My To Be Read pile never gets any smaller. No regrets or apologies. For a bookworm like me, the turn of the year brings the cheery prospect of new books ahead.
I’m savoring my way through Frank Herbert’s Dune, and I can already see that I’ll be looking for its sequels. I so seldom pick up fiction that I was startled when my son recommended to me this science fiction gem. Perhaps he could see that my nonfiction-focused brain needed a good airing-out.
A lot of my reading in 2024 served as research for my next book. I couldn’t resist broader material, though, and I’m listing the best of my discoveries here. I’d love to hear about books you’ve read in the past year that will stick with you, so please leave a comment with titles to share.
The Hare with Amber Eyes: a Family’s Century of Art and Loss by Edmund DeWaal. This one was an extraordinary surprise to me. I discovered it in a review in the Wall Street Journal, of all places. The hare of De Waal’s title is a small figurine, part of a collection of miniature sculptures known as netsuke. The first owners of the collection were DeWaal’s ancestors, a family of European Jews of Russian heritage. Generations of the family added pieces here and there, leading to a collection of more than 200 netsuke. DeWaal’s grandparents were dispossessed by Nazis, yet the exquisite little netsuke escaped notice. How they were cached and later restored to a new generation is an incredible story that I won’t spoil for you. DeWaal has written a memorable history of family, culture, and art.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Tenth-grade English nearly ruined Dickens for me, as I slogged my way through a term paper on the aptly-named Hard Times. Half a century later, I picked up Great Expectations, and was quickly absorbed in the story of young Pip and his coming of age. I had heard of a few of the characters, including Pip, Miss Havisham (who has provided chilling material for an actress or two), and Estella. Joe Gargery, though, was new to me – dear Joe, who is surely among Dickens’s most moving and appealing characters.
Crossing the Threshold of Hope by Pope St. John Paul II. This was my companion at Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for a few months, as I read and meditated on a chapter at a time. John Paul’s words about prayer, belief in God, and spiritual courage are inspiring. I love the way the book came to be: an Italian journalist’s planned interview with the Pope had to be cancelled at the last minute. The journalist gave the Pope a written list of the questions he had intended to ask, hardly daring to hope that anything would come of them. A few months later, the Pope sent his written replies to every single question, along with his blessing for the journalist to do as he saw fit with the material.
Saints and Social Justice: a Guide to Changing the World by Brandon Vogt. I found this one in the course of research for my current book project on the challenges of Catholic citizenship. Vogt grounds social justice firmly in the Gospel, and he uses the lives and work of familiar people – Mother Teresa, Pope John Paul II, Dorothy Day – to illustrate how deep Christian faith can animate work for authentic justice and human dignity.
A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko. You knew I had to get a hiking book in here, didn’t you? This one’s a five-star treat, conveying far more than an account of the author’s trek through the length of the Grand Canyon. Fedarko weaves together stories of people and place into a single moving narrative that would have seemed disjointed from the pen of a lesser writer. I’ve never read a more accessible account of the physical features of the Grand Canyon. Furthermore, Fedarko illuminates the cultures, history, and current challenges of the people whose lives and heritage are tied to the region. He and his companion, a photojournalist, learned early just how dependent any canyon traveler must be on others with more experience.
May your own book list in 2025, however short or long, be filled with things that feed your soul and delight your imagination. When you find something wonderful, be sure to share it.
This post will be added to the Open Book linkup hosted at My Scribbler’s Heart and Catholicmom.com.
header photo: kaboompics.com
Ellen Kolb 