This time of year there’s usually two things in my mind when it comes to reading: what are the best books that I’ve read this year, and what will be reading next? (The last is always on my mind, to be honest.) I’ve seen a few “best books of 2017” lists already, and I always feel bad for writers whose books have yet to appear this year. It’s still too early for a “best of 2017” post in my mind, but how about what I plan on reading next?
I have recently discovered John McPhee. I’m a fan of essayists, and am especially fond of those who can do long-form nonfiction well. I have been delighted by his book Coming into the Country, which I plan on finished up today. I will likely follow that up with McPhee’s newest books, Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process. If that one goes well, then I might chance another McPhee book, this time Uncommon Carriers.
What else is on my to-be-read list?
The final season of Longmire recently debuted on Netflix. It is one of the few recent shows I’ve enjoyed, and I binged on it over the course of a week or so. Having finished it, I longed for more. Someone, I hadn’t realized that the show was based on a series of novels by Craig Johnson. So I figured I should give that a try, starting at the beginning with The Cold Dish.
Also on the list:
- Endurance by Alfred Lansing
- Marco Polo by Laurence Bergreen
- The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
- Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
- Grant by Ron Chernow
- On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
- The Storm Before the Storm by Mike Duncan
The funny thing about these lists is that they often morph quickly. Reading Coming to the Country made me want to read more McPhee, for example. Reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World a few weeks back made me want to read about Marco Polo. There are plenty more John McPhee books, for that matter, and I may decide to go on a McPhee spree, if you’ll pardon the expression.
For me, the point is that, much like planning a vacation, I like to have more than one book queued up and ready to go, and this is the list I am currently working off of.
What’s on your list?
RSS - Posts