This year was another fairly abysmal one for reading, certainly among my least fruitful since I began compiling end-of-year lists. It was very similar to last year, marked by nearly identical problems of concentration and a frustrating lack of the immersive quality that typically makes reading so alluring. Thankfully, there were a few exceptions, and I suppose I need to think more deeply about what made those books exceptional in hopes of locating more titles that share those qualities. So, without further ado, here is the list of standouts in chronological order of date read with links to whatever I managed to write about the book on Goodreads (which in a few cases is very little). As with last year’s list, I rated all of these books either 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads and tagged them with my ‘somewhere else’ tag, which denotes a book that has truly taken me somewhere else.
In a Shallow Grave by James Purdy
The Boat in the Evening by Tarjei Vesaas
The Physiognomy by Jeffrey Ford
Childhood/Youth/Dependency (The Copenhagen Trilogy, #1-3) by Tove Ditlevsen
The Plotinus by Rikki Ducornet
O the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli by Nelly Sachs
s. d. stewart 