The Most Recent Best

The fact that I find the date of a new year an arbitrary marking of time doesn't mean I am not susceptible to "best of" lists.

However, it does mean that I'm not really interested in going back through the list of books I've read during the past year, much less the past ten years. (I can go back to October 13, 1996. Why are you surprised at this?)

So here are the best fiction and nonfiction works I've read recently.

Fiction. Driftless, by David Rhodes. A series of vignettes that create a fully dimensional image of a community. Nothing, no image or mention of an object, is thrown away, and I never am aware of the work of the writer. (Contrast with Barbara Kingsolver.) Community members are flawed and gifted and fully human, and these aspects of their lives are shown with the greatest respect. And yes, stuff happens in this story, as it does in real communities, but it's not the stuff that happens that's important; it's the effect of the stuff on the community. I read it slowly because I didn't want it to end, and when I was finished I started again at the beginning and read it with a notebook in hand to see if it was as good as I thought it was. It was.

Nonfiction. And Baby Makes More: Known Donors, Queer Parents, and Our Unexpected Families, edited by Susan Goldberg and Chloe Brushwood Rose. The title pretty much says it all, except for all the things it doesn't say. Like the fact that the writing is really good. I was afraid there would be lots of academic back-and-forthing as family members tried to talk about things (such as family roles) for which we don't have words, but the writing is very grounded and practical. I was also impressed by the honesty -- the shifting allegiances and jealousies that most parents in "traditional" families also have but hardly ever talk about were part of (but not dominant in) the larger story. (Full disclosure: yes, I know Susan and probably would not have noticed this book without her, but that really has nothing to do with the worthiness of this book. And I also have a "nontraditional" family, though not in this exact way, so yes, I'm personally happy that people are talking about these issues. That is not the only reason I admire this book and these writers.)

During this past year I've read other good books, along with some middling ones. I've read some simply because I started them and finishing allowed me to feel virtuous.

And I want never to take for granted the abundance of books that are available to me because I live at this time in this part of the world. Sometimes I do, and I shouldn't.

Climbing off the soapbox now.

Oh, and: The best book of poetry I read in 2009 is Jeremiah, Ohio, by Adam Sol. It's also the only book of poetry I read. It's way easier for me to puzzle over mathematical equations than poems (and I was an English major who didn't really "get" integration in calculus). However, I liked this book enough to keep it on the desk or just beside the desk so that I can pick it up and dip into it when I need a break. But then, what's not to love about an Old Testament-style prophet in the 21st century?

See? All these books, available with one-click shopping, mean that I even read poetry. Perhaps the apocalypse really IS coming soon.