Books I Read This Year

~ Appearing in order of least to most enjoyed ~

A Drink Before the War (1994) by Dennis Lehane

Overall, I didn't read anything this year I actively disliked. I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoy most pieces of well liked fiction: enough? I heavily gravitate towards memoirs when picking books to read. When I realized that for the last 3-4 years all I've read are tragic memoirs & celebrity tell-alls (we're going to keep it this way tbh lol) I felt motivated to challenge my brain with a more traditional detective series. I wanted to read "Gone Baby Gone" because I've never seen the film and I love the other Dennis Lehane movie adaptations I've seen (Mystic River, Shutter Island). When I realized that Gone Baby Gone is like his 4th mystery novel set in Boston starring the private investigator duo Patrick Kenzie & Angie Gennaro - I thought I'd pick up the first Kenzie/Gennaro book. So you don't have to read them all in order, but I'm glad I read this one first and would recommend starting at the beginning here before picking up any of the other Kenzie/Gennaro mysteries. I found the plot and storytelling pretty cliche and dated to be honest, but I loved all the gritty world building of Dorchester (a fictional rough suburb of Boston) and the development of the two lead characters who have an interesting dynamic as protagonists. There's very little world building and character developing in Gone Baby Gone so this book helped me appreciate that one more - which is ultimately, the much more mysterious/exciting crime novel.

Gay Dads: a Celebration of Fatherhood (2004) by David Strah

I read this in February during a mentally ill fit of mania at my brother's apartment in like a night lol I was feeling sorry for myself that I was never gonna have a family or get married and reading this book just made me feel worse at the time lmao. It is so difficult, expensive, and time consuming for gay men to adopt.. it's depressing. I think it's getting better though? I don't know I'd like a more contemporary version of this book with 2020+ stories of couples. I mostly love the way this book plainly rests on my brother's entertainment center among a few other carefully curated cannabis growing literature titles lol it's more his personality to have this book tbh we stan a proud straight ally.

Gone Baby Gone (1998) by Dennis Lehane

I would not have liked this nearly as much if I hadn't had of read A Drink Before the War (the last 100 pages of which I found formulaic and tedious) first. So that was satisfying. But no this one pops off the whole time!! It's 400 pages of omg like who stole this little girl?? For what?? This book is super plot-driven so you have to pay close attention and re-read introductions of names/new characters which is something I was just not disciplined enough to do a few years ago so yay! Yeah highly recommend. I'm excited to watch the film adaptation. I picked up this author because I love the films Shutter Island and Mystic River which are both Dennis Lehane novels. All of his stuff is super gritty, hyper masculine... I like to always be into something kinda gritty and masculine it's fun.

Crying in H Mart (2021) by Michelle Zauner

Now we're on to the profound, tear-jerking memoirs: my favorite books to read. I 100 percent will publish my own memoir before I die and save all of my journaling / writing of life events in a google doc so I can one day format them into a memoir that hits like a book this one day. To be honest.. theres nothing that unique or profound that unfolds in this girl's life and the level to which i enjoyed this book speaks to the great talent of Michelle Zauner. The level of DETAIL is so exquisite. The foundation of Koreon cooking threading every memory and chapter of her young-adult life was so well done and made me want to seek out the cuisine to eat. Michelle's departed mom is so fully realized on the page, you imagine her so vividly.. I found myself laughing audibly and tearing up in the sections on her later visits with mom. Far more than the sections that were focused on her own coming-of-age reflections of death, artistry, etc (although these are beautifully written as well). It reminded me a lo of one of my favorite memoirs, The Autumn Balloon by Kenny Porpora which also has a really specific depiction of the protagonist's mother... the kind of character building and story telling that makes you wish you could meet them in person and compare them to what you've so vividly imagined.

Boy Erased (2018) by Garrad Conley

Okay so it's very rare for me that I'll pick up a book to read when I've already seen its subsequent film adaptation. But I'm sooo glad I made an exception on this one. The movie is rather mid and badly mis-cast. I get now why this book made such a big splash and got big hollywood budget treatment because it really is stunning. Conley's recollection of his gay conversion therapy is indeed harrowing but what I found even more absorbing was his depictions of his Missionary Baptist Arkansas community. Bitch I grew up in LA lol so you forget that shit was DIFFERENTT lol in other rural areas of the US. This book is much more about the Missionary Baptist community he grew up in - although the film focuses pretty much solely on the gay conversion part. Why did they make my girl Nicole Kidman play his mom in the movie lmao. She's my favorite actress of all time but she's SO OFTEN miscast this last decade it's hilarious to me. Not Nicole faintly whispering in her Australian dialect and hardly moving her body in this role. No this book is deeply fascinating and educational. So Missionary Baptists pride themselves on their understanding and devotion of a literal interpretation the bible. Communities who intend to interpret biblical scripture literally are WILD... it's a completely different ballgame of religious trauma. My first boyfriend in college grew up in an intensely Catholic, rural community and really struggled with religous trauma for years. It's interesting to recognize the differences from denomination to denomination and that "Christian religious trauma" comes in many different forms. Like intense Catholic communities ruin the lives of young gay men by raising them to feel guilty for existing at all times which I find tragic but even devout Catholics aren't interested in treating scripture as literal instruction the way Missionary Baptists do. I'm a Gay Christian-lite who loves church but MAN i recognize I'm only able to be like that because I wasn't really affected by organized religion growing up. I hope this guy writes more, this really is a gorgeously written, poignant memoir. This one was reminiscent of my all-time favorite memoir Educated (which I forgot to re-read this year oops.)