elizabethlevett

(Or, One Hundred and One Books…)

I keep getting this nagging feeling that it’s time to post something, to keep momentum going, to be productive. I’ve decided I’ve been wrong. It’s December. It’s dark and cold. It’s time to let my own stories germinate in the soil for awhile and curl up with a good book. This has been quite a year for many of us. I’ve found that, just like during childhood and those awkward teenage years, books have become the refuge I return to again and again. Whenever I have a little extra time, I’d rather be reading than looking at a screen. Turns out I’ve read more than usual since last winter. (Shout out to our library — they know me there!) And so, instead of trying to write something brilliant, or moving, or funny, or clever, I’d like to share my book list from the past year. Some of these books were so incredibly good that you might want to check them out. These I’ve marked with an asterisk. Most are pretty good. I do love my poets and my art books. But I’ve only starred the ones I found really amazing.

“That’s what books are for, after all, to tell your stories, to hold them and keep them safe between our covers for as long as we’re able. We do our best to bring you pleasure and sustain your belief in the gravity of being human. We care about your feelings and believe in you completely.” Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness.

January:

1. This is Water – David Foster Wallace*
2. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress – Dai Sijie*
3. Hello Beautiful – Ann Napolitano
4. Lovely One – Ketanji Brown Jackson*
5. Murder at the Vicarage – Agatha Christie
6. The True Deceiver – Tove Jansson
7. Nikki Heat – Richard Castle
8. Baumgartner – Paul Auster*
9. I Always Loved You – Robin Olivera
10. A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby*

February:

11. When we were Birds – Ayanna Lloyd Banwo*
12. Steal Like an Artist – Austin Kleon
13. All About Love – Bell Hooks*
14. The Marriage of Opposites – Alice Hoffman*
15. Friend – Sigrid Nunez*
16. Love Poems – Nikki Giovanni*
17. Tar Baby – Toni Morrison*
18. We’ll Prescribe You a Cat – Syou Ishida
19. Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan*
20. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) – Sly Stone with Ben Greenman*

March: 

21. Dubliners – James Joyce*
22. The Vulnerables – Sigrid Nunez*
23. The Case of the Careless Kitten – Erle Stanley Gardner
24. Memorial Days – Geraldine Brooks*
25. A Raisin in the Sun (Screenplay) – Lorraine Hansberry*
26. The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni
27. Dark Forest – Nicole Krauss 
28. Face It – Debbie Harry
29. Frankie – Graham Norton
30. Devotion – Patti Smith*

April: 

31. In France Profound – T.D. Allman*
32. Songteller – Dolly Parton
33. Windows on Provence – Georgeanne Brennan
34. The Honor of Your Presence – Dave Eggers
35. The Restaurant of Lost Recipes – Hisashi Kashiwai
36. A Mercy – Toni Morrison*
37. The Lover – Marguerite Duras
38. Light from Uncommon Stars – Ryka Aoki*
39. Passing – Nella Larsen

May: 

40. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies – Deesha Philyaw*
41. Black in Blues – Imani Perry*
42. Brooklyn – Colm Toibin
43. Songbird – Leslie Ann Jones
44. The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki*
45. Purple Hibiscus  – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie*
46. The Working Mind and Drawing Hand – Oliver Jeffers*

June: 

47. When We Were Sisters – Fatimah Asghar*
48. The Song of the Lark – Willa Cather
49. The Lady and the Unicorn – Tracy Chevalier 
50. The Goodbye Cat – Hiro Arikawa
51. George Washington Carver, A Life – Christina Vella*
52. Remarkably Bright Creatures – Shelby Van Pelt*
53. Catching the Big Fish – David Lynch*
54. His Eye is On the Sparrow – Ethel Waters*
55. The Full Moon Coffee Shop – Mai Mochizuki

July: 

56. Hurry up and Wait – Maira Kalman and Daniel Handler
57. Sara Berman’s Closet – Maira and Alex Kalman
58. And the Pursuit of Happiness – Maira Kalman
59. The Book of Alchemy – Souleika Jaouad 
60. The Book of Qualities – J. Ruth Gendler
61. Kiss Me Like a Stranger – Gene Wilder
62. Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke
63. That’s How They Get You – Damon Young*

August:

64. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers – Jesse Q. Sutano 
65. Punch Me Up to the Gods – Brian Broome*
66. Urban Watercolor Sketching – Felix Scheinberger
67. Stand in My Window – LaTonya Yvette 
68. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
69. My Name is Emilia Del Valle – Isabel Allende
70. Matriarch – Tina Knowles
71. The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong*
72. Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man – Jesse Q. Sutanto

September: 

73. My Friends – Fredrik Backman*
74. Steve Martin Writes the Written Word – Steve Martin 
75. Light and Shade in Watercolor – Hazel Soan
76. Pencils You Should Know – Caroline Weaver
77. Show Your Work – Austin Kleon
78. The Professor’s House – Willa Cather*
79. The World is Round – Gertrude Stein
80. Front Desk – Kelly Yang
81. The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver*
82. What You are Looking For is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama

October:

83. Marsha – The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson – Tourmaline* 
84. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott*
85. Mornings Without Mii – Mayumi Inaba
86. I am Homeless if This is Not My Home – Lorrie Moore*
87. Food Rules, An Eater’s Manual – Michael Pollan
88. Hard Laughter – Anne Lamott*
89. Truth and Beauty – Ann Patchett*
90. Assata, an Autobiography – Assata Shakur*

November:

91. A Little Daylight Left – Sarah Kay*
92. I Am Brian Wilson – Brian Wilson and Ben Greenman
93. M Train – Patti Smith*
94. We’ll Prescribe You Another Cat – Syou Ishida
95. The Upcycled Self – Tariq Trotter*
96. No Matter the Wreckage – Sarah Kay*
97. The New Book – Nikki Giovanni*
98. Arsenic and Adobo – Mia P. Manansala

December:

99. The Look – Michelle Obama
100. The Murder of Roger Akroyd – Agatha Christie
101. A Grandmother Begins the Story – Michelle Porter*