My goal was 40, and I blew that out of the water with 62 titles. Several of them were middle grade, as my daughter and I enjoy reading stories together, but seeing as I read them aloud, they certainly still count!
I used to highlight the top 7 and the lowest 3— but I read so many great books this past year, I’m changing my format to simply list 10 of the books that I’m still thinking about…the ones that affected my spirit. I hope my recommendation provokes you to pick one of them up, too.
Honeycomb by Joanne M. HarrisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Absolutely delightful. Mini chapters, each one a micro fairy tale, in and of itself clever or poignant and all interwoven into an overarching story of the Lacewing King antihero. Simply delightful, the best antidote to a busy mind and savoury enough to enjoy in short doses before bed. There is clever political commentary hidden in metaphor, should you care to look for it, or simply a fine tale at face value. Highly recommend.
Radiance of the Ordinary: Essays on Life, Death, and the Sinews that Bind by Tara CoutureMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Tara is intimately connected to the natural world, her prose clear and yet exquisitely gentle. This is not a book of “how to”, or personal lauding. It is a humble confession, a nuanced and vulnerable conversation between reader and author. An inexorable journey toward unimaginable grief, and how she continues afterward. I was moved to tears, I re-read passages with quiet wonder, and resisted sharing screenshots of what felt like a third of the text. This book is something special, one part love letter to the Divine, one part healing, one part memoir. She is more than enigmatic Baba Yaga in the woods: this woman has made herself vulnerable, to love, and to gift others with her heart.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred WatsonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Simply delightful. The cheeky (at the time shocking) double entendres, the brilliant, thrilling voice of a rowdy-governess-turned-Cinderella, the happy ending. A quick and cheery read for dark December.
Hamnet and Judith by Maggie O'FarrellMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Understated brilliance. Written like a classic. Ordinary prose sounds lyrical, wonderfully nuanced characters. What an extraordinary interpretation of Shakespeare’s inner life. Highly recommend.
Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age by Rod DreherMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. So much to chew on. Exceptional, and leaves many thoughts to consider. I tried taking notes, but it would almost require a full transcription, there was so much I wanted to retain.
Briefly, I highly recommend. A longer review is deserved.
The Familiar by Leigh BardugoMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow. Bardugo never disappoints. Perfection from beginning to end. Complex characters, nothing cliché, keeps you guessing, flawless execution in every chapter. Quite possibly the best I’ve read in some time!
Tyll by Daniel KehlmannMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was non-linear in the most delightful way. Originally in German, the book has been masterfully translated. It feels foreign in seductively slippery sentences that twist so innocuously that you slide straight into a chapter without caring that this is a new character POV describing an aspect of history you have no knowledge of. What an incredible work! You don’t get closure, just inference. You don’t have out-and-out language depicting good and evil, but matter-of-fact depictions that belie their Germanic roots and allow your intellect to slowly dawn over them.
A little magical realism, a little historical fiction, a little fantasy— this is a genre-bending tour de force.
Till We Have Faces by C.S. LewisMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A marvellous retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth. Orual with her jealous love and ravenous discontent provides a riveting narration of longing, misery, and self-reflection. Such pictures Lewis can paint with the simplest of language, to feel like a classic that deserves wider readership. Highly recommend.
Plant Families: A Guide for Gardeners and Botanists by Ross BaytonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
High quality linen finish and beautifully designed layout with many intricate details of how plants are related, with gorgeous illustrations. Recommended for the gardener who delights in going down an educational rabbit-hole.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky ChambersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
So many feelings for this short, moving story. Wonderfully imagined by Becky Chambers, unique and refreshingly optimistic. A utopia, a fully evolved, permaculture society with limitless health benefits, functional but non-distracting tech, broadband in its inclusivity and nearly absent of strife in all but the most highest of Maslow needs (self-actualization), with symbolic idols of six element-based gods… what could possibly be missing?
Dex lacks nothing, and yet is plagued by a niggling discomfort, an ever-present notion that something is missing; that there must be something more to life.
I find it curious that, in the end, even within the sci fi fantasy framework of this benevolent religion, there is no connection to it and Dex’s predicament. The gods are, as they appear throughout, static symbols and hollow representations. No, the answer must be not that there IS more to life than our own happiness and sense of purpose, not that there IS a reason we feel this way, but that consciousness, and curiosity, and life itself is enough.
I find this ending too simple for such a deep question that is rooted all of our hearts. It is too pat, too reductive. And yet, it’s got me thinking. Thinking about how many people might resign themselves to this belief, and find it wanting. And perhaps how that wanting may yet propel them to continue searching for a larger truth that resonates.