Reading in Place My Favorite Books: Part 1

This last week (and whew, what a week, heh?) friends and readers have asked for book recommendations. That’s a tricky endeavor as everyone has unique reading tastes. As a substitute, I thought I’d tackle something I’ve been contemplating a long time — a list of my own favorite books. Before Book Barmy, I kept notebooks of all the books I’d read with my thoughts – so pulling together my Favorite Books list presented quite a job. But seeing as I’m not going anywhere – I’ll give it a shot. Perhaps you’ll want to pick and choose from these Book Barmy favorites for books to read while sheltering in place.

I know the libraries are closed in many areas, so if you want to buy any of these books — Please contact your local independent bookstore. They will happily take your order, personally ship your book(s), and will surely appreciate your distancing business right now. Find your local bookseller HERE

So, in no particular order and surely missing some – here we go. I will use a combination of my own notes and the book blurbs to give you the briefest but most complete synopsis of each book. Many of these books have a permanent place on my shelves, while others are long gone – happily given away to others who will enjoy them.

My Favorite Books – Part 1

Stones for Ibara, by Harriet Doerr

An excellent novel of cultural understanding and misunderstanding — stereotypes, adapting, and the power of grace. Richard and Sara Everton who have come to the small Mexican village of Ibarra to reopen a copper mine abandoned by Richard’s grandfather fifty years before. They have mortgaged, sold, borrowed, left friends and country, to settle in this remote spot; their plan is to live out their lives here, connected to the place and to each other. The two Americans, the only foreigners in Ibarra, live among people who both respect and misunderstand them. And gradually the villagers–at first enigmas to the Evertons–come to teach them much about life and fate.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

This novel will absolutely transport you into the world of a Geisha. Nitta Sayuri tells the story of her life as a geisha. It begins in a poor fishing village in 1929, when, as a nine-year-old girl with unusual blue-gray eyes, she is taken from her home and sold into slavery to a renowned geisha house. We witness her transformation as she learns the rigorous arts of the geisha: dance and music; wearing a kimono; elaborate makeup and hair; pouring sake to reveal just a touch of inner wrist; competing with other geisha for men’s solicitude and the money that goes with it. We enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl’s virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and absorbing novel —romantic, erotic, suspenseful—and, for me, completely unforgettable.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

I never thought I would be interested in, let alone be besotted, by a book about two book artists in golden age of comic books — but this Pulitzer Prize winning novel just blew me away. A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze. He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. From the shared fears, dreams, and desires of two teenage boys, they spin comic book tales of the heroic, fascist-fighting Escapist and the beautiful, mysterious Luna Moth, the otherworldly mistress of the night. The writing is magic as they bring their comic book characters and stories to life — while also carving out their own vivid lives and amazing adventures of their own.

The Griffin and Sabine Series by Nick Bantock

These were hugely popular back in the 90’s and according to many critics, somewhat of a gimmick – but I adored this series of books and have hung onto them all these years later. Every so often, I’ll take them down and fall into what is the equivalent of adult pop-up books.

Griffin and Sabine are located on opposite ends of the earth — Griffin is a lonely artist in damp England, while Sabine is a native living on the sun-drenched island of Sicmon in the South Pacific. We meet them as they have just become pen pals and it is their correspondence back and forth which comprises the Griffin and Sabine books. Soul mates, they decide to meet, face to face. Their quest (and failures) to meet one another forms the backbone of these books. There are letters to open, postcards to read, handwriting to decipher, maps to study, all, for this reader — pure delight. You’re given the sensation of having stumbled upon a romantic mystery to which only you are privy – a private secret kept locked between the covers. The story is nothing much, but the discovery of it is exquisite. The art of these books is in their meticulous printing. There are actual envelopes glued into the text which you open to unfold an actual letter, postcards and beautiful illustrations– a true work of love on the part of Mr. Bantock and the publisher.

We Took to The Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich

Back as a teen in New Hampshire, we’d experience snow day school closures (much like today’s shelter in place). During one snow day, attracted by the jacket cover inviting me down a snowy path to a snug home in the pines, I picked up my mother’s copy of We Took to The Woods and happily wiled away the afternoon. Louise Dickinson Rich took to the woods of Maine with her husband. There they found their livelihood and raised a family in the remote backcountry of the Rangeley area of Maine. Ms. Rich made time after morning chores to write about their lives. This is not a biography, not even a memoir. Instead, in a very informal, conversational style, Rich answers key questions people have asked her about her life as a writer, a wife, and a mother deep in the north woods of Maine. One question per chapter: “Aren’t You Afraid? Don’t You Get Bored? How Do You Make A Living?” Her answers are candid, funny, detailed, and enlightening. We Took to the Woods is an adventure story, written with humor, but it also portrays a cherished dream realized in a full life. First published in 1942. I have since found my own copy in a used bookstore — but sadly, without my beloved original dust jacket.

The Magicians Assistant by Anne Patchett

Anne Patchett is one of my go-to authors but this has to be my favorite of her novels so far. When Parsifal, a handsome and charming magician, dies suddenly, his widow Sabine–who was also his faithful assistant for twenty years–learns that the family he claimed to have lost in a tragic accident is very much alive and well. She is left to unravel his secrets, and the adventure she embarks upon, from sunny Los Angeles to the bitter windswept plains of Nebraska, will work its own magic on her. A deliciously original story about love — in all its many forms.

My Life In France by Julia Child

This is THE book to read if you want to know about Julia Child. It’s fun, insightful, and delightfully ‘Julia’. Previously on Book Barmy HERE

84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

My list would be definitely incomplete without this treasure. I have purchased and given away many copies of this book — one of my top top favorites. Read more HERE

Okay, that’s enough for today. Don’t worry there’s plenty more — see Part 1 above.