A Year in Marginalia: Sam Anderson

December 16, 2010 | 9 books mentioned 36

cover

The writing I enjoy doing most, every year, is marginalia: spontaneous bursts of pure, private response to whatever book happens to be in front of me. It’s the most intimate, complete, and honest form of criticism possible — not the big wide-angle aerial shot you get from an official review essay, but a moment-by-moment record of what a book actually feels like to the actively reading brain. Here are some snapshots, month by month, of my marginalia from 2010. (Click each image for a larger view)

January
Point Omega by Don Delillo

cover

February
Reality Hunger by David Shields

cover

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

cover

March
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

cover

April
Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson

cover

May
The Pregnant Widow by Martin Amis

cover

cover

June
Wittgenstein’s Mistress by David Markson

cover

July
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

cover

August
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translated by Lydia Davis

cover

September
The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker

cover

cover

October
The Anthology of Rap, edited by Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois

cover

November
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

cover

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

cover

December
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

cover

More from a Year in Reading 2010

Don’t miss: A Year in Reading 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

The good stuff: The Millions’ Notable articles

The motherlode: The Millions’ Books and Reviews

Like what you see? Learn about 5 insanely easy ways to Support The Millions

is the New York Times Magazine's Critic at Large. He is writing a book about Oklahoma City.