As I mentioned earlier, this has been a banner year for reading for me. Here are some of my favorites from this year.
Some brief notes:
1) I didn’t set out to pick 11 books, actually. That was a happy coincidence. I just picked my favorites, wrote them up and then numbered them.
2) The ordering isn’t all that important, though they’re roughly about where I’d stack them.
3) As you’ll see along the way, these are not books published in ’11, just books that I read for the first time in ’11 (and first timers only; no fair putting Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community in there.
So away we go.
11. The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek: A Tragic Clash Between White and Native America
I’ve lived in the greater Seattle area for half of my adult life now, but I don’t know much about the local history. This book taught me deeply. It’s the story of the white settlement of the region and the first territorial governor’s “interactions” with the local native peoples – and really, about his culture’s attempt to exterminate them. Very detailed, very thoughtful and thorough. If you’re a Manifest Destinarian, you may find yourself nodding your head as you read along; if you’re not, you’ll be screaming and throwing the book against the wall, then going to get it again to see what happens next.
10. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
The introduction to this new prayer book was well worth the price of admission. It’s thematically interesting, Biblically sound and engaging. Great balance of stories, written prayer, themes and Biblical text. I have it on my Kindle and reach for it often, though truthfully it’s kind of hard to navigate an electronic version of a prayer book with all the flipping forward and back that’s involved. However, this is the best content to my tastes.
9. To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings
My winner of the year for Most Beautiful and Best Poetry (though I did really enjoy some Rilke this year).
These are absolutely gorgeous poetic words of blessing for everyday events in life: birth, illness, breaking up, entering adulthood, meeting a stranger, so many others.
For a fantastic interview of O’Donohue, see Krista Tippett’s podcast On Being, at http://being.publicradio.org/programs/20… completed just prior to his untimely death. It helps so much to hear his words with his brogue.
I love this book so much I have purchased the hardcover, Kindle and audiobook versions. And I’m a cheapskate.
8. A Visit from the Goon Squad
This is a collection of stories about an interconnected group of friends with a music and culture backdrop. The novel moves forward and backward in time, changes voices, and includes a chapter (my favorite of the book) told in PowerPoint slides. It sounds corny, but it’s so well done and so witty and interesting to read that it was a joy to continue through. It was a bit of a head trip to keep track of the characters though – who’s who, who’s related how to who, and who we have met before in which phase. I will reread this and keep a notepad for characters.
That #8 is way too high a number, now that I look at it, but frankly you should read all of these anyway 🙂
7. The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture
This one wins my “Best Christianity” book of 2011. I’ve read most of Jonathan Wilson-Hargrove’s writing; he’s a quiet but strong voice in new Christian monasticism, and this book is hands down his best yet. His thesis is that it’s healthy for us, in our highly mobile culture, to root ourselves in a place and a neighborhood, and stay for the long haul. His stories and his wisdom made a profound impact in my restless soul.
6. To Dakar and Back: 21 Days Across North Africa by Motorcycle
Winner of both my Best Motorcycling Book and Best Adventure Travel book awards. Lawrence Hocking (and his ghost-writer, but still) tells the story of his privateer entry into the biggest endurance rally of them all – the Dakar Rally. In the year he ran it, the race was from Paris to Dakar (the course has since moved to South America due to ongoing safety concerns). And quite apart from the normal big-bucks sponsored teams who run this race, Hacking ran it as a solo privateer with minimal financial backing. It’s a classic bike/adventure/travel story, and I can’t wait for the coverage of the 2012 Dakar Rally to start. I’m pulling for AdvRider forum member Neduro’s privateer effort (follow him here).
5. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
This little memoir was my introduction to Japanese dystopian novelist Haruki Murakami. I picked the audiobook from the library to accompany me on a road trip – because I wanted to “read” more running stories. I loved the whimsy, humor and pace of this one. It’s a meditation on writing, prayer and daily practices, though it’s not a prayer book or a daily practice book. It’s subversive in that way. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this, though when I purchase this I will probably buy paper copies to give away and a Kindle version for me to have on hand for frequent re-reads.
4. Brendan: A Novel
This is the most creative novel I read this year – or for may years, for that matter. Buechner writes a historical novel about St. Brendan the Navigator, who – so the lengend goes – sailed an oxhide boat from Ireland’s west coast to the Americas, long before Columbus and long before the Vikings. His voyage was filled with fantastic events, and Buechner masterfully brings to life the story and imbues the main character with a depth of personality that had me transfixed. This is a masterpiece; anyone I know who loves historical fiction, history or the Celtic tales must read this one.
3. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
This was my most-fun read of the year. I was spellbound at the story and by how McDougall told it. It’s about at least these interwoven themes: Ultramarathon running; the Tarahumara people; running injuries and barefoot running. It was the best-written book I saw this year, and I will reread it many times to come. Even if you’re not interested in any of these themes, you’ll likely still enjoy this book as long as you like a good non-fiction tale that is well told.
2. The Emperor of All Maladies
This is the most important book of the year. The overwhelming majority (perhaps all) of us have been impacted by cancer. My father, both parents-in-law lost battles to cancer; halfway through my reading of this book my grandma was diagnosed with late-stage and terminal pancreatic cancer. This is the history of cancer and cancer treatment – but if that sounds boring and dry to you, you’ll be mesmerized by this one. It’s deeply personal, touching and engaging; it’s also deeply informative. I’ve been handing around my copy of this one with high recommendations.
1. The Arrival
I only read one graphic novel this year. Actually, this was my first one ever. It’s all downhill from here. This is a purely graphic novel – no words, just art. And the art is mindblowing. The story is of a young husband and father who leaves his home to emigrate to a far-off country in search of work to support his wife and child. Tan’s graphics tell the tale in genius fashion – the new land’s architecture is bizarre; its written words and street signs are unintelligible. The effect is heartbreaking as you see the confusion that any immigrant would face in a new place. I was amazed at the depth of this story, and the depth of heart within it.
I beg all my friends who have political views on immigration reform to read this and consider what they would do in another’s shoes. This graphic novel is simply that powerful.
pat loughery 
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