Books read in 2022

I read less this year than usual. Lately I've had a harder time enjoying fiction, which is an ill omen, but I don't regret slowing down my reading pace a bit. I do, however, regret not reading more in Portuguese.

January

What Makes You Not A Buddhist, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse (1.13.22)
Someone in the Rinzai Zen discussion group recommended this as a good introduction to Buddhism. They weren't wrong; this books lays out the fundamental concepts without getting bogged down in terminology, and reads very smoothly.

Our Lady of Darkness, Fritz Leiber (1.24.22)
Erik Davis mentioned this in his newsletter, Burning Shore. I dig Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, so figured some other flavor of Leiber would be cool. I was right! It has an old-and-kinda-lecherous-dude-trying-to-be-hip vibe that dates it pretty hard, but it was a fun read. I really liked the last few chapters.

The East was Read (Socialist Culture in the Third World), Vijay Prashad, ed. (1.31.22)
A collection of essays from various authors, mostly Indian, on topics ranging from the vast Soviet export of literature in dozens of world languages, socialist cinema, and the cultural presence/impact of the Soviet Union in places like China, Lebanon, and Kenya. The variety of opinions made it more than the exercise in nostalgia I half-expected the book to be.

February

Short Handbook of Communist Ideology, Helmut Fleischer, ed., T.J. Blakely (trans.) (2.12.22)
Extracted from a much longer work on Marxism-Leninism published in the USSR in 1959, this is exactly what it claims to be. Putting aside whether one agrees with the Soviet interpretation of Marxism, or Marxism at all, it's still an interesting read.

Of Wars, and Memories, and Starlight, Aliette de Bodard (2.20.22)
Linda's sci-fi book club pick. I like de Bodard's writing, but this collection of short stories suffered from too many similar stories in one place, which made them all run together in my mind. The couple fantasy stories at the end would've been a welcome change from the Xuya material, had they not been completely not to my taste.

O Rosto, Alberto Estima de Oliveira (2.26.22)
Mais um volume de poesia forte, cristalina, lapidar sem ser mesquinha. Acho que gostei mais , mas não muito.

The Tao is None of Your Business: Poems & Prose, G. Paul Randall (2.28.22)
There are some good poems in here, and some not so good ones. The not so good ones aren't exactly bad, and the good ones aren't amazing, but there are some great lines and observations, and I like the overall tone. Plus the poet is a local, which is cool.

March

Swampland Flowers: The Letters and Lectures of Zen Master Ta Hui, J.C. Cleary (trans.) (3.6.22)
I read this for the Daiyuzenji study group. Lots of good stuff in here, though collections like these tend to get repetitive. I can see myself flipping through it now and then and finding some particularly worthwhile passages when I need them.

John Dee and the Empire of Angels: Enochian Magick and the Occult Roots of the Modern World, Jason Louv (3.17.22)
What a heavy read. I think I started this two years ago. Louv not only goes into great detail about John Dee and his era, but the historical and magic(k)al repercussions of Dee's work, primarily expressed through the legacy of Aleister Crowley. Magick is one of those subjects I've always found fascinating, and Louv does a superb job of showing readers what a magickal worldview is like; in some ways it's terrifying, but I suppose anything with total liberation as its goal is. (I'll stick to Buddhism and its particular liberatory mechanisms.) This is the kind of book I could only recommend to a few folks, because everyone else would think it was way, way too out there.

The Anomaly, Hervé Le Tellier (Adriana Hunter, trans.) (3.23.22)
Tracey got me this after I heard about it on Erik Davis' Discord and learned that I'd be waiting a long while to get it from the library. I dug everything about it, even the occasional weird artifacts of translation. I suspect it'll be an HBO miniseries or something similar in the near future, which seems wholly unnecessary. You should read this.

Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction, Jake Silverstein (3.25.22)
I bought this during my first trip to West Texas in 2016 and only got around to reading it on my most recent trip there. It was a blast (the book, and the trip, though in different ways).

Pequeno Manual Antirracista, Djamila Ribeiro (3.27.22)
Exactly what the title says: a little anti-racist manual. Ribeiro clearly and succinctly lays out the state of anti-black racism in Brazil, and how and why to combat it. This should be published in English.

The Sayings of Layman P'ang: A Zen Classic of China, James Green (trans.) (3.30.22) (reread)
The latest Daiyuzenji study group pick, which I finished quickly because it's short. I read this twelve years ago in the same translation, which this time around kinda irked me (the study group compares it against the Ruth Fuller Sasaki translation, which is a bit old-fashioned but more faithful, it seems).

April

On the Line: A Story of Class, Solidarity, and Two Women's Epic Fight to Build a Union, Daisy Pitkin (3.16.22)
Daisy is a fellow NWU member, which is how I heard about this book. It's fantastic: smoothly written, honest, full of fascinating, frustrating details about union organizing, moths, and more. I bought an extra copy to give to some other folks to read.

After Henry, Joan Didion (4.19.22)
I think I picked this up because Erik Davis, or someone like that, mentioned Didion as a quintessential California author, and someone else online recommended her essay "Insider Baseball." These essays were really good; I dig the style a lot, and I wish I'd started reading her work before she died.

The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix (4.24.22)
I got this from the library and read it in a day. I really like what Hendrix does with slasher movie tropes, and the characters have enough, well, character to make you care about them, even when they're not great people. There was a twist involving one of the final girls that I'd love to see developed into its own story, but I doubt it'll happen. All in all, this was one of those books I didn't want to put down, so I didn't.

May

Gods Without Men, Hari Kunzru (5.4.22)
I heard about this from Erik Davis' Discord server. This was a pretty compelling testament to the power and weirdness of the desert, and while I liked it quite a bit, I didn't love it, not due to any lack of skill on Kunzru's part, but because certain kinds of "literary" fiction just aren't doing much for me anymore.

The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi (5.14.22)
Saad's sci-fi book club pick. I didn't like this, but I didn't completely hate it. It's about a third too long, the titular character seems completely unnecessary (as are the extended, pretty gratuitous passages detailing her abuse), and the whole thing reads like the author was into the less interesting elements of William Gibson's early work. Still, the setting is pretty cool, and Bacigalupi has an eye for certain things we're bound to face as the climate catastrophe worsens, so it wasn't a total waste of time.

Shaky Town, Lou Mathews (5.24.22)
I bought Mathews' novel L.A. Breakdown based on the recommendation of Jim Gavin, the creator of Lodge 49. I haven't gotten to it yet, but after reading Shaky Town, it won't be long before I do. This was wonderfully written, down to earth, working class stuff. Sad, beautiful, and the kind of L.A. storytelling I dig.

An Ongoing Lesson in the Extent of My Own Stupidity, Soko Morinaga (Belenda Attaway Yamakawa, trans.) (5.29.22)
Morinaga Roshi lays out his monastic career and understanding of Zen in a plain, honest, engaging way. He doesn't avoid Buddhist terminology, but he doesn't go overboard with it, either. This was a great short read.

June

Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir (6.11.22)
Natalia's sci-fi book club pick. Tracey and I listened to The Martian on audiobook a few years ago while on a trip, and I disliked it greatly. I think I liked this even less.

My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones (6.19.22)
Something about the writing style never fully clicked with me, but I did read this in two days, so I clearly liked it. I think I've had my fill of slasher shit for a while, though.

Hollow Coin, S.T. Cartledge (6.30.22)
A weird little sci-fi novel about memory, class war, and freakish developments in human evolution. I liked it well enough, but I was glad it wasn't longer, because the writing style wouldn't work well.

July

Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, Kim Kelly (7.13.22)
I remember Grim Kim from her metal journalism days, and she's done a killer job of shifting over to the labor beat. This is a well-written, inspiring chronicle of all the folks who gave us what we have today, and a reminder of how much more work there is to do.

Pierre or, the Ambiguities, Herman Melville (7.30.22)
It took me a long time to read this. It's weird, overwrought, rambling, and not much fun. I cannot recommend this book to anyone. I only read it because I hope to read all of Melville's books before I die.

Pacifier, Ira Rat (7.30.22)
I don't remember how I heard about Filthy Loot, which published this. (Also, this is so short I don't know if it really counts as a book.) Despite needing a little editing, I found these stories sharp and ugly in a good way. Been a while since I read anything like this.

August

Remedios Varo: Unexpected Journeys, Janet A. Kaplan (8.13.22)
Remedios Varo's work is mentioned in The Crying of Lot 49, which is where I first heard of her, and also in Lodge 49, another favorite of mine. Her artwork has fascinated me for years, and one day I'd like to see one of her paintings in person.

Union Dues, John Sayles (8.15.22)
John at Kaboom Books recommended this to me a year or two ago, maybe longer. I loved it: Sayles has a knack for dialogue, the subject matter was right up my alley, and the characters felt like real people doing real things. Highly recommended.

The Cat Inside, William S. Burroughs (8.27.22) (re-read?)
I think I read this back in college, when I read all the Burroughs I could get my hands on, but I'm not sure. I bought this copy at The Last Bookstore in L.A. I dig Burroughs, I dig cats, and I dig Burroughs' thoughts on cats.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion (8.28.22)
I bought this at the Getty Center gift shop, because both whomever chose to stock this particularly fine-looking edition, and myself, knew that it's what one does when at the Getty Center gift shop. Incredible writing.

September

Rebirth: A Guide to Mind, Karma, and Cosmos in the Buddhist World, Roger R. Jackson (9.25.22)
I picked this up shortly before finding out it would be the Daiyuzenji discussion group's next pick. Jackson lays out the history of rebirth as concept, the role it's played in Buddhist thought over the millennia, and various arguments for it (while not failing to touch on arguments against it as well). Jackson isn't, mind you, making the case for rebirth. A worthwhile read, though if you're at all like me, you're unlikely to finish the book a believer in rebirth; agnostic, maybe, but most of the arguments for rebirth are inadequate, especially in the current socio-philosophical context of the West.

The Peripheral, William Gibson (9.26.22) (reread)
I chose this for sci-fi book club, only to discover shortly thereafter that a TV series based on the book is coming out soon. I liked this the first time, and liked it this time. The jackpot feels even more prescient and likely this time around. I'm less stoked about the TV series, but I'll wait to pass judgment.

October

The Halloween Moon, Joseph Fink (10.3.22)
I started listening to Welcome to Night Vale again, and learned that one of the creators wrote this book. They had it at the library, and it was the right time of year, so I checked it out. A fun read, primarily aimed at kids but completely enjoyable by adults.

Egg Drop Dead, Vivien Chien (10.10.22)
I found this at the library. It was okay; a bit on the dull side, but a pleasant enough read when I didn't feel like something heavier.

Secrets of a Successful Organizer, Alexandra Bradbury, Mark Brenner, and Jane Slaughter (10.16.22)
Crucial tactics and strategy for organizing of all kinds, despite being aimed mainly at unions. Gonna be re-reading this for years.

November

Among Buddhas in Japan, Morgan Gibson (11.6.22)
I got this because I was curious about the person who helped translate Kukai's poetry into English. This short memoir of living in Japan in the '70s as a Western Buddhist was pretty good, but I found Gibson a neurotic narrator.

Speed Tribes: Days and Nights with Japan's Next Generation, Karl Taro Greenfeld (11.20.22)
Pretty decent read, even if it's 30 years old and the writing is uneven. The chapter on otaku took a weird, gross turn, not because of the people it describes, but because of the weird moralizing tone.

Venceslau de Morais e o Japão, Helmut Feldmann (11.30.22)
Venceslau de Morais was a Portuguese naval officer who, after serving in Mozambique and Macau, ended up as vice-consul in Japan for over a decade. He then renounced his title and pension and lived a fairly solitary life in Tokushima, writing and, according to this study of his work, living out a self-made myth about "Dai Nippon" and the "cult of saudade." I've only read snippets of his stuff, but this made for good reading while I was in Japan.

The American Federation of Teachers, 1916-1961 : A History of the Movement, William Edward Eaton (11.30.22)
Tracey got me this when I got my job as a union organizer for the AFT. I learned a lot about the union, and appreciated that Eaton was pretty even-handed, all things considered.

December

Class Struggle Unionism, Joe Burns (12.9.22)
It's always nice to read political stuff written in plain, straightforward language, especially when the message is as vital as this one.

Digging Our Own Graves: Coal Miners and the Struggle over Black Lung Disease, Barbara Ellen Smith (12.28.22)
A grim, fascinating study of the intersection of medical authority, class politics, and coal production. I was appalled to learn that black lung has actually gotten worse in recent decades, due in no small part to the declining presence of the UMWA in the mines and the concomitant willingness of coal operators to do anything and everything to increase profits.

1808: Como uma rainha louca, um príncipe medroso e uma corte corrupta enganaram Napoleão e mudaram a História de Portugal e do Brasil, Laurentino Gomes (12.31.22)
Não só uma história fascinante e bem contada, a escrita de Laurentino Gomes é provavelmente a mais clara e desprovida de idiossincrasias linguísticas portuguesas que tenho lido. Um grande prazer ler.



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