A Backward Glance

Some of the ones I've read this year...

I wanted to write a bit about the books I’ve read this year. By the way, A Backward Glance, dear reader, is the name of Edith Wharton’s autobiography. And I thought that would be a fitting title to this post, since I’ve read quite a bit of Edith Wharton this year—The Custom of the Country, The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, and "Madame de Treymes." This year, I finally finished The Portrait of a Lady and read Washington Square (I’d like to read the latter novel again), both by Edith Wharton’s buddy Henry James. I read some excellent non-fiction—The Warmth of Other Suns, A Hope in the Unseen, and Call the Midwife. I read some books that I wish I’d read when I was much younger—Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. And I read some novels that I probably won’t pick up again—Snobs and Bonjour Tristesse. But, of all the books I've read this year, I think the one I like best of all is Maud Martha. It’s a short little book, but it’s full of life and beautiful language. I’ll probably be reading it again, sometime soon!