First Half Favorites for 2016

My friend Lesa posted her First Half Favorites for 2016 at her blog - https://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/.

Nor surprisingly, we share a few faves.


I don't always do a favorites list at the end of the year any more, but I do post the list of what I've read during the year.  And I will highlight a few that have stayed with me.

But this half year list intrigues me.


When I thanked Lesa for coming up with such a clever idea, she told me it was actually Jen Forbus's idea of a couple years ago.  And that doesn't surprise me a bit.  Jen keeps her blog - http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/ - fresh with a wealth of continuous new ideas.


So, I'm going to hop on this bandwagon and tell you my favorites of the year - so far.


"The Never-Open Desert Diner" by James Anderson


"My Southern Journey" by Rick Bragg


"The View From the Cheap Seats" by Neil Gaiman.  (Actually, I haven't finished this on yet.  I'm plucking essays out slowly and savoring them.  Which is exactly what I did with Rick Bragg's "My Southern Journey."  They're both delicious books and I can't say enough about them).


"Night Shift" by Charlaine Harris


"Wilde Lake" by Laura Lippman

"A Great Reckoning" by Louise Penny (I read an ARC - official publication is not until August, but worth the wait!)

Books, Authors, Essays

I love to talk about  books.

I love to share favorite books and authors with others who might not have discovered them yet, and, in turn, I love learning about them.

One of the people I learn from is Lesa Holstine.

If you're one of the last people on God's green earth to hear about Lesa and her marvelous blog - here's a link:  http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/  -  jump on over there!

Lesa and I seem to enjoy many of the same authors and books and have shared names and titles over the years.

The latest "share" I got from her was Rick Bragg's "My Southern Journey."

Now, I have read some of his work before, and love it.  But I don't think I was really prepared for how much his essays would touch me.

I have gone back and re-read the introduction he wrote for this book a half a dozen times.  With more to come, I'm sure.

And I learned something new about Lesa during the Rick Bragg conversation at her blog.

She loves essays for comfort reading.

And so do I.

I write them for that very same reason.  Essays have long been my first writing love.



There have been periods of time when I just simply have not had enough sense to read a novel.

These have been periods of stress when I've been concerned about loved ones and can't seem to hold a thought in my head for long without worries nudging it aside.

And there are times when I've been sitting on a deck, or on the beach, watching the waves and all I want is a little literary comfort to go along with the peace I'm feeling.

Rick Bragg's "My Southern Journey" is a book I'll add to my already fairly substantial pile of "essay comfort."

The pile, off the top of my head, includes:

Anne Morrow Lindberg's "Gift From the Sea"

Joan Anderson's "A Year By the Sea" and "A Walk on the Beach"

Mary Oliver's "Long Life: Essays and Other Writings" (and all her poetry)

May Sarton's "The House by the Sea" and "Journal of a Solitude"

Anything by Anne Lamott and Anna Quindlen

and finally -

Pat Conroy's "The Reading Life", and his cookbook.  Yes.  His cookbook.  It's not just a cookbook (although it can stand alone as one that cooks and cookbook aficionados would love. It's full of some of the most delicious essays written with the pure poetry that you would expect from this master.

If you're also a lover of essays, I'd love if you would share some of your favorites with me.