The last week of December is here! A time of year that has always been my favorite. Having created a fresh custom calendar for our family and cleared out all of last year's loose papers and other various litter, I am ready to look ahead to the new year. Incidentally, after several years of the same color palette, my eyes were getting tired of looking at the calendar. This year I asked Megan to make a new one and am loving what she chose!
Anyway, at this time of year I'm asking myself questions like:
"What kind of daily routine do I want in the new year?"
"What trips should we take?"
"What celebrations can we have?"
"What house projects are we hoping to accomplish?"
I'm having little pow-wows with family members and making tentative plans, giddy with the excitement of the hoped-for experience, but also the joys of planning ahead of us.
((Side note: I feel like I should apologize for loving this process as much as I do. Some people might hear my enthusiasm and become irritated, but I can't help it. I'm a sucker for a fresh start. My husband said so the other day and I said, "Yes, I am! And you know what the very best thing is? A new day, in a new week, in a new month, in a new year!"
(This year that will be during the morning of January 1st if you consider Monday the beginning of your week. I'll enjoy my truly fresh start on the morning of Sunday, January 7th). So much pure, fresh, newness!))
Another favorite area of life that I'm tidying up this week is my reading life. Specifically, tallying up my favorite reads of 2023, and creating my 2024 TBR List (TBR stands for To Be Read List). I'll share my 2024 books TBR in another post but today I'd like to highlight some of the best books I read in 2023.
My 2023 reading was all over the map and included a lot of duds. More than usual. I also bumped up against quite a few that I quit and can't recommend because of graphic content.
Thankfully, I ended the year on a great note! In addition to new books, I reread a few, including my childhood favorite "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Pride & Prejudice," which made my top five for the year. It was a "right book, right time" situation--always a delight.
But "Crossing to Safety" was my #1 book this year, and I want to highlight it here. Never hearing of this book before 2022, I learned that it is a much-loved classic. After finishing it, I understand why. Here's the book blurb to give you an idea of what it is about:
"One of the finest American authors of the 20th century, Wallace Stegner compiled an impressive collection of accolades during his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a National Book Award, and three O. Henry Awards. His final novel, Crossing to Safety is the quiet yet stirring tale of two couples that meet during the Great Depression and form a lifelong bond."
This book is quiet, emotional, and contemplative. That description may not make you want to run and buy a copy, but please, oh please, give it a chance! It's not a difficult read, just a quiet one. I think it has to be quiet to bring you in so close. You are invited into intimate friendships in this semi-autobiographical storyline. I read it slowly, one chapter in the mornings and one at night. (Until I got to the end when, putting off my chores, I gulped it down in three-chapter chunks...I just had to know.)
I read passages aloud to Jeff and spent an entire morning discussing the dynamics between the characters with him. I highlighted passages in this book, which I never do. It felt like the words were reaching out and touching a tender place in my heart. I'm not inflating my words--this book moved me so incredibly, I am actually holding back because I don't want to sound as ridiculous as I would if I turned the tap all the way on.
"Crossing to Safety" is a mirror and an instruction manual, a cautionary tale, a reminder, and a future-teller. I am just in love with this book. I'm sure you can tell. Reading it made me think about big things, pray for what my heart hoped for, and hold my husband tighter.
The rest of my favorite books in 2023 were:
Stephen King's "On Writing" was my very favorite non-fiction.
These days I'm working on my list for 2024, trying to narrow things down in advance so I don't have analysis paralysis once the year gets going. Here are a few things I'm planning:
1. I'm following along with most of the Close Reads scheduled books, as well as the podcast. I am liking the looks of their list for this year, but think I will skip the few that I am less excited about.
2. I'm planning to spend 2-3 months reading only books from my shelf. I have quite a few from my "To Be Read" list that I found at the thrift store. (It always gives me a thrill when that happens! Books that I know I want to read for a dollar. What could be better?)
3. I'm leaning into my current interests and taking an unforced approach to the year. That means I won't read another World War II book or another Victorian sitting room book, which is my name for all the books where the people just sit around talking the entire time. Instead, I'll give myself permission to say, "No thanks" to books that are overdone or bore me.
4. I'm figuring out which audiobooks to listen to with Jeff. We really like the shared experience of listening to a book together. However, our Venn-diagram book overlap is razor-thin, so finding books we both want to listen to will be tough. So far I have two picked out.
I've just decided to end this post with the list of most impactful sayings and quotes that I encountered throughout the year. Some of them make sense standalone, some may be confusing to anyone not knowing the inside baseball of it. I'll just list them here as I copied and pasted them, or transcribed them as I drove listening to an audiobook. Who knows? Maybe one will spark something in you and cause you to pick up a book that you might otherwise have not.
I love to look back on this list each year and remember some of what the books taught me. Sometimes it's just a line that made me laugh so hard, I had to make a note to tell Jeff later. I read the list to my family the other day and we enjoyed laughing at the funny ones and talking about the others. So here you go! Interesting quotes and conversation starters, too. My New Year's gift to you.
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. - from Anna Karenina
"That was a really deluxe time." (To describe a time when a lot of things go wrong all at once.) - from the "What Have You" podcast
Unexpected troubles are a summons to trust God. - from the "Femina" podcast
Her father was dying. Nothing could change that. Words were like pennies, fallen into corners and down the cracks, not worth the effort of collecting.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Meredith said at last. “I think maybe love can just . . . dissolve.”
“No, it does not,” her mother said.
“So how do—”
“You hang on,” her mother said. “Until your hands are bleeding, and still you do not let go.” -from "Winter Garden"
Women who choose islands also choose the sea. - from “Sunspots” in the book “If I had My Life to Live Over Again”
“I was in an agony of discomfort.” -from "The Time Machine"
Mom had walked down to the road and Stoner was bent over kissing her like he was trying to suck something out of her guts with a straw. - from "Demon Copperhead" (a book I did not finish due to content).
"Would you mind explaining that curious utterance?" -Gervase Fen, from "The Moving Toyshop"
She was an old woman, but she managed to look like a young woman with a ravaging disease. -from "Home Making"
“Do you have a brother?” Renaldo asked. I said no. “If you have a brother, it’s the worst thing. If your Mama has a boy to care for, she will show you the kind of love she is capable of. Once you see that, you will never get over it. You will be lonely for the rest of your life.” -From Silver Sparrow
Your worst qualities, peak at nuisance.
So that test, like the rest, told me what I already knew. I didn’t love it for its revelations, I loved it for its confirmation. Instead of wondering “Am I weird for being this way?” I could say “Ah, this way of being is a known way of being. It’s a category. A code. It’s something. I am something.” - From “Bomb Shelter”
How lovely it is to be chosen, how flattering to have such bright eyes on you as you divide the light from the darkness.” - from “Crossing to Safety”
However personal such stories are at my core, they’ve somehow ceased to be my business, since I’m no longer—after ten years-- the same person who wrote them." -from “The Liars’ Club”
If God is exalted, a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.” - A.W. Tozer
“Oh my great goodness!”
But those aren’t differences that make a difference. -from "Everything Sad is Untrue"
Another favorite area of life that I'm tidying up this week is my reading life. Specifically, tallying up my favorite reads of 2023, and creating my 2024 TBR List (TBR stands for To Be Read List). I'll share my 2024 books TBR in another post but today I'd like to highlight some of the best books I read in 2023.
My 2023 reading was all over the map and included a lot of duds. More than usual. I also bumped up against quite a few that I quit and can't recommend because of graphic content.
Thankfully, I ended the year on a great note! In addition to new books, I reread a few, including my childhood favorite "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and "Pride & Prejudice," which made my top five for the year. It was a "right book, right time" situation--always a delight.
"Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner
But "Crossing to Safety" was my #1 book this year, and I want to highlight it here. Never hearing of this book before 2022, I learned that it is a much-loved classic. After finishing it, I understand why. Here's the book blurb to give you an idea of what it is about:
"One of the finest American authors of the 20th century, Wallace Stegner compiled an impressive collection of accolades during his lifetime, including a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, a National Book Award, and three O. Henry Awards. His final novel, Crossing to Safety is the quiet yet stirring tale of two couples that meet during the Great Depression and form a lifelong bond."
This book is quiet, emotional, and contemplative. That description may not make you want to run and buy a copy, but please, oh please, give it a chance! It's not a difficult read, just a quiet one. I think it has to be quiet to bring you in so close. You are invited into intimate friendships in this semi-autobiographical storyline. I read it slowly, one chapter in the mornings and one at night. (Until I got to the end when, putting off my chores, I gulped it down in three-chapter chunks...I just had to know.)
I read passages aloud to Jeff and spent an entire morning discussing the dynamics between the characters with him. I highlighted passages in this book, which I never do. It felt like the words were reaching out and touching a tender place in my heart. I'm not inflating my words--this book moved me so incredibly, I am actually holding back because I don't want to sound as ridiculous as I would if I turned the tap all the way on.
"Crossing to Safety" is a mirror and an instruction manual, a cautionary tale, a reminder, and a future-teller. I am just in love with this book. I'm sure you can tell. Reading it made me think about big things, pray for what my heart hoped for, and hold my husband tighter.
Other favorites of 2023:
The rest of my favorite books in 2023 were:
Stephen King's "On Writing" was my very favorite non-fiction.
Funny story: I've only ever read one Stephen King book, in my teens. I believe it was his horror story, "The Stand," and it freaked me out enough to keep me from reading another. Decades later, after hearing this memoir/instructional guide hybrid was witty and worthwhile and splendid and superb, and being relatively certain that this kind of book couldn't be turned into a scary story, I gave it a shot.
I laughed so much reading this book. Surprised? I was. Before the humor, the best thing about this book is the language. I think Stephen King might be a perfect writer. He uses exactly the right words and not too many of them. He uses the funniest words--the words that will catch you off guard and make you spit out your Diet Coke.
So I'm laying in bed reading this book, honestly just marveling at his word choices. I mean it--genuine marveling! And I say to Jeff, "Stephen King is a good writer! He's very skilled." And Jeff looks at me with his perfect deadpan and says, "No kidding." And of course the real meaning of that is, "You don't say! One of the most famous and prolific writers in our lifetime is a good writer! You may be on to something, my genius wife." Ha!
If you have any interest in writers or writing, you're sure to love it. *Content warning: foul language. He isn't gratuitous with it, but it's there. It's his own story that he's telling, and he isn't pulling any punches.
I laughed so much reading this book. Surprised? I was. Before the humor, the best thing about this book is the language. I think Stephen King might be a perfect writer. He uses exactly the right words and not too many of them. He uses the funniest words--the words that will catch you off guard and make you spit out your Diet Coke.
So I'm laying in bed reading this book, honestly just marveling at his word choices. I mean it--genuine marveling! And I say to Jeff, "Stephen King is a good writer! He's very skilled." And Jeff looks at me with his perfect deadpan and says, "No kidding." And of course the real meaning of that is, "You don't say! One of the most famous and prolific writers in our lifetime is a good writer! You may be on to something, my genius wife." Ha!
If you have any interest in writers or writing, you're sure to love it. *Content warning: foul language. He isn't gratuitous with it, but it's there. It's his own story that he's telling, and he isn't pulling any punches.
These days I'm working on my list for 2024, trying to narrow things down in advance so I don't have analysis paralysis once the year gets going. Here are a few things I'm planning:
1. I'm following along with most of the Close Reads scheduled books, as well as the podcast. I am liking the looks of their list for this year, but think I will skip the few that I am less excited about.
2. I'm planning to spend 2-3 months reading only books from my shelf. I have quite a few from my "To Be Read" list that I found at the thrift store. (It always gives me a thrill when that happens! Books that I know I want to read for a dollar. What could be better?)
3. I'm leaning into my current interests and taking an unforced approach to the year. That means I won't read another World War II book or another Victorian sitting room book, which is my name for all the books where the people just sit around talking the entire time. Instead, I'll give myself permission to say, "No thanks" to books that are overdone or bore me.
4. I'm figuring out which audiobooks to listen to with Jeff. We really like the shared experience of listening to a book together. However, our Venn-diagram book overlap is razor-thin, so finding books we both want to listen to will be tough. So far I have two picked out.
I've just decided to end this post with the list of most impactful sayings and quotes that I encountered throughout the year. Some of them make sense standalone, some may be confusing to anyone not knowing the inside baseball of it. I'll just list them here as I copied and pasted them, or transcribed them as I drove listening to an audiobook. Who knows? Maybe one will spark something in you and cause you to pick up a book that you might otherwise have not.
I love to look back on this list each year and remember some of what the books taught me. Sometimes it's just a line that made me laugh so hard, I had to make a note to tell Jeff later. I read the list to my family the other day and we enjoyed laughing at the funny ones and talking about the others. So here you go! Interesting quotes and conversation starters, too. My New Year's gift to you.
2023 book quotes and impactful sayings:
Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. - from Anna Karenina
"That was a really deluxe time." (To describe a time when a lot of things go wrong all at once.) - from the "What Have You" podcast
Unexpected troubles are a summons to trust God. - from the "Femina" podcast
Her father was dying. Nothing could change that. Words were like pennies, fallen into corners and down the cracks, not worth the effort of collecting.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Meredith said at last. “I think maybe love can just . . . dissolve.”
“No, it does not,” her mother said.
“So how do—”
“You hang on,” her mother said. “Until your hands are bleeding, and still you do not let go.” -from "Winter Garden"
Women who choose islands also choose the sea. - from “Sunspots” in the book “If I had My Life to Live Over Again”
“I was in an agony of discomfort.” -from "The Time Machine"
Mom had walked down to the road and Stoner was bent over kissing her like he was trying to suck something out of her guts with a straw. - from "Demon Copperhead" (a book I did not finish due to content).
"Would you mind explaining that curious utterance?" -Gervase Fen, from "The Moving Toyshop"
She was an old woman, but she managed to look like a young woman with a ravaging disease. -from "Home Making"
“Do you have a brother?” Renaldo asked. I said no. “If you have a brother, it’s the worst thing. If your Mama has a boy to care for, she will show you the kind of love she is capable of. Once you see that, you will never get over it. You will be lonely for the rest of your life.” -From Silver Sparrow
Your worst qualities, peak at nuisance.
So that test, like the rest, told me what I already knew. I didn’t love it for its revelations, I loved it for its confirmation. Instead of wondering “Am I weird for being this way?” I could say “Ah, this way of being is a known way of being. It’s a category. A code. It’s something. I am something.” - From “Bomb Shelter”
How lovely it is to be chosen, how flattering to have such bright eyes on you as you divide the light from the darkness.” - from “Crossing to Safety”
However personal such stories are at my core, they’ve somehow ceased to be my business, since I’m no longer—after ten years-- the same person who wrote them." -from “The Liars’ Club”
If God is exalted, a thousand minor problems will be solved at once.” - A.W. Tozer
“Oh my great goodness!”
But those aren’t differences that make a difference. -from "Everything Sad is Untrue"
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