Girl Walks Into a Bar by Rachel Dratch (2012)

Subtitled: Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle.

I have a love-hate relationship with memoirs/humorous essay books written by comedians. However, I was surprised to find that I rather liked this one. (I should have been able to tell by the excellent subtitle alliteration.)

The beginning is a bit of inside dish on being a non-traditional looking actress in Hollywood who rather publicly got replaced on a major television show (30 Rock). The next part is about dating in New York, which is deliciously traumatizing, and the third is about finding herself unexpectedly pregnant in her early forties. Through the entire book, and all of her memoirs, she is wonderfully self-aware, and the book is well-organized and funny. Good stuff!

March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, Nate Powell (2013)

Okay, so you should know: Don't read this without having the second one close at hand. It leaves off on a total cliffhanger. And you will just need to know what is going to happen. 

This graphic novel follows the life of John Lewis, from young sharecropper child living in segregated Alabama to studying to be a preacher to getting involved with Dr. King and SNCC. Set with a poignant framing device of him getting ready (as a congressman) for the inauguration of Barack Obama, it looks back in full detail at his past. 

It's incredibly sweet and heart-rending--brought me to tears and made me really want to learn more about his work, the civil rights movement, and visit Atlanta's many civil rights museums. Fascinating and incredibly emotional.  Followed by a second volume, which will make you long for the yet-to-be released third.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future by A.S. King (2014)

Fascinatingly weird and marvelously, utterly original young adult novel about a girl graduating from high school who drinks a petrified bat (what?) with her best friend who lives on the commune across the street and finds that she can see people's future. And a big war is coming.

Really well told and very chilling, and in the midst of all this strangeness, King creates interesting and realistic relationships between friends and family members.

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine (2014)

Amazingly thought-provoking book that explores the everyday interactions of race, in lovely, spare, poetic writing. 

Chilling and effective, with interesting illustrations (and helpful notes about them in the back). It feels like a book you should read slowly and thoughtfully, which is not something I do very often. Wonderful discussion starter. 

Here's a tip: listen to Claudia Rankine read her work. It helps to have her voice in your head as you read. I particularly love the vignette on page 131 that starts: "On the Train."

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (2015)

Getting lots of buzz as this year's Gone Girl, I have to say, it's a pretty darn good thriller. 

Lonely, alcoholic Rachel rides the train every day, pretending to go to the job that she lost. She gazes out the window and into the windows of the houses she passes on her way, making up stories about the people who live there. But one day she sees something very mysterious and gets involved with a murder investigation.

Told by various characters, this was an interesting, well-written, great characterized novel. Plus, and not insignificantly, a fascinating look at alcoholism. Also, the end is so suspenseful that I kept putting it down, not wanting it to be over.

The Dolls by Kiki Sullivan (2014)

Eveny Cheval just moved back to Carrefour, Louisiana from Brooklyn with her aunt. Many secrets await, including the cliquey new group to which her family has mysterious ties.  

Long story short: Eveny is a voodoo queen, possibly the most powerful one of all! And the super handsome guy she likes? Generations of his family have protected hers so they can never be together! And her mother's suicide?  Possibly not a suicide! 

That said, it was great mythology and a fun read that, despite the fact that it's no doubt the first in a trilogy, stood alone just fine on its own.

How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon (2014)

The story of a young black man, shot dead on a busy street by a white man. Told through the viewpoints of his friends, his family, his friends' families, bystanders and shopkeepers in the area.  

Beautifully evokes so many people's stories through this one event. Fabulous book. Read voraciously in one night. Excellent book for thoughtful discussions.

Saga: Volume One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (2012)

Unbelievably absorbing graphic novel about two cultures at war and two people from those cultures who have fallen in love and had a baby. Begins very much in media res.

Fabulous world creation, super dreamy lead guy (despite the horns), kick ass lead girl, and wonderfully vivid supporting characters.  Plus, mucho diversity. Absolutely fabulous.

Followed by three more volumes ... so far!

Us by David Nicholls (2014)

David Nicholls is quickly turning into an Author I Adore. I loved his One Day (book AND surprisingly well-done movie) as well as The Understudy, so I was looking forward to his newest novel.

Us is about Connie and Dan, a long-married couple whose son is graduating. They have a Grand Tour planned when Connie tells Douglas that she doesn't want to be married anymore. But they go on the trip anyway, and, unsurprisingly, things go awry. A lovely meditation on marriage and love, featuring flawed characters and realistic situations.  Nicholls has such wonderful insights into emotion and love, and he has such marvelous, humorous turns of phrase. Like:

"Other people's sex lives are a little like other people's holidays: you're glad they had fun but you weren't there and don't necessarily want to see the photos. At our age too much detail leads to a certain amount of mental whistling and staring at shoes, and there's also the problem of vocabulary. Scientific terms, though clinically accurate, don't really convey the heady dark intensity, etc., etc. and I'd like to avoid simile of metaphor -- valley, orchid, garden, that kind of thing. Certainly I have no intention of using a whole load of swear words. So I won't go into detail, except to say that it worked out pretty well for all concerned, with that pleasant sense of self-satisfaction, as if we'd discovered that we were still capable of performing a forward roll. Afterwards we lay in a tangle of limbs." (p. 71)

Gabriel: A Poem by Edward Hirsch (2014)

Lovely memoir in poetry about Edward Hirsch's son, who passed away from an overdose. 

The poem starts at Gabriel's funeral and goes through his death as well as Gabriel's very troubled life. Lyrical and sad, and very thoughtful about grief.

I adore this quote:

"I did not know the work of mourning
Is like carrying a bag of cement
Up a mountain at night ….
Look closely and you will see
Almost everyone is carrying bags
Of cement on their shoulders
That's why it takes courage
To get out of bed in the morning
And climb into the day." (p. 73)