Reading Year in Review - 2022

Happily I am well out of the slump that I had during the pandemic and read quite a bit this year. Here are the highlights...

Best Contemporary Fiction: Gentleman in Moscow. I usually ignore popular books, so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this wonderfully told story (reviewed here). 

Best Devotional Classic: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law (reviewed here).

Favorite Vintage Fiction: The last two Lord Peter and Harriet Vane books by Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night and Busman's Honeymoon. (reviewed here and here)

Favorite New Author: Ngaio Marsh. I've only read the first six, and while I did not always enjoy the mystery, I always grew in appreciation for the Shakespeare quoting detective, Roderick Alleyn, and his two sidekicks, Inspector Fox and Nigel Bathgate. A potential romance gets off to a rocky start in Artists in Crime, which I enjoyed very much because it had some Pride and Prejudice vibes.

The Audiobook that Knocked My Socks Off: Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson (review still to come)

Best Non-fiction (and FAVORITE of the year): You Are Not Your Own by Alan Noble (reviewed here).

The other 81 books I read are listed at Goodreads.

What about you? Have you read any of these? What were your favorite books of 2022?

Blessings, 

The One Year Book of Poetry by Philip Comfort

What normally passes for Christian poetry is often syrupy and singsong-y, but The One Year Book of Poetry is a wonderful exception. Its editors have done an excellent job of compiling devotional poems with hardly a touch of saccharine, and their  choices reflect a wonderful variety of styles from various centuries and Christian traditions. The well-known metaphysical poets are included such as John Donne and George Herbert, but there were many new-to-me poets such as Richard Crashaw and Thomas Traherne. The real strength of this book is its poetry for Advent and Lent, which greatly enhanced my thinking and praying during those seasons.

Each daily reading is two pages. One one side is the poem and the other side is a helpful explanation. Some longer poems are broken up into several readings, which is a painless way to learn to appreciate more complex poetry. This approach, however, is what bothered me this time through. Since I'd read this book twice before, I thought I would try to forgo the explanations and just enjoy the poetry. But I quickly noticed that most of the readings could not be understood without additional help. I'm not against helpful commentary, but I realized that this particular book is not an appropriate recommendation for someone who is looking for an introduction to meatier poetry. It requires too much effort.

Earlier this year I read two other poetry compilations: Six Centuries of Great Poetry and Great Poems of the English Language (1936, OoP). Even though I did not understand all the nuances of every poem, I was able to appreciate the rich language and beautiful imagery of most of them without additional commentary. For me, this is the best way to learn to love poetry.

Do you have a poetry book that you love and can recommend? 

Blessings,

Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards

It is not uncommon in anthologies for one or two stories to fall flat, but Silent Night: Christmas Mysteries had good variety and good quality throughout. In addition to well-known authors such as Dorothy Sayers, G.K. Chesterton, and Margery Allingham, there are lesser-known writers such as Marjorie Bowen and Leo Bruce. Edgar Wallace is an author I’ve often seen mentioned, but had never read before. H.C. Bailey, too, has fallen from favor, but Agatha Christie was a big fan of his.

All of the story choices were quite good and most were more suspenseful than I was expecting. Because of my enormous love for all things related to John and Charles Wesley, I got a huge kick out of the mention of their family ghost in Edmund Crispin’s story.

In spite of the title, I would not classify this as a cozy read. I can only remember one story that was light-hearted. An example of the general tone of the stories can be found in this paragraph from “Cambric Tea.” Bevis Holroyd went angrily upstairs; he felt as if an invisible net was being dragged closely round him, something which, from being a cobweb, would become a cable; this air of mystery, of horror in the big house, this sly secretary, these watchful servants, the nervous village doctor ready to credit anything, the lovely agitated woman and the sinister sick man with his diabolic accusations, - a man Bevis had, from the first moment, hated – all these people in these dark surroundings affected the young man with a miasma of apprehension, gloom and dread.

This collection is part of the British Library Crime Classics. Some writers from the golden age of detective fiction have not held up well, but after this anthology I’d be willing to trust any book put together by Martin Edwards.

Blessings,