Blogging has long been a release
for me, but in recent years has taken on a life of its own: a tribute to the
outdoor spaces in the Upstate and a diary of one family’s travels in the Southeast, but also a huge commitment of time and energy.
Upon our return from France I felt I had reached a crossroads – what would
become of Femme au Foyer? While the
transition from expat abroad to Yankee hiker in SC happened without much thought, with the recent arrival at what feels like another fork in the road, I feel
that I have to be a bit more deliberate with my time – there is just less of
it. While writing about these natural places gives me great pleasure, I enjoy
the exploration of them even more, and while I will not be abandoning the blog
entirely, I will be shifting focus, and blogging less often.
With the New Year, I set about
with new priorities for personal growth: hiking, reading and baking. My goal is
to hike 365 miles this year, read 10 books a month, and bake bread once a
month. Inspiration was drawn from cookbook club, my cousin Kaiva's Instagram feed, a 'daughters who like to read' message thread, and the dozens of trails within an hour's drive still unexplored, even after some 15 years in the Upstate. Instead of writing about places I will be out in them, all that time
spent in the carline will be put to good use, and the taste/smell of home-baked bread
will hopefully be more common in our hectic kitchen. With March drawing to an end, I can
announce that it has so far been a successful endeavor; I’ve logged 97 miles of
trail, baked four different breads (baguettes,
rupjmaize, cornbread and scones), and
read 32 books – and there are a few days left in the month!
While I’m proud of each mile that
I’ve charted, I’m feeling especially accomplished looking at my reading list.
While my usual fare tends towards mysteries (extra points if it’s a game warden
solving a murder!), I’ve ventured outside the boundaries of suspense into
everything from social commentary and poetry to short stories and nonfiction – here they are, in the order
that I read them (and I've added amazon links that have reviews and more complete descriptions for those interested):
3. Squirm – Carl Hiaasen
Hiaasen’s book for young readers are just as lively and entertaining as his adult
fiction!
4. The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century – Kirk Wallace Johnson
Exotic bird trafficking, fly fishing, and
the 2009 heist of 299 rare bird skins from a British natural history museum… a surprisingly
fascinating read…
5. The New Iberia Blues – James
Lee Burke
James Lee Burke is one of my all-time faves,
and although maybe not the most striking, the newest Dave Robicheaux novel was
no different from his usual.
7. Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century – Jessica Bruder
Longing to pack it all up and go… Completely
not my usual read, however intriguing look at the growing community of nomads traversing
the U.S. between seasonal jobs.
8. The Story of Land and Sea: A Novel – Katy Simpson Smith
9. Birds of America – Lorrie Moore
A book of short stories that has it all: the
funny, the sad, the banal and the grace.
10. Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger – Rebecca Traister
Struck so many chords with me that I went
and bought it after returning the library’s copy. This book vocalizes so many thoughts,
feelings and emotions that I’ve heard from friends, family and my own heart
over the last 5 years.
11. Bearskin: A Novel – James A.
McLaughlin
“James McLaughlin expertly brings the beauty
and danger of Appalachia to life. The result is an elemental, slow burn of a
novel—one that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.”
13. The River of Kings: A Novel – Taylor Brown
I’ve been fascinated with the The Altamaha
River (Georgia’s “Little Amazon”) since I read Janisse Ray’s “Drifting into Darien: A Personal and Natural History of the Altamaha River” while living in
the middle of nowhere, Georgia. This novel has a good balance of the natural world
to mystery to the human heart.
14. The Girl Who Was Taken –
Charlie Donlea
15. Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love – Dani Shapiro
16. The Mountain Between Us – Charles
Martin
17. Fates and Furies: A Novel –
Lauren Groff
18. Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman – Anne Petersen
A story of a fire – a big one, mind you –
woven into the larger tapestry of the role of libraries in the modern world.
21. The Winter of the Witch –
Katherine Arden
The third book in the Winternight
Trilogy, a Russian fairytale that was spellbinding – possibly my favorite of
the year so far!
22. The Gilded Wolves – Roshani Chokshi
23. The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters in the Wild – Craig Childs
24. Bad Optics: A Woods Cop Mystery – Joseph Heywood
25. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt & the Fire That Saved America – Timothy Egan
The wildland firefighter in me could
smell the smoke in this novel, but was also astonished that I hadn’t read it
until now.
Chicago was my home for a quarter of a
century, and I enjoyed seeing it from the author’s perspective. DC is about as
far from home as it gets, and I enjoyed seeing it from a woman’s perspective.
And with today’s political climate, there was insight into the racial divide as
well…
30. Bridge of Clay – Markus Zusak
31. Where the Crawdads Sing – Delia Owens
“Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an
exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a
surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped
by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and
violent secrets that nature keeps.”
32. Only Killers and Thieves: A Novel – Paul Howarth
An epic tale set in the 1880s ‘Wild West’ Australian
frontier: brutal, cruel and tragic. Despite the harsh imagery, no regrets – a
raw, no-holds-barred, coming-of-age story that I couldn’t put down.
What’s next? Returning to a few mystery
series that I’ve not yet finished, new books by favorite authors coming out in
the next months, and a half-dozen books on hold from rabbit-hole wanderings on
social media. Tell me – have you read any of the titles on this list? If you’ve
got suggestions for me of novels in the same vein as these, I’m all ears – I’ve
got 88 books to read this year!
