Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

 

 

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year. As I looked over the last six months of reading I found a really diverse list of favorites. There are classics, graphic novels, a collection of essays, a re-telling of Hamlet, Victorian dragons, a novel set in Vietnam and some nonfiction.

 

1) The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham

2) Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

3) At Home by Bill Bryson

4) The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty

5) This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

6) Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton

7) William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher

8) The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

9) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

10) Graphic Novel Tie: Blankets by Craig Thompson and Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

 

**Barchester Towers gets an honorable mention because it’s my favorite so far in the Chronicles of Barsetshire readalong.



This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage

by Ann Patchett

★★★★★

 

This collection of essays from one of my favorite authors covers a wide variety of topics, everything from working at TGIFridays to dogs. The way Patchett writes makes any topic interesting. She is truthful and blunt at times, even when discussing sensitive subjects like grief, censorship, and divorce, but it’s this honesty that makes it easy for a reader to feel connected. Her passion for different things come through in her writing and you find yourself getting sucked into stories about seeing MET opera productions in her local theatre, taking a book tour or staying in a hotel and doing nothing.

 

Most of these articles were published in various magazines (Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, etc.) over the years, but all of them were new to me. She also included a few new pieces to round out the book. She spent years making ends meet with her freelance work for magazine and that experience is evident in the structure of the essays. They flow smoothly, each one a self-contained piece that stands on its own, but also adds to the neat arch through her life that the book traces.

 

One of my favorites was a piece on her bookstore Parnassus in Nashville. I had the opportunity to visit it last year and I loved hearing more about the history of its creation. I also loved her pieces about her dog Rose. As a dog lover it’s easy to immediately relate to those.

 

BOTTOM LINE: Each essay offered the reader another glimpse into the writer’s world. I don’t know if I would have loved it so much if I wasn’t already a huge fan, but I am, so this was a treat all the way through.

 

“Sometimes love does not have the most honorable beginnings, and the endings, the endings will break you in half. It’s everything in between we live for."

 

“I think the best vacation is the one that relieves me of my own life for a while and then makes me long for it again."

Top Ten Books on My Spring 2014 TBR List

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish asks for the Top Ten Books on My Spring 2014 TBR List. I’ve got an interesting collection of books that I need to read for my book club, challenges, trip planning and a few just because books.

 

1) The Warden and Barchester Towers for my Chronicles of Barsetshire Read-Along

2) The Lotus Eaters by Tatjana Soli

3) Positively Fifth Street by James McManus

4) Twenty Years by Alexandre Dumas

5) The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

6) Blankets by Craig Thompson

7) The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

8) This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

9) Dune by Frank Herbert

10) New Zealand and Australia travel guides!

 

Have you read any of these? Which one should I start with?