Because I am nosy and curious to a fault, one of the best parts of my job is asking Portland writers about their favorite books. This is especially true at the end of the year, when we look back on the contents of our backpacks and bedside tables, and consider who wasted our time (is Jonathan Franzen too cheap a shot?), which book we shamelessly recommended to everyone we know (in my case, The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson, for whom I am a fangirling zealot), and what books came out of nowhere to become the sleeper hits of our hearts (mine was Mark Vanhoenacker's pilot memoir, Skyfaring, OMG). So I asked a slew of Mercury contributors and local authors and publishers to share their highlights from a year in reading. These are the books—and one literary journal—we couldn't put down in 2015.
"I read some great books this year, but I want to give some love to a literary journal that is an annual reading highlight for me. Noon's once-a-year publication schedule makes it a special occasion and the 2015 edition was awesome as usual. Edited by flash-fiction legend Diane Williams, Noon is full of stories and writers that take such refreshing risks, it makes other journals look like The Boring Potato Review. This year's issue includes the poetic trance of Deb Olin Unferth; Clancy Martin's engrossing essay about his older brother; a strange, stalker-ish story by R.O. Kwon; and more than a dozen other sharp little wonders. The art is also finely curated and presented as pleasingly as your favorite fancy-ass art magazine. Noon isn't one of those journals that splashes famous names on their cover in an effort to impress you. In fact, Noon looks understated and is so unique that it's sort of its own island—one that fans of bold fiction should explore and savor every year."
—Kevin Sampsell, Future Tense Books, futuretensebooks.com
"Viv Albertine's Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys is my rave read for 2015. Just as Patti Smith does in her tales of cool days gone by, Viv transports readers to a specific time and place—in this case, 1970s punk-era London (mostly). It's magic, deeply personal, and wildly vivid, because, you know, the clothes and music and boys and antics and voices and heroes and game changers. I, too, am crazy for those very elements of that very particular era, so diving into Viv's revealed world was super fun. It's a smart, raw read."
—Eve Connell, University of Hell Press, universityofhellpress.com
