Textual Relations 2022 Book Selection Thread!

[Falselogic]

I know it's hard to grasp that 2021 is almost over. But it is. Hopefully, this year has been kind to you and yours. If it has not I'm sorry. This has been a rough near decade hasn't it? Let us work and hope that 2022 is better for us all. However the year turns out we should read books during it! And then talk about them here on Talking Time!

But what books?! It's a momentous series of decisions no doubt! But together I think we can come up with something! So, if you would please submit to me four book recommendations. I will generate some lists and we will vote on them! Remember it can be any sort of genre, fiction or non-fiction. The only thing I ask you to consider is that new books tend to be hard to source from the local library and many of our readers use theirs for copies.

I am excited to see what everyone has to offer, and of course to read, for this next year!

2021 Authors:
Stephen Graham Jones
Bettye Kearse
Anne Bronte
Alyssa Cole
Neal Stephenson
Marcia Chatelain
Gene Wolfe
Mary Robinette Kowal
Kim Stanley Robinson
Naomi Novik

 

[Violentvixen]

Could I ask that we do have one rule, which is that we don't repeat authors who were chosen the previous year? We do that in another book club I belong to and I think it helps.

 

[Falselogic]

Oh I think that's a really good idea! If no one objects I will add it and I'll even put in the first post the author's we did this year!

 

[John]

I'm not up on any new books, so let me look at my shelves/ereader and see what I haven't read or completed.

One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I've always heard good things about this one, but never set aside time for it. Maybe next year!

The Cuckoo's Egg - Clifford Stoll - I have read this one before, but it's very good. A nonfiction account of hacking and espionage from the mid-80's, all stemming from a 75 cent accounting error for computer time.

Peace - Gene Wolfe - I've read the first hundred pages of this a couple times, but for some reason never get to the end. It's much better than A Borrowed Man that we read this year, but we can rule it out if we'd like to adhere to VV's suggestion.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - This was suggested as an alternate this year, but didn't make the cut. I'm aware she's made some TERFy comments recently, so it may be a bit problematic to promote her.

Hocus Pocus - Kurt Vonnegut - I know nothing about this one, other than it's in my Kindle unread list so I bought it sometime.

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco - Another classic that I know nothing about, but it's on my to-do someday pile.

Nostrilia - Cordwainer Smith - A sci-fi cult classic, looks to be Dune-adjacent with a special drug that delays aging, but is unable to be reproduced synthetically.

Solaris - Stanislaw Lem - Another classic, I've only seen the American film remake and bits of the Soviet one.

Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - What are they waiting for? I don't know, I've never read the play or watched an adaptation.

 

[Violentvixen]

Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett - What are they waiting for? I don't know, I've never read the play or watched an adaptation.

This jumped out at me because this is a really divisive and difficult play that some people say works better as something you read rather than watch. I've only seen productions (I am biased toward this one (note: spoilers!) for reasons I don't want to write in this forum) but would be curious to read it at my own pace. I could see it being completely baffling or making way more sense!

 

[Violentvixen]

I just went through my to-read list and pulled out what I would suggest for this club and am at 14 books, which is honestly better than I expected for a first pass.

Getting down to four is going to be tough, but I'm excited to take a closer look at some of these, more than a few are ones I just threw on my list when they came out. Just this quick review helped me clean a few things off my to-read list that I'm no longer interested in.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - This was suggested as an alternate this year, but didn't make the cut. I'm aware she's made some TERFy comments recently, so it may be a bit problematic to promote her.

Aw man, I didn't know about that. I think I submitted this during the first round of voting last year and I'd like to read it eventually. Bummer.

 

[John]

I misread the instructions, so will winnow my list down to 4:

The Cuckoo’s Egg
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Nostrilia
Waiting for Godot

VV, Atwood retweeted an article that was “just asking the question, why can’t we say the word Woman anymore”. She didn’t directly say anything, but it was some passive transphobia.

 

[nijhazer]

I'm not up on new books, either. I want to change that, so I'm going to pepper my list with a few more recent ones.

Hopefully these books are good; I haven't read any of them yet:

• "The News from Spain" by Joan Wickersham
• "Tokyo Ueno Station" by Yu Miri
• "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender

And one that I read many years ago, which I have been meaning to re-read; I think it'll be a good fit for a book club:

• "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes

 

[John]

And one that I read many years ago, which I have been meaning to re-read; I think it'll be a good fit for a book club:

• "The Sense of an Ending" by Julian Barnes

I read this as part of the Idle Thumbs podcast’s book club, almost 10 years ago. I liked it then, and think it’s a good pick for discussion.

 

[Egarwaen]

* Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell
* The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
* This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
* The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein

 

[Violentvixen]

Still have too many but putting them here while I keep thinking.

• The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See - all about the female divers off Jeju island in South Korea. After seeing the abalone farms there and being in that water I am very impressed.
• Something by Michael Pollan haven't decided which one
• Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz - Nobel Prize winner. For my classics book club we had a year of not having authors from the same country, and that made me realize I'd read little to no Arabic literature. We didn't end up picking this one but it stayed on my list.
• Noor by Nnedi Okorafor - this isn't out until next week so might not make the final cut, but I love her stuff.
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou - this is high on my shame list for not reading yet
• I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong - an overview of microbes, microbiomes, etc. I don't know a ton about it but have had multiple people recommend it to me.
• The First Men in the Moon by HG Wells - Supposedly one of the more bonkers and comedic HG Wells stories with very little basis in science.
• The Popul Vuh - Mayan book of creation, I've read excerpts but never the whole thing. I'm looking at this translation but haven't spent a ton of time vetting a translation yet
• Investigating Lois Lane - very much out of my normal realm, but an analysis of the character Lois Lane sounds neat.

Also since I am not very online: if anyone is aware of any of these being problematic I'd like to know now.

* This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

This is a great book, but I'm biased since his wife and I went to elementary school together, ha! Although this just made me realize I haven't talked to them since pre-pandemic, I should reach out.

 

[Egarwaen]

This is a great book, but I'm biased since his wife and I went to elementary school together, ha! Although this just made me realize I haven't talked to them since pre-pandemic, I should reach out.

Oh that's awesome. I love everything I've read from Max. Empress of Forever would also be a really good choice.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I also have Time War on my shelf so I'd support that vote. I remember getting the first of Gladstone's numbered novels waaaay back when VV recommended it and mentioned she knew him, but never did get around to it.

*Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
*Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
*The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker
*All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

I didn't set out to only list books by women but once I got to the third and realized it, I figured I might as well stick to it.

Some others off my current to-read library:
*The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan
*Infomocracy by Malka Older
*The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

ETA: Oh! And
*Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Although I haven't read anything by her so if VV's rec of Noor above doesn't require previous reading then I'd second that too.

 

[John]

ETA: Oh! And
*Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor. Although I haven't read anything by her so if VV's rec of Noor above doesn't require previous reading then I'd second that too.

I haven’t read this one, but I did really like her Binti novella trilogy. Grab those if you haven’t!

 

[Violentvixen]

I haven’t read this one, but I did really like her Binti novella trilogy. Grab those if you haven’t!

Oh man yeah I would reread the Binti trilogy if people wanted to do that. They're really fast reads so the whole trilogy could easily go on this list as a slot for one month.

 

[Violentvixen]

@Falselogic are submissions closed? Because I might want to swap out one of my books on the list I sent you.

Also if people are still working on their lists it looks like Noor isn't getting as good reviews as her previous work. I didn't put it on my submission list since it's so new but wanted to share.

 

[Falselogic]

I havent started on it yet. Go ahead and amend as you'd like @Violentvixen

 

[Falselogic]

Okay, I have two lists to pick from! @Egarwaen @Violentvixen @Paul le Fou @John @nijhazer . Other people can vote as well I hope you decide to participate if you do!

LIST A
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham
This is How You lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
The Popul Vuh
Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
High on the Hog by Jessica Harris
Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The Hidden Palace by Helen Wecker

LIST B
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
The Cuckoo’s Egg Clifford Stoll
Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri
Parable of the Sower Octavia Butler
The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein
Investigating Lois Lane by Tim Hanley
Nostrilia Cordwainer Smith
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender

Let me know which you prefer. Again, this is a ten month reading club. We will be taking July and December off again in 2022.

Also, open to swapping things around. I'm just trying to help facilitate the club!

Thank you and happy holidays!

 

[Paul le Fou]

I throw in my vote for List A.

 

[John]

I like both, but lean to List A as well.

 

[Lokii]

Both lists look great but I'm leaning towards B

 

[Violentvixen]

Oh jeez, List A has a couple books I love and have been wanting to revisit for years, but List B will be all new ones for me including a couple I've been meaning to read for a while. Gonna think a bit more. These are both great.

 

[Egarwaen]

I'm good with either list. There's some books on both that I'm going to skip, and some on both I'm very excited for.

 

[Falselogic]

If no one else is voting List A it is.

 

[Violentvixen]

I think I would have chosen A by a slight margin so I agree!

 

[Falselogic]

List A it is then!

 

[Falselogic]

Thread for 2022 is live!