Reader's Choice: Pick Books on GIF's First Review of 2025
Your options: 'The Book of Form and Emptiness' by Ruth Ozeki, 'Out' by Natsuo Kirino and 'Biography of X' by Catherine Lacey
It’s officially ‘let’s circle back in January’ season, and Books on GIF is winding down for 2024. There only are two more newsletters to go before we take a three-week break. But we’re also preparing for 2025, and you can help us by picking the first book we’ll review in the new year. I’ve selected three novels that have been languishing on my backup TBR (yes, I have a second book pile, in the home office, that feeds into the main pile by the bed) that I’ve acquired throughout the year. Remember to scroll down and vote on what I should review first.
‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’ by Ruth Ozeki
Most of the time, when I drift into a bookstore, it’s merely to browse and see what sparks my interest or what the universe puts in front of me. But when I went to the grand reopening of Yu & Me Books earlier this year (the Chinatown bookstore had briefly relocated to a stall at the Essex Street Market after a fire at its original location), I had a plan. I knew people were excited that the store was reopening and that it was likely going to be crowded (Min Jin Lee was there! I was starstruck!), so I sought specific books so I could:
‘Crying in H Mart’ by Michelle Zauner and ‘The Book of Form and Emptiness’ by Ruth Ozeki were on my list, and I snagged both. I had wanted to return to Ozeki’s surreal and philosophical work after enjoying ‘A Tale for the Time Being.’ ‘One year after the death of his beloved musician father, thirteen-year-old Benny Oh begins to hear voices,’ the back-cover description reads. ‘The voices belong to the things in his house—a sneaker, a broken Christmas ornament—and while Benny doesn’t understand what these things are saying, he can sense their emotional tone. When his mother develops a hoarding problem, the voices grow more clamorous.’ This novel, which won the 2022 Women’s Prize for Fiction, sounds interesting!
‘Out’ by Natsuo Kirino
I was taking the F train home from work months ago, and as the subway got closer to my neighborhood and the number of passengers thinned out, a book a woman was reading caught my eye. It had a distinctive bifurcated cover design: half pink and half grey, with a little lizard. I couldn’t see the title, and it felt weird to move in for a closer look. So I filed it in my brain and vowed to use my unique set of book-finding skills to track it down, like:
It didn’t take long. Later that evening, I was at Lofty Pigeon Books for an event, and who should walk in but the woman from the train! And she was holding the book! I assumed she had bought it at Lofty Pigeon, and after the event I wandered the store until I found ‘Out’ by Natsuo Kirino on the staff-recommendations shelf. ‘This mesmerizing novel tells the story of a brutal murder in the staid Tokyo suburbs, as a young mother who works the night shift making boxed lunches strangles her abusive husband and then seeks the help of her coworkers to dispose of the body,’ reads the back-cover blurb. ‘At once a masterpiece of literary suspense and pitch-black comedy, Out is also a moving evocation of the prejudices women face and the friendships that bolster them.’ This sounds intense!
‘Biography of X’ by Catherine Lacey
Rarely do I pick up buzzy mainstream books, but ‘Biography of X’ piqued my interest after it won the 2023 Brooklyn Public Library Prize and was named a book of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Esquire, Vulture and elsewhere. I don’t remember exactly where I bought it; my brain tells me it was at Greenlight Bookstore, but the bookmark I just found tucked inside it is from McNally Jackson, so:
‘When X—an iconoclastic artist, writer, and polarizing shape-shifter—falls dead in her office, her widow, CM, hurls herself into writing a biography of the woman she deified,’ reads the back-cover writeup. ‘A masterfully constructed literary adventure complete with original images assembled by X’s widow, Biography of X follows CM as she traces X’s peripatetic trajectory over decades and through her collaborations and feuds with everyone from Bowie and Waits to Sontag and Acker. … Pulsing with suspense and intellect while blending nonfiction and fiction, Biography of X is a roaring epic that plumbs the depths of grief, art, and love.’ Hmm. I can’t tell if all this sounds fascinating or deeply tedious. Either way, I’d be game to read it. What do you think of these books? Have you read any of them? Let me know in the comments, and tell me which to review first in 2025 by taking this poll:
Books on GIF does not solicit or accept review copies. We feature books we purchase at independent bookstores around New York City and on our travels, or were borrowed electronically from the Brooklyn Public Library.
Thanks for reading, and thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!
Until next time,
Mike
I voted for Biography of X. I wouldn't call it mainstream. It's unconventional in both form and style, and I asks a lot of good questions about identity and self-reinvention, about the purpose of art and the thrill and terror of loving an artist. It's the one book that I read last year that really made me gasp in shock and delight and repeatedly had me say out loud --- can you do that in a novel?! Yes, apparently you can.
Per EJ below, voted for Out, want to become part of that extended story line :) Also the lizard cover brought back memories (vague) of noir they published that I loved.