From our Bookshelf
After a holiday hiatus, I am back to the blog! I’ll summarize our thoughts on 2019 and share some plans for 2020 soon, hint: we are definitely heading out again! Meanwhile, I thought I’d share our favorite books from last year.
One of the joys of being Senior Nomads is ample time to read. Our Kindles are two of our prized possessions and we always have our noses in an e-book. But we love paper books, so when we are “home” with friends and family we scour their bookshelves and then settle in for some satisfying “ink on paper” time.
I enjoyed combing through cookbooks, art books and dozens of magazines while Michael enjoyed reading the Steven Jobs tomb. I even re-read our book Your Keys, Our Home in the hardcover version. That was fun! When we are on the road, we continue to thank the Seattle Public Library for allowing us to download just about any book on the planet to our Kindles for free!
We visited many wonderful libraries in 2019 and also discovered creative ways give books a second life!
That not only saves us money, it also encourages us to read books we might not otherwise choose. And while we might be number 20 on the waitlist for a popular book at the library, we can peruse the “e-books available now” for some instant reading pleasure. We each read 50 books (some were the same) over the year!
It was hard to choose, but here are our Top Ten Reads from last year:
MICHAEL’S LIST:
When Breath Becomes Air - by Paul Kalanithi
The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels - by Jon Meacham
Educated - by Tara Westover
Where the Crawdads Sing - by Delia Owens
Killers of the Flower Moom: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI - by David Grann
The Great Alone - by Kristin Hannah
My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton - by Stephanie Dray, Laura Kamoie
Shortest Way Home: One Mayor's Challenge and a Model for America's Future -
by Pete Buttigieg
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice -
by Bill Browder
Everything, Everything - by Nicola Yoon
DEBBIE’S LIST:
A Fall of Marigolds - by Susan Meissner
The Testaments - by Margaret Atwood
City of Girls - by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Night Tiger - by Yangsze Choo
Little Fires Everywhere - by Celeste Ng
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Women - Balli Kaur Jaswal
Happiness - a Memoir - by Heather Harpham
The Masterpiece - Fiona Davis
The first eight books in the Poldark series - by Winston Graham!
We both read Educated, Where the Crawdads Sing, When Breath becomes Air, My Dear Hamilton. and Everything, Everything.
We haven't taken to audiobooks, but we do enjoy podcasts. We especially enjoy the New York Times The Daily, Planet Money, The Hidden Brain, This American Life, and the occasional TedTalk.
Grandpa working hard to raise our next generations of readers… it’s not always easy!
Feel free to send along your own book and podcast recommendations in the comments! I’ll respond, but you’ll need to check back to read my replies.
Happy New Year and thanks for following along,
Debbie and Michael,
NOTE: This is the 190th blog I’ve written since we began our Senior Nomad adventure in 2013. All of the blogs are searchable by topic or location. And, if you’d like to try living daily life in an Airbnb, use this link and save $40. on your first booking and receive $15. credit towards an Airbnb Experience.