In 2015, I read some really great books, in particular the Elena Ferrante Neapolitan novels and Dan Sharfstein’s The Invisible Line. Here’s the list:
- The Martian by Andy Weir (currently reading)
- Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
- The Story of the Lost Child (The Neapolitan Novels, #4) by Elena Ferrante
- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay (The Neapolitan Novels, #3) by Elena Ferrante
- The Story of a New Name (The Neapolitan Novels, #2) by Elena Ferrante
- Flood of Fire (Ibis Trilogy #3) by Amitav Ghosh
- Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
- Black No More by George S. Schuyler
- Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
- A Brief History of Seven Killings by James Marlon
- Loving Day by Mat Johnson
- Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish
- The Invisible Line: Three American Families and the Secret Journey from Black to White by Daniel Sharfstein
- My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Novels, #1) by Elena Ferrante
- The Laughing Monsters by Denis Johnson
- All our Names by Dinaw Mengestu
- How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti
- The Way Home by George Pelecanos
- How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone by Sasa Stanisic
- The Middle Passage by V.S. Naipaul
- A History of Loneliness by John Boyne
- Life and Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee
- Miguel Street by V.S. Naipaul
- Shoedog by George Pelecanos
- Drama City by George Pelecanos
- The Turnaround by George Pelecanos
- I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes
- The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan.
If it hadn’t been for Elena Ferrante, whose books I obsessively read and recommended throughout the months of Fall, all I would be talking about this year is Sharfstein’s book. Of course, I am very biased. Sharfstein and I were high school friends and I had lost contact with him over the past 25 years. Another major highlight was Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me. But although Coates’ received universal praise for Between the World and Me, as an avid reader of his articles and huge fan, I didn’t find anything particularly new in the book. If you haven’t ever read him, I definitely recommend you go straight to The Atlantic right now. I’ve said it before, Coates is the best writer today on the American experience. Another big 2015 highlight was finding George Pelecanos’ crime fiction, which as a Washington, DC/Maryland native I particularly enjoy and will continue to read in 2016.
When I have more time in the new year, I hope to dedicate individual posts to the Ferrante novels and to Sharfstein and Coates.
Grave Error 