Some books* I’ve read and loved

*books, zines, chapbooks, stories; an incomplete list, in no particular order

These are just some books, zines, chapbooks, and stories I enjoyed this year. There were others but these were accessible at the top of my book pile (or mental book pile). I have others in my to-read pile, not noted here. I put no pressure on myself to read a certain number of books within a timeframe. I just read for fun and because I love it, love to escape myself, love to jump into the mind of another writer or of a character when I get sick of being inside my own head.

Elegy, Southwest by Madeleine Watts: I anxiously awaited this book after enjoying Watts’ first book, The Inland Sea, especially after I saw that this would focus on the desert southwest. I related so closely to the idea of coming from an impossible, unsustainable place, a place I’m always writing toward now (Phoenix). I cried, realizing what I’d started to suspect as I read, but it was so carefully done and well-paced, I didn’t realize until late in the book what was happening. I was moved in a way I haven’t been by a book in some time.

The Hypocrite by Jo Hamya

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

Leave by Shayne Terry

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson. I will always read Kevin Wilson. He is my literary hero.

The Butter House by Sarah Gerard

Woebegone and Other Poems by Claire Donato

Cat by Rebecca van Laer. I related to this book so much: making the list of every nickname given to a cat so you don’t forget, trying to detail everything in anticipation of loss. It was beautiful.

A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews. MT’s fiction writing is a favorite of mine and I loved this nonfiction book–lessons on how to live, not as in, you must live this way, but rather, here are some possibilities for viewing life as it unfolds messily.

The Lowest Basin: Arizona Stories by Jonathan Danielson. Of course I’m going to read a book called Arizona Stories! My forthcoming novella was at one point called Arizona Book, when it existed as a doc on my computer. Jonathan’s stories bring me right back to driving on the 101 in 115-degree heat, or hanging out in the middle of the desert with a 7-11 plastic cup of tampico and bottom shelf vodka, but in the best way. Jonathan captures a modern Arizona, the west of everyday life, not all metal cactus sculptures or horses along a dusty trail (though those are there, too, if you look) but the in-between, the stretching freeways and sprawling suburbs. He illustrates so accurately this place of contrasts.

Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian. I love a campus novel especially an MFA or writing workshop novel.

Information Age by Cora Lewis. I read this while on a trip to the Oregon coast and it will be forever tied to that experience for me, though my trip has nothing to do with the narrative of the book. I loved this and can’t wait to read more Joyland books. It made me consider new ways for organizing a book in vignettes.

A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes. Funny, and accurate as far as criticism of being a writer on social media seems to go. I loved R.L.’s earlier book, Other People’s Pets, because while writing about animals and pets she never veered into abuse or violence, and I always respected her for that. This new one is funny and she’s so good at plot and character development in a way I never will be.

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O’Connor. This made me want to make art. The main character embroiders, and her art and creativity is something no one can take away.

Greyhound: A Memoir by Joanna Pocock. Two long distance bus trips, 20 or so years apart. I loved that the narrative followed the pattern of 2006 experience in specific city or at certain stop, then present day experience at same city or stop. Made me nostalgic for the Greyhound trips I took in 2008 between Denver and Phoenix, and Denver and Seattle.

Scumbag Summer by Jillian Luft

Ploughshares Summer 2025 issue, especially “Keep You Safe” by Barbara Lock. Eerie, consistent sense of foreboding against the backdrop of a beach.

When Sad Ones Go Outside by Monica Wang. Monica’s end notes page is perfect: “To the editor who put in the submission guidelines no dead cats, dead grandmas, or poems about the moon, you inspired me…”

This beautiful chapbook, My Home Is Not There by Daniel David Froid. A tribute to a dog who is no longer of this world, an exploration for those who feel they are not from or belonging to this world.

Halve It by Joe Nasta. I love to identify PNW places in Joe’s stories.

This awesome zine Later Fees with work from Emily Costa, Kirsti MacKenzie, and Ryan Bradford about working in video stores. I promised my copy to a friend after we talked about it, then felt sad to not have a copy and ordered a replacement for myself.