The Curator: everything I've read this year ranked
plus meeting your heroes, thoughts on James, and your vote for which unfinished book I should read next
This week's solar eclipse got me all weird - I’ve felt an existential need to shake things up. So today is bits and pieces of things on my mind. Get with it or get funky my friend.
EVERYTHING I READ THIS YEAR SO FAR, RANKED 📈→
I made it through 12 books, which feels like a lot but also doesn’t - made it through? - ok I had the pleasure of reading 12 books from January to March which is exactly on track for my arbitrary reading goals.
This is a ranking based on Enjoyment Factor. While I firmly believe in the Enjoyment x Quality Matrix for a formal review, today it’s all about having a good time.
///
First, the Slaughters. Once I make it through the canon expect a bang-up ranked master list.
#3. The Good Daughter - Two sisters are forced into the woods when a bunch of bad guys come for their lawyer dad; 20 years later one survives a mass shooting. Drama ensues! However, the MCs and supporting cast were the least interesting of her standalone titles and the storyline felt disjointed.
#2. Blindsighted (Grant County #1) - Medical examiner Sara Linton finds a mutilated woman dead in a diner bathroom. More victims appear. Drama ensues! I liked the Lena Adams origin story, but this is KS just getting warmed up re: writing skills.
#1. Fractured (Will Trent #2) - A woman comes home to find her daughter dead and her attacker fleeing, killing him in self-defense. The story is interesting but it’s the dynamic between Will Trent and everyone else, plus badass female detective Faith Martin that I love. I have four more Grant County books until the two worlds collide in Undone.
The rest.
#9. Midnight on Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona - A regular night in 1993 with the babysitter goes wrong. It’s a pointed nod to vintage horror films and had so much promise. But here’s the thing - there aren’t loads of people writing horror in a literary way, and I keep getting burned by flashy nostalgic stories that don’t satisfy me. Entertaining but average.
#8. This Other Eden by Paul Harding - Step One of my Booker Paul’s journey was a small letdown. An isolated island off the coast of Maine is home to a - diverse - band of citizens threatened by a government’s looming rehoming actions. Maybe - genuinely - I just don’t get it, but the story felt small and strange. Apathetic? Passive? At one point I wasn’t sure if Harding was making the case for or against letting the citizens continue their isolated lives. I appreciated this perspective from Danez Smith at The NYT Book Review:
Why were so many of these characters unflinching as their lives crumbled under the gaze of whiteness? Why did it feel like these Black characters were in a world where things just happened to them? Where I arrived: To live in Eden takes a little ignorance.
#7. The Idiot by Elif Batuman - Brilliantly written, just not that fun. I laughed harder than I have from a book in a while but it took wading through odd impassive moments that almost weren’t worth it. I love what Batuman is doing here but I was also excited when it was over. I may like it more in retrospect i.e. some vibrant discussion.
#6. Beartown by Fredrik Backman - I cried, I laughed, I wondered how the heck a story about a junior hockey team in a rural forest town became a beloved tearjerking best seller. Backman has this way of subverting your expectations from the start, leading to startlingly poignant observations on the human condition. The only reason it’s not higher on the list is the stiff competition.
#5. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - also titled How Claire Keegan Says More With Less. Or How to Write Briefly Gorgeous. Set in 1985, it’s about a small town in Ireland struggling with a culture of religious reign. It’s really about the change that happens when the political becomes personal and it’s no longer possible to ignore what happens behind closed doors. Maybe it was Keegan’s writing or the side effects of a short page count but I read her sentences slowly and with care.
#4. The Enigma of Room 622 by Joel Dicker - I could not put this book down! It was delightful, stylistic, and goofy in its characterization and plotline. A writer vacations at a luxury Swiss hotel and embarks on a journey to discover the mystery of missing room 622 - shockingly, it’s about a murder. We get flashbacks and stories of those involved in the mystery murder as the writer investigates. It felt like an SNL skit about an SNL skit that really loves skits. There were superfluous bits and the plot explanations dragged but even with the complaints reading it was such a JOY.
These three I go back and forth on, they really all could tie for #1.
#3. The Stand by Stephen King - I think we often take King’s skill for granted because his plots steal the show, but this book is a masterpiece. It is the shortest 1,200-page novel about a world-ending disease and the people who survive to forge a new civilization. THIS is the literary horror I am seeking - a kaleidoscopic cast of genuine characters grappling with big themes and the consequences of human nature without sacrificing plot or the intimate moments that make an epic worth reading.
#2. The Ferryman by Justin Cronin - combines my favorite things - speculative fiction with great writing. Another contender for longest-winded, Cronin can be overly descriptive but I love falling into the depths of his creations. It’s about an island, Prospera, an idyllic world split into two classes - the upper class, who are chipped, monitored, and reborn in a mysterious process, and the lower class, who exist only to serve. When the lower class starts to revolt, the stability of this world is threatened, and the truth is exposed. Just like The Stand, Cronin grapples with big themes within an even larger plot structure - it gave great Matrix vibes and had me guessing the entire time.
#1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke - this one really did a number on me. Who isn’t in love with Piranesi??? It’s about a man who lives in a great house of marble, visited infrequently by The Other, otherwise alone to live out the mysteries of his world. I’ve written extensively about this sweet, sweet gem but will say it again - I loved this book. I loved Piranesi. He is open-hearted, generous, and intelligent, but not naive. Clarke writes his character with precision but not without care. His hope in the world is contagious, childlike but wise, neither tainted nor cynical. Even when challenged, Piranesi’s faith in the world is not shaken. I will think about this book for a long time to come.
I MET DON WINSLOW 🙆♂️→
On Tuesday, I took my husband to meet one of my heroes author Don Winslow.
If you’ve been here a while, you might remember my adventure to meet Karin Slaughter. Well, on this bright spring day, we ventured back to the Norma Hertzog Community Center this time to meet Don and it was every bit as soul-brightening as the first.
He is my hero because he alone got my husband to read fiction. Mark loves nonfiction mob & crime stories but Don’s novel City on Fire broke through to him. My next feat will be to get him to read all of Harry Potter!!
Don Winslow is the author of 25 books, including the very famous Power of the Dog Trilogy and Savages which spawned a movie by the same name featuring my hometown beaches. His stories are mostly crime fiction, heavily researched, and absolutely peak genre. His newest book was the final installment of the Danny Ryan mob trilogy.
It is also his last novel as Don plans to spend all his foreseeable time working to defeat Donald Trump.
And he said this, out loud, forcefully, to a room full of older adults in affluent Orange County. I was afraid there might be riots. But everyone seemed to know what they were in for and appreciate it. I certainly clapped like nobody’s business.
Don said he was a failure until his “overnight” success at age 50. Not a single person showed up to one of his first author events in Laguna Beach way back when. It’s so refreshing to hear the gritty side of writing professionally. I was sitting smack in the front center and I know Don saw me riveted his entire talk so you could say things are getting pretty serious (sorry Mark!!).
After his talk, we queued up for a book signing. DON PUT HIS ARM AROUND ME and we took a photo (see evidence). Mark and I went to get dinner and I swear our waiter thought we were on drugs because we were high as hell on life.
Like I said, meet your heroes.
BOOKS I’VE LEFT UNFINISHED WEIGHING ON MY MIND 📊→
My Pause shelf on Goodreads is just a map of all my bookmark locations. I’d like to finish some of what I started. Cast your v important vote now.
READING 📖→
James by Percival Everett. James James James. What have you done you gorgeous man you? I came into this one with a fat chip on my shoulder and it broke me down fast. I typically get snagged on dialect but Everett did something so clever I am in awe of his skill. More on how the author made us complicit by engaging with this story in a future stack.
Started Wanderers by Chuck Wendig and it’s an interesting premise but the writing is already bothering me (King where are you!). It’s also about a world-ending illness and I am hoping I can get past the annoyances because this really is my favorite plotline 😄.
About 10% into The Warm Hands of Ghosts audio and struggling. The female narrator is great but the male one is a bit of a bad actor. I won’t give up just yet though.
Took a break for Sociopath: a Memoir by Patric Gagne and well, I am a little bored. It might just be that I don’t vibe well with childhood reminiscing, or that she hasn’t done anything that outrageous yet, but I may give this one until the teenage years to make a final DNF decision.
WATCHING 📽️→
Lisa Frankenstein. A weird, stylistic teenage film that hit me with a fat dose of inspiration. Visually interesting, great music, and super strange. Gave me Jennifer’s Body + Weird Science vibes.
NEW BOOKS 📚→
include a highly anticipated historical fantasy story set during the Spanish Inquisition, a tale of motherhood being compared to Rosemary’s Baby, a new book from everyone’s favorite Cultish podcaster, and a modern gothic psychological thriller.
BOOK NEWS 📰→
The Booker Prize announced their international shortlist this week. I love that six different countries and languages are represented in the list, and also that
at has empowered me to tackle translated lit. What I’d Rather Not Think About looks the most interesting (to me).
RESTACK OF THE WEEK ♻️→
I vibed with this stack from
on books she can’t stop thinking about. There can be a lot of pressure for new new new, but she reminded me there is pleasure in revisiting books for a second (or third) time in your mind or on the Substack page.AND CATS 🐈⬛→
I created a highlight of every cat video I ever took on my Instagram, if you’d like to see Minnie and Rizzie grow up go visit The Book Creep.
In Case You Missed It 🖤
This newsletter contains affiliate links. If you purchase using one of the links above, I will earn a baby-sized commission at no cost to you. Comment, share, repost, upgrade to paid, or buy me a coffee to support my work. Follow me @ thebookcreep on Instagram for pretty book pictures. Your support (monetary or not) is why I keep going, so thank you.
See you around the bookshelf!
Natalie
Absolutely LOVED hearing about your experience meeting Don Winslow. You look so happy in the photo!! Loved that he found success at 50! It truly is never too late. I read his wiki page and his writing process sounds like a dream...except for the early start time. (I love staying up late.) Can't get over how good he looks! Those 6-7 mile daily hikes are paying off! I also loved that he remained dedicated to writing throughout his life no matter what odd jobs he had to take. His tenacity is inspiring AF. Reading about Don made me want to re-watch Savages.
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter sounds gruesome.
As always, your newsletters are the highlight of my week, Natalie!!! ❤️🔥
Love that Piranesi ranked 1!!!! I still need to read a Keegan but idk where to start! Was ‘Small Things Like These’ your first of hers? Also vote East of Eden but really I want to read that with you at a similar time so if you can just let me know when you pick it up that would be GREAT 😉 I was planning to read it May/June time myself.
And this is so funny because I’m reading ‘What I’d rather not think about’ literally right now (it’s in my hand!!!) Big themes of suicide and siblings done in an interesting way. I’ll let you know when I finish - but rn it’s marginally reminding me of ‘Will and Testament’ that I remember you saying you wanted to read! Deeply flattered at the empowering comment, I aim to never stop!! You can tackle it!! xx