My reading resolutions this year were to be less impulsive, more balanced and slow in my reading. So I vowed to try and not fall for the overhyped books everyone was talking about, to read more from the library and to do some more careful reading before buying. I also wanted to try and do more immersive reading experiences so signed up to do a slow year-long read of the Wolf Hall trilogy, as well as a reread of Jane Austen for her birthday celebratory year.
How did it go? Here’s the stats:
As of 21 December, I’ve read 125 books this year, with two more on the go.
77 by women
43 by men (the two I’m reading are also by men)
5 essay collections or by non-binary writers.
Looking at the list, there’s a good foundation of quality writing here. I mean, a lot of well written, interesting books that I enjoyed reading. Compared to last year, I definitely read a lot better and enjoyed more. The books I disliked were, surprise! An impulse buy and a couple of books that have had loads of hype. So that resolution needs to stay and be a guiding principle.
On the basis of this good quality foundation, here are my books of the year, the ones that I really enjoyed:
- The Parable of the Sower – Octavia Butler
- The Trees – Percival Everett
- On the Calculation of Volume, I, II & III – Solvej Balle
- Slanting Towards the Sea – Lidija Hilje
- Happiness – Amanitta Forna
- Steeple Chasing – Peter Ross
- The Story of a Heart – Rachel Clarke
- The Garden Against Time – Olivia Laing
I’ve deliberately not included the Austen or Mantel in this list. Of the intense reads, Pride and Prejudice is the most joyful and still my favourite while Persuasion comes a close second, and is definitely the best of Jane Austen’s books. I had not read Mansfield Park or Emma for many years and I enjoyed them both more than I did before, though Mansfield Park is hard work and I loathe Edmund Bertram, the worst of all her heroes and nearly as bad as some of her villains. Emma, though, is a masterful demonstration of the writing adage ‘character is plot’ and every character is so well written. This year I widened my reading to explore her short works and some of the juvenilia and it’s funny and silly and delightful. The Beautiful Cassandra and Lady Susan are well worth reading for their energy and wicked sense of humour.
At the time of writing, I have the final week left of the Wolf Hall trilogy and although I know what’s going to happen, I’ve been hoping he’ll get out of it. The Wolf Crawl has been a very different way of reading, taking so long to get through the books but the extra material and the background history has really added to it. The end of Bring Out the Bodies, when Cromwell has to make sure he can get rid of Anne Boleyn by any means necessary, is some of the most compelling writing of state sanctioned murder that you’re likely to read. I went over those chapters again and again, drawn to carry on every time. It seemed so much harder for Cromwell to fulfil this obligation to the king than it was for others to kill Cromwell; the sudden act of his downfall has in each reread and rewatch always surprised me. This slow read has, despite the ending, been a joy to experience and I feel a better reader for it, more scholarly than I’ve felt for a while.
Next year, I’d like to continue my aim for quality over hype and I have a few ideas for books to read, or reread. I want to read a few more classics that I’ve not got to and find some quality gems. I’m also almost tempted to do Wolf Crawl again, as I’m sure I’m going to miss it on a Wednesday.
Susan E Barsby 