Reflecting on Books in 2019

I write this during a dreary mid-December day when it is raining outside and after a nap in front of the fireplace. Reading has always been a favorite hobby for me. I’d rather read than go to a cocktail party. Ever since discovering Goodreads, I religiously enter each book on the list with a rating and often short review. The satisfaction I get from doing matches the feeling of a game hunter mounting a trophy. About half of my books are audio books as it is easier/safer to keep awake when you’re driving. Most of the reading falls into history and novels.

This year I have again exceeded my Goodreads challenge for the year with 47 books completed. What are my reflections as I look back?

Some like Warlight, Wickwythe Hall, The Darwin Affair, and Faded Coat of Blue, I can barely remember what they were about. Surely they will deservedly flee from my memory in coming years.

Some books held considerable promise but disappointed me in their delivery. The sixth volume in Stieg Larsson’s “The Girl” series, The Girl Who Lived Twice was a mess. Unfortuately, Larsson’s replacement is not half as good. The Secrets We Kept, the novel about how the CIA published and re-infiltrated Dr. Zhivago into the USSR was ruined by some needless plot threads. Jenifer LeClaire’s Maine-bound mystery served up a dud in Gold Coast. I am in the middle of The Andromeda Evolution, the sequel to The Andromeda Strain and fear that will end up in this category too.

I have stayed with my morbid fascination with World War I–both in history and fiction. I completed the 2nd volume of Pritt Buttar’s Eastern Front tetralogy and began the third. Also, I read a few novels including Bretherton by W.F. Morris who was a veteran of the war and his novels were popular during the inter-war period. An article by Post reviewer Michael Dirda brought my attention to this deserving but forgotten writer.

By now you are probably thinking it was a bad year for reading, but I want to highlight some books that I will remember in coming years.

Who Lost Russia? by Peter Conradi makes a nice fit for remembering in the history category. It basically updates you on Russia since the collapse of Communism and gives you an understanding of what is going on today and why Russia remains a threat.

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood makes a nice sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. This dystopic tale reminds us of the dangers when religious intolerance mixes with politics.

A surprising read was Pagan by the above mentioned W.F. Morris. Two wartime buddies go on a hiking trip in the early 1920s in remote France near the former front lines. There they encounter mystery and romance. The humorous interaction between the two friends provides comic relief. I found this a touching tale and shed a tear or two after finishing it.

I purchased a used copy of Hotel Berlin 43 by Vicki Baum and was pleasantly surprised. Baum wrote the original book Grand Hotel that was the basis for a movie and musical. The former was set in mid-1920s Germany links a host of interesting characters are linked in the hotel. (Novelist Arthur Hailey later purloined this format for his novels such as Airport.) Hotel Berlin 43 uses the same formula except now the hotel is used by both Nazi VIPs and the resistance. Meanwhile, the Allied bombing campaign against Germany has begun and affects daily life. Written in 1944, the Austrian-born novelist gives an interesting depiction of life in Berlin at a point in the war when Germany is in the process of losing but not yet at the last stages.

What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon is a historical novel about Ireland during the fight for independence from the UK. I knew little of the Irish perspective before then. There is a time travel element here whether the hero inadvertently travels back to Ireland of that period and befriends some of the rebels. (Think Outlander.) She is plagued with foresight about what will happen to some of these people and what she should do to warn them.

I would be remiss not to mention the Matthew Sheldrake mystery series by C.J. Sansom set in Tudor England. I read two this year, Dark Fire and Sovereign. I discovered these when reading that Theresa May had donated one to a mini-library in a re-purposed phone booth. Sheldrake, a hunchback, gets involved in a mystery, but usually there is some connection to the political dealings of the day. These novels are well researched as to life in that era.

Finally Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a wonderful coming of age novel about a lower class girl in early 1900s Brooklyn. Reading Smith’s biography this is clearly autobiographical. Her father is a lovable but hopeless alcoholic who can never keep a job. Her mother is a saint. She wants to get educated, but her brother gets first call on the resources because girls don’t need that. I grew up in early-1950s Philadelpia and her description of life in the city struck a bell even 50 years later. If you haven’t read this, I would put it in your must category.

A I think about 2020, I need to consider my goal for the year. One problem with Goodreads is by counting numbers of books, it encourages reading shorter books. A Little Golden Book and War and Peace each count as only one. Unfortunately, this penalizes some of the older classics like Dickens, Hugo, Dostevsky, and Anthony Trollope. I will try to resist setting so high a number so I am able to read longer, deserving books.

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