My Best Books in 2018

“She always has her nose in a book,” my mother said many, many times during my childhood and teen years. I still do. Last year, I read ninety-six books instead of the usual hundred but nevertheless, found some terrific stuff, including a lot more mysteries than usual. I even tried a YA book, John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, the story of two teen aged cancer patients who fall in love. I liked it. Here is a selection of those I enjoyed the most.

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. Young Washington Black, a Barbados slave is saved from a life of misery by an eccentric scientist who has created a flying machine. In many ways this book is reminiscent of the old fashioned adventure story a la Robert Louis Stevenson; but it is also a quest story as Black travels far and wide to connect with his mentor and to make sense of his past. Black’s ambition and his love of science takes him from Barbados, to Nova Scotia, to the arctic, England, Holland and Morocco. A big-hearted historical about love and attachment.

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke. A thriller and murder mystery set in rural Texas with a Texas Ranger, Darren Matthews, on the case. Matthews is black and the small town of Lark is racist and also home to the Aryan Brotherhood which adds to the simmering tension in the book.

The Dry by Jane Harper.  A superb mystery thriller set in Australia. In a time of intense heat and drought, detective Aaron Falk is assigned to investigate a multiple murder in his old hometown, the place where, years ago, the locals forced his family out of town. Not only does Falk meet old friends and enemies but also he has to uncover the secrets of the past as well as the horrors of the present. Fast paced with a plot twist on every page, The Dry became an instant best seller and led me to another Jane Harper page turner, Force of Nature, also starring Aaron Falk and just as good as Dry.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer. A Pulitzer Prize winner and a masterpiece. A gay man, medium level writer, dreads becoming 50. His lover marries another. His career is going nowhere. His youthful vitality is dwindling with middle age. To ease his pain, he arranges a trip around the world to various literary events. He’s a likeable but bumbling type who can’t help attracting unforeseen happenings. A wonderful book with an upbeat ending.

Heroes in My Head by Judy Rebick.  One of the strangest and bravest memoirs I have ever read. Rebick, the well-know Canadian feminist, writer and activist, describes her involvement in the major political issues of our times but also describes the psychological struggles which overwhelm her. Always a strong voice for women, she started her life’s work at McGill and eventually became president of NAC . She still carries on today, a role model and a feminist hero.

Yet, all the time, she was suffering from severe delusions: multi personalities which spoke to her and even spoke through her. She seems to have had no control over these alters, as she calls them. Some are children and one is a woman who speaks with a southern accent. A bizarre form of delusion or mental illness. She believes the toughness she learned as the daughter of an abusive father and remote mother caused a form of dissociation. Rebick, an accomplished writer with a clear precise style, perfectly describes the Canadian political zeitgeist of the past five decades. A book worth reading.

City Poems by Joe Fiorito Mini stories of the city dealing with the underbelly of city life: the dealers, druggies, homeless, the lost, the dead. Joe’s poems are startling, wise, compassionate, and clear sighted. Joe has spent eighteen years travelling the darkest corners of Toronto and his humanitarian outlook shows in these oblique, jagged poems of great power.

Berlin by Jason Lutes It took twenty years for Lutes to create Berlin and what a masterpiece it is! This graphic historical novel follows the last years of the Weimar Republic up to the triumph of Hitler, but the author does not dwell on the lives of politicians or revolutionaries but concentrates on the experiences of a few ordinary people who get caught up in the chaos as this open, tolerant, modern city sinks into barbarism. The graphics are detailed and spit on, the stories intriguing. I read the book slowly, immersed in another reality which, in a gruesome way, shadows our present realities. I am planning to read it again. A masterwork published by the famous Canadian house, Drawn and Quarterly.

Ten Generations – Then an Artist. The Susan A Ross Story by James R. Stevens. Wonderful  look at this Thunder Bay’s artist’s life with lots of illustrations: paintings, etchings and drawings. Ross’ fame rests not only on her artistic skills but also on the empathy and understanding shown in her work, especially in the drawings of Aboriginal people.

James R. Stevens

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki. A Japanese film maker is chosen to work on a tv series showing ordinary American housewives cooking meat. The show’s sponsor, a Japanese beef organization, aims to get more Japanese women to buy more meat. When the filmmaker finds out about the hormones and other chemicals in meat, she tries to tweak the scripts with anti-meat insinuations. She is fired but goes on to a career in tv production. An unusual plot? Yes indeed and a great read too.

Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark  Just a great book with a happy, assertive, female protagonist who gets involved with the strange Autobiographical Society. When they steal her novel, the feud is on. The sly humour, the perfect pacing, the strange but believable situations make this book one of my all time favourites. Spark is best known for the classic, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, one of the best works of fiction in the English language. Many of her other books have been culled from libraries in a general plan to remove classics except for the most famous titles. But happily, Spark is available on line.

Bow Grip by Ivan Coyote. A poignant story of a man dealing with his divorce. He is a working class guy, the type that is called a good guy, a rather silent fellow who take up the cello and tries to accept meeting his wife with her lesbian partner. He’s a well-crafted character in an authentic Canadian setting and plot. I think Coyote is one of out best writers, strong and unsentimental.

Ivan Coyote

A Large Harmonium by Sue Sorensen. A Winnipeg novel which rambles onward like the city itself. The protagonist is a woman who is clutzy, without confidence, unable to complete anything or organize her work, heed deadlines or get the place cleaned up and yet her inner voice is one of sharp sarcasm almost making for a duel personality. The other characters are very well done and interesting. They include Little Max, her son, her husband and his friend Jam. With plenty of wit and sharp dialogue our heroine deals with the modern educational system and her own teaching career. Lots to think about here.

Rachel Cusk

I end this list reluctantly. I have omitted fine books such as Fair Play by Tove Jansson, All That Man Is, the 2016 Mann Booker Prize winner, by David Szalay, Kudos by the amazing Rachel Cusk, The Song of Roland, a graphic by Quebecois author Michel Rabagliati, and Willie by Heather Roberson. As usual I read lots of short stories including a door stopper called 100 Years of Best American Short Stories, lots of stories in the New Yorker, Room, Prairie Fire and other magazines plus books by William Trevor, Laurie Moore, and Mavis Gallant.

But wait! There’s more! I forgot to mention a popular detective series new to me this year. Author Andrea Camilleri sets his characters in modern-day Sicily. Salvo Monalbano, a melancholy but unflinchingly honest police inspector, must solve the murder but also outwit the mafia and the conniving local politicians. This is book candy for readers who enjoy a quick read with a perplexing crime, a strong sense of place and a good helping of Italian humour. The local libraries carry many in the series.