With music and lyrics by the Gershwin brothers, this classic of American musical theater was an afternoon of romance, some hijinks, and lots and lots of dancing! In 1930 in a dead-end town in Nevada, earnest Bobby Child tries to revive the theater he’s been sent to shut down. Captivated by Polly Baker, the town’s postmistress, and indulging in some theatrics of his own, he and the cast tap dance their way to a successful finale. Along the way are some all-time favorite songs such as “Someone to Watch over Me” and “Embraceable You.”
(Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
It isn’t profound drama, the plot is simple and predictable, but overall, it’s uplifting and a great respite from the politics of today. If you’re local, see it before it closes in early January!
SOME FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2023
(courtesy Basmo)
I liked many of the books I read this year, so it’s hard to choose, but here are a few that have stayed with me. Happy reading to you!
NOVEL ABOUT A HOT BUTTON ISSUE
Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult & Jennifer. F. Boylan
NOVEL BY A FAVORITE AUTHOR
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
NOVEL BY A NEW AUTHOR
Lessons in Chemistryby Bonnie Garmus
NOVEL THAT READS LIKE A MEMOIR
Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls
MYSTERY
Exiles by Jane Harper
Runners up: Small Merciesby Dennis Lehane
And White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear
HISTORICAL NOVEL
Horse by Gwendoline Brooks
Runner up: Bookbinder by Pip Williams
NOVELLAS
Fosterby Claire Keegan
And Small Things Like These, also by Keegan
NONFICTION/MEMOIR
Enough by Cassidy Hutchinson
Runner up: Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel
To all my readers, best wishes for a most happy, healthy holiday season!
Note: Header photo of open book courtesy of Unsplash.
At the beginning of the new year, I like to look back over my list and reflect on the books I enjoyed the most and thought were the best written. Most of them are recent works. They are novels with a few nonfiction titles tossed in. Here are my top 10 favorite books of 2022 arranged alphabetically by title.
2022 FAVORITE BOOKS
Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg. A wonderful evocation of a long friendship between Totenberg and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden by Li Zhiqing. An excellent family biography of two accomplished Chinese sisters separated by civil war.
The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. A gripping historical novel about a WWII female Red Army sniper.
Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark. A Maine novel of the lasting friendship between two women now in their early 80’s.
Leaving Coy’s Hill by Katherine Sherbrooke. An engaging historical novel about Lucy Stone, activist for women’s rights and abolition.
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout. Lucy spends the pandemic with her ex-husband in Maine in this meditative novel on love and grief.
Miss Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce. A mismatched pair of women travel to Caledonia in search of a beetle in this humorous yet poignant novel.
Oh, William by Elizabeth Strout. A predecessor to the other Strout novel about Lucy’s marriage to and divorce from her husband William. (Strout is obviously one of my favorite authors!)
The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor by Tina Brown. A balanced account of the trials and tribulations of the British royals from Diana to Meghan.
Something to Hide by Elizabeth George. The latest mystery in the Lord Lynley/Barbara Havers series dealing sensitively with Nigerian immigrants and infibulation.
RECENT READING
Banville (Irish Times)
April in Spainby John Banville
When the first two sentences read: “Terry Tice liked killing people. It was as simple as that,” you know you are in for something different. Irish writer, Banville’s recent crime story, April in Spain, is set in San Sebastian in the Basque region and in London. Terry Tice is the first character to appear, but the focus is really on pathologist Quirke and his psychiatrist wife, Esther, who are are on vacation in Spain. When reluctant vacationer Quirke believes his sees a young woman who was murdered, he calls his daughter Phoebe in London to alert her to his April sighting. Phoebe feels compelled to inform several others, and the plot literally thickens as a government minister, civil servants, and a detective become involved.
Banville is great at sketching out both the physical details and the personality traits of his characters. How the various players overlap in a surprise ending is masterful. Initially, I found the book a bit slow going, but got propelled forward once I got farther into it. And I loved the punning on the April of the title! (~JWFarrington)
Note: Header photo of readers is from lifeisthisway.com
Some of my readers may wonder why I refer to my spouse as the Chief Penguin or C. P. After he was a university president, Greg became the head (CEO) of a museum, the California Academy of Sciences, in San Francisco. In an early interview with a reporter from the Chronicle, he stated that previously, he worried what the fraternity guys got up to at night. He was relieved to forego that concern; now he just had the museum’s colony of South African penguins. “I know where they are at night,” he quipped. “I guess I’m the Chief Penguin.” That was quoted, and it was adopted by many of the Academy staff as an affectionate moniker. As they say, it stuck! Now, in our home, you will find an assortment of plush penguins and even a penguin sculpture.
RECENT READING
The Magician by Colm Toibin
Author Toibin (independent.ie)
I’m a big fan of Toibin’s novels and especially enjoyed The Master about Henry Jamesand Brooklyn. His latest novel, The Magician, is equally wonderful. Thomas Mann, the greatest German writer of his time and a Nobel Prize winner, is the subject along with his large family. As a noted author, his countrymen looked to him for his views on politics, especially about the two world wars. When Hitler came to power, Mann was slow to recognize Hitler for the danger he represented, and only belatedly, escaped from Germany to Sweden and then to the U.S.
The father of six, Mann occasionally bore the brunt of publicity due to the activities of his relatives. The writings of his outspoken brother Heinrich and the anti-Fascist activities of his two oldest children, Klaus and Erika, reflected negatively on him. His public responses to the strife were more measured as he desperately wanted to hold on to his German audience and keep his books in print.
This is rich portrait of several generations of the Mann family with a focus on Thomas Mann’s creative process: how he approached his writing, what he tried to convey in his works, and how his secret homosexual desires, detailed in his diaries, crept into his novels. For the most part, Toibin neither applauds nor condemns Mann, but presents an immersive, fascinating take on the man and the writer. (~JWFarrington)
A Woman of Intelligenceby Karin Tanabe
Karin Tanabe (goodreads.com)
I just read a review of Lost Daughter, the new film starring Olivia Colman, that posited that being a mother takes something significant away from a woman. In A Woman of Intelligence, set in 1954, a smart married woman, who previously worked as a translator for the United Nations, finds herself tied down, constrained, and frustrated by the demands of her family. A rising star, pediatric surgeon Tom wants Rina to be the perfect wife—solely devoted to her husband, a gracious hostess, and doting on her children. When she is approached by the FBI to gather information on a suspect, she leaps at the chance to escape her humdrum daily life and exercise her mind. This is a compelling novel, albeit a grim view of motherhood, that moves quickly. Recommended light reading! (~JWFarrington)
MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021
These fifteen titles represent the books I enjoyed the most or thought were the best written of the more than fifty books I read this past year. It’s always hard to narrow down the list, but here it is. What books did you enjoy the most? One friend already sent me her 2021 list.
NOVELS, CONTEMPORARY & HISTORICAL
Great Circleby Maggie Shipstead
Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
Dictionary of Lost Wordsby Pip Williams
Honorby Thrity Unrigar (advance copy; 2022)
Personal Librarianby Marie Benedict & Victoria Murray
Transcendent Kingdomby Yaa Gyasi
MYSTERY
Survivors by Jane Harper
BIOGRAPHIES
Eleanorby David Michaelis
The Doctors Blackwellby Janice P. Nimura
AUTOBIOGRAPHY/MEMOIRS
All Inby Billie Jean King
Between Two Kingdomsby Suleika Jaouad
Both/And: A Life in Two Worldsby Huma Abedin
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro
NONFICTION
The Agitators: Three Friends Who Fought for Abolition and Women’s Rightsby Dorothy Wickenden
The Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
Note: The header photo of kids in book boats is a bit of whimsy. Alas, I don’t remember the source of this photo.
In general, I average reading at least a book a week. This year, I did the same, but even though I had more available time, it was sometimes hard to settle down. One of the effects of worrying about Covid-19. My reading was heavily novels with a few mysteries, memoirs, and other nonfiction mixed in. Here are some of my favorites for the year. Several of these titles are now showing up on notable and best-of-the-year lists.
NOVELS—CONTEMPORY, HISTORICAL, AND DYSTOPIAN
Monogamy bySue Miller
Wonderful prose by this noted author in a reflection on marriage after the spouse has died. Finely drawn characters.
Sea WifebyAmity Gaige
Marriage and parenting entries in a log kept by a woman on a momentous sea voyage with her husband. Superb!
Writers & Loversby Lily King
A poignant coming of age story about Casey, an aspiring novelist, grieving the loss of her mother and confused about the two significant men in her life. Great setting in Cambridge, Mass.
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
From the other end of the spectrum, prickly Mainer Olive Kittredge confronts aging and challenging relationships. For fans of the earlier Olive novel, this is another winner.
Where the Light Entersby Sara Donati
Two female doctors in late 19th century Manhattan search for missing women. A tome for long winter days and a sequel to her earlier book.
Testamentsby Margaret Atwood
Atwood has crafted an excellent story of torture and treachery in Gilead, a most worthy successor to The Handmaid’s Tale. I liked it even better than the earlier book!
MEMOIRS—Political and Personal
Education of an Idealistby Samantha Power
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Power was raised in Ireland and then served in Obama’s administration. A candid and engaging political memoir.
Self-Portrait in Black and Whiteby Thomas Chatterton Williams
This is the lone nonfiction book I read about race in 2020. Williams is a contributor to Harper’s Magazine and a Black man married to a white woman. How it feels to straddle both the Black and white worlds when your daughter is a blue-eyed blonde.
NONFICTION—Illness & Ireland
Hidden Valley Roadby Robert Kolker
Since an abnormal psych course I took in college, I’ve been fascinated by schizophrenia and autism. Kolker’s account of six siblings out of twelve suffering from schizophrenia in the 1950’s is riveting.
Say Nothingby Patrick Radden Keefe
Motivated by a planned June trip to Ireland that didn’t happen, I delved into this account of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It’s dense and highly detailed, but I learned a great deal and found it worth the investment of time.
MYSTERY—Favorite Author
Hid from Our Eyesby Julia Spencer-Fleming
After a hiatus of some years due to deaths in her family, this author returns with a multi-layered mystery about three murders, years apart. Cleric Clare is here, but the focus is on her spouse, police chief Russ, over several decades. Meaty and satisfying!
CURRENT READING
Meanwhile, I’m working my way through Obama’s memoir. Very well written, but better read during the day than before bedtime!
Note: Book jacket images are from Amazon and several other web sources.
