2023 Year in Review: Bookish Edition

What ho, readers all! I thought it might be rather fun to do a little recap/review of new reads/watches for me in 2023 (fortunately I had the good sense to record the media I was consuming for most of the year, which makes that easier). As I wrote this, I realized it would be exceedingly long, so I’m breaking it up into two parts. This part will be my 2023 year in review: bookish edition. Next week I shall put up my 2023 year in review: film edition. Sound good? Lovely.

UPDATE: You can read the film-ish part of this here.

1. By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Whatever are you making, Pa?” Laura asked, and he answered, “Wait and see.”

He heated the tip of the poker red-hot in the stove, and carefully he burned black every alternate little square.

“Curiosity killed a cat, Pa,” Laura said.

“You look pretty healthy,” said Pa.

~

I’d already read all the other Little House books, but this one slipped through the cracks (wiser heads deemed it too distressing when I was little, and I just never got to reading it later), and I finally finished it this January. I love the Little House books…both the earlier and later ones, in different ways. This one is interesting in that it carries Laura through an uncomfortable “in-between” stage – she’s still definitely a child in Plum Creek, and obviously really growing into a woman in The Long Winter, but she’s not quite either in Silver Lake. It isn’t one of my favorite Little House books, but I still enjoyed it.

2. The Cat-Nappers (or Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen) by P.G. Wodehouse

“Lord Chesterfield said that since he had had the full use of his reason nobody had heard him laugh. I don’t suppose you have read Lord Chesterfield’s ‘Letters To His Son’?”

Well, of course I hadn’t. Bertram Wooster does not read other people’s letters. If I were employed in the post office I wouldn’t even read the postcards.

~

Sadness…this was the very last Jeeves and Wooster book. Now they are all done (except for Ring for Jeeves, which was rather a wash-out in a couple of respects (like how about NOT EVEN INCLUDING BERTIE HIMSELF) and which I never bothered finishing). This is one that I really liked when I looked back on it after finishing it, but which annoyed me in spots while reading. I think one of the things I liked about it was the atmospheric quality – there was such a quiet, peaceful, sunny feeling to the village of Maiden Eggesford, and the fact that very few of the dramatis personae were familiar faces to the reader gave it a sort of fresh clean feel. And of course there was the hilarity and hijinks and adorableness that are an essential part of the J&W universe.

But it did rather feel like Vanessa Cook and Orlo Porter were just exaggerated carbon copies of Lady Florence and Stilton Cheesewright, and I remember at least once feeling that the narration seemed a bit forced (though P.G. was in his nineties when he wrote this, so I’m willing to cut him some slack there). But one of the things that bothered me the most is the premise of the story, that Bertie’s health is suffering due to his “man-about-town” lifestyle, and that if he isn’t careful he could suffer a breakdown. I didn’t like this at all. It sort of felt like the implicit assumption throughout the series is that Bertie and Jeeves live in a separate universe from ours, in which there may be the threat of bad things happening, but you know they’ll never actually happen. To actually have Bertie suffering health problems seemed to be cheating and breaking that rule. I don’t want to have to feel worried every time Bertie has a drink, for goodness’ sake!

But all that being said, I still enjoyed this quite a lot. It’s P.G. Wodehouse. It’s Jeeves and Wooster. How could I not?

3. Manalive by G.K. Chesterton

“I am going to hold a pistol to the head of the Modern Man. But I shall not use it to kill him–only to bring him to life.”

~

This was…quite a wild ride. I liked it…? I think? Yes, I did like it. I’m not quite sure how much I agree and how much I don’t, but I liked it. It’s rather cerebral, though. Really makes you think, doesn’t it, Jeeves? (Indeed it does, sir.)

I think – and this is often the case with Chesterton for me, I believe – that I agree with his basic idea, but not to the extent that he takes it. (Although that may be intentional; I think we can all agree that Chesterton is not above some exaggeration for effect.)

I remember having a lot of Thoughts about this when I read it, but that was almost a year ago and you can’t really expect me to remember Deep Thoughts for a whole year, can you? So I think I’d better wait to edify you with my thoughts until I’ve refreshed my memory and can dedicate an entire blog post to them.

4. Here We All Are by Tomie de Paola

The next day at school I said I was sorry to Miss Immick and Johnny Gregory. I did it when no one else could hear me, though. I guess I was only a little sorry.

~

My mom picked this up at the thrift store, since we all like Tomie de Paola and she thought it looked cute. And it was cute. It’s an autobiographical sort of book, but written for children and about when Tomie was a child. (Looking it up now, apparently he wrote a whole series of such books and this was #2…hmm, good to know.)

5. Graced and Gifted: Biblical Wisdom for the Homemaker’s Heart by Kimberly Hahn

“Relationships are at the heart of homemaking.”

~

This was a present last Christmas from my dear mother, as she knew I liked homemaking. While I do like homemaking, this book didn’t really do a whole lot for me (though no blame should be attached to my mother, as she had not read the book and could not speak to its merit). You know how, especially with spiritual books, some authors just don’t “click” with you, and you don’t feel like you get that much out of it? This book was like that for me. I just didn’t feel like it gave me much in the way of new information. But Such is Life.

6. Holiness for Everyone by Eric Sammons

A son or daughter of a king is uniquely privileged — but bears a demanding load of responsibility as a result of his or her lineage. Just so, as children of God, we are called to act in accord with our nobility. Humble submission to the will of our Father will mark us as true children.

~

I already wrote a mini-review of this book here.

7. Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott

“Prosperity suits some people, and they blossom best in a glow of sunshine; others need the shade, and are the sweeter for a touch of frost.”

~

Mm…I didn’t care for this one. I liked its predecessor, Little Men (although I always have some issues with Louisa May Alcott – mostly due to her lack of subtlety), but this one fell rather flat. Nan was no longer cute but just extremely annoying, the ending felt extremely abrupt and unsatisfactory and as though Louisa were just sick of them all, and call me a silly romantic, but I wanted something more satisfying in way of an ending for Dan. I think I’ll just not count this one as canon, because I Don’t Like It and it honestly didn’t really feel like Louisa liked it much either.

8. A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus

The librarian chuckled. “I suppose there are rather a lot of orphan stories out there.”

“Why do grown-ups write so many of them?” William asked.

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Mrs. Müller confessed. “Perhaps they think children fancy the notion of living on their own, without adults to tell them what to do. It’s quite daft, if you think about it, isn’t it?”

~

This is one of the only – actually, make that the only – recently-written fiction book on this list, and is another one I discovered through my mom. It was quite cute. It’s set in World War II, and the premise is that the main characters have just lost their grandmother, their only relative. So the family lawyer gets the brilliant (not) idea of just sending them to the country with the other evacuees and hoping that somebody there will want to keep them permanently, since they have no guardian to stay with anymore.

The book was a little bit unpolished, and there were some unclear bits or bits which could have used more subtlety. But I think (? Don’t quote me on this) it was the author’s first book, so we can cut her some slack. Also – I know this sounds horribly snobbish and I apologize – but that’s something I’ve noticed in modern literature in general, not just in this book…so no need to blame this particular book too harshly.

9. Sanditon, The Watsons, and Jane Austen’s Juvenilia, Fragments, Poems, & Prayers

“She has many rare and charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them.”

~

This was a compilation thingamajig, and I’m not actually clear on if it included all of Jane Austen’s juvenilia and fragments or not, but there were certainly a lot. It also included cool things like honest commentary on Jane’s books from family and friends…some of which was rather funny (like a Mrs. Dickson who disliked Emma the more for there being Dixons in it, or someone who was convinced that Miss Bates was based on someone they knew). I think Sanditon and The Watsons could have been very interesting if they’d been finished (especially Sanditon) and the juvenilia was…quite interesting. Much of it seemed to be parodying the melodramatic style which I believe was common at the time, so the death count could get pretty high.

10. Lady Susan by Jane Austen

“There is something agreeable in feelings so easily worked on; not that I envy him their possession, nor would, for the world, have such myself; but they are very convenient when one wishes to influence the passions of another.”

~

This was quite an interesting and engaging read, although very frustrating. It’s a very unusual Austen story in two respects: 1) it is written in a completely epistolary form and 2) the main character – Lady Susan – is the villain of the story. Hence the frustration. Seeing her twist almost everyone around her little finger while we, the readers, know what a despicable little blighteress she is can get annoying. I also felt very sorry SPOILERS for the poor fellow she married, who deserved far better – he may not have been super bright, but at least he wasn’t a total flaming jerk like Lady Susan was – and for whats-his-face…the husband of Lady Susan’s friend/accomplice. He was one of the few people in the story who had any sense; how on earth did he end up married to such a stinker? END SPOILERS

11. The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare

“Though I am not naturally honest, I am sometimes so by chance.”

~

This was not Willy’s best effort. The climax is so improbable it’s not even funny, and while I get that it’s likely not meant to be probable (as it’s a comedy) I repeat: it’s not even funny. Like, the whole play is not. And a comedy should be. What bugged me most of all was that SPOILERS if Leontes was so sorry for what he did and its consequences for years and years, WHY DID THEY JUST KEEP HIS WIFE IN HIDING ALL THAT TIME AND LET HIM THINK SHE WAS DEAD?? WERE THEY JUST TRYING TO TORTURE THE POOR MAN? And whats-her-face…Perdita? was so so annoying and passive aggressive and extremely unlikable. (Oh, and her happy ending was just “eh, yeah, your husband was killed by a bear, but you can just marry another lord, so it’s all good”?? Hurray?? I guess??) END SPOILERS

Oh, and the only “comic” character was a con who was perhaps even more annoying than Perdita (if that’s possible).

So…yes. Issues. Didn’t enjoy.

12. A Few Lines to Tell You: My Life in Carmel by Sister Marie

“Pax Christi! This is a heading with which Carmelites often start their letters. How fitting it is! Peace, Christ’s peace emanates from the Cloister to fill weary souls – to encourage struggling souls. We live in an atmosphere of peace and strive, by our prayers, to make others feel the same.”

~

(This is one that I had definitely started before, but I don’t remember if I ever actually finished it before, so I’m counting it as a new read.) This is a very sweet little book. It is comprised of the real life letters of a girl from the late ’50s to her family on entering the Carmelite cloister. Sister Marie on the one hand seems very much like a normal girl – her girlish zeal and excitement and numerous mistakes are very relatable – but is also obviously very devoted to following Christ and trying to do her best for Him. And it’s so interesting to read about what cloistered life was like in the ’50s.

Also, I admit that if anything is from the ’50s I’m more likely to like it. Call it a weakness if you will.

13. Blessed Miguel Pro by Ann Ball

“Here in the midst of the vortex I am amazed by the special aid of God, the very special graces He grants us in such perils, and how His Presence is now more intimately felt when discouragement comes to make our souls smaller.”

~

I mentioned this book in my All Saints’ Day mini book reviews post here.

14. A Man for Others: Maxmilian Kolbe by Patricia Treese

“Pray that I will love without any limits,” he had written to his mother when still in his twenties. That prayer, feel those who know him, has been abundantly answered. They point to Kolbe’s turning the Franciscan friary he founded into a hospice for displaced Polish Jews, gentiles, and German invaders alike, with a sense of brotherhood that simply did not include the words “enemy” or “unlovable” in its vocabulary.

~

I mentioned this book in my All Saints’ Day mini book reviews post here.

15. Being Logical by D.Q. McInerny

Bad ideas do not just happen. We are responsible for them. They result from carelessness on our part, when we cease to pay sufficient attention to the relational quality of ideas, or, worse, are a product of the willful rejection of objective facts.

~

This is one that I had to read for school. Its purpose is – as hinted at in the title – to give a basic outline of how to think logically and coherently. It does a good job of this, I think, and is easy to read, as well. The author says that he wants to do for logic what The Elements of Style does for writing, which brings me to…

16. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

~

Another one required for school. There was a lot of good, solid advice – such as the above quote – and I have more than once used it for reference as whether to use “that” or “which” in a sentence. I didn’t agree with everything, however, and I think that some of the advice was more the authors airing their opinions than anything. (I also did find it a little interesting that the book states that “by the time this paragraph sees print, psyched, nerd, ripoff, dude, geek, and funky will be the words of yesteryear” when, twenty years later, none of those words have become words of yesteryear.)

I don’t want to sound too derogatory, though, since this book was very useful and a lot of it was good. It just wasn’t perfect, that’s all.

17. Finish by Jon Acuff

This is the first lie that perfectionism tells you about goals: Quit if it isn’t perfect.

~

(This is one that I listened to as a read-aloud…and another one I heard chunks of before, but I don’t recall if I ever heard the whole thing before.) I would call this book tolerably good. It had some good advice, but I think it was much longer than it needed to be, considering what you were getting. Jon Acuff is one of those sorts who likes to display his coolness by shoving in a lot pop culture references and humorous anecdotes, which there’s nothing wrong with, but it can get a Bit Much sometimes. (Also, no offense to the chap whatsoever, but he is the sort who, in my opinion, thinks he’s a little funnier than he actually is.)

18. Transforming Our Days: Finding God Amid the Noise of Modern Life by Richard R. Gaillardetz

Many of us are concerned about the moral issues presented by modern technology. …. Yet, as we debate these important issues, we often overlook the more profound ways in which modern technology shapes our daily lives in the form of notebook computers, video games, cell phones, PDAs, i-pods, and microwave ovens.

~

If memory serves, I believe this book was a sort of expansion of a thesis or some such that the author had done. It was pretty good, I think. A big focus of the book is finding God in our daily lives, and on the importance of communal activities which bring us together. Technology can tend to have an isolating effect, sometimes through the very fact of its adding convenience. I’ve been researching the effects of digital media a goodish bit recently for a school thingamajig, and I definitely think that a lot of thought should be put into our consumption of digital media, and if its pros outweigh its cons in how it affects our mental processes, spirituality, etc. (she says, as she types a blog post on her laptop…whoops).

19. Bleak House by Charles Dickens

“There were two classes of charitable people: one, the people who did a little and made a great deal of noise; the other, the people who did a great deal and made no noise at all.”

~

Sort of liked it? I wrote a full review of Bleak House here.

20. All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot

It took me longer than I thought and it seemed to me that the calf was beginning to lose patience with me because when its head was forced out by the cow’s contractions we were eye to eye and I fancied the little creature was giving me a disgusted “For heaven’s sake get on with it” look.

~

I’ve known a lot of the stories from the James Herriot books from pretty much as far back as I can remember, but this is the first time I actually read the whole second book through myself. Very cozy, funny, and charming, of course. And rather emotional, on more than one occasion. Especially the last couple chapters.

“Bob pushed open the taxi door and I threw my bag in before looking up over the ivy-covered brick of the old house to our little room under the tiles. Helen was in the window. She was crying. When she saw me she waved gaily and smiled, but it was a twisted smile as the tears flowed. And as we drove round the corner and I swallowed the biggest ever lump in my throat a fierce resolve welled in me; men all over the country were leaving their wives and I had to leave Helen now, but nothing, nothing, nothing would ever get me away from her again.”

UGH MY HEART.

21. The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis by Pierre de Cointet, Barbara Morgan, and Petroc Willey

The underlying thesis and conviction of this small book, then, is that the Catechism of the Catholic Church not only offers us a new, definitive account for our time of the contents of the Catholic Faith; its value for the catechist lies more broadly in the pedagogy that informs every page. Those participating in the teaching mission of the Church can learn from the Catechism not only what is the Deposit of Faith but also how to receive and to hand on that deposit in a truly ecclesial way.

~

This was another school book. I’m not quite sure what I can say about it…it was good. It had good insights. It felt a little dense in spots, but that could have just been the fault of my wandering, day-dreaming attention span.

22. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

And now she had learnt that not only to will, but also to pray, was a necessary condition in the truly heroic.

~

I enjoyed it! I wrote a full review of it here.

23. I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy

Love means equality — the same height of heroism or of sin. When Love stoops to pity, he has ceased to soar in the boundless space, that rarefied atmosphere wherein man feels himself made at last truly in the image of God.

~

Ehh…not as good as The Scarlet Pimpernel. I was rather disappointed, because in the first chapter Paul was an interesting character and the premise of Juliette’s oath was certainly an interesting plot point, but after that Paul became completely bland and uninteresting, and his and Juliette’s romance was extremely uncompelling to me. The action was exciting, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more if there were good characterization to go along with it.

24. Something Fresh by P.G. Wodehouse

Science, with a thousand triumphs to her credit, has not yet succeeded in discovering the correct reply for a young man to make who finds himself in the appalling position of being apologized to by a pretty girl.

~

This was pretty dang cute. I had read (and very much enjoyed) Fish Preferred (or Summer Lightning) before, which is a later entry in the Blandings Castle series; Something Fresh was the first Blandings book.

You can tell this is early Wodehouse – it’s not quite as manically funny as some of his later books, and verges a little more into sentimentality than usual – but it’s still pretty funny, and quite cute. And I must say, I was actually impressed SPOILERS with Aline and George’s romance. I’m kind of used to Wodehouse romances not being terribly deep, but in this case it actually was…it was when George stopped being arrogant and over-confident and was humble, truthful and vulnerable that he and Aline were actually able to have a relationship. I liked that. END SPOILERS And any book involving Lord Emsworth and the Efficient Baxter can’t be that bad. That’s just logic.

25. Ingenue to Icon by Howard Vincent Kurtz

This one was a Christmas present. It’s more a fashion journal than a book per se – it’s about Marjorie Merriweather Post, but mostly about her wardrobe. It does give a lot of background about her life, too, which was quite interesting (if rather messy in spots) – she was the daughter of C.W. Post (the bloke with the cereal company), she was an heiress, a businesswoman, a philanthropist, and at one point the wife of an ambassador. But her gorgeous wardrobe – all the way from the Edwardian era to the ’60s and ’70s – is kind of the point of the book.

Here are a few pictures:

26. Heroic Living by Chris Lowney

Our religious traditions often provide unparalleled wisdom but no straightforward approach for weaving that wisdom through daily life. My thousand-page Bible, for all its riches, is not a strategy. Our spiritual traditions provide answers but also leave us with an increasingly vexing question: how do I connect my deepest beliefs to what I do all week at work and at home?

~

This was an interesting one. It’s sort of trying to mix Ignatian spirituality with a business approach to goal-setting to help readers live intentionally and in a way that will really reflect their beliefs and values. It was fairly good, I’d say, though I didn’t agree with everything, and the author’s style grated on me every once in a while.

27. Heavy Weather by PG. Wodehouse

“Does this miserable pig mean more to you than your nephew’s whole future?”

“Of course it does,” said Lord Emsworth, surprised at the foolish question.

~

Another Christmas present. This was a direct sequel to the aforementioned Fish Preferred, and although I still think FP was superior in a few ways, Heavy Weather was a very fun time. It has pretty much the same cast as FP, which I liked, since I’d grown fond of that cast of characters. It does also happen to boast what I think must be the most genuinely nasty female character Wodehouse created (Lady Julia, namely), but it also contains Sue Brown, who is probably my favorite female Wodehouse character; she’s intelligent, plucky, and sweet without being silly. It’s a shame that Sue is paired with one of my least favorite Wodehouse heroes – I think that when Wodehouse tries to give his heroes more intelligence, they sometimes just end up less endearing – but Such is Life.

Well, that’s that for my 2023 year in review: bookish edition! Congratulations if you’ve actually read this whole thing; you deserve a couple hundred attention span points. Have you read any of my new finds of 2023? What are the best books you’ve discovered this year?