In 2019 I read 53 books.
Yikes.
Here are my 10 favourites of those 53 (with links to my original reviews).
10. FIRE AND HEMLOCK by Diana Wynne Jones
A deeply atmospheric narrative about magic and the pain of adolescence.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/12/31/fire-and-hemlock-by-diana-wynne-jones/
9. HADRIANA IN ALL MY DREAMS by René Depestre
A wandering, wry meditation on memory, exile and voodoo, detailing a wedding that becomes a funeral…and then becomes something even stranger.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/10/17/hadriana-in-all-my-dreams-by-rene-depestre/
8. WOMAN AT POINT ZERO by Nawal El Saadawi
An Egyptian author’s tale of a young woman, abused by life and men, who decides to claw independence and success to herself at any cost.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/07/18/woman-at-point-zero-by-nawal-al-saadawi/
7. NEGROPHOBIA by Darius James
Not for the light-hearted is James’s hallucinogenic dive into the cesspool of American racism.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/09/05/negrophobia-an-urban-parable-by-darius-james/
6. A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by John Kennedy Toole
A cult classic about an impoverished man in New Orleans who is almost as grotesque as he is determined to never surrender to the banality of life.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/09/28/a-confederacy-of-dunces-by-john-kennedy-toole/
5. ONCE AND FOREVER by Miyazawa Kenji
Miyazawa is a beloved children’s author in Japan, and this is a collection of his best short fiction: quick, bittersweet tales of animals, chance meetings, magical entities and deserved comeuppances. Imagine Aesop mixed with a strong dose of Kafka, and you might get an idea of the wonderful strangeness of these surreal little stories.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/01/22/once-and-forever-the-tales-of-kenji-miyazawa/
4. INVISIBLE MAN by Ralph Ellison
Ellison takes on many societal demons in this iconic novel about race, class and poverty set in mid-century New York. A young black man attempts to find decent work and dignity but, through a series of increasingly bizarre, at times even experimentally described episodes, finds that much of the world is set against him.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/02/22/invisible-man-by-ralph-ellison/
3. REVOLT OF THE COCKROACH PEOPLE by Oscar Zeta Acosta
Acosta is perhaps better known as “Dr. Gonzo”, a fictionalized version of him appearing in the works of Hunter S. Thompson, but he proves here that he can tell a tale just as wild, and in many ways more impactful, than his famous journalist friend. A fictionalized telling of Acosta’s work as a lawyer representing radical Chicano activists in the late 60s and early 70s, this is a book of vivid incident and leering character, a snapshot of a country on the edge of revolution.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/06/17/the-revolt-of-the-cockroach-people-by-oscar-zeta-acosta/
2. GOD’S BITS OF WOOD by Ousmane Sembène
A hugely ambitious novel by the famous Senegalese author, GOD’S BITS OF WOOD tells the story a strike of railway workers on the Dakar-Niger line. There’s no one protagonist in this sprawling tale; instead one is given a multitude of perspectives, including that of the oppressive Colonial forces. In the end, this is a testament to the power of community in the fight against injustice.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/04/17/gods-bits-of-wood-by-sembene-ousmane/
1. DICTIONARY OF THE KHAZARS by Milorad Pavić
This utterly unique novel defies categorization. Disguised as an academic treatise on the Khazar people, the book, in the dry and pointed language of universities, describes the (largely fictionalized) traditions and beliefs of the Khazars. Only gradually does the reader understand something else is going on, as the story reveals itself to be a tale of ghosts, of magic, fairies…and perhaps even something grander than that: a spell, designed to resurrect the unmentionable. I read this book on the red-eye bus between Montreal and Toronto, and maybe it was the exhaustion of peering so long at such dense text in such narrow lighting, but this was one of those rare reading experiences where I can say I was transported, however briefly, to…somewhere else. Bizarre, difficult and unforgettable.
https://melikebooks.home.blog/2019/03/12/dictionary-of-the-khazars-by-milorad-pavic/
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