There are themes to this past year's reading. First, this list is in reverse chronological order. The last read is the first.
Actually there are two themes and they are biography/autobiography and lengthy (fat) books. Other than Cheever's writings, what I read was all biography/memoir. Some might argue that even the Cheever writings are memoir-like. He certainly drew on his life experience and the places in which he had lived. [Reading Cheever was the completion of a sequence that I started in 2021 by reading his daughter's works, including ... wait for it ... biographies she had written and her memoirs.)
The second theme/pattern - especially for about the first 3/4 of the year was length. It seems like two book, how much could that be? But if counted in pages, that almost 2,000 pages. The Grant biography was almost 1,500 pages. That's three books totaling almost 3,500 pages.
The combination of reading the Grant biography and The 1619 Project was very appropriate. Grant, as an army general and as President, tried to set the stage for a fully equitable society. His role (other than as the General) was not something of which I had been aware. I understand better why his portrait is on the $50 bill!
The end of the year introduced a new aspect: graphic non-fiction. Prior to reading Maus, I don't think I ever read a full graphic novel. While people would say that the three I read were graphic novels, they really aren't. Maus is a "told to" memoir; Monumental is a documented biography; Gender Queer is a memoir. They are not fiction ... hence my "tag" referring to them as GN=Graphic Nonfiction.
On to 2023!
Having said that, here's the 2022 list:
Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional by Isaac Fitzgerald signed by the author
Monumental: Oscar Dunn and His Radical Fight in Reconstruction Louisiana by
by Brian K. Mitchell, Barrington S. Edwards, Nick Weldon GN=Graphic Non-fiction
Gender Queer: a memoir by Maia Kobabe GN=Graphic Non-fiction
Maus (both volumes - box set) by Art Spiegelman GN=Graphic Non-fiction
The 1619 Project:a new origin story Edited by Nikole Hannah-Jones [creator], Caitlin Roper, Ilena Silverman, and Jake Silverstein
Home Bound: An uprooted daughter's reflections on belonging by Vanessa A. Bee ARC, signed by the author
Dragon Teeth by Michael Chrichton
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
Complete novels by John Cheever, Library of America; Blake Bailey wrote the chronology and notes for this volume. [At 906 pages, I feel like this should count for more than one book!] Blog post here.
Collected stories and other writings by John Cheever, Library of America; Blake Bailey wrote the chronology and notes for this volume. [At 1004 pages, I feel like this should count for more than one book!] Blog post here.
.jpeg)
Here is my tentative schedule for ALA Annual -- in Chicago! Note that it is still tentative! There are Thursday events for me ... I have events in the official ALA Scheduler which have yet to migrate to my Google calendar -- but they will!
