The Year in Review: books edition

 This year I read 64 books. That works out to more than one a week, which is more than 99% of the population, according to an Instagram post, but which is less than I read in previous years. Each year, my reading list keeps shrinking, especially considering that I never really counted picture books, of which I used to read a lot.  Last year's tally (without picture books, of which I read very few) was 66.  \

I've probably forgotten to list a few here (I have added four as I compose this post), and I didn't include some graphic novels and some "How To" teaching books, but I also did read less, in between teaching and traveling and browsing social media - the bane. I'd like to blame social media for all of societies' ills. I read an article the other day about an increase in gastro-intestinal cancers. The author mentioned food-born toxins and microplastics in water sources, but my conspiratorial self wonders if somehow electrons from our phones are corrupting people's innards. Any excuse to encourage less phone use!

But now a review. Of the 64 books: 

• 35 were novels
• 8 were read alouds - Which makes me think I missed some because we ready nearly every night, usually no more than a chapter, but I think we read about a book a month. I'll  have to look back at that. 
• 16 were children's chapter books
• 9 of those 60 were books of essays
• Maybe 3 or 4 of those could be considered spiritual books. This is a real hole in my reading. Time to remedy. I started some books I never finished in this category, but it is still indicative of my rootlessness this year. . 
• 5 books of poetry
• 1 Collection of short stories, multiple collections of essays
• 8 were rereads, mostly the read alouds
• 3 were local authors
• 14 were by BIPOC authors - sometimes the same author: Camille Dungy, Ross Gay, John Lewis...
• 15 were nonfiction. 

Of the 35 books of fiction.

• Few count as classics - mostly children's books: Where the Red Fern Grows and The Hobbit. The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Dragons of Blueland, The Cricket in Times Square (Lovely!), The Bobbsey Twins. This is another poverty in my reading. The only upside is I read more poetry.
• I didn't read the big classic - Bleak House or otherwise - that I meant to read. Forward that goal. 

My favorites:  

My favorite nonfiction book was easily Children and Other Wild Animals by Brian Doyle, which I read to include in a paper. That paper was about focusing on joy to combat climate anxiety for the Christianity and Literature conference at Baylor. I also read Camille Dungy and Ross Gay for that paper, both of who I also immensely enjoyed. Writing that paper was one of the highlights of my year - I was finally happy with the way an academic paper turned out. 

My favorite novel of the year was Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. As I was writing this, I realized I forgot to put it on the list this summer. It's a retelling of David Copperfield set in rural Appalachia and chronicles Demon's fall into opiods. The characters, like those of Dickens, were memorable, and the plot gripping.  I would have loved to talk about it with book club. 

I wanted to like Cloud Cuckooland by Anthony Doerr more, but it just didn't grab me. The space ship plot line was farfetched to me. I hear or read praises of it and think maybe I just wasn't in the right mindframe to read it and should revisit it, but I don't see that happening soon.  

On the other hand, I was surprised by how much I liked Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I'm not usually attracted to video game story lines, but the character development grabbed me here.  Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing was another novel I really enjoyed - one that has received a lot of press deservedly. Similarly, I got lucky and read Jessamyn Ward's Let Us Descend through the library's "Lucky Day" shelf for new releases. It started slowly, but once I got into the cadence of her writing, I was swept away in it. There seems to be a trend for reimagined slave narratives, but this one was powerful.

A few of the novels I read were new authors - Penny Pescadusa is a children's chapter book by my neighbor. It was a fun read, and I hope it gets wider distribution. I had mixed feelings about Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty, a recent Notre Dame grad from South Bend, It's a bit dark, but it kept me turning pages - maybe because it was set in familiar territory. It's about an adolescent girl from a pecunious background who falls in love with her male teacher, but his initial flirtation with her turns to ambivalence, and she falls apart as a consequence. The characters were not especially likable but were memorable. 

I could and probably should review more of what I read - I used to post more frequently about reading. I miss that habit.  Over the weekend, I picked up and read the first 50 pages or so of some middle grade books to try to find a book for our next read aloud. I thought about Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but a number of students have already read it.  The Outsiders is often read in middle school, but I wanted something a little more upbeat. I got drawn into My Side of the Mountain and A Long Way fom Chicago but I'm not sure they'd have wide appeal. The Westing Game and From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankwiler are both on my short list, but don't have as much depth. I had never read The Phantom Tollbooth, and I didn't realize how allegorical it was. It might be too farfetched for wide appeal. If you have suggestions, pass them on! Something around 175-250 pages. Not too hard, not too easy. 

Goals for next year: 

I will  continue to try to substitute reading for phone time - a real killer of reading time, if not a source of cancer.

Read a long classic - Dickens or Trollope or Tolstoy... I say it, but I need to start now, and instead I'm getting drawn into Remarkably Bright Creatures but Shelby van Pelt for book club. It's narrated by an octopus and has received rave reviews. I'll let you know...

Out of time. I need to pack for our trip. And decide what books to bring along...

Looking forward, looking back - Year in Review 2023

 Although January is almost halfway over, it feels like 2024 is still in its infancy. We barely had time to get used to writing 2023 before the new calendar arrived.  My mother-in-law always sends a calendar to her children with the birthdays of family members, anniversaries, and fun little notes prefilled. Last year she sent Texas State Parks, which I meant to visit more of. This year she sent one with a gardening theme. As I filled in the birthdays of my family members and made note of some of the dates I already know, I felt encouraged by the thought of a new year. I love the optimism that resurges with the new year after the rest and revivifying effects of the holidays, but I wish time would slow down a little bit!  

On the other hand I went back and looked at my new year's post from last year (on January 25th) and felt depressed. How did I fail so miserably at everything I thought I would do? I should make it a point to reread what I write every once in awhile in order to save myself some time and misery. 

Here is the summary from last year, although the post began with thoughts about feeling unsettled teaching at the community college and reflections on my aunt and uncle's funeral. I had resolved to be more grateful with what I was doing. (Why didn't I listen to myself before taking this job teaching middle school?) 

So here's what I have to work on this year: Let go of disquietude/be content about where we live and what I do. Be more attentive to the people around me and lift them up. (Next fall, our sixth child will be a high school senior. Need to make good memories with her this year.) Write letters. Practice hospitality (which means buying new chairs or upholstery fabric!!! a leftover goal from last year. I just can't find what I want...need to settle for good enough).  Maybe read St. Francis de Sales in toto instead of as small quotes here and there. I've started it before. But make a list of spiritual reading. Keep working on photos/family history. Write more. Make memories - go see family and friends.And of course, drink water, keep trying for 7 hours of sleep, and do more weight lifting to protect my aging bones!

I did not let go of disquietude. I did not write letters. I did not practice as much hospitality as I would like (although I did buy new chairs at last - something accomplished!!). I did not write more letters, except thank you notes. I did not read St Francis de Sales, write more (except slightly more blog posts), nor print more photos. I did go see family and friends. I slept less than ever and barely touched the weights. Ah, humility.

Despite abundant failures, I will try again. I relish the optimism of making resolutions, even though I'm also already failing at them. I'll keep making the same practical ones that I make every year: Do more spiritual reading, drink water, lift weights, sleep more, print photos.  This year, I really want to back off sugar, be more organized, and be more active in charitable giving. 

And of course, either stop worrying about the future (that line from Wendell Berry's "Peace of Wild Things" echoes in my mind: "I come into the peace of wild things / that do not tax their lives with forethought / of grief." That taxation exerts a price - on my own peace and the peace of my family and those around me when I let anxiety rule my mind)  OR figure out what it is I want to devote the next 20 years to before those years pass away in idleness and bemoaning fruitless desires. 

I have not read anything spiritual this Christmas season, unless you count Plough magazine, which I really enjoy, or A Little Princess, which is secular, but has such a good message - very St Therese of Lisieux.  I meant to read a book a week last year, and may try that again, even though I'm not quite achieved it even with counting books I skimmed and children's books. I count 50 on my list, but I may have forgotten at add some. Less than many previous years because of the time I've spent on classwork.

To assist in being organized, I have a new planner that I started to fill out with lists of things to do, but haven't put birthdays, school holidays, planned trips, or hopeful goals in there yet. It's not a fancy planner, but it has nice spaces and a pretty wildflower cover.  I've started planning the school year-  writing the plan being more fun that executing the plan.  

Getting more sleep is perhaps my biggest priority because it will help me with the other goals. Most of the year I averaged 6 hours or less of sleep a night. Unsustainable. My goal is seven, but so far this year, that has only happened twice. And I've had a couple 3-4 hour nights because of planning or worrying about some plan. There's been a lot going on at the house this past year, much of it brought on my lack of planning and my ability to worry about many things. I should adopt Padre Pio's slogon, "Pray, hope, and don't worry." Easier said that done by someone in middle age, even with the help of melatonin.

Not helping me sleep is trying to write more - and trying to keep making family memories. Our Thanksgiving and Christmas trips were big hits. I just returned from a track meet in Arkansas with my senior daughter, during which we sparred over college applications but made peace by belting out Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, and old One Direction songs - our car trip replays. 

In fact, reviewing last year makes me feel not quite so badly about the failed resolutions. We did make a lot of family memories - trips to Indiana, Michigan, New York, Boston, Maine, California, Oklahoma, North Carolina. We may not have been as hospitable as I would like, but we did take advantage of other people's hospitality quite frequently.  And we spent a lot time on the back porch toasting sunsets with those friends and family who did come to visit. Hoping to hosts more guests - our fourth son's girlfriend just came for a short visit - the first visitor of the year, after having all the family here.

I could meander on more about memories from last year and hopes for this coming year. This has been a short year in review post. I am meaning to review my reading and to write about teaching to try to write myself to some clarity about next year. But now, if I'm going to sleep more than six hours, I need to log off. More to come. 

Fast away the old year passes

 Happy Epiphany, everyone!

How quickly 2023 has ended - a sign of aging, I suppose.  At times, I think "how little I accomplished this year!" And then I sit down to write a Christmas letter and realize, no, this has been a very busy year.  I have not yet mailed all of those cards, and now it almost seems irrelevant to do so.  However, since I spent good money ordering them, and now I need to mail them. Every year, I am late sending them, and I sometimes think I should shear down my list, but I enjoy the moment of thinking of these old friends far and wide as I address their cards. Plus I always enjoy the yearly updates we receive, even if it's just a photo to remind me of how fondly I remember our friendships.  Cards are an opportunity to think again how richly we've been blessed with friends; I am grateful for those memories. They are also an occasion to feel bittersweet about those times that have slipped away and the friends we no longer live close to.  I miss our babies!

I may be suffering a bit from post-party depression. The older kids were all here for some part of the holidays and now have headed back to their respective homes. We didn't have a day where all the progeny were here together - their comings and goings were staggered, although we did have a couple days with most overlapping. I know the days are coming when they won't come home at Christmas any more, just as we stopped traveling back to our parents' homes for Christmas at some point. We did visit with our in-laws for a couple days, fortunately, but I am reminded again that those days are number.  Both my father-in-law and my mother happen to be in the hospital as I type. My mother is being treated for tachycardia and my father -in-law for pneumonia. Both will be fine, according to the doctors, and should go home tomorrow. But it is yet another memento mori. 

I did not mean for this to be a glum post - rather just an update about the Christmas holidays and the hopes for next year.  I have yet to succeed in one of my New Year's resolutions, which is to go to be before 11, Here it is after midnight, so let me share some photos of our joyful gatherings over the holidays and return when my spirits are uplifted.  We are waiting for the wisemen here with hopeful hearts for new beginnings in the new year.