Weekly Update 1/4/15: It's a New Year!

Good morning  and welcome to the first weekly update of 2015. After a small New Year's Eve gathering, a relaxing New Year's Day, and a long weekend, I'd say the year is already off to a good start. I even finished two books - They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple and the graphic memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?  by Roz Chast.

Currently reading:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

This is my first post-apocalyptic fiction in nearly ten years. So far, so good. 

Listening to:

Euphoria by Lily King

narrated by Xe Sands and Simon Vance

Under two and a half hours to go and I'm ready to be done with this book. The narrators are excellent, but I can't help wondering whether it would be better in print.

On the blog:
My 2014 Favorites: Fiction
My 2014 Favorites: Audiobook Fiction
My 2014 Favorites: Nonfiction
Review: Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?  by Roz Chast


Other Bookish Thoughts 

2015 will be another no pressure reading year for me - no blog tours, very few review books, no deadlines, no commitments, and more abbreviated reviews. I read pretty much anything I wanted in 2014 and, surprisingly, that meant a lot of new releases and debut novels. We'll see where free range reading takes me this year, but I'm anticipating a return to backlist fiction and classics.

The TBR Double Dog Dare hosted at James Reads Books kicked off last week  The idea is to read books already on your shelves (or e-reader) until April 1st. I've committed for the month of January, but we'll see how it goes after that. I'll be in Florida most of the winter and am not sure I can resist the local library. The little indie bookstore is quite tempting, too. I'll let you know if I decide to continue.

Are you familiar with Zinio? It's a newsstand lending service available through libraries... kind of like overdrive for magazines. I just signed up this week and my iPad is loaded and ready for Friday's flight. I got my mother set up, too. Now I can read The New Yorker  without the stress of all those unread issues piling up on the coffee table. My favorite food and travel magazines are also available, along with many, many more I can't wait to explore.

And finally... It's Downton Day! Will you be watching?

This post will link to It's Monday, What Are You Reading?  hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
by Roz Chast
Bloomsbury USA, 2014
240 pages
source: borrowed from the library


Well I certainly didn't expect this to happen... revealing my first book of the year and  reviewing it at the same time! That mysterious system known as inter-library loan actually selected the book for me and, since we're leaving for Florida in a week, I needed to read and return it ASAP.

I've enjoyed Roz Chast's cartoons in The New Yorker for decades and when her first memoir began appearing on "Best of" lists everywhere, I knew I had to read it.

As it turns out, the notoriety is well-deserved. A 2014 National Book Award finalist, this graphic memoir, composed of illustrations, photos, and text, addresses a topic all of us must deal with at some point  - the aging and death of our parents.

Chast does not sugar-coat her experience. She is honest and candid about her childhood, her relationship with her parents, and the challenge of dealing with their increasing physical and emotional needs, as well as the associated financial worries.

This book is not especially pleasant or uplifting, but it will make you think, perhaps begin to formulate a plan, or at least nudge you into discussion with your parents.

Highly recommended.

My rating:

A Poem for the New Year

New Year Resolve
by May Sarton

The time has come
To stop allowing the clutter
To clutter my mind
Like dirty snow,
Shove it off and find
Clear time, clear water.

Time for a change,
Let silence in like a cat
Who has sat at my door
Neither wild nor strange
Hoping for food from my store
And shivering on the mat.

Let silence in.
She will rarely speak or mew,
She will sleep on my bed
And all I have ever been
Either false or true
Will live again in my head.

For it is now or not
As old age silts the stream,
To shove away the clutter,
To untie every knot,
To take the time to dream,
To come back to still water.

"New Year Resolve" by May Sarton, from Collected Poems 1930-1993.

I posted this poem a couple of years ago, but it's worth reconsidering...

The photo was taken 8/31/14 on my iPhone 4S - no filters or editing.

My 2014 Favorites: Nonfiction

My preference for nonfiction in the audio format comes through loud and clear in this portion of my 2014 favorites list.  Although I also consume nonfiction in print, all of my favorites this year happened to be audiobooks or print/audio combinations.

Here are my nonfiction favorites of 2014 listed in the order I read/listened to them. Note that these books were not necessarily published in 2014.

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett

audiobook, narrated by the author -my favorite nonfiction of 2014 

The Boys in the Boat by David James Brown

audiobook, narrated by Edward Herrmann

Who knew a book about crew could be so exciting?

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

audiobook, narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

print/audio combination, narrated by Kristen Potter

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

audiobook, narrated by Jeff Harding

More Yearly Wrap-up:

My 2014 Favorites: Fiction
My 2014 Favorites: Audiobook Fiction

My 2014 Favorites: Audiobook Fiction

My list of 2014 favorites continues today with audiobook fiction.  I make this a separate category because listening adds another dimension to a novel, and narration can make or break the book for me. An outstanding performance may improve a mediocre novel, but poor narration detracts from even the best writing. The audio productions listed below represent my favorite combinations of writing and narration this year.

In the order I listened to them, my audiobook fiction favorites include:

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Narrated by Jenna Lamia, Adepero Oduye, Sue Monk Kidd
An excellent production, I doubt I would have enjoyed this as much in print.

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

Narrated by Dan John Miller

This was a print/audio combination for me and my favorite classic of the year.

Dollbaby: A Novel by Laura Lane McNeal

narrated by January Lavoy

I loved this debut novel - my favorite narration of the year.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

narrated by Cassandra Campbell

This is my favorite novel of the group. Cassandra Campbell delivers an outstanding performance, as usual, but I'm sure it is every bit as good in print. I'll post my review in January.

Tomorrow I'll share my nonfiction favorites of 2014.

My favorite fiction read in 2014 is here.

My 2014 Favorites: Fiction

What an unusual year 2014 has been! Long-term readers of Lakeside Musing  know I'm usually a classics and backlist kind of reader, but this year I embraced new releases like never before. After good luck with a few new and debut novels last winter, I requested a couple more from Netgalley and borrowed many, many others from the library. Several appear below and you'll see others on my list of audio favorites.

So these are my fiction favorites of 2014, listed in the order I read them. Of course, not all of these books were published this year.

The Girl You Left Behind 
by Jojo Moyes

The Gravity of Birds
by Tracy Guzeman

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress
by Ariel Lawhon

The Interestings
by Meg Wolitzer

The Vacationers 
by Emma Straub

We Are Not Ourselves
by Matthew Thomas

An American Tragedy
by Theodore Dreiser

Florence Gordon
by Brian Morton

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my favorites in audiobook fiction. Wednesday I will post my list of nonfiction favorites.

Christmas is Here!

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet the words repeat

Of peace on Earth, good-will to men!

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow