Year Six of Reading

It's that time again -- my birthday (which I would just as soon forget) and the completion of another year of blogging about books. When choosing my favorites of the year, I always think about whether or not I want to keep a book to read again. Some books which I really enjoyed when I read them do not pass this test, particularly those that are primarily plot driven. Once you know the end, the thrill is gone, so to speak.

I read 99 books in this year of my life, most of them being older books because I can buy those used at a fraction of the original cost. I do receive gift cards at Christmas, and then I buy current novels, trying to pick the best of the best by reading reviews and blogs on the internet. I have included the publication dates here so that you can see which books are current and which are from way-back-when.

My favorites of the year are.....

*Serena by Ron Rash In the mountains of North Carolina, a power couple with a distinct resemblance to Shakespeare's Macbeth and his ambitious wife become ruthless timber barons, letting nobody stand in the way. The book also has a powerful environmental message. This Southern writer always delivers. (Published in 2008. Reviewed by me in July, 2015.)

*The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy This is actually a trilogy of novels: The Man of Property, To Let, and In Chancery. They tell the story of an unhappy marriage in an upper middle class English family in the early 20th Century, which results in a feud extending through generations. This sounds like a soap opera, bur it so much more. Galsworthy is a wonder of a writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. (Published in 1906-1921. Reviewed by me in August and September, 2015.)

*Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey Carey tells the page-turner story of two unconventional people who come together through their mutual addiction to gambling. The book also provides a fascinating look at the people and places of 19th Century Australia. This won the Booker Prize, England's premier literary award. (Published in 2008. Reviewed by me in October, 2015.)

*The Wake of Forgiveness by Bruce Machart I don't believe this book is very well known, but it is one of the best I read this year. It tells the story of a family feud, set in South Central Texas in the early part of the 20th Century. The writing is wonderful, particularly in portraying a sense of place. This one blew me away. (Published in 2010. Reviewed by me in October, 2015.)

*Atticus by Ron Hansen A modern day prodigal son tale, with a bit of a mystery thrown in. A somewhat unusual story in this day and age because it's about basically decent ordinary people making mistakes but trying to do what's right. (Published in 1996. Reviewed by me in October, 2015.)

*My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrente This story of two young girls in Naples, Italy, in the 1950s realistically portrays the complex mixture of affection and jealousy present in female friendships. This is the first in the acclaimed 4-part Neapolitan series which follows the two to old age. I have not yet read the others. Women will understand this better than men will. (Published in 2012. Reviewed by me in January, 2016.)

*Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf As women will best understand My Brilliant Friend, so older folks will best understand this book. It is a beautiful love story about two small town septuagenarians who decide to sleep together for closeness and companionship, believing they have passed the point of caring what other people may think. This is my favorite of the 2015 novels I read. (Published in 2015. Reviewed by me in January, 2016.)

*Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie A fascinating story on two levels -- family and romantic conflicts that could occur any time, any place, combined with a look at the privations resulting from a country involved in warfare. The setting is Nigeria during the time of civil war when a part of the country wanted to split to form Biafra. Extremely well done. (Published in 2006. Reviewed by me in February, 2016.)

*Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh An unsettling yet fascinating look into a disturbed mind. This one is mainly plot driven, but it is so well done that I will read it again just to examine and enjoy the craftsmanship. It won the Pen/Faulkner Award this year. (Published in 2015. Reviewed by me in February, 2016.)

*Rites of Passage by William Golding I can't believe that I had never read this before. The author's name should be familiar to everyone, because his Lord of the Flies is almost universally assigned reading in schools. Here Golding tells the story of a 19th Century sea voyage that is more subtle than Lord of the Flies but in many ways even more chilling. This won England's Booker Prize in 1980 and Golding received the Nobel Prize for Literature three years later. (Published in 1980. Reviewed by me in March, 2016)

*The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra This is the most well done of the 2015 books I read, though not my favorite (see above). The interconnected short stories take place in Siberia, St. Petersburg, and Chechnya and chronicle the characters' responses to hardship and deprivation. Very cleverly written. (Published in 2015. Reviewed by me in March, 2016.)

*A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra A novel by the same author as above, centered on characters affected by the two wars between Russia and Cechnya. It is optimistic in tone, despite the horrors depicted, because of its portrayal of the resilience of the human spirit in the face of chaos. A really great book. (Published in 2013. Reviewed in April, 2016.)

I didn't read any books this year which I absolutely hated, but several that I would not recommend. A few that I really enjoyed turned out to be immediately forgettable. For example, The Sellout by Paul Beatty won the National Book Critics Circle Award and I really thought it would win the Pulitzer, but now I realize I would never want to read it again. It was clever and extremely humorous, but who wants a repeat of a comedy routine?

That's all, folks.