There's something amazing about disappearing into a book and not coming up for two or three hours, or days. I read for enjoyment quite frequently this year.
SPRING
Good Dog, Happy Baby: Preparing your dog for the arrival of your child - Michael Wombacher. My mom picked this up at the library for my sister. I was bored and read it in under two hours. Not recommended unless this is a particular concern of yours.
The Name of God is Mercy - Pope John Paul. I made the rare decision to buy a book at the airport and I had no regrets with this excellent book by the Pope.
Off the Leash: A year at the dog park - Matthew Gilbert. A $1 Goodwill find about a dog and his owner and their daily visits to a Boston dog park. Entertaining, light read and I liked the local connection.
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Another $1 Goodwill find, this New York Times' bestseller was an interesting read, but you can understand why it's been accused of cultural misappropriation.
Outlander 1-4 - Diana Gabaldon. I received the first half of the series for Christmas and once I picked up the first book, I promptly disappeared and did not re-emerge until finishing the 4th book. I need to track down books 5-8. Fun reads with a reasonable amount of suspended belief.
SUMMER
When Invisible Children Sing - I picked this up from my favorite nearby Little Free Library, a mailbox conveniently located between JP Licks ice cream and Jamaica Pond. It's the first person narrative of a doctor who took leave of Harvard Medical School during his fourth year, and with funding from Park Street Church, provided medical care to street children in La Paz, Bolivia. It's more of a missionary's diary than finely crafted prose, but Dr. Chi's reflections on making a difference in the life of just one child, despite the futility of ending poverty and evil, make you want to pick up a sword and tilt at windmills, too. Almost twenty years after his first trip, he spends half of each year there leading the Bolivian Street Children's Project. A little preachy, but another neat Boston connection.
I moved to DC and discovered a number of Little Free Libraries, including two in my neighborhood!
Marlow and Me - John Grogan. I knew the dog was going to die at the end, I read it anyways, and I cried.
The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks. vom. I knew exactly what it was going to be, and I read it anyways, and it produced all of the stupid feelings I knew it would. A waste of a week's reading while commuting on Metro, which is to say, not really a waste of anything. Skip.
FALL
Fall of Giants, Winter of War, and Edge of Eternity trilogy - Ken Follett. Combining for 3,084 pages, this trilogy follows Welsh, English, German, Russian, and American families from 1914-2008. Mildly gratuitous sex keeps the historical plot moving along through all the major revolutions, wars, counter-revolutions, and movements of the 20th century. Long and excellent.
I discovered my neighborhood (Rosedale) DC Public Library!
My Beloved World - Sonia Sotomayor. My reaction- how could I be a female public interest lawyer without having read about Justice Sotomayor's experiences? I'm so grateful my book club chose it. Excellent memoir, highly recommended.
12 Years a Slave - Solomon Northup. Just as moving and heartbreaking as I expected.
A Dangerous Fortune - Ken Follett. Similar to the trilogy in writing style, but without the historical background, it's a long book with lots of forbidden fantasy. Average.
The Last Man - Vince Flynn. Another Little Free Library find. Let's just say I wasted a few days of my life reading the male equivalent of chick lit, and I'm appropriate embarrassed. Someone put another book in Flynn's series in the LFL and I'm probably going to read that, too. Not recommended.
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison. A haunting book of poetry. The first thing I've read by her, which tells me I'm missing out on a lot.
My reading dropped off a bit in a flurry of baby-blanket making that took over my daily commute and my free time at home. 19 books isn't bad for one year, though. On to 2017!
SPRING
Good Dog, Happy Baby: Preparing your dog for the arrival of your child - Michael Wombacher. My mom picked this up at the library for my sister. I was bored and read it in under two hours. Not recommended unless this is a particular concern of yours.
The Name of God is Mercy - Pope John Paul. I made the rare decision to buy a book at the airport and I had no regrets with this excellent book by the Pope.
Off the Leash: A year at the dog park - Matthew Gilbert. A $1 Goodwill find about a dog and his owner and their daily visits to a Boston dog park. Entertaining, light read and I liked the local connection.
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Another $1 Goodwill find, this New York Times' bestseller was an interesting read, but you can understand why it's been accused of cultural misappropriation.
Outlander 1-4 - Diana Gabaldon. I received the first half of the series for Christmas and once I picked up the first book, I promptly disappeared and did not re-emerge until finishing the 4th book. I need to track down books 5-8. Fun reads with a reasonable amount of suspended belief.
SUMMER
When Invisible Children Sing - I picked this up from my favorite nearby Little Free Library, a mailbox conveniently located between JP Licks ice cream and Jamaica Pond. It's the first person narrative of a doctor who took leave of Harvard Medical School during his fourth year, and with funding from Park Street Church, provided medical care to street children in La Paz, Bolivia. It's more of a missionary's diary than finely crafted prose, but Dr. Chi's reflections on making a difference in the life of just one child, despite the futility of ending poverty and evil, make you want to pick up a sword and tilt at windmills, too. Almost twenty years after his first trip, he spends half of each year there leading the Bolivian Street Children's Project. A little preachy, but another neat Boston connection.
I moved to DC and discovered a number of Little Free Libraries, including two in my neighborhood!
Marlow and Me - John Grogan. I knew the dog was going to die at the end, I read it anyways, and I cried.
The Wedding - Nicholas Sparks. vom. I knew exactly what it was going to be, and I read it anyways, and it produced all of the stupid feelings I knew it would. A waste of a week's reading while commuting on Metro, which is to say, not really a waste of anything. Skip.
FALL
Fall of Giants, Winter of War, and Edge of Eternity trilogy - Ken Follett. Combining for 3,084 pages, this trilogy follows Welsh, English, German, Russian, and American families from 1914-2008. Mildly gratuitous sex keeps the historical plot moving along through all the major revolutions, wars, counter-revolutions, and movements of the 20th century. Long and excellent.
I discovered my neighborhood (Rosedale) DC Public Library!
My Beloved World - Sonia Sotomayor. My reaction- how could I be a female public interest lawyer without having read about Justice Sotomayor's experiences? I'm so grateful my book club chose it. Excellent memoir, highly recommended.
12 Years a Slave - Solomon Northup. Just as moving and heartbreaking as I expected.
A Dangerous Fortune - Ken Follett. Similar to the trilogy in writing style, but without the historical background, it's a long book with lots of forbidden fantasy. Average.
The Last Man - Vince Flynn. Another Little Free Library find. Let's just say I wasted a few days of my life reading the male equivalent of chick lit, and I'm appropriate embarrassed. Someone put another book in Flynn's series in the LFL and I'm probably going to read that, too. Not recommended.
The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison. A haunting book of poetry. The first thing I've read by her, which tells me I'm missing out on a lot.
My reading dropped off a bit in a flurry of baby-blanket making that took over my daily commute and my free time at home. 19 books isn't bad for one year, though. On to 2017!
