2024 list of books that were memorable and rose above the noise into my life like a disembodied Narrator remarking on my life choices.
God Is Red : A Native View of Religion
Vine Deloria Jr
Took a Native American Studies class and this book rose out of my interests there. For those searching for a way to verbalize their eclectic belief in animism, sustainability and meaning derived from tradition, belief and healing, Vine hands it to you with a tear and a smile. He is a reliable author whose cheekiness, deep historical knowledge, lack of pretense and direct use of English makes each sentence feel like a punch to the everyday, Western-European, grandchild of colonists. I frequently stopped and stared at the ground after reading a sentence two or three times:
Dine bahane : The Navajo Creation Story
Paul G. Zolbrod
A decently authoritative, careful version of the stories that lay the foundation for the traditional beliefs of the Dine peoples recommended to me by a classmate of a NAS class. Please read the source information for how the stories were attained, researched and compiled. The absolute definition of privilege to read and understand, but familiar, thought-provoking, and healing for a wrecked, post-Christian kid like myself. I live on Tiwa land and me and three generations of my family breathe the places mentioned in these stories, which makes the words feel like a desecrated artifact found rather than a revelation.
Exhalation
Ted Chiang
Mr. Chiang, with 90% of the stories here, expands and honors the traditions of science fiction writing simultaneously, sometimes accomplishing that in under 500 words. Another 10% of the stories felt unpolished and intimate, like I was a member of his writer’s group who had the first draft, for example, the longest one about AI backfiring via open-source sentience in an MMO game (yep). Turn the page and the title track to his album had me de-personalized and de-realized, floating above my own body, questioning society. In this small book, you can find a tear-jerking, time-travel tale with diction picked carefully from an Islamic Golden Age proverb, then on to a first-person diatribe of a Carl Sagan-embodied parrot contemplating humanity’s ineptitude. I really can’t recommend it enough as a vehicle for imagination and inspiration.
Internal Family Systems Therapy: Second Edition
Richard C Schwartz, Martha Sweezy
I’m Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy
The House of Hidden Meanings
Ru Paul