Within the last decade, I have discovered a new hobby: cemetery walking which makes me a taphophile. This has taken me to many spots (though not yet international travel for it) around the area and in other states– it might be a quick stroll or it might be an early morning intensive. I’ve completed a cemetery crawl. I read books about them. And this past week, I finished a four week course on cemetery symbolism. Excitingly, I had signed up for the course before realizing that the book Grave from the series Object Lessons was written by the same person that would be running it. Needless to say, I knew I was going to nerd out. And nerd out I did.
And one cemetery that came up often in the discussions was Pere-Lachaise. It’s basically the mecca of cemeteries so imagine my excitement when I received a copy of the book The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Pere-Lachaise by Benoit Gallot. This insightful mix of biography of Gallot’s residence inside Pere-Lachaise as an administrator (where he both works and raises his family on premises), cemetery history, and homage to the ecosystem that exists inside this one, and others, if you choose to see it. What started with a picture of a kit fox walking the grounds on his social media became the book about more than just the fox.
It’s a call to taphophiles like me to book travel to Paris and spend all my time walking the 110 acres.
I happened upon Kitt’s quote on social media a while back and immediately saved it both because I’m an avid cemetery walker, so the tombstone reference made me pause but also because as a human being (and likely ones of the reasons I love being a librarian) is that I get to learn every day. We should all strive to learn every day. It’s why librarians curate digital and print collections for others in order to share the joys of learning every day.
I trotted it out again yesterday after signing off on the first of four two-hour webinars I will attend this month. Within five minutes I was furiously taking notes and felt a warm, fuzzy feeling that lasted the entire two hours that this was money well-spent. The expert delivering the content was super knowledgeable and I was with like-minded individuals. The subject has been a hobby of mine for about a decade and I realize that the more I do it, the more I don’t know. So I sought out people who do know more to tell me what they know. And what’s more, she even provided additional materials on top of the wealth of resources she shared. I couldn’t have asked for a better use of my time and energy.
So, here is your permission if you need it to go out and learn something whether it’s free or costs money. Now more than ever, we need to find hobbies and interests that make us feel alive and challenged and connected to a community.
Yesterday I spent the first morning of winter break donating platelets, which if you’d done it, means about 2 1/2 hours sitting with both arms immobile. I can’t read a book and while I could potentially listen to an audiobook, I’d just be staring around the room, so I took the opportunity to watch a movie since they provide you with this entertainment. I was prepared to watch a movie I’d been wanting to watch on one streaming service but it wasn’t working so I was on another and saw The Martian available. I had been surprised by my love for the book. I had borrowed it digitally a few years back and was prepared to skim read the science fiction story because it’s not usually my jam. But I was sucked in and ignored other responsibilities one summer day to finish it because I loved Mark Watney’s voice. Done. I’ll watch the movie adaptation.
I’m usually suspicious of movie adaptations but have followed Angie Thomas’ tweet from years ago when the adaptation of her book was coming out and she was inundated with messages about it. She likened a book versus the movie as fraternal twins: they share the same DNA however they are different entities. As the mom of fraternal twins and a bookworm rather than a movie buff, it spoke to me on multiple levels.
Eventually I end up watching most movies that have been adapted but I don’t want a lot of movies in general (I prefer documentaries). And just like the book, I was wowed by the movie. Damon is a fantastic actor and the scenes, dark humor, and immediacy of his situation were wonderfully evocative in the movie.
There have been a few others that I’ve enjoyed similarly: Kristen Stewart’s awkwardness as Melinda in Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson matched. The adorableness of the music and characters in To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han spoke to me (more) in the movie version than the books. Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy was brought to life with all the confidence of Dumplin herself, Danielle Macdonald.
I had mentioned in my Love: YMAs post a few of my favorite award winners and honorees including John the Skeleton. It’s a quirky book– in part because it’s a translation? Maybe. But also because it’s odd to write about a “retired” science classroom skeleton going to live with a set of grandparents. It got me thinking about how much I enjoy a quirky book– on my Goodreads shelf, they’re called “offbeat”. To me, it constitutes a book that is unlike anything written in topic, style, mood, tone, plot, or characterization. What might be quirky to me, might not be quirky to you, so I’ll let you decide after I highlight five.
Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides remains in my top five books of all time. I recently reread it and realized just how much I adore the narration of the Lisbon girls’ demise in their house from the vantage point of neighborhood boys. This is in addition to the fact that all of the girls commit suicide by the end of the story and thus lending itself to the melancholy mood that is so direct in so few pages.
Henry Hoke’s Open Throat is another vantage point that’s wholly puzzling– a mountain lion in the hills of Hollywood. Yup. Making scathing work of judging humankind.
David Sedaris wrote and Ian Falconer illustrated Pretty Ugly, a picture book with the goofiest and sweetest twist at the end. The style, the character, the entire premise is quirky but oh so lovely by the time you close the book.
Ian X. Cho’s Aisle Nine made it into the top five finalists for the Morris Award this year. I’ve never read anything with as much zest and disdain for life than Jasper and the alien creature that lives in his apartment with him while he works a dead end job as a supermarket that’s a portal from hell. I couldn’t help but make a puzzled face through most of it with a little Mona Lisa smile.
Jackie Morse Kessler’s final book in her Riders of the Apocalypse series called Breath brought a unique approach to the series in which a contemporary teen embodied a horseman as a way to understand an issue they were faced with.
Lauren Destefano’s Wither was the first in a Chemical Garden trilogy that I got in to. The premise was a medical dystopia with intense characters in an unflattering situation that was creepy and got creepier as the trilogy moved forward.
Love it or hate it, we’re a visual culture. And we do judge books by their covers! I can’t help but stare at evocative book covers. Do you have a favorite? Here are a few of mine:
Dunlap’s debut The Resurrectionist was a recent recommended read and I couldn’t have been more in love with the morbid cover.
When I’m doing readers advisory with my high schoolers, I lead with the breathtaking beauty of this cover of Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson (the recent winner of the Margaret A. Edwards award at the Youth Media Awards).
I spent too much time being eviscerated by Ashley Hope Perez’s Out of Darkness and telling everyone I knew to read it before I bought it so I could own it and stare at a cover that in it’s simplicity summarizes the complexity of human existence and sends shivers down my spine every time I think about Naomi.
Were my eyes playing tricks on me? I didn’t really see this cover until days after I finished it and was staring at it again. Genius connection to the story in Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down.
Speaking of second takes– both Schwartz’s first book Anatomy: A Love Story and her second Immortality: A Love Story have that creative illusion that highlights the heart and mind of the duology’s intelligent and daring heroine Hazel.
With the last day of the year, what’s better than a quick post of my favorite posts from this year because they were often about amazing moments or reads from this past year.
And it wouldn’t be the end of one year and the start of another without having my last book of the year and first book of the new year lined up. Several hours ago I finished the National Book Award winner Kareem Between by Shifa Saltagi Safadi. It’s clear why it’s a winner.
And as if Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan made a wish come true that I whispered into the ether or not, my first read of 2025 will be Saga #71.
There’s no doubt this will be the perfect way to usher in a new year of reading. If you haven’t hitched your wagon to Saga yet, make this your year.
Finally, the caboose to this best-of train are books written for adults. A treat and indulgence for a high school librarian like myself. It’s evident that I lean heavily into nonfiction but have been known to get sucked into a vivid fiction too. Oh, and comics.
On November 24, 2023, I posted Over this next year that explained a challenge I was embarking on to read forty books that had affected me since I was turning forty. Challenge complete.
Pacing myself throughout the year, I listened to some of the books and read others but I did purchase a few of the titles that I hadn’t previously owned. As I read each one, I flipped it to show my progress over the year.
Ultimately, a few of them will not remain on my shelf because that’s the thing about rereading books, it’s not always the same the second time around. But I’m glad for it because it shows I’m not the same person. Tastes and interest shift in books the same that it does with food or decorating or clothing. That’s to be celebrated and one of the reasons I wanted to undertake the reflective practice of rereading because I rarely reread and prefer to remember the feelings about the books rather than the content. What I learned:
Mood as a literary device is important to me a reader. The books that remain impactful are a direct result of the book’s atmosphere such as The Virgin Suicides, The Girl From the Other Side, and Mudbound.
Nonfiction, especially food memoir, literally takes the cake. Read: Crying in H Mart and Dessert Can Save the World. But books about food are right next to them like Chicken Every Sunday, First Bite, and Lessons in Chemistry.
The classics on my list didn’t hold their own unfortunately. Sorry Brave New World, The Catcher in the Rye, and Jane Eyre. But neither did the epic first book in the Mayfair Chronicles The Witching Hour, though I heart Anne Rice forever and always.
Strong, whip smart, sassy, or otherwise memorable characters are hard to forget. Benny from Circle of Friends, Naomi from Out of Darkness, Maddie from A Northern Light, Lena from Between Shades of Gray, Anne from Anne of Green Gables, Melinda from Speak, Carey from If You Find Me, Charlotte from The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and Hazel from Anatomy: A Love Story.
Significantrelationships tug at my heartstrings which is why I carry a torch for all of the creatures in The House In the Cerulean Sea and Saga; the dystopian community in The Giver, Werther opining in The Sorrows of Young Werther, the ultimate friendship trio in The Serpent King, and the whole crux of what Turkle stands for in Reclaiming Conversation. And as long as there will be star-crossed lovers, there will be Edward and Bella from Twilight.
Innovative formatting or a unique approach to storytelling keep me thinking about a book long after I’ve finished it. Think The Lovely Bones‘ from beyond the grave, mental illness in Challenger Deep, Long Way Down‘s mystery elevator, Crank‘s verse, The Vagina Monologues‘ well, monologues, Milk and Honey‘s Instagrammable poetry and illustrations, the library in The Midnight Library, and Calvin and Hobbes‘ daily and Sunday strips.
Picture books say so much without having to say much at all. This is where pictures speak a thousand words and the author creates the write words to allow the pictures to shine which is why Farmhouse and My First Day by Quang and Lien were on my list. Both I’ve gifted several times over.
And let’s just say I ripped a page right out of The Power of Moments to create this personal challenge, which is why I’ve relished this project over this last year; celebrating book love by reading Book Love, which was a gift from a friend. I couldn’t have asked for a more fulfilling opportunity and urge others to find a moment to reflect on your own reading journey– whether it’s been a few months or years or a lifetime.
Readers Be Advised 