ICONS OF 2018
2018 was a mad year filled with so much change for me. After only reading 11 books in 2017, I made it my goal to finish as many books as I could in 2018. I ended up dropping out of university and had a fair bit of time on my hands, so in total I completed 42 books (in 2019 I plan to read 50). I read some incredible books by authors I will follow forever, some bang average books and some I wouldn’t mind burning (looking at you, The Beautiful and Damned). Mainly for my own benefit, I’ve compiled a list of books I truly adored this year.
JAMAICA INN
I dragged reading this one out because I really didn’t want it to be over. I love anything Du Maurier, she is my queen, and I can’t wait to reread this once I’ve forgotten what happened. Gripping, dark, mysterious, romantic. It is everything I want in a book.
THE WHITE ALBUM
Her Majesty Joan Didion is my reason for wanting to write, I’m just sad I can’t do it in the 60s and write about Jim Morrison and the Black Panthers and everything fabulous and dark that happened in that time. This book specifically is so smooth, insightful and just plain cool. Her poetic observations of American culture are dreamy. I will read this over and over again, and anything else written by her.
THE PISCES
I’ve droned on about this book in a previous post, so see that for details, but I love pretty much anything that reminds me of summer, water, and has astrological references.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
The beauty of this book is unparalleled. I personally associate books with the location I read them in, and reading the next three books on a beach in France made them all so much more perfect. It is laced with tenderness, it is soft and sunny, divinely sensitive.
STILL LIFE WITH WOODPECKER
This is an innately bizarre read, one that somehow feels distinctly 80s to me, but one I enjoyed none the less. It’s likely I fell for it due to the strange references to redheads and the moon. It’s fast paced and unpredictable, and Robbins' style of storytelling is enthralling. There are so many provoking quotes, but here is one of my favourites: 'The moon can't help it. It's only an object. The moon doesn't mean to set things sloshing-in every ocean's basin, in every female's uterus, in every poet's jar of ink, in every madman's drool.'
CRUDO
I bought it because the cover is a Wolfgang Tillmans photograph, I loved it because it is a sharp yet dreamy account of current life, which by nature makes it sad too. It is alive with energy and active prospects, yet weighted by the reality of this trying time in our political landscape. I would get carried away into the story, and then the mention of Jacob Rees-Mogg would make me gag a little.
NORMAL PEOPLE
One of the last books I read in 2018, and also one of the best. I read Conversations With Friends earlier in the year and wasn’t convinced, but this second novel by Sally Rooney almost makes me want to go back and check the first one out again. Truly raw, I read it in a day and have recommended it to almost everyone I know. I was possessed by Marianne and Connell, enthralled by their passage of time, and absolutely desperate for it to never end. I eagerly await Rooney’s offerings for 2019.
JAMAICA INN
I dragged reading this one out because I really didn’t want it to be over. I love anything Du Maurier, she is my queen, and I can’t wait to reread this once I’ve forgotten what happened. Gripping, dark, mysterious, romantic. It is everything I want in a book.
THE WHITE ALBUM
Her Majesty Joan Didion is my reason for wanting to write, I’m just sad I can’t do it in the 60s and write about Jim Morrison and the Black Panthers and everything fabulous and dark that happened in that time. This book specifically is so smooth, insightful and just plain cool. Her poetic observations of American culture are dreamy. I will read this over and over again, and anything else written by her.
THE PISCES
I’ve droned on about this book in a previous post, so see that for details, but I love pretty much anything that reminds me of summer, water, and has astrological references.
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
The beauty of this book is unparalleled. I personally associate books with the location I read them in, and reading the next three books on a beach in France made them all so much more perfect. It is laced with tenderness, it is soft and sunny, divinely sensitive.
STILL LIFE WITH WOODPECKER
This is an innately bizarre read, one that somehow feels distinctly 80s to me, but one I enjoyed none the less. It’s likely I fell for it due to the strange references to redheads and the moon. It’s fast paced and unpredictable, and Robbins' style of storytelling is enthralling. There are so many provoking quotes, but here is one of my favourites: 'The moon can't help it. It's only an object. The moon doesn't mean to set things sloshing-in every ocean's basin, in every female's uterus, in every poet's jar of ink, in every madman's drool.'
CRUDO
I bought it because the cover is a Wolfgang Tillmans photograph, I loved it because it is a sharp yet dreamy account of current life, which by nature makes it sad too. It is alive with energy and active prospects, yet weighted by the reality of this trying time in our political landscape. I would get carried away into the story, and then the mention of Jacob Rees-Mogg would make me gag a little.
NORMAL PEOPLE
One of the last books I read in 2018, and also one of the best. I read Conversations With Friends earlier in the year and wasn’t convinced, but this second novel by Sally Rooney almost makes me want to go back and check the first one out again. Truly raw, I read it in a day and have recommended it to almost everyone I know. I was possessed by Marianne and Connell, enthralled by their passage of time, and absolutely desperate for it to never end. I eagerly await Rooney’s offerings for 2019.
Comments
Post a Comment