A couple of weeks ago I shared my book list from 2019. This week I’m looking ahead to 2020.
The stack in the photo is actually my bookshelf as it stood a little over a week ago. Since snapping that shot, I knocked one off, Use of Weapons by Ian M. Banks. If you haven’t read any of his Culture novels, pick one up. He weaves compelling stories around very ‘human’ characters while exploring big-name cultural tensions (like egalitarianism vs authoritarianism) in the sweeping context of far-future intergalactic politics.
As of this morning, I’m half-way through Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, the only non-fiction currently on my shelf, and it’s a great ride so far. A weirdly heavy book, physically, having been printed on a thick, glossy stock, it turns out to be a pretty light read. The author presents extremely heady topics (the development of culture, religion, and empire) with such disarming confidence that I feel almost like I’m reading an Agatha Christie mystery. I’m very curious to see how he’ll twist the plot in the second half.
When I finish Harari’s take on the history of human-kind, I’ll dig into Cibola Burn, the next volume in James S.A. Corey‘s Expanse series. That will undoubtedly keep me turning pages, just like the previous three volumes. Then I get to read Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. I read Six of Crows and its follow-up, Crooked Kingdom, a couple of years ago and loved the dark, almost Dickensian world she’s created. I look forward to exploring her Grisha-verse more thoroughly.
Last year I read Ishiguro‘s engagingly moody Never Let Me Go and I’m looking forward to finally reading his Remains of the Day. I’m also a huge fan of Haruki Murakami and his unique brand of magical realism, so I’ll be happy when I get to the bottom of the stack and his latest, Killing Commendatore.
A note on Infinite Jest–I’ve read almost everything by David Foster Wallace (and am a particular fan of his books Oblivion and Interviews with Hideous Men), but one glaring exception is his magnum opus. It has a perennial place at the bottom of my book stack. It’s been there for over five years now. I’m about half-way done with the wacky melange of tennis academies, international espionage, and hypnotic film-making, and only push ahead when I’ve read everything else in my queue. For some reason, it won’t hold my attention long enough to take me to the end. Check back in another five years ….
When I wake up in the middle of the night and don’t want to bother my Main Squeeze by clicking on the lamp, I read on my Kindle. There I have a couple books in progress–the classic Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Double Blind by my friend Tiffany Pitts, the first in a series of fun sort-of-sci-fi thriller romps.
That’s what I’ve got lined up so far. What are you reading? What do you recommend I add to my shelf in the coming year?
NEXT WEEK –
Look for my first novella, 4:17, an apocalyptic tale of chaos, hope, and revenge.
Releasing to Kindle on February 18!