2018: The year of the short story

This year, I somehow managed to take down 40-ish books (not counting the ones I edited), despite the craziness. Amid editing, ghost writing, and building my book coaching business, I found a few moments here and there to let my brain wander across pages, into new worlds. Though it’s an escape for me, I also consider reading part of my job. It improves my writing and editing. It introduces me to new stylistic and word choices. It’s the best kind of research.

I also, I admit, listen to quite a few audiobooks (seven this year–is that quite a few?). Instead of cranking out tunes at the gym, my headphones play YA fantasy or dystopian thrillers. It’s also a good way to distract myself while doing yet another round of dishes and asking myself (as always), how two people can possibly create such a mess within a day or two.

Though I read my fair share of YA fantasy this year (including Tomi Adeyemi’s, Children of Blood and Bone–check it out!), this was undoubtedly the year of the short story collection. Until this year, I hadn’t bothered with too many short story collections. I had a private bias that they would never measure up to the depth and quality of a well-written novel. I consider myself humbly corrected.

The short story collections I read this year were profound, gut-wrenching, brain-twisting things of beauty. Among my favorites:

Ayiti by Roxane Gay

A mix of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry exploring the intricacies of the human experience, from Haiti to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. What made this book memorable for me were the tiny character details (the mother who constantly smelled blood; the lovers who lived in neighboring houses, but felt an ocean between them) and Gay’s fearless, raw writing.

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

Nigeria’s literary scene is proving to be a consistent tour de force. Three of my favorite authors–Tomi Adeyemi, Nnedi Okorafor, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche–hail from this nation, and none of them are showing signs of slowing down (great news for readers!). Adiche’s short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck, focuses on both diaspora tales and stories that take place in the heart of Nigeria. As her website reads, this story collection is “the collision of two cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them.” Read it for the powerful imagery, the imaginative story arcs, and the very human emotions.

Among The Missing by Dan Chaon

The first story in Chaon’s collection, Among The Missing, features a lonely widow who finds comfort in sitting next to (and sometimes sleeping with) a life-sized blow-up figure called Safety Man. Consider me hooked! This collection explores the forgotten slices of America–the rural Midwest, the private little tragedies of families, the strained love of seemingly ordinary couples. This collection will haunt your thoughts for weeks.

Six Months, Three Days, Five Others by Charlie Jane Anders

I like pretty much everything I read by Charlie Jane Anders, so it’s no surprise I liked this. I read one other collection of sci-fi short stories this year–Ray Bradbury’s Illustrated Man–and it paled in comparison to Anders’ quirky, clever collection (not to mention, Bradbury’s collection did not age well). Each inventive tale left me thinking, “I want to go spelunking in Anders’ brain and figure out the source of all these outrageous ideas!” Worth a read for those who like to explore the lighter side of sci-fi.

Honorable Mention:

When They Call You A Terrorist: A BLM Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors

Okay, since this is nonfiction it isn’t technically a short story collection; it’s an essay collection. Still, I had to add it to the list. This year, I read five different essay collections (from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Zadie Smith), and this one rose to the top. Khan-Cullors doesn’t hold back on the gory, grim details of the series of injustices she, her family, and her friends have faced due to systemic racism. For comfortable white folks, it’s an eye-opener. I thought I was in tune with the Black Lives Matter movement, but Khan-Cullors’ book blasts apart everything I thought I understood. It’s well-worth the read…just be prepared to cry, shout, and renew/expand your dedication to racial justice.

Also, the year of Middle Grade

The other genre that occupied my brain space and book shelves this year was Middle Grade (that nebulous area between Early Reader and Young Adult). Since I’m writing a Middle Grade novel about an eighth grade girl who starts an apocalypse survival blog, I consider all my Middle Grade reading to be “studying the market.” I read several top-notch Middle Grades this year (The Inquisitor’s Tale, The Lifters, The Girl Who Drank the Moon) and a few that were very “meh.” Perhaps I’ll write a future blog post about them. In the meantime, here is my number one takeaway:

Middle Grade novels can (and should) address heavy themes–it just has to be done with a greater degree of finesse than with Adult or Young Adult fiction. 

In other words, writing Middle Grade well is no walk in the park. The audience expects to be entertained, but not treated like little kids. They want relatable characters, interesting worlds, and a few surprises tucked around the edges. They don’t want authors “writing down” for them because they are capable of comprehending complex issues and heavy situations.

This year, I will continue reading Middle Grade (Kelly Barnhill, will you please publish another??) and studying the elements that makes a book either sink or soar. Hopefully, it will inform my own writing as I forge ahead with my current project. It’s an exciting one. Stay tuned for more updates on that!

In the meantime, I hope 2019 is your best reading year yet. What’s on your list? Anything I should add to mine?

Happy reading!