I was going to say that the books I found most striking in 2009 were nonfiction, but as I think about it, that’s not completely true. Yes, I would say that the “best” books I read this year (whatever that means) fall into this category: William Vollmann’s Imperial and Dave Cullen’s Columbine, both of which used a combination of reporting, reflection and narrative to undercut pervasive myths about their subjects and get at the more complicated stories underneath. But equally compelling were a trio of small books — B.H. Fairchild’s poetry collection Usher, Lydia Millet’s short story collection Love in Infant Monkeys, and Ted Kooser’s brief memoir Lights on a Ground of Darkness — that each in its own way reordered my inner world. What connects all of these books, including “Imperial” and “Columbine,” is the depth of their observation, their tendency to nuance and detail, the way they have of slowing down the moment so that we can see it fresh.
A Year in Reading: David L. Ulin
A Year in Reading: Sophia Stewart
Heterosexuality—what is it good for? This was the question that propelled much of my reading in 2023.
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A Year in Reading: Lilly Dancyger
This year marked a huge and welcome shift in my reading habits: I started reading fiction again, for the first time in thirteen years.
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A Year in Reading: Elvia Wilk
You have to pick the book up, and you also have to know when to put it down and go do something else with your hands.
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A Year in Reading: Ruth Madievsky
This year, I mostly read books by my contemporaries. I wanted to luxuriate with my peers and support their work—we fucking did it.
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A Year in Reading: Madeleine Schwartz
At the beginning of this year I started a new magazine, which it turns out is a bit like hosting a continuous dinner party in your brain.
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A Year in Reading: Iyana Jones
The end of the year typically marks a glory-filled time where I pat myself on the back for picking up a book in my off-hours.
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