77 Comments

This is such an excellent list! I have been meaning to read My Antonia for a while (its on my shelf). I also love the addition of memoir. I may join you for a few others. I am currently working on my reading plan/goals for 2024. As always, your newsletter entertains and makes me think!

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Thanks, Shayne! I’m really looking forward to 2024! Let us know what you come up with for your reading goals for the year.

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I just finished it on Audible. I enjoyed it very much. Beautiful prose about Nebraska landscape, storyline that kept me hooked, and insight into immigrant life in early 20th century that I was oblivious too. I want to know now how many of those people ended up losing everything in the Dust Bowl! I have O Pioneers on my bookshelf and will hopefully crack it open in 2024. I don't have a plan.

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I’m really looking forward to it. Just got my copy for my birthday!

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Many years!

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Thanks!

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Happy birthday!

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Why, thank you!

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Could you share how you manage your days and weeks, family demands, writing, and carve out dedicated time for reading? How does this look for you?

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Here’s a start: https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/9-tips-to-read-more-books

I usually get up at 5 which gets me a couple of mostly uninterrupted hours in the morning to read and write. I also read every night and sometimes over midday breaks in the week when it makes sense. I usually read a few more hours on top of that Saturday and Sunday.

One trick is that I’ve always got several books going at any given time so when I have time to read, I’m rarely wondering about what to read—I’m just reading. I also include audiobooks in the mix and limit my podcast consumption to just a few weekly shows; when I’m walking about half that available time ends up going to audiobooks.

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Your day sounds a lot like mine Joel! I use audiobooks on my commutes and walks as well. Always have 2-4 books going at once.

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Reading multiple books at once is probably the best strategy I know. You never get bogged down or bored. When you hit a patch you’re wearied by or find uninteresting for whatever reason, you can just bounce and come back when you’re ready for another go. https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/actually-try-reading-several-books-at-once

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Wilder's Bridge is wonderful and I think underrated. He does such a great job of creating a world.

Thanks for the list, which sparked some ideas for me. I've tried Middlemarch a few times. Maybe this will be its year for me, too!

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I’m really looking forward to Middlemarch, though the length has me a bit anxious.

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I used to be a chronic reader - and then I got to high school and literature became a tedious subject instead of an enjoyable pastime. Now in my third year of college, I still haven't regained my reading habit but perhaps 2024 will be the year.

Some of those titles were assigned reading in high school. I hope to revisit them without a teacher checking over my shoulder to see if I've made enough annotations.

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I wrote a bit of something on that: https://www.millersbookreview.com/p/back-to-school-with-augustine

I don’t think I would have enjoyed all that I read this year when I was a teen. It helps to have some years on you.

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I’m looking forward to following along this year. I definitely agree with My Antonia over O Pioneers. Both are good books, but My Antonia covers a broader time in a deeper way. It definitely hits the mark of drawing the reader into another one’s world in a way that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. It is always almost miraculous to see these other worlds but also to see how much we have in common with those in this other time and place.

I’m hoping to read along some of the books. The reviews are always great. The review here on Kristen Lavandsdattar persuaded me to read these books one after the other. I kept hearing about these books but could not imagine being getting through these books. Joel’s review both encouraged and persuaded me. I never looked back. I may even finally finish Middlemarch!

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Thanks for the encouragement. I’m buying some of the upcoming books now—getting very excited!

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Good luck! I remain totally random in my reading - far too influenced by a cover - but one of these days I shall get organised and read all that stuff I've missed.

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2023 was my first year setting a reading goal. I only preselected 12 books precisely because I like to follow my whims. Selecting 24 this year is the most regimented I’ve ever even thought of being. The only book that unnerves me a bit is Middlemarch. I’m sure I’ll love it but reading a book that massive on a schedule will require actual planning—something I do very little of with my reading.

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Joel! I'm listening to Middlemarch in the car, while walking the dog, washing dishes, and more recently crocheting Xmas gifts: 32 hours total of listening. Just occurred to me that knowing the Audible time might help in figuring out what's achievable in a month of at least planning an average number of hours to read in a day? Curious on your thoughts. I'm on chapter 9, 30 hours left!

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I’m certain I’ll need the audiobook to get it whacked. Life’s too full right now to imagine tackling that with print alone.

Reading a beast in print alone has two potential drawbacks. The first is that the book is too big to easily take everywhere—you lose the marginal reading time that makes tackling book a breeze. The second is that if you hit a rough patch or lose steam, you’ve got no help pulling you through. An audiobook can help with both of those problems.

And you’re right: The hour count helps with rough planning. Otherwise, I’m counting pages, and while I read pretty fast that’s a highly imperfect method for calculating an ETA on the finish.

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This is true. I listen to a ton of audiobooks and love having that certain timeframe to expect. (Otherwise, I'm a very, very slow reader of written text - so reading a book can easily drag on forever.)

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I read Middlemarch for the first time in 2022. It could be a bit of a slog at times but it was so, so worth the read!! I loved the way Eliot "landed the plane" at the end. What kept me reading at times was trying to figure out how she was going to tie it all together to end the story, and I thought she did it beautifully. I plan on re-reading it in the near future!

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I’m looking forward to it. And comments like this make me anticipate it all the more!

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I've started Middlemarch many times, but never finished it. Best is just over half way.

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Maybe this will be the year!

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I'm going through the audio version, narrated by Juliet Stevenson. Phenomenal performance and experience.

Audiobooks are the only way I'm able to get to many books these days with 3 very little kids... so if you're into/open that medium I would highly recommend it for Middlemarch!

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It’s all about finding what works for you in whatever season you’re in.

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Thanks, I've thought about it a few times. I'm not very good with audiobooks - I can't seem to listen and do something else at the same time....and I feel somehow guilty if I'm listening and not doing anything else...

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I’ve listened with the book in hand a few times. You might try that.

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Your enthusiasm for exploration and the depth of understanding through literature is infectious! How you articulate the profound impact of fiction on broadening my own experiences is compelling. Your commitment to delving into classic novels and memoirs to understand diverse perspectives and different times is inspiring. Your choices reflect a rich tapestry of narratives, inviting me to connect with varied lives beyond my reading boundaries. I am looking forward to reading more; thank you.

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Thanks, Jon! Reviewing the books is almost as fun as reading them!

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What a list! This is very inspiring. I'm curious: what tipped the scale against Wodehouse?

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Nothing in particular. There were just too many great books; I had to bump something. I do think I still might sneak it in. I was just looking at it on my nightstand earlier today :)

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You're in for a treat!

"It suddenly struck me so forcibly, one morning while I was having my bath, that I hadn’t a worry on earth that I began to sing like a bally nightingale as I sploshed the sponge about. It seemed to me that everything was absolutely for the best in the best of all possible worlds.

"But have you ever noticed a rummy thing about life? I mean the way something always comes along to give it you in the neck at the very moment when you’re feeling most braced about things in general. No sooner had I dried the old limbs and shoved on the suiting and toddled into the sitting-room than the blow fell. There was a letter from Aunt Agatha on the mantelpiece."

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"We demand windows." - love that quote! Wonderful intro and great selections for the new year. I will aim to join in on the Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse Five, and Middlemarch (still finishing a Canticle for Leibowitz just now). Also happy to see you picked up on the Steinbeck suggestion.

Now I'll just need to move my get up time back to 5 am and start reading....

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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Merry Christmas to you and yours, Ruth!

I almost put Leibowitz on the list this year. I might still sneak it in.

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I love me a list and you’ve made two good ones! Bring on ‘24!

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Yeah, I’m pretty jazzed about it!

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Joel - great list and I think you have a fantastic year of reading ahead. I am looking forward to your reviews. I am about halfway through My Antonia right now and really enjoying it. I read O Pioneers awhile back and loved it so figured this would be as good and it is. I think you can't go wrong with either choice.

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Good news there. I’m looking forward to it. And you never know: I might throw O Pioneers in as well.

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You should definitely throw in O Pioneers. It's a pretty quick read.

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Thanks for the prod!

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Fantastic post! I appreciate you sharing the list because maybe I can work some of them in at the same time. And I'm so with you on all the reasons for why we need to read or create for that matter. Our internal lives require so much more than the external time-bound, place-bound world can offer.

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Yes! Stepping out of ourselves a little time each day is one of the best ways to be inhabit those selves a bit more enjoyably and effectively.

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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o - yes! Such a good choice. (And good old Penguin Classics).

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I’m excited to read it!

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I love your lists for fiction & memoir/autobiography. I’ve read many on both lists. I’m planning to revisit some novels I read in childhood & teen years: Jane Eyre, Lady Chatterly’s Lover ( yes I read this in HS!), Manchild in the Promised Land, and The Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man. I’m writing a one person autobiographical show. Obviously, I still remember these books 50 years later! My AP HS English teacher, Mr. Telescky was amazing!

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A great teacher can open up the world.

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The comment I wrote you about A LESSON BEFORE DYING was adapted from an essay I wrote on local fictions posted at Mere Orthodoxy.

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Can you share the link?

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And thanks much for asking. Since you hope to read in December (December: Ernest J. Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying), no spoilers here (Contains Mere Orthodoxy link):

https://sdorman.substack.com/p/living-local-fiction

The link here below, in full, contains a spoiler. Pretty long form.

https://mereorthodoxy.com/living-local-fiction

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The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men, Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes--Looking forward to your takes on these in particular.

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I just started the Franklin autobiography today. It’s great so far.

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