Original image by There Stands the Glass.
I panicked when I discovered I’d mistakenly packed a book I’d already read on a recent trip. Plans on the first day of vacation were altered so I could acquire a hefty volume to tide me over. The essential role books play in my life is reflected in this year’s tally- I consumed 104 volumes in 2023. Though I read Toni Morrison’s 2022 essay Recitatif on New Year’s Day and will finish her 2003 novel Love on New Year’s Eve, my curriculum ranged from ancient Greeks to contemporary fiction. A sampling of my autodidactic syllabus follows.
Favorite: Miguel de Cervantes- Don Quixote (1605)
1.023 pages of hilarity.
Most Impactful: Marcus Aurelius- Meditations (180)
Thoughts on a meaningful life.
Best Spiritual: Saint Augustine- Confessions (400)
A rewarding slog.
Best Music: Jeremy Eichler- Time’s Echo: The Second World War, The Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance (2023)
Strauss, Schoenberg, Britten and Shostakovich.
Most Entertaining: Charles Dickens- David Copperfield (1850)
Rags to riches.
Best Autobiography: Maya Angelou- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
Captivating.
Best Biography: Richard Koloda- Holy Ghost: The Life & Death of Free Jazz Pioneer Albert Ayler (2022)
Best Romance: Jane Austen- Sense and Sensibility (1811)
Elinor and Marianne.
Best Travel: Bruce Chatwin- What Am I Doing Here (1988)
Motivational.
Third Time’s a Charm: Virginia Woolf- Mrs. Dalloway (1925)
I was finally up to the challenge.
Biggest Disappointment: Bernard Malamud- The Natural (1952)
Strikeout.
Nicest Surprise: Voltaire- Candide (1759)
I didn’t expect rakish vulgarity.
Goriest: Jerzy Kosiński- The Painted Bird (Grove Press 1965)
A catalog of atrocities.
Darkest: Evan S. Connell- Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn (1984)
Shame.
Best Local Interest: John Williams- Stoner (1965)
Misery in Columbia, Missouri.
Last year’s book survey is here. I post every book I read to my Instagram account.