A year end list of sorts
A year end list of sorts
Not an Oprah's favorite things list, nor even close.
“Eternal Life New You,” Leidy Churchman, 2021.
I have resisted making a year-end list for some time. My compulsion to make lists is often followed by the impulse to destroy them. I nearly posted a year-end list with brief thoughts on books last year—not a “best” list, merely things I enjoyed a great deal. This year Screen Slate asked for my favorite films and discoveries though, so perhaps that got me in the mood to release a new list. I’ll eschew films for that very reason but below enjoy short thoughts on some of my favorite things of 2023. Perhaps a new tradition will start, not unlike the age of yore when I looked forward to Oprah’s favorite things. Though less commercial and not, thank god, sponsored by Amazon.
Books
Mrs. S by K Patrick
I’ve already recommended this book a million times, in a similar way to last year’s Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin. Both are stunning masterpieces. Mrs. S is an erotic fable written with erudite precision. A shattering debut novel about a lesbian love affair at a country-side school in Scotland.
Immanuel by Matthew McNaught
Having been raised Christian, I’m fascinated by tales of those who’ve “gotten out.” This is a complicated, well-thought-out essay on a cult of Charismatic Christians and their role in colonialism. Like if the true crime methodology was wickedly applied to religion.
Landscapes by Christine Lai
For those who love archives, Lai’s novel is a sparkling gem. From Two Dollar Radio, a tender story about sexual violence, climate change, and J. M. W. Turner. I can’t wait to read more of Lai’s beautiful, pristine prose.
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
As I traveled California I read this giant tome on the way the Far Right has infiltrated the Left’s self-conception. I entered suspiciously and left profoundly moved, entertained, and enlightened. Klein’s writing on Palestine is particularly timely, as are her thoughts on how the Right has taken hold of public discourse through scapegoating.
Ordinary Notes by Christina Sharpe
A book about mothers and an examination of Black intellectual publics, Sharpe writes a diary-like meditation on mourning, photography, and the art of looking. It’s been hailed as big and important for a reason, but it’s very readable as well. An intellectual’s armchair companion.
Big Fiction by Dan Sinykin
A vicious reckoning with the literary market. Sinykin takes big swings—but lands most of them with a historian’s hammer. In the process, he pulls back the curtain on how our meat is made. MFAs be damned, Big Fiction can teach you a lot.
The Book by Mary Ruefle
Lovely. Give this to any poet or gentle reader in search of something to say. A gift to herself and her readers, Ruefle is the heir to the likes of Mary Oliver and Louise Gluck—though she’s a bit less prescriptive. She’s opaque without losing lightness.
Terrace Story by Hilary Leichter
If you need to be reminded of the elastic power of fiction—here it is. A great follow-up to her perfect first novel Temporary. Simply fun and a joy to read.
A Life of One’s Own by Joanna Biggs
She’s one of the best contemporary critics we’ve got. In line with Jacqueline Rose, Jenny Diski, and Elizabeth Hardwick, Biggs spins a narrative of love, betrayal, and womanhood. Fresh approaches to plenty of overwritten women writers from Simone de Beauvoir, Sylvia Plath, to Toni Morrison. Elegant, stylish, and spare with not a word out of place.
This House of Grief by Helen Garner
A reprint—don’t kill me. But it’s the year of Garner’s American rediscovery. This is technically a true crime book, but it’s also a deep look into justice, guilt, masculinity, and family. Somewhere inside this tome also lies a curious tale of intergenerational friendship. A grave book.
Other picks: On Community by Casey Plett, Dyscaculia by Camonghne Felix, My Death by Lisa Tuttle, Gender Heretic by Rebecca Jane Morgan, Gender Without Identity, and an art book—SELL YOURSELF: Pippa Garner.
Art Exhibits
Simply so many, so I’ll keep it quick.
Jaune Quick-to-See Smith: Memory Map, The Whitney
Wangechi Mutu, Intertwined, New Museum
Xiyadie: Queer Cut Utopias, The Drawing Center
PIPPA GARNER: $ELL YOURSELF, Art Omi
Louise Bourgeois at Dia Beacon
Shuvinai Ashoona, Looking Out, Looking In
Made in LA, Hammer Museum
Jacolby Satterwhite’s “A Metta Prayer,” The Met
Michelle Uckotter, Trap Paintings Vol. 4, King’s Leap
Willa Wasserman, Mirror xx,xxx,x, Francois Ghebaly Gallery
Pipilotti Rist, Prickling Goosebumps & a Humming Horizon, Hauser & Wirth/Luhring Augustine
Jonas Mekas, A small table with a bottle of wine, garlic, sausage, bread, Microscope Gallery
Philip Guston: What Kind of Man Am I?, The Met
Das Sofortvergnügen (THE INSTANT PLEASURE), Cosimo Pori and Travis Amiel
Helen Frankenthaler, Drawing within Nature, Gagosian
Amoako Boafo, what could possibly go wrong, if we tell it like it is, Gagosian
Wabanaki Modern: The Artistic Legacy of the 1960s, The Abbe Museum
… And with that, have a good holiday!
Church Bulletin:
Miyazaki’s The Boy and The Heron for the Baffler
On chasing pleasure for Pioneer Works’ Broadcast
Another year-end list for Screen Slate on film—though before I saw The Zone of Interest—which would absolutely make the cut.
A mini-reivew of Jacqueline Rose’s newest in The Whitney Review.
My short story “Validity” was nominated for a Pushcart by Joyland. :)