The challenge for me was to step outside my normal reading habits and stretch my mind a bit. After recent discussions with friends about the reason we read, it turns out that my friends were reading "to learn" - so inspiring and so much more cultured and intellectual than me! Reading for self-education? Prior to this 2015 reading challenge, it had been a long time since I'd done anything like that.
I, meanwhile, realized that I had succumbed to my tendency to read for escapist purposes. For the past few years, I have been reading exclusively for pleasure - mostly detective novels and thrillers. Gripping and well written, but minimal processing required. After reading at work all day, I often felt that all the energy I had left was to relax into a good mystery.
In my former pre-law life, I used to read more broadly, even thought-provoking novels was more than I've been reading in the past few years. I had somehow let my reading go. Yet I knew that I needed to break out of my reading rut and do better. I still love those pulp-fiction books, but I needed to stir in a little depth for variety.
My reading challenge would not have been much for an accomplished reader, but it felt like the path to rediscovering my love for reading. My return to reading, so to speak.
I've learned that I need both types of reading. I require balanced reading. I have thoroughly enjoyed this higher level of book quality, though. My brain was rusty and slower at first; but after some brain-training has gotten stronger. I read my first detective novel (The Closers) at the end of the challenge, and it felt like such a fast read! I read it so much quicker than it would have had I only been reading detective novels and thrillers all year. I wonder how that will impact my as yet unset reading goals for next year.
The Reading Agenda as Accomplished:
A brief rundown of the books that have brought me back to my first love: Reading.
Classics:A full review on each of the classics has been previously posted, click title/link to see the review.
1. Slaughterhouse 5
2. Dune
3. Sound and the Fury
4. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
5. Sherlock Holmes - The Hounds of Baskerville
6. East of Eden
History/Biographies:
1. FlyBoys - History of American Airmen in the Pacific during world war 2. More about this soon, but it changed my view of the atomic bomb and President George Bush, Sr.
2. Boys in the Boat - The story of the American row team going for gold in the Berlin 1936 Olympics. A page turner. If you read it, you know that's true. And if you haven't yet, you should. It's amazing how much you start to get caught up in the lightness of a boat, or stroke repetitions.
3. My Beloved World - Sonia Sotomayor - Justice Sotomayor's memoirs. I bought this book at a family friend's bookshop and it sat on my pile of books until a woman I sat next to on a plane happened to mentioned that she really thought I should read this book - not knowing I already owned it. Reflecting on her life leading up to her appointment on the bench. A quick, but reflective read that I found enjoyable and thought provoking. Justice Sotomayor spoke about growing up the child of immigrants, her community, her family dynamics for better and worse, affirmative action, feeling out of place constantly at the Ivy Leagues, and made me feel better about feeling behind the learning curve at law school and after. She wrote humbly and in a very relatable voice.
Non-Fiction:
1. Tiny Beautiful Things - Cheryl Strayed. I feel like I don't have to say more, but will. My good friend Stephanie sent this to me, and I wouldn't have read it was otherwise. This exceptional book has stories from Ms. Strayed's advice column, Dear Sugar. If you liked Wild, you'll like this. Heartfelt. Heartbreaking. Inspiring.
2. Spinster - More about this soon. About literary women in history who chose to remain unmarried and modern implications and meditations on that theme.
3. Wild - More thoughts on this soon, as well. Famous bestseller by Cheryl Strayed, a Portlander no less. An exceptional memoir about her journey through grief and loss and rediscovery.
BestSellers/Fiction/Fuel the Fun of Reading:
1. Drums of Autumn (Outlander Series) - Part of the beloved Outlander series. (now a Starz show). Jamie and Claire's love and commitment through ups and downs and more than one life could ever really hold. I love every page of every book.
2. Boston Girl - I went to see Anita Diamant at Sixth and I, (also the author of the Red Tent!). About an immigrant family in turn of the century Boston. It centered on women's family dynamics and personal choices. Historical fiction.
3. The Giver - My mother met the author of this book; and gave me a signed copy! It was a good read, dystopian and original.
4. The Closers (Harry Bosch) - A detective novel. Love them. Harry Bosch, a hardened L.A. murder detective. Thank you, Dennis Reeves for recommending them!
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