My reading updates have been rather sporadic this year as I took the summer off from blogging… and then most of the fall and winter, too. The combination of having no internet connection + building a house + incubating a baby turned out to be too much to handle and still make space for writing words, and my last update was back in October.
I’m still incubating a baby, but we are finally living in our house AND we have the internet – both things that make life in general easier, but especially blogging. I’m making no commitments to blog regularly or often in 2017, but it does feel good to be sharing books again.
I do try and send out a newsletter once each month. If you want more regular updates from me, sign up here.
These little reading round-ups help me form opinions about what I did and didn’t like about a book, making me a better reader and hopefully a better writer. And I hope you are able to add (or cross off!) a book to your list once in a while because of them, too.
Here’s what I read the Rest of 2016:
How to Be Here: A Guide to Creating a Life Worth Living by Rob Bell – NonFiction – At Ashley’s suggestion, I picked up this book and really enjoyed it. I read it while we were still in transition while building the house, and I think I might buy a copy and read it again this year as I need reminded that “here” is exactly where I am supposed to be.
Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times by Don & Petie Kladstrup – NonFiction – I picked up this book at my part-time job at a wine store (it was a super fun job, until I found out I was pregnant and could no longer drink anything we sold!). When we think Champagne today, we think glamour and celebration – but it was neat to read about how it used to be considered a dud wine that no one was really proud of. This history is full of surprising stories and fun facts, and doesn’t get too overloaded in detail. If you like history and bubbly, it’s definitely worth a read.
Outfoxed by Rita Mae Brown – Fiction – This was a novel chosen by one of my book clubs (the one that LOVES horses) and it was definitely enjoyable. An interesting read, since the animals talk and the murder of the murder mystery doesn’t happen until about three-quarters of the way through the book, but the characters were vivid and the story unfolded well. If you like stories about horses and people who are crazy about them, as well as reading up on a more southern way of life, I recommend it.
You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day – Memoir – This book was the pick of the other book club I’m in that meets about every other month. It was a classic celebrity memoir, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had seen more of Felicia’s work first. I enjoyed hearing about her unconventional childhood and how she wrote and directed and self-produced the first few seasons of her TV show before ever finding any investors. It was fine, but if celebrity memoirs aren’t your thing, pass on this one.
Books I Did Not Finish
I’m not usually very good about putting a book down once I pick it up, but I let (made?) myself do that more often in 2016. With the limited time that I had to read, and the knowledge that once this baby arrives there will be even less time, I really only want to read books that are actually grabbing my attention. Here are a few that I may come back to someday, but that I didn’t quite finish this year:
On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta – Young Adult Fiction – This was another recommendation from Ashley, so I know that it’s a good book, I just could not get into this last fall. I don’t think I could read for a long enough stretch of time to absorb what was happening, and kept having to flip back to remember who was who and why things were happening the way they were. Another day, maybe.
Dog Run Moon: Stories by Callan Wink – Literary Fiction – This is a collection of short stories from an author who I heard a segment from on the New Yorker Radio Hour podcast. I enjoyed the segment immensely and really wanted to read some of his work, but it was not the time for me for these short stories.
What have you been reading lately? Anything you can’t put down?
I also abandoned On the Jellicoe Road. It came recommended by a writer whose book judgement I totally trust – and we were talking about dreamy book boyfriends, too. I feel like it’s one I should have devoured, but I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe I’ll try it again later.
When I was a kid, I would stay up so late reading that I couldn’t get up in the morning and my mother would call the school to say I was sick. Among my favorite series are two by M.C. Beaton (female) which must be read in order. One features aggressive comically flawed heroine detective Agatha Raisin who lives in the Cotswolds and starts a detective agency. First six bks or so are hilarious but later bks are formulaic. The British TV series on Acorn is a big disappointment with Agatha so miscast that you have to wonder if the producers read any of the books. I can’t watch it. Her other series is set in the highlands with great characters. It features a red-haired bobby who loves his village of Lochdubh so much that he self-sabotages to avoid promotion to the city. Everyone is a gem.