Favorite Reads by Publication Year

In the back half of last year, it seems everyone I knew on LibraryThing was compiling a list of their favorite books published from each year of their life. I avoided making my own for a while, not because I disliked the idea (I love lists) but because I thought it would take a lot of doing. But eventually the excitement of putting together such a list was too much for me to resist, and I spent a delightful afternoon pouring over publication lists by year and marking out possibilities for each year of my life. The resulting list is below, with links to my reviews of those books where I have a review online. (Be aware that some of those reviews might be spoilery, though most of them probably indicate as such near the beginning of the review itself. The reviews are also presented "as is"--some of them are over ten years old, and I'm sure there are errors and bits I would do differently now. They form a snapshot of my life in the same way the list itself does, I suppose.) 

I intend to keep this list updated as the years continue to pass, perhaps revising some of the earlier years as I read more backlist. It's a fun way to envision a life. 

Are any of your favorites here? Which books would you choose?

1981—Early Autumn

1982—Howliday Inn

1983—A Solitary Blue

1984—Star Trek: The Vulcan Academy Murders

1985—Lonesome Dove

1986—A Murder for Her Majesty

1987—Calvin and Hobbes

1988—Matilda

1989—Number the Stars

1990—Jurassic Park

1991—Heir to the Empire

1992—Textual Poachers: Television Fans and ParticipatoryCulture

1993—Trainspotting

1994—The Chamber

1995—The Courtship of Princess Leia

1996—The Sparrow

1997—Moab Is My Washpot

1998—About a Boy

1999—The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2000—J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century

2001—Atonement

2002—The Midwife: A Memoir of Joy, Birth, and Hard Times

2003—The Namesake

2004—Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell

2005—Twilight

2006—The Thirteenth Tale

2007—Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2008—Melusine

2009—1Q84

2010—Annabel

2011—The Song of Achilles

2012—Mrs Queen Takes the Train

2013—Fangirl

2014—Yes, Please!

2015—For Real

2016—The Nix

2017—The Tea Dragon Society

2018—All Out

Laura Recommends. . . .

When a thing strikes me as particularly amusing or lovely or informative, I want other people to find it and be amused or love it or learn from it too. So in that spirit, recommendations for things I think will warp your starship (as it were). Onward!

Laura Recommends...

...a podcast: A Good Read

A production of the BBC, this show is hosted by Harriet Gilbert, who every week sits down with two guests to discuss the three books (one chosen by each of the guests and one by Gilbert) all three have read for the program. As far as I can see, the only criteria for the books is that the person who chooses it thinks it is "a good read," and as such there's a wonderful variety of kinds of books featured. Guests on the show also tend to be of diverse backgrounds, which is a delight. The show is on hiatus at the moment (I believe it comes back in June), but the archives contain years of episodes for your very much listening pleasure right now.

...a short, deep dive: Pantsuit Politics interviews a dairy farmer

I've recommended the podcast Pantsuit Politics before, but today I'm suggesting a segment of a particular episode. In the most recent episode, Beth interviewed Carilynn Coombs, who owns a dairy farm with her husband. They discuss how a dairy farm works--both the hands-on farming parts and the business, administrative side--and the state of milk production and distribution in the US and why so many small dairies are in trouble. It's fascinating and important. Start at minute 24:05 to hear just the interview. It runs for about forty minutes.

...a TV show: Chef's Table

Chef's Table is a documentary Netflix original. Each episode (about an hour long) is a portrait of a world-renowned chef. These are absolutely fascinating and deeply compelling investigations of creativity, genius, ambition, and set-back. (As the chefs are from all over the world, there is often some wonderful photography of various landscapes, street markets, etc.) While the style of the show remains consistent from episode to episode (it's easy to tell you're watching Chef's Table and not some other show), beyond that there's little in the way of format to the way the episodes are presented. Usually there are some brief "talking heads" snippets with people who know the chef who is the subject of the episode and there are always a few close-ups of some signature dishes, but otherwise each episode's structure is dictated by the life and interests of the chef in the episode. All the episodes seem to go together, but no two feel alike. This distinction keeps the show fresh. I've never seen an installment that wasn't good, but I particularly recommend Volume 1, episode 3, and Volume 2, episode 1 and episode 5. Be aware that Volume 2, episode 1, contains some potentially upsetting/triggering discussion of cancer.

...an audiobook: The Uncommon Reader

This 2007 novella about Queen Elizabeth II discovering the joys of reading is a delight in print, but the audio book, which the author, Alan Bennett, reads himself, is just superb. It's funny and insightful and will make you think about reading and life and duty. I've both read and listened to the book, and Bennett's narration definitely adds a little something to the experience. At just under two and a half hours, it's perfect for listening to in one go, perhaps during an afternoon lie-about in the hammock or a car trip. 

...a curiosity in the publishing world: Romance Author Trademarks "Cocky", Romance Community Responds 

Recently a romance author trademarked the word "cocky," claiming other authors' use of the word was infringing on her brand, a series of books using "cocky" in the series title. The romance community is... not happy. This is amusing from the outside, but it's causing a good deal of anxiety and loss of sales (and thus money, obviously) for several independently published romance authors who have received cease and desist letters. That the author received the trademark is also a fairly concerning precedent. This story is continuing to develop, so if you're, like, *super* interested, follow the hashtag #cockygate on Twitter.

Reviewing the Book of the Month Club

If you hang out on Litsy or in other bookish places, chances are good you've seen a lot of swooning over "BOTM" at the beginning of every month. BOTM is the Book of the Month Club, a monthly book subscription service that first started in 1926 and relaunched in 2015 in a modern, online-based format. I got worn down by all the shiny posts and enthusiasm I was seeing about BOTM and finally subscribed last summer. Now that I've been a member for well over six months, I thought I'd write up my experience for anyone considering a membership.

How It Works:
Membership in BOTM is $14.99 per month, for which you can choose any one of the five selected books for the month (announced on the first of each month). Membership also allows you to choose up to two extras per month (from previous month's selections) for $9.99 each. BOTM will never ship you a book you did not choose. If you don't want any of the five selections for the month, you can skip the month on the website; doing so means you will not be charged for that month and nothing will be sent to you. If you do not choose a book but don't actively skip the month, you will be charged the $14.99 and will receive a credit that you can use at a later date for any book on the site. (There's a small catch to this bit, which I will discuss in my cons section below.)

The Books, Content:
BOTM books are recently released titles (often within a few weeks of the date they first become available at BOTM; sometimes a book is available at BOTM before its publication date, in which case BOTM members who select that book will usually have it before it is available in stores.) The books include fiction and nonfiction, and there is usually a good diversity of genres within each month's five selections. In my experience, the books are typically mysteries/thrillers, literary fiction, "beach reads," and general nonfiction. Occasionally I've seen a sci-fi or fantasy selection, but never a romance (some "woman's fiction" (picture the face I'm making at this term, go on, picture it), which often shares some tropes and plot expectations with romance, but). Most of the genre fiction, though not all, at BOTM is of the type that comfortably crosses over, at least a bit, with general fiction. They are usually books that you will be hearing people talk about in the weeks to come (although to what degree that, itself, is attributable to them being BOTM selections, I don't know.) They will be good books, and mainstream books, is what I'm saying, but mostly of a few types.

The Books, as Objects:
When I was a kid, there were a number of Book of the Month Club editions kicking around my parents' and grandparents' houses, from much earlier incarnations of the club. They were easy to pick out because they were special editions for the club and their format (and often cover design) was different from the edition of the same book you could have bought in a bookstore. This is no longer the case with BOTM titles. They are special editions printed especially for BOTM, but their overall formatting and design is nearly identical to the edition of the book you would buy from B&N, Amazon, your local independent, and so on.

The minor differences between a BOTM edition and editions sold elsewhere include: 

*The coloring on the boards (all BOTM editions are hardcovers) of the books themselves may be slightly different from editions in stores. My BOTM edition of Circe has black boards with a vertical orange strip encasing the spine. The edition in stores does not have the orange strip. All of the BOTM editions I have received have two-toned boards like this; I can only specifically comment on the comparison to store editions for Circe, as it is the only title I've seen in both editions. But at a guess I'd say the two-tone boards are a feature of the BOTM editions.

*BOTM editions carry dust jackets in the same design as books appearing in stores except that the BOTM logo appears in the upper right-hand corner of the front of the dust jacket and on the top of the spine of the dust jacket. BOTM editions also carry no paratext on the back of the dust jacket (no blurbs or descriptions, as might appear on the edition sold elsewhere) and instead say "I love BOTM," with "BOTM" appearing inside a heart. The month and year that the title was a selection on BOTM are listed underneath this inscription.

*The BOTM logo is embossed on the front board and any embossing that might usually appear on books by the publisher of the title will be missing. The BOTM logo is also embossed on the top of the spine.

*BOTM editions feel light for their size. My guess is that they are printed on thinner and/or lighter weight paper than most hardcovers. The paper does not, however, feel cheap. It is certainly  not noticeably thin to the touch. The ink does not come off on one's fingers, as often happens with cheaply printed books, such as some mass market paperbacks.

Overall, BOTM editions are pleasing objects. They also look nice lined up next to one another on a shelf.

Pros of Membership:
Overall, I'd say my experience with BOTM has been positive. As I see it, these are the highlights of Book of the Month as a subscription service:

*The books are inexpensive. Barring special deals or promotions, you're going to have a hard time finding a brand new hardcover for $14.99 anywhere else. Prices on Amazon are rarely that low for hardcover new releases (in my experience, new books priced in the ~27 dollar range don't usually go lower than ~17 on Amazon in the days right around the release). The same hardcover at B&N, if it is part of their 30% off new releases program and if you are also a member (10% discount) and if you have a good coupon (20% off) and if you have their credit card that gives you a 5% rebate on your bill, that $27 dollar book, after tax, would come to ~$13.75. So if the stars align, you might could do better on price than BOTM, but it's not super likely. 

*The website is slick. It's bright and pleasant and really easy to use. It's completely intuitive how to add books to your box, how to ship the box, and how to skip a month. It's also pretty user friendly for finding answers to questions you might have, including how to "unskip" a month if you change your mind. The website works equally well on a computer and a mobile device.

*The books arrive very nicely packaged. They come in an instantly recognizable flip-top box and the book/s inside are shrink wrapped for protection. I have never had a BOTM book arrive with a squished spine or a torn dusk jacket. (These days, it's about 60/40 at our house whether books from Amazon will arrive at least mildly damaged, so this is a bit of big deal for me.) Each order comes with a BOTM bookmark. If you're into that kind of thing, you can very easily make opening your BOTM box a small event. Especially if you're using BOTM as a kind of treat for yourself, this is a nice touch. The boxes are also great for storing small items under a bed or in a closet and are the perfect size for sending books through the mail. (Natch, as that's what they were designed for.) If you frequently send books as gifts or exchange reads with friends or family members, a small perk of your BOTM membership would be this monthly supply of the perfect boxes for winging those books on their way.

*The BOTM website has a forum for discussing each of the selections from every month. I have not used this feature, but if you want to discuss your book after reading it, that element is there. There's also a pretty active contingent of BOTM members on Litsy who share about their BOTM picks. If you're looking for an online social aspect to your reading, BOTM could help you find it.

*The books are titles people want to read. Obviously no selection of five books is ever going to please everyone every time, but the BOTM picks are never dregs or strange outliers. You may well come across a book you otherwise wouldn't, but I never feel like the selections are poor.

Cons of Membership:
It's not all rose hips and juniper berries at BOTM. I have almost cancelled my membership a handful of times--mostly for personal, idiosyncratic reasons--but here are my top bugaboos about BOTM:

*I don't love to read hardcovers. BOTM books are always hardcovers. *shrug* I mean, it is what it is, and most books come out in hardcover first. If you want a new release while it's still a new release, hardcover is usually what you got. But I prefer paperback so much and I have so many unread books in my house that I often find myself considering canceling BOTM just because the books aren't in the format I prefer. This one is really down to personal taste, but I'll give you this to chew on too: they're new release hardcovers but they aren't first editions. If you like hardcovers and any part of that has to do with collector-y interest in first editions and/or first printings, your BOTM membership isn't going to help you out there. A BOTM edition is its own separate thing in that sense.

*If you want to skip a month, you have to hit that "skip" button on the website by a certain date (usually the sixth of the month). If you don't do that, you get charged for the month but get no book. That charge gets you a credit you can use later. That's fair enough, I guess, although it used to be that simply not choosing a book skipped the month for you and you didn't get charged. That extra step seems to be designed to net BOTM some cash from forgetful members, especially if they keep forgetting and never use those credits. 

*Every month you have the option of adding up to two extra books to your box at a discount ($9.99). This is a great deal dollar-wise. But there's a small catch. You can only add "extra" books if you choose one of the five books selected for the month. If you don't like any of the five for a given month, there is no way to choose an older book instead. You can only snag those older books as add-ons when you pick a selection of the month. I really wish you could just pick any available book (from the current selections and past selections) for your $14.99, but alas.

*Sometimes I go months on end without seeing a book in the monthly selections that I want. This is all about personal taste, of course, and I can just keep skipping months until something shows up I'm excited about, but it can be a bit of a letdown when all five picks make you go, "Bleh."

Who Should Join BOTM?
I think BOTM is an excellent subscription service for the right kind of reader. I'd recommend BOTM to anyone who would like to keep up with new releases without have to keep up with new releases. I'd also recommend it for anyone who likes to read (or maybe who used to and would like to get back into it) but isn't sure what to read or where to start. BOTM will drop five new releases into your email on the first of every month and boom! you have suggestions for your reading for the next few weeks. For anyone who is looking for a low-key, online book club vibe, BOTM might scratch that itch. It's pretty much guaranteed that a decent number of other people will be reading the same thing you are at the same time you are, and between the BOTM forums and BOTM members on other bookish websites, you should be able to find those people easily. Also, anyone who just loves book mail should enjoy BOTM. If you fit any of those descriptions, I think there's a strong chance you'll fine BOTM worth your time and dollars.

I don't recommend BOTM to readers who are trying to reduce their TBRs (BOTMs will pile up unread just like any other book purchases), anyone who strongly prefers reading in paperback or ebook, readers who are likely to forget to check the BOTM selection and hit that "skip" button if they don't want a book that month, and folks who prefer to read mostly in a genre not strongly represented at BOTM (such as romance, sci-fi, fantasy, specific nitty-gritty nonfiction topics, and cozy mysteries).

If any of you decide to try BOTM (or if you're already a member), let me know how it goes!

My BOTMs, showing the features of BOTM editions as discussed above. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk and The Stranger in the Woods are shown naked with their dust jackets attending. (Click photo to embiggen.)