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 found, desecrated artifact rather than a revelation.
Exhalation
Ted Chiang
Mr. Chiang, with 90% of the stories here, expands and honors the traditions of science fiction writing, 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
IFS is a complicity nuanced form of therapy. This edition of IFST is much better at communicating subtle, subjective experience of “multiple voices” the dominant culture is terrified of acknowledging. Anyone who has heard their inner child or mother’s voice in their head, will appreciate this book that welcomes that inner discussion rather than berate or avoid it for fear of spontaneously forming psychosis.
The House of Hidden Meanings
Ru Paul
Ru Paul dives into his back story, weaving between melodrama and profundity that is funny, charming and uncanny. It hits all the LGBTQ+ growing up notes and outlines Ru Paul’s blooming and maturing as gay man in drag. Its more serious and well-written than his prior attempts at literature, so it made it to this list since it surprised me with some of its insights, when I was just expecting a romp.