Reading List
Jeff VanderMeer
Weird Fiction Author and Critic
Jeff VanderMeer, born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1968, is an American author and critic who spent much of his childhood in the Fiji Islands. He was initially associated with the New Weird before writing the Southern Reach series, whose opening novel, Annihilation, won the Nebula and Shirley Jackson Awards and became a Hollywood film. His picks here, from a Year in Reading essay for The Millions, include Daša Drndić’s Belladonna, Elif Batuman’s The Idiot, Tana French’s The Trespasser and Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West.
Sourdough
by Robin Sloan · 2018 · Fiction
“This satire of the tech industry manages to be both sweet and savory, in telling the story of a woman who inherits the possibly sentient starter for a sourdough recipe. More fairy tale than incisive critique, Sourdough epitomizes the heart-warming story that isn't saccharine and as such it's a rare novel indeed in a landscape dominated by more weighty books.” — via Article, December 2017
I Capture the Castle
by Dodie Smith · 2003 · Classics
“Like a relic from a simpler time, Smith's novel, originally published in 1948, is a bit of a time capsule, but no less enjoyable for that reason. In charming and disarming prose, 16-year-old Cassandra Mortmain chronicles her family's life in a crumbling castle.” — via Article, December 2017
Fever Dream
by Samanta Schweblin · 2018 · Fiction
“If environmental pollution and climate change require new approaches to narrative, then Schweblin in Fever Dream has hit upon one potent approach. At the crossroads of the surreal and the real, her story about a dying woman and a boy who is not her son manages to convey the confusion and pain of the modern condition in a way I haven't seen before. A short read, utterly riveting and poignant.” — via Article, December 2017
Exit West
by Mohsin Hamid · 2017 · Fiction
“The novel's most brilliant extrapolation is in not undermining the emotional resonance of the doors, and their effect on the main characters, with pointless explanation. Instead, Hamid creates a sensitive tapestry that comments on our current situation to devastating and beautiful effect.” — via Article, December 2017
The Trespasser
by Tana French · 2016 · Crime
“The combination of a fascinating case, a deep dive into the history of the narrator's colleagues, and the fraught relationship she has with her partner create something special. I've now read all of French's novels and recommend everything she's written.” — via Article, December 2017
The Complete Stories of Leonora Carrington
by Leonora Carrington · 2017 · Fiction
“Carrington is essential to the history and evolution of 20th-century non-realist fiction. Stories like "The Debutante" and "White Rabbits" are strange and timeless and conjure up the universality of fairy tales while being thoroughly modern.” — via Article, December 2017
The Idiot
by Elif Batuman · 2018 · Fiction
“Batuman has a talent for exposing the absurdity of how we conduct ourselves in the world and the ridiculousness of societal rituals. It's a tribute to Batuman's formidable magic tricks that although the novel fades a bit in the final fifth, I still enjoyed The Idiot more than almost anything I read in 2017.” — via Article, December 2017
Belladonna
by Daša Drndić · 2017 · Fiction
“The novel is multi-faceted, sharp, surprising, darkly and grimly hilarious, relevant to our times, and possesses limitless depth. It also bristles with intelligence and defiance in every paragraph, like an exceptionally erudite and alert porcupine.” — via Article, December 2017
