I decided to do an end-of-year list thingy.
Here are some my personal reading highlights. I read a lot of great books this year, but these are my top 5 and some runners-up. (No particular order.)
These were originally posted one day at a time on my social media accounts.
The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins
Sometimes it’s just fun to roll around in a self-help book for a little while, getting that positive reinforcement stink all over you. This one was great: simple and straight-forward with actionable steps. And I love Mel Robbins’s voice: smart, funny, relatable.
She’s like your cool older cousin who’s not afraid to tell you you’ve been stepping in it, while at the same time, holding your hand to help you avoid the massive pitfalls she’s been through herself.
Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu
Vampire stuff. But *good* vampire stuff. No sparkly teen-angst. No messy, rip-your-neck-out gore. No droning on in letters between two lovers or the diary of some random old dude waxing ecstatic about all the women in the story. (I’m looking at you, Van Helsing.)
Not only was Carmilla written twenty-six years before Dracula, the eponymous character actually graces the pages of this story for longer than forty-two seconds, making for a much more compelling read.
Gimme more of that BA antagonist energy, baby.
If Dracula had had more “screen time,” he might’ve given Carmilla a run for her money. But even then, I’m thinking no.
All the Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley
My kids got this for me, so that auto-bumped it to the top of the TBR pile. And, man, was it worth it. In ATBITW, Mr. Bringley discusses his time as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, beautifully weaving his experiences there with the grief of losing his brother. He goes into detail about specific pieces of art and piqued my interest enough for me to plot out a route involving those works on my next trip.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Speaking of waxing ecstatic, my daughter read this one and couldn’t stop talking about it. I’d never had the privilege of reading it as a teenager. I probably would’ve thought differently about a lot of things. In school, we were subjected to 1984 and Holden Caufield. I don’t mean to sound bitter; I totally enjoyed both of those reads. The thing is, I would’ve loved a good coming-of-age story with a female protagonist (written by a woman). Back then, though, it was “stick to the classics,” and all that. The classics are great. I just would’ve loved this one in the mix, too.
All Fours by Miranda July
I mean. Oh my god.
This book is 100% about voice. The main character (left intentionally nameless) reminds me of that scene from It’s a Wonderful Life* where George Bailey and Mary Hatch are doing the Charleston at a high school dance in the gym, grooving and shaking, faster and faster, as the floor beneath them—unbeknownst to them—slowly splits apart, revealing the new swimming pool underneath, but they just keep grooving and shaking in their flirty this-is-as-much-sex-as-we’re-willing-to-show-in-a-1940s-film bliss, woefully ignorant of the floor, getting closer and closer to the creeping edge, hearing the screams of friends and mistakenly thinking it’s for their dancing prowess when, in fact, it’s because they’ve almost fallen into the pool beneath them six times until the reality of space takes over and they run out of room and dump into the pool, getting soaked, but never giving up the dance.
The main character in All Fours is crazy and messy and smart and funny and wonderful and unpredictable and she makes so many weird choices and has so many outrageous experiences, and I loved every minute of that weird, outrageous ride.
*It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)—for those who don’t know—is an old black and white movie, typically shown at Christmas time. Starring James Stewart and Donna Reed, it’s a sweet movie about understanding the impact you have on others. And it has an angel named Clarence. Fun fact: my dog is named after one of the daughters, Zuzu.
And the Runners-Up…
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Once again, I have my daughter to thank for this. She loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it. This was a re-read for me. It’s short so I figured, what the hey? I can count on about one finger the number of books I’ve re-read. There are just too many good books in the world I haven’t yet gotten to. I want to read those first. Plus, I’m getting older, so … you know … I’m going to die soon.
This held up. In fact, it was better than I remembered. Great prose. Glamorous characters. Fascinating time period.
Night by Elie Wiesel
Because, why not get a little somber? This is another book I read because of my daughter. It was assigned to her for English class, and I thought it would be a good idea to see what she was seeing, in case she had any questions or concerns.
This book was, in a word, breathtaking. In every sense.
If it doesn’t restore your faith in the resiliency of humankind … idk … maybe go hug a puppy or something?
If it was this good in English, I can only imagine how amazing it was in its original Yiddish.
Mexicans on the Moon by Pedro Iniguez
This is a book of speculative poetry. Typically, I feel about poetry the way I feel about jazz: I should like it, but I don’t.
I said what I said.
Both make me feel inferior, as if to say, “Meghan, if you were more cultured and mature and artisanal and liked a curated list of bespoke craft beer, you would join the ranks of the elite and bathe in the musical and lyrical acumen the rest of us has. Instead, you are dumb.”
I always feel like I’m missing something. Maybe it’s patience.
But not for Mexicans on the Moon. Maybe it’s because it’s speculative; maybe it’s because Pedro writes in a musical and lyrical way that’s more accessible to me. idk. It also won the Bram Stoker Award, so I’m not the only one who felt that way. Pedro is also a great guy, so it makes it even better.
Honorable mentions (because, seriously, narrowing this list down was too hard):
The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones
How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen
Both fiction. Both horror. Both amazing.
meghan arcuri 