After two weeks of distractions, spotty internet service, and a massive dose of holiday merriment and madness, I am finally back in Los Angeles, which is why I can now move towards completing the year end list that you are all awaiting so patiently.Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum: Earlier in the year, Ryszard Kapuscinski’s book Imperium had made me more fully aware of the vast Soviet prison system. Years ago, when I was in high school, I had read bits and pieces of The Gulag Archipelago, and, bewildered by the density of it, I had come away with little more than the notion that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn had been a political prisoner held by an evil, totalitarian state. I carried this notion of the Gulag with me for a long time, and though Solzhenitsyn certainly would have been able to correct my misconceptions had I been a more diligent reader, I encountered nothing else that showed me the real picture of a state-run system that killed tens of millions. Then Kapuscinski’s forays into the long-hidden depths of Siberia opened my eyes to a tragedy that is, of course, no secret, yet manages to be overlooked when people are taking stock of recent historical tragedies. This negligence is the launching point for Applebaum’s considered history of the Soviet prison system. She covers the system from all the angles, from the bureaucrats at the top to the zeks toiling in mines and forests and withering away on frozen ground. I began reading the book in early June and I was halfway through it when I left for Europe. I didn’t bring it with me because I didn’t want to lug the heavy hard cover with me, but I ruminated over what I had read for much of my trip.Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick: This was one of three books I read while I was in Europe, mostly on interminable airplane rides and also while I was in Ireland as I recall. I hadn’t planned to read all those books about Russia, but the three put together taught me more about the subject than any course might have been able to. Remnick’s Pulitzer-winning book about the fall of the Soviet Empire is truly exhilarating. Through his eyes, you see the collapse of the great empire from Moscow. The book reads like breaking news, and though I was, of course, aware of the ultimate outcome, his blow by blow account is really exciting. Being halfway through Gulag at the time, I was especially fascinated by the role that “Memorial,” a group dedicated to uncovering the crimes of the Soviet regime, played in the process.The Lonely Hearts Club by Raul Nunez: I spent a week in Barcelona last summer, and before I left I decided it would be fun to read a novel set in the city while I was there. I managed to track down this slim volume, which I found to be a bit thin, but nonetheless a perfect book to read at three in the morning in a steaming bedroom whose only window looks into an airshaft, and when I walked through the bustling old city, I have to admit, I felt like I could see the city through Frankie’s eyes. Here are my comments on the book, which I posted after my trip was over.Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware: Years from now, people won’t remember that the graphic novel was once a marginal format, consigned to hobby shops and newsstands. Literary historians, however, will point to Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan as the book that brought graphic novels out of the dark and into the cultural spotlight. I read this one in Europe, too. It’s one of my favorites ever.Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis: I mentioned this book dozens of times this year, so I won’t bother to once again mention how much I enjoyed it. Instead you can read what I wrote right after I read it. (It’ll be at the very bottom.)The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem: Ditto on this one, which I probably talked about on this blog and in the aisles of the bookstore more than any other new book this year, so here’s my review.That’s all for now. I’m jetlaggin’.
From where I’m sitting I can see the galleys of Maggie Nelson’s incredible The Argonauts, which will come out this spring from Graywolf, and Aaron Kunin’s brilliant, Cold Genius, just out from Fence. Chris Nealon’s Heteronomy, published by Edge, has been supporting me all fall. Nealon taps into the energies of popular culture without condescension or self-congratulation or (easy) irony; his poems are at once totally well-wrought and unaffectedly conversational; he is clear-eyed about the catastrophe of the present but refuses to descend into mere melancholy; he has no illusions about poetry’s practical power but he is not in love with — or particularly tortured by — its marginality; Nealon — an accomplished literary critic — neither disavows his learning or retreats into it. Please read this book with me because everybody who reads it gets to enter a meadow where we can dance and die together:
is this some kind of joke?
No, it’s not. These two have been fellating each other across the internet for the last couple of months. She’s thanked in the acknowledgements of his new book, then she reviews said book for the Los Angeles Review of Books, then he picks her book as his favorite books of the year and I’m sure if she gets a chance she’ll pick his book as her favorite book. I’m starting to get used to this logrolling. It’s what the internet is about. There’s no point in fighting it. Just recognize it for what it is and take every recommendation witha grain of salt.
Lerner and Kunin are also friends (per an old Believer interview). Hilarious. Doubt Lerner even read the Nelson or Kunin. “From where I’m sitting I can see the galleys…” Congrats on your ability to see!
Thank you! The meadow conceit is lovely and makes me eager to discover the rest of Nealon’s book.
I must also say I’m aghast at the crudeness, rudity, and absurd presumptiousness of the previous commenters. This whole series is a gift to readers, and a wonderful one, and it will be taken away from us, because who on earth would contribute again after responses like these?
I don’t think someone telling you to read their friends books is a gift. It’s PR. Don’t be so melodramatic. The people who are using this exercise to be thoughtful and recommending interesting books are being thanked; the logrollers are not, as they shouldn’t be. Ben Lerner’s recommending Maggie Nelson is the equivalent of Uncle Eddie’s handing his already half-drunk can of beer to Clark Griswold. “I bet you could use a cool one, huh?” “Now you’re talking.” That’s what kind of gift that is.
It’s a gift in the same sense a television advertisement is a gift.
In res: Wyatt’s comment
What is “rudity” supposed to mean? Is that a new alternative spelling for “rudeness”? And for “presumptiousness” – shouldn’t that be spelled “presumptuousness”?
Condescending to other commentators (particularly if they have a point which you don’t even address) by using fancy words usually works better if you use words that actually exist and if you spell them correctly.
Claudia,
The crudity rudiness of your commentarity is sickning!
All,
Newsflash, half of these year-end lists are PR for writers’ friends or their own publications. There’s no need to break out the fainting couch over this, it’s just a silly year-end exercise. Also, it’s possible to like a friend’s book in good faith. It isn’t, however, a “gift,” let’s be clear on that…
So far, Lerner gets the Matt Bell logroller of the year award, but we have yet to see Bell’s contribution, so until then, the champion holds the belt.
Wow, quick to the throat, aren’t we, and so witty! Rudity may have been a mistake, but it is fine by Webster’s online. Condescension was not what I intended, at least no more so than when my 4-year-old daughter angrily shouts at my 5-year-old son the most potent insult she knows: “You’re rude!” (She hasn’t learned yet how to mock style.) The comments here are unwarranted and unappreciated. They are self-congratulatory and mean, and completely out of the spirit of this series. These are the personal recommendations and reading experiences of authors. Truly, what does Mr. Lerner owe to you?
Would The Millions please offer some of our esteemed commenters a Year In Reading of their own? This is not a joke! I am really curious.
Or maybe you dumbasses could consider that having a personal relationship with the authors increases their impact?
Tom
Your question is incoherent. Learn how to properly write a sentence, dumbass.