Every year I spend time considering what my favorite books were in various genres. I also like to notice patterns in my reading – topics that took up a considerable amount of my attention, usually by accident. This year I think I’ll actually make it official and write a post about it. So here goes!
Fiction
I read more fiction this year than I have in many years, and it was less re-reading and more new fiction than usual. It was fun to see a change in my typical patterns. I don’t want to get too geeky, but I went from reading 9 works of fiction last year to 21 this year. My favorites (not including re-reads which are obviously favorites) are:
The Most Enchanting.
The Snow Child, Eowyn Ivey.
The Can’t-Put-It-Down Gutwrenching Masterpiece
The Orphan Master’s Son, Adam Johnson.
The Most Laugh-Out-Loud Funny.
The Diary of a Provincial Lady, E.M. Delafield.
The Truest Portrait of Marriage.
Middlemarch, George Eliot.
The Most Likable Flawed Characters.
Crossing to Safety, Walter Stegner.
Biography
I usually read a ton of biographies and this year I read very little. I think I can account for that change in that my main biography reading season, autumn, was consumed with pregnancy books and other things to help survive morning sickness. The easy favorite this year was:
The Sweet and the Sour.
Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story, Amanda Vaill.
General Non-Fiction
This category encompasses a huge variety so there will be more than one favorite.
The Must-read.
The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind, Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.
The Read-it-with-a-box-of-tissues Book.
Bread and Wine, Shauna Niequist
The Most Empowering
Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, Ina May Gaskin
The New Tradition.
The Greatest Gift, Ann Voskamp
Cookbooks
I didn’t read as many as usual, for the same reason I didn’t read as many biographies as usual. But one stands head and shoulders above the rest. I’ve loved every recipe we’ve cooked from it (except one which I can’t even name because it was cooked for me during the worst of the morning sickness and thinking about it makes me want to throw up).
The Cookbook You’ll Wish You’d Bought Sooner
Dinner: A Love Story, Jenny Rosenstrach
Final Thoughts.
Missing this year is History except for Blood Sisters which is part History, part Biography. I’m not sure why there was so little, but that’s interesting and I want to make sure to include some in next year’s stack.
Notable themes are:
- Parenting, especially as it relates to the brain
- Classics I hadn’t read yet
- Award winning literary fiction
- Pregnancy and Childbirth
So, what were your favorites or notable reads of the year?
Come hither and stay 
Diary of a Provincial Lady is one of my all time favorites! There are 2 or 3 follow-ups to it as well 🙂 I’ve got to track down the Whole Brain Child-I keep stumbling on references to it in my adoption reading.
Yes, it is so funny. I imagine I’ll re-read it someday. I also read the next one, Diary of a Provincial Lady in London. I haven’t gotten to the others yet. I think her nom de plume is so funny too – totally in keeping with the humor of her writing.
Love how you organized this. I just put Diary of a Provincial Lady on my list! Thanks!
Crossing to Safety. This was my very first Stegner, a book my grandfather and I shared. So beautiful.
I just got The Snow Child from the library, and can’t wait to start!
I put The Snow Child down a while ago and have wanted to finish it, as I still think about the characters often, you’ve caused me to put it on my sooner than later list. I’m excited to see Bread and Wine…wasn’t it a lovely book all around? And Dinner A Love Story is a gem. I love the writing and the food, it’s in frequent use in our home. Thanks for the great post!
I’ve been meaning to read Middlemarch for YEARS. Thanks for the nudge… I don’t think I even have it on my actual to-be-read list!
Love your descriptions of Crossing to Safety and Bread and Wine. Those are spot-on.