Barb's Book Levee 2018

The New Year's Eve Blog---a reflection of accomplishments of the year past and goals for the year coming. 

Here it Comes...

Ain’t gonna happen. I peeked back at my previous December blogs, looking for inspiration...and cheating, sort of. They are mostly about the 52 books I read, fulfilling my personal challenge of reading one book a week. This year, I am sorry to report, I didn’t reach that goal, unless you count Each Peach Pear Plum, The Cremation of Sam McGee and In November, which are all picture books averaging 28 pages each.

My Personal Favourite

Evocative

Reassuring

They are good books, though.  I recommend. In academic circles, they are more highly-acclaimed than the next two, which I selected based on their titles rather than literary merit. Just remember, you can’t tell a book by its cover…or its title. 

Great Title
(You Must Admit)

Emma Connection

I heartily recommend my top four picks from my 2018 list. Be prepared to have your heart broken, sharpen your empathy, speculate on the future, and revisit the past. 

Heart-Breaking

Love and Empathy

The Future

Progress: Past and Present

Take a look at some of the titles our bookclub has chosen for 2019:

  

I hereby release myself from the One Book a Week Challenge. No more padding the numbers with picture books and low-brow Harlequins. Quality, not quantity, will be my challenge for 2019. Join me!

...Until Next Time...

Books Read in 2018

• Women Talking by Miriam Toews
• The Wisdom of Beauty by Stephen May
• Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt
• For the Love of Emma by Lucy Gordon
• Ina of Grand Manan by Ina Small and Ernie Mutimer
• The Perfect Circle by Pascale Quiviger
• No is Not Enough by Naomi Klein
• Barkskins by Annie Proulx
• Summer of the Horse by Donna Kane
• The Secret Place by Tana French
• If You Can Talk, You Can Write by Joel Saltzman
• The Reason You Walk by Wab Kinew
• The Juggler's Children by Carolyn Abraham
• Miss Nackawic Meets Midlife by Colleen Landry
• Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
• Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
• Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef
• Every 15 Minutes by Lisa Scottoline
• No Ordinary Man by Suzanne Brockmann
• Entry Island by Peter May
• The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
• Stay Close by Harlan Coben
• Promise Me by Harlan Coben
• A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchey
• Carter's Point Memories by The Lennan Family
• Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
• Long Lost by Harlan Coben
• Pilgrims by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Wycliffe and The House of Fear by W.J. Burley
• The Road to Lichfield by Penelope Lively
• Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
• The Seagull by Ann Cleeves
• Why Write! by Mark Edmundson
• The Narcissist You Know by Joseph Burgo
• A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
• The Last Time They Met by Anita Shreve
• Headliner by Susan White
• The Perfect Nanny by Leila Slimani
• Sleeping Tiger by Rosamunde Pilcher
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• $10,000,000 Marriage Proposal by James Patterson and Hilary Lifton
• Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari
• The Tuscan Tycoon's Pregnant Housekeeper by Christina Hollis
• A Long Way from Verona by Jane Gardam
• The Break by Katherena Vermette
• A Skein of Yarns by J.K. Chapman
• The Inviting Life by Laura Calder
• Glass Houses by Louise Penny
• Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout