January Reads

2024

I’m a lifelong bibliophile and hold an Associate’s Degree in Library Technology. I’ve worked in a school library and a public library, as well as volunteered for many years for a Friends of the Library used bookstore and then another used bookstore here in Maine.

I love books.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

However, I experience a love/hate relationship with book recommendations from others. I read them with fascination, no matter what the writer’s interests are, just because people are endlessly interesting! The books we love and want to share with others reveal a lot about who we are. On the other hand, I’ve seen a lot of virtue signaling with lists of book recommendations, especially over the last few years, and that feels phony and irritating.

Every now and then, I’m overjoyed to come across book recommendations by a writer I resonate with to the degree that I love the books they love. One notable example has been

Dr Sharon Blackie

, a writer I’ve long read and followed. Other writers here on Substack have suggested books I’ve very much enjoyed, as well as music and videos.

(Isn’t Substack great?)

I decided this year it might be fun to share what I’m reading and listening to at the end of every month. Let me say right up front I’m not a critic! I’m just a normal reader who likes some things and doesn’t like other things. I often reread in addition to exploring new material. Leaving a book unfinished, either audio or hard copy, is about me, not the writer or the quality of the book.

I’ve seen a lot of ongoing conversation on Substack about various book forms and ways to read, which I follow with interest. At this point, I read on Substack, listen to audio books, and read hard copies. I’ve been toying for years with finding a digital device or platform to read from, but I haven’t done it yet. I feel increasingly uncomfortable about physical books because of the planet’s trees, and I nearly always buy used books.

I used to use libraries and used bookstores regularly. Alas, we don’t have a used bookstore in my small city. We do, however, have a lovely library and I even have a library card, I just haven’t developed a habit of using it here in Maine. Maybe this year I’ll work on that. When I find a book I love, I buy a copy for my personal library. I do lean towards minimalism and I keep my library culled, but books … !

Photo by Syd Wachs on Unsplash

Without further ado, here's what I’ve been reading and listening to in January:

Harry Potter audio books, written by JK Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale

I find the holidays a difficult time. I spend them quietly at this point in my life, and mostly alone, but I always find them a bit painful. This last season I listened to Harry Potter on audio for perhaps the tenth time? I’m not sure how many times. Many, many. Jim Dale is some kind of a genius. I laugh, I cry, I’m captivated, transported, and deeply comforted. I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the early part of January.

Break the Bodies, Haunt the Bones by Micah Dean Hicks

This was an audiobook I purchased on Audible. Hicks portrays a hopeless community in which nearly everyone is haunted by one or more ghosts. Possessed might be a better word than haunted. The premise is interesting; however, the world is so bleak and despairing I didn’t finish listening to it.

Storm Glass: Harbinger Book 1 by Jeff Wheeler

Another audio book. I enjoyed Wheeler’s world building and I liked the characters. I was interested enough to listen to the whole thing, mostly while exercising. It was entertaining. However, I don’t need to read more of the series and I won’t listen to it again.

The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper

I’ve been reading these my whole life. My childhood copies fell to pieces, so I bought myself a nice boxed set. I’ve always loved the magic, the folkloric themes, and the Northern European settings. The most famous one, The Dark is Rising, won a Newbery award. I usually reread these in winter, and always before bed, not any other time of day. A nightly pleasure.

The Green Knowe series by LM Boston

I finished Susan Cooper and needed new bedtime-only reading, so I picked up Boston’s Green Knowe books. A couple of them are from my childhood. The River at Green Knowe is an old paperback that looks as though it was dropped in the tub (a favorite reading place of mine). The price on the cover is $0.60! This is another series I’ve enjoyed all my life, especially the first one, The Children of Green Knowe. As a child I longed for the mysterious old house on the river where magic happened, birds came in the attic to roost at night, and a wise and understanding grandmother would tell me stories over afternoon tea.

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

This is new to me. It was recommended by my brother, an even worse (and much more intellectual) bibliophile than I am! It’s the first in The Broken Earth trilogy by this author and won the Hugo Award. It was an astonishing read. Very intelligent, solidly based in science, surprising twists, extraordinary world building – I wish I could write like this! I highly recommend it to science fiction/fantasy fans. I’ll buy the rest of the trilogy and start collecting her other work for my library. A definite reread.

Stern Men by Elizabeth Gilbert

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

When rereading my library, I like to go alphabetically. Go ahead, laugh! I don’t mind. I do it to cut down on choice fatigue and to ensure all the books I house are books I’m reading. When I know I’m not going to read something again, I cull it. Books in, books out. Otherwise I’d be buried in them. Right now I’m reading in the G’s. (Naturally, my library is alphabetized. What did you expect from a librarian?) I follow

Elizabeth Gilbert

here on Substack, but I’ve been a fan for a long time. She introduced me to the topic of tribal shaming, which I’d experienced but had no name for. I wrote about that on my blog, Harvesting Stones. Since following her here, I’ve adopted her practice of writing love letters to myself, cringing all the while (another post on my blog about this).

I bought a copy of Stern Men used and read it for the first time. To my delight, it’s set in my (now) home state of Maine! It’s about the lobster wars (don’t ask, it’s a thing out here.) I’m amused to admit I was a bit bewildered by it! The back of the book said it was funny. The blurbs said it was funny. I didn’t think it was funny. Touching, sad, fantastic, irritating, pathetic, yes. But it didn’t make me laugh. I felt a little like I was a teenager again watching Monty Python with my brother, who found it hilarious while I couldn’t stop thinking how stupid it was! Not that I found Stern Men stupid. No, Gilbert is never stupid. It didn’t remind me of Gilbert at all. It didn’t remind me of anything I’ve read. The starkness of the landscape, the history of the setting and characters, the salty, chilly, sharp-edged grittiness of her language and the story gripped me all the way to the last page. However, I won’t reread it. Our local supermarket has a table for used book exchange, so I laid it there for the next reader.

Then I took The Signature of All Things off the shelf, and, oh my, I’d forgotten how marvelous this one is. It’s a used copy from the Denver Public Library, so I picked it up sometime before I came to Maine from Colorado. I cannot put it down. The unforgettable central character is a physically unlovely, highly intelligent botanist living during the nineteenth century. Her loneliness, strength, and courage in the face of family difficulties and a heartbreaking marriage are beautifully woven against a backdrop of the rise of science and scientific method that challenged the religion and philosophy of the day. A keeper. I’ll reread this one.

Marble Mania (second edition), edited by Stanley A. Block

I’ve written here everything I know about why marbles are a part of my own fantasy world. It’s not much. I have no idea where that idea came from. However, I’ve explored the history and world of marbles with great pleasure and I’ve built a small reference library about them. I bought this book used and it’s a pleasure. It’s a big, heavy, coffee table book, beautifully illustrated, fascinating. I read every page and gloated over the pictures. I was hoping to add to my marble vocabulary; it turns out there’s a whole new language involved with marbles. I didn’t find new terms to add to my lists and notes, but I enjoyed the book for its own sake.

Serials From Substack:

Toni at

From Pages to Portals

is writing an ongoing serial called MEOW. Magic, a cat, a bookstore. Need I say more? I hope it never ends!

Reina Cruz at

Indie Fiction Digest

is writing a serial anthology called Marredbury I’m loving. I eagerly read everything she publishes here.

S. E. Reid from

Talebones 🔭

is publishing a serial called Freelance and Fishmaids. I enjoy all her serials and look forward to them every week.

Questions? Comments? Did you have a different experience with any of these than I did? Talk to me about books!