ON HEAVY ROTATION : BOOKS AND COMICS READ IN 2024.
BOOKS
As 2024 disappears and 2025 looms into view here’s the round-up of what I read, enjoyed, didn’t enjoy, loved.
I really got back into comics which was such a joy. I find them a nice break from prose which I can find difficult to concentrate on when life’s stresses become too intense.
About 10 years ago I read the whole of “Peanuts” and “The Moomins” so I decided to do so again but at a more leisurely pace. Undoubtably one of this years cultural high spots for me.
Huge respect to my very favourite indie publishers (Fantagraphics & Drawn and Quarterly), cartoonists and comic shops that keep me more than busy producing such great GREAT work.
Book wise honourable mentions go out to “All Fours” by Miranda July. Easily the best new American novel I read this year. “The Land In Winter” by Andrew Miller, “My Friends” by Hisham Matar and “Bonding” by Mariel Franklin, the finest novels by any British writers to emerge in 2024. “Reservoir Bitches” by Dahila de la Cerda, “She’s Always Hungry” by Eliza Clark and “Free Therapy by Rebecca Ivory were for me this years best books of short stories. Fiction in translation, written this year was as ever an embarrassment of riches but if I had to my favourite two novels in this zone would have to be “Kairos” by Jenny Erpenbeck and You Dream of Empires - Ālvaro Enrigue.
In the non-fiction realm, a real growth area for me over the last 5 years, my favourites would be “NEU KLANG : The Definitive Oral History of Krautrock by Christoph Dallach”, “Prospect Cottage : Derek Jarman’s House” by Gilbert McCarragher, “Wild Thing : A Life of Paul Gauguin” by Sue Prideaux, “The Use of Photography” by Annie Ernaux & Marc Marie, “Every Man for Himself and God Against All” by Werner Herzog and “On James Baldwin” by Colm Tóibín.
The archive, always the biggest part of anyone’s reading, there have been too many discoveries and revelations to go into but I will skim though some big hitting writers for me so you get the general idea. With British writers Lawrence Durrell, Rupert Thomson, Michael Ondaatje and June Allison Gibbons provided some big high spots. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joan Didion, Paul Auster (RIP), Donna Tartt and Charles Portis kept up appearances for the American side of things, and finally Roberto Bolanõ, Anton Shammas, Victor Serge, Jena Genet, Seicho Matsumoto, Haruki Murakami, Yashar Kemal, Javier Marías and Jhumpa Lahiri for their astonishing work in translation.
Its also worth giving publishers like NYRB, Faber and Faber, Penguin and all the others their flowers here for constantly reissuing so much amazing stuff each and every year.
Finally the biggest disappointments were Ali Smith’s new novel “Gliff”, the latest collection of Marianne Enriquez short stories “A Sunny Place for Shady People" and “Annihilation” by Michel Houellebeq.
ANYWAY…I will stop there because I could go on FOREVER.
HERE IS THE COMPLETE LIST OF WHAT I READ IN 2024 :
Girl Juice - Benji Nate. (Drawn & Quarterly. 2024)
Prey For The Shadow - Javier Cercas. Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean. (Maclehose Press. 2021)
The Night that Never Ends : A Horror Comedy - Steve Thueson. (Silver Sprocket. 2024)
Season of the Swamp - Yuri Herrera. Translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman. (& Other Stories. 2024)
Raw Sewage, Science Fiction - Marc Bell. (Drawn & Quarterly. 2024)
Balthazar - Lawrence Durrell. (Faber & Faber. 1958)
Wild Thing : A Life of Paul Gauguin - Sue Prideaux. (Faber & Faber. 2024)
What we mean by Yesterday : Vol. 1 - Benjamin Marra. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
Dorothea Tanning : Doesn’t The Paint Say It All? - Mary Ann Caws, Victoria Carruthers and Kate Conley. (Paul Kasmin Gallery. 2022)
Scaffolding - Laurel Elkin. (Chatto & Windus. 2024)
Gleem - Freddy Carrasco. (Drawn & Quarterly. 2024)
Obey : Supply & Demand - The Art of Shepard Fairey. (Gingko Press. 2009)
The Living Mummy & Other Stories - Jack Davies. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1967/1968 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate. 2005)
Night Business - Benjamin Marra. (Fantagraphics. 2017)
Terror Assaulter : OMWOT (One Man War On Terror) - Benjamin Marra. (Fantagraphics. 2015)
The White Book - Han Kang. Translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith. (Granta. 2016)
On James Baldwin - Colm Tóibín. (Brandeis University Press. 2024)
Jessica Farm - Josh Simmons. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
Resevoir Bitches - Dahila de la Cerda. Translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary & Julia Sanches. (Scribe. 2024)
Prisoner of Love - Jean Genet. Translated from the French by Barbara Bray. (NYRB. 1986)
Gliff - Ali Smith. (Hamish Hamilton. 2024)
Kommix - Charles Burns. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
Chatting With Matisse : The Lost 1941 Interview - Henri Matisse with Pierre Courthion. Edited by Serge Guilbaut. Translated from the French by Chris Miller. (Tate. 2013)
She’s Always Eating - Eliza Clark. (Faber & Faber. 2024)
Cellophane Bricks : A Life in Visual Culture - Jonathan Lethem. (Ze Books. 2024)
The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller. (Sceptre. 2024)
Fat Cop - Johnny Ryan. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
32 Stories : The Complete Optic Nerve Mini-Comics - Adrian Tomine. (Drawn & Quarterly. 2009)
Ghost Roots - ‘Pemi Aguda. (Virago. 2024)
Forces of Nature : A Book of Drawings by Edward Steed. (Drawn & Quarterly. 2024)
Q & A - Adrian Tomine. (Faber. 2024)
All Fours - Miranda July. (Canongate. 2024)
The Use of Photography - Annie Ernaux & Marc Marie. Translated from the French by Alison L. Strayer. (Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2024)
Fire - George R. Stewart. (NYRB. 1948)
Popular Hits of the Showa Era - Ryu Murakami. Translated from the Japanese by Ralph McCarthy. (Pushkin Press. 1994)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1997/1998 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate. 2005)
Final Cut - Charles Burns. (Jonathan Cape. 2024)
A Sunny Place for Shady People - Mariana Enriquez. Translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. (Granta. 2024)
New York Mon Amour - Jacques Tardi, Benjamin LeGrand, Dominique Grange. Translated from the French by Kim Thomson. (Fantagraphics. 2012)
Creation Lake - Rachel Kushner. (Jonathan Cape. 2024)
“Fever : 12 Stories - John Edgar Wideman. (Henry Holt. 1989)
Time of the Flies - Claudia Piñeiro. Translated from the Spanish by Frances Riddle. (Charco Press. 2024)
Annihilation - Michel Houellebeq. Translated from the French by Shaun Whiteside. (Picador. 2024)
A Goat’s Song - Dermot Healy. (Faber & Faber. 1994)
Oba Electroplating Factory - Yoshiharu Tsuge. Translated from the Japanese by Ryan Holmberg. (@drawnandquarterly 2024)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1979/1980 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate. 2005)
Picture - Lillian Ross. (NYRB. 1952)
The Book of Revelation - Rupert Thomson. (Bloomsbury. 1999)
Siblings - Brigitte Reimann. Translated from the German by Lucy Jones. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1963)
The Black Orb - Ewan Kim. Translated from the Korean by Sean Lin Halbert. (Serpents Tail. 2024)
The House on The Hill : Brixton, London’s Oldest Prison - Christopher Impey. (The Tangarine Press. 2019)
Panics : The Short Stories of Barbara Molinard. Translated from the French by Emma Ramadan. (Influx. 2024)
The Upside-Down World : Meetings with The Dutch Masters - Benjamin Moser. (Allan Lane. 2023)
Concerning the Future of Souls : 99 Stories of Azrael - Joy Williams. (Taskar Rock. 2024)
Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good - Eley Williams. (4th Estate. 2024)
Harlem Shuffle - Colston Whitehead. (Little Brown. 2021)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1991/1992 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate. 2005)
Inspector Imanishi Investigates - Seicho Matsumoto. Translated from the Japanese by Beth Cary. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1961)
J & K - John Pham. (Fantagraphics. 2024)
A Book of Common Prayer - Joan Didion. (4th Estate. 1977)
The Glutton - A. K. Blakemore. (Granta. 2023)
NEU KLANG : The Definitive Oral History of Krautrock - Christoph Dallach. Translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire. (Faber. 2024)
Assumption - Percival Everett. (Picador. 2011)
Our Wives Under The Sea - Julia Armfield. (Picador. 2022)
Missing Person - Patrick Modiano. Translated from the French by Daniel Weissbort. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1978)
Every Man for Himself and God Against All - Werner Herzog. Translated from the German by Michael Hoffman. (The Bodley Head. 2023)
Bonding - Mariel Franklin. (Picador. 2024)
Memed, My Hawk - Yashar Kemal. Translated from the Turkish by Edouard Rodoti. (NYRB. 1955)
The Heart in Winter - Kevin Barry. (Canongate. 2024)
Living Things - Munir Hachi. Translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches. (Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2024)
The Little Friend - Donna Tartt. (Bloomsbury. 2002)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1957/1958 / 1975/1976 / 1991/1992 / 1983/1984 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate. 2005)
Clean - Alia Trabucco Zerán. Translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes. (4th Estate. 2024)
Alberto Giacometti : Toward The Ultimate Figure - Edited by Emilie Bouvard, with essays and contributions from Serena Bucalo, Hugo Daniel, Ann Dumas, Catherine Grenier, Catharina Manchanda, Romain Perrin, William Robinson, William Rudolph. (Yale University Press. 2022)
Giacometti In Paris - Michael Peppiatt. (Bloomsbury. 2023)
Fucked Up + Photocopied : Instant Art of The Punk Rock Movement - Bryan Ray Turcotte & Christopher T. Miller. (Gingko Press. 1999)
The Contract with God Trilogy : A Contract with God / A Life Force / Dropsie Avenue - Will Eisner. (W.W. Norton. 2006)
Orbital - Samantha Harvey. (Jonathan Cape. 2023)
Arabesques - Anton Shammas. Translated from the Hebrew by Vivian Eden. (NYRB. 1988)
Norwood - Charles Portis. (Overlook Press. 1966)
Joseph Beuys - Allan Antliff. (Phaidon. 2014)
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck. Translated from the German by Michael Hoffmann. (Granta. 2024)
Moon Palace - Paul Auster. (Faber & Faber. 1986)
The Lie & How We Told It - Tommi Parrish. (Fantagraphics. 2017)
Punk Is Dead … Punk Is Everything : Raw Material From The Martyred Music Movement - Bryan Ray Turcotte. (Ginko Press. 2007)
Seven Gothic Tales - Karen Blixen aka Isak Dinesen. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1934)
The Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer - T. D. Barlow. (King Penguin. 1948)
Termush - Sven Holm. Translated from the Danish by Sylvia Clayton. (Faber Editions. 1964)
Exteriors : Annie Ernaux and Photography - Lou Stoppard. (MEP/Mack. 2024)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1983/1984 - Charles M. Schultz. (Canongate/Fantagraphics. 2012)
The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolaño. Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer. (Picador. 2007)
The Coming Bad Days - Sarah Bernstein. (Daunt Originals. 2021)
Prospect Cottage : Derek Jarman’s House - Gilbert McCarragher. (Thames & Hudson. 2024)
Camera Lucida - Roland Barthes. Translated from the French by Richard Howard. (Vintage Classics. 1980)
The Hypocrite - Jo Hamya. (W&N. 2024)
Pretentiousness : Why It Matters - Dan Fox. (Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2016/2024)
Headshot - Rita Bullwinkel. (Daunt Books. 2024)
The Maniac - Benjamín Labatut. (Pushkin Press. 2023)
Art Monsters : Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art - Lauren Elkin. (Chatto & Windus. 2023)
The Hard Switch - Owen D. Pomery. (Avery Hill Press. 2024)
Thus Bad Begins - Javier Marías. Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa. (Penguin. 2016)
Free Therapy - Rebecca Ivory. (Jonathan Cape. 2024)
The Complete Peanuts : Dailies & Sundays 1959 to 1960 - Charles M. Shultz. (Canongate/Fantagraphics. 2006)
The Underground Sea : Miners and the Miners’ Strike - John Berger. (Canongate. 1963/2024)
The Hole - Hiroko Oyamada. Translated by David Boyd. (Granta. 2024)
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje. (Bloomsbury. 1992)
The Cat at Night - Dahlov Ipcar. (Pushkin Press. 1969/2024)
Radical : A Life of My Own - Xiaolu Guo. (Hamish Hamilton. 2023)
Brooklyn Crime Novel - Jonathan Letham. (Atlantic. 2024)
Undiscovered - Gabriela Wiener. Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches. (Pushkin Press. 2024)
The Pesi-Cola Addict - June-Alison Gibbons. (Strange Attractor Press. 1981)
How I Won a Nobel Prize - Julius Taranto. (Picador. 2024)
Unforgiving Years - Victor Serge. Translated from the French by Richard Greeman. (NYRB. 1971)
Alphabetical Diaries - Sheila Heti. (Fitzcarraldo Editions. 2024)
After Dark - Haruki Murakami. Translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin. (Vintage. 2004)
Warhol after Warhol : Power and Money in the Modern Art World - Richard Dorment. (Picador. 2023)
You Dream of Empires - Ālvaro Enrigue. Translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer. (Havill Secker. 2024)
The Lodgers - Holly Pester. (Granta. 2024)
Biography of X - Catherine Lacey. (Granta. 2023)
On Giving Up - Adam Phillips. (Hamish Hamilton. 2024)
Doppelgänger - Naomi Kline. (Allen Lane. 2023)
Vengeance is Mine - Marie Ndiaye. Translated from the French by Jordan Stump. (Maclehose Press. 2022)
Verdigris - Michele Mari. Translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore. (& Other Stories. 2024)
Surreal Spaces : The Life & Art of Leonora Carrington - Joanna Moorhead. (Thames & Hudson. 2023)
The Snow Was Dirty - Georges Simenon. Translated from the French by Howard Curtis. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1948)
My Friends - Hisham Matar. (Hamish Hamilton. 2024)
Toad - Katherine Dunn. (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux. 2023)
The Last Tycoon - F. Scott Fitzgerald. (Penguin Modern Classics. 1941)
Roman Stories - Jhumpa Lahiri. Translated from the Italian by the author and Todd Portnowitz. (Picador. 2023)
Wild Houses - Colin Barrett. (Jonathan Cape. 2024)
For deeper dives on these books graze through previous newsletters.
Thanks for reading and happy new year!
Edward.