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| Looking back (photo by my brother's wife) |
I
often make a list of all the books I read or listened to the unabridged version
during 2017 (read paper or electronic copies: 34, listened to: 8). This year I
decided to try to categorize them, which isn’t a perfect science. There are some books (such as Theroux, Kingdom of the Sea and Bunting, Love of Country) that I debated whether
they should be nonfiction of memoir. And
then there’s Engels, Woman on Verge of Paradise,
that probably goes in the memoir column, too, but it’s just too funny not to be
under humor. While I wrote a number of
reviews (17), I realize that I didn’t write one for my favorite book Herr’s Dispatches. I listened to the unabridged
audio version of Herr’s memories as a Vietnam War correspondent twice. I should also go back and write a review for
Herr’s book along with Engels’ ”Paradise.”
It’s pretty clear that within certain categories I enjoy books of certain subcategories
(historical fiction, nature and travel).
It is also easy to see that certain books (like memories and
biographies) are more likely to be reviewed by me. Books less likely to be reviewed include those
I listened to and poetry. There were a
few books that I have read before. As a
kid, I read Treasure Island and Robinson Crusoe (and attempted Kidnapped). I had read Staael’s New Patterns in the Sky fourteen years
ago, but reread it for April’s A-Z Challenge.
There were other books that I read significant portions of (such as
Martin Luther’s Commentary on Galatians)
but they didn’t make the list because I couldn’t say that I read them
cover-to-cover. Here’s my list:
Books read in
2017: 42 * indicates a review in
Sagecoveredhills
Fiction
Daniel
Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Robert
Lewis Stevenson, Treasure Island
*Robert
Harris, Pompeii
*Michael
Morris & Dick Pirozzolo, Escape from
Saigon
Robert
Lewis Stevenson, Kidnapped
*Frederick
Buechner, Son of Laughter
Paul
Young, The Shack
Alice
Hoffman, The Dovekeepers
Chad
Harbach, The Art of Fielding
Nonfiction
*David
I. Kertzer, The Pope and Mussolini: The
Secret history of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe
Dava
Sobel, Longitude
*S. C. Gwynne, Empire of the Summer Moon
Julius
D. W. Staal, The New Patterns in the Sky:
Myths and Legends of the Stars.
*Timothy
B. Tyson, The Blood of Emmett Till
*Rosalind
K. Marshall, Columba’s Iona: A New
History
*David
Whyte, The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the
Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America
Hall
and Padgett, editors, Calvin and Culture:
Exploring a World View
David
McCullough, The Wright Brothers
Diarmaid
MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History
Charles
Duhigg, The Power of Habit
Craig
Barnes, Body & Soul: Reclaiming the
Heidelberg Catechism
Valerie
P and Michael P. Cohen, Tree Lines
Madeleine
Bunting, Love of Country: A Journey
through the Hebrides
*Paul
Theroux, Kingdom by the Sea
Memoir and
Biographies
*Doris
Kearns Goodwin, Wait Till Next Year: A
Memoir
*Raymond
Baker, Campfires Along the Appalachian
Trail
*Jane
Dawson, John Knox
*Archibald
Rutledge, God’s Children
*John
Lane, Paddle to the Sea: Eleven Days on
the River of the Carolinas
*Archibald
Rutledge, Peace in the Heart
Michael
Herr, Dispatches
Poetry
Alexis
Orgera, how like foreign objects: poems
Nicola
Slee, Praying like a Woman
Rosie
Miles, Cuts
*Danielle
Lejeune, Landlocked: Etymology of
Whale-fish and Grace
Anya
Krugovoy Silver, Second Bloom
Carl
Sandburg, Honey and Salt
Humor
Tom
Bodett, The End of the Road
Robyn
Alana Engel, Woman on the Verge of
Paradise
Carl
Hiaasen, Razor Girl
It looks like you had a good reading year. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Happy new year !
ReplyDeleteLooks like a challenging list. Hope your 2018 is full of good adventures.
ReplyDeleteWow, you read a lot of books! Interesting that your year end post mimics mine, or vise versa ;) I was almost going to categorize the books I read, but was too lazy. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteI've read several of them, a few others by authors here, some of these are actually sitting in my TBR pile, and a few are on my wish list!
ReplyDeleteHere's to good reading in 2018!
Some of these are worth more than one read. As a child I thought Robinson Crusoe was about a shipwreck, but as an adult I realized it was really about man's relationship with God and what it means to live a spiritual life. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteThat's an impressive list! Wishing you all the best in the new year!
ReplyDeleteGot to recommend, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Would love to read your take on his conclusions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reading list. I'm always on the hunt for books others have read and enjoyed. Have you heard of the memoir, My Lovely Wife In The Psych Ward? It's a Silicon Valley Reads book choice this year, and it sounds excellent. Happy New Year and here's to making more memories to look back on.
ReplyDeleteYou have an impressive list of reading material. I read Doris Kearns Goodwin's Wait Till Next Year, too, and, of course, Robyn Alana Engel's Woman On The Verge of Paradise.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie Junebug
Great list, thanks for sharing. I’ve read a few and sone are on my TBR stack.
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled and flattered. Thank you kindly, Sage. (Janie's a good egg too.) You're so scholarly that I'm even more excited you enjoyed my book as much as you did. Not to nudge you, but yeah - a review would be great, especially because you're male. A fair number of men have read and enjoyed it, but most of my reviews are from women. I don't want it to appear a man bashing book.
ReplyDeleteHere's to countless good reads in the new year and beyond.
You're a gem.
Have a great 2018!
Interesting list of books!
ReplyDeleteHappy new year
That's a well-rounded list. The Dovekeepers is a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteYou've read a lot of books!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I've read about that many, too, but there's no way I kept track of them. Most were review requests.
Have a great 2018!
That's a lot of good reading. I admire that you include poetry, too. (Something I struggle with.)
ReplyDeleteWonderful that you accomplished so much reading. Have a wonderful new year and best wishes.
ReplyDeleteYou always share the best reviews for your books, and often I've looked some up. Right now I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of Fire and Fury! I know, many are, my library actually has 119 holds currently. Tomorrow I'm betting it's higher.
ReplyDeleteI like the photograph ...
ReplyDeleteThat's a very good list.
I wish you all the best for 2018.
All the best Jan
That's a respectable reading list, and across a range of topics/genres as well. Fantastic stuff. I need to up my reading game, that's for sure. Happy New Year to you!
ReplyDeleteYou read a nice variety :) hm, I don't think I have The Dovekeepers yet! I have quite a few of Hoffman's books though, read at least 3 so far. I love her writing. How was it?
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive list of reads, Sage! I am astounded at how well distributed your reading was across these categories. I totally understand how these might be able to be classified in many categories, but you did a wonderful job.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't write reviews for my favorite books of 2017. I think I found it challenging to put into words how I felt about a book I loved so much. Does that resonate with you at all?
Good luck with your reading in 2018!
Love seeing reading recap posts! But I try not to look too carefully, at least until I've waded a little deeper into my own To Be Read pile...
ReplyDelete