Wow Anne - loved reading your reviews and insights. You’ve brought back some of my childhood favorites in A Wizard of Earthsea and Alice in Wonderland for sure! Congrats on the French! 🥰
Glorious! What a great bookish post. Our taste in books overlaps significantly, and I will add quite a few of these to my own lists. See you in the slow reads with Haisell. :)
Wow I am in awe of your reading capacity! How do you find the time?? (serious question, I only ever seem to manage 25 books or so and never such weighty tomes - do you have any tips for quicker reading?) great reviews too, I’ve made a few notes ☺️
Thank you Lynne! My secret is absolutely multitasking with audiobooks, there’s no way I would get through as many books otherwise. I do read printed books and ebooks too but probably 80% audio. I’m lucky that it works for me—I feel like I retain just as much—but it’s not for everyone!
It's only in the last year, ie 2024, that I started listening to audiobooks. I'm absolutely loving them. Listening intently while I exercise, and listening dreamily while I have a restful hour on the sofa, have both become joyful parts of my day! Love your post Anne!
That's rather a wonderful year of words! You read a number of my own favourites here, too, which is always a lovely thing to see.
Children of Green Knowe in particular; when I was young, my Mum would always read this aloud to us kids every Christmastime. I have very fond memories of this, of each chapter being awaited and listened to, rapt, of her falling asleep mid-reading on occasion, worn out by Christmas preparation. She reads it every Christmas still, to three of my sisters, who live with my parents in the north of Scotland. This brings me joy. Their home also has a number of Green Knowe references deliberately included, to which they keep adding. (And my sister, Judith, won the 2024 Green Knowe story competition, on the theme of Toby's mouse having an adventure, which is awesome.) The children's BBC TV version from the 80s is also a favourite, and I like the other stories, too, a lot about time and the cyclical way we move through it, along with considerable nature references.
I could ramble on about many of the books you so wonderfully discuss here, but I had really best get on with some work!
Oh! And I quite enjoyed the movie From Time To Time, which is based on The Chimneys of Green Knowe. Although anything with Timothy Spall and Maggie Smith in is going to be worth watching.
Oh that is so fun! I had not even heard of Green Knowe before a few British Substackers gave it a shoutout last year. I meant to tag them in the post and forgot! I’ll have to add that…
So much work, not only in the reading and listening to books, but in their choosing, in the writing of reviews, the record-keeping, and your sharing with us. Thank you, Anne. This post is a treat. You've included a few of my favourites here, and many more I want to try.
I think it is a generational thing here, as well - though I have seen a lot more written about it recently, which has brought it to the attention of new readership, which is great!
Wow Anne - loved reading your reviews and insights. You’ve brought back some of my childhood favorites in A Wizard of Earthsea and Alice in Wonderland for sure! Congrats on the French! 🥰
Lovely to hear! Thank you!
Oh man! What a year of stories you had in 2024.
Interesting to read your thoughts on Trust which rang true for me.
And yes, Rilke was serious, wasn’t he?
Thanks for wading through them all, haha!
Unlike most of the others my Trust review was written today over 6 months after reading it, but I guess that's a good measure of memorability!
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings too for winter re-reads. Maybe some Thomas Hardy and Walt Whitman!
Excellent choices!
Glorious! What a great bookish post. Our taste in books overlaps significantly, and I will add quite a few of these to my own lists. See you in the slow reads with Haisell. :)
So lovely to hear that! I’ll look out for your recommendations too. And yes see you in the tangents!
Wow I am in awe of your reading capacity! How do you find the time?? (serious question, I only ever seem to manage 25 books or so and never such weighty tomes - do you have any tips for quicker reading?) great reviews too, I’ve made a few notes ☺️
Thank you Lynne! My secret is absolutely multitasking with audiobooks, there’s no way I would get through as many books otherwise. I do read printed books and ebooks too but probably 80% audio. I’m lucky that it works for me—I feel like I retain just as much—but it’s not for everyone!
It's only in the last year, ie 2024, that I started listening to audiobooks. I'm absolutely loving them. Listening intently while I exercise, and listening dreamily while I have a restful hour on the sofa, have both become joyful parts of my day! Love your post Anne!
Beautiful! I’m happy for you! 😁
I was going to ask the same question. And Anne's answer is just so fascinating.
Wow, 64 books! That is awesome. I‘ll come back to your list should I need recommendations. Thank you for sharing your reviews!
That's rather a wonderful year of words! You read a number of my own favourites here, too, which is always a lovely thing to see.
Children of Green Knowe in particular; when I was young, my Mum would always read this aloud to us kids every Christmastime. I have very fond memories of this, of each chapter being awaited and listened to, rapt, of her falling asleep mid-reading on occasion, worn out by Christmas preparation. She reads it every Christmas still, to three of my sisters, who live with my parents in the north of Scotland. This brings me joy. Their home also has a number of Green Knowe references deliberately included, to which they keep adding. (And my sister, Judith, won the 2024 Green Knowe story competition, on the theme of Toby's mouse having an adventure, which is awesome.) The children's BBC TV version from the 80s is also a favourite, and I like the other stories, too, a lot about time and the cyclical way we move through it, along with considerable nature references.
I could ramble on about many of the books you so wonderfully discuss here, but I had really best get on with some work!
Thanks for sharing this, it made me happy.
Oh! And I quite enjoyed the movie From Time To Time, which is based on The Chimneys of Green Knowe. Although anything with Timothy Spall and Maggie Smith in is going to be worth watching.
Agree!
Oh that is so fun! I had not even heard of Green Knowe before a few British Substackers gave it a shoutout last year. I meant to tag them in the post and forgot! I’ll have to add that…
And congrats to Judith!
So much work, not only in the reading and listening to books, but in their choosing, in the writing of reviews, the record-keeping, and your sharing with us. Thank you, Anne. This post is a treat. You've included a few of my favourites here, and many more I want to try.
Thank you so much Yasmin! What were some of those favorites?
Love this. And adored Demon Copperhead. Very much. Prodigious reading list!
Thanks for reading my reading list! 😁
It’s a cracker of a list!
Great insights and such high brow reading!! Will pick some of these to make myself look cleverer next year 😅
Let's hope you enjoy them too ;)
Wonderful set of lists! And thanks for the reminder about The Crystal Cave—I loved it as a teen but haven’t thought about it in decades!
Thank you Sarah! I would have loved it as a teen too if I had known it existed!
I am so glad you read (and loved) The Children of Green Knowe! It is in a league of its own when it comes to Christmas literature.
I had never heard of it before this year! It’s one of those British classics that apparently hasn’t made it to America.
I think it is a generational thing here, as well - though I have seen a lot more written about it recently, which has brought it to the attention of new readership, which is great!