Books I Loved This Year (Ida's List)

This year, I'm taking a different approach to my list. It's all fiction. I also read a lot of non-fiction and yoga related scholarship. There is a lot I could recommend! However, for a change, and to highlight the importance of fiction, I'm selecting only from that genre. Therefore, I'm not sure this is a collection of books I recommend you read-- you may have a very different reaction to any of these! But rather this is a list of books I personally enjoyed. 

As a side note, in general I seek out works in translation. I've found I really enjoy the depth that translation brings. It reminds me that we are always trying to communicate, and essentially, translating what we are trying to say into a version that someone else can understand. I like that works in translation are a literal version of this phenomenon: humans trying to communicate and understand. The first on the list is not a book that has been translated, but deals directly with translation. Translation, in various ways, is a theme of this list.

Babel by R.F. Kuang
This book is set in Oxford, England and is about translating languages from around the world, including Sanskrit. There is travel involved, as well as ethics and questions of power. A young team of students works to learn many languages but the purpose for this is not always clear. They are at the whim of those who hold positions of power until they take matters into their own hands. It's a magical and epic tale that illuminates many present day issues. Yogis may be quite interested in how Sanskrit features in this book. It certainly brought to light the act of interpreting history and culture and the power dynamics at play. 

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor & Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
I grouped these two together because of how they both speak through the voice of a younger girl. In Western Lane, the girl is a bit younger. In Whale Fall, she's a teenager. I thought both of these books captured the perspective of their protagonist so well. 

Whale Fall is about a research team that comes to a very remote Welsh island. For me, it captured the uncomfortable and, in this case, problematic nature of research. Research can easily become a process of taking something that is dear to someone else and packaging it up for one's own gain. I thought O'Connor tackled this very carefully and usefully. I loved the nature in this story and the sense of place it provided. I felt like I was on this remote island.

Western Lane is about family dynamics and the talents of a young athlete. It too captures the voice and heart of this young girl in a way I thought was quite well done. I wasn't too interested in the subject matter-- I'm not a Squash player and know nothing about the sport. Yet, this story is about loss, developing a vision and personality, wanting comfort and a home. It was a lovely read. 

Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson, trans. Saskia Vogel
This is a very unique book: it's all in verse. I had a hard time putting this down. It poetically tells the tale of three generations of the Sami people. It is set in the arctic circle. It too captured place so well. The use of verse really made the bleak, northern cold come to the forefront. (For me, that's a good thing.) Perhaps it's because my family comes from Scandinavia, but I really enjoyed this epic. 

Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy & Hangman by Maya Binyam
Pairing these together is perhaps confusing. They are nothing alike! The reason I am putting them together is because I think they are both books where you love them or hate them. I have seen quite a few reviews of Soldier Sailor that were not comfortable with the book at all. Yet, I really enjoyed both. Here are the reasons why. 

Soldier Sailor is about a young mom who is not doing well with caring for a new baby. She's extremely depressed, tired, lonely and struggling with her life as it is. The book starts with a somewhat disturbing scene. However, the mom corrects her actions and the book continues from there. It's bleak and extremely raw. I really appreciated the honesty in the book. It presents a very distinct point of a view on something that is probably a lot more common than we realize. 

If you want a good audiobook, I suggest Hangman. I adored the recording of this. I thought it was so funny! The repetition in the writing and generally confusing scenes were great. (My opinion! I could see someone finding this very annoying too....) I honestly had no idea what was happening in this book until the end. I got many good laughs out of it and didn't want it to end. What is it about? It's about a man traveling back to his home country in Africa. It's his homeland, yet he doesn't recognize it and generally doesn't know what to do with the pigeons, buses and ugly clothing he encounters on his journey. 

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood​
This is a book I felt I needed to have read. In order for that to happen I just had to do it. This was the year. 

Wow-- the writing. I am particularly taken by books that are really dark in subject matter but don't necessarily read that way. I found this to be that way. The subject matter is very intense, but the humanity was never lost. The characters were people being people regardless of the structures around them. I read this with my mom and she commented on how when people build up rules and structures around them, they still find ways to act out. They find ways to express their freedom, desires and curiosities. No matter what we try to do, we are humans. 

​Lastly, the end shocked me. (I actually missed it because I didn't realize what was happening.... I had to go back and read the end.) I had no idea about the structure of this book but it illuminated just how masterful Margaret Atwood is. 

Kindred by Octavia Butler & God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane, trans. Francis Price
Kindred was another one, like The Handmaid's Tale, that I wanted to have read. I wanted to make sure I knew for myself what the book contained as it has become a book that some think is dangerous or should be feared. I think we should fear the destruction we as humans are capable of, but we should certainly not fear this book. 

Butler's writing is somewhat simple. It doesn't flow in ornate constructions, but rather, clear and to the point sentences. I really enjoyed reading it, despite it being about slavery and the horrific violence people endure. The science fiction of it worked for me. I thought it was powerful and well worth reading. 

God's Bits of Wood is set in Mali & Senegal. It fictionalizes a railroad strike in colonial Senegal. It engages with French colonialism and the women who ended up marching in protest of the treatment of the workers. It too captures humanity and is a fictionalized take on a historical moment. Yet, the themes of this book such as the effects of colonialism and worker's rights are important subjects today. 

I heard again recently from someone who dislikes fiction. I do understand this to a certain degree. But over and over again, I find fiction can express depths of humanity in ways we don't always sit with when content is "fact". Fiction is strange, complex, illuminating. Sometimes it's sweet and easy, other times extremely unsettling. Often a mixture of all of the above.