I’m like 80% through and this is a HARD book... amazing writing and such a voice. But it is a gut punch and I can’t read it every day because it’s so, so sad and upsetting. It’s a great book but I don’t think I’d recommend it to everyone.
Johnnie! I just stayed up way too late last night finishing the book... and the last 70 pages redeemed the first 480. I now understand why all the people who recommended it feel so positively about the book. The end is more reflective (so not as plot driven, you’re not waiting for other shoe to drop quite so much) and certainly is more optimistic. I’m glad I finished... It really made the awful middle with Dori worth it. As a principle, I strongly believe you should stop reading a book when you don’t feel like reading more. But in this case I’m glad I made it to the end- for those last 70ish pages. Still wouldn’t recommend the book unreservedly, but if you made it 3/4 you might want to consider persevering.
I'm pretty tempted to say Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I'd never read it before and always had it in the back of my mind. Few books this year have come to mind as often as that one. Runners up for fiction would be Lonesome Dove and The Secret History, and for non-fiction, The Righteous Mind and A Web of Our Own Making.
My primary counsel is that it's a book that benefits from intentionally slow reading. Trying to read it quickly will do you no favors. I also think reading as much of it outdoors & in a natural setting as you can might help.
It may be, though, that you just don't connect with it, and if that's the case, that's OK too.
Lonesome Dove and The Thorn Birds top my list, so I think I’ve officially become my parents. I remember both tomes on their nightstands in the ‘80s! Also loved The Covenant of Water.
I’ve read the Thorn Birds a bunch of times after finding it on a bookshelf of the home where I was babysitting back in the 80s. Historical fiction has been my favorite genre ever since.
You are going to enjoy it a lot, it is so well written and its structure is so original that I had to write a review for a publication and I didn't know how to approach it. I finally made it but it took me longer than usual.
Saw this was last month’s pick for Natalie Portman’s book club, should probably add it to my TBR! I really enjoyed this month’s novella pick, Claire Keegan’s FOSTER
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Nonfic, read by the author, wonderful marriage of science (she's a botanist) and Native American history and lore. Absolutely breathtaking.
The audiobook is the way to go. Her narration is a large bonus. I loved it so much I went and found Gathering Moss in audio as well. (The previous title.) Amazing. A bit heartbreaking, but any book about the environment and indigenous people is bound to be that. It's also hopeful. Might be my favorite book of all time.
Demon Copperhead
Multiple picks for that one. High on my list!
moving it up my 2024 TBR! I also just recently snagged an OOP first edition of The Poisonwood Bible!
Reading it right now and loving it!
I’m like 80% through and this is a HARD book... amazing writing and such a voice. But it is a gut punch and I can’t read it every day because it’s so, so sad and upsetting. It’s a great book but I don’t think I’d recommend it to everyone.
Totally agree, in fact just this morning I was reading and thinking this is a depressing way to start the day.
Ha! Agreed! I’ve been reading other books at breakfast but do read it at lunch. But not everyday. :)
AGREED! Although I was 3/4 finished I gave up because it just kept going downhill. Returned.
Johnnie! I just stayed up way too late last night finishing the book... and the last 70 pages redeemed the first 480. I now understand why all the people who recommended it feel so positively about the book. The end is more reflective (so not as plot driven, you’re not waiting for other shoe to drop quite so much) and certainly is more optimistic. I’m glad I finished... It really made the awful middle with Dori worth it. As a principle, I strongly believe you should stop reading a book when you don’t feel like reading more. But in this case I’m glad I made it to the end- for those last 70ish pages. Still wouldn’t recommend the book unreservedly, but if you made it 3/4 you might want to consider persevering.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Just finished the audio a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it!
this one is on my list too, Meryl Streep as the narrator - I’m expecting it to be amazing!
Lonesome Dove was great!
Definitely Lonesome Dove - a good lesson for me to give books a try even if it’s a different genre than I ordinarily would read!
Me too! Had never read a western now I’m teaching myself to lasso! 😂
I hear that! Good lesson for everybody.
So glad you enjoyed that one! Impossible to forget.
I liked it so much I read the next book STREETS OF LAREDO as well…but I missed Gus!
Gotta read the first two then! Dead Man's Walk and Comanche Moon are both great, too.
I have them! But I’m in this crazy book club with this guy and he keeps giving other books to read! 🙃
🤣
I'm pretty tempted to say Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. I'd never read it before and always had it in the back of my mind. Few books this year have come to mind as often as that one. Runners up for fiction would be Lonesome Dove and The Secret History, and for non-fiction, The Righteous Mind and A Web of Our Own Making.
The Secret History is one of my all-time favorites.
A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of my ALLTIME FAVES. Could pick it up and read any page.
I had a hard time connecting with it. Any advice?
My primary counsel is that it's a book that benefits from intentionally slow reading. Trying to read it quickly will do you no favors. I also think reading as much of it outdoors & in a natural setting as you can might help.
It may be, though, that you just don't connect with it, and if that's the case, that's OK too.
Great picks. Glad you enjoyed Lonesome Dove and Secret History!
I just grabbed a single volume edition of three Dillard words, including Pilgrim. Excited to get to it early in '24.
It was not quite what I expected, which I think is why it's stuck with me so much. It's as much about creation's brutality as its beauty.
Lonesome Dove and The Thorn Birds top my list, so I think I’ve officially become my parents. I remember both tomes on their nightstands in the ‘80s! Also loved The Covenant of Water.
I've not read Thorn Birds, but it's higher on my list now!
I’ve read the Thorn Birds a bunch of times after finding it on a bookshelf of the home where I was babysitting back in the 80s. Historical fiction has been my favorite genre ever since.
The Thorn Birds, The Poison wood Bible and Gone Girl are my Top Three Favorites.
Early list:
Pappyland
Master of the Senate
Common Sense
The New Map
Paris to the Moon
Splendid and the Vile
Napoleon: A Life
Great list! Only a couple in there I haven't read.
The Art Thief
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow
Cuba (Ferrer)
Art Thief is high on my list! I really enjoyed his "Stranger In the Woods."
Tomorrow Tomorrow Tomorrow is incredibly memorable — it has stuck with me from last year.
I agree Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow would have been my answer if I saw this post last year!
The Best Minds, by Jonathan Rosen.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/318309/the-best-minds-by-jonathan-rosen/
I've heard *great* things from a number of people about this one. Putting a library hold on it now!
It works as memoir, biography, history, and polemic against current mental health care treatment philosophies. It's painful and powerful.
Trust, Hernán Díaz
This was actually my first finished book of 2023 and it's on my "Best of the Year" list. :) Incredible, utterly unique book.
This one is in my queue. Looking forward to it
You are going to enjoy it a lot, it is so well written and its structure is so original that I had to write a review for a publication and I didn't know how to approach it. I finally made it but it took me longer than usual.
Such a special book.
Saw this was last month’s pick for Natalie Portman’s book club, should probably add it to my TBR! I really enjoyed this month’s novella pick, Claire Keegan’s FOSTER
Wonderful book both content and structure!
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Nonfic, read by the author, wonderful marriage of science (she's a botanist) and Native American history and lore. Absolutely breathtaking.
I've heard some great things.. maybe I'll tackle the audio next year.
The audiobook is the way to go. Her narration is a large bonus. I loved it so much I went and found Gathering Moss in audio as well. (The previous title.) Amazing. A bit heartbreaking, but any book about the environment and indigenous people is bound to be that. It's also hopeful. Might be my favorite book of all time.
Wow, high praise! I'll definitely check it out.
The Covenant Of Water- Abrams Verghese
The Sweetness Of Water- Nathan Harris
The House Of Doors- Tan Twan Eng
Open Water- Caleb Azunah
Cry The Beloved Country- Alan Paton.
Impossible to name 0nly one Jeremy 😁
We definitely agree on Covenant of Water! Haven't read any of the others.
100 years of solitude and cloud atlas!
I haven't read either of those, but they're actually both on my list for next year.
Yes please do and tell us all about it!
100 years of solitude - soo good, magical realism at its finest!
absolutely blew my mind!
Resurrection - Tolstoy
Lonesome Dove
The Count of Monte Cristo
An Apprenticeship or the book of pleasures - Lispector
The book of laughter and forgetting - Kundera
We - Zamyatin
If on the winter’s night a traveler - Calvino
East of Eden (still reading)
Great list. Books that have stood the test of time!
I just added We to my TBR this year, hoping I can get to it in 2024! The Count of Monte Cristo and East of Eden are on my all-time top list
Demon Copperhead and The Wager!
Enjoyed The Wager (even though it didn't make my Best Of)! Demon is *high* on my list for next year.
I loved the Wager on audio!
Excellent on audio! I also read parts of it, similarly fantastic. I’m getting it for two people for Christmas!
Lonesome Dove. Hands down. East of Eden would give a run for its money but it’s a reread so have to give it to Lonesome Dove.
I guess I should add.. new books: really enjoyed Maame by Jessica George and Sea of Tranquility
I also really enjoyed Sea of Tranquility. I've heard good things about Maame and I know my wife liked it. Solid picks.
Finally knocked off a few books I’ve long wanted to read, and they paid off! My three favorites were absolutely:
Three Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
It - Stephen King
Classics, all of 'em. Great picks.