The best gift in Santa’s pack or under the tree as far as I am concerned is a good book. Or several, even better.
This time of year, every publisher and book site on the Internet has its own “best of” list, including reviews to check out, excerpts to read and information on ordering it online.
For what it’s worth, here are some of my favorite books I read this year in case it might help you with your lists.
For fiction readers:
The best novel I read this year, if I had to name just one, would be Brian Doyle’s “The Plover.” It’s not new. His protagonist is one of the minor characters out of his earlier novel “Mink River,” which is also very good. I’ve asked Santa for his newest novel, “Martin Marten.” I know Doyle as mainly a nonfiction writer (for the contemplative person on your list, nothing could be better than his “A Book of Uncommon Prayer”) and when I was having eye problems last spring, I found “The Plover” in the large-print section of the library. Great discovery.
The other “best” from my reading life this past year is “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Exquisitely written with unforgettable, complex characters and set in France and Germany during WWII, it is the story of a young blind girl trying to survive in a world gone mad and a German boy assigned to intercept radio signals of the French resistance.
For nonfiction buffs:
“Short Takes,” edited by Judith Kitchen is a collection of “brief encounters” from a host of different writers, including David Sedaris, Salman Rushdie, Naomi Shihab Nye, Amy Tan, Ted Kooser, Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee. It is a whole library tucked nicely into a book you can put down between takes, but probably won’t.
I waited until it came out in paperback to buy Peter Ackroyd’s “Foundation” from prestigious publisher St. Martin’s Press. It’s the first in what’s to be a six-volume history that takes the reader from the primeval forests of prehistory England to the death of the first Tudor king, Henry II, in 1509. Told with wit, insight, rich and compelling prose, this book makes history come alive in ways that are both redemptive and memorable.
I am partial to books about religion, politics and philosophy. The best I read this year include “On God’s Side” by preacher and social activist Jim Wallis. The title comes from something Abraham Lincoln once said: “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.” Wallis explores “what religion forgets and politics hasn’t learned about serving the common good.”
As for friends who loves poetry, give them anything by Billy Collins or Mary Oliver, and they will love you forever.
Ina Hughs may be reached at inamackie@yahoo.com.