All the Books* I Read in 2022 (and where I read them)

*and plays and short stories.

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness By Claire Vaye Watkins

Taking the Brown line. I’m going to the DMV, the one in the Thompson center next to the Sbarro. I just got a new-old car and need to register her. I don’t know that I forgot the Title at home. The old man behind the counter will take no pity on me. I don’t know that in a couple of hours I’ll be back on the Brown line: crying cold tears. So stupid. I’ll get the registration. I’ll be headed home again.

four out of five stars

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

The gothic architecture is impressive, but inside the buildings are rooms that haven’t been updated since 1974. The radiators are blasting, a future could be unfolding, but my hopes stay horizontal. I like that this is my superpower. It’s a phase. I leave on Sunday. It’s all I know for sure. I leave on Sunday is all I know for sure and for now and now? the snow on the ground looks different than Midwestern snow. Winged-back armchair in a hotel that I am not paying for.

Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones

Sometimes after my shift at the bookstore and before I go to my other job at the theater, I sit in the tall chairs by the window’s at Lady…