One of the favorite parts of the year are here. The Christmas lights are twinkling. There is magic in the air. I get to go back and revel in the books that have made it so. Some books evoke a feeling, and trying to capture that is a joy in itself.
Hindsight is our finest instrument for discerning the patterns of our lives. To look back on a year of reading, a year of writing, is to discover a secret map of the mind, revealing the landscape of living — after all, how we spend our thoughts is how we spend our lives.
This year, I get the strange sense of being in a floating Universe. I seem to have whizzed past centuries reading things in the past, zoomed and ducked out of alternate worlds with all the science fiction and fantasy adventures, while being thoroughly grounded in making sense of today’s world with its AI, and its technological advances.
I get the familiar sense of time slipping through the sieve with extra large holes once again, but then, will it always be like this? I hope so, for in its speed lies its charm.
Here are some of the notable ones – I find the neat classifications all being thrown out – every year, I seem to have a different classification system and therein lies the charm. Nothing is immutable and all that.
I also see that I have dozens of unfinished posts for some of these books that have never made it to the blog. Oh well! I need to take inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson I suppose.
“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.” ― Robert Louis Stevenson
Peek back into time:
- A Sense of Life – Antoine Saint Exupery
- The thrifty guide to medieval times : a handbook for time travelers – Jonathan W Stokes, Illustrated by Xavier Bonet
- History Flashers – Plagues and Pandemics – By Kate Messner, Illustrated by Falynn Koch
- Case closed? : nine mysteries unlocked by modern science / written by Susan Hughes ; illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier
- The Worst Children’s Jobs in History – Tony Robinson
The World Around Us:
- Embroideries – Marjane Satrapi (Iranian women and generational wisdom)
- What the Elephant Knows – Eric Dinerstein (into the forests of Nepal)
“The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest (people) of the past centuries.” ― René Descartes
Non-Fiction:
- Lives of the Musicians – Good Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought) – By Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
- Flights of fancy : defying gravity by design & evolution / Richard Dawkins ; illustrated by Jana Lenzova
- Around the world in 80 plants – Jonathan Drori, Illustrated by Lucille Clerc
- Putting the Science in Science Fiction – compiled by Dan Cobolt – Brilliant – sections on mental health, nanotechnology, marine life etc
- Life in the Ocean – The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle – By Claire A Nivola (Author of Planting the Trees of Kenya) – Booklegger award
- The Vocation of a Novelist – Haruki Murakami on Writing
Beautiful & Informative:
- Nanoscale – visualising an invisible world – Kenneth S Deffeyes, Stephen E Deffeyes
- Atlas of the Invisible – James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti
- A celebration of Beatrix Potter : art and letters by more than 30 of today’s favorite children’s book illustrators
- In the woods / David Elliott ; illustrated by Rob Dunlavey
Alternate Worlds/ Science Fiction/Magic:
- The Three-Body Problem – By Cixin Liu, Translated by Ken Liu
- Malamander – Thomas Taylor
- The Apothecary : By Maile Meloy (Booklegger)
- Many Worlds of Albie Bright – Christopher Edge
- Crane Husband – Kelly BarnHill
- Harry Potter Universe (All the Young Dudes – both from @MsKingBean89 & @RollerCoasterWords – Remus and Sirius perspectives of the Marauders’ Era, and a few books of Harry Potter series themselves) 🐺Moony 🌷, 🐀Wormtail ❄️, 🐕🦺Padfoot 🍁 & 🦌Prongs 🍀
- The twelve topsy-turvy, very messy days of Christmas / James Patterson and Tad Safran
- The House on the Cerulean Sea – T J Klune
Tech Tech:
- Impromptu : Amplifying our humanity through AI and GPT-4 – Reid Hoffman
- The Age of AI and our Human Future – Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher
- Do/Design : Why Beauty is Key to everything – Alan Moore
Inspirations:
- Vincent and Theo – The Van Gogh Brothers – By Deborah Heiligman, Phil Fox, et al.
- On the Move – Oliver Sacks
- Maggie Smith : a biography / Michael Coveney
- Just Jerry – How Drawing Shaped my Life – Jerry Pinkney
- Teddy : the remarkable tale of a president, a cartoonist, a toymaker and a bear / James Sage, Lisk Feng
- Listen to the Echoes – Interviews of Ray Bradbudy – By Sam Weller
Books that ought to be classified as warm cups of tea 🙂
- News from Thrush Green – Miss Read
- The White Lady – by Jacqueline Winspear
- Much Obliged Jeeves – P G Wodehouse
- A Song of Comfortable Chairs – Alexander McCall Smith
- What would Maisie Do? – Jacqueline Winspear
“Some books are so familiar that reading them is like being home again.” ― Louisa May Alcott
- In a Jar – Deborah Marker
- Grandude’s Green Submarine – Paul McCartney Illustrated by Kathryn Durst – brilliantly written and illustrated
- If I had a Gryphon – Vikki VanSickle, illustrated by Cale Atkinson
- The Mermaid’s Purse – a book on the love for books and libraries
- Once upon a Goat – quirky fable on a king and queen asking for a kid who has golden hair, soft curls
- By the light of the moon – by Frann Preston Gannee
- Mabel a Mermaid Fable
- Dozens more 🙂
I hope 2024 continues to be as varied and inspirational in its moments of magic and learning for all of us! I shall put in a comment the complete list of books. I only put in a few in the post here.
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”
Dr. Seuss
Happy Reading!
Nourish-n-Cherish 
A Sense of Life – Antoine Saint Exupery
Oversimplified – Quick History – Napoleonic Wars (Youtube video)
All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction – Years 1-4 – By @MsKingBean89
All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction – Years 5-7 – By @MsKingBean89
All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction – Mischief Managed – By @MsKingBean89
All my heart is a compass – Deborah Marcero
In a jar – Deborah Marcero
Out of a jar – Deborah Marcero
Nanoscale – visualising an invisible world – Kenneth S Deffeyes, Stephen E Deffeyes
Science Verse – Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
Listen to the Echoes – Interviews of Ray Bradbudy – By Sam Weller
The music of life – Louis Thomas
The thrifty guide to medieval times : a handbook for time travelers – Jonathan W Stokes, Illustrated by Xavier Bonet
How to be happy at work : the power of purpose, hope and friendships – Annie McKee
Harry Potter and Philosophy – Hogwarts for Muggles – Edited by Gregory Bassham (Destiny n the Wizarding World – powerful essay)
News from Thrush Green – Miss Read
Flights of fancy : defying gravity by design & evolution / Richard Dawkins ; illustrated by Jana Lenzova
All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction -Sirius’s perspective – By @RollerCoasterWords – Years 5-7
All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction -Sirius’s perspective – By @RollerCoasterWords – Years 1-4
@All the Young Dudes – Harry Potter Fan Fiction -Sirius’s perspective – By @RollerCoasterWords – Mischief Managed
Intimations – Zadie Smith
Lives of the Musicians – Good Times, Bad Times (And What the Neighbors Thought) – By Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Kathryn Hewitt
History Flashers – Plagues and Pandemics – By Kate Messner, Illustrated by Falynn Koch
A Mathematician’s Apology – By G H Hardy. Foreword by : C P Snow?
Paint the Wind – Pam Nunoz Ryan (Esperanza Rising author)
The Illustrated Book of Sayings – Curious expressions from around the world – Ella Frances Sanders
Around the world in 80 plants – Jonathan Drori, Illustrated by Lucille Clerc
Ear Worm – Shimmy Shimmy no Sashay – Illustrated by Galia Bernstein , Written by Jo Knowles
Embroideries – Marjane Satrapi
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J K Rowling
Just Jerry – How Drawing Shaped my Life – Jerry Pinkney
Maggie Smith : a biography / Michael Coveney
In Calabria / Peter S. Beagle
The boy and the blue moon / Sara O’Leary ; illustrated by Ashley Crowley
Embrace Your Weird – Felicia Day
Case closed? : nine mysteries unlocked by modern science / written by Susan Hughes ; illustrated by Michael Wandelmaier
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – J K Rowling
The Age of AI and our Human Future – Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher
Malamander – Thomas Taylor
Impromptu : Amplifying our humanity through AI and GPT-4 – Reid Hoffman
The Apothecary : By Maile Meloy (Booklegger)
Envisioning Information – By Edward Tufte
Owl Moon: Jane Yolen (Caldecott)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – J K Rowling
Can Neuroscience change our minds? – Hilary Rose and Steven Rose
The Mermaid’s Purse – a book on the love for books and libraries
The House by the Cerulean Sea – T J Klune
Friends at Thrush Green – Miss Read
On the Move – Oliver Sacks
A Whiff of Pine and a Hint of Skunk – Deborah
Redwoods – by Jason Chin
Albert’s quiet quest / words and pictures by Isabelle Arsenault
The perfect tree / Chloe Bonfield
Teddy : the remarkable tale of a president, a cartoonist, a toymaker and a bear / James Sage, Lisk Feng
Our friend hedgehog : a place to call home/ Lauren Castillo
Galápagos George / Jean Craighead George ; paintings by Wendell Minor
The twelve topsy-turvy, very messy days of Christmas / James Patterson and Tad Safran
The mermaid’s purse / Patricia Polacco
A celebration of Beatrix Potter : art and letters by more than 30 of today’s favorite children’s book illustrators
In the woods / David Elliott ; illustrated by Rob Dunlavey
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Newt Scamander – J K Rowling
What the Elephant Knows – Eric Dinerstein
Crane Husband – Kelly BarnHill
Muggles and magic : J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter – Beahm W George
The Manga Guide to Biochemistry – Masaharu Takemura
Sea Change : a message of the Oceans: Sylvia Earle
The stuff between the stars: Vera Rubin – by Sandra Nickel
The Three-Body Problem – By Cixin Liu, Translated by Ken Liu
Knights Vs Dinosaurs – Matt Phelan
The White Lady – by Jacqueline Winspear
Vincent and Theo – The Van Gogh Brothers – By Deborah Heiligman, Phil Fox, et al.
Much Obliged Jeeves – P G Wodehouse
Putting the Science in Science Fiction – compiled by Dan Cobolt
Return – Aaron Becker
The Star in the Forest – Helen Kellock
Edwina – The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct – Mo Williams
Dateless in America – R K Narayan
Musical Tables – Billy Collins
Atlas of the Invisible – James Cheshire & Oliver Uberti
Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas
Many Worlds of Albie Bright – Christopher Edge .
Poetree – by Shauna LaVay Reynolds Illustrated by Shahrzad Maydani ( a beautiful book of friendship facilitated by a tree that seems to be writing back poems – but is actually another child)
Sea Bear – A Journey for Survival – By Lindsay Moore the Polar Bear swimming in the ocean and ready to teach its cubs the art of navigating the seas.
Once upon a Goat
By the light of the moon – by Frann Preston Gannee
Mabel a Mermaid Fable – By Rowboat Watkins .
The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly – Margereta Magnusson
A Song of Comfortable Chairs – Alexander McCall Smith
What would Maisie Do? – Jacqueline Winspear
Do/Design : Why Beauty is Key to everything – Alan Moore
FanGirl – Rainbow Rowell
Boo-Boos that Changed the World – Booklegger
The Mapping of Love and Death – Jacqueline Winspear
Under World – Journeys to the Depths of the Earth – By Susan Casey
The Worst Children’s Jobs in History – Tony Robinson
Galatea – Madeline Miller
Grandude’s Green Submarine – Paul McCartney Illustrated by Kathryn Durst
If I had a Gryphon – Vikki VanSickle, illustrated by Cale Atkinson
Seal Song – Andrea Spalding & Pascal Milleli
Beneath the Moon – Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from around the world – Yoshi Yoshitani
Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
Life in the Ocean – The Story of Oceanographer Sylvia Earle – By Claire A Nivola (Author of Planting the Trees of Kenya) – Booklegger award
The Vocation of a Novelist – Haruki Murakami on Writing
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J K Rowling