Book #62 of this year was The Labors of Hercules Beal, by Gary D. Schmidt. I mentioned recently that there are a few of Schmidt's books I hadn't read, and this was one of them. Whew, it's so good! Herc is a memorable main character, joining Holling Hoodhood, Doug Sweiteck, Henry Smith and the rest. I'd love to read this one with a class of middle schoolers.
Book #63 was the latest novel by Gaël Faye, Jacaranda. (I read it in French and it looks as though there may not be an English translation yet.) Like his first novel, Petit Pays (Small Country, in English), this one is about the Rwandan genocide, but it goes much more in depth into the repercussions on individuals and the whole country. I really love Faye's work, and I hope he writes much more.
Book #64 was Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles, and Hope Against All Odds, by Craig Keener and Médine Moussounga Keener. When staying with my parents, we attended an event where Mrs. Keener led in prayer, and my dad asked me if I had read this book. I hadn't, but I'm glad I have now. What a wonderful memoir of love and God's faithfulness!
Book #65 was You Are Here, by David Nicholls. Nicholls also wrote One Day, which I read in 2023 (the link is to my review then). The two books are quite similar, and I enjoyed both. This one is about hiking, which I love, so that was also entertaining.
Book #66 was Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway, by Stephanie Duncan Smith. It's a beautiful memoir linking the ecclesiastical year with one family's experiences of loss and birth. "The range of the liturgical story," writes Smith, "becomes for us one of its greatest gifts, expressing the radical empathy of God with us in every human moment -- the I AM incarnate in our joy, fear, sorrow, and surprise. God in every gradient of the color wheel that composes a life." Very much worth reading.
Book #67 was a reread, Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons, by Jan Richardson. I got this with birthday money this year. I'm sure I'll read it many more times. I absolutely love Richardson's poetry.
Book #68 was another reread, Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life, by Tish Harrison Warren. In this post you can see what I wrote about it the first time I read it.
Book #69 was The Arctic Fury, by Greer Macallister. It's billed as a historical novel, but actually it's more of an alternative history. It's about an all-female Arctic expedition that didn't happen, but could have, in the 1850s. It becomes a courtroom drama. It's so well done, and like all good books about such things, it made me shiver as I read it even though it was July and August in the northern hemisphere!
Book #70 was The Stolen Queen, by Fiona Davis. This one was so much fun! It was about Ancient Egypt, and 1970s New York, and the Met.
I had book #71 on my shelf for years in my classroom in Haiti, but I'd never read it. A Single Shard, by Linda Sue Park, won the Newbery Award in 2002. It's a beautiful book, with sensory writing that makes it read like a haiku or maybe a painting. It's a story about a young boy living in extreme poverty who learns about the ancient art of Korean pottery. As I read about the celadon color I remembered seeing some of this at the Art Institute of Chicago, and sure enough, I found a photo that I had shared on social media in 2018. "A famed Chinese scholar had once named twelve small wonders of the world; eleven of them were Chinese, and the twelfth was the color of Korean celadon pottery! The children of Ch'ulp'o learned this story almost before they could walk....Today's potters have been unable to exactly reproduce the glorious color achieved by past artisans."
Book #72 was Heartwood, by Amity Gaige. I loved this story of a hiker going missing while doing the Appalachian Trail.
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