The Christmas vacation has always been, at least when I was a child, boring. It was cold, and the only thing I had to do was to read the many books that my grandparents gave me. Nowadays, the vacation are shorter, I’m less bored and I pick the books I read myself. Here is a selection of my 10 favorite novels of 2017. I’ve sorted them chronologically.
On Beauty
Zadie Smith
▶ A novel on personal convictions and how to share them (but not only). I really like this novel which makes me want to read more stuff from Zadie Smith. We follow an Afro-American family in a rich suburbs of Boston, what does it mean to be black, how are you expected to be. The characters are charming, and the writing is a delight.
→ I mentionned it on the Monday Morning #46
→ The book, from 2009, was translated in French De la beauté
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
▶ A classic novel on the rise and fall of a New Yorker socialite at the beginning of the 20th century, Lily Bart, a young woman who seems to have it all: she’s young, she’s beautiful and rich. She lives in New York and travels wherever socialites travel, trying carefully to stay proper. But there’s a problem: she can’t find the right husband for her, it’s never good enough, but she can’t escape her condition, she needs to marry.
It’s an American classics that I’ve very much enjoyed reading. I visited the year before The Mount, a nice mansion where Edith Wharton wrote the novel, which gives an extra dose of love to this beautiful and sad novel. You can read my article about Edith Wharton in the Berkshires here.
→ The book was translated in French Chez les heureux du monde
Dracula,
Bram Stocker
▶ A gothic novel about the boss of all vampires. When I don’t know what to read, most of the times I like to read a classics (the truth is actually that I ask my bestie, an English teacher in France, who always has a recommendation for me).
I thought I knew the story of Dracula, but I didn’t and was intrigued, and sometimes frightened to read the story of Dracula himself, written at the end of the 19th century by an Irish author. I watched the movie by Coppola afterwards, which stays really close to the book. Both are baroque, sexy and gore… it’s a good entertainment, which reminded me at times of the great tv show Penny Dreadful.
→ I talked about the book for the first time on the blog on this Monday Morning, in May
→ The book was translated in French Dracula, Bram Stocker
The Goldfinch,
de Donna Tart
▶ A long novel about the fabulous life of a young man who randomly became the owner of a renown piece of art. There’s something with long novels, it can sometimes be hard to get into the story, but then when I’m hooked, I stay with the story for so long that the characters don’t ever leave me. I came back to Las Vegas a few months after finishing the Goldfinch, and I thought about the main character, Theo, who lived there for a while.
The story of the Goldfinch is unique, but it takes time to get into it: the beginning is slow. Theo, a kid at that time, and his beloved mother visit a museum in New York, which is blown up in a terrorist attack. Theo is able to leave the museum alive, and before doing so, he stole a small painting, the Goldfinch, le Chardonneret in French. His mother dies in the accident, he lives at a friend’s house for a while, before going to Vegas with his father… and his Goldfinch. We follow him becoming an adult who owns the famous painting, lost for everybody else. I read another novel from Donna Tartt, it was completely different, but the ambiance was interesting too, a murder among close friends in college, The Secret History.
→ I talked about the Goldfinch in Monday Morning #57
→ The novel was translated in French Le Chardonneret
I gave my copy to a friend… so took a picture of the library copy
The Son,
Philip Meyer
▶ A violent novel about the creation of an American myth. A friend gave me this beautiful book for my birthday (thanks Claire!) and I couldn’t put it down until it was over. We follow the story of a family in Texas who takes over the land: at first, they are cowboys, then they become oil moguls. The chapters alternate between 3 characters of the family, at 3 different times. I like the best the chapters about Eli, a young teenager captured and then raised as a Comanche.
It’s a typical American story, how the country was founded, but it’s not only shining for the Americans: we see the violence towards Native Americans and Mexicans whose lands were stolen. It’s a novel to be read by anyone who travels in the US!
→ I talked about this novel in the Monday Morning #58
→ The book was translated in French Le fils
Homegoing,
Yaa Gyasi
▶ A ‘historico-genealogic’ novel about the transmission of trauma among generations of an African family, which starts by the story of two step-sisters who never knew each other – their mother gave birth to the first one, who she abandoned when she had to leave her village. One of the sister stays in Ghana, and the other one is exiled by force to America and is traded as a slave.
We follow the descendants of both step-sisters, until now. The story takes place on a very long stretch of time, and allows the author to explore the life of each character thoroughly, their fears, struggles and hopes. It’s also about how to discover yourself, racism and family. It’s strong and beautiful!
→ I talked about the book for the first time on the Summer Book Club
→ The novel was translated No Home in French
Commonwealth,
Ann Pratchett
▶ A novel about 2 families bonded by the same parents and a remarriage, on each side of the USA. I read this book really fast, and I’ve almost forgotten everything already, even though when I read it I remember thinking, oh it’s good.
It’s a quick read, perfect for public transportation, it won’t change your life, but it’ll make you spend some quality time with a captivating book, which is one the best feeling I know. The story takes place over 5 decades, and explore the life of 2 families and their usual drama, plus a bigger, real drama: the death of one the brother. It’s sad and fun at the same time, the characters are great. I recommend this book for the Christmas vacation, unless you are fed up with family drama already.
→ I talked about this book in the summer Book Club
→ The book hasn’t been translated in French yet
Behold the Dreamers,
Imbolo Mbue
▶ A contemporary story about the irreality of the American dream (well, it’s just a dream, the names says it). We follow the lifes of Jende and his wife Neni, at the end of the 2000’s in New York. They arrived from Cameroun, are waiting for their permanent residency, and meanwhile they work hard: he’s a driver for a wealthy banker and she cleans houses. The 2008 crisis changes their plans. We follow at the same time the golden lifes – apparently – of their employers.
It’s a quick and intense read.
→ The novel was translated in French Voici venir les rêveurs
Call me by your name,
André Aciman
▶ A very sensual novel about a first love, and my favorite novel of 2017. If you live in the US, you can’t escape the media circus about the release of the movie Call me by your name, adapted from this wonderful novel. I read the book, will see the movie soon, but my expectations are high. I haven’t read such a beautifully crafted love story in a long time. We follow Elio, a young 17 year-old living with his parents in the summer home in Italy, his father is a professor who invites a student every summer to assist him. Enter Oliver, 25 years old. Elio is seduced, but doesn’t know it yet, and the sentimental adventure slowly begins. The decor is ideal, the time – eternal – it’s summertime somewhere in Italy. I was moved by how the parents, and specially the father of Elio, reacted about the homosexual relationship of his son, with kindness and an open-heart. This book is to me the gay Belle du Seigneur gay, condensed to the love story.
→ I talked about it on the Monday Morning at the Cape Cod
→ The book was translated in French Appelle-moi par ton nom
The Girls,
Emma Cline
▶ A novel about freedom and exploration as a teenager, and what happens when it turns bad. We follow Evie Boyd during the summer of 1969, she’s 14 years old, she’s bored in a chic suburbs of San Francisco and meets randomly a group of wild girls, which she wants to befriend. She goes to the ranch where they hang out and where they are devoted to a hippie leader. The story follows the girls and their adventures. The story is told from Evie’s point of view as an adult, when she remembers what happened. The novel is inspired by the crimes of the so-called Manson family, the notorious American murderer and cult leader. I like this novel because it’s about female teenagers, and it’s always intriguing.
→ The book was translated in French, with the same title The Girls
What to remember about the 2017 books : Read more was one of my 2017 resolutions, actually it was read more and watch less tv shows, I’ve read more, but I’ve watched as many tv shows. As Manu told me, it just means I’ve worked less. Maybe.
Novels and other genres. I read 23 novels total, and only 4 non-fiction books. I’ve started many novels without finishing them, I’m sometimes lazy to try more to keep reading when I feel like it’s not the right fit. I’m probably wrong sometimes, I think it may not be the right time for me to read this book in particular (I gave up for instance on The Sympathizer and Lord of the Flies, I’m sure that they are great). Otherwise, I’ve read probably all the short stories of the New Yorker, I used to skip this section of the magazine, and now I’m looking forward to read it.
“What can I read”? I ask myself this question a lot. I get my inspiration from online magazines, like Vulture, or real places, like the main tables of bookstores and librairies, or a text message to my friend Jeanne in New York or Marjorie in Lille. It’s hard to recommend or to be recommended a book that will work no matter what, but when it works, it feels magical!
2017 extras. I met one of my favorite American author, Courtney Sullivan, at the Cambridge Public Library, where she presented her newest book, Saints for all occasions (I mentionned it here), I like her prose, even if I liked less her latest book ; most of them are set in New England, with female protagonists, she talked about friendship in Commencement, wedding in Engagement, and this one was about an Irish family settling in Boston. Another 2017 extra was to participate to the Nanowrimo cjallenge: writing a novel makes me even more appreciative of the novelist immense work.
Reading in English v. in French. I used to never read in English, when I lived in France, I didn’t even try, except for Harry Potter, I didn’t want to wait the French version. When I moved to the US, the easier solution was to start reading in English. I started with easy stuff, and slowly moved to read about everything. I spent a few days in France last January, so I read a few books in French, it’s always a pleasure, I read Petit Pays from Gaël Faye, La disparition de Jim Sullivan from Tanguy Viel (a meta-novel about how American novels work, it sounds very French…) and Vernon Subutex, volumes 1 and 2 – the first one depressed me, and I loved the seconde one.
What I wish for 2018. I want to be surprised, I wish to read outside of what I’m used to read, writers I don’t know about, from different backgrounds. I love fiction, but I want to read more non-fiction work as well. I’m often tempted to buy the most popular books at the bookstores instead of trying to find something more peculiar. Meanwhile, there are 10 mores days before 2018, I have The Nix from Nathan Hill to finish, and next on my list is Kafka on the shore de Murakami. I don’t always read for the same reasons, sometimes I just want to be entertained, sometimes I’m here for the words, and often I find a piece of me.
