As November passes, and the milestones of the end of the year and the decade loom ahead, I am recognizing a personal milestone: the end of my 20’s. That’s right, dear readers, as you read this column I will be celebrating my 30th birthday and will have basically completed my transformation into a fully-functioning adult human.
Just as I feel it’s appropriate and necessary to reflect on the past year in order to better navigate the coming one, I feel it similarly helpful to reflect on my reading habits in order to make even better choices in the future. My appetite for reading, which once could only be described as gluttonous, has ballooned in the past few years far past piggish proportions. Working in a library has not helped the matter. A strict one-for-one rule has been implemented in my house — for every book that comes home with me, one must absolutely be returned to the book drop. Meanwhile, my TBR list continues to expand; thus, I feel I must make thoughtful choices about how I spend my reading time. This past year yielded some serious treasures, most of which came to me by way of trusted recommendations. In celebration of my birthday, I’m sharing with you my top reading picks of 2019.
I must, rather abashedly, admit that I’m not a nonfiction reader by nature, but have had to intentionally develop a reading habit that incorporates anything other than fiction. I began the year with a lofty goal of splitting my reads up 50/50 — for every fiction book I read, I would then read nonfiction – which I began failing miserably at in mid-February; but while I write that I failed, I actually feel rather successful when reflecting back on my nonfiction favorites of the year. Pretty much anyone who knows me has had the experience of me nattering on about how much I loved and was influenced by Florence Williams’ “The Nature Fix” (155.9 Wil), which is the one book I hope everyone reading this column will add to their own reading list in 2020. More recently, I found myself juggling the unusual combination of both laughing and taking notes while reading “No Hard Feelings” by Liz Fosslien and Molly West Duffy (NEW 158.7 Fos), a charming examination of how emotions affect our professional lives and workplaces.
If you’re looking for short, sweet nonfiction suggestions that you can savor over a mug of tea this winter, I was also very lucky to read three great titles this year: “Dog Songs” by Mary Oliver (811.54 Oli), which will have dog lovers weeping under a blanket while cuddling your own pet (or was that just me?); “84, Charing Cross Road” by Helene Hanff (818.5 Han), which might help you find seeds of optimism inside yourself if you’ve been struggling to see joy in the world recently; and “The Things You Can Only See When You Slow Down” by Haemin Sunim (294.344 Hye), a beautifully illustrated reflection on mindfulness principles.
Three speculative series took me surprise this year with their brilliance. I haven’t been shy about telling people, particularly sci-fi lovers, to check out Yoon Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire trilogy, beginning with “Ninefox Gambit” (FIC Lee). Lee’s worldbuilding knocked me off my feet once I finally felt grounded enough to understand what was happening, and the story perfectly balances adventure, mystery, and fantasy elements. The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, beginning with “All Systems Red” (FIC Wel) is another excellent sci-fi series I enjoyed this year; with some of the best humor I’ve read recently, and four novellas out and a novel on the way, this is a great series to pick up if you want to introduce something new into your own reading. Finally, The Books of Babel series by Josiah Bancroft, beginning with “Senlin Ascends” (FIC Ban) was so refreshing and well-written that it inspired me to write my first letter to an author ever. Seriously … it’s that good.
How was your year of reading? Are you feeling satisfied with the books and voices you shared your time with? If you’ve been feeling uninspired lately by your book picks, consider participating in an online reading challenge this upcoming year, or ask our reference staff for reading recommendations! There’s plenty of time to prepare a quality TBR list for 2020, and plenty of tools at Crawfordsville District Public Library to help it happen.
Shelbi Hoover is a reference and local history assistant at the Crawfordsville District Public Library.
