Books I read in 2014

The first thing you need to know is that I feel like a failure. I was ultra geared up and ready for year two of the 50 Book Pledge, and I didn't make it, mostly because my belated charge to the finish line --- armed with poetry collections and graphic novels --- was interrupted by the arrival of the baby in mid-November. Ah, well. I came close! 43 books in 2014. And it would be more if I counted all the Dickens and Austen rereads, or the reread of a bunch of Lois Lowry's Anastasia Krupnik series, after I found a bunch of them at the McGill Book Sale. Or if I hadn't abandoned quite so many books partway through...or gone travelling for three weeks in UK (awesome), instead of sitting around at home reading (typical). 

You can see what I read here. Or find me on Goodreads.

Here is the breakdown according to the same categories I assessed last year:

By genre*

22 novels

7 children's/YA

4 poetry collections

3 graphic novels

3 memoirs

3 non-fiction 

1 short story collection

Compared to last year, I read the exact same number of poetry collections and children's/YA (huh), and just one shy in memoir and graphic novels. I read three more short story collections last year, but then again I read a LOT of short stories in 2014 for the Room fiction contest and the Journey Prize jurying. Five fewer novels.

* Some of the books fall into more than one genre, e.g. a graphic novel that is also a YA book or a graphic novel that is also a memoir, but I've kept each book to one basic genre.

By nation

15 American 

9 Canadian 

3 English 

1 Scottish 

1 dual American-Canadian 

1 Australian

1 New Zealander

1 Nigerian

1 Dutch 

I think this must be the first year in my life where I did not read mainly CanLit! Interestingly, the same number of Americans as last year.

By gender

30 books by 25 women

13 books by 8 men

Highlights

The first two books I read in January, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt and The Dinner by Herman Koch, remain among the most memorable reads of the year. I also really liked Americanah. 

The last two fiction titles I read in 2014,  The Opening Sky by Joan Thomas and The Freedom in American Songs by Kathleen Winter, were also outstanding. I have so much love and admiration for these women, so while I might technically be biased, I truly adored these books and you should still run out and buy them immediately. And as many of you might know, sometimes it is harder to be completely transported by the writing of someone you know...and I was. 

Also, the Susin Nielsen books are wonderful. Strongly recommended for the young people in your life, or just, you know, you. 

Lowlights

The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp was thoughtfully gifted to me by a friend and it was full of useful information that I have already put to use...and I can definitely endorse the basic premise and techniques outlined in this book. However, I feel like it was written for morons, or at least people with some kind of hyper-amnesia, like the guy in Memento. It really sticks with that principle of "Tell them what you're going to say, say it, then tell them what you've said," but it adds in "say it seven more times." It would be a lot better if it were condensed into about twenty pages written for neurotypical readers, or maybe just a large infographic. I cannot express the annoyance of having a newborn baby and precious little reading time that I then spent trying to power through this repetitive book that kept trying to prove a premise I was already willing to accept merely by picking it up. (Fourth trimester, yo.) That being said, thanks, Dr. Karp, for your valuable techniques!

And I didn't really love any of the Divergent trilogy, but the last one, Allegiant, was especially annoying to me in the way it ended. 

Best Discovery?

Well, I had a very relaxed stretch of reading after I finally picked up a book by Alexander McCall Smith at the library. I ran through a bunch of his Edinburgh-set mystery series (the Isabel Dalhousie books), which made for excellent light pregnancy fare.   

Books I read in 2013

This year is the first year I've ever kept a list of the books I read, mostly thanks to joining Goodreads last December.  I took an inordinate amount of pleasure in tracking my progress in the 2013 Reading Challenge, for which I set a modest goal of 34 books. Modest --- and at the same time more than what I would probably have read in years past. It's hard to tell for sure, though, since I've never kept a list. 

Once I saw that I was on track for reading fifty books, I joined the 50 Book Pledge site, which has a very satisfying shelf graphic. 

You can see what I read here.

The list doesn't truly reflect the number of pages read in 2013.  I didn't include rereads as part of the count, which this year tended to be Victorian novels that I read here and there on my phone (it seems wrong not to count Dickens, even as a reread, but there you go). There are also some books (four or five) I abandoned halfway, which obviously are not part of the list either. A few of these abandonments were only because I lost track of the book in our multiple moves, so as soon as I find them they will likely make an appearance on my 2014 list!

A few of the books I read this year

The list is endlessly fascinating to me (a few of these titles I would have forgotten if I hadn't recorded them), and in case you're interested in the breakdown, too, it's as follows:

By genre:

4 poetry collections

4 short story collections

4 memoirs

4 graphic novels

7 children's/YA books

27 novels 

By nation:

21 Canadian

15 American

13 UK

1 Japanese

By gender:

16 titles by 12 men

34 titles by 30 women

And which was my favourite? Well, to tell you the truth, it's easier to pinpoint the disappointments. The newest Bridget Jones novel, for instance, was a let-down, though it was a decent enough companion during an endless flight delay. My Sister's Keeper, too, was generic in the ways you'd expect (though truly a page turner, in that I literally read it in a day). The Agatha Christie novel is probably the worst of hers I ever remember reading (maybe I should have stopped when I noticed the dedication to her dog), and the Neil Gaiman book, while interesting and genuinely a little frightening (!) is something I somewhat regret buying in hardcover. I seem to have petered out on the Jasper Fforde Thursday Next series, but only after the fourth book. I couldn't stop talking about the first three. 

The Interestings stands out among the novels I enjoyed the most in 2013, maybe partially due to length, as I spent some time with it. I remember loving Juliet, Naked and finding it hilarious, though at this point I couldn't tell you what it was about! In terms of contemporary novels, Malarky and Our Woman has probably lingered the longest in my memory, especially considering I read it in January. The Juliet Stories, too, was beautifully written and has stayed with me in unexpected ways. I sobbed throughout most of the astounding February, and The Fault in Our Stars made me cry a little, too. It pretty much lives up to the hype. The Wayne Johnston novels both made me laugh and laugh, as did Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. 

The book I may have been quoted as saying I wished would never end is The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett, who not only wrote beloved children's books (including my all-time favourite A Little Princess) but a number of books for adults, as well. From a (guilty pleasure?) narrative point of view, this one truly has it all: rags-to-riches, romance, a murderous plot, all wrapped up in a delightful Victorian package. Even writing about it kind of makes me want to read it again.  

My best discovery of the year is Margaret Drabble, whom I've never read before. I also read my first Judy Blume! (My mother confiscated the only one I'd ever started.) I'm sure I'll read more. 

I also liked how many funny books I read this year. I might not look like a very diverse reading list (certainly it pales in comparison to those of many librarians and reviewers and full-time writers I know, especially in terms of numbers), but many of these books were outside of what I might normally have read in the past (Serious Canadian Novels). 

Most of all, this year I read almost entirely for pure enjoyment (not to bolster something I was working on, or for a panel or for a review I needed to write, etc.), and I really loved almost all of it. Even the handful of books I didn't love were still pretty okay (say, three-star books). Just looking at this list makes me pretty happy about 2013.

I'm not sure what goals I have for next year, though I'm tempted to say Read Exactly Whatever I Want. (This remains, to date, the greatest thing about not being in school. I still savour this freedom, even after having it for so long.) It would be nice to read a little bit more poetry, as I'm always really happy when I'm in the middle of a collection. I also wouldn't mind reading one really great non-fiction book that isn't a memoir.

What are your reading goals for 2014?

Snow, reading, holidays

Not much is happening here except for this....

 There is a lot of snow.

I took this photo of our street last week some time (and, rather pathetically, almost slipped and fell down the stairs in the process). Since then, it has snowed the same amount three times over. Yesterday, neighbours with snowblowers were out in force in the back alley, while neighbours without snowblowers hailed and cajoled them or blessed their all-wheel drive.

It took some doing, but we finally got our tree up last week! There are even a few presents under it.

 Our tree!

Today is my last day at work, and I'm looking forward to our first Christmas in our new home. And to heading out to North Hatley for more family time, and some time for snowy walks and cozy reading, too. I complained on Twitter that Goodreads sent me an email congratulating me on having read 45 books this year. But I plan on making it to 50! It's not the end of the year yet, Goodreads! This weekend I finished another, which leaves four to finish before the end of the month. The one I mention here, in this round-up of what the McGill community will be reading over the holidays, I likely won't start until January. And it will probably give me a less impressive total for 2014.

What are you planning to read over the holidays?

on gratitude and anticipation

Today is my last day to finish up writing the acknowledgements for Bone and Bread, a task I've been postponing because how on earth can you thank everyone who helped you over a five-year period?!  

Short of listing the name of every single person I know, it's hard to think of how I'm going to avoid leaving somebody out.  There are the people who read pages. The people who listened.  The people who have been cheering me on all along.  The people who live far away but whose few emails a year I cherish dearly.  

....Okay, I've sent it.  And I hope that everyone in my life knows how much they have helped me, just through their friendship alone.

A couple of amazing things happened over the past week or so.  The Montreal Gazette featured me as one of the Stars to Watch in 2013 and also included Bone and Bread in a look ahead at anticipated books in 2013. Having my photo in the paper twice in the same day is pretty much guaranteed never to happen again, so I felt compelled to blurrily document it for posterity:
 

(I love these pictures of me...both taken at different times around my old apartment in Mile End.  Gazette photographers, in these cases John Kenney and Dave Sidaway, are really something.)

The Afterword (aka pretty much the best Canada national news outlet literary blog ever) also featured Bone and Bread as one of 13 most anticipated books of the first half of 2013.  Being listed alongside all of these amazing writers, including Andrew Pyper and especially Lisa Moore, was enough to make me almost, well, swoon. 

And Alexandra Yarrow, Ottawa librarian extraordinaire, mentioned it as an upcoming release she's looking forward to on her savvy blog Only Connect, too.  This international list has so many books I'm looking forward to, too, that it makes me blush (and, okay, grin) to see Bone and Bread there along with the new Kate Atkinson and Lionel Shriver novels.

AND...Bone and Bread was also included in illustrious company in this spring preview list of "the books we're waiting for" at the 49th Shelf (aka essential CanLit central).  This list in particular includes a number of new-to-me authors and titles I'll be adding to my to-read list.

I should say that I'm sure at least part of the reason it has made these online lists is because of the striking cover, so thank you to Alysia Shewchuk for her design (I found out who it was!) and because of Anansi's stellar reputation in publishing really excellent books.  I'm so lucky my novel found a home there.

One of the nicest things about all this is that it lets me share what is so often a hidden or invisible process.  I'm finally finishing this big, exciting project (which is thrilling for me simply for being done, even if nobody buys it or reads it or likes it), and it's so lovely to have these little signposts out in the world that say, I'm a writer!  Really, I am!  And this is what I've been doing!  A number of people who know me only through my day job have been sending kind notes or coming up to me to say they heard about my book in the newspaper and asking when they can buy a copy.  
  
And besides all of that wonderful advance notice of the book last week, as if it wasn't enough to put me over the moon, I also received a wonderful email from a writer whose opinion I value very much, who had some very kind things to say about the novel, including the sort of things that made me feel as though she understood exactly what I was trying to do.  It's the kind of email that makes me feel like even if nobody else likes it, I won't mind all that much.  This is the second such email I've received (almost nobody I know has read it!), and it means more to me that I can properly express here.

So it was a wonderful week for writing excitement, and I'm glad that it coincided with the finish line (I think!) of the process.   Now back to regularly scheduled programming.  (That is...more writing?) 

how long is your to-read pile?

I had an Amazon order arrive not so long ago, and I'm feeling just a wee bit guilty about the purchase considering all the books I have piled up, still unread, from the past two years or so. A lot I purchased new, some second-hand (but still in beautiful condition), and some were gifts. A number of them, I'm afraid, are by people I know --- but I will leave those off this list for the time being, since that shame is of another, greater kind, and in any case I intend to read those ones first, and very soon.

Here then is the list of books purchased with the intention of reading in the very near future, sitting still unread:

Sylvanus Now - Donna Morrisey
Kit's Law - Donna Morrisey
The Book of Beasts - Bernice Friesen
The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano
October - Richard Wright
The Culprits - Robert Hough
Mercy - Alissa York
Deafening - Frances Itani
The Line of Beauty - Alan Hollinghurst
Blindness - José Saramago
The White Bone - Barbara Gowdy
Where Has She Gone - Nino Ricci
The Girls - Lori Lansen
Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Then I have a few books I won from various Twitter giveaways on the 'net:

The Outlander - Gil Adamson
Fear of Fighting - Stacey May Fowles & Marlena Zuber
The Disappearance of Seetha - Andrea Gunraj
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz

My latest Amazon purchases, selected in a fit of Parisian longing after looking at too many "Summer Reading" booklists online:

Bonjour Tristesse - Francoise Sagan
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - Muriel Barbery

I should say that these are all relatively recent purchases. No sense in getting into the all-time list of unread books, as there simply isn't time.

Where to start??

by way of introduction

...I'll start with a book list or two.

Recently read:

Crabwise to the Hounds by Jeramy Dodds
City of the Mind by Penelope Lively
Open Arms by Marina Endicott

Currently reading:

Horse Latitudes by Paul Muldoon
Between Mountains by Maggie Helwig

Up next:

Not sure. I have a huge pile, full of Amazon orders, books of friends, and a bunch of things I picked up at the recent McGill Book Fair. I think it will probably be Cockroach by Rawi Hage (unfortunately, I don't already have this) because I feel out of the loop for not having read it yet.