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A Debut Novelist's 2021 Reading in Review
Mateo Askaripouris a Brooklyn-based writer whose first novel,Black Buck—whichColson Whiteheadcalls a “mesmerizing novel, executing a high wire act full of verve and dark, comic energy”—debuted in January and hit the bestseller lists. It has made several best-of-the-year lists, including a nomination in the ŷ Choice Awards, and was chosen as one of TODAY show host Jenna Bush'spicks for her book club.
Askaripour was a 2018 Rhode Island Writers Colony writer in residence, and his writing has appeared inEntrepreneur, Lit Hub, Catapult,The Rumpus, and elsewhere. When he’s not writing or reading, he’s bingeing music videos and movie trailers, drinking yerba maté, or dancing in his apartment.
We asked him to share his 2021 year in reading. Check out what he loved this year and what he's looking forward to in 2022!
Askaripour was a 2018 Rhode Island Writers Colony writer in residence, and his writing has appeared inEntrepreneur, Lit Hub, Catapult,The Rumpus, and elsewhere. When he’s not writing or reading, he’s bingeing music videos and movie trailers, drinking yerba maté, or dancing in his apartment.
We asked him to share his 2021 year in reading. Check out what he loved this year and what he's looking forward to in 2022!
ŷ: What are some trends or themes you are noticing in fiction this year?
Mateo Askaripour:It’s hard to say. I do sometimes peruse “best of� lists and am also keyed into which books are the talk of the town, but I’m not too invested in trends. What I will say is that one thing that brings a smile to my face is how many books written by Black and other authors of color are getting some commercial success. The Prophets, The Other Black Girl, The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois, Of Women and Salt, and my own, Black Buck, are a handful that come to mind.
Of course, hitting The New York Times� bestseller list isn’t the end-all be-all, and surely not the sole marker of a book’s success, but having a book that makes a publisher money is one of the main ways how a publisher decides to invest in other stories and authors that don’t fit into the mainstream mold. Now, what would be even more impactful is an increase in the number of Black and brown folks with influence present in acquisitions meetings, but I won't get off track�
There are other books, like Detransition, Baby, that show the upside of taking risks. The story, which you can read more about here, is one we’ve never encountered before; subverting the status quo from beginning to end. You’d think that could mean low sales, bad reviews, and invisible blackballing, but it’s become one of the most popular contemporary fiction novels of the year. To write something that expands readers� worldviews, garners recognition from those who understand an author’s intentions, and the satisfaction of having written something real—for me, there’s nothing better, and I look forward to seeing more authors take these types of risks in the years to come.
GR: Who are some new and exciting authors you discovered in 2021?
MA:Where do I start? A few of them are the authors I mentioned above, like Robert Jones Jr., Zakiya Dalila Harris, as well as folks who have been writing for some time but whom I only became acquainted with through books that were published this year, like Jason Mott and his aptly named Hell of a Book. Maurice Carlos Ruffin isn’t a first-time writer, but his debut collection of short stories, The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, was incredible. As was Christopher ٳܳ’s Give My Love to the Savages. Ah, so many good ones! Shout-out to Te-Ping Chen, who wrote Land of Big Numbers, Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev, and Dantiel W. Moniz and her collection, Milk Blood Heat. Being able to find a community among writers who debuted, or just published, in 2021 has been the highlight of my year.
Beyond the States, I loved Caleb Azumah Nelson’s Open Water and Natasha Brown’s Assembly. Each had a quiet quaking to them that, when split open, penetrated the core of my spirit. It’s so easy to sleep on fiction published outside of the States, since our literary landscape—the number and quality of books—can be overwhelming, but I find it important to read books written by authors who write about worlds far away from your own. And the funny thing is that I almost always find similarities between their characters and myself—the transcendental nature of storytelling.
GR: Looking ahead, what predictions do you have for fiction in 2022? And are there any 2022 titles you can’t wait to read?
MA:You know, we’re still in the pandemic, and we’ve already seen some pandemic fiction, like Gary Shteyngart’s Our Country Friends and Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence, but more is on the way. Maybe not books that make COVID the focus but that feature people wearing masks, quarantining, getting tests, and all of the other pleasant rituals we’ve come to love during this difficult time. By pleasant, I mean horrible, and by love, I mean detest.
There will be authors who won’t even want to include the pandemic in future novels. I suppose they’ll be lacking a certain veracity, but, yeah, I’m also inclined to go that route. It’s not that I want to contribute to a collective forgetting, but living through the pandemic is tough enough—to have to do that again on the page, then spend time discussing it on tour for a couple months, makes my stomach churn.
Still, it’s hard to imagine a future where the pandemic, in some form, doesn’t seep into novels. Many of us are experiencing loneliness in a way we never have before. There’s also the move from working in an office to working at home. Cities, New York included, turning into ghost towns. All of this is ripe for fiction. A piece in The Washington Post, “Office novels have evolved alongside workplace culture. What will the future look like?� explores this in more depth.
GR: What were some of your favorite 2021 books?
Man, just read it! An author who’s trying to escape himself goes on book tour, experiences the spot-on absurdity of the publishing industry, and also has to face his own past. Language, imagination, humor to undercut the horror—this one has it all.
I’ve mentioned The Prophets many times before. It focuses on the forbidden love between two enslaved men. A story that's taken too, too long to read, and one that also speaks to themes of community, power, blood, and much more. I had to take my time with this one because each sentence requires its own dissection.
Like Hell of a Book, The Other Black Girl examines (eviscerates!) the publishing industry, but from the other side. Our protagonist, Nella, is working at a publishing house when another Black woman arrives, throwing her whole life, as well as sense of self, into question. That ending!
I couldn’t put this down. I know, cliché, but true. Every story in ٳܳ’s debut collection packs a punch. It also feels like he wasn’t afraid to take some risks. Take “How to Be a Dick in the Twenty-First Century,� for example, which is about a man who one day wakes up as a six-foot penis. Nightmarish and absurd, yes, but also hilarious.
No description I could write will do this short novel justice. A young man and woman meet at a party, begin a friendship, which ends up turning into more, and then they happily ride off into the sunset. Except not. Set in London, this story of how hard it can be to love ourselves, and allow others to do the same, will break you in places you didn’t even know existed. People often talk about the beauty of Nelson’s prose, and for good reason.
GR: And what are some backlist books you think readers should pick up now?
Are we alone? This question has been on my mind for the past couple of years, so when I found out about The Man Who Fell to Earth, by way of Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, which is based on another of Walter Tevis� books, I was sold. It’s a slim novel about a “man� named Thomas, who hails from Anthea, an alien planet. The book details his journey on Earth, and you’ll have to read it to find out why he’s there. Very realistic.
My mother hails from Jamaica, so I may be biased, but Nicole Dennis-Benn’s debut hit me like a ton of bricks. With Montego Bay, Jamaica, as the background, Dennis-Benn focuses on two sisters, Margot and Thandi, each trying to make their way in the world while the forces that be do their best to coerce them into conforming, all while the island they know and love is changing before their eyes.
I rarely walk into a bookstore and buy random books, but The Farm was one of those for me. The story, of an idyllic upstate New York retreat where women are paid to live as they carry a baby for someone else, was strange and dark, especially since its protagonist is a Filipina immigrant whose fate is tied to her ability to “go along to get along� despite all of the red flags. This one is special.
A book that I’ve thought about many, many times since I first read it. Set in New York City, we meet a cast of characters all connected by their ambition to chart out a better life for themselves and their families, even if “better� is relative. The lives of a Cameroonian chauffeur, an American executive at Lehman Brothers, and their respective wives collide in a story that will drop your jaw several times.
In the mood for a story full of adventure, determination, and a peek into mid-20th-century prison life? You’ve come to the right place. Papillon (“Butterfly� in French), the main character of this alleged autobiography, was sentenced to jail for murder. The thing is, he claims he’s innocent and uses that as the motivation to escape, turning his experience, published in 1968, into what many would claim is a classic. You decide.
Tell us about yourreading in 2021.What books did you love best?Share them with us in the comments below!
Check out more recent articles:
Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December
Staff Picks: ŷ Employees� Top Reads of 2021
The 51 Most Read Books of the 2021 ŷ Reading Challenge
Check out more recent articles:
Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December
Staff Picks: ŷ Employees� Top Reads of 2021
The 51 Most Read Books of the 2021 ŷ Reading Challenge
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Dec 10, 2021 02:14AM
A good selection of books.
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I truly appreciated your blurbs, especially for the backist books. Thanks for increasing my TBR pile, which now includes YOUR book as well!
I read Hell of a Book because of your recommendation. It was amazing. Now I am looking over your list for my next read. Thank you. Your book Black Buck was unsettling and worth every minute of my reading time. Keep up the great work.
