Staring Down The Reading Year

As with so many other things, my reading took a hit in November and early December. There was a lot of travel in November, followed by Aunt Ginger's hospitalization and death in late November and early December. Add in several holiday concerts (some of which I did not make, all of which Warren played in), a flurry of attendance mediations before the schools break for winter, and just the clutter of daily life, and you'll get a sense of what it has been like around our house.

I am still picking up the pieces.

As I look back, I see that I last posted about my reading in early November. EARLY November. So, yeah, I've added some titles since then. Not as many as I had hoped, but I have broken the 200 books barrier.

And here they are:
190. Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945 by Ronald Eller (I wrote about this well-written history here)
191. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte (as with the Eller at #190 and the next book at #192, I wrote about Catte's work in the same post)
192. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis  by J.D. Vance (a reread for me, as I noted in the same post linked above)
193. The Library Book by Susan Orlean (this may be the best book about libraries and their roles in communities I have ever, ever read, all threaded through with the story of the 1986 fire that destroyed a significant portion of the main branch of the LA Public Library; I rarely buy books anymore, but this one may end up on my shelves out of sheer love)
194. The Real All Americans: The Team That Changed A Game, A People, A Nation by Sally Jenkins (a history of the establishment of Carlisle Indian School, this nation's brutal treatment of tribal children, and what Jenkins would argue was one of the greatest college football teams in history: the 1912 Carlisle team that beat West Point) (thank you, Anne K. Anderson, for this recommendation)
195.  Main Street by Sinclair Lewis (a reread  of a favorite author; Lewis savaged small-town America in this one and shaped my teenage outlook on them for many years)
196. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (not only have I read this book more than two hundred times in my life, but  I bought this paperback of it in Chicago at Powell's Books  [I already own three different versions of it] solely because it was a British edition, and after reading Book #167 earlier this year, I learned the British editions are usually the original manuscript, not the "nicer" one that Alcott's publishers insist be published; yes, it is different in the language and rhythm)
197. Ohio by Stephen Markley (when I finished this novel, I set it down and said to Warren "I don't think I have ever read a more disturbing non-horror novel in my life;" that being said, Markley captures small-town Ohio in immediately recognizable ways)
198. Everyday People: The Color of Life--A Short Story Anthology edited by Jennifer Baker (a collection of short stories by writers of color; Baker looks forward to a day when "people seeks to be more inclusive and representative in their writing and reading" so that special collections are no longer necessary)
199. A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua (debut novel about a Chinese woman who comes to California to give birth and her pursuit of the American dream for her infant daughter)
200. My Old Faithful: Stories by Yang Huang (Huang weaves together the story of a Chinese family over several generations and two countries)
201. All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir by Nicole Chung (a devastatingly honest memoir about Chung's adoption as an infant by a white couple [Chung is Korean], what family means (she remains close to her adoptive parents), and her journey as an adult to reconnect with members of her birth family; Chung raises powerful questions about the impact of adopting across racial/ethnic lines on the child and whether such adoptions are appropriate)
202. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (unknown to me when I picked it up, this clever novel has a story theme of adoption, or non-adoption, of a failed surrogacy, and of a white couple adopting a Chinese child "abandoned" by her mother, all of it taking place in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the "most perfect" planned community ever)

With it being mid-December, I am hoping to conclude the month with at least (at least another ten or more books. I'm not working from December 24 through January 1: here's hoping!