Hey friends, as many are want to do at this time of year, I find myself taking a look back on the year that's just been. I'm buzzing with a few year-in-review posts but we'll see how many I actually knock out in the next few days. I may just roll them all into one big post so stay tuned!
One of my big goals for the year was to embrace a love of reading. I set an ambitious (for me) goal of reading 23 books in 2023. Well, I'll break it to you first: I fell short of my 23-book goal. That being said, I do feel I've rekindled a passion for reading. I'm leaning into that child-like part of me that is just endlessly curious about everything, and books are a great way to learn about the world around, or to imagine other worlds different from this one.
Certainly, I spent more time reading this year than I have in the past several years. I generally tried to end the night reading before bed, rather than mindlessly scrolling on my phone. I made special time for reading, intentionally breaking from watching silly movies or watching sports to crack open a book. I also fit reading into more parts of my life. I read on my breaks from work, I read in waiting rooms for doctor's appointments, I listened to audiobooks in the car.
So while I failed in meeting the number of books I wanted to read, I feel I've made great progress on the spirit in which I set the goal. How's that for a moral victory?
One final thought and that is I certainly didn't get to the breadth of books I hoped to read in a year. In trying to compose this list, I see the books I read are not all that new and not very groundbreaking.
I tried to set myself up for success by reading several short or familiar books to make it easier to hit my goal. I don't feel this is cheating — reading is reading, and reading more makes you want to read more. I would say I was able to read some substantially longer books this year because I was also throwing in easy reads here and there for fun.
I guess this is all to say, I hope to read books on a broader spectrum of topics, more diversity of authors and with more interesting things to share with others.
That's probably enough for now. Here's three books I really enjoyed reading this year:
1. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
We'll start off by jumping way out there. I had never read anything by Kristin Hannah so I had no idea what to expect. A long road trip with my mom to Canada, plus an ambitious reading goal, meant that we listened to this 17+ hour audiobook.
The Nightingale is a historical fiction novel, set in Nazi-occupied France. The book tells the story of two sisters, Vianne and Sophie, as they try to navigate life after the Battle of France in World War II. Vianne is the elder sister who wishes to be more cautious and protective of her family while Sophie, the rebellious younger sister, dreams of active resistance against the Nazi regime.
This novel was a perfect foray into a lengthier audiobook. It is vividly written, making it easy to imagine the scenes in your head. The story includes a number of rapturous cliffhangers that leave you burning to know what happens nexts.
What I think made this novel compelling is the way it presents the real complicated nature of resisting evil under Nazi rule. Though diametrically opposed in their viewpoints, Vianne and Sophie are both compelled to confront evil and make decisions at how best to overcome it. They also must make their own compromises and wade through the moral ambiguities those entail.
I appreciated how the novel highlights what it may have been like to live under the oppressive and monstrous Nazi rule, and the way it humanizes the different decisions ordinary people had to make to live through it.
2. Children of Dune by Frank Herbert
My year in books included reading the entire first trilogy of Frank Herbert's Dune series. I've done a fair bit of grumbling about the series, in short because it wasn't exactly what I expected. Still I think Herbert has created an incredibly imaginative sci-fi/fantasy world that was compelling enough that I kept reading to find out what happens in it.
Children of Dune is the third in the first trilogy of books (Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune). The Dune series is set on the planet of Arrakis, which despite its brutal environment, produces the malange spice that is the most valuable element in the universe. At different times, elite houses are charged as stewards over Dune, ensuring that the spice flows throughout the galactic empire, and with keeping the native Fremen in check.
The third installment follows the children of Paul Atreides, Leto and Ghanima, as they seek to secure the rule of Dune for the House Atreides.
I'm trying my best to not give too much away in the synopsis, so this probably makes very little sense if you are completely in the dark about Dune. But just know woven in between all of this are all kinds of space magic, messiah lore and, of course, all the palace intrigue you could ever want.
I'm putting this on my list because it was definitely my favorite of the first three. I think Children of Dune is where Herbert really got to open up the world he created and push the boundaries of it. It seems that this is where the author wanted to really lean into the lore, which I really appreciated.
I also think it was the best balance of lore, fantasy elements, action and ... the palace intrigue. It was the most well-rounded and, to me, most enjoyable of the first three books.
And if you're curious, my complaint with Dune, as concisely as possible, is that I was hoping for something like Lord of the Rings in space and I think it's really more like Game of Thrones in space. There is quite a lot of dialogue and quite a lot of palace intrigue about who is in charge, who's being slighted, who's going to marry who to secure power and who's plotting to overthrow who among all the elite, wealthy houses of the universe.
Again, still fascinating enough for me to keep reading and this volume was really just a fun read.
3. The Path to Power by Robert Caro
I started reading this on the recommendation of a friend and in preparation to my Austin. The Path to Power is the first in a lengthy biography series of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. This first installment tells of the early years of LBJ (well, really before LBJ was even born) all the way to his first race for the Senate.
Caro is an exhaustive (and sometimes exhausting) biography, who has turned over every single stone and every blade of Texas Hill Country grass to give a full picture of one of the nation's most complicated presidents. He is so thorough, in fact, that he takes his telling of Johnson's story all the way back to the founding of the state of Texas to tell the rise and fall of many a U.S. settler in the harsh Lone Star frontier. But Caro has done so to show just why Johnson may have been such a complicated figure.
Beyond being a thorough study on Johnson, The Path to Power gives the reader a rich history of the state of Texas and of U.S. politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One gets a real understanding of the context from which Johnson emerged and in which he sought to rise to power.
This book makes my list because Caro has simply elevated the biography to an art form. He is so detailed in his work but also so descriptive and captivating in his telling of it. It reads not as a restating of facts but almost as a retelling of folklore. It can be frustrating at times with the way he goes so in-depth to share with you the depth and breadth of some minor episode in Johnson's life, but ultimately he always brings you back to show just how and why it was so important to do so.
This is all to say, at over 900 pages this biography is not for the faint of heart. But in the end it was a really enjoyable and fascinating read.
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