Such a great prompt! I re-read the All-of-a-Kind Family series too, along with ththe Betsy-Tacy books and Madeleine L’Engle. I also really-read anything by Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Annie Dillard, Ross Gay, bell hooks, Mary Oliver, Denise Levertov, and Audre Lorde.
I somehow missed Betsy-Tacy as kid and have always felt like I missed out. Is it too late? And oh, Madeleine L'Engle!! I loved all the O'Keefe family books so, so much. And you're now making me think about the books I read over and over as a kid, from Paula Danziger and Norma Fox Mazer and Lois Lowry...
The first few books in the series are sweet and build a foundation for the rest: the ones I re-read the most are the later books, one per year of high school, then a year of travel, then a first year of marriage (although the marital gender norms are maddening to me now). I don't think it's too late!
Ahh Joanna -- Lois Lowry. My mind goes right to The Giver, but of course Anastasia Krupnik should not be neglected ;). And I just bought another copy of Number the Stars.
Anastasia Krupnik was beyond my favorite! We currently have THREE different editions in our house. (Though none of my kids have loved it in the way I did; same with Harriet the Spy. I am a failure as a parent.)
Yes!! Did you know there's an entire *quartet* of books here, the Giver Quartets? I've read them twice (re-reads!) and I might return to them soon. Thanks for the reminder.
I did not know this!! I suspect that my oldest, now nineteen, has read them all, though. Texting him right now (as there's an excellent chance they're on the shelves in his room)!
Oh my goodness, Cynthia all of yours are mine—-such deep book kinship from childhood to adulthood. Louise is the only one unfamiliar to me, but everybody else here, I read over and over… cosmic Northstar books. I might add Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Joy Harjo as of late ❤️🔥.
I would absolutely embrace all four of those writers, too. And you’re right, the common thread is kinship! I hadn’t actually articulated that to myself yet—thank you for seeing it and saying it. I think we might be book twins!
i love you feel that kinship theme too in all these writers -- i always feel such deep belonging and companionability. and yes -- we are indeed book twins/kin! what a warm joy today to discover <3.
Oh, goodness. How deeply lovely to think that something I wrote here stuck with you. I really needed that today. Thank you. ❤️
I will also say that this week and a half or so since the election has been rough. I’ve found myself escaping into YA Romantasy mostly. There’s something so escapist about it, which I’ve been craving. But also, I think, some deep desire to imagine a world in which, however much peril we face, there are heroes and helpers and redemption and hope. That’s what my heart has needed to gird itself for what’s to come.
Yes, I feel this so much, too. In a bizarre way, I was psychologically lucky, in that: I spent Election Day on a long flight, got home late at night, then woke up a few hours later and raced to the hospital for sinus surgery (I told you the luckiness was bizarre!), and was in an extreme anesthesia fog for a few days, unable really to do anything other than watch Gilmore Girls, while slowly processing the utter and complete horror. When I emerged from the haze, I read a novel I'd saved for that recovery week, Courtney Sullivan's The Cliffs, as I knew her warm, intelligent narrative style would be comforting. (And it was, though the book delves into some very difficult truths about U.S. history.)
I am also a repeat reader of many of the books mentioned (Le Divorce 💯). My dearest rerun is Beach Music (Pat Conroy). Also, the letters of 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff). And, to throw it out there to those of you who have read The Bell Jar ad nauseam, check out the audiobook narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is a perfect voice for Esther Greenwood.
Love this list 😊 I very rarely re-read books. When I read I want to be surprised and opened to something new. That said, I have re-read Toko-pa Turner's 'Belonging', because I loved the writing so much. Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Big Magic' and 'Eat, Pray, Love' both of which inspired and entertained me so much, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, because it was my favourite book in high school. I love the idea of a list of comfort books and shall ponder this more 😃
I so understand this. I, too, most of the time want to be surprised and invigorated by new styles, ideas, voices, worlds. And I also re-read Gatsby! How did I leave it off my list?? xoxo
Oh Vicki, I read Toko-pa Turner's Belonging over and over too. There was a time when it just lived in the tote bag that I throw in the car, "just in case" I might just need to soak in some beauty. What a deeply potent and luminous book. And this is funny to say, but i love the art and the feel of the cover-- even that part feels magical too. Her Black Sheep Gospel feels all the more vital now and I think time for me to, yes, re-read ;) and maybe write out.
Vicki, I love that it is a writing inspiration for you -- for me too! I just added Dreaming Way to my next up and I am pondering if I want to put it on my Christmas list or if I can't wait and need it now. We shall see ;).
oh and I love Big Magic also. It is always fun to read in public, always starts wonderful conversations. Have you tried Creative Act by Rick Rubin? I'm loving it on audio book -- his voice is lovely.
What a delicious varied list of books. I read Le Divorce on your recommendation a few months back and loved it. Also, as companions to books you mentioned: "The Candy House" blew my mind for it's originality and creativity, and is the "book after" Goon Squad. Sometimes, comfort or escapism is found in the thrill of a writer's imagination and an original plot. Also like Curtis Sittenfeld's "Romantic Comedy" which I'm on the verge of re-reading.
Two more plugs: The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry which might be a desert island read, and Jane Alison's "Nine Island," a re-read and a favorite. Thank you Joanna and for everyone dropping in their faves here. xo
Oh, oh! I reviewed Jane Allison's second (I think) novel, years and years ago, and loved it! So am adding Nine Island to the list!! Thank you!
And I LOVED Romantic Comedy. I've honestly loved all her novels and think about them all the time. (If you like Rodham and/or American Wife, you might love Elizabeth Silver's The Majority, which is a fictional account of RBG's life; I loved it; Silver is a lawyer herself--her first novel is also concerned with things legal--and her utter passion for the subject lends the book such urgency.)
I think maybe all real writers do? I think? (In grad school, my professors were always yelling at us--or, okay, not me, but a lot of my peers--for not reading enough; saying, "reading makes you a writer. It's how we learn who we are as writers."
Yes. I had a prof in grad school who advocated for reading books twice to get to really know them. The first read through was getting the lay of the land. Second time was to get in more intimately.
I don't typically re-read much but I did go on a deep dive last year into Sylvia Plath which included re-reading The Bell Jar. I love that The Secret Garden is on this list. In response to the current state of things I immediately asked the library to hold me copies of Rebecca Solnit's books: Hope in the Dark and A Paradise Built in Hill for re-reading. I re-read portions of SARK, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron from time to time.
I love re-reading books! I used to re-read the Harry Potter series every year when I was younger. Now I'm in high school and I read it again after a couple of years and was pleasantly surprised to find that the last few books hit differently, probably because they are more relatable now. Another favourite of mine is Little Women, especially around Christmas time. I've made this rule for myself that I can't re-read a book in the same calendar year in which I read it for the first time, but I've been finding it really hard to resist Circe by Madeline Miller, which I read in March. I opened it at random a few weeks ago and simply kept reading; it took a visit from a friend to drag me back to reality.
First, I love that rule! It's like you're telling your brain that you need a little distance before you return to something!
Second, my nineteen-year-old son LOVED Circe--he read it when it first came out--and has indeed re-read it. But I have not, so maybe this is the time!
And, third, that same son has said similar things about Harry Potter. He's read all the books a few times, the last time being when he read them aloud to my youngest child (ultimately deciding that the final books were too dark for her; she's eight), and I'm texting him your comment right now...
I mostly read fresh books but I like to re-read Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard every few years to reconnect to the seasons, the planet, and my sense of wonder. I re-read War and Peace every 10 years because that book holds so many aspects of the human experience and as I age it resonates more and more.
I love this list! Thank you for the reminder of The Secret Garden- adding TBR now! I used to watch the movie adaptation with Dame Maggie when I was a child.
My favorite to Re-Read is “One More Thing” by B.J. Novak 🤍
I find myself laughing out loud to the same jokes every time I need a pick me up.
Oh my gosh, that's a great suggestion! I think I'm going to give it to my son as a holiday gift. (We celebrate Hanukkah and have theme nights; one night is always, of course, books, and each kid gets a big stack; I spend about three months carefully selecting them, because, you know, I have nothing else to do...)
I feel like I need to confess that we didn't choose their names! I have a journalist friend here in Boston, Nichole Bernier, who fosters cats--and also sometimes bunnies and other animals--through their pregnancies and the first six weeks of the kittens' lives. She has five kids, who take turns naming the litters of kittens. So, her eldest daughter (then about eighteen) named this entire litter after candy bars! But we loved them so much--I famously lived on Snickers bars in my twenties--we kept them!
She's honestly an amazing person and also...a person with a huge house (unlike me!), so she has a special room in which she keeps the litters, and it's just delightful to go and visit a batch of newborn cats in her sunny front parlor!! If you want to follow along with her fostering, she posts great kitten photos on instagram!!
I love Beth Ann Fennelly's Great with Child. Amanda Beesley's Something New. Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery. Cooking for Mr Latte by Amanda Hesser. Anne Lamott, particularly Operating Instructions. All these old favorites. Elizabeth Berg, especially Pull of the Moon. Our favorite authors do comfort us ...
Alice!! Hi!! I love all of these, too, especially Mavis Gallant and Jane Eyre (which I've memorized by this point) and am realizing that I've read, Casebook, one of Mona Simpson's less-loved-by-other novels at least twice, amazed by every aspect of it.
I don't know The Nature of Personal Reality, though, and am ordering now. Thank you and sending so much love to you.
p.s. Have you read Courtney Sullivan's new novel? I just described it to a friend as, "a companion to Fellowship Point."
One of the all-time best literary adaptations! And also so defining for that era! (Awhile back, I listened to a great podcast about Bennington in the 80s, which talks about its influence on fashion and mass culture--fascinating.)
I re-read Lady Winifred Fortescue's memoirs 'Perfume From Provence' and 'Sunset House'. They're from the 1930s and it's just such a different feel of life, I find them entertaining and comforting in equal measure.
Love Anne Enright, Thomas Hardy, Allegra Goodman, both Wolizers. Love Elizabeth Strout and Anne Michaels. Yes, so much sadness and rage. Currently in Ireland celebrating 20 years with beloved husband whom I’m sure voted for evil.😈
We have such similar taste!! I also love Allegra (who is now my neighbor and friend!), Wolitzers and Anne Michaels, and I was such a Hardy teen. Maybe it's time to revisit Hardy.
And oh no. That is very hard. Though I know it's common right now. Maybe stay in Ireland forever?
We’ll be okay. We’ve been through Obama,Trump and Biden. He’s very careful with me. It’s the young and the women and the minorities that voted for him that really hurt. I love that Allegra Goodman is your neighbor.
I tend to lean towards craft books and memoir when I reread. Big Magic, On Writing, Bird by Bird, Heavy, The Year of Magical Thinking, The art of Memoir and Liars Club. I mostly listen to books on audio, but I like to reread on the page.
That's such a good idea!! I rarely listen to audiobooks, because I get frustrated and need to just SEE the words unfurl. But when I do, if I love them, I often re-read them in paper form! (A funny thing is that I've listened to some books which I've very much enjoyed and then found them tedious as actual reads, I think because the story was compelling but not the language?)
I've had this idea for a while where I gift myself my favorite reads from the year in hard cover and then reread and annotate my favorite passages. I have yet to do it, but maybe this will be my year ;)
Jane,thank you for sharing Joanna's words and pic of her kitties!Tried to comment,but for some reason message blocked. Looking forward to more cool writings from both of you...and cats! Thanks again for sharing...😽💕
Such a great prompt! I re-read the All-of-a-Kind Family series too, along with ththe Betsy-Tacy books and Madeleine L’Engle. I also really-read anything by Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Annie Dillard, Ross Gay, bell hooks, Mary Oliver, Denise Levertov, and Audre Lorde.
I somehow missed Betsy-Tacy as kid and have always felt like I missed out. Is it too late? And oh, Madeleine L'Engle!! I loved all the O'Keefe family books so, so much. And you're now making me think about the books I read over and over as a kid, from Paula Danziger and Norma Fox Mazer and Lois Lowry...
The first few books in the series are sweet and build a foundation for the rest: the ones I re-read the most are the later books, one per year of high school, then a year of travel, then a first year of marriage (although the marital gender norms are maddening to me now). I don't think it's too late!
Okay, I am ordering the set RIGHT NOW!!
Ahh Joanna -- Lois Lowry. My mind goes right to The Giver, but of course Anastasia Krupnik should not be neglected ;). And I just bought another copy of Number the Stars.
Anastasia Krupnik was beyond my favorite! We currently have THREE different editions in our house. (Though none of my kids have loved it in the way I did; same with Harriet the Spy. I am a failure as a parent.)
Yes!! Did you know there's an entire *quartet* of books here, the Giver Quartets? I've read them twice (re-reads!) and I might return to them soon. Thanks for the reminder.
I did not know this!! I suspect that my oldest, now nineteen, has read them all, though. Texting him right now (as there's an excellent chance they're on the shelves in his room)!
Oh my goodness, Cynthia all of yours are mine—-such deep book kinship from childhood to adulthood. Louise is the only one unfamiliar to me, but everybody else here, I read over and over… cosmic Northstar books. I might add Wendell Berry, Barbara Kingsolver, Robin Wall Kimmerer and Joy Harjo as of late ❤️🔥.
I would absolutely embrace all four of those writers, too. And you’re right, the common thread is kinship! I hadn’t actually articulated that to myself yet—thank you for seeing it and saying it. I think we might be book twins!
Or book kin?
This is so real!! Book kin! I love it.
i love you feel that kinship theme too in all these writers -- i always feel such deep belonging and companionability. and yes -- we are indeed book twins/kin! what a warm joy today to discover <3.
I think this would be excellent BEYOND merch! "Book Kin" hats and tees...
Oh, I love that!! Hmm. *Puts on thinking cap*
Oh, goodness. How deeply lovely to think that something I wrote here stuck with you. I really needed that today. Thank you. ❤️
I will also say that this week and a half or so since the election has been rough. I’ve found myself escaping into YA Romantasy mostly. There’s something so escapist about it, which I’ve been craving. But also, I think, some deep desire to imagine a world in which, however much peril we face, there are heroes and helpers and redemption and hope. That’s what my heart has needed to gird itself for what’s to come.
Yes to every word you wrote, Asha! ❤️
Yes, I feel this so much, too. In a bizarre way, I was psychologically lucky, in that: I spent Election Day on a long flight, got home late at night, then woke up a few hours later and raced to the hospital for sinus surgery (I told you the luckiness was bizarre!), and was in an extreme anesthesia fog for a few days, unable really to do anything other than watch Gilmore Girls, while slowly processing the utter and complete horror. When I emerged from the haze, I read a novel I'd saved for that recovery week, Courtney Sullivan's The Cliffs, as I knew her warm, intelligent narrative style would be comforting. (And it was, though the book delves into some very difficult truths about U.S. history.)
I am also a repeat reader of many of the books mentioned (Le Divorce 💯). My dearest rerun is Beach Music (Pat Conroy). Also, the letters of 84, Charing Cross Road (Helene Hanff). And, to throw it out there to those of you who have read The Bell Jar ad nauseam, check out the audiobook narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal. She is a perfect voice for Esther Greenwood.
WHOA, I had no idea! Listening immediately! Thank you so much for the tip!!
And it's really rare for me to meet another Diane Johnson fan--I feel like she's a very misunderstood writer!--so, hi, hi, hi!!!
There are also so many other great fiction books based on The Bell Jar/ life of Plath. The Last Confessions of Sylvia P is one of my favorites: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/artmental-health-in-the-last-confessions
I LOVE THAT NOVEL!!! (I blurbed it!!)
‼️🩷💗 so good.
I just saw that you blurbed the book I am currently reading also - Eleanor Henderson’s Everything I Have is Yours
I did!! And I also did an in-conversation event with Eleanor, which was fascinating, and should be on YouTube!!
Oh I will look for that!
Love this list 😊 I very rarely re-read books. When I read I want to be surprised and opened to something new. That said, I have re-read Toko-pa Turner's 'Belonging', because I loved the writing so much. Elizabeth Gilbert's 'Big Magic' and 'Eat, Pray, Love' both of which inspired and entertained me so much, and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, because it was my favourite book in high school. I love the idea of a list of comfort books and shall ponder this more 😃
I so understand this. I, too, most of the time want to be surprised and invigorated by new styles, ideas, voices, worlds. And I also re-read Gatsby! How did I leave it off my list?? xoxo
I also don't re-read often but have read Big Magic twice.
It's a goodie 😍
Oh Vicki, I read Toko-pa Turner's Belonging over and over too. There was a time when it just lived in the tote bag that I throw in the car, "just in case" I might just need to soak in some beauty. What a deeply potent and luminous book. And this is funny to say, but i love the art and the feel of the cover-- even that part feels magical too. Her Black Sheep Gospel feels all the more vital now and I think time for me to, yes, re-read ;) and maybe write out.
It's such a beautiful book isn't it? It's how I aspire to be able to write (some day 😊) Have you read her new book Brooke?
Vicki, I love that it is a writing inspiration for you -- for me too! I just added Dreaming Way to my next up and I am pondering if I want to put it on my Christmas list or if I can't wait and need it now. We shall see ;).
oh and I love Big Magic also. It is always fun to read in public, always starts wonderful conversations. Have you tried Creative Act by Rick Rubin? I'm loving it on audio book -- his voice is lovely.
No I haven't read that one, I'll look it up. And also have the new Toko-pa Turner on my Xmas wish list (my entire Xmas wishlist is basically books 😊)
What a delicious varied list of books. I read Le Divorce on your recommendation a few months back and loved it. Also, as companions to books you mentioned: "The Candy House" blew my mind for it's originality and creativity, and is the "book after" Goon Squad. Sometimes, comfort or escapism is found in the thrill of a writer's imagination and an original plot. Also like Curtis Sittenfeld's "Romantic Comedy" which I'm on the verge of re-reading.
Two more plugs: The Giver Quartet by Lois Lowry which might be a desert island read, and Jane Alison's "Nine Island," a re-read and a favorite. Thank you Joanna and for everyone dropping in their faves here. xo
Oh, oh! I reviewed Jane Allison's second (I think) novel, years and years ago, and loved it! So am adding Nine Island to the list!! Thank you!
And I LOVED Romantic Comedy. I've honestly loved all her novels and think about them all the time. (If you like Rodham and/or American Wife, you might love Elizabeth Silver's The Majority, which is a fictional account of RBG's life; I loved it; Silver is a lawyer herself--her first novel is also concerned with things legal--and her utter passion for the subject lends the book such urgency.)
Thank you!
PS. I also reread for craft, to see what a writer has done. xo
I think maybe all real writers do? I think? (In grad school, my professors were always yelling at us--or, okay, not me, but a lot of my peers--for not reading enough; saying, "reading makes you a writer. It's how we learn who we are as writers."
Yes. I had a prof in grad school who advocated for reading books twice to get to really know them. The first read through was getting the lay of the land. Second time was to get in more intimately.
I don't typically re-read much but I did go on a deep dive last year into Sylvia Plath which included re-reading The Bell Jar. I love that The Secret Garden is on this list. In response to the current state of things I immediately asked the library to hold me copies of Rebecca Solnit's books: Hope in the Dark and A Paradise Built in Hill for re-reading. I re-read portions of SARK, Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron from time to time.
I love re-reading books! I used to re-read the Harry Potter series every year when I was younger. Now I'm in high school and I read it again after a couple of years and was pleasantly surprised to find that the last few books hit differently, probably because they are more relatable now. Another favourite of mine is Little Women, especially around Christmas time. I've made this rule for myself that I can't re-read a book in the same calendar year in which I read it for the first time, but I've been finding it really hard to resist Circe by Madeline Miller, which I read in March. I opened it at random a few weeks ago and simply kept reading; it took a visit from a friend to drag me back to reality.
First, I love that rule! It's like you're telling your brain that you need a little distance before you return to something!
Second, my nineteen-year-old son LOVED Circe--he read it when it first came out--and has indeed re-read it. But I have not, so maybe this is the time!
And, third, that same son has said similar things about Harry Potter. He's read all the books a few times, the last time being when he read them aloud to my youngest child (ultimately deciding that the final books were too dark for her; she's eight), and I'm texting him your comment right now...
I mostly read fresh books but I like to re-read Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard every few years to reconnect to the seasons, the planet, and my sense of wonder. I re-read War and Peace every 10 years because that book holds so many aspects of the human experience and as I age it resonates more and more.
This is how I feel about the Forsyte Saga, Anna Karenina, George Eliot, and Edith Wharton. I so understand.
Have been considering a Middlemarch re-read lately. This might be the nudge I need!
Let's do it together!! For real!
Snickers and Twix?! 😍 adorable.
I love this list! Thank you for the reminder of The Secret Garden- adding TBR now! I used to watch the movie adaptation with Dame Maggie when I was a child.
My favorite to Re-Read is “One More Thing” by B.J. Novak 🤍
I find myself laughing out loud to the same jokes every time I need a pick me up.
Oh my gosh, that's a great suggestion! I think I'm going to give it to my son as a holiday gift. (We celebrate Hanukkah and have theme nights; one night is always, of course, books, and each kid gets a big stack; I spend about three months carefully selecting them, because, you know, I have nothing else to do...)
Oh YAY!!! 🎉 I hope he enjoys it as much as I do! And I love your theme nights for Chanukah- how FUN 🤩
I had the same reaction to Snickers and Twix!! ❤️
I feel like I need to confess that we didn't choose their names! I have a journalist friend here in Boston, Nichole Bernier, who fosters cats--and also sometimes bunnies and other animals--through their pregnancies and the first six weeks of the kittens' lives. She has five kids, who take turns naming the litters of kittens. So, her eldest daughter (then about eighteen) named this entire litter after candy bars! But we loved them so much--I famously lived on Snickers bars in my twenties--we kept them!
Wow!! That would be such a dream to foster kitten litters 😍
You have cool friends! Fitting of course!
She's honestly an amazing person and also...a person with a huge house (unlike me!), so she has a special room in which she keeps the litters, and it's just delightful to go and visit a batch of newborn cats in her sunny front parlor!! If you want to follow along with her fostering, she posts great kitten photos on instagram!!
😍😍 running to the ‘gram! Thank you for letting me know!
I love Beth Ann Fennelly's Great with Child. Amanda Beesley's Something New. Dear Exile by Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery. Cooking for Mr Latte by Amanda Hesser. Anne Lamott, particularly Operating Instructions. All these old favorites. Elizabeth Berg, especially Pull of the Moon. Our favorite authors do comfort us ...
Gosh, I've not read any of these, except Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird! Thank you and adding them to my list!
Too many books, too little time.
I reread Mavis Gallant short stories, Upstream by Mary Oliver,
Mona Simpson novels, Brideshead Revisited, any and all Jean Stafford and Jo Ann Beard, The Nature of Personal Reality by Jane Roberts, Jane Eyre…
Alice!! Hi!! I love all of these, too, especially Mavis Gallant and Jane Eyre (which I've memorized by this point) and am realizing that I've read, Casebook, one of Mona Simpson's less-loved-by-other novels at least twice, amazed by every aspect of it.
I don't know The Nature of Personal Reality, though, and am ordering now. Thank you and sending so much love to you.
p.s. Have you read Courtney Sullivan's new novel? I just described it to a friend as, "a companion to Fellowship Point."
Brideshead Revisited!! Yeeeessss! I hardly ever stumble across people who appreciate that book. And the Masterpiece Theatre adaption is brilliant!
One of the all-time best literary adaptations! And also so defining for that era! (Awhile back, I listened to a great podcast about Bennington in the 80s, which talks about its influence on fashion and mass culture--fascinating.)
I re-read Lady Winifred Fortescue's memoirs 'Perfume From Provence' and 'Sunset House'. They're from the 1930s and it's just such a different feel of life, I find them entertaining and comforting in equal measure.
Oh, that sounds amazing and perfect right now. Thank you.
Love Anne Enright, Thomas Hardy, Allegra Goodman, both Wolizers. Love Elizabeth Strout and Anne Michaels. Yes, so much sadness and rage. Currently in Ireland celebrating 20 years with beloved husband whom I’m sure voted for evil.😈
We have such similar taste!! I also love Allegra (who is now my neighbor and friend!), Wolitzers and Anne Michaels, and I was such a Hardy teen. Maybe it's time to revisit Hardy.
And oh no. That is very hard. Though I know it's common right now. Maybe stay in Ireland forever?
We’ll be okay. We’ve been through Obama,Trump and Biden. He’s very careful with me. It’s the young and the women and the minorities that voted for him that really hurt. I love that Allegra Goodman is your neighbor.
I tend to lean towards craft books and memoir when I reread. Big Magic, On Writing, Bird by Bird, Heavy, The Year of Magical Thinking, The art of Memoir and Liars Club. I mostly listen to books on audio, but I like to reread on the page.
That's a wonderful list! And so interesting, I tend to read the first round. And reread on audio!
That's such a good idea!! I rarely listen to audiobooks, because I get frustrated and need to just SEE the words unfurl. But when I do, if I love them, I often re-read them in paper form! (A funny thing is that I've listened to some books which I've very much enjoyed and then found them tedious as actual reads, I think because the story was compelling but not the language?)
I've had this idea for a while where I gift myself my favorite reads from the year in hard cover and then reread and annotate my favorite passages. I have yet to do it, but maybe this will be my year ;)
DO IT DO IT DO IT!! I love this idea!
Oh, that's absolutely beautiful!! I think this should most definitely be your year! 🌸
Jane,thank you for sharing Joanna's words and pic of her kitties!Tried to comment,but for some reason message blocked. Looking forward to more cool writings from both of you...and cats! Thanks again for sharing...😽💕