My Year In Books
- Louisa Austin
- Jan 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 17
My year in reading:
I listened to a lot of books this year; I just find it easier, and I don’t have a lot of spare time to sit and read. I started the year with a lot of memoirs and autobiographies.
Tina Turner’s My Love Story was very interesting because I have never really learned much about her, but I've always liked her music. I found her story with Ike Turner to be heartbreaking and understood why she was so fierce and strong once she finally broke away from him. To know that she married and was in love and cared for by her second husband until she passed away was really heartwarming. I recommend it if you like her music and want to learn more about a rock and roll icon. I gave it five stars.
Next on my list of memoirs was Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me. I must have been on a kick for listening to female singers' stories. I loved Britney Spears when she was popular and found her music not only fun but her command of the stage and her own career inspiring. Her downfall and subsequent unraveling (just watch her Instagram videos) has been sad to watch, and I miss Britney before her family put her in a conservatorship. Who knows what’s really happened, but listening to her story was enlightening and I liked her all the more. Five stars again.
Another favorite piece of popular culture of mine is the world of Harry Potter. And who doesn’t love a good villain? Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard by Tom Felton was fantastic. I loved to hate Draco Malfoy in the series and the movies.
Tom comes across as completely opposite of Draco, which was fun to discover. Not that I ever really believed he was evil like the character he plays, but I think people get ideas in their heads about actors who portray someone for as long as he did.
His career and life were interesting to read about, and I loved all the little behind-the-scenes tidbits he shared about the set of Harry Potter and the iconic actors in the films. Again, five stars.
Following the British theme, I listened to Endgame and Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie, a former Royal Family correspondent and biographer. Endgame discussed the current state of the royal family while Finding Freedom is about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s break from the Royals. I found both a bit thin on content and reaching at times since he’s on the outs with the family now. And, although interested in the drama of the Royal Family, I found myself bored and had to restart both several times to actually finish them. Three and two stars, respectively.
Keeping with my theme of fascination with the Royal Family, I listened to The Real Wallis Simpson by Anna Pasternak and began George VI and Elizabeth by Sally Bedell Smith. The past Royals are much more interesting. Well, at least Wallis Simpson was. I found the biography of George VI and Elizabeth to be too slow to capture my interest so gave up halfway through. Maybe it’s my penchant for drama, but Wallis Simpson is a much more interesting Royal. Four stars for her book; one for King George and Elizabeth.
I found myself in the middle of the year FINALLY listening to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I have always wanted to read them, and have watched and loved all the films, but again, my attention span and free time is limited, and I found listening to them much easier. I found them all wonderful and love the world-building and detail Tolkien creates. They were all just as good as I expected. I’d give them all five stars.
One gem that I discovered this year was Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. It's a heartwarming story told from the POV of a teenage boy and the goings-on of the adults around him. It was a delight to listen to and the themes of love, family, and community were really well-done. Five stars.
Now, I didn’t give everything five stars. Some books I reread. Around the spooky season - depending on the year - I reread Dracula by Bram Stoker. I first read this classic when I was sixteen and it subsequently gave me nightmares. I thought Dracula was going to come in my window once the lights went off. But every few years, I dust it off and read it again. It was just as terrifying as the first time I read it. Bram Stoker does horror so well!
I gave a try to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. It was creepy and well-written, and I see why it has created a cult following. It wasn’t my favorite listen, but I enjoyed it for the influence it has had in popular culture. Three stars (no offense to his super fans).
I began listening to Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories and poems as well. I loved his works in high school, which, looking back, surprises me, because I was a big chicken when it came to horror or anything scary. There was just something about Poe’s writing style and his stories that I fell in love with. “The Raven” is a favorite. My sisters traveled to Boston for one of their birthdays and sent me a picture of them next to a sculpture of Poe. It was great and I wasn’t jealous at all. ;)
Backtracking a bit, my husband and I had the great privilege to go to England (his home) this past June, and I found a cute, little copy of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen in a bookstore in Winchester. P&G Wells on College Street claims to be the oldest bookshop in England. Sense and Sensibility is my favorite of her books and it just felt right to buy one of her books in a bookshop that is half a block down from the house she lived her last days in. If you’re planning a trip, she’s also buried in the Winchester Cathedral - it is worth the trip to see these two places of one of the greatest authors to grace us with her stories.
I found myself also relistening to a few Sherlock Holmes’ mysteries. A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four are always a fun read. I love a good mystery and am trying my hand at writing one of my own.
I listened to several writing craft books, listed below. They were informative and helped me in my writing process and practice. I am pro-AI and really liked Love by the Prompt by Rachelle Ayala. I've used Claude and ChatGPT for brainstorming and even drafting scenes. I end up scrapping the scenes it writes for me because it just feels inauthentic to my own creativity, but I really enjoy AI for bouncing ideas off of and helping me move my stories along when I get stuck.
As the year has come to a close, I have kept with my tradition of reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (always a favorite). And I began listening to The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It is excellent! Still finishing it, and I discovered it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1983. I can see it becoming a favorite of mine.
It has also inspired me to begin a lofty goal of reading as many of the Pulitzer Prize novels as I can in my lifetime. So I’ve begun at the beginning with the 1918 winner, His Family by Ernest Poole. So far, so good.
Happy reading this coming year and may we all read books that deserve five stars!
Writing Craft and Self-Development books I read and would recommend:
Writing A Cozy Mystery Case Files by Melissa Bourbon
Grit: How To Keep Going When You Want To Give Up by Martin Meadows
The Emotional Craft of Fiction by Donald Maass
The Productive Writer by Sage Cohen
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