Well, apparently I need to either subscribe to Deseret or put a Google alert on your columns Leah, because I missed the one about the Goldin book and I would disagree with your conclusion! My experience has been the opposite of yours; I work part time as a civil engineer in a niche and interdisciplinary subspecialty of the field and I feel that I am more valuable to my employer because I'm a specialist, not a generalist, and I'd be very difficult to replace. But I agree with your call for flexibility to share workload across a team, and building redundancy into our group has been a primary focus of my professional life for the past three years. That way, if I leave, or die, or win the lottery, the team that I've contributed to doesn't die with me.
Anyway, to answer one of the questions that you actually asked, I'm looking forward to reading some Elizabeth Goudge in 2024. I've never read anything by her but people I like to read (like Sarah Clarkson and Dixie Dillon Lane) like to read her, so I'm looking foward to getting to know her. I've also put the Goldin book on my list. The book I read in 2023 that I think will stick with me the longest is The Inquisitor's Tale: Or Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz. A YA novel told in the style of the Canterbury Tales, it was a wonderful story about faith, friendship, and trust. I still think about it and I finished it months ago.
“Essays on Woman is a compilation of seven self-contained essays presented in various settings by Edith Stein during her years as a Catholic laywoman and academic. Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, they present a synthesis of her teachings on woman s nature, challenges and opportunities, including female education and professional opportunities; spirituality; the church, woman and youth; and woman s value in national life.”
Hi, Leah, I love the recommendation of "You Have to Be Prepared to Die." Thank you. I lead civil rights pilgrimages that include Birmingham, and I wasn't familiar with this book. It's definitely on my list for 2024. In terms of what I found as my best reading of 2023, I published this post: https://www.annettemarquis.com/p/five-books-i-loved-in-2023. Thanks again.
This year I pretty much knew, before even sitting down to make the list, that Susannah Clarke's "Piranesi" and Carlos Eire's "They Flew: A History of the Impossible" would be my top fiction & nonfiction, because I kept referring to them again and again after I read them.
Strongly agree that the secret purpose of reading lists is to get past choice paralysis. I don't remember what all is on my reading schedule for the coming year, but I am wondering what to read for a good biographical look at Fr Henri Nouwen. (I loved Return of the Prodigal but bounced off Love, Henri pretty hard lol.)
Silas Marner was one of my favorite reads. Milddlemarch is on the top of my list for this year (first in line after finishing A Canticle for Leibowitz). Thanks for the recommendations :)
My favorite non-fiction of the year was Makoto Fujimura's Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering, a meditation on Shusako Endo's novel Silence through the lenses of faith and trauma and the healing power of art, a beautiful reflection on the theology of suffering. I've loved Silence already, but it was lovely to have this guided tour from a Japanese Christian who was able to unpack much of what was inaccessible to me.
Hard to know which of the fiction I'd read will stick with me longest, but The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge will certainly haunt me. I also loved Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro-- I read a bunch of his books all in a row but that was hands-down my favorite. And Vodolazkin's History of the Island wasn't quite in the same class as Laurus or The Aviator or Brisbane; but it was quite good.
This year I'm looking forward to diving into a re-read of Beowulf. I just got a copy of The Word-Hoard Beowulf and a friend invited me to a reading group. I'm going to read more Chinua Achebe and I want to revisit Their Eyes Were Watching God. And I'm also going to tackle Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I'm going to focus on Charles de Foucauld for spiritual reading. I think I'm going to read The Iliad with my kids.
What I read last year that'll stick with me -- maybe Dracula? I read it for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. Mina Harker's a great character. Reading A Wizard of Earthsea with this group also inspired me to keep reading the series, and The Tombs of Atuan (#2) especially stuck in my mind. (Not so much the characters/plot as the setting -- the desert and temple just caught my imagination for some reason.)
I don't really know how I choose which books to prioritize. I have a very long books-to-read list (we're talking an Excel doc subdivided into 8+ sheets for different genres/categories), but it's more of a place to make a note of books so I don't forget about reading them than a "read X in Y amount of time" list. Books tend to stay on there for years until something brings one to the top and I decide to read it. Some combination of availability, interest, mental space (affects whether I choose a challenging book or an easy book), and whether something's recently reminded me of the book.
Being out of school and working as a freelance editor, and caring less and less about keeping up with current events, means that I don’t have to distinguish between have-to-read and should-read. I have one project for work at a time, and then no obligations.
So this year I reread all the Aubrey Maturins, a walker percy novel (Thanatos), The Deep Places by Ross Douthat about his chronic Lyme, and I hardly remember what else. I had a baby in December so brain fog. But I’d definitely recommend all of those!
And not for you specifically Leah since it’s kind of your job but for other under-the-radar people like me I recommend caring less about what you “should” read. You’ll read more, and enjoy it more, if you actually read for leisure.
In 2023, I finally got around to reading PD James's The Children of Men. That'll stick with me because it's a chilling (and chillingly plausible) illustration of the sorts of sicknesses that bound in childless societies.
Also, I read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. The back half of it was read during Holy Week, while running a 101 degree fever from COVID. So it has a certain dream-like quality. And the book also explained transubstantiation to me (particularly, the substance vs accidents angle). It was like being struck by lightning!
In 2023 I finally tracked down a copy of “Changing Rhythms of American Family Life” and read the chapter where the (infamous to me) claim that employed mothers in the 21st century spend as much time with their children as not employed mothers in the 1970s originates (spoiler alert: that’s not actually what the book claims). I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book in 2024. My favorite fiction this year was A Deadly Education trilogy by Naomi Novik.
I read Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking early on 2023 and it has haunted me since. That Hideous Strength and The Poisonwood Bible also stuck out to me.
I’m about to start in on Demon Copperhead, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while, though I’m unsure what else I’ll come across this year. (Hopefully finishing The Technological Society, I started it last year and seem to only manage a few sections at a time before getting caught up elsewhere)
Paul Kix’s “You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live” seems like a good book to pair with Jonathan Eig’s biography of Martin Luther King Jr. that also came out last year.
Starting this year with Alexandra Hudson’s “The Soul of Civility” and Amor Towles’ “The Lincoln Highway”, and looking forward to both.
My top fiction of the year is a pair of novellas by Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild Built and a Prayer for the Crown Shy. Like a hot cup of tea on a crisp fall day, they’re science fiction filled with joy, abundance and quiet hope.
My top non fiction is a tougher choice - Means of Ascent (my first Caro!) is definitely up there. So is Reinventing Organizations (Laloux) which I read and immediately started gifting with custom tabs and highlights for each recipient. And Real Self Care (Lakshmin) does an important job investigating seriously and practically what it means to live as a woman in American society without losing your self or your community.
I also have the Power Broker on my 2024 list, as well as reading *all* the rest of the Johnson biographies. Too audacious! But they’re so good!
I also finally want to read Parable of the Sower, Entangled Life, Thich Nhat Hanh and bell hooks’ The Will to Change.
Well, apparently I need to either subscribe to Deseret or put a Google alert on your columns Leah, because I missed the one about the Goldin book and I would disagree with your conclusion! My experience has been the opposite of yours; I work part time as a civil engineer in a niche and interdisciplinary subspecialty of the field and I feel that I am more valuable to my employer because I'm a specialist, not a generalist, and I'd be very difficult to replace. But I agree with your call for flexibility to share workload across a team, and building redundancy into our group has been a primary focus of my professional life for the past three years. That way, if I leave, or die, or win the lottery, the team that I've contributed to doesn't die with me.
Anyway, to answer one of the questions that you actually asked, I'm looking forward to reading some Elizabeth Goudge in 2024. I've never read anything by her but people I like to read (like Sarah Clarkson and Dixie Dillon Lane) like to read her, so I'm looking foward to getting to know her. I've also put the Goldin book on my list. The book I read in 2023 that I think will stick with me the longest is The Inquisitor's Tale: Or Three Magical Children and Their Holy Dog by Adam Gidwitz. A YA novel told in the style of the Canterbury Tales, it was a wonderful story about faith, friendship, and trust. I still think about it and I finished it months ago.
My most important book of 2023
“Essays on Woman is a compilation of seven self-contained essays presented in various settings by Edith Stein during her years as a Catholic laywoman and academic. Arranged thematically rather than chronologically, they present a synthesis of her teachings on woman s nature, challenges and opportunities, including female education and professional opportunities; spirituality; the church, woman and youth; and woman s value in national life.”
The Hopkins Manuscript and Piranesi are two books I read in 2023 that have really stayed with me.
Hi, Leah, I love the recommendation of "You Have to Be Prepared to Die." Thank you. I lead civil rights pilgrimages that include Birmingham, and I wasn't familiar with this book. It's definitely on my list for 2024. In terms of what I found as my best reading of 2023, I published this post: https://www.annettemarquis.com/p/five-books-i-loved-in-2023. Thanks again.
This year I pretty much knew, before even sitting down to make the list, that Susannah Clarke's "Piranesi" and Carlos Eire's "They Flew: A History of the Impossible" would be my top fiction & nonfiction, because I kept referring to them again and again after I read them.
Strongly agree that the secret purpose of reading lists is to get past choice paralysis. I don't remember what all is on my reading schedule for the coming year, but I am wondering what to read for a good biographical look at Fr Henri Nouwen. (I loved Return of the Prodigal but bounced off Love, Henri pretty hard lol.)
Silas Marner was one of my favorite reads. Milddlemarch is on the top of my list for this year (first in line after finishing A Canticle for Leibowitz). Thanks for the recommendations :)
My favorite non-fiction of the year was Makoto Fujimura's Silence and Beauty: Hidden Faith Born of Suffering, a meditation on Shusako Endo's novel Silence through the lenses of faith and trauma and the healing power of art, a beautiful reflection on the theology of suffering. I've loved Silence already, but it was lovely to have this guided tour from a Japanese Christian who was able to unpack much of what was inaccessible to me.
Hard to know which of the fiction I'd read will stick with me longest, but The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge will certainly haunt me. I also loved Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro-- I read a bunch of his books all in a row but that was hands-down my favorite. And Vodolazkin's History of the Island wasn't quite in the same class as Laurus or The Aviator or Brisbane; but it was quite good.
This year I'm looking forward to diving into a re-read of Beowulf. I just got a copy of The Word-Hoard Beowulf and a friend invited me to a reading group. I'm going to read more Chinua Achebe and I want to revisit Their Eyes Were Watching God. And I'm also going to tackle Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I'm going to focus on Charles de Foucauld for spiritual reading. I think I'm going to read The Iliad with my kids.
What I read last year that'll stick with me -- maybe Dracula? I read it for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. Mina Harker's a great character. Reading A Wizard of Earthsea with this group also inspired me to keep reading the series, and The Tombs of Atuan (#2) especially stuck in my mind. (Not so much the characters/plot as the setting -- the desert and temple just caught my imagination for some reason.)
I don't really know how I choose which books to prioritize. I have a very long books-to-read list (we're talking an Excel doc subdivided into 8+ sheets for different genres/categories), but it's more of a place to make a note of books so I don't forget about reading them than a "read X in Y amount of time" list. Books tend to stay on there for years until something brings one to the top and I decide to read it. Some combination of availability, interest, mental space (affects whether I choose a challenging book or an easy book), and whether something's recently reminded me of the book.
The Power Broker remains one of my favorite books of all time.
Being out of school and working as a freelance editor, and caring less and less about keeping up with current events, means that I don’t have to distinguish between have-to-read and should-read. I have one project for work at a time, and then no obligations.
So this year I reread all the Aubrey Maturins, a walker percy novel (Thanatos), The Deep Places by Ross Douthat about his chronic Lyme, and I hardly remember what else. I had a baby in December so brain fog. But I’d definitely recommend all of those!
And not for you specifically Leah since it’s kind of your job but for other under-the-radar people like me I recommend caring less about what you “should” read. You’ll read more, and enjoy it more, if you actually read for leisure.
In 2023, I finally got around to reading PD James's The Children of Men. That'll stick with me because it's a chilling (and chillingly plausible) illustration of the sorts of sicknesses that bound in childless societies.
Also, I read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. The back half of it was read during Holy Week, while running a 101 degree fever from COVID. So it has a certain dream-like quality. And the book also explained transubstantiation to me (particularly, the substance vs accidents angle). It was like being struck by lightning!
In 2023 I finally tracked down a copy of “Changing Rhythms of American Family Life” and read the chapter where the (infamous to me) claim that employed mothers in the 21st century spend as much time with their children as not employed mothers in the 1970s originates (spoiler alert: that’s not actually what the book claims). I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the book in 2024. My favorite fiction this year was A Deadly Education trilogy by Naomi Novik.
I read Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking early on 2023 and it has haunted me since. That Hideous Strength and The Poisonwood Bible also stuck out to me.
I’m about to start in on Demon Copperhead, which I’ve been looking forward to for a while, though I’m unsure what else I’ll come across this year. (Hopefully finishing The Technological Society, I started it last year and seem to only manage a few sections at a time before getting caught up elsewhere)
Paul Kix’s “You Have to Be Prepared to Die Before You Can Begin to Live” seems like a good book to pair with Jonathan Eig’s biography of Martin Luther King Jr. that also came out last year.
Starting this year with Alexandra Hudson’s “The Soul of Civility” and Amor Towles’ “The Lincoln Highway”, and looking forward to both.
My top fiction of the year is a pair of novellas by Becky Chambers: A Psalm for the Wild Built and a Prayer for the Crown Shy. Like a hot cup of tea on a crisp fall day, they’re science fiction filled with joy, abundance and quiet hope.
My top non fiction is a tougher choice - Means of Ascent (my first Caro!) is definitely up there. So is Reinventing Organizations (Laloux) which I read and immediately started gifting with custom tabs and highlights for each recipient. And Real Self Care (Lakshmin) does an important job investigating seriously and practically what it means to live as a woman in American society without losing your self or your community.
I also have the Power Broker on my 2024 list, as well as reading *all* the rest of the Johnson biographies. Too audacious! But they’re so good!
I also finally want to read Parable of the Sower, Entangled Life, Thich Nhat Hanh and bell hooks’ The Will to Change.