In the name of holiday cheer, here are four books that made me laugh a whole lot in 2021: “The Good Lord Bird” by James McBride, “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer, “Straight Man” by Richard Russo, and “Wow, No Thank You.” by Samantha Irby. If I’d known what was inside “The Good Lord Bird,” I wouldn’t have let it sit on my shelves since I picked it up years ago. All I knew was that it was a National Book Award winner that dealt with slavery (I assumed prestigious, heavy). I didn’t realize it was an epic comedy.

Three great novels about con artists: “A Beautiful Crime” by @christobollen, “Pretty Things” by @janelleb, and “Fingersmith” by Sarah Waters. All juicy, character-driven, and energetically plotted, with a lot to say about money and class (feels like a hallmark of the con novel). “A Beautiful Crime” is also romantic, about two young men in love in Venice, where they’ve arrived to swindle a very deserving target with counterfeit heirloom silver that once belonged to a spendthrift dissipated WASP.

I didn't write much this year, but two authors who got me kind of revved up to try again were @blacklionking73 and @jordan_harper. Their books are delicious, sharply written and hard-hitting and also so much fucking fun. Read them if you like a novel that MOVES. I read "Blacktop Wasteland" and "Razorblade Tears" back to back and S.A. Cosby is just undeniable. Twice in a row, he's found stories with the kind of roaring engine novelists are lucky to find once, and then he wrote the shit out of every scene.

I read both "Fates and Furies" and "Matrix" by Lauren Groff this year (and gave the new one a 4/4 review for @USATODAYBooks). I liked "Arcadia" when I read it years ago, but she just keeps getting better.
usatoday.com/story/entertai… "Fates and Furies" is gorgeously written, with intricate character studies. There are shards of that novel (the stolen artwork hidden under the stairs, when Lotto realizes that his genius partner's composition is all wrong, to name a couple) that really stuck with me.

I blurbed some excellent crime fiction this year. Too many titles to fit in this tweet, in fact, but please see below for some sweet sweet recs on new and upcoming releases. "The Missing Hours" by @juliadahl: "Claudia Castro is a vivid, sympathetic character, young and vulnerable but with an adamantine core. I was so invested in her story (and in the destruction of her enemies) that I burned through it in two days."

This is kind of embarrassing, and I know so many people have spent so much of this pandemic alone, but not only is this quarantine the longest I’ve been away from my son, it’s also already, after two days, the longest I’ve been away from other people in my entire life. I’m trying to think if there have been any other times, but I’ve always either lived with family or roommates. When my husband travels, I invite friends over. I’m trying to enjoy this alone time and the novelty and freedom from responsibility are helping, but it also sucks.

Closing my first full day in quarantine 2021 with a 4AM watch of the “How come he don’t want me, man?” scene of the Fresh Prince. 😭😭😭 I have to admit, I miss my family, but today was kind of enjoyable. Did almost nothing but listen to an audiobook, play Minesweeper, watch TV, and fuck around tweeting and texting (thx for the attention and sympathy), and like so much of all of the above that I almost felt busy.

And after all that, I got COVID just in time for our second pandemic Christmas. Triple vaxxed, and thank goodness for that. Symptoms aren't fun but I've had worse flus, and both my husband and son are negative. They're staying at my parents' while I quarantine with the bassets. Currently figuring out if I can see my baby on Christmas. Ho ho ho.

Sometimes when people go on about how hard it is to be a straight white guy, I think about Anthony Bourdain and Jonathan Gold, white American men who made their careers exploring and sharing the fruits of other cultures and died uncanceled and universally beloved. I also think about all the white men I know who are actually fine and just like, effortlessly not getting canceled every day while the ones who suck complain about the minefield that is the consequences of their own shitty words and actions.

On the one hand, Josh Hawley should not have a book published by a reputable house. On the other, his book on the market power and political influence of big tech, presumably written and sold before his lizard coat took on these particular colors, seems likely to flop on its own. This book has the same sales problem as Josh Hawley—who exactly is buying it?

You go to law school, you learn theories of punishment, how prosecution and incarceration are necessary to deter people from breaking the law. Every day you watch powerful people break the law with the help of your fellow lawyers. They don't go to jail. They won't be deterred. I have a taste for retribution, but we don't actually need to punish these pieces of shit for revenge. We DO need to punish them so no one sees what they did and thinks, "There's no harm in trying."

I know it’s been 48 years since the American Dirt controversy, but this is worth a read.

https://twitter.com/sarahw/status/1346478877695070209

My main takeaway is that I’m a little encouraged that a book that became a runaway bestseller according to plan (in a way many books with comparable advances/marketing sometimes don’t) still led to changes in the industry that are, I think, substantive and, I hope, permanent.

Let’s spend some of our rage money to restore felony voting rights in Florida in a real way. The citizens of Florida already voted to restore these rights, by the way, with a 2/3 vote, only to have Republican legislature obstruct them with fines and fees.
wegotthevote.org/finesandfees/ I remember the moment we lost Florida in 2016. I remember watching that fucking needle, feeling sick with the realization that this was really going to happen. Without felon disenfranchisement, I think Florida would’ve gone blue.

The Best American Mystery & Suspense series has a new editor, and that editor is me! I'm very excited about this and look forward to reading your mysterious, suspenseful American stories, which you can submit to bestamericanmysterysuspense@gmail.com.

publishersweekly.com/pw/newsbrief/i… I have started reading, as it is somehow September already, but will look at all submissions and welcome recommendations if you have read any particularly wonderful stories published this year.

The Watts Rebellion and the ‘92 Uprising were both deeply destructive and historically significant in large part because of this destruction. It’s hard to take a single clean lesson away from these events. They were terrible but also inevitable, even necessary. I think it’s hard to talk about riot and rebellion, the actions of these seething groups in our city streets, because these groups are made up of individuals who all have their own motives. There can be provocateurs and opportunists alongside organizers and nonviolent protestors.

We have a new quarantine companion! Leo decided to join us a few weeks ahead of schedule. He was born tiny (4 lb. 5 oz., like a Yorkie) but healthy, spent three days in the NICU and has been home eating and sleeping and pooping splendidly for a week. He is so small and so cute. It turned out I was right to be concerned about my week 35 weight loss, and I had an alarming 36-week doctor’s visit where I found out his growth had slowed dramatically and my amniotic fluids were low. That was a miserable day.

If you ever wonder what kind of sick fuck decides to write a bunch of novels nobody asked for, well here’s something I just did for fun. Behold the 5,000-piece puzzle of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It takes up my entire dining room table, and yes, I am missing one piece. It took me three weeks in January, during which I pulled several near-all-nighters, then failed to finish with three more hours worth of puzzle left before leaving for a week in Hawaii. I did think about it while I was gone, and finished after Matt went to bed when we got home.

Great op-ed by @DavidOBowles. One thing the American Dirt controversy has done is to expose the powerful marketing machinery behind the handful of titles anointed by publishers each year.

https://twitter.com/nytopinion/status/1221856706428395520

@DavidOBowles The groaning hydraulics are less obvious when the book is actually good––On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, for example. But we're in week two of having this mediocrity shoved down our throats despite all the blowback, and it's because Flatiron is already in for millions.

I’m pretty tired of all the mumbly white freedom of speech panic that always seems to bubble up during these conversations. Of course you can write what you want. No one is stopping you, and the gatekeepers sometimes greet you with yeses and lots of money even when you fuck up. And like, tons of writers write outside their experience and receive minimal backlash because they do it well. Fiction readers are an imaginative, empathetic bunch. They aren’t waiting to club your babies at birth.

YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY is my fourth novel, so I can tell you from experience that it's a privilege to have a book so kindly received that not only I, but friends and readers, are disappointed that I wasn't one of the five authors selected for the Best Mystery Edgar. Having judged twice for another prize, I can say it is hard to get through the gauntlet without someone laying down what amounts to a veto. I loved many books I couldn't nominate, and I've loved many books that have never been nominated for any prize, this year and every year.

If I had an FAQ for Your House Will Pay, half of which is told from the POV of a black male protagonist, I think the number one question on the list would be a variation of "In this current climate, were you scared of how readers would react to your book?" The answer is yes, of course––scared and concerned and, as a result, vigilant and conscientious. I think the fear of fucking up is an unequivocally good thing. Writers have been writing across difference for generations, and until recently, with little scrutiny or accountability.