Last year I read a lot of books I loved and I wanted to share the list with you in case there is one or two you might want to investigate yourself. I keep a reading log (which turns out to be an alternative sort of diary – a diary of interests and whims, side-journeys and enduring obsessions), so I’m arranging this list according to month. Some months were richer than others; some months I read more or less. I read books I wished later I’d put down. I read some that rocked my world. Reading and life are much the same!
JANUARY
The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas (at last; it was, just as I’d thought it would be, a “ripping good yarn”)
The Queen of Nothing – Holly Black (all the books in this series about spiteful fairies and dangerous magic were great fun)
FEBRUARY
Between You and Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen – Mary Norris (by the end, I yearned to have a cuppa with Mary who seems like a sister in word-love and grammar-admiration)
MARCH
Winter Tales – George Mackay Brown (what a wizard of the short story form and the characters I met in this collection still visit me; truly beautiful)
APRIL
Cheaper by the Dozen – Frank Gilbreth and Elizabeth Gilbreth Carey (how did I never get to this before? So much fun and in many ways, well ahead of its time)
MAY
The Truants – Kate Weinberg (I’m a fan of campus-based novels and especially ones that show their characters challenged and turned inside out by learning in and out of the classroom; this one held me in its grip)
JUNE
Middlemarch – George Eliot (WOW. My dear friend Anne extolled the pleasures of this one and all I can say is: she was right. What a tour de force! Keen insight, compassion, wit, and characters you recognize now even though these appeared on the page more than a century ago. This is a book that has and gives so much. Thank you, Anne!)
JULY
Beatrix Potter’s Gardening Life – Marta McDowell (Beautifully written, beautifully and lavishly illustrated; my favorite new book for giving)
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk – Kathleen Rooney (I was so moved by this story of a grand old lady walking around New York that I wrote a thank you note to the author; a sharp, great-hearted book)
The Return of the Native – Thomas Hardy (another HOLY COW on this one – a page-turner laced with folklore, archetype, yearning, and the wildness and power of the moors)
AUGUST
Warming the Stone Child – Clarissa Pinkola Estes (I listened to this one for the great pleasure of hearing Estes’ warm voice telling folktales and unpacking their treasures)
SEPTEMBER
Autumn: A Folio Collection of Poems – Kathleen Jamie, editor (Delicious! Everything about this book – the choice of poems and passages, the full-page illustrations, the font, the paper, the binding – makes for a gorgeous reading experience)
Mythos – Stephen Fry (If I could choose one living person to have tea with, it might very well be Stephen Fry; what a scholar, writer, storyteller, actor (of course), and person. A great introduction into the world of Greek mythology)
OCTOBER
The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Orman (pure pleasure; if I needed an all-purpose book gift from last year’s reading, this would be it. Funny, full of heart and surprise, and happily – just the start of a series!)
NOVEMBER
The Children of Green Knowe – LM Boston (ostensibly for children, but this “child” loved it; one of the most beautifully written and imagined books I read all year)
Braiding Sweetgrass – Robin Kimmerer Wall (illuminating, inspiring, and necessary)
The Once and Future Witches – Alix E Harrow (Reading often echoes and amplifies our lives; I read this one as I watched Kamala Harris light up the world with her intelligence and power and the book and the reality seemed to speak with and to each other)
DECEMBER
Christmas Days – Jeanette Winterson (a re-read and one I will read every year; I love these stories and I love her excellent company and cheer; a direct route to the feeling of Christmas)
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (yes, also a re-read many times over; I need this book and always will. Whatever in me is Scrooge is chastened and healed on each reading. If Dickens were present to receive it, I’d write him a thank you note every year)