I’ve never been big on New Year’s
resolutions. I find them a little depressing, knowing I’ll likely never keep
them. I don’t know what it is about the
word “resolution” but it has such a negative connotation for me that I always
avoid them. I prefer to set goals. Having goals sounds way more positive to me
than making resolutions. Goals are things you can work toward, resolutions are
things you have to keep.
I am a member of GoodReads, a social
media centered around books and reading. When I first joined, I primarily used
GoodReads as a way to keep track of the books I’ve read and the titles I wanted
to read. But several years ago, GoodReads start challenging it users to a
yearly reading goal in January of the new year. Participants can set the number
of books they wish to finish reading by the end of December and a member’s
homepage will track their progress toward their goal. I’ve set a goal every
year since this feature was introduced and mostly met them. This year, I was
very ambitious and hoped to read 25 books. I might fall a few short of that
goal as I’ve only read 22 and December is halfway over!
Even if I don’t finish all 25 books by
January 2020, I now have a lovely record of everything I’ve read over 2019. As
I look back, I can see a few trends. First of all, judging by my 5 star rating
system, I’ve read a lot of fantastic books this year. I’ve also discerned a few
trends in my reading during my review.
Here are a few books and reading trends I can recommend:
2019 is officially the Year of the Memoir
for me. I’ve never been a nonfiction reader and rarely pick up anything but
fiction. I would love to say that I purposefully started out 2019 with a desire
to try new genres and expand my reading horizons but I suspect that convenience
is what led me to the memoir. The library’s popular Overdrive ebook service has
a wonderful feature in its Libby app called “Available Now” which highlights
all titles that are immediately available for download. I was scrolling through
this list, desperate to find an audiobook to keep me company on a long drive to
New Jersey. I found Amy Poehler’s Yes, Please! and was intrigued. I’d read Tina
Fey’s spectacular Bossypants years ago and figured I’d love anything Tina Fey
adjacent, especially anything by Poehler, her hilarious work wife and comedic
partner in crime.
Yes, Please! is comprised of short
vignettes from Poehler’s life as a star on Saturday Night life, musings on
lessons in her personal life, and listicles of life advice. I love Amy Poehler
but her disjointed writing along with the disclaimer at the beginning and
throughout most of the book that "writing is hard" lets me know she's
not a writer. She's a great sketch comedian but she ran out of ideas in this
book and didn't know how to string the ones she did have together. The book is
filled with amazing anecdotes and guest appearances but that is the limit of
its charm. The lists, advice, and many of the insights Poehler provides are
somewhat boring and trite, even when read excellently by the author herself.
The two highlights of my excursion into
memoir territory were Becoming by Michelle Obama and Educated by Tara
Westover. I will be honest and say that
I was sure Becoming was not worth the hype before I read it. Once I did read
it, I completely understood and became part of the hype. The combination of
Mrs. Obama’s raw honesty, touching memories, and no-nonsense straight talk had
me devouring all 428 pages. Her ability to weave life lessons in with her story
without seeming preachy was endearing and relatable, even when our lives
had nothing in common. I was especially
moved by her surreal and intense recollections of her time as First Lady and
her determination to keep growing as a person.
Educated by Tara Westover is another
amazing memoir, albeit in a completely different way. Westover narrates her dark and grim childhood
struggles to survive and educate herself as a member of an off-the-grid family
in rural Idaho. Her father forbids his children from attending public school,
fearing any government involvement in their lives, and Tara is barely
homeschooled by her mother and older siblings. She perseveres and gets into
college, eventually becoming a Gates Scholar at Cambridge University. But make
no mistake; this is a tough read. The book is a series of episodes illustrating
the author's terrible family experiences with her attempts to physically escape
and spiritually make sense of herself and the people she loves. Westover's descriptions of the many
accidents, injuries, physical and psychological abuse are unflinching and
horrifying. Every time she seems to find
some hope of separating herself emotionally and physically from her family, she
gets sucked back in. But her journey of
learning what it means to be educated is not a straight line and perfectly
illustrates why the struggle to be yourself is truly worth it, even at a
terrible cost.
Reviewing my year in books has revealed
another trend: I listen more than I read. I’ve become a real convert to
audiobooks this year. Typically, I only read before going to bed. This really
limits my reading time and I was frustrated by my slow progress. Audiobooks
have allowed me to keep “reading” while doing other mundane tasks like running
errands or folding laundry. Listening to audiobooks has also allowed me to
tackle longer books than I would normally read. Finally, I’ve learned the
importance of a good narrator. Someone with a good voice and ability to
vocalize multiple characters is a necessity in the audiobook experience.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and The Priory of
the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon offer two different but excellent audiobook
experiences. Pachinko is the muti-generational story of a Korean family who relocates to Japan in
the 1930s and joins the second class citizenship of Zainichi, ethnic Koreans
living in Japan. This move affects every member of the family in different ways
and some adapt better than others. Allison Hiroto is a fantastic reader,
seamlessly transitioning from character to character without her performance
seeming forced or clunky.
The Priory of the Orange Tree is a
fantasy novel that features two interwoven narratives one from the East and the
other from the West. Each storyline
faces the growing threat from the Nameless One, a terrible slumbering dragon
that threatens to end life as we know it unless characters from each part of
the world can work together. There are the usual suspects of a fantasy novel:
assassins, dragons, and magic. But this book dispenses with the thinly veiled
Puritanical ideasl of most fantasy tropes and instead presents a feminist
narrative that champions diversity.
Looking over my reading list from 2019
has been informative and nostalgic. I’ve read some really great books and
discovered new genres. As I start to make my list for 2020, I now have a better
idea of where I’ve been and where I should be headed with my reading. If you’ve
never kept a reading journal or list, I highly encourage you to try it next
year. You may find keeping this New
Year’s resolution is easier and more fun than you think.
