We're so very thankful!
Happy Thanksgiving! First, we want to acknowledge that it’s a fraught holiday—here’s a roundup of ways you can support Native American communities, and here’s a land acknowledgment map so that you can determine and recognize whose land you’re celebrating on. That said, we also want to reiterate just how grateful we are for you, our #SplitLipFAM. Since we can’t have turkey and mashed potatoes with you, we’ve decided to have our staff share what books we’re most thankful for in 2020.
D. Arthur: “Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood and Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier both shook me out of a reading slump!”
Jerilynn Aquino: “I'm gonna go with Weather by Jenny Offill.”
Janelle Bassett: “I just read and loved Unquiet by Linn Ullmann. Also, this summer I read The Lost Daughter by Ferrante and it’s now my favorite book about being a mother.”
Anna Cabe: “I really love K-Ming Chang's Bestiary!”
Jon Doyle: “I'm going to say Claire Cronin's Blue Light of the Screen.”
William Fargason: “Shane McCrae’s Sometimes I Never Suffered. His whole catalogue has helped me this year!”
Kendra Fortmeyer: “Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer times a million; this book has become a religion to me in this pandemic period of careful neighborhood walks & up-close observation of nature. Or if I could add a second, the forthcoming (April 2021) Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by debut YA author Kristen O'Neal. The book handles chronic pain and illness with a gorgeous familiarity and also a deftness of heart and cultural in-speak that I haven't seen before, and am so grateful that it'll be in the hands of young people soon.”
Daniel Garcia: “Wife by Tiphanie Yanique & Moon by Jennifer S. Cheng are two of mine!”
Jessica Guzman: “Eduardo C. Corral's Guillotine and Valerie Hsiung's You + Me Forever.”
Megin Jiménez: “This year, History of Violence (2018) by Edouard Louis, reminded me why we need fiction - it's searing, vulnerable, brave, painful, and also hard to put down, just incredibly written. Atopia by Sandra Simonds in poetry, a cohesive collection, showed me how we can keep writing about and through this time... (There are others, but wanted to promote living, younger writers!)”
Ryan Jones: “There There by Tommy Orange for me!”
Maureen Langloss: “I’ll give you my most recent: Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, translated by Polly Barton.”
Trevor Lanuzza: “I second The Office of Historical Corrections by Danielle Evans for fiction. For poetry: Deluge by Leila Chatti”
Ashley Monique Lee: “Just Us by Claudia Rankine.”
Ruth LeFaive: “If I may be allowed three, my reply is: Lakewood by Megan Giddings; A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt; and Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit.”
Susan Lerner: “Impossible to single out one but I guess I can whittle it down to two: Notes on a Silencing by Lacy Crawford & Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey.”
Nicole Markert: “I’ve read so much poetry this year that deserves so much praise, but one collection that really gripped me this year was All The Gay Saints by Kayleb Rae Candrilli!”
Clancy McGilligan: “Thankful for Fiebre Tropical by Juliana Delgado Lopera!”
Rita Mookerjee: “Horsepower by Joy Priest.”
Megan Neville: “Oh gosh. So many this year! I’m going to have to go with Obit by Victoria Chang.”
Heidi Espenscheid Nibbelink: “The novel Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth ticked all my crazy chicken lady boxes!”
Wendy Oleson: “For novels, Pigs by Johanna Stoberock and Lakewood by Megan Giddings. Story collection, Boy Oh Boy by Zachary Doss—and so much more, of course!”
Cree Pettaway: “VERY important to me: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell and How To Sit by Tyrese Coleman.”
Becky Robison: “I’ve read SO many good books this year. Three that stick out: 1) Raven Leilani’s Luster—so funny and also completely gut-wrenching! 2) Kristen Arnett’s Mostly Dead Things—I read this right after my mother died, and it was exactly what I needed at the time. 3) Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening, translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchison—at first I thought it was the saddest book I’ve ever read, and then I thought it was the most deranged book I’ve ever read, and now I’ll probably never be able to stop thinking about it.”
Sara Ryan: “I read and had many feelings about Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers by Jake Skeets! Also for memoir—I loved Eula Biss’s The Balloonists!”
Amy Stuber: “My most recent is Danielle Evans' The Office of Historical Corrections. Just finished it and loved how intricate her plots are (without ever feeling convoluted) and the emotional depth in each story. Each one is a whole, complete world.”
Troy Varvel: “For fiction: I’m really getting into Antkind by Charlie Kaufman. Haven’t finished it yet, but it’s incredible. For poetry, a collection released a couple of years ago that still lives in my head: Scared Violent Like Horses by John McCarthy.”
Analía Villagra: “Useful Phrases for Immigrants by May-lee Chai and The World Doesn't Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott.”
Emily Woodworth: “The Beadworkers by Beth Piatote—amazing short fiction collection, and especially impactful for me as a Native person. It's a short fiction collection by a Nez Perce author who wrote it after the pattern of their Salmon Ceremony. It's gorgeous.”