Last but not least in nonfiction, fans of Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot by Mark Vanhoenacker, won’t want to miss his latest, Imagine a City: A Pilot’s Journey across an Urban World. On the other hand, if you’re not minutely interested in the technical and creative decisions behind a narrative-the tied-off loops on the back of the tapestry-you might as well just read the stories themelves. What questions does a story ask, and how do they pull us along? Is it what’s left in or what’s left out that makes a masterpiece? Of the analyses Saunders offers, his take on three of Chekhov’s stories were my favorite. George Saunders’s A Swim in the Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life is a terrific read for anyone who wants to dive deep into the craft minutiae of great short fiction. His account of his Scandinavian upbringing his rise through some of the most demanding restaurant kitchens in Europe, under despotic chefs and his lifelong love affair with food and culture make this a book to relish on many levels. Samuelsson is the Ethiopian-born, Swedish-raised culinary phenom who co-founded the Red Rooster restaurant in Harlem. On the other hand, I recommend Lynne Cox’s Swimming to Antarctica: Tales of a Long-Distance Swimmer not for any particular magic in the telling but for the extraordinary nature of Cox herself-her athletic prowess, her ability to connect with people around the world, the cheerful way she greets challenges of all kinds.Īnother thoroughly satisfying memoir was Marcus Samuelsson’s Yes, Chef, ghostwritten by Veronica Chambers.

For me it was an okay read, but not as memorable as Jaouad’s book. Thinking of memoirs by feisty young women, Crying in H-Mart, by Michelle Zauner got a lot of attention this year. She’s still fighting cancer, and I wish her all the best for recovery.

In the flash of an eye the promising, carefree prospect of her twenties became a hellish ordeal. Jaouad discovered her cancer right after graduating from Princeton. It’s a cancer narrative that stands out on account of Jaouad’s youth, frankness, and writing chops, as well as the fact that the second half becomes a road-trip book. Starting with nonfiction, I enjoyed and was moved by Suleika Jaouad’s Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted. Along the way I ran across some new obsessions. Then, by pecking through recommendation lists and hopping from screen to screen, I was able to keep my library hold shelves reassuringly filled-staving off that dire malady known as Running Out of Something Good To Read. I got a wider shot at e-book availability by joining a second public library in the adjacent city. David Hockney, Nathan Swimming Los Angeles, 1982Ģ022 turned out to be a good reading year.

Bear by marian engel pages