Citizen Reader

I read a lot of really good nonfiction this year. But what almost invariably happened was that when I really liked a book, I set it aside to blog about it later when I could "take more time writing about it."

Yeah, right.

I'd set my favorite books aside, wait for this magical mythical moment when I had lots of free time,* it would never come, then the book would go overdue, and I would just have to return it to the library. BUT! I did usually write down the titles of the books I was reading, so that's how I know what great books I read and never blogged about. Here they are:

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, by Lindy West. Actually, I quite enjoyed this book, a collection of essays by West. One of the most interesting ones was how she actually met and talked with a very misguided man who went to the trouble of creating a whole fictitious Twitter account FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of trolling her. Normally I don't feel a lot of communion with millennial woman, but I enjoyed her frustrated but still understanding/forgiving tone. A thoughtful read.

Am I Alone Here?, essays about reading by a man named Peter Orner. I didn't get the whole thing read, but this was an interesting collection about reading and what it means to us.

Privacy, by Garret Keizer. Ohmygod did I love this book. I think I'm making plans to either force this book on you in a Menage, or to host some kind of read-along or something. It's a very short little book with some very big little essays on the nature of privacy and how we feel about it and (don't) protect it.

Arbitrary Stupid Goal, by Tamara Shopsin. Memoir by daughter of the infamous New York City grocery/restaurant owner Kenny Shopsin. I still hope to write about this one. It was a crazy ride.

Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, by Ada Calhoun. Surprisingly good and eerily right-on collection of essays about marriage.

Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks, by Annie Spence. Lord, this book was so good, and it pissed me off SO bad. This is the book that everyone who a. loves books and b. wants to make people laugh, would LOVE to write. I can't hate Annie Spence for being better at loving books more and being funnier than me, though, them's just the breaks. She gave us a great book.

So there you have it. Some of my favorite books of the year that I didn't even write about. On to more laziness in 2018!

*I actually get some free time. But I don't always want to spend it blogging, I'll admit, especially since I feel my blog writing has been somewhat lackluster lately, and no one wants to spend time doing something that makes them feel lackluster. If I want to feel lackluster all I need to do is get up in the morning.