What was I reading on this day a year ago? Two years ago? Ten years ago?
2025. Mark Twain by Ron Chernow. Not a surprise, since this book is 1,200 pages, and I was reading on it for most of the summer of 2025. I felt like I had to read this bio of the writer after reading James and then Huck Finn earlier in the summer.
2024. The Wedding People by Alison Espach. A good summertime read---silly, light, frivolous.
2023. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Another book I chose to read because I thought it would be a light summer read, but it turned out to be thoughtful and a well-written book of historical fiction.
2022. How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith. I traveled with the author across my country to visit sites and events of significance to slavery, and I learned so much I'd never been taught in school. A must-read.
2021. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. A big book of summer at 710 pages about the start of World War I. I'd been meaning to read this book since I was in high school, and I was proud that I finally got around to it.
2020. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman. I forgot how many kids' books I read in 2020. You remember that year, right? I walked to the library every day and turned in a couple of picture books and picked up a couple more, masked, all requested online.
2019. The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Mark Beauregard. This August was my month of All Things Moby Dick.
2018. The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen. The first summer I was retired. I finally decided to read Jane Austen, so I did Jane up big, reading all her books and watching movies made from each movie.
2017. Lassie-Come-Home by Eric Knight. I was a school librarian in 2017, and I decided to try to read all of the 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up. As of today, I've read 806 of the books on the list.
2016. Top Secret Twenty-One by Janet Evanovich. I always eagerly anticipated the publication of the next Stephanie Plum mystery, and this one was not an exception. My friend Lisa always bought the next book in the series each August and read it and then passed it on to me.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each Tuesday That Artsy Reader Girl assigns a topic and then post her top ten list that fits that topic. You’re more than welcome to join her and create your own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. Feel free to put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you! Please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own post so that others know where to find more information.
