Gross..who put that blog there?
(at least it's not a podcast)
(at least it's not a podcast)
Blog posts
The stuff of 2021
by Jeff Cookston
published Jan 3, 2022
Like any good free recipe on the internet, there’s a story behind this list. If you want to jump right to the recipe, skip down to the bold text below.
When Hillary Clinton lost the presidency in 2016, I joined the millions of like-minded voters who were stunned and appalled. For about a year, I could barely catch my breath. I channeled that anxiety into supporting my family and students. 2017 was basically a year of rage and coping.
In December of 2017 Michael Wolff published “Fire and the Fury” — the first behind-the-scenes book about the Tr_mp presidency. I read it in practically one sitting. (That was the first of 12 books I’ve since read about 45, his upbringing, his presidency, and his legacy. [Did you know his mother almost died when he was two and that she was unavailable to care for him for most of his childhood? Did you know his dad sent him to military school when he found Donald’s extensive hidden knife collection? These and other tidbits about DJT appear in “Trump on the Couch” by Justin Frank.])
After reading Wolff’s trifle of a book, I made some big changes in my life. I stopped following sports because my mood could be affected by the outcome of the game, and a stable mood was quite an accomplishment enough. I stopped listening to the news in the car; again, I did this to protect my state of mind. I basically cut out a bunch of nonsense and dedicated myself to learning more about how the United States had elected a first-time politician whose political career began when his feelings were hurt. David Neiwert’s brilliant “Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump” helped me hear the dog whistles and informed me of all of the hatred that was brewing while I was blissfully living in what I had assumed was a post-racial America.
Although I’m following sports again, I haven’t stopped reading and paying attention to the world in which I parent and work. I have some great friends who I talk about books with, but this year I thought I would share some thoughts on books with you.
My categories are trash, but they make me happy so enjoy.
I’ve altered the names of authors/artists whose art receives a less-than-favorable review to protect them from finding these words from an unqualified hack who’s just popping off.
Book I read when I cut off the tip of my finger with a mandoline
Poison for Breakfast — Lemony Snicket
As I was dashing out of the house for the ER after foolishly deciding to use the mandoline without the protective guard, I grabbed this book on my bedside. Best panicked decision ever. Lemony Snicket is such a clever writer and this quick book of mirth and philosophy is filled with gems. Plus, if you read it in the emergency room, your phone won’t drain its battery.
Best book I reread this year
Office of Historical Corrections — Danielle Evans
This was a good year for short stories. Sustaining attention on a book can ask a lot but 30–40 pages is easily managed. So many good books of short stories came out this year including Brian Washington’s “Lot”, John Lanchester’s “Reality and other stories”, Haruki Marakami’s “First Person Singular”, Brandon Taylor’s “Filthy Animals”, Simon Rich’s “New Teeth,” and Anthony Veasna So’s “Afterparties”, but Evans delivers on every story, and the titular novella will leave you wanting more. I reread this to get ready for a reading group hosted by our Unitarian minister, and I’m so glad I returned to those small worlds.
Best book written by a Ruffin
You’ll never believe what happened to Lacey — Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar
This category was made easier because Maurice Carlos Ruffin published a book of short stories this year. Amber Ruffin brings wit and wisdom to her sister’s everyday incidents of racism in the life of Black woman in these United States.
Best book that helped me understand systems of oppression
On Juneteenth — Annette Gordon-Reed
2021 was a great year to learn about racism in the United States, and I read a lot on the topic. Heather McGhee’s “Sum of Us” is a heavy lift about institutional racism in housing, education, and segregation, our broken-by-design democracy (abolish the electoral college), and how scarcity makes people go nuts. This was also the year of Nicole Hannah Jones’ “1619 Project”, Ibram X Kendi’s “Four Hundred Souls” and Isabel Wilkerson’s “Caste”. Additionally, 2021 brought us “How the Word is Passed” by Clint Smith about how white supremacy is (and is not) reckoned with. Finally, this was the year I picked up Howard Zinn’s masterpiece “People’s History of the United States” but I’m not done with it yet — the sections of the turn of the 20th century labor labor movement almost broke me. But as a native Texan, I was fascinated by this book about what it means to be black and a Texan. Gordon-Reed’s love for and frustration with her state is baked into every page. She reminded me that the amusement park Six Flags is so named for the six flags that have flown over the state —Spain, France, Mexico, Texas, United States, the Confederacy — and that the original park had a section celebrating the Confederacy. Imagine riding rides, eating your pink thing, and having fun with family in the shade of an insurrectionist state. Well, that was part of my childhood.
Oldest book I read this year
Passing — Nella Larsen
I read this 1930s novel of a Black woman passing as white in New York City after reading some Zora Neal Hurston and learning Larsen had a major impact on the Harlem Renaissance writers. It’s so good and oddly timely. A close runner up here is “Nightmare Alley” by William Lindsey Gresham, a late 1940s story of grift and downfall that was also made into a wonderful film. I wrote a twitter thread about
Book that my wife was annoyed I read before her because I wouldn’t shut up about it
Menopause Manifesto — Dr Jen Gunter
As a lifespan developmental psychologist, I knew tragically little about this major life transition that no one talks about. I also read a graphic novel on the topic this summer. You know, light summer reading about midlife for people of a different gender
Best character name in a book
Audrey Zora Toni Mercy Moore in Tia Williams’ Seven days in June
I really loved these characters so much and was pulling for them from the first page. The assigned female protagonist’s daughter’s name is an homage to Black feminist thought leaders. This book also contained one of my favorite lines of the year: Prison is the school of the unearned lesson.
Memorably quote from My year abroad by Chang Rae Lee
“Whenever we can, we ought to exorcise demons for one another.”
Best memoir of the year
Heavy — Kiese Layman
A very challenging category because I read some great biographies this year. I offer for your consideration “A Very Punchable Face” by Colin Jost. You might enjoy this book just for his description of his mother’s experience of September 11, 2001 in her work as the medical director for the NYC fire department. Seth Rogan’s book “Yearbook” was also good. And I had to read “Greenlights” by Matthew McConaugey because we were freshmen together at the same high school in Longview, TX, but he rode his naughty, precocious privilege to Hollywood and the sidelines of UT games while I rode mine to a teaching job in paradise. While these stories were fun, Heavy is a glimpse inside a lived experience very different from my own. A memoir written in the second person to the author’s mom, Layman relates the story of his life in an attempt to explain himself to someone who was simultaneously an inspiration and abuser. Layman’s novel Long Division is also worth reading, processing, and then reading again.
Best book I read because I adore the movie
Wild Pork and Water Cress — Barry Crump
Taika Waititi is one of my favorite creators in the game and his film “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” is a beautiful story about adolescence, grief, and friendship. The book is even better and the epilogue was one of the most interesting I’ve ever read.
Favorite Lawrence Wright book of the year
The Plague Year — Lawrence Wright
Lawrence Wright is an absolute treasure. I remember first reading him in the 1990s on a Galveston beach when he wrote his expose on false memories of abuse implanted by therapists. His reporting also informed the shocking documentary “Three Identical Strangers”, and he wrote about the blindspots that led to the attacks of September 11, 2001. He made this choice easy for me because he only published one book this year, but his history of the first year shared with the COVID-19 virus taught me a lot. He also released a novel last year called “The End of October” about a novel flu virus that wipes out the world, but it might still be too soon for most to jump into that one. I’ll be right back…gonna go wash the mail and bake my hands.
Best book about how to write a song
How to Write One Song — Jeff Tweedy
I did what he said, and I wrote a song. No, you can’t hear it. But I applaud this Jeff for keeping the name strong. With Garmin, Toobin, Epstein, Tambor, and Bezos bringing shame to the name, it’s good we can still love Buckley, Tweedy, Probst, Dean Morgan, and Daniels. And all honors to the king of Jeff — Jeff Bridges. As I say often, when one Jeff is in pain, we all suffer.
Favorite book of 2021 by a mile
Hell of a book – Jason Mott
He won the National Book Award, for goodness sake. Read it. It will make you think and, if you’re like me, it will make you talk and tweet.
Best book I’m reading right now
Tie:
All about me — Mel Brooks
Razorblade Tears — S A Crosby
One of these books is a biography by one of the funniest people who has ever lived. (Did you know the execs tried to get him to cut the fart scene from Blazing Saddles?!?) The other book is a brutal revenge novel of two fathers trying to figure out who murdered their married sons. I’m only halfway through these books but neither book is pulling punches, and I’m along for the ride.
While you’re here, I should warn you about some book-asses
Book I wish I had put down
Smoke — Joe lde
Readers, I’m drawn to the light. I want to share the fun stuff. But when I start a book (or a series), I tend to stick with it until the end because otherwise the author wins. Thus, I feel compelled to warn you about this book. Smoke was the third book in a series. In a previous book, one of the characters had multiple personalities (a foolish plot device) and in this book the bad guys were serial killers whose hate toward women appalled me. Finally, it was in this book that I became unnerved by the positionally of an author depicting Black Americans using tired stereotypes from outside the group. I’ll probably skip the next book in this series. Runners-up in this category are “Lovecraft Country” by M@tt Ruff, “Matrix” by Lauren Gr0ff, and “Fake Accounts” by Lauren 0yler. I made it to the end of these books, but I would have been better without having invested the time.
A book I hope is never made into a film
Blood Meridian — Cormac McCarthy
I know this is the anti-western that started the genre. Sure, every actor in Hollywood wants to play the unnamed title character. And, yeah, the judge is brutal AF and wouldn’t he be fun to see on screen, but the gore and hate at the core of this book make it a hard no for me. This year Tom Lin wrote a similar book in “The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu” but somehow made brutal cowboy magical realism more palatable.
Books that went off the rails midway
Fake Accounts — Lauren OyIer
Olympus, Tx — St@cey Sw@nn
So many books start strong and then you can practically see the author reach for the cheese as the book goes into the shit pile. I loved how both of these books started but wanted to shred them when Act II turn veered into absurdity.
A book that literally no one needed
End of the Golden Gate — Short stories about loving and leaving the city
People love to shit on San Francisco. (Literally, you might step in human poo if you’re not careful.) But I’m going to tell you something that isn’t said enough: San Francisco is a breathtaking place to visit and live. It’s a city of obscene wealth and brutal poverty but it’s also in touch with nature and its own failings as an urban leader. It’s a city that believes in public health and as a result the fewest people in an urban area died in the pandemic. Leaving the Bay Area and looking back in retrospect with complaints about life in San Francisco is bitter and that bitterness makes for good stories. There are some great chapters in this book of stories. The chapter on the Russian Embassy is a great history of Victorian homes in SF, but mostly there’s a bunch of lamenting age. For what it’s worth, not a single person in this book mentioned being the parent of a child in public school. Our investments in the San Francisco public schools pay dividends daily.
If you’re still reading this, maybe you would be into a few other thoughts I’ve been mulling
Filthiest song that was mainstream when I was a kid
Miracles — Marty Balin
Seriously, read the lyrics. In the second minute of the song, he goes there. By the end of the song, I was pregnant. I still can’t believe this song was/is played on the radio.
Favorite scripted podcast of the year
I/O — Alee Karim
This serialized podcast is six short episodes but it deals with fascinating themes in a dystopian near future. I recommend you binge the episodes because the big ideas contained within deserve your full attention. Big props to this podcast for including a gender nonbinary character who uses the they pronoun.
Favorite news podcast of the year
Lolita podcast — Jamie Loftus
Humbert Humbert is one of the most unreliable narrators and self-involved criminals in the history of literature, but I’ll be gotdamned if Stanley Kubrick didn’t smoke and mirror us all into blaming Dolores Hayes for her own abuse. Across multiple episodes host, Loftus informs about Nobokov’s attempt to reconcile his own childhood trauma in literature and how it got twisted like a game of telephone into objectifying a child. Dolores deserved better and Humbert deserved jail.
Best concert of 2021
June 25, 2021 - Perfume Genius (Madame Ghandi opened) @ Stern Grove
May and June of 2021 were the absolute best times of this pandemic. Many folks were fully vaccinated and brimming with hope and optimism and the delta variant wasn’t in the news. After going dark in 2020, live shows inStern Grove was a welcome return. The fact that one of my favorite (used to be) local musicians, Emily Afton, played with the opening act, Madame Ghandi, was just icing on the cake. I saw many artists who were doing their first shows since 2020, but Perfume Genius was the first act I had seen and sharing the show with my wife, kid, and a favorite live music friend was amazing fantastic four googleplex.