Dear Readers, 

As you may have noticed, I have not written to you all for most of the year. Unfortunately, at the start of this year I was faced with a major operation which upended pretty much all of my plans including writing this blog. Fortunately, I have come through the other side and spent plenty of time resting and reading as I recovered. I cannot possibly take you through everything I read partially because I relied heavily on romance and mysteries with their comforting simplicity and formulaic structures and partially because I read so much. However, there were definitely some highlights, so, in no particular order:

I may have read plenty of mysteries but some definitely stood out above the rest, starting with Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. When my book club chose it we all ended up falling down the internet research hole to find out the true story and the reality is Atwood took the known pieces of the case and created an excellent narrative that both satisfies and yet leaves the question open: did Grace actually murder anyone? It’s a thoughtful story about the life of a young girl trying to figure out how to survive, set alongside a narrative about the nineteenth criminal justice system and the birth of criminal psychology. Atwood navigates all of those themes with some excellent writing and a clear trust in her readers to follow her along every twist and turn. This is a great read where you’ll just be left with your gut instinct on the truth. 

The Decagon House Murders by Yukito Ayatsuji was a great Japanese mystery inspired by Agatha Christie. What happens when a group of college students go to an island where a famous murder happened and start dying themselves? You’ll have to read to find out. 

Murder by Degrees: A Mystery by Ritu Mukerji is a great historical fiction murder mystery. Our main character is a pioneering female doctor in Philadelphia trying to find out what happened to a missing young patient.. Although it does follow the formula of an outsider expert trying to nose in to help solve a case with the police, the characters and the Philadelphia setting gave it a new, enjoyable twist. 

The Faithful Place by Tana French was another top-notch mystery by one of my favorite writers. Frank Mackey is the definition of a difficult-but-good detective but when French drags him back to his childhood street and the heartbreak of his life it doesn’t take long to see how he got that way. This was the first French novel where I guessed the ending early but was desperate to be wrong which made for a different, heart-wrenching page turner. 

Alongside those great whodunnits, I also read some good fiction and non-fiction:

The Women by Kristin Hannah. I was nervous about this one. I know she’s a very popular writer and the hold list at the local library on this was very long, but I’ve never actually read her work before. This subject in particular is very close to my heart, as the root of my master’s dissertation was the experience of frontline nurses and medical staff in Korea and Vietnam. If this book was good, it was going to be wonderful to see their stories hit the bestseller list. If this book was bad or poorly researched, it was going to hurt. Thankfully Hannah took her subject very seriously, in fact in the afterword of the novel she explains she has wanted to write the book for years, but knew she needed more time to do it well. I finished it in two days, I cried plenty, and I hope everyone reads it. My only critique is that the first half of the novel, the portion with our main character in Vietnam, is better than the second half when she is home. But overall, it is a very good introduction to yet another group of women history not only overlooks, but actively tries to erase. 

The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey is a short novel about a young girl named Lizzie’s journey to adulthood, moving between her childhood in rural Scotland to her young adulthood in Glasgow. There’s the hint of the supernatural in her ability to envision the future, but also the heartbreak of her learning she cannot always change it. Livesey’s storytelling is pitch perfect for a book full of friendship, family love and disputes, hardship, and trying to find a place in the world. A top-notch Sunday afternoon read. 

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley is a really beautiful book about how to get yourself through the hard times in life. After his brother’s death Bringley gives up his office job and becomes a security guard at the Met. There, he meets the diverse cast of characters who have also ended up patrolling the halls of the massive museum and spends his day watching the public and absorbing the art around him. It was a very helpful read during my own difficult recovery and has inspired several impromptu trips to my own local art museums just to look around and breathe a little easier. 

Just before my surgery I was able to escape for a week in Iceland and look at a landscape of volcanoes and ice and stars and colorful lights in the sky and reconsider my place in the universe. While I was there I picked up Island on Fire: The extraordinary story of Laki, the volcano that turned eighteenth-century Europe dark by Alexandra Witze and Jeff Kanipe. The book actually covers a whole lot more than just Laki and is a great overview of the role volcanoes have played in human history (spoiler alert: it’s much larger than you think!) 

Finally, probably the best, most difficult read of the last few months is also one that was severely overdue. The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen is just as good as every major review and award says it is. By having a main character who is a secret double agent, our narrator goes on a multi-faceted journey full of contradictions, from prison camps to refugee communities to Hollywood sets. It’s an excellent reminder of our cultural tendency to over-simplify every conflict and erase the suffering of those that would complicate the narrative. 

I also took advantage of the great number of audiobooks available from my local library and my two favorites were:

Madame Restell by Jennifer Wright, is an engaging biography of an abortionist in Gilded Age New York. Wright takes us through her life and professional empire from her start as an immigrant and her time as a maid up through her days as one of the wealthiest women in New York.  Wright takes us through the ups and downs, her coverage of birth control and abortion for women of all economic backgrounds, her legal trials, her battle with Anthony Comstock, and the male doctors who wanted to replace her. It’s a great reminder of how many impactful and influential women are successfully written out of historical memory and how we can always write them back in.

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier is an excellent novel to read aloud. The perspective of young Phillip as he navigates the mysterious death of his guardian and uncle Ambrose is a maze of conflicting emotions and foolish choices and actor Jonathan Pryce’s reading was a great way to be pulled into Phillip’s mind. I may not have been on the Cornish coast like de Maurier’s characters, but I went for plenty of long walks with the novel playing in my ears. 

So those are the highlights of my year so far! I’ve stayed busy amongst my books even as I slowed down almost every other aspect of my life. I’m very grateful to be on the mend and to the fact I was able to spend plenty of time healing with a book in my hand, on my bedside table, under my pillow, or resting on my chest as I fell asleep. I have a few more highlights to share soon (audiobooks and television shows!) and then we will resume our normal programming. I hope everyone else is happy, healthy, and reading.