Holiday Picks 2021 - Catherine

November 2, 2021

Fiction

While compiling my selection for this holiday season, I realized this year I mostly read atmospheric, disorienting, tantalizing novels. Something New Under the Sun by Alexandra Kleeman was a huge surprise, such an unexpected novel. Not only was it funny and strange, it also profoundly touched me and left me in a daze. It was quite a unique experience. The writing's palette and minutiae impressed me.

The same goes for Katie Kitamura's Intimacies; the writing was sharp, acute. An interpreter has just arrived in the Netherlands for a job at the International Court. The reader gets tangled in her thoughts as she maneuvers adapting to a new culture, complicated relationship dynamics, and a new job that is very emotionally complex. The tone is tense and slightly ominous at times; it reminded me of Yoko Tawada's work.

All's Well by Mona Awad bathes in a similar ambiance. In it's pages we follow the main character, a young theatre professor struggling with manifold chronic illness and all the while trying to stage All's Well, a 'problematic' Shakespeare play with her students. In a magical twist of fate, her situation starts evolving in an uncanny way, spiraling us to manic feverish heights.

Changing the tone here, reading Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So was a true pleasure. In this collection of short stories, sadly published posthumously, So dove into the Cambodian-American communities living in California with empathy and humor, creating characters that are vibrant and profound. The quality remains true throughout the book, a real feat.

I'm also excited about the new Helen Chau Bradley, Personal Attention Roleplay, which I'm looking forward to reading! It's fairly early in the season so I'm likely missing a few more new titles!

Quelqu'un m'a fait découvrir Vinciane Despret plus tôt cette année et son dernier roman, l'Autobiographie d'un poulpe, m'a captivée! L'auteure y développe l'idée de “thérolinguistique” originellement tirée des bouquins d'Ursula K LeGuin. Elle explore les comportements animaux en tâchant de décentrer le regard humain. D'une imagination débridée, Despret spécule; elle propose de repenser et de compliquer notre pensée vis-à-vis les animaux et le vivant en général. Pour les amateurs de Donna Haraway, Baptiste Morizot et Ursula LeGuin.

Rien du tout d'Olivia Tapiero est un magnifique ouvrage polymorphe: s'y cotoie poésie et essai afin de détailler un réel travail d'excavation qui permet de toucher l'enfoui, l'essentiel et le côté obscur de l'être. Une oeuvre courageuse et riche, magnifiquement écrite. Le dernier Marie Darrieussecq, Pas Dormir, est une réflexion kaléidoscopique sur l'insomnie, truffée de citations de tous genres et d'anecdotes personnelles.

Sur ma table de chevet, j'ai Le Tour de La Question de Adel B Khelifa qui a l'air vraiment intéressant. Finalement, je lis Notre Part de Nuit de Mariana Enriquez et je passe un bon moment! Sorcellerie, sexe et sociétés secrètes sur fond de dictature en Argentine, assez divertissant.

Essais & Poésie

J'ai eu un énorme coup de coeur pour Sensible de Nedjma Kacimi. Un retentissant premier livre selon moi, qui m'a fait pensé un peu au ton de Virginie Despentes. L'auteure nous parle de façon intime de ce sujet tabou qu'est la guerre d'Algérie. Elle use de toutes sortes de stratégies de communication et d'écriture afin de décortiquer les événements et ses répercussions ressenties jusqu'à ce jour. Incisif, féroce, incroyablement lucide, souvent drôle et percutant, ce livre est empreint d'une grande patience et d'un courage indéniable. Je crois qu'il peut réellement faire bouger la conscience.

Real Estate was my first encounter with Deborah Levy (after wanting to read her for years) and now I have a huge crush on her! I love how she plays with recurrent imagery and symbols throughout her book, meticulously crafting her thoughts. Very clever, playful and relatable. I love her.

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch is an exciting local writer and The Good Arab is an impressive follow-up to knot body, published in 2020. A blend of poetry and essays, lusciously written; the thoughts are bare, honest, vulnerable. There is a space to reflect, to ponder, and rethink.

I'm also looking forward to dive into The Dawn of Everything : A New History of Humanity, the epic new book by David Graeber and David Wengrow! I read the introduction and it got me so excited, it promises to shake things up and rebuild one's entire notion of History, and I am DOWN.

A few outstanding books about music this year. Blank Form's books about synthesizer & electroacoustic pioneer Maryanne Amacher and Moki Cherry, free-jazz-hero Don Cherry's partner and collaborator are truly amazing. Here are a few books about music I've been wanting to read this year / have peeked into : Hungry Listening : Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies by Dylan Robinson, Repeater's reedition of Junglist by Two Fingas and James T. Kirk (a novel about the rave & jungle scene in the UK written by teenagers in the 90s), Teklife, Ghettoville, Eski : The Sonic Ecologies of Black Music in the Early 21st Century by Dhanveer Singh Brar and Alyssa Favreau's Janelle Monae's the Archandroid. Alexandre Fontaine Rousseau vient de sortir Il Est Strictement Defendu Boire Studio aux éditions Ta mère. Il dresse l'historique de la radio étudiante CISM, et j'ai très hâte de plonger dedans, j'ai brièvement tenu une émission il y a quelques années.

J'ai bien aimé le dernier Mona Chollet, Réinventer l'Amour : Comment le patriarcat sabote les relations hétérosexuelles. L'autrice est fidèle à elle-même et aborde un vaste spectre de thèmes autour des rapports amoureux dans les relations hétérosexuelles (rapports de pouvoir, charge émotionnelle, fétichisme racial, violence conjugale) sous un ton journalistique en y insérant de son propre vécu personnel. Les livres de poésie de Elkahna Talbi, Pomme Grenade, Chloé Savoie-Bernard, Sainte Chloé de l'Amour, et Field Study de Chet'la Sebree m'ont bien touchés.

Romans Graphiques

J'en ai profité cette année pour plonger dans la série culte de Walter Scott, Wendy, et j'ai englouti les trois tomes à la vitesse de l'éclair. Très très drôle et déjanté. Local artist Lee Lai's Stone Fruit and Alison Bechdel's Secret to Superhuman Strength (one of my graphic novel heroes) were highlights of this year, and I quite enjoyed Seek You by Kristen Radtke, a thorough research about loneliness in America and the graphic novel adaptation of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny illustrated by Nora Krug (who had given us the beautiful Belonging in 2019). Le Grand Vide de Léa Murawiec est un livre dystopique enlevant et magnifique. I adore Keiler Roberts and My Begging Chart did not let me down! A special shout out to Montrealer Cesario Lavery and his zine Der Eydes! It was really fun to read and I'm looking forward to reading more!

Something New Under the Sun

Alexandra Kleeman

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A novelist discovers the dark side of Hollywood and reckons with ambition, corruption, and connectedness in the age of...

Something New Under the Sun

Alexandra Kleeman

Intimacies

Katie Kitamura

All's Well

Mona Awad

Afterparties

Anthony Veasna So

Personal Attention Roleplay

Helen Chau Bradley

Autobiographie d'un poulpe

Vinciane Despret

Rien du tout

Olivia Tepiero

Le Tour De La Question

Adel B Khelifa

Notre part de nuit

Mariana Enriquez

Real Estate

Deborah Levy

Sensible

Nedja Kacimi

Good Arabs, The

Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch

Réinventer l'amour

Mona Chollet

Pomme Grenade

Elkahna Talbi

Sainte Chloé de l'amour

Chloé Savoie-Bernard

Field Study

Chet'la Sebree

Maryanne Amacher: Selected Writings and Interviews

Maryanne Amacher

Organic Music Societies

Lawrence Kumpf

Hungry Listening

Dylan Robinson

Junglist

Two Fingas, James Kirk

Teklife, Ghettoville, Eski

Dhanveer Singh Brar

Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid

Alyssa Favreau

il est strictement défendu de boire en studio

Alexandre Fontaine-Rousseau

The Dawn of Everything

David Graeber, David Wengrow

WENDY

Walter Scott

Stone Fruit

Lee Lai

The Secret to Superhuman Strength

Alison Bechdel

Seek You

Kristen Radtke

On Tyranny Graphic Edition

Timothy Snyder

Le Grand Vide

Léa Murawiec

My Begging Chart

Keiler Roberts

Der Eydes

Cesario Lavery

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