I think you’ll love it!

“March” is now on my To Read list.

Thanks for the recommendation, Pat. I’m a HUGE Geraldine Brooks fan. Her book March is on my lifetime top 10 list! I’m going to be on an airplane later this month so I’ll be sure to grab a copy of People of the Book before I go. THANKS so much!

And thanks for your suggestions, too, Rickey. I always appreciate having more books to read on my list.

My favourite non-fiction book that I’ve read so far this year is “Z.B.A. – Zen of Business Administration – How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life” by corporate CEO and Zen priest Marc Lesser. I don’t label myself a Buddhist, yet I find that every page in the book is full of inspiring and practical wisdom. And I like that he mentions how the principles and mindset of improvisation apply in life and business (I’m an improv performer).

I also loved these non-fiction books:
“Bird by Bird” by Anne Lamott – astonished that I hadn’t read it years ago. Required reading for any writer.

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot – the fascinating true story of how cancer cells were taken from an African American woman in the 1950s without her permission, and grown in culture to create the “HeLa” cells that were (and still are) used in medical research.

“Wait – The Art and Science of Delay” by Frank Partnoy – a fascinating book about decision-making strategies. He writes about Stephen Porges, heart rate variability and the vagus nerve; calmness and panic; how expert tennis players wait until the last possible split second before returning a serve; stock trading; acting; firefighters, fighter pilots and soldiers; subliminal messages; first dates; how long to wait before apologising; procrastination; innovation; our experience of time…

“Hidden Figures” by Margot Lee Shetterly – the true story of the black female mathematicians who worked at NASA (and its predecessor, NACA) from the 1940s through to the first Moon landing and beyond.

Disappointing non-fiction book:
“Victoria & Abdul” by Shrabani Basu – the true story of Queen Victoria and her Indian personal attendant, Urdu teacher and confidant. I’d read positive reviews of the book and seen the trailer of the movie with Judi Dench, so I was looking forward to reading it. The story is interesting, but the book was very badly written (at the level of sentences) – it needed a good editor. I also found the author’s insertion of impossible-to-prove conjectures about people’s feelings very annoying: “He felt a catch in this throat as Bombay port disappeared from sight…” and “As he rose, young Karim’s dark eyes fleetingly met the Queen’s gaze. Suddenly Victoria no longer felt as tired.” That second example sounds like a Mills & Boon novel. I gave up in disgust at the end of Chapter 2.

My favourite fiction book:
“Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi – Stunning. Heart-rending. Unputdownable. It ranges from 18th-century Ghana to modern-day America, exploring the effects of the British and American slave trade in Ghana on one fractured family over several generations.

Thanks for this marvellous plethora of titles, Diane! Of all the books you mention, I have read only The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, which I loved!

I had to go through my Kindle app to remind myself which books I particularly enjoyed this year but I’d say Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan (I was completely drawn into the story but I also kept marveling over how adept she is at structure and a beautiful turn of phrase), Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders (odd and lovely), Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (though at the start I felt too much like yeah yeah, sisters who are exact opposites, I get it), Frog Music as well as The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (very different from her Room), All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen (young adult fiction – I sort-of know her which is why I started reading her, but I love all her stuff so far). I’m currently reading Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown which I’m finding thought-provoking and helpful.

I was irritated by but still compulsively read The Best Kind of People, Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte and Watermelon by Marian Keyes.

Thanks for your kind words! Can you possibly share some titles that have moved you this year?