I’m a big nerd who reads too much. Don’t take any of this too seriously.
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If Toni Morrison is described as “America’s Conscience”, Cormac McCarthy represents something closer to America’s unbridled id. His novels are vicious, unblinking reminders of the deep evils of genocide and violence America was born from, without the sheen of manifest destiny and cultural myths to mask them. Through classic Western tropes—chief among them the cowboy—McCarthy reveals the insidious nature of our inherited folklore, the full price of our collective gains rendered in blood.
The book is competently written, and it’s easy to see how a stereotypical 1930s American Girl® might have liked reading about a doll’s adventures. But I’ll be the first to tell you: Hitty sucks.
This strange little gem of a novel flies by in a flash, slowly pulling the reader along with just enough intrigue and mystery to build suspense from chapter to chapter.
Gay-Neck is, hands down, the best title to win the Newbery Medal as of 2020. What is a gay-neck? Why is it hyphenated? What makes it gay? Is it only the neck that’s gay, or are some other body parts at least bi-curious?
Will James’s life certainly doesn’t have the markings of a traditionally celebrated children’s author—he spent a year in Nevada State Penitentiary for stealing cattle, moved around between stunt work and the Army, and developed a serious drinking problem that sent him to the grave at age 50.
Of the five books recognized by the Newbery Award selection committee in 1925 and 1926, four of them were short story collections. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Once lockdown hit in March, I decided to read 100 books in 2020. And as of the ball drop on December 31st, I’d finished 104. (Though it was a lovely experience, here’s hoping I have less free time on my hands in 2021!) My selection ran the gamut, from rereading old favorites that did (To Kill a Mockingbird) and didn’t (East of Eden) hold up, to tearing through the complete works of Kurt Vonnegut and the Harry Potter series. Here’s a list of the cream of the crop, 10 books I read this year that stood out as being particularly touching, impressive, and meaningful.
Poor Charles Boardman Hawes. In 1922, his sophomore novel, The Great Quest, came runner-up to The Story of Mankind for the inaugural Newbery Medal. By the time he won the prize in 1924, he’d been dead for nearly a year, cut down by a sudden bout of pneumonia.
This alternatingly charming and problematic book is probably way more racist than you remember.
And so begins my journey through every one of the first 100 John Newbery Medal recipients. What did adults think kids should be reading in 1921?
Until her death last year, Toni Morrison was the greatest living American author. After her death last year, let’s just call her the greatest American author. For my money, no other writer has excavated history to capture the American experience in a way that feels as true or as potent as Morrison.
