The Wandering Bibliophile

This blog has been on an unexpected hiatus for most of the year due to some significant life changes, including leaving my job to return to school; moving my library (and myself) 1200 kilometres to the left; adapting to a new city; and struggling with being on the learning side of the lectern for the first time in a decade, surrounded by people 15 years my junior. The pace of this new program is such that I have no time for pleasure reading, but the few books that I have managed to squeeze in this year have included some great ones, and I want to share them with you.

My first read of 2015 is still my favourite read of the year: Barbara Comyns’ Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead. Dark, macabre, funny, and sad. A remarkable book. I also read Comyns’ The Vet’s Daughter, which I enjoyed, but which was much darker in tone.

Here are my top 10 reads of the year:

1. Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead – Barbara Comyns (Dorothy Project)
2. The Dig – Cynan Jones (Coffee House Press)
3. H is for Hawk – Helen Macdonald (Hamish Hamilton)
4. Beatlebone – Kevin Barry (Doubleday)
5. The General Theory of Oblivion – José Eduardo Agualusa (Archipelago Books)
6. Uprooted – Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
7. The Story of My Teeth – Valeria Luiselli (Coffee House Press)
8. Beauty Secrets of the Martyrs – Verity Holloway (Invisible Milliner)
9. The Beautiful Bureaucrat – Helen Phillips (Henry Holt)
10. Life Embitters – Josep Pla (Archipelago Books)

I had grand plans to read many more (and bigger) books this year, but life got in the way of that, so here are a few of the books that I wasn’t able to get to that will be first on my list when things slow down (hopefully) in May. I’ve read enough of the opening chapters to know I’ll enjoy them, but couldn’t immerse myself in the act of reading the way I like to, what with my mad schedule, so they all had to be postponed so I can give them the reading they deserve:

1. Delicious Foods – James Hannaham
2. The Fishermen – Chigozie Obioma
3. A Brief History of Seven Killings – Marlon James
4. The Sympathizer – Viet Thanh Nguyen
5. Blood-Drenched Beard – Daniel Galera
6. Undermajordomo Minor – Patrick deWitt
7. The Vorrh – Brian Catling
8. The Incarnations – Susan Barker
9. Archivist Wasp – Nicole Kornher-Stace
10. The Wilds – Julia Elliott

I wish all of you the best in the coming year. May you have ample reading time and a TBR list full of fantastic books!