It seems like ages ago, but Merry Christmas just the same. I hope it was a cheerful one.
The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is utterly my absolute all-time favorite bit of the year. The problem is, though, that I'm always a little blue after the holidays have gone by, like post-party-tum depression. This year I'm trying to fight it with a long-awaited trip to Philadelphia for my best pal's birthday, and Harry Potter.
I already read the final HP book during the week of Christmas, but now I think I'll jump back to book number three. I've always said it's my favorite, but it was sort of eclipsed by the hubbub of the last two books.
For someone who reads as much as I do, I have a terrible time talking about books I've recently read. Mostly because I instantly forget what book I've just finished the instant I start a new one. After plumbing the depths of my memory, here are some books I read and liked in 2010:
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery - I read this while housesitting over the summer. After a week alone in a sprawling house that's normally full of kids and dogs, TEotH and the characters who tell its story were my biggest comfort. They kept me company even after I stopped reading.
Man Walks into a Room by Nicole Krauss - I'm really fascinated by writers' "debut novels." I think they're more adventurous than second or third novels, & I'm also curious about how a writer gains her footing as a novelist. MWiaR has a lot of the same elements as Krauss' more famous The History of Love, but it's about one-fifth the size. That's a whole lot of wit and heart to pack into a slim couple-hundred pages.
Close Range: Wyoming Stories by Annie Proulx - A.P. has a prime spot on my Favorite Writers list & I have yet to read a book by her that I was like, "Meh, seen it before," about. Her stories made me want to eat a steak & take a shower at the same time. Which is high praise in my book.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert - I read this very shamefully on the subway, holding the book in my lap so that no one would see that I was reading the Millennium Women's Bible of Freedom & Feel-Goodness three or four years behind the curve. Also, I was borrowing my friends copy, which I'm pretty sure she dropped in the tub & which looked as if I'd read it nineteen times before. Despite all my angst, though, I really, wholeheartedly enjoyed it. E.G. can write--she is funny, indulgent, spare when she needs to be, & honest through-&-through. It was hard to feel sorry for her as she set out on her book-advance-funded journey, but by the end I was behind her one hundred percent. Lesson learned: don't knock it till you try it.
I began 2011 reading The Instructions, The Happiness Project, and Memory Wall. As you can see, I'm trying to get in every last bit of free-reading before the semester starts & I find myself reading the Modernists & crying myself to sleep at night.
What have you been reading?
Photo source: julia.
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