End of Year Reading Wrap-Up and New Books from Santa

Let's do the new books first. I love giving and receiving books for birthdays and holidays. Here's what I got under the tree this year.

Dear Mili - this is a Grimms Brothers story, illustrated by Maurice Sendak. I fell in love with the artwork of Sendak when I went to an exhibit at the Denver Art Museum in November. This particular book has a great backstory. Here is the Amazon blurb about it:

On September 28, 1983, the discovery of a previously unknown tale by Wilhelm Grimm was reported on the front page of The New York Times. "After more than 150 years," the Times noted, "Hansel and Gretel, Snow-White, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella will be joined by another Grimm fairy-tale character." The story of dear Mili was preserved in a letter Wilhelm Grimm wrote to a little girl in 1816, a letter that remained in her family's possession for over a century and a half.

This beautiful book was part of a gift box from my Bookish Secret Santa, Michelle, host of GoodReads True Book Talk. If you make it to Denver before February 17, you can catch the exhibit, which was just amazing.

Selected Tales from Beatrix Potter - also from my Bookish Secret Santa, seeing Sendak's art reminded me how much I admire Potter's work, of which I sadly had none, although I do have some figures from my kids' nursery and which I keep on a special shelf. Really looking forward to reading the stories and enjoying the detailed artwork.

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street - by Helene Hanff, who wrote the marvelous 84 Charing Cross Road. This is about her trip to London and is described as a "love letter to London." 

Joann of Gulfside Musing posted about this book, which meant I just had to get a copy. It sounds perfect for a bit of armchair traveling in January.

Troy - by Stephen Fry. I loved his Mythos so much that my classics-major daughter, who had recommended Mythos to me, got Troy for me for Xmas. 

This will be great background reading to go with seeing The Return, which I hope to see next week.

Glam Italia! 101 Fabulous Things To Do In Florence: Insider Secrets To The Renaissance City - by Corinna Cooke. I am always in planning mode for another trip to Italy, and I really want to spend at least a week in Florence as there is just so much history, art, and beauty concentrated there. 

End of Year Reading Wrap-Up

According to GoodReads, I met my goal of 75 books with over 26k pages read. My goal started out at 65, same as last year, but being retired means more time for everything, including reading, so I upped it to 70 mid-year and then to 75 a couple of months ago. I will probably start at 70 for 2025 and see how it goes. 

Shortest book was Galatea at just 27 pages, and longest was Battle Cry of Freedom at 867 pages. Average length was 355 pages. Have I mentioned recently that I do like big books?! 

My average rating was 4.2--no surprise as I don't read books I don't like, not being afraid to abandon books that are just not cutting it for me. And 19% of the books I read were nonfiction.

I read eight books on the American Civil War, and I am currently reading two, so that interest is still kicking.

I read a number of books by new-to-me authors, and a few of these are destined to become favorites, includes Ivan Doig, Alice Roberts, Lauren Bear, and Stephen Fry. I feel like I read more new-to-me authors in 2024, but I don't have the patience to actually run the numbers.

I read terrific books by favorite authors, mostly notably The Frozen River by Ariel Lanhon, The Briar Club and The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson, Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier, Table for Two and Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles, Horse by Geraldine Brooks, and The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman.

I read a lot of mysteries and mystery series--love the Lincoln Lawyer series by Michael Connelly, the Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman, the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear, and the Bruno series by Martin Walker.

Just a couple of classics - I finished Dickens with Barnaby Rudge and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and an umpteenth reread of Persuasion by 249-year-old Jane Austen.

Bookish Resolution for 2025: read more from my shelf, especially the books I received as gifts. If people are going to give me books (that I ask for!), then I need to do them the courtesy of actually reading them. This is a hard resolution to keep because I read other people's book blogs and find bright, shiny objects that distract and entice me!

Best wishes for a Happy New Year and a fantastic reading binge in 2025.