Merry Christmas, PhD-Student Style
What was your best book of the year?
I was going to arrange some books into a Christmas tree shape. Too much work, and then I’d have to re-shelve them. Who has time for that?! Apparently Dan the Handyman does.
So, here is a stack of some of the books I read this year. Some for personal interest, some for school, some for work. Don’t forget that I get loads of books via my seminary library as PDFs, so no physical copy. And loads from the local library as Kindles and audiobooks. I don’t keep track of how many books I read or in what language, but think I should start. But - look below and you’ll see that I don’t have so many books. I still have empty space on my bookshelves!
Except that I actually have boxes of books in the basement and my husband’s office shelves contain more of my books and a handful of his.
I have started gifting people books at various holidays. If I am done with one that I think will connect with someone coming to a holiday dinner, I bring it and place it at their dinner plate. And still, books seem to accumulate endlessly and effortlessly, like dust in Djibouti.
I love my office bookshelves.
What do you have on your bookshelves and why?
‘Tis the season for ranking books.
I hate ranking books. I love different books for different reasons, so how can I pick a favorite? Most influential at school? Funniest? Most recommended? Most moving? This year I have started reading fiction again. My student brain needs that at the end of the day. I used to read such serious things. I still do, and I still like to. But I was surprised to look back at my lists and saw a notable shift to more fun. Same for podcasts - I find myself skipping the ponderous toward more of the silly.
Here are some reads that I especially enjoyed this year. Don’t take them too seriously, leave that for seminary PhD nerds.
Beautiful: You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
Devastating: We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver (okay, this wasn’t fun to read but it sure sticks with you in a way I still can’t shake)
Fun and Quirky and I met the author when we spoke at the same event (he was keynoting, I was workshopping, so not exactly the same event but still…we ate breakfast in the same green room and he was lovely): Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Silly Fun and I’ve read several books in this perimenopausal genre, fiction and nonfiction, because women of a certain age aren’t dead yet: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Can’t Put Down took me a while to get to it on my library waitlist: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Stunning: Apeirogon by Colum McCann. Heartbreaking, beautiful. I heard him talk at St. Thomas this year.
What would you rank as a “best book” that you read in 2024?
See you in 2025!