It's a bit lame to construct a "best of" list two+ months into the new year, but hey, I am feeling motivated. I keep a pretty detailed reading journal (yes, I am a librarian) and after looking through my entries over the last year, here are my top five favorite books of 2005.
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. J.K. Rowling
Why do I love Harry so much? I can't really explain the power of Harry but I do know that these books celebrate and articulate the power of love, human friendship, wisdom - all in a richly created world that measures up to our own.
2. Gilead. Marilynne Robinson
A simple story - in 1950s, small-town Iowa, an elderly preacher writes a long letter to his young son. The Reverend John Ames knows he is going to die soon, and wants to tell his son what he knows about God and what he knows about life. I cannot stress how beautiful Gilead is - how simple and precise the prose and story, but how powerful it is, how much it resonates with me. Life is heartbreakingly beautiful and our God is powerful, grace-giving, and mysterious. Winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.
3. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Amy Krause Rosenthal
My only non-fiction favorite, this book is just a bunch of random, encyclopedia-ized entries of Rosenthal's ordinary life - but add up to something so sweet and meaningful, I can't even tell you. Anna Ganske loved this too.
4. On Beauty. Zadie Smith
Zadie Smith loves, respects, admires her characters and *life* spills out onto the page. Written in mind of Forster's Howard's End, On Beauty follow the Belsey family in all of their glory: Howard is British and a professor of art at a fictitious Ivy League college in the East; His wife, Kiki, is an earthy, black woman from Florida; their high school and college-age children, Jerome, Zora, and Levi. The novel is big and messy and full of life and joy and beauty and betrayal.
5. Three Junes. Julia Glass
This barely counts, as I finished it on New Year's Eve...Three Junes is just that: A novel told in three parts, each set in the month of June. The first part follows Paul MacLeod on a guided trip through Greece. Perfect section - recently widowed and open to love with a young American artist. The second June is in 1995 and centers on Fenno MacLeod, a gay man living in New York but home (Scotland) for his father's funeral. The third section follows Fern, the American Artist, now herself recently widowed and pregnant. Fern and Fenno, each afraid of love and living full lives, connect and make sense of their lives in a poignant yet understated way.
About time you had a new entry! Just kidding....it's a little ridiculous how often we check your site. Thanks for the reading ideas. I needed them. And I just have to ask...have you read A Million Little Pieces yet?
Bekah
Posted by: Jeff Hall | February 10, 2006 at 09:34 PM
After receiving two great recommendations-- from you and Missy, I will be picking up Gilead. Thanks for the reading suggestions.
Posted by: Amanda | February 11, 2006 at 08:23 PM
Yay! I loved the first three, too! (Though I still haven't done the needed 2nd read of HP6, as I occasionally feel the need to choke up into a sob at the thought of the end.)
Posted by: missy | February 14, 2006 at 07:08 AM
Andrea! It's so funny/coincidental reading your favorite books. I loved Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, so much so that I began calling Amy "my new best friend." I got a signed copy of the book because i recommended the book to 15 people.
Posted by: Nancy Smith | February 15, 2006 at 11:01 AM