Growing up, I was a voracious reader. What a surprise, right? Gee, a librarian who likes to read. But something happened to me between college and grad school where I lost that zeal to lose myself in a great book. That’s not to suggest that I didn’t read, but I didn’t read much for pleasure. I mostly read to better myself professionally and personally (be a better parent, learn French, learn a skill, etc.). In college, the classes I took were so reading-heavy — I have a horrible memory of being assigned to read all of Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit in one week — that I didn’t have time for pleasure-reading. I still read the occasional novel, but I mostly read things related to librarianship, technology, teaching, and higher education. As my free time became more precious and rare (especially after my son came into our lives), I think I forgot what pleasure reading meant to me and what it gave me.
Around a year and a half ago, I fell into a depression (at least that’s what it felt like… falling). It was a dark, horrible summer, but this was when I rediscovered reading, and reading was a big part of what kept me afloat. Books became for me that great friend who manages to push you out of your funk by getting your brain involved in something immersive and pleasurable. I started by reading or re-reading all of Jane Austen’s books and found that losing myself in the world of Regency Britain and hopeful plot-lines helped me stop ruminating and helped me sleep. I started getting books on my Kindle through Multnomah County’s expansive Overdrive collection (I keep a good-sized list of holds so there’s always something available I want to read), and retained my appetite for pleasure reading long after the darkness lifted.
2014 was the first full year (in a long time) in which I really savored reading for pleasure, though my reading tends to be relegated to after I’ve put Reed to bed or when I’m on airplanes. Here’s an approximate list of what I read this year for fun. I say it’s approximate because I’m pretty sure there are at least a few I’ve read through Overdrive that I’m not remembering because Overdrive is kind enough not to keep my checkout history and I don’t use anything like Goodreads to record my reading behavior. The ones in bold are those that I particularly loved (for various reasons) and didn’t want to put down. The ones with an asterisk were those I slogged my way through and wouldn’t recommend (in spite of the fact that one of them is a major award-winner… hey, we like what we like).
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes
The Hunger Games Trilogy – Suzanne Collins
Not My Father’s Son – Alan Cumming
The Circle – Dave Eggers
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Makmy ing of The Princess Bride – Cary Elwes (such a sweet remembrance of a movie I love)
The Marriage Plot – Jeffrey Eugenides (reminded me of college life at Wesleyan, but not as good as his other work)
*The Signature of all Things – Elizabeth Gilbert (started off great, but the second half was slow and plodding with an unsatisfying ending)
The Fault in Our Stars – John Green
Problems with People: Stories – David Guterson (decidedly meh short story collection)
Mother, Daughter, Me: A Memoir – Katie Hafner
The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach
The Tie that Binds – Kent Haruf (reread just after Haruf, my favorite author died)
Where You Once Belonged – Kent Haruf (ditto)
The Painter – Peter Heller (wowza, this man needs to write more books. I couldn’t put this down. I don’t usually like books about murder and violence, but this was really special)
The Dog Stars – Peter Heller (not as engrossing as The Painter, but it was extremely well-written and kicked off my post-apocalyptic reading streak)
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver
Redeployment – Phil Klay (while it sent me to my computer Googling abbreviations every few minutes, it was a really special short story collection about war that felt very honest)
The Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri (just as good as everyone said this collection was)
The Lowland – Jhumpa Lahiri (a beautiful story about two brothers that started off wonderfully, which kept me going through the anticlimactic middle and end. Lahiri is an amazing writer, but this novel’s pacing was uneven.)
California – Edan Lepucki (a really good read, but it was my third post-apocalyptic story in a few months and I think I was burnt out on the genre)
Every Day – David Levithan
Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandell (could not put this down; great plot and really well-drawn characters)
Sweet Tooth – Ian McEwan
Bel Canto – Ann Patchett (I can’t believe it took me so long to read this beautiful book. What a treasure! I didn’t want it to end.)
Truth and Beauty – Ann Patchett
State of Wonder – Ann Patchett
Landline – Rainbow Rowell (a nice break from the heavy stuff and a satisfying story. Definitely plan to read more of her stuff.)
*Joseph Anton – Salman Rushdie (wowza, all this book did was convince me that Rushdie is a total narcissist. Read it for three weeks and then gave up because of all the name-dropping and long descriptions of every minute detail of his life. Was actually very good for helping me fall asleep, so if you’re having trouble…)
Tenth of December – George Saunders
Astonish Me – Maggie Shipstead (not great literature, but I really enjoyed the story and learning about the world of ballet of which I was completely ignorant)
*The Farm – Tom Rob Smith (such a great premise, but I ended up finding the characters, story and ending really unlikable)
The Vacationers – Emma Straub
*The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt (I read this for a long time and for long stretches, but I just got to the point at which I didn’t want to follow the main character on his journey anymore — at the point where he reconnected with his friend from Vegas in New York. Very well-written, great beginning, and very well-drawn characters, but too slow and depressing. I might actually try to finish it at some point, because it really was well-written.)
I’ve been reading on a Kindle since I won one at a conference in 2010. I upgraded to the Kindle Paperwhite last year and I have to say that I really don’t miss reading physical books at all. Every time I’ve moved since high school, it’s been heartbreaking to let go of some of my collection, so it feels nice not to be accumulating more physical stuff. And the convenience of the Overdrive/Kindle connection can’t be beat. I’d never use the system if I had to download an file and get it onto a device; I couldn’t even figure it out how to get it to work when I downloaded an audiobook once. And what’s great about using the Kindle format is that I can access the book I’m reading from the Kindle app on my iPad or iPhone if I’m ever stuck waiting somewhere without my e-reader. I know there are a lot of bad things about Amazon and Kindle, but the ridiculous convenience wins out for me.
What did you read this year that you absolutely loved? What would you recommend?
Image credit: Kindle Paperwhite by Frmorrison
I have been in a slump for some time, though I am very slowly emerging. The one difference is that because of my 75 mile round trip commute I listen to books on CD…and so I read all the latest written by Clive Cussler, The Oryx and Crake Triology by Margaret Atwood (I admit the first book is the Common Read for next year, but I love it!), and a few others…currently I am reading the same Barbara Kingsolver book (yard sale) and just started Americanah
I am in month eight of a extended reading block. I am fascinated to hear people talk about their reading slumps. And glad to know they end too. Thanks for your post.
I also had stopped reading for pleasure up until a couple years ago when I started working in a public library. I tend to read a lot of non-fiction, but thought I should throw some fiction into the mix so I could make recommendations for our patrons. Like you, I loved Redeployment and could barely make it through The Goldfinch. Here are a few others that were significant this year:
Non-fiction:
Pretty Good Number One (Matthew Amster-Burton)—Author and family explore Tokyo food for a month and write a love story about it. Not exactly a page turner definitely made me hungry.
Wave (Sonali Deraniyagala)—Author recounts experience of losing her whole family to the tsunami 10 years ago and her attempts pick up the pieces. I can’t fully recommend this unless one is willing to deep dive into depression and loss, but Sonali Deraniyagala explores these feelings with great honesty and courage.
Graphic Novels:
Hello NY (Julia Rothman)—made me fall in love with NY all over again
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant (Roz Chast)—discusses the issues we all do not want to talk about including elderly parents, sickness and death. A healthy dose of humor helps Chast (and us) through the pain.
Fiction:
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry (Gabrielle Zevin)—a simple, fast moving story that book lovers can enjoy.
Extras:
Dory Fantasmagory (Abby Hanlon)—I was looking for a good book for my 8 year old niece and couldn’t put this one down. Very funny with beautiful illustrations.
I Work at a Public Library (Gina Sheridan)—Occasionally, we all need a little humor and inspiration to get us through the day.
Whew! That was a lot. I guess don’t ask a librarian to recommend books because she might just tell you. Thanks for your recommendations. I love post-apocalyptic novels too!
Our behavior and interests in a variety of areas have ebbs and flows, so it seems natural that the same would apply to reading. Good luck finding a book or impetus that will get you unstuck, John!
@Dawn, thanks for the recommendations! I wanted to read Wave, but I’ve found that, since having my son, I don’t do well with anything that involves losing a child. It wrecks me. I leafed through it when I was at Barnes and Noble a while ago and knew I couldn’t handle it.
@Cindy G, Americanah is on my Overdrive holds list along with Celest Ng’s Everything I Never Told You. I’m really looking forward to reading them. I’m sure a long commute is annoying (I’ve been there), but sometimes it’s nice to have that forced contemplative or audiobook-listening time. I have a much shorter commute now and I find myself missing my NPR time.
Hi Meredith,
Love your blog and really like reading through the Reading list, always great to find new authors and books to add to the personal library,
Like yourself I’m also a librarian and love seeing peoples bookshelves or just observing what people are reading on the public transport, and usually making a mental note to track the book down for later.
An amazing author that i have come across, that i would recommend everyone to read is Walter Moers (German author). I have read each of his books, with each being as stunning as the last one.
Moers has a number of books, and is highly recommended.
Thanks for your observations on the Kindle, I am yet to make the move, but feel that from physical books to the ebook is not far away.
Read on.
Cheers
Aaron
Funny to hear you couldn’t finish The Goldfinch – a recent report in the UK Guardian newspaper revealed it to be the one novel which ebook users are most unlikely to finish! See http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/10/donna-tart-shamed-by-e-reader-the-goldfinch
I loved it, but we all differ, I guess.
My favourite non-fiction book was Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’. A powerful, thoroughly research piece on the perils of climate change. Despite its subject, Klein’s book is filled with hope. How decent, law-abiding people can make a change. A change which will wake up oil & gas corps and the politicians they fund. What triggered Klein to write the book was the birth of her son a year or two ago.
Favourite novel was ‘Stoner’ by John Williams. A beautifully written, indightful work which was written in the 60s but reissued in the UK a year or two ago. Another favourite was another US classic – ‘Catch 22’ by Joseph Heller. I’d never read it but with it humanity and wonderful surreal humour, I can now fully appreciate why this novel is regarded as a masterpiece. Lastly, my other favourite was Cory Doctorow’s ‘Little Brother’. It’s a book for young adults but even I at 48 was gripped by it. Doctorow’s sci-fi novel is set in an America not dissimilar to today’s US – but it’s a world where surveillance and government snooping obliterate peoples’ right to privacy. Doctorow’s hero is a 17 yr old tech geek at high school who sets up a computer network that’s free from government snooping. So what will the government do…? A rollicking read.
After some noble attempts to delve into reading historical library literature (fun for a while), I’ve taking up as my fun reading the multi-volume “My Struggle” by Karl Ove Knausgaard. It. Is. Amazing! I know it’s gotten alot of good press (although there seems to be a snarky underside that no one actually reads it), and I have t say I can see why it won so many awards. Truly an engrossing read about…not much at all.
I read between 60-200 books a year – this was my lowest in a long time – apparently I was not stressed out as much as usual! Anyway, some random rec’s, in no particular order:
Mr. Penumbas 24 hour bookstore by Robin Sloan (adult fiction). If you want to try some YA; anything by Maggie Stievfater — start with the Shiver series or the Ballad books (her newest series, Raven Boys is great, but is ongoing.) – she does a lovely job mixing in celtic myths. For flat out humor, anything by Christopher Moor – if you enjoy Shakespeare, try Fool for starters.
Pingback: 2014 Year-End Reading Wrap-Up | Jenny Arch
I also read on a kindle, but lately, I’ve become something of an audible junkie, and find I’m listening more than I’m reading. Recent favorites: Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand, narrated by Edward Herrman (Gilmore Girls, etc.);
A Load of Hooey, Bob Odenkirk;
11/22/63, Stephen King;
David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell
The Last Lecture, Randy Pausch
Bossypants (Tina Fey)
These are truly random selections of things I have downloaded to my phone .
Thanks for the recommendations Lisa! Unbroken’s been on my list for a long time. I listened to Bossypants too a few years ago; it was great!