Gosh, somehow, after Friday morning, July 28th (when Atticus got the cancer diagnosis), the year just kind of got away from me. August was that blur of tests and MRIs and scheduling and worrying. It wasn't always easy to concentrate. I do remember finishing Middlemarch while I was staying in the hospital with Atticus. He was asleep one morning, and all was quiet, even the nurses and their ever-present checks on vitals. Then there were blurry days of recovery at home, and difficulty concentrating again, and just as he was getting back to some semblance of normal, the blurriness, the tests, the doctors' appointments were happening with Betsy.
And yet.
Books.
The one constant in our lives.
The list is all I have time to share today, but in the days to come, I hope to blog more about what I loved, what I didn't, and what I want to read in 2018.
The 2017 Book List (including read-alouds with Ramona):
The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine Aron
Anne's House of Dreams, L.M. Montgomery
The Spindlers, Lauren Oliver
The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
The Magnolia Story, Chip and Joanna Gaines
Stitches, Anne Lamott
Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham
11-22-63, Stephen King
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
Dragonspell, Donita K. Paul
The Girl Who Drank the Moon, Kelly Barnhill
Better Than Before, Gretchen Rubin
Echoes, Maeve Binchy
The Year of Living Danishly, Helen Russell
Big Little Lies, Liane Moriarty
Black as Night, Regina Doman
The Wheel on the School, Meindert deJong
The Mother Daughter Book Club, Heather Frederick Vogel
Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
Emily of New Moon, L.M. Montgomery
The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
Beauty & the Beast (a Camp NaNo novel by my daughter, Betsy)
A Fatal Grace, Louise Penny
Emma in the Night, Wendy Walker
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
Our Souls at Night, Kent Haruf
Design Your Day, Claire Diaz Ortiz
Untitled (Another NaNo book by Betsy)
Middlemarch, George Eliot
Emily Climbs, L.M. Montgomery
Reading People, Anne Bogel
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
Emily's Quest, L.M. Montgomery
The Four Tendencies, Gretchen Rubin
The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher
Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
Dark Matter, Blake Crouch
Braving the Wilderness, Brene Brown
~~~~~
What did you read last year?
6 comments:
I loved L. M. Montgomery's Emily books! I discovered them in my 30's after loving the Anne series as a child. As much as I loved Anne, I think I actually loved Emily MORE--I could relate to her a bit more.
I know what you mean! I feel guilty saying that I *might* love Emily even more than I love Anne ... Ramona and I both felt that way. No one is quite like Anne, but no one is quite like Emily, either. :) We did all three of these as read-alouds, and they were pure joy. I loved sharing them with Ramona.
Also— please give your top 5 Karen recommendations for me to read!!!! (I’m SOOOOO impressed that you FINISHED Middlemarch:):):) btw!!! — who ever finished that one?????? I love that book. You’re a real nerd to finish that one, and I mean that in the nicest, most affectionate way!)
Hi, Elizabeth!
Thank you! I will totally take "real nerd" in the nicest, most affectionate way. :) I loved Middlemarch so much!
So ... top five from this list? Or just in general? :)
From this list (although I always hesitate to choose "top" books, because it depends on the day, the mood, the reader ....) :)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Gilead
Emily of New Moon
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Little Fires Everywhere
Just in general -- have you read these? You probably have:
Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry
In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O'Connor
The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman
Hmmm, I'm definitely leaning toward sad stuff.
On the lighter side, have you read I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith?
In the mood for non-fiction?
Quiet, by Susan Cain
Anything Nora Ephron ever wrote, because she always makes me laugh
Eeek, I feel inadequate to this task! The real question is, what are you in the MOOD to read?? :)
(This is Elizabeth, I can’t seem to get Google to understand that I have a name!) Thanks Karen! I commented a response but I don’t think it went through. — I love Ephron’s writings too!!! I am in the MOOD for Jane Eyre....nothing else could ever compare (swoon). But I’ve re-read this many times!!! I’m going to look at the Thomas Hardy and the Godden books first. They seem fascinating:) I need to get my imagination into escape mode currently.
So annoying when Google does that!!
Warning about In This House of Brede: there's some really sad stuff, but it's a gorgeous book.
I know what you mean about needing to stop rereading and grab something new. :)
Let me know what you decide and what you think!
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