Chris Benjamin's Blog - Posts Tagged "best-of-2022"
Best Books I Read in 2022
1. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Epic love story but so much more too, on immigration, culture, race and its relevance in a “melting pot” in a country where ethnic group and race aren’t the same thing, on coming-of-age, on Nigeria, the middle and upper classes in a poor country, a post-colony, on mental illness. I loved the conversations, the dialogue, the characterization. Loved it.
2. Nova Graphica edited by Laura Kenins
Old stories, graphic style, little slices of Nova Scotia through the years. Some sweetnesses and some of its darker sides. My favourite was “Viola Desmond Had a Dream Too” by Rebecca Roher. A story I thought I knew, but Roher’s telling goes much deeper than others, and brilliantly connects the dots between then and now. She even gets into the land deeds issue facing hundreds of Black Nova Scotian families.
3. Pass with Care by Cooper Lee Bombardier
Showed me pieces of an experience very different from my own. The writing is so good, poetic in some breathtaking stretches. Every essay was thought provoking; Cooper seems like someone who would always ask plenty of questions. His is a life lived curiously, always pondering, probing, looking for the meaning behind the meaning. But, given the difficulty of the journey, this isn’t a purely intellectual account. It is deeply moving as well.
4. Animal Person by Alexander MacLeod
The animals are the people, often living on instinct, feeling rational in the moment. With the benefit of context and hindsight, they show themselves to be at the mercy of greater environmental forces. Like all people, they are animals, living moments, accumulating memories that gain significance in the context of expert storytelling.
5. No Good Alternative by William T Vollmann
Vollmann travels the depths of the fossil-fuel industries, looking at the harms they do, emphasizing our addiction to their products. The long quotations are fascinating, often misguided, and somewhat terrifying, indicating as they do a general denial or lack of understanding of what these fuels are doing to our planet, and to our civilization. I do think this book is best read in conjunction with more hopeful accounts. But Carbon Ideologies is direct and honest. He writes it as a confessional to the future, and it is also damning.
6. Imagined Truths by Richard Lemm
A careful examination of a life, or certain key moments of it anyway, and also American history–particularly with respect to colonization, Jim Crow, the draft and the Vietnam war and other international armed conflicts. There’s just a splash of Canadian patriotism (the kind particular to those who adopt Canada as their homeland rather than being born to it–and perhaps especially those who fled the draft), and the importance of our tendency to define ourselves with some pride as “not American.” The most insightful parts are Lemm’s reconsiderations of his own family myths of pioneering and settling and creating the “greatest nation on earth” by chopping down ancient trees.
7. The Divine Ryans by Wayne Johnston
A master class in structure and plotting, filled with wacky characters, some of them likable and some not, a perfect reveal at the perfect time. And families huddled around the tv watching hockey, cheering for the Canadiens from Newfoundland. The focus is on the power of the Catholic Church over communities, but more broadly it’s about the ties that bind us, which are often based on restraining morality laws. While these are effective at creating cohesion, god help you if you’re wired a little differently. I’d call it dark, but there’s great humour in this novel. I enjoyed it immensely.
8. Scratching River by Michelle Porter
Powerful. A book of vignettes and reflections on the author's brother, who was abused in a group home, and an ancestor who wrote of his childhood on the buffalo hunt, as well as on the changing environmental features--prairie grass, the river, the animals. Porter does an excellent job connecting these themes from a personal perspective, in the process imbuing them with meaning.
9. A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
I loved these essays and this analysis, not so much because they were instructive, but rather for Saunders’ passion for the stories he considers, and his understanding of what makes them work for him as a reader. I agreed with him on some of the stories; others I didn’t find so incredible. But his thoughts on them were always worth reading and considering. A book for writers yes, but also any lovers of literature.
10. Apastoral: A Mistopia by Lee Thompson
A man, Bones, is sentenced for the crime of murder to live the rest of his days as a sheep on a penal farm. Using a new and not-quite-perfected technology, his brain is transferred into the sheep’s body. Half the novel deals with the alleged crime and bizarre proceedings of his hospitalization, psychological evaluation and “speed trial.” Thompson doesn’t so much build this world as thrust us into it, through the eyes of his hard-done-by anti-hero, both as a human and in his awkward attempts to live as a sheep while human and bovid instincts battle from within. He does however offer, through the news, deft accoutrements, especially through a buffoonish Prime Minister with his “Nation’s Joke of the Day” and especially his “None Funny But Me law.” It’s satirical of course, and very funny, and creates a scenario that raises many excellent questions about what it is to be human, what extraordinary abilities we’ve been given with even average brains, and what kind of world we want to make with them.
11. The Country Under My Skin by Giaconda Belli
Politically fascinating behind-scenes perspective on the Nicaraguan Revolution and Contra war from the perspective of a revolutionary woman, though one who was in exile—but still organizing—during the final stages. I found the most interesting part to be the takeover of the country, before the contras, after the Somoza supporters had mostly fled. The empire had fallen and the guerrillas found themselves in charge. Now what? Kind of a mind-blowing scenario filled with tedious logistical questions rooted in political philosophy. The several factions of the Sandinistas also had to learn to work together. From Belli’s perspective, it was going alright (not perfectly) until the United States, driven largely by cold-war paranoia, involved itself. Her feminist perspective on things, and the ways she was excluded, treated as less than, and treated as a play thing by men with power, was also insightful.
12. Sotto Voce by Chantelle Rideout
A limited-edition poetry chapbook published by a friend nearly a decade ago. She is fairly self-deprecating about it, as many writers are of their first efforts when they’re still finding their voice. But I loved it, loved the double entendres, and her ample use of musical concepts to explore (and structure) emotional facets of human relations. It was really quite brilliant. She tells me there’s a new collection, slowly being developed over the years. I can’t wait.
13. Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent
A history of thought about Empire, looking at dissidents, moderates, converts and the general public in Britain and some of its colonies, with special attention to rebellions and uprisings. Its main arguments are that freedom and independence never gifts of the British Empire to give, that lands and autonomy had to be taken back by indigenous populations, and that rebellion often served to radicalize settler and homeland English people, some individuals in particular [the author includes profiles of the transition in thinking of some colonialists after subsequent visits to colonies with popular uprisings and exposure to their ways of thinking], and the population in general.
14. So Beautiful by Ramona Dearing
My kind of short stories. The characters are a little bit quirky and are often quite flawed individuals, yet most (with 1 or 2 exceptions) are easy to root for. The final story in the collection, "An Apology," stands out from the rest, with its focus on memory, perspective, and culpability. I've read it several times, in different collections now, and it's an incredible story.
Epic love story but so much more too, on immigration, culture, race and its relevance in a “melting pot” in a country where ethnic group and race aren’t the same thing, on coming-of-age, on Nigeria, the middle and upper classes in a poor country, a post-colony, on mental illness. I loved the conversations, the dialogue, the characterization. Loved it.
2. Nova Graphica edited by Laura Kenins
Old stories, graphic style, little slices of Nova Scotia through the years. Some sweetnesses and some of its darker sides. My favourite was “Viola Desmond Had a Dream Too” by Rebecca Roher. A story I thought I knew, but Roher’s telling goes much deeper than others, and brilliantly connects the dots between then and now. She even gets into the land deeds issue facing hundreds of Black Nova Scotian families.
3. Pass with Care by Cooper Lee Bombardier
Showed me pieces of an experience very different from my own. The writing is so good, poetic in some breathtaking stretches. Every essay was thought provoking; Cooper seems like someone who would always ask plenty of questions. His is a life lived curiously, always pondering, probing, looking for the meaning behind the meaning. But, given the difficulty of the journey, this isn’t a purely intellectual account. It is deeply moving as well.
4. Animal Person by Alexander MacLeod
The animals are the people, often living on instinct, feeling rational in the moment. With the benefit of context and hindsight, they show themselves to be at the mercy of greater environmental forces. Like all people, they are animals, living moments, accumulating memories that gain significance in the context of expert storytelling.
5. No Good Alternative by William T Vollmann
Vollmann travels the depths of the fossil-fuel industries, looking at the harms they do, emphasizing our addiction to their products. The long quotations are fascinating, often misguided, and somewhat terrifying, indicating as they do a general denial or lack of understanding of what these fuels are doing to our planet, and to our civilization. I do think this book is best read in conjunction with more hopeful accounts. But Carbon Ideologies is direct and honest. He writes it as a confessional to the future, and it is also damning.
6. Imagined Truths by Richard Lemm
A careful examination of a life, or certain key moments of it anyway, and also American history–particularly with respect to colonization, Jim Crow, the draft and the Vietnam war and other international armed conflicts. There’s just a splash of Canadian patriotism (the kind particular to those who adopt Canada as their homeland rather than being born to it–and perhaps especially those who fled the draft), and the importance of our tendency to define ourselves with some pride as “not American.” The most insightful parts are Lemm’s reconsiderations of his own family myths of pioneering and settling and creating the “greatest nation on earth” by chopping down ancient trees.
7. The Divine Ryans by Wayne Johnston
A master class in structure and plotting, filled with wacky characters, some of them likable and some not, a perfect reveal at the perfect time. And families huddled around the tv watching hockey, cheering for the Canadiens from Newfoundland. The focus is on the power of the Catholic Church over communities, but more broadly it’s about the ties that bind us, which are often based on restraining morality laws. While these are effective at creating cohesion, god help you if you’re wired a little differently. I’d call it dark, but there’s great humour in this novel. I enjoyed it immensely.
8. Scratching River by Michelle Porter
Powerful. A book of vignettes and reflections on the author's brother, who was abused in a group home, and an ancestor who wrote of his childhood on the buffalo hunt, as well as on the changing environmental features--prairie grass, the river, the animals. Porter does an excellent job connecting these themes from a personal perspective, in the process imbuing them with meaning.
9. A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
I loved these essays and this analysis, not so much because they were instructive, but rather for Saunders’ passion for the stories he considers, and his understanding of what makes them work for him as a reader. I agreed with him on some of the stories; others I didn’t find so incredible. But his thoughts on them were always worth reading and considering. A book for writers yes, but also any lovers of literature.
10. Apastoral: A Mistopia by Lee Thompson
A man, Bones, is sentenced for the crime of murder to live the rest of his days as a sheep on a penal farm. Using a new and not-quite-perfected technology, his brain is transferred into the sheep’s body. Half the novel deals with the alleged crime and bizarre proceedings of his hospitalization, psychological evaluation and “speed trial.” Thompson doesn’t so much build this world as thrust us into it, through the eyes of his hard-done-by anti-hero, both as a human and in his awkward attempts to live as a sheep while human and bovid instincts battle from within. He does however offer, through the news, deft accoutrements, especially through a buffoonish Prime Minister with his “Nation’s Joke of the Day” and especially his “None Funny But Me law.” It’s satirical of course, and very funny, and creates a scenario that raises many excellent questions about what it is to be human, what extraordinary abilities we’ve been given with even average brains, and what kind of world we want to make with them.
11. The Country Under My Skin by Giaconda Belli
Politically fascinating behind-scenes perspective on the Nicaraguan Revolution and Contra war from the perspective of a revolutionary woman, though one who was in exile—but still organizing—during the final stages. I found the most interesting part to be the takeover of the country, before the contras, after the Somoza supporters had mostly fled. The empire had fallen and the guerrillas found themselves in charge. Now what? Kind of a mind-blowing scenario filled with tedious logistical questions rooted in political philosophy. The several factions of the Sandinistas also had to learn to work together. From Belli’s perspective, it was going alright (not perfectly) until the United States, driven largely by cold-war paranoia, involved itself. Her feminist perspective on things, and the ways she was excluded, treated as less than, and treated as a play thing by men with power, was also insightful.
12. Sotto Voce by Chantelle Rideout
A limited-edition poetry chapbook published by a friend nearly a decade ago. She is fairly self-deprecating about it, as many writers are of their first efforts when they’re still finding their voice. But I loved it, loved the double entendres, and her ample use of musical concepts to explore (and structure) emotional facets of human relations. It was really quite brilliant. She tells me there’s a new collection, slowly being developed over the years. I can’t wait.
13. Insurgent Empire: Anticolonial Resistance and British Dissent
A history of thought about Empire, looking at dissidents, moderates, converts and the general public in Britain and some of its colonies, with special attention to rebellions and uprisings. Its main arguments are that freedom and independence never gifts of the British Empire to give, that lands and autonomy had to be taken back by indigenous populations, and that rebellion often served to radicalize settler and homeland English people, some individuals in particular [the author includes profiles of the transition in thinking of some colonialists after subsequent visits to colonies with popular uprisings and exposure to their ways of thinking], and the population in general.
14. So Beautiful by Ramona Dearing
My kind of short stories. The characters are a little bit quirky and are often quite flawed individuals, yet most (with 1 or 2 exceptions) are easy to root for. The final story in the collection, "An Apology," stands out from the rest, with its focus on memory, perspective, and culpability. I've read it several times, in different collections now, and it's an incredible story.
