Welcome to Part 2 of my 2024 Reading Portal and the 30 works of non-fiction and poetry I devoured this year. May you find some books to add to your 2025 reading list.
Amy, I loved reading about the variety of books you read this year! I've only read a couple of the ones here and look forward to checking more of them out. I wrote about how Jeannine's book influenced me in one of my last posts, and I feel so grateful to have discovered the work of Abigail Thomas this year. I haven't read Still Life at Eighty, but read Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life and my favourite book of the year is What Comes Next and How to Like It. The way she made me feel everything she wrote, even if I've never experienced what she has, was remarkable. I'd like to study her work more to understand how she does that with such straightforward writing! Here's to another year of lots of great books to read!
Oh, and thanks for sharing the trailer for The Booksellers – definitely a film I'd like to watch.
Tracey, thanks for browsing my bookshelves and stopping to chat! I also want to read all of Abigail Thomas' work now that i have read Still Life at Eighty. She is a marvel. In one essay in Still Life at Eighty she writes that she dropped out of college and is self-taught. She can't really explain how she does what she does, but she does teach writing, so I am sure her incredible storytelling gifts get conveyed in her inimitable way. Enjoy The Booksellers!
I work at a library and LOVE to book talk and book recommend. One of my fave things to do. I am working on my own post about the 70 booksI read this year-though most were light romantic fiction, so not a lot of "meat" to them.
Thank you for reminding me of some of my favorite non-fiction works: Mark Nepo's Awakening has sat on my bedside table or desk for nearly 4 years now providing daily contemplations and inspiration; I somehow have two copies of Katherine May's Wintering (such a comfort, right?); Mary Oliver is a go to as well-not sure if I have Devotions-I return to "Why I Wake Early" regularly; and Julie Fontes' Like a Normal Person was my fave memoir I have read this year and one that feels near and dear to my sober woman heart.
Thank you also for sharing some new to me books -or reminders to me books-that I am adding to my TBR list: Jeannine Oullette's The Part That Burns, The Cost of Living (so much grief I am still processing) and Signs (I firmly believe my parents both communicate with me regularly. I often wonder what they are trying to tell me, though, so I am intrigued by this).
Best wishes to you, Amy, for a New Year filled with so much joy, travel, love and connection.
70 books is quite impressive! I am not surprised we share a love for Nepo & Oliver and May, and we both share a fondness for Julie’s work. Thanks for sharing that you see ‘signs’ too from your parents. Such a comfort. Thank you for reading. Working at a library sounds like a slice of heaven to me.
Amy, what a perfect list. Thank you so much for posting. The only book we have in common is Jeannine's. I too found it intense and beautifully crafted.
The nonfiction book I recommend from this year is Lara, by Anna Pasternak. I wrote about it at christinebeck.substack.com/p/the-russians-are-coming. Anna Pasternak, a niece of Boris Pasternak, the author of Dr. Zhivago, wanted to reveal Boris' unfair treatment of his long-time mistress, Olga Ivanskaya and show how Olga was the model for Lara in Dr.l Zhivago. It led me to both read Dr. Zhivago and watch the film. (and realize, abashed, how I turned a narrative about the Russian revolution into a love story!) When a book takes me into a rabbit hole, I know it's done its job!
Christine, thanks for coming to my little 2024 library! We share great admiration for Jeannine's memoir. You have me very intrigued by the book Lara and I will read your essay about it. I, too, have fallen under the prevailing myth of the Russian Revolution as a love story as immortalized in Dr. Zhivago and now I want the truth, too.
What a rich and delicious smorgasbord of non-fiction books you have presented for us, Amy. As my favorite genres are memoir, poetry and spiritual/philosophical books, this list really whets my appetite. I'm also delighted to find that both you and I read "The Book of Awakening," Mary Oliver's "Devotions" and "Meditations for Mortals" as our morning routine. There are a couple of books I also own and some will be added to my reading list for next year. I also appreciate your introduction of the documentary on booksellers in New York. I think I will watch it tomorrow to start my 2025!
I count myself as one of your ‘tribe’; that is, a reader of books. I have tended toward non-fiction in the last decade or two. My book discussion group has centered on fiction, but now are going to try non-fiction. I suggested two books, one of which I am still reading (I typically have around five going simultaneously so I can choose according to current nervous and other system processes), both of which have affected me deeply:
“Sand Talk”, by Tyson Yunkaporta, an Australian Aborigine; and “Braiding Sweetgrass”, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a descendant of the Iroquois People. Yes, both are about being indigenous, yet still embedded in ‘civilization’. What I have already gained is a clearer impression of what has been developing in me regarding ‘Nature’, ‘Earth’, and other animals. The reader is also reminded of what careless, and often purposeful horrors are visited upon an indigenous people and their culture by a physically superior (but not culturally ‘superior’) force. I consider these essential reading, but now I have a deadline to meet for the next book discussion: “Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie.
Ron, I am delighted to have you in my tribe! Thank you for stopping by to share your recommendations and I love what you write about choosing books according to current nervous and other system processes. So wise! I have heard of "Braiding Sweetgrass," it was recommended in another essay I read recently and "Sand Talk" also sounds wonderful, too. i want to do more reading about the experience of indigenous people. We so-called "civilized" people have so much to learn from them, especially their relationship to the Earth and to Nature and to animals, as you say. I'll be interested to hear what you think of "Midnight's Children" which I read long ago. I am currently listening to Rushdie read aloud his memoir "Knife" about the knife attack on him a few years ago. It's very compelling so far. I've been happy to discover this year that I can enjoy novels and non-fiction as audiobooks. I have been a long time coming to enjoying consuming books this way but now I find it rather delightful and satisfying, depending on the book and the narrator and the quality of the audio production. I just loved listening to "The Paris Novel" audiobook as I did the audio version of Katherine May's "Enchantment." It harkens back to what I imagine it was like to listening to stories on the radio. My imagination takes over when I only hear words rather than see them on the page, painting pictures in my mind.
We have the same taste for non-fiction. Many of these I’ve also read and enjoyed. Thanks for the compilation. There’s a few I want to dive into (although I will be making a more conscious effort to pick up more fiction in 2025).
One book that ripped me open and held me was The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief · by Francis Weller.
I felt pulled to explore grief this year (not entirely sure why but I let myself go there). This book blew me away -blew me wide open.
Allison, thank you for the comment and you can always hit me up for a fiction recommendation! Thanks for the Weller book recommendation. I attended Elena Brower's Reflection/Direction workshop yesterday (so good!) and she said that the whole month of January she's invited guest writers to explore the theme of grief on her Substack,so look out for that. Grief came for me this year, as you know, and so I needed to explore, and there is much still unresolved, sitting in my body, after my mother's death. It seems The Wild Edge of Sorrow might help. Thanks for letting me know about it.
Ah! I’ll be tuning in to Elena’s page. Grief work feels necessary these days. I’m sure the Reflection/Direction workshop was terrific. Elena is a treasure.
Amy, I loved reading about the variety of books you read this year! I've only read a couple of the ones here and look forward to checking more of them out. I wrote about how Jeannine's book influenced me in one of my last posts, and I feel so grateful to have discovered the work of Abigail Thomas this year. I haven't read Still Life at Eighty, but read Safekeeping: Some True Stories from a Life and my favourite book of the year is What Comes Next and How to Like It. The way she made me feel everything she wrote, even if I've never experienced what she has, was remarkable. I'd like to study her work more to understand how she does that with such straightforward writing! Here's to another year of lots of great books to read!
Oh, and thanks for sharing the trailer for The Booksellers – definitely a film I'd like to watch.
Tracey, thanks for browsing my bookshelves and stopping to chat! I also want to read all of Abigail Thomas' work now that i have read Still Life at Eighty. She is a marvel. In one essay in Still Life at Eighty she writes that she dropped out of college and is self-taught. She can't really explain how she does what she does, but she does teach writing, so I am sure her incredible storytelling gifts get conveyed in her inimitable way. Enjoy The Booksellers!
I work at a library and LOVE to book talk and book recommend. One of my fave things to do. I am working on my own post about the 70 booksI read this year-though most were light romantic fiction, so not a lot of "meat" to them.
Thank you for reminding me of some of my favorite non-fiction works: Mark Nepo's Awakening has sat on my bedside table or desk for nearly 4 years now providing daily contemplations and inspiration; I somehow have two copies of Katherine May's Wintering (such a comfort, right?); Mary Oliver is a go to as well-not sure if I have Devotions-I return to "Why I Wake Early" regularly; and Julie Fontes' Like a Normal Person was my fave memoir I have read this year and one that feels near and dear to my sober woman heart.
Thank you also for sharing some new to me books -or reminders to me books-that I am adding to my TBR list: Jeannine Oullette's The Part That Burns, The Cost of Living (so much grief I am still processing) and Signs (I firmly believe my parents both communicate with me regularly. I often wonder what they are trying to tell me, though, so I am intrigued by this).
Best wishes to you, Amy, for a New Year filled with so much joy, travel, love and connection.
70 books is quite impressive! I am not surprised we share a love for Nepo & Oliver and May, and we both share a fondness for Julie’s work. Thanks for sharing that you see ‘signs’ too from your parents. Such a comfort. Thank you for reading. Working at a library sounds like a slice of heaven to me.
Amy, what a perfect list. Thank you so much for posting. The only book we have in common is Jeannine's. I too found it intense and beautifully crafted.
The nonfiction book I recommend from this year is Lara, by Anna Pasternak. I wrote about it at christinebeck.substack.com/p/the-russians-are-coming. Anna Pasternak, a niece of Boris Pasternak, the author of Dr. Zhivago, wanted to reveal Boris' unfair treatment of his long-time mistress, Olga Ivanskaya and show how Olga was the model for Lara in Dr.l Zhivago. It led me to both read Dr. Zhivago and watch the film. (and realize, abashed, how I turned a narrative about the Russian revolution into a love story!) When a book takes me into a rabbit hole, I know it's done its job!
Christine, thanks for coming to my little 2024 library! We share great admiration for Jeannine's memoir. You have me very intrigued by the book Lara and I will read your essay about it. I, too, have fallen under the prevailing myth of the Russian Revolution as a love story as immortalized in Dr. Zhivago and now I want the truth, too.
What a rich and delicious smorgasbord of non-fiction books you have presented for us, Amy. As my favorite genres are memoir, poetry and spiritual/philosophical books, this list really whets my appetite. I'm also delighted to find that both you and I read "The Book of Awakening," Mary Oliver's "Devotions" and "Meditations for Mortals" as our morning routine. There are a couple of books I also own and some will be added to my reading list for next year. I also appreciate your introduction of the documentary on booksellers in New York. I think I will watch it tomorrow to start my 2025!
So glad you enjoyed this Louisa! You will love the movie & here’s to cherished morning routines!
Cheers, Amy! Happy New Year!
I count myself as one of your ‘tribe’; that is, a reader of books. I have tended toward non-fiction in the last decade or two. My book discussion group has centered on fiction, but now are going to try non-fiction. I suggested two books, one of which I am still reading (I typically have around five going simultaneously so I can choose according to current nervous and other system processes), both of which have affected me deeply:
“Sand Talk”, by Tyson Yunkaporta, an Australian Aborigine; and “Braiding Sweetgrass”, by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a descendant of the Iroquois People. Yes, both are about being indigenous, yet still embedded in ‘civilization’. What I have already gained is a clearer impression of what has been developing in me regarding ‘Nature’, ‘Earth’, and other animals. The reader is also reminded of what careless, and often purposeful horrors are visited upon an indigenous people and their culture by a physically superior (but not culturally ‘superior’) force. I consider these essential reading, but now I have a deadline to meet for the next book discussion: “Midnight’s Children” by Salman Rushdie.
Ron, I am delighted to have you in my tribe! Thank you for stopping by to share your recommendations and I love what you write about choosing books according to current nervous and other system processes. So wise! I have heard of "Braiding Sweetgrass," it was recommended in another essay I read recently and "Sand Talk" also sounds wonderful, too. i want to do more reading about the experience of indigenous people. We so-called "civilized" people have so much to learn from them, especially their relationship to the Earth and to Nature and to animals, as you say. I'll be interested to hear what you think of "Midnight's Children" which I read long ago. I am currently listening to Rushdie read aloud his memoir "Knife" about the knife attack on him a few years ago. It's very compelling so far. I've been happy to discover this year that I can enjoy novels and non-fiction as audiobooks. I have been a long time coming to enjoying consuming books this way but now I find it rather delightful and satisfying, depending on the book and the narrator and the quality of the audio production. I just loved listening to "The Paris Novel" audiobook as I did the audio version of Katherine May's "Enchantment." It harkens back to what I imagine it was like to listening to stories on the radio. My imagination takes over when I only hear words rather than see them on the page, painting pictures in my mind.
We have the same taste for non-fiction. Many of these I’ve also read and enjoyed. Thanks for the compilation. There’s a few I want to dive into (although I will be making a more conscious effort to pick up more fiction in 2025).
One book that ripped me open and held me was The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief · by Francis Weller.
I felt pulled to explore grief this year (not entirely sure why but I let myself go there). This book blew me away -blew me wide open.
Allison, thank you for the comment and you can always hit me up for a fiction recommendation! Thanks for the Weller book recommendation. I attended Elena Brower's Reflection/Direction workshop yesterday (so good!) and she said that the whole month of January she's invited guest writers to explore the theme of grief on her Substack,so look out for that. Grief came for me this year, as you know, and so I needed to explore, and there is much still unresolved, sitting in my body, after my mother's death. It seems The Wild Edge of Sorrow might help. Thanks for letting me know about it.
Ah! I’ll be tuning in to Elena’s page. Grief work feels necessary these days. I’m sure the Reflection/Direction workshop was terrific. Elena is a treasure.
I may hit you up for some fiction recs!