These are all wonderful books I read this year. I’ve grouped them loosely by folks who might want to read them. A few are my “five star” reads, but I don’t want to sway you. I will say my top three, if forced to pick, were Catching the Big Fish, Braiding Sweetgrass, and Memoirs of a Geisha. While not in my top three, I will say that Kim Newman is one of my favorite writers & I’ve read multiple books by him.
I’ve put a dollar sign next to the books I plan to (or did) buy. There are two comic books/graphic novels, starred. Witches and My Best Friend’s Exorcism are not for the faint of heart. Braiding Sweetgrass & Dirt to Soil both made me cry, in a good way.
For the Creative
Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity—David Lynch
Big Magic—Elizabeth Gilbert $
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft—Stephen King (own)
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy—Jenny Odell
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running—Haruki Murakami
Braiding Sweetgrass—Robin Wall Kimmerer $
For the Romantic
Howl’s Moving Castle—Diana Wynn Jones
The House of Doors—Tan Twan Eng
Memoirs of a Geisha—Arthur Golden
Tokyo Ghost: Complete Edition—Rick Remender & Sean Murphy $*
For the Sleuth
We Solve Murders—Richard Osman
Something More than Night—Kim Newman
The Scarlet Pimpernel—Baroness Orczy
For the Horror Fan
My Best Friend’s Exorcism—Grady Hendrix
For the Gardener
Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Farming—Gabe Brown
Permaculture for the Rest of Us: Abundant Living on Less Than an Acre—Jenni Blackmore
Plant Grow Harvest Repeat: Grow a Bounty of Vegetable, Fruits, and Flowers by Mastering the Art of Succession Planting—Meg Cowden $
The One Straw Revolution—Masanobu Fukuoka $
For the History Buff
Witches: The History of a Persecution—Nigel Cawthorne
Man's Search for Meaning—Viktor E. Frankl $
For the Fantasy Fan
Saga: Compendium One— Brian K. Vaughn & Fiona Staples $*
The Tiffany Aching books—Terry Pratchett
The Edinburgh Night Series—T. L. Huchu
I hope you enjoy! I’d love to hear what you think if you read any of these.