2017 Statistical Roundup

How many books read in 2017?
I read 68 books this year, up 10 from last year's total of 58. Yay! I attribute this to audiobooks, bringing books to the gym and all the time I have spent in holding as a background actor, where I could sometimes read a book in a day.

How many fiction and non fiction? 
40 fiction to 28 nonfiction. The high nonfiction number is attributable to audiobooks and keeping nonfiction on my bedside table and at the gym.

Male/Female author ratio? 
28 male authors to 40 female authors. This is the first time in a long time that the number of female authors was higher than the number of male authors. I attribute this in part to prioritizing nonfiction by women. And yes it's weird how the numbers split across the two different metrics.

Favorite book of 2017? Either Made for Love, by Alissa Nutting, or Dinner by César Aira. I loved Dinner more in the moment but Made for Love has stayed with me.

Least favorite? I'd rather not say.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? A few. Sometimes it just doesn't work out or it's the wrong time or the wrong whatever. There were a couple of very lauded 2017 releases I could not get into. That sort of thing.

Oldest book read? Ourika, by Claire de Duras, published in 1823.

Newest? The Golden House, by Salman Rushdie, a recent-ish 2017 release.

Longest and shortest book titles? 
Shortest title: Véra, by Stacy Schiff
Longest title: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

Longest and shortest books?
Longest: The Son, by Philipp Meyer
Shortest:  Dinner, by César Aira

How many books from the library?
None! I didn't visit a library all year. Sad! For the second year in a row, too.

Any translated books?
Haha one or two. I read books translated from French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, Serbian and Japanese.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?
I went to Japan, Yugoslavia, Russia, Italy, India, France, Greece, Iran, Congo, England, Rwanda, Lebanon, Canada, Israel, Argentina, Germany, and Mauritius.  I also went to the moon and Mars via a graphic novel.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author? 
A tie between César Aira and Roz Chast, with three books each.

Any re-reads?
I re-read The Son, by Philipp Meyer, in anticipation of watching the TV series. I liked the book better!

Favorite character of the year? 
Hazel's dad in Made for Love.

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?
The Romanov Sisters, by Helen Rappaport, was a staff pick at Greenlight Books in Brooklyn and I wouldn't have found it otherwise.

Which author was new to you in 2017 that you now want to read the entire works of?
Alissa Nutting

Which books are you annoyed you didn't read? I still haven't gotten to The Nix and that bugs me.

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
Yes, I read Jacqueline Susann's classic Valley of the Dolls.

Bookish Events in Marie's Life

1. Attended Book Expo America
2. Attended a week-long literary-translation workshop at the Bread Loaf campus of Middlebury College in Vermont. Amazing week.
3. Finally got to Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.and the Palm Beach Bookstore in Palm Beach, Florida.
4. Worked as a background actor on an episode of "Orange is the New Black," which was adapted from a book of the same name.
5. Celebrated 10 years as a book blogger!

2017 Favorites

2017 was not a banner year of reading for me. I was frequently distracted, busy, running around and just not reading. And I read a lot of clunkers. But the year is winding down and it's time for my annual favorites.

What I will say is that I read a lot of excellent nonfiction. My original favorites list was eight titles, whittled down to five for balance. Fiction was tougher for me. I read a lot of TBR dust bunnies that should have been weeded. And found some treasures too.  But I kept on reading as best as I could. Here are my favorite reads this year, five fiction and five nonfiction.

Fiction

Made for Love, by Alissa Nutting. I just loved this edgy and offbeat novel about a runaway wife and a gigolo attracted to dolphins. Nothing goes the way you think, and yet it all works out, somehow. 2017 release.

Beautiful Animals, by Lawrence Osborne. If you love literary fiction and you're not reading Lawrence Osborne, it's
really time to start. His latest is a firecracker about the refugee crisis in the form of a taut thriller about a scam that goes very very wrong. 2017 release.

See What I Have Done, by Sarah Schmidt. This is just a terrific page-turning thriller based on a real life murder, the case of Lizzie Borden. No big surprises here but a tight, moody story to keep you up at night. 2017 release.

The Literary Conference, by César Aira. Haha the best. I love César. I just love his stuff so much. If you like Carlos Fuentes you may have strong feelings about this story of a mad scientist and his project that goes very very wrong.

Dinner, by César Aira. If you didn't get enough already, indulge in this sweet treat about the zombie apocalypse.

Nonfiction

In the Land of Invented Languages, by Arika Okrent. Fascinating and fun story of languages that people made up, and how they fared, or didn't. I started learning Esperanto after reading it. Maybe you'll want to learn Klingon or Lojban.

The Romanov Sisters, by Helen Rappaport. This is a sad but also engrossing story of the four doomed daughters of the last czar of Russia.

Theft by Finding, by David Sedaris. I did this one on audio
and I recommend that you do, too. Audio is the best way to experience Sedaris's humor and storytelling flair. This volume excerpts his diaries from 1977-2002. I can't wait for the next compendium. 2017 release.

American Gypsy, by Oksana Marafioti. I loved this coming-of-age-in-America
story about a young Roma girl who comes to Los Angeles from Russia in the 1980s. Charming and fun.

A Very Expensive Poison, by Luke Harding. Read this for a gripping and horrible story about what happened to one man who crossed Vladimir Putin. 2017 release.

Stay tuned for the annual statistical recap, coming soon.

What's New On the Shelf?

I've added a few new cool things lately.


Going into Town is the latest from cartoonist Roz Chast, a favorite of mine. This book is a brief memoir coupled with a pencil-sketch guide to getting around New York City. If you know someone who's moving here, this would make a great gift.

I wish I had had it when I moved to NYC in 2014 but it only came out this year.

Margaret the First, by Danielle Dutton, is a novel about the life of Margaret Cavendish, a 17th century novelist who wrote all kinds of crazy things, from what I understand. It was coupled with one of her books, The Blazing World, which I also bought- a great literary double feature indeed. Thanks to Greenlight Books in Fort Greene for the pairing.

Last year I decided to buy a one-year subscription to books from the small press & Other Stories, and I got my first book from them in the fall, Nicola Pugilese's Malacqua, about a flood in Naples. I can't wait to wade in, so to speak.

Finally, I got a copy of Bernardo Atxaga's The Accordionist's Son for contributing to a Kickstarter launched by Graywolf Press, Europa Editions and Other Press to send booksellers to international book fairs. They successfully raised $30,000 to launch this literary scholarship program and gave various incentives for contributions. This signed copy was my little prize. Atxaga is a favorite author of mine so I was pretty excited.

That's what's new on my shelf. What's new on yours?

Some Recent (ish) TV Adaptations of Favorite Books

You can't help but notice how many literary adaptations are coming to television these days, largely thanks to the success of "Game of Thrones" and the proliferation of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. Even cable stations are into it- AMC did Philipp Meyer's The Son, for example. I watch TV slowly but consistently and have worked my way through a few series lately.

First I need to admit, somewhat shamefully, that I have not watched all of Hulu's adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and nor am I likely to. It's one of my favorite books in terms of the impression it made but when I saw the 1990 film adaptation, the one that starred Robert Duval and Natasha Richardson, I thought it was bland given the subject matter. I always imagined someone like Lars von Triers directing a really good, gritty version, but thought that any really good adaptation would also be nearly unwatchable. Well von Triers isn't the director of Hulu's version but I did find it unwatchable anyway, after one episode. I just... couldn't. It's really solid, and has won awards and blah blah blah, but no. I went through the trauma once, when I read the book; I don't feel like the need to revisit any more. Maybe someday, but as General Gowron once said, "not today."

Moving on to another Margaret Atwood adaptation, Netflix's "Alias Grace," which is actually my very favorite of Atwood's books. This adaptation is extremely good, very faithful to the book and compelling and highly binge-able. I loved it. Very plot-centric with detailed characterizations and pitch-perfect acting, it's a real winner, whether or not you've read it. But you should definitely read it too.

As a side note, I'm a quilter and it's neat to see interest in the series and book from my quilting community. Quilts play an important role in Grace's life and many people in the groups I belong to are intrigued by the show due to the prominent placement of quilting in the story. Folks are asking for the patterns and starting to think about projects they might do based on Grace's quilts. Maybe I'll even end up doing a Grace quilt at some point. Might be fun!

Lately I've started AMC's "The Son," based on Philipp Meyer's 2013 novel of the same name, also a serious favorite of mine. I'm three episodes in and while it's pretty solid there are some changes. The creators have compressed the time line, removed a generation of the McCullough family and amped up the soap opera a little bit. They also seem to have compressed the Comanche sequences although I'm not through the whole thing yet so maybe there's more. When I heard about it, I was really skeptical about the casting of Dreamy Pierce Brosnan as Eli McCullough, the tough old patriarch of the family. In the book we really only get a very old Eli, well past his physical prime, and it was hard for me to picture Brosnan in that role. The Eli onscreen is a vital and vigorous man in his 60s or so, aging but very much on his game, and a better fit for the actor. And I like this Eli; he's a jerk but he's our jerk. The character doesn't feel inaccurate, but like something that was sculpted from the source material rather than simply copied.

And as far as "Game of Thrones," I'm a huge fan and can't wait for the final season. I've read only a few chapters of the first book and have no interest in reading more, but I love the world the showrunners have created out of George R.R. Martin's opus and would encourage anyone to get started with the series if you haven't already. It's not for everybody, but it's an amazing achievement.

What literary series are you hooked on? I'd love to hear about some more in the comments.