I spent most of this year in pandemic jail at home with nothing to do but read. End result: I read a lot less than I have in previous years.

I guess that's because I read more when I'm traveling and I hardly traveled at all. Although I did have a conversation in a bar in Dallas this past February with a man who had visions of other dimensions that were "indescribably beautiful" and also looked like an emerald forest. Sounds like Oz to me. I'm jealous.

Anyway, the books I read last year, from worst to first.

16. The North Water (2016) - Ian McGuire

The North Water lands in the stinkhole. This reminded me of Feast of Snakes, my least favorite book from a few years ago. Everyone's a piece of shit. Fifty pages in you get your child rape and animal torture. Apparently if you stick it out you get to read about butchering whales too. I didn't finish it.

15. The Outsider (2018) - Stephen King

I haven't liked a new Stephen King book in a while. This was no different. I read this one for a failed attempt at a book club in Seattle that we (didn't) start right before Covid became all the craze. They made an HBO show out of it that is one of the many popular shows I have not watched in 2020. My 2021 resolution: Watch more TV. Also drink more. I haven't been getting drunk nearly enough.

14. The Lost Princess Of Oz (1917) - L. Frank Baum

I picked this one as a quick read while I was waiting for the new Joe Abercrombie book to arrive. It's decent as Oz books go. I have a soft spot for the franchise. In this one we meet Cayke the Cookie Cook, whose magic golden dishpan has been stolen, and the Frogman, who acts smarter than he is. Oh, and Ozma is missing.

13. Injury Impoverished (2020) - Nate Holdren

An academic text by an old friend about the advent of the modern American workers compensation system. It's dry and academic but makes some compelling arguments. Before modern workers comp, judges could award you (or your next of kin) for degrees of suffering (although they normally didn't). Nowadays every limb has a price tag and the system is quite dehumanizing.

After the pandemic began and I couldn't go out to bars anymore, I started getting up early and trading stocks. I read zero books about trading stocks, but I did read a book about workers comp. And my investment returns were fantastic (+137% on the year). So my investment advice is to study labor law history.

12. Macbeth (1606) - William Shakespeare

I told the proprietor of of Twice Told Tales, a rad used book store in Seattle, that I wasn't a fan of Shakespeare and she proceeded to give me a copy of Macbeth and peer pressure me into reading it. It has its moments. The general idea is three witches convince a Scottish general to murder the king and steal his throne.

The moral of the story is "mo money mo problems." Which was basically my experience working at Amazon. Paid really well but it was miserable. I wrote a whole blog about it. I quit and had to pay them back a bunch of money they had given me for relocation. Worth it.

11. The Space Between Worlds (2020) - Micaiah Johnson

I liked this book, just not as much as everyone else. It's a fun adventure sci-fi story about a woman who can travel between worlds in a multiverse, but the plot has massive holes that made me roll my eyes quite a bit. We are told that there is a larger civilization in this Earth but it feels like there are only 2 cities and 10 people. And in this version of alternate worlds there's no butterfly effect.

The main character is a black lesbian and one of the ancillary characters is trans, so if you're looking for books that explore those experiences it has that going for it.

10. The Bloody Chamber (1979) - Angela Carter

A collection of short stories that are all based on fairy tales but sexied up a bit. The title tale, based on Bluebeard, is the longest and most compelling. In it a teenage girl marries an older, wealthy French Marquis. She later discovers that he has a violent history with wives. Thus the bloody chamber.

My love live in 2020 was bleak but not quite that bleak. Really just a rerun of the past several years. I dated a woman for a while but we ended it when she wanted more of a commitment than I was willing to give. Lather, rinse, repeat. Then I moved back to Minneapolis for a new job at Chewy.

9. The Liar's Club (1995) - Mary Carr

A childhood memoir in the vein of The Glass Castle and all the other best-selling memoirs of the late 90s and early 2000s. Mary grew up in a small town in Southeast Texas and her parents were violent drunks. So it makes for a lively read.

My own family update is I started talking to my dad more after the pandemic started. Then I started talking to my dad less after the Black Lives Matter movement started. We have not discussed Biden's election or Trumpers occupying the Capitol.

8. The Revenge of the Babysat (1991) - Bill Watterson

A collection of Calvin and Hobbes strips from 1988-1989. These hold up. This collection is not particularly better than any other, but I love Calvin and Hobbes. I bought some Calvin and Hobbes canvas print off of Etsy at some point after all the stores closed for Covid and everybody converted to e-commerce.

7. Ready Player One (2011) - Ernest Cline

The prose in this is not all that great and it seems to be targeted towards teenagers, but I really enjoyed this one. It takes place in a dystopic 2045 where a virtual reality world is more popular than the regular world. I'm surprised that hasn't happened yet. Maybe it has and I just need an Occulus. I bought my niece an Occulus for Christmas this year. Maybe she's already living the better virtual life.

Oh and skip the movie. It's garbage.

6. 2666 (2004) - Roberto Bolaño

A superbly written novel in the vein of Infinite Jest. Meaning it's super duper long, the title has no relevance, and its 5 unrelated parts have no unifying plot. If you can deal with all that then you'll probably love it. The themes revolve around an elusive German author and the unsolved murders of women in a fictional city called Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa was inspired by Juarez and the femicides happening there while Bolaño wrote the novel.

5. Dune (1965) - Frank Herbert

I'd read it before but it's still a blast. The plot includes some social darwinism that can be a tad uncomfortable. But it's grade-A epic sci-fi adventure with vivid characters and giant worms.

I was skeptical about the 2020 movie. Then the movie never came out because of Covid, so I'm still skeptical. It doesn't seem very adaptable to film. It takes place over several years and much of the drama comes in the form of inner monologues. Can't be worse than the David Lynch version though. If I were a gambling man I'd bet it won't be all that great.

Also I am a gambling man and I did lots of sports betting this year in lieu of poker tournaments and any iota of a social life. Mostly I lost. I should stick to drinking - I'm better at that vice.

4. Killers of the Flower Moon (2017) - David Grann

Speaking of movies that didn't come out in 2020 - Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in Martin Scorsese's production of this true crime thriller. Should be released in 2021. Hopefully it's not as boring as the Irishman, which was another Scorsese movie based on a non-fiction book I liked. Hm. That doesn't bode well.

This is a fascinating and chilling history. It tells the story of the murders of wealthy Osage Indians in Oklahoma during the 1920s after they had become rich from oil deposits on their land. This was the case that made the modern FBI what it was under Hoover. The postscript is haunting.

3. The Sympathizer (2015) - Viet Thanh Nguyen

Excellent novel about a North Vietnamese mole in the South Vietnamese army who continues his job spying after expatriating to the United States. The novel begins with the fall of Saigon and then follows the narrator to Los Angeles. It won the Pulitzer prize for fiction and I think deservedly so.

2. The Master Butchers Singing Club (2003) - Louise Erdritch

This novel blew me away. It's a biopic about a family of German immigrants and their friends in a small town in North Dakota during the years between the two world wars. That doesn't sound like it should be all that exciting but it's fantastic.

The father of the family is a butcher who organizes a singing club, which gives the novel its title. The main character is a woman who comes to work for the family after giving up her life as a vaudeville performer.

Louise Erditch is an author from Little Falls, Minnesota. I'm guessing this novel is not too renowned. Can't remember who recommended me this one but thanks!

1. The Trouble With Peace (2020) - Joe Abercrombie

The Age of Madness tops my list again. I can't get enough of this series. War is becoming industrialized in the circle of the world, where wizards are greedy usurers and a scrappy Northern girl is afflicted with the Long Eye and can't keep the present and future straight. It's all politics and sex and violence. It's funny, it's witty, and there's even a fictionalized workers movement!

That's all for this year. Hopefully the world will open back up soon and I'll travel across the globe to find some dark bar where I can hole up and read more books. In the meantime I'm going to try to make myself watch more TV and drink more booze. Wish me luck!