a second read. Such a loving, thoughtful, and detailed (researched) consideration of Winter in Canada, in Art, in the Imagination, in Memory.
Small in the City
by Sydney Smith. Groundwood, 2019
5 stars - Dec 2019
A small picture book. The most beautiful little picture book, with spare prose and so much storytelling going on in the details. I don’t know that I shall ever see a lovelier one.
Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion
by Jia Tolentino. Random House, 2019
4 stars - Nov 2019
Collection of essays about the Internet and pop culture. She is very smart, incisive, witty, and candid. Really enjoyed this.
The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs
by Tristan Gooley. The Experiment, 2014
3 stars - Oct 2019
An odd book about noticing things in nature – dirt, birds, sounds, lights, stars, etc., etc. and getting to know the patterns they reveal. Some interesting bits, and the author (a global adventurer) weaves an interesting thread. But too long by half.
The Faraway Nearby
by Rebecca Solnit. Penguin, 2013
4 stars - Sept 2019
This is closer to (my favourite) Field Guide to Getting Lost than anything else I’ve read of RS. This is a linked collection of essays about memory and imagination that form a larger arc almost in the form of a fugue. A central theme is RS’ troubled relationship with her mother, but this is extended like a spider web to an enormous collection of other material. Apricots, rotting in a box.
Hope in the Dark: Untold Histories, Wild Possibilities
by Rebecca Solnit. Haymarket Books, 2016 [2004]
3 stars - Sep 2019
Didn’t get as much out of this as Solnit’s others. About the Bush years, it felt dated.
Sourdough, or Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market
by Robin Sloan. Picador, 2017
4 stars - Sep 2019
Classic Robin Sloan. An almost dark story set in his ultimately hopeful universe (a nicer version of Silicon Valley).
Usagi Yojimbo Saga
by Stan Sakai. Dark Horse, various dates.
5 stars – Aug 2019
I am actually only about a quarter of the way through Stan Sakai’s 30 years’ worth of Usagi books: the rabbit samurai retelling of the history of 16th-century Japan. This is so incredibly well done, so sophisticated, so rich, I can’t believe he’s not more famous than he is. An achievement in comics that is, as far as I can tell, completely without peer.
A Book of Five Rings: The Classic Guide to Strategy
by Miyamoto Mushashi, trans by Victor Harris. Overlook Press, 1974 [1645]
3 stars – Aug 2019
This (which is incidentally one of the source texts for Usagi) is the classic “how to be a swordfighter and win” guidebook in post-feudal Japan. Utterly brutal, but pretty interesting, and rich with detail, both physical and philosophical, in a short, accessible book.
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by Charles C Mann. Random House 2005
4 stars - July 2019
Not quite academic – the scope is really sweeping – but far more than the usual journalistic nonfiction. This paints a detailed picture of what the civilizations of the Americas looked like pre-contact. The picture is one of a relationship with the natural world that we don’t generally consider, and the implication, in the disappearance of these civilizations, is one of unimaginable tragedy. Not a dark book itself, but if you think about it, it’s a dark, dark story.
The Marrow Thieves
by Cherie Dimaline. Dancing Cat Books (Cormorant) 2017
3.5 stars - July 2019
This was utterly chilling to read. Post-apocalyptic tale of bare-hope escape from inhuman forces. The stage setting and characters are brilliant. The plot was less stunning.
River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Techological Wild West
by Rebecca Solnit. Penguin, 2004
4 stars – Aug 2019
This is the best seriously long-form Solnit book I’ve read. This isn’t essays, but an incredibly well-researched deep dive into Muybridge’s life, and the cultural context (the Bay Area in the 1860s and 70s) that set up his achievements with photography. Absolutely first rate history. I couldn’t put this down.
Among Friends
by MFK Fisher. North Point Press, 1983 [1971]
4 stars – Jul 2019
An utterly boring memoir of childhood by an amazing prose stylist. Pleasant to read, interesting in a few places (Fisher’s family were part of a tiny Episcopalian minority in an otherwise completely Quaker town in southern California in the early 20th century, and had some weird and wacky friends), but not much in the way of takeaways. Worth it for the prose, though.
Guest Book
by Leanne Shapton. Riverhead Books, 2019
4 stars – Jun 2019
Amazingly creepy photo essay ghost stories. Almost no words. Very very subtle, everything is implied. Loved this.
An Alphabet for Gourmets
by MFK Fisher. North Point Press 1989 [1954]
2 stars – May 2019
Structurally experimental – a set of mini-essays in the form of an abecedarium. Interesting in places, but ultimately not really satisfying.
Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers
by Daniel Leader with Laruen Chattman. Norton, 2007
5 stars – May 2019
An amazing collection of travelogues by American master baker Dan Leader, tracking down the regional variations on artisanal breadmaking throughout Europe. Too long, really, but also really comprehensive, with stories, recipes, and how-to. Best book on breadmaking I’ve seen. I read it to my daughter for bedtime stories.
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending our Hearts and Bodies
by Resmaa Menakem. CRP 2017
4 stars – Apr 2019
This is a self-help book, but also a philosophical/clinical treatise on how race – and the racial tensions that plague modern society (esp in America, where Menakem is writing) are written on the body, over multiple generations, and thus aren’t likely to be solved cognitively or culturally (in any normal sense), but rather must be addressed, painstakingly, in terms of the physical, embodied responses our bodies make when whites and people of colour encounter one another. Fascinating stuff.
Feel Free
by Zadie Smith. Penguin, 2018
3 stars – Mar 2019
A collection of essays rather than fiction. I didn’t like it anywhere near as much as her stories… this was too much about her own internal monologues, and not enough about what she was supposedly talking about.
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
by Tanya Talaga. House of Anansi, 2017
4 stars – Jan 2019
A gripping and detailed account of Indigenous teenagers’ experience and deaths in Thunder Bay.
The Mayor of MacDougal Street [2013 edition]: A Memoir
by Ronk, Dave Van Ronk. Da Capo Press, 2013
4 stars (avg 4.41) – Jan 2019
Liked this memoir from the 1950s/60s Greenwich Village folksinger revival. It’s an interesting read with lots of cultural insights from 50s America.
Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography
by Andrea Warner. Greystone Books, 2018
3 stars (avg 4.3) – Jan 2019
I liked this better than the 3 stars I gave it… the story is so rich and interesting, but I think the book is flawed. Many people (like me) know a little bit about Buffy St Marie, but to have her whole life story presented to you is amazing. This woman was at or near the centre of so many of the most interesting and important cultural moments of the past 60 years. It’s almost like Forrest Gump, except instead of just being there, Buffy St Marie was making stuff happen. That said, I found Andrea Warner’s narrative hard to follow. She’s clearly established a close relationship with Ms St Marie, and has heard ALL the stories; this is what makes the book a challenge. While it’s told in a roughly chronological manner, the timeframes are often layered over each other; episodes are often interpreted in light of later episodes, and so on. In the end, though, it’s a great resource on this amazing woman’s life.
Camino Island
by John Grisham, John. Doubleday, 2017
4 stars (avg 3.72) – Jan 2019
Thoroughly entertaining read about the nasty underworld of – get this – antiquarian booksellers. Utterly unbelievable characters, but a really fun book nevertheless. Grisham’s not famous for nothing.
Lost for Words
by Edward St Aubyn. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014
4 stars (avg 3.27) – Jan 2019
Edward St Aubyn is famous for his Patrick Melrose novels, which are, I thought, pretty dark in places. This book is not dark at all… this is a satirical farce about the people (both judges and aspiring writers) around a thinly-disguised Booker Prize. Laughs aplenty, while still remaining cleverly literary. Highly recommended for anyone who takes literature seriously.
New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future
by James Bridle. Verso, 2018
4 stars (avg 4.21) – Jan 2019
This is bracing reading, as the topics he covers range from concerning to terrifying. What makes it good is that Bridle is brilliant. I’ve been following him for a decade (this is his first major book, I think), and I’ve always thought he was just about the smartest cultural commentator we have right now – certainly if we’re talking about technology. This book fully delivers on that. His research is wide-ranging, his insights are cutting, and he never loses the plot. This is not a book that condescends or patronizes its reader. A tough book for tough times, but no disappointments here at all. You should read it. Thanks Haig for this!