Our books reflect who we are and who we have been . . .
Alberto Manguel
The Library at Night
The books that I loved most last year (listed in the order in which I read them) fell into one or more of the following categories:
A. They were peopled with characters ranging from mildly quirky to wildly eccentric.
B. They generated in me a mix of admiration and pure envy at the author's ability to turn a phrase.
She concentrated her separate thoughts darkly, because if anyone was expecting her to become the wind beneath their wings, they could jolly well look ahead to a fiery crash, no survivors.
Nancy Clark
The Hills at Home
C. They made me snort with laughter.
D. (Mildly embarrassing) They were non-fiction "dog books."
- Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)
- The Uncommon Reader (Alan Bennett)
- One Good Turn (Kate Atkinson)
- The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Michael Chabon)
- Good Dog. Stay (Anna Quindlen)
- The Used World (Haven Kimmel)
- Grace (Eventually) (Anne Lamott)
- Forward From Here (Reeve Lindbergh)
- Wit's End (Karen Joy Fowler)
- The Monsters of Templeton (Lauren Groff)
- Dog Years (Mark Doty)
- The Library at Night (Alberto Manguel)
- July and August (Nancy Clark)
- The Hills at Home (Nancy Clark)
- Woof! Writers on Dogs (ed. Lee Montgomery)
As it was, they would often come upon her in odd unfrequented corners of her various dwellings, spectacles on the end of her nose, notebook and pencil beside her. [The Queen] would glance up briefly and raise a vague, acknowledging hand. 'Well, I'm glad somebody's happy,' said the duke as he shuffled off down the corridor. And it was true; she was. She enjoyed reading like nothing else . . .
Alan Bennett
The Uncommon Reader
3 comments:
Thank you for sharing your book list. I loved The Uncommon Reader. I heard the first few pages read by Alan Bennett on BBC4 and later downloaded the book via iTunes. A real treat.
I am going to get Manguel's the library at Night. I know (via her husband blog and a long ago connection through an aunt) his French translator but have never read him. She's also Paul Auster's translator and I haven't read much of him either. Since I might see her this summer, I figure this would be a good time to start reading both authors!
I hope your are mending fast and well and that the Percocet is doing its job.
I have copied your list and will carry it around with my other lists when I make the bookshop rounds. Did I tell you that my Christmas present was a Nijinski gift certificate? A first for them!
Have you read A Girl Named Zippy? It was my introduction to Haven Kimmel and made me laugh out loud.
We found out quite by accident that she is the daughter-in-law of an old friend of my husband when he visited us in Brussels. They hadn't seen each other in ages. Small world!
My 2008 list would include The Life&Times of the Thunderbolt Kid- Bill Bryson, The Elegance of the Hedgehog-Muriel Barbery, and Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen.
Hattie
All those are fabulous books... Thanks for sharing!!
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