{"id":2004,"date":"2022-12-30T15:49:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T23:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=2004"},"modified":"2022-12-30T22:56:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-31T06:56:28","slug":"because-the-problem-is-not-in-tune-with-the-spiral-books-read-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=2004","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBecause the problem is not in tune with the Spiral\u201d: Books Read in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the 14th<\/sup> year in a row, let\u2019s break this down. I\u2019m wrapping up Loudermilk<\/em> Or, The Real Poet; Or, The Origin of the World<\/em><\/a> by Lucy Ives (and absolutely loving it), and don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be finishing any other books in 2022.<\/p>\n

Loving this gif from the Soft Skull site.<\/p><\/div>\n

With my travel increasing in a still-pandemic world this year, I spent much of my reading time with balm-y genre fiction and lightweight non-fiction-y books that didn\u2019t make a huge impression on me (a shoutout to Jane Pek’s The Verifier\u2019s<\/em><\/a> — a fun detective-y book about online dating and truth). This was largely a year of reading helping to passively center travel, teaching, writing, and parenting that often felt chaotic.<\/p>\n

One note: in last year\u2019s tally, I read 19 books for an \u201cuntitled new research project.\u201d That project (or at least the version that is shared weekly) is La Cuenta<\/em><\/a> and if you haven\u2019t checked it out, it\u2019s why this blog has been a little dusty lately.<\/p>\n

Without further ado, here\u2019s my annual wrap-up of my reading (and, as always here are my posts on books read in 2021<\/a>,\u00a02020<\/a>,\u00a02019<\/a>,\u00a02018<\/a>,\u00a02017<\/a>,\u00a02016<\/a>,\u00a02015<\/a>,\u00a02014<\/a>,\u00a02013<\/a>,\u00a02012<\/a>,\u00a02011<\/a>,\u00a02010<\/a>, and\u00a02009<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Books read in 2022: 163<\/em><\/strong>
\nComics and graphic novels included in reading total: 9
\nBooks of poetry included in reading total: 7
\nBooks reread included in reading total: 4
\nAcademic & Education related books included in reading total: 26
\nYA and Junior Fiction books included in reading total: 11
\nLa Cuenta related books included in total: 18<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sequoia Nagamatsu’s How High We Go in the Dark<\/em><\/a> is the book that\u2019s stayed with me the most throughout the year. The interconnected stories were unsettling and bleak, though I finished the book with at least a muted sense of hopefulness. Not all of the stories worked for me, but the ones that did were absolute gut-punches.<\/p>\n

Hua Hsu\u2019s memoir, Stay True<\/em><\/a>, was also a gem this year. Small but not sleight, it’s a story of deciphering a distant father, growing up, and the ways loss sticks with us in ways unexpected.<\/p>\n

Two speculative novels that I finished late in the year were Vauhini Vara\u2019s Immortal King Rao<\/em><\/a> and Ray Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea<\/em><\/a>. These are very<\/em> different books about progress, empathy, and identity.<\/p>\n

I adored Danyel Smith\u2019s Shine Bright,<\/a> <\/em>a book about Black women in pop music. I felt unfulfilled by Dilla Time<\/em><\/a> but it made me nostalgic for Slum Village and gave me a better appreciation of the Flying Lotus\/Hiatus Kaiyote concert I attended over the summer.<\/p>\n

I read more memoirs this year (partly for La Cuenta<\/em><\/a> and just because it\u2019s a genre I haven\u2019t spent much time with). Erika Sanchez\u2019s Crying in the Bathroom<\/em><\/a> and Julissa Arce\u2019s You Sound Like a White Girl<\/a><\/em> were both excellent. (Arce’s is less memoir than diatribe, but I’m lumping it in here anyway.) Rollie Pemberton\u2019s (aka Cadence Weapon) memoir Bedroom Rapper<\/em><\/a> spoke to the indie music scene of my college days and even references a message board I\u2019ve been a steady member of for more than two decades. This very<\/em> old video of Rollie singing alongside Dan Bejar and Owen Pallett might be the most mid-2000s Canadian indie rock thing that exists on youtube:
\n