2020 was a crappy, crappy year. I had a number of medical issues that took me to many check ups for many reasons culminating in a final biggie on December 29th when I had my first cataract eye surgery -- second one is slated for mid-February. Additionally, two of my very favorite people suffered greatly. My uncle Paul Filsinger, who you can read all about in my other blog of shtickthis.blogspot.com, passed away from covid-19 on October 1st, and my dear friend, Silvia, who had been attending college here suddenly got sick in early November and never recovered because her kidneys failed her. She has since returned to Mexico where she undergoes dialysis three times a week, and we're waiting and hoping she'll be a candidate for a transplant down the road. Add to this the pall that covid-19 brought to everything, and it's no wonder I didn't manage to read as much as I normally do in a year. Since having the first eye surgery, I have been able to read easier and more often, and I know that once both eyes have been done, I will (hopefully) have 20/20 vision again (with glasses still, though) for the first time in years.
The saying that hindsight is 20/20 may, ironically, apply best to the crappy year of 2020, but I am glad it's behind us. As I look back over the few books I did manage to read in 2020, I thought I'd share here what they were as well as the comments and number of stars (out of 5) I recorded about each in my reading journal.
I cried 3 times reading it and spent today reading most of it. Very well-written and researched. Stratton is originally from Red Cloud and went into the Navy right after college. Prior to reading this book, I really didn't understand what had happened on that ship and to the over 1,000 who died on it in a matter of seconds. It's a well-balanced story with explanations about what happened at Hiroshima also. Currently, he is 98 years old and one of 2 or 3 remaining survivors from the USS Arizona. he lives in Colorado Springs but plans to be buried at Red Cloud. He prefers not to be interred in the Arizona the way others have chosen to be. (He passed away only days before my column ran.)
How to Deal by Sarah Dessen ***
Long, yet easy read. Nothing too memorable. It's two books in one actually, and they were made into a movie by the same name starring Mandy Moore. I haven't seen it, though, and I probably won't.
The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. ***
I read some. Put it down. Came back to it later. Read some more. Put it down. Repeat. Repeat.
I don't remember when I actually began reading it. Was so long ago really. Overall, I didn't much like it. Disappointed in Madeleine for being so dumb (while also being so smart -- something to do with her character being written by a male author??? Maybe, maybe not.) as to marry a deeply depressed guy. Yet I was glad at the end when she leaves on her own to actually do something with her life.
The 25th Jack Reacher book. I read that Child is turning over the writing of the Reacher books to his brother but also that he had originally planned to kill off the character. He really should have done the latter.
This book was simply Jack Reacher killing every single bad guy -- like many many many of them. No heart in it at all. Be done with the series, I say.
Read this for book club. So-so. Definitely not much of a thriller. Why can a book like this find its publishing home while mine can't? Women and their pettiness is what it's about. Such a tired stereotypical cliche about women. As is the unreliable first person narrator. It's become the standard, unfortunately. I don't much care to read any more of these types of books.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. ***
Stopped reading midway and didn't get back to it for a while, but getting back into the story was easy, and I really enjoyed the 2nd half of it. The book club wasn't fond of it, but I liked it, and the book club members and I often have very different tastes where books are concerned.
I've been to Patchett's Parnassus bookstore in Nashville and hope to meet her someday. Unfortunately, the day I was there I missed her by about an hour. Ugh. Next time. Fingers crossed.
Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way by Georgia Heard. *****
Not sure why I'd never read this before or where I even got it. Found it on my writers' advice shelf. Enjoyed her useful suggestions, her wisdom, and the many times she reflected my own views and thoughts.
Here's one: "I can write anywhere as long as I have light, a place to put my feet up, and a cup of tea . . . by my side -- in a place that feels like it has some life in it, with no television set or flourescent lights glaring." (p. 17)
News of the World by Paulette Jiles. ****
An old man who travels Civil War era Texas reading newspaper pieces to illiterate crowds of people is given the task of returning a ten-year-old German girl to her uncle and aunt after she's spent 4 years as a captive of the Kiowa, the only family she remembers even though they murdered her real parents and her little sister. He does return her, but later he takes her away because she's being mistreated and worked like a dog. He raises her with love and treats her well until she's of age to marry and live her own life. Pretty good read with a lot of true stuff included.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. ****
My column choice for March 2020. Strange but good book. Long -- 601 pages. Deep -- philosophically and religiously.
Steinbeck manages to paint an evil person with goodness that makes us still pity the evil person, yet he also seems to believe like I do that some people are simply born evil.
Very good and very relatable for me as a woman who often feels overlooked simply because I am a woman, and especially with my writing. Also, it's relatable because Reta (the protagonist) is left feeling completely bereft and unsure how to navigate the challenge of dealing with an adult child's misery (as most parents have to face at some time).
This line hit me hard since I have a daughter who is now an adult: "I recognized that I was one of those mothers who has difficulty with her child's becoming a woman." Yeah, that's definitely me, too.
I loved Shields' unique take on chapter titles where each is a preposition like the title word. One is titled "Notwithstanding," another is "Thus," and so on.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean. *****
It's about the 1986 fire in L.A.'s Central Library, but really it's a paean to libraries everywhere. That library was designed by the same architect who designed the Nebraska State Capitol even though he didn't live to see it finished like he did the capitol. It looks a lot like the lower part of the capitol, too.
This was my column choice for April 2020. Afterwards, I contacted Orleans via email and included a copy of my column piece, and she wrote back to me soon after to express her appreciation. She's a very nice woman.
The Republic of Love by Carol Shields. ***
One of her earlier books. I've had it on my shelf since 2016 when Sam and I visited KU and I bought it in a bookstore in downtown Lawrence. Decided to read the other Shields' books I have after finally reading Unless and loving it. I like her style, and this was a sweet love story in the midst of other common, yet odd, life choices. Fay's pursuit of mermaid lore was weird yet interesting, too.
Really weird and not for me. A few good sentences and relatable content, but the "unstuck in time" and outer space being exhibited on display on a different planet was just too bizarre for my liking.
At least it was short and easy to read.
"So it goes."
(I actually messaged the former student who had recommended this book to me and simply asked him -- WHY???)
Larry's Party by Carol Shields. ****
I really enjoy her style of writing. I didn't like her overuse of the word "convivial" throughout her books, but I enjoy everything else.
Unique characters with interesting jobs and passions. Larry's is hedge mazes. I found that to be intriguing. My favorite part was the 1983 section titled "Larry's Words." This contains a great distinction between the word maze and the word labyrinth.
Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. ****
Short stories -- she likes to write them; after all her DEBUT collection won the damn Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, so why not stick to what you're good at.
Beautifully written yet quite depressing actually. She's definitely not a happy-ending writer. Realistic. I loved the Italy parts as well as the Boston and Cambridge bits. It helps so much when you've been to the places you read about, and this makes me really want to return to Italy.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday. ***
I liked his style and enjoyed the book, but I thought it would be funnier, or even more touching. I wanted a light read. This one plodded too much at times.
The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson. ****
I learned of many places I'd like to see in the UK someday.
I wouldn't have read this at all if I hadn't first read his famous A Walk in the Woods. That one is better overall, but this one appeals to the overseas wanderer in me.
Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor. ****
June 2020 column choice. Pulitzer winner. A very hard read. So much suffering and wasteful death in this "stockade prison" camp during the Civil War in Georgia. Men just wasted away due to the foul "living" conditions, lack of food, no clean water, no shelter, etc.! Just horrible.
A fictional book about a very real place and very real people.
Heartrendingly sad.
The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri. ***
She has a unique style, but her stories are all a bit depressing. I'm sure they are lauded because they don't sugar coat things, but sometimes it's nice to read something more uplifting. I think I've had my fill of her works for now.
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke. ****
LOVED his focus on solitude! I can so totally relate. The only way I ever get productive writing done is in complete solitude. Plus, I wrote a poem called "Solitude" years ago, and I'm always happy to find other authors (renowned ones especially) who agree with my opinion about it.
(I recorded many quotes in a special quote journal I keep.) Here is one: "Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside."
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton. ****
Reread this in preparation for using it with the 8th graders in English class. I didn't remember much of it even though I'd read it many years ago. It's still a good and easy (meaning quick) read with solid messages for the young adult age group.
The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie. ***
She packs A LOT of characters into a very short book. I wish I could come up with such a simple yet convoluted plot.
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher. *****
I often heard that this was a good book. Boy, is it ever! Soothed my wounded soul a bit to find a kindred spirit in Penelope Keeling, the main gal, whose husband was worthless.
It's beautifully written, and I enjoyed it immensely. This one needs to be read again and savored.
Pulitzer winner and column choice for August 2020.
Sad ending, like life I suppose. Very descriptive. I could really see and feel it all.
I adored the father, Ezra "Penny" Baxter, and his wisdom.
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout. ***
My column choice for September, but I regret it because I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did Olive Kitteridge.
There's a very strange underage sexual thing in this one that I didn't like.
Yep, one star. I thought this would be better since it shows up on list after list of must-read books. I never got into it, nor really cared to. I did finish it, but I wouldn't if I could do my time over.
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. ****
Very good book about real people with a very tragic ending. This is a fictionalized account of a very real romance and a very real tragedy. I loved everything about this book and researched the events of the tragedy that took place at Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home.
What an amazing first novel.
If you've read this far, congratulations. I did also "read" two audio books on a long drive this summer with my daughter. They were both good and bear mentioning: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict and A Long Petal to the Sea by Isabel Allende. I most enjoyed the Allende one with its interweaving of locales from pre-Franco Spain to pre-Pinochet Chile. I also reread The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway with my high school juniors. I really like that book, and it's short enough to easily read over and over again, even in a mere afternoon.
I've already managed to read three books in 2021 with a fourth nearing completion. My goal, as it is every year, is to read at least 50 books. Last year, I barely surpassed 30. That is unacceptable to me. If 2020 taught me anything beyond the biggies of not taking anything for granted, it taught me to reexamine what I spend my precious time reading. I have to be more willing to walk away from books that I don't like. There are far too many good ones out there just begging to be read and enjoyed.
Please visit my website (tammymarshall.wordpress.com) to view some of my columns about past books as well as links to this blog and my other one.
Happy reading!
