Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Hammer of God, by Bo Giertz
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, by David Platt
The Odyssey, by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide, by Robert Pinsky
All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Washington’s Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer
King Lear: The Pelican Shakespeare, by William Shakespeare
Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad
Yes, that’s a list of which I can be proud. I only read one book each in November and December, but they were certainly strong books. (I was going through a rough time in life, and found myself unable to focus much on reading. It looks like I’m moving past that period, as I’m eagerly back into reading The Anatomy of Peace, despite the fact that I read it fairly recently, and it’s a type of book that I could easily look condescendingly at as a “self-help” book. I’m rereading it to help address the personal crisis that I’m experiencing right now. I found it helpful the first time, and am finding it even more helpful on the second reading.)
Given such a strong list of candidates, I struggled picking the Book of the Year. Honestly, I would have felt fine with naming at least half of them with the honor. There have been years where none of the books I read were as strong as the list I had before me this time around.
Another interesting thing about the list is that two of the works were read while I was in Mexico. I finished Love in the Time of Cholera in January, while I was working in the state of Michoacan. In fact, I finished it in Zihuatanejo, which is a small, beautiful resort town on the Pacific coast. (The work site wasn’t nearly as beautiful as Zihuatanejo, which served as the way in and out of the country for us.) I enjoy trying to match the book I’m reading with the place I’m traveling, and in this instance, Love in the Time of Cholera was a perfect match for the location.
Then, in March, I finished The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes while working in the state of Durango, near a small town called Casas Blancas. In this case, the work didn’t as nicely match the location, but it was still a memorable read, and a memorable location.
Several of the works this year surprised me with how much I enjoyed them. I did not expect to find The Hammer of God so rewarding, but it certainly was a work that I found quite meaningful. Lord Jim also struck me as remarkably good. Conrad is an artist with the language, and I really should spend more time with him. Washington’s Crossing also was an incredibly rewarding book, and in a different year, I would have proudly named it the Book of the Year.
Finally, two works caused me some real sadness at not being able to grant them the honor of being named the Book of the Year. The Grapes of Wrath and All the King’s Men are incredibly well written books. I consider them two of the top 10 novels written in the 20th century.
However, the honors for Book of the Year go to William Shakespeare, and King Lear. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve read this classic, and still find it irresistible. It’s not really fair to the rest of the works that they have to compete with Shakespeare’s most profound work.
So, here’s to 2013, to joy of new discoveries, and to revisiting the challenging and rewarding works of the past.
