Over winter break, I went to my local bookstore and wandered around for an hour. I had $92.76 in my checking account. I spent it on books–and for the entire month, I only drank coffee at home. These are the first three books I read this year. And boy, have I been fed.
I bought five novels. I read three of them back-to-back and typically in one sitting within a week. Out of happenstance, these novels possess poignant and sullen characters who wrestle with identity and agency. These are short, yet fervid stories. So, this line-up is for the dreamers and drifters.
Nothing but the Night by John Williams
I bought this book because Stoner by John Williams was sold out. Nothing but the Night was Williams’ first novel published in 1948. The New York Book Review edition of this novel displays one of the blankest stares. This is the best way I can describe John William’s Nothing but the Night–a blank stare materialized in a hundred pages. The novel’s protagonist chronicles Arthur Maxley, who wrestles with a past grievance which dislodges his mind from body. Although the story is not Williams’ most refined work, the prose is tame and addictive. He writes with simplicity. His sentences don’t try. The novel stays a novel. In my opinion, this is what makes his work wonderful.
“Here we’re two persons, so close that their bodies touched, each conscious of the other’s presence, each in his private way solicitous of the other, each striving to pierce the other’s shell to find an inner reality, each of them making the other egress into his or own particular shell as easy as possible–and each failing miserably in every attempt.”
You will like this book if: You drink black coffee.
Boulder by Eva Baltasar
This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Boulder by Eva Baltasar was originally written in Catalan and won the 2023 International Booker Prize. The novel is about a boundless sailor who finds herself enclosed in marriage and motherhood after falling in love. However, the narration is what makes this novel stand out. Baltasar tells this story through a brutal gaze of honesty through a series of vignettes. There is absolutely no bullshit here, yet the prose still retains a certain lyricism. Our protagonist grazes through life with disdain and disillusionment.
“It’s what I came here looking for, true zero. I was tired of inventing resumes, of having to pretend life had a structure, as though there were a metal rod inside of me keeping me upright and steady. The destination always kills the journey, and if we have to reduce life to a story, it can only be a bad one.”
Especially as an aimless young adult myself, she earns my sympathy. However, the unabashed criticism and restless narrow-mindedness become unendurable. Thus, Baltasar paints a holistic portrait of the human psyche in all its contradictions. Reading this is like looking at yourself in the mirror.
You will like this book if: You hate children.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
The first novel I read this year was Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. This one needs no introduction. Anything I’d say would undersell this. It’s just plain good literature.
“Love him,’ said Jacques, with vehemence, ‘love him and let him love you. Do you think anything else under heaven really matters? And how long, at the best, can it last, since you are both men and still have everywhere to go? Only five minutes, I assure you, only five minutes, and most of that, helas! in the dark. And if you think of them as dirty, then they will be dirty— they will be dirty because you will be giving nothing, you will be despising your flesh and his. But you can make your time together anything but dirty, you can give each other something which will make both of you better—forever—if you will not be ashamed, if you will only not play it safe.’ He paused, watching me, and then looked down to his cognac. ‘You play it safe long enough,’ he said, in a different tone, ‘and you’ll end up trapped in your own dirty body, forever and forever and forever—like me.”
You will like this book if: You’re afraid to love.
