Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature by Angus Fletcher

I was intrigued by the idea of "literary" inventions. 

Angus Fletcher has studied and dissected how the psychological impact of literature, and what literature does to achieve that impact.

It's what first drew me to books. As a girl, I recognized how books widened my knowledge and understanding, but mostly I was impressed by how they could make me FEEL. Books could make me cry. Make me laugh. Cause all kinds of ideas to spark in my head. I was awed by that power.

In Wonderworks, Fletcher takes readers on a historical tour of the great moments in literature, showing the advances in literary tools and how the human brain reacts to cause emotional responses that can heal and enlarge our individual lives.

I have never read anything like it. 

Fletcher's vast knowledge shines as he leads us through his thinking, from one literary achievement to another, showing the development of each "invention". He then parses the reactive brain chemistry that causes the reader's reactions.

I enjoyed reading the book one invention at a time. Some inventions were easy to grasp; others took effort. I was familiar with much of the literature used as examples, but was happy to encounter new ones. Like the ancient papyrus text The Wisdom of Ptahhotep, which advises "For as long as you life, follow your heart." At the chapter's end, Fletcher includes books and movies that offer the same psychic  value as the literature he has discussed.

This is a radical, innovative way of looking at literature. It is provoking. 

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature

by Angus Fletcher
Simon & Schuster
Pub Date March 9, 2021 
ISBN: 9781982135973
hardcover $30.00 (USD)

from the publisher

A brilliant examination of literary inventions through the ages, from ancient Mesopotamia to Elena Ferrante, that shows how writers have created technical breakthroughs—rivaling any scientific inventions—and engineering enhancements to the human heart and mind.

Literature is a technology like any other. And the writers we revere—from Homer, Shakespeare, Austen, and others—each made a unique technical breakthrough that can be viewed as both a narrative and neuroscientific advancement. Literature’s great invention was to address problems we could not solve: not how to start a fire or build a boat, but how to live and love; how to maintain courage in the face of death; how to account for the fact that we exist at all.

Wonderworks reviews the blueprints for twenty-five of the most powerful developments in the history of literature. These inventions can be scientifically shown to alleviate grief, trauma, loneliness, anxiety, numbness, depression, pessimism, and ennui—all while sparking creativity, courage, love, empathy, hope, joy, and positive change. They can be found all throughout literature—from ancient Chinese lyrics to Shakespeare’s plays, poetry to nursery rhymes and fairy tales, and crime novels to slave narratives.

An easy-to-understand exploration of the new literary field of story science, Wonderworks teaches you everything you wish you learned in your English class. Based on author Angus Fletcher’s own research, it is an eye-opening and thought-provoking work that offers us a new understanding of the power of literature.

The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books that Changed their Lives by Nancy Pearl & Jeff Schwager

Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager's book The Writer's Library lets readers in on their favorite authors' reading history, what they keep on their bookshelf, and how those books impacted their lives and their craft.

Pearl writes, "Our consciousness is a soaring shelf of thoughts and recollections, facts and fantasies, and of course, the scores of books we've read that have become an almost cellular part of who we are." I found myself thinking about the books that were on my shelves across my lifetime.

I was happy to see books I have read mentioned but there were also many books new to me that I will add to my TBR list.

Certain books were mentioned by more than one writer.

Jonathan Lethem talked of "the poetic, dreamy, surreal stuff like Bradbury" and his favorite TV show The Twilight Zone. He said that Butcher's Crossing by John Williams is better than Stoner, so I have to move it up higher on my TBR shelf.

Susan Choi also mentions Bradbury, as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and J. D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."

Michael Chabon also lists Bradbury, and my childhood favorites Homer Price by Robert McCloskey and Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes. He calls The World According to Garp by John Irving a bombshell; I do remember reading it when it came out. He is another fan of Watership Down. Also on his list are Saul Bellow's Herzog.

One more Bradbury fan, Dave Eggers was in the Great Books program in school, just like me. He also loves Herzog. As does Richard Ford.

Amor Towles begins with Bradbury and adds poetry including Prufrock, Whitman and Dickinson, and a long list of classics.

Another Dickinson fan, Louise Erdrich also loves Sylvia Plath and Tommy Orange's There There.

Jennifer Egen loved Salinger's Nine Stories. As a teen loved Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier and The Magus by John Fowles. "Then Richard Adams' Watership Down took over me life," and she got a rabbit. Oh, my! My husband and I also loved that book when it came out and WE got a pet rabbit--house trained to a liter box. I share a love for many of her mentions including Anthony Trollope.

Andrew Sean Greer included Rebecca and also loves Muriel Spark.

Madeline Miller also notes Watership Down as one of the "great favorites of my entire life." She is a fan of King Lear, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. 

Laila Lalami mentioned Waiting for the Barbarians by J. M. Coetzee as a favorite.

I would not have guessed that Luis Alberto Urrea had fallen hard for Becky Thatcher (from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer) or that he fell in love with Stephen Crane's poetry.

At college I read The Sot Weed Factor by John Barth; it is  one of T.C. Boyle's favorite historical novels. He calls Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro "one of the greatest books ever." And he brings up John Gardner, whose novels I read as they came out.

Charles Johnson also studied under John Gardner whose book On Moral Fiction appears on his shelf along with Ivan Doig.

Viet Thanh Nguyen was blown away by sci-fi writers like Isaac Asimov and fantasy writers like J. R. R. Tolkien. He liked Michael Ondaatje's Warlight.

Jane Hirshfield was "undone" by Charlotte's Web by E. B. White and loved Water de la Mare's poem "The Listeners" and reads poetry including Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, W. H. Auden, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Philip Levine is a poet on my TBR shelf that she mentions.

Siri Hustvedt read Dickinson and the canonical English poetry early. Flannery O'Connor shows up on her shelf, also found on shelves of T. C. Boyle, Erdrich, Ford, and Tartt.

Vendela Vida is "indebted to Forster," including A Passage to India. Also on her shelf is Coetzee's Disgrace.

Donna Tartt read Bedknobs and Broomsticks by Mary Norton, James Barrie's Peter Pan, and other classic children's literature. Oliver Twist particularly moved her and it also appears on Urrea's shelf.

Russell Banks loved Toby Tyler by James Otis and loves to read the classics.

Laurie Frankl's books are not ones I have read. Along with all the other books on these author's shelves, I can extend my reading list past my natural lifespan!

Readers will enjoy these interviews, comparing book shelves, and learning the books that influenced these writers.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

The Writer's Library: The Authors You Love on the Books That Changed Their Lives
by Nancy Pearl and Jeff Schwager
HarperCollins Publishers/HarperOne
Pub Date September 8, 2020
ISBN: 9780062968500
hardcover $27.99 (USD)

from the publisher:

With a Foreword by Susan Orlean, twenty-three of today's living literary legends, including Donna Tartt, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Andrew Sean Greer, Laila Lalami, and Michael Chabon, reveal the books that made them think, brought them joy, and changed their lives in this intimate, moving, and insightful collection from "American's Librarian" Nancy Pearl and noted playwright Jeff Schwager that celebrates the power of literature and reading to connect us all.

Before Jennifer Egan, Louise Erdrich, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Jonathan Lethem became revered authors, they were readers. In this ebullient book, America’s favorite librarian Nancy Pearl and noted-playwright Jeff Schwager interview a diverse range of America's most notable and influential writers about the books that shaped them and inspired them to leave their own literary mark. 

Illustrated with beautiful line drawings, The Writer’s Library is a revelatory exploration of the studies, libraries, and bookstores of today’s favorite authors—the creative artists whose imagination and sublime talent make America's literary scene the wonderful, dynamic world it is. A love letter to books and a celebration of wordsmiths, The Writer’s Library is a treasure for anyone who has been moved by the written word. 

The authors in The Writer’s Library are:

Russell BanksT.C. BoyleMichael ChabonSusan ChoiJennifer EganDave EggersLouise ErdrichRichard FordLaurie FrankelAndrew Sean GreerJane HirshfieldSiri HustvedtCharles JohnsonLaila LalamiJonathan LethemDonna TarttMadeline MillerViet Thanh NguyenLuis Alberto UrreaVendela VidaAyelet WaldmanMaaza MengisteAmor Towles

Covid-19 Life: Lockdown to End; TBR; Book Suggestions

Two springs ago I woke up and thought, I want a yellow bedroom. I decided to find yellow fabric for curtains and a quilt.

I found the fabric online. I decided to hand applique rose blocks.

 This late winter a local woman machine quilted it.

And then I choice a neutral paint color because I will switch quilts around. This week we painted the bedroom and rearranged the room. All the nail holes were spackled and sanded. It's a fresh start!

Michigan is reopening, with preventive measures. I am being deluged with notices that all my cancelled doctor appointments can be rescheduled. Although the 'curve has been flattened,' it is hard to go back to 'normal' after almost four months of staying home and safe.

But we are going to visit our son and his girl and their critters! We will visit outdoors. Recently they both tested negative. Since we last saw Sunny she has grown up and was spade.

Hazel and Sunny share a quiet moment

I love my new Bernina 750 QE sewing machine! It is so easy! So quiet! I am ready now to learn how to machine quilt.

Our weekly quilt group meets at the community center which is still closed. This week our oldest member and founder suffered a stroke. Such sad news when we must be apart.

I have completed 78 books so far this year.

New to my egalley TBR shelf:

• The Violence Inside Us by Senator Chris Murphy
• Pew by Catherine Lacey, a novel 

I won This I Know from Eldonna Edwards who hosted the Facebook American Historical Fiction group.

I won Hieroglyphics by Jill McCorkle from LibraryThing.

I won the egalley Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy from the publisher.

Reading now:

• The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson, a Goodreads win
• Democracy, If We Can Keep It, a history of the American Civil Liberties Union, from NetGalley
• Estelle by Linda Steward Henley

I have been receiving numerous invitations to read galleys and participate in blog tours. More than I can take on as I have committed to over twenty books already!

I accepted two from Algonquin that are coming up: Miracle Country by Kendra Atleework and The Lives of Edie Pritchard by Larry Watson. Both are fantastic reads. I signed up for one more and am waiting to hear back.

These past days have been so disturbing with images of police violence, starting with George Floyd. But there have been snippets of good, too, and hope for change.

All over social media book publishers and writers have stood up for social justice and an end to systemic racism.

Reading lists are being shared. Here are books I have reviewed over the years. Click on the titles to access my review.

Nonfiction

I Can't Breathe by Matt Taibbi

Detroit 1967 : Origins, Impacts, Legacies by Thomas J. Sugrue, Joel Stone, et. al.

The Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle

Broke: Hardship and Resilience in a City of Broken Promises  by Jodie Adams Kirshner

Grace Will Lead Us Home: The Charleston Church Massacre and the Hard, Inspiring Journey to Forgiveness by Jennifer Berry Hawes

One Mississippi, Two Mississippi: Murder, Methodists, and the Struggle for Racial Justice in Neshoba County by Carol V. R. George

TruevineTwo Brothers, A Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South: by Beth Macy

Quilt Related:

An American Quilt by Rachel May

And Still We Rise by Carolyn L. Mazloomi

Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium: Quilting the World’s Conscience by Carolyn L. Mazloomi

Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs

Mighty Justice by Dovey Johnson Roundtree

My Live My Love My Legacy by Coretta Scott King with Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds

Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage
by Pauli Murray

Lighting the Fires of Freedom: African American Women in the Civil Rights Movement by Janet Dewart Bell

Just Another Southern Town: Mary Church Terrill and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Nation's Capital by Joan Quigley

Odetta by Ian Zach

Fannie Lou Hamer: America's Freedom Fighting Woman
by Maegan Parker Brooks

Motherhood So White by Nefertiti Austin

Redlined by Linda Gratz

Convicted: A Crooked Cop, an Innocent Man, and an Unlikely Journey of Forgiveness and Friendship by Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins with Mark Tabb

Sing For Your Life by Daniel Bergner

Reading With Patrick by Michele Kuo

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

The World According to Fannie Davis by Bridgett M. Davis

The $500 House in Detroit Drew Philp

Daisy Turner's Kin: An African American Family Saga by Jane C. Beck

His Eye is On the Sparrow by Ethel Waters

Fiction
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

The Turner House by Angela Flournoy

The Mercy Seat by Elizabeth H. Winthrop

A Boy in His Winter by Norman Lock

New Boy by Tracey Chevalier

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

Children's Books

The Colored Car by Jean Alicia Elster

The Story of Harriet Tubman by Christine Platt

WIP, TBR, News

This year I am continuing to work on finishing my UFO projects. I have my Yellow Rose Sampler blocks together and am deciding on the border next. 

I already sewed the Hospital Sketches blocks and am working on an applique border. I have three sides with stem and one flower completed. Also in the pic below are my original Great Gatsby storybook blocks completed so far. I NEED TO FINISH this quilt in 2020!

Last year I started a Dandelion Wine quilt. It looked better in my head. I am not happy with it at all. So I am stalled.

Many years ago when our son was in school I worked on a crayon tinted and embroidered Watership Down quilt. I finally put on a border and am calling it ready to quilt.

My TBR shelf keeps growing! I can't resist...new books...But I know I can handle it. I read eight books in the two weeks of the year.

New on my review shelves are:

• Bronte's Mistress by Finola Austin is a fictional story based on Branwell Bronte's tragic love affair with his employer's wife.
• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Imbue whose first novel Behold the Dreamers was terrific.
• Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol Oates. I read all of her 1960 and 1970 novels and a few later ones. I thought it was time to read her again.

Also on my shelf still

• John Adams Under Fire by Dan Abrams
• Miss Austen by Gil Hornby
• The Sin Eater by Megan Campisi
• Square Haunting by Francesca Wade
• Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest by Ian Zach
• The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner
• Paris Never Leaves by Eileen Feldman
• American Follies by Norman Lock
• Beyond the Horizon by Ella Carey
• Country by Michael Hughes

By the time this is posted I will have finished Frida in America by Celia Stahr and Inland by Tea Obhret.

The Sunday, January 19, 2020, Detroit Free Press ran a story of Michigan Notable Books. I was pleased to see I had been able to read and review quite a few!

Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-women-of-copper-country-by-mary.html
A Good American Family by David Maraniss
https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/05/a-good-american-familythe-red-scare-and.html

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels

https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2018/12/we-hope-for-better-things-erin-bartels.html

Broke by Jodie Adams Kirshner

https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/11/broke-hardship-and-resilience-in-city.html

The World According to Fannie Davis by Bridgett M. Davis

https://theliteratequilter.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-world-according-to-fannie-davis-my.html

My friend Linda makes these wonderful pockets that turn mugs into tool holders and I ordered three.

Our new grandpuppy is named Sunny. Here she is caught in a rare moment of rest. She keeps Ellie running! Sunny is a playful and loving mass of puppy energy. Ellie loves romping in the snow. Sunny's first snow left her perplexed. It was up to her chest!

Meanwhile, Hazel has been finding safe places away from the playful pup.

I received a lovely note from Helen Korngold's nephew's wife thanking me for sharing Helen's diary and for the research about her and her time. "The effort you put into printing the weekly diary entries in aunt Helen's diary was beyond anything we could have imagined--and then to get the additional information from your research gave us an insight into the life and time of the woman we all knew and loved dearly."

I was very touched. I wish I had met Helen, but from the first time I read the first words in the diary I knew she was a fun, intelligent, loving person with great vigor and enthusiasm for life.

End of the Year Review

I did it! I read fewer books this year than last year! I only read 166 books.

According to Goodreads, the most popular book I read--with  539,159 Goodreads readers--was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I read it for its ten-year anniversary read-along on the Little, Brown Facebook group. I also read Richard Power's The Overstory with the Read It Now Facebook group sponsored by PBS Newshour and the New York Times Book Review.

It is always exciting when a publisher or author likes my reviews and quotes them in media. I discovered on Indiebound a quote from my review of The Peacock Feast by Lisa Gornick and I received comments from Nicholas Meyer about my review on The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols and from Julie Langsdorf on her novel White Elephant.

NetGalley publishers starred eight of my book reviews including The Vexations by Caitlin Horrocks--who I later discovered had been my son's writing professor!

Books about writers, fiction and nonfiction, always catch my interest. I read biographical fiction novels:
Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts: Mrs. Frank L. Baum and the making of the Wizard of Oz movie
Paris 7 A.M. by Lisa Weiland: poet Elizabeth Bishop's missing weeks in Paris
Love That Moves the Sun by Linda Cardillo: the friendship between Michelangelo and the poetess Vittoria Colonna
The Secrets We Kept by Laura Preston: Boris Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago's place in the Cold War and female typists turned spies

Non-fiction books on writers and books including:
Marma and Louisa by Eve LaPlante: Louisa May Alcott's heroic mother
Rilke in Paris: the city's place in the life of Ranier Maria Rilke and the writing of The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
William Stoner and the Battle for the Inner Life by Steve Almond: the author discusses his understanding and relationship to John William's novel
Ministry of Truth by Dorian Lynskey: George Orwell's novel 1984 
Mother of the Brontes by Sharon Wright: about the famous sisters' mother
Jane Austen's Inspiration by Judith Cove: Austen's friendship with Anne Lefroy
There's Something About Darcy by Gabrielle Malcolm: the Austen character's impact throughout the arts
The Story of Charlotte's Web by Michael Sims: E. B. White's inspiration and creation of the childhood classic
These Fevered Days by Martha Ackman: Emily Dickinson's life and works through pivotal moments
Cold Warriors by Duncan Wright: how literature was a weapon during the Cold War
Irving Berlin by James Kaplan: about the iconic Jewish songwriter

Literary Fiction I read includes:
A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler; class, race, and values war "can't happen here" happens there
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins: the horrendous story behind one refugee family
Eden Mine S. M. Hulse: the roots of violence and the moral decisions we make
The Dutch House by Ann Pratchett: siblings stuck in the past
Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson: when utopia doesn't work out
Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken: a family+a bowling alley=hilarity
The Night of Memory by Linda LeGarde Grover: Ojibwe sisters disappear into foster care until sought out by family
The Parade by Dave Egger: a parable about war and fake peace
Imagine That by Mark Fins: child in 1950s struggles with faith and life
Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam: passed over for the Nobel, a professor tries new values and lifestyle
The End of the Ocean by Maya Lunde: dystopian future with climate refugees and water shortage
The Overstory by Richard Powers: a multilayered exploration of the importance of trees to our survival
Rodin's Debutante by Just Ward; a coming-of-age novel set in Chicago. I read this when I learned of Ward's passing in December.

Women's fiction read included:
Chronicles of a Radial Hag by Lorna Landvik: a woman's legacy in a small town
The Words Between Us by Erin Bartles: books, forgiveness, and romance
Things You Save in the Fire by Katherine Center: female firefighter copes with dying mom and sexism in the workplace
Every Note Played by Lisa Genova: ex-wife cares for concert pianist with ALS
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid: a reimagining of Austen's classic
By the Book by Julia Sonneborn: Persuasion update about second chances
Unforgettable by Soniah Kamal: Pride and Prejudice update set in Pakistan
The Other Bennett Sister by Janice Hadlow, an imagining of Mary Bennett's story

Thrillers and suspense:
The Holdout by Graham Moore: jurists from a headline trial reconvene and one is murdered
Shadow of the Lions by Christopher Swann: man returns to teach at his boarding school and hopes to solve a mystery
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim: trial hopes to determine responsibility for deaths but secrets abound
The Long Call by Anne Cleeves: detective solves a murder mystery in the community that has shunned him
The Dinner by Herman Koch: masterful plotting about a disturbing crime

YA books:
The Patron Saints of Nobody by Randy Ribay: teenager travels to the Philippines to unravel the mystery of his cousin's death
The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen: teenage girl caught in the class division of resort town

Nonfiction:
Father of Lions by Louise Callaghan: Mosul citizens caught in the war try to survive--and protect zoo animals
The Queens of Animation by Nathalia Holt: the women behind Disney
Joe Biden by Jules Witcover: Joe Biden's life and career
Rachel Maddow by Lisa Rogak: first biography of Maddow
Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy: the riveting story of the Greeley expedition to the Arctic
The Winter Army by Maurice Isserman: the 10th Mountain Division in WWII
Falter by Bill McKibben: climate change and humanity's future
Broke by Jodie Adams Kirshner: dysfunctional governance causes housing crisis
Blowout by Rachel Maddow: oil and gas and Putin and politics
We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer: changing our lifestyle can slow climate change
Archeology from Space by Sarah Parcak: cutting edge technology reveals our place in the world
American is Immigrants by Sara Novic: foreign-born Americans contributions
Threads of Life by Claire Hunter: women and needlework in history and society
Whose Water is it, Anyway by Maude Barlow: communal vs. corporate control of water resources
Songs of America by Jon Meachem and Tim McGraw: history through music
Grace Will Lead Us Home by Jennifer Berry Hawes: victims of church shooting embody forgiveness
Fault Lines by Kevin Kruse: the 1970s roots of a divided America
The Chronicle of Shipwrecked Books by Edward Wilson-Lee: Columbus's son creates largest collection of books
The Death and Life of Aida Hernandez: A Border Story by Aaron Bobrow-Strain: the true story of an immigrant illustrates the consequences of American policy
The Forgotten Hero: Folke Bernadotte, the Swedish Humanitarian Who Rescued 30,000 People from the Nazis by Shelley Emling: Neutrality allows man to manipulate Nazis and rescue Ravensbruck women
Upheaval by Jared Diamond applies psychology to understand nations
Morality and the Environmental Crisis by Roger S. Gottlieb: systematic consideration of human choices and our impact on the environment
The Last Whalers by Doug Bok Clark chronicles a vanishing culture
Camelot's End: Kennedy vs. Carter and the Fight that Broke the Democratic Party by Jon Ward
Thomas Cole's Refrain: The Paintings of Catskill Creek by H. Daniel Peck. Three Sheets to the Wind by Cynthia Barrett: sayings with nautical roots
How to Remove a Brain by David Haviland: stories about the human body

I reviewed three cookbooks!
Amy Cotler's The Secret Garden Cookbook
Wini Moranville's The Little Women Cookbook 
Lincoln in the Kitchen by Katherine Eighmey.
I also read The Anti-Diet Cookbook by Christy Harrison

Memoirs:
Family Records by Patrick Modiano: fictionalized memories of WWII Paris
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay: British OB/GYN doctor's comic and tragic true stories
Mighty Justice by Dovey Johnson Roundtree: African American lawyer's impressive legacy
Educated by Tara Westover: author escapes horrific childhood
Inheritance by Dani Shapiro: DNA test results drive the search for real father
The Sun is a Compass by Caroline Van Hemert: a 4,000-mile journey across Alaska's wilderness
Legacy by Susan Methot: the lasting legacy of removing Indigenous children from families
The World According to Fannie Davis by Bridgett Davis: the numbers racket gives an African American Detroit family a home and education
Greek to Me by Mary Norris: the author's obsession with all things Greek
A Good American Family by David Maraniss: the author tries to understand why his journalist dad was called before the UnAmerican committee
Maid by Stephanie Land unwed mother's struggles to better herself
A Polar Affair by Lloyd Spencer Davis: author discovers suppressed manuscript detailing sex life of penguins

Historical fiction:
I reread A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: house arrest makes a Former Person the "luckiest man in Moscow"
The Girl in White Gloves by Teri Maher: Grace Kelley's life
The Great Unknown by Peg Kingman: Scientific theories upset Victorian society
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd: eccentric female detective seeks child in Victorian England
Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict: an imagined life of Churchill's wife
The Light After the War by Anita Abriel: WWII refugee Hungarian Jewish women seek a new life
Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain: WPA artist discovers suppressed history in a southern town
Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gapah: David Livingston's remains are returned to England by African servants
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth McNeal: The Great Exhibition is the backdrop to this Victorian gothic thriller
Lost Roses by Matha Hall Kelley: White Russian refugees helped by New York socialite
The Gown by Jennifer Robson: women craft exquisite wedding dress for Queen Elizabeth
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner: Detroit Jewish sisters divergent lives
Courting Mr. Lincoln by Louis Bayard: imagines Lincoln and Joshua Speed in love
The Editor by Stephen Rowley: new author mentored by Jackie O.
The Road to Grantchester by James Buncie: Sidney Chamber's WWI experience drives his calling
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin: family drama explores how love fails us and saves us
The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith: romance and mystery set in the early French film industry
The Guest Book by Sarah Blake: Racism divides family
Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell: women endeavoring to unionize, based on historical people and incidents in Calumet, MI
This Tender Land by William Kent Kruger: boys escape boarding school and set on a river journey
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris: woman survives concentration camp and Siberia, helps others
The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thoman Kenalley: ancient and modern Australian men cope with end of life
We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca Wright: sisters divergent paths into a divided America
Make Me a City by Jonathan Carr: vignettes from the history of Chicago
Amy Stewert's Miss Kopp On the March, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions, Lady Cop Makes Trouble, and Kopp Sisters On the March: based on real female detective, series considers women's struggles in early 20th c
If Anyone Should Ask, Tell Them I Died From the Heartbreaking Blues by Philip Coiffari, inspired by his NYC boyhood

I listened to more audiobooks this year.
Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: band propelled to top the charts  unravels
To the Stars Through Difficulties by Romlyn Tilghman: women discover hidden strengths and love
The Secrets We Kept by Laura Prescott: typists turned spies--Olga and Pasternack and Dr. Zhivago--and Cold War intrigue

Short story collections:
This Is Not a Love Song by Brenden Matthew
Maggie Brown & Others by Peter Orner
We Love Anderson Cooper by R. L. Maizes
Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout in which the story of Olive Kitteridge continues
I'd Die For You, the uncollected stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Indie authors are gems ready to be discovered and I have been lucky to read quite a few.
Anne Creel Howard's The River Widow (a flood offers a wife an opportunity to escape an abusive husband) and Mercy Road (women ambulance drives in WWI)
Rebecca Rosenberg's historical fiction novels Gold Digger: The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor and The Secret Life of Mrs. Jack London
Tidal Flats by Cynthia Newberry Martin; a military marriage under stress
The Fourteenth of September by Rita Dragonette; revisits the Vietnam war protests and first draft lottery from a female perspective
Temptation Rag by Elizabeth Hutchinson Bernard; early Ragtime stars
Wickwythe Hall by Judithe Little; WWII and Operation Catapult provides the historical background for this romance
Northward by Chuck Radda; retired PI returns to Alaska to find a missing woman and stumbles upon environmental catastrophe in the making
And the memoirs Redlined by Lisa Graft about her Chicago childhood neighborhood and racial tensions, Two Minus One by Kathryn Taylor about life after marriage, and Lost Without the River by Barbara Hoffbeck Scoblic, recalling her childhood in rural Dakota

I have discovered Bellevue Literary Press and love their books. This year I read:
Feast Day of the Cannibals by Norman Lock, in which Robling and Melville appear, from his American Novel series
Hap and Hazzard at the End of the World by Diane DeSanders; girl survives dysfunctional childhood
Cesare by Jerome Charyn; Jewish orphan in Nazi Germany rises in power while protecting select Jews
The Bear by Andrew Krivak; father and daughter survive in a post-apocalyptic world
The Welsh Fasting Girl by Varley O'Connor

Best of all I was recognized as a top Amazon reviewer--ranked 927!

Our library book club had Skype visits with Wiley Cash to discuss his novel The Last Ballad, Nefertiti Austin on her memoir Motherhood So White, and Amy Stewart on Girl Waits With Gun.

Quilt books I reviewed:
Art Quilts Unfolding, celebrating 50 years of the Studio Art Quilts Association
Blue and White Quilts
Exploring Your Artistic Voice in Contemporary Quilt Art by Sarah Sider
Lynette's Bet-Loved Stitcheries
Autumn Bouquet by Sharon Keightley
Wild Wool and Cotton  Quilts by Erica Kaprow
Victoria Findlay Wolfe's Playing With Purpose
Blended Embroidery by Brian Haggard
Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer
Organic Applique by Kathy Doughty
MODA All-Stars On a Roll
Visioning Human Rights in the New Millennium by Caroline Mazloomi
HERstory Quilts by Susanne Miller-Jones
Hidden Treasures: Quilts from 1600 to 1860 by Lori Lee Triplett

*****

I continued toward my goal of completing quilt tops and quilting existent quilt tops. I'm not getting any younger! Time to clean up the backlog!

April Showers Bring May Flowers, hand appliqued and machine quilted

Little Red Riding Hood, hand embroidered and hand quilted

The Bronte Sisters, original quilt, machine quilted

Tweet, hand quilted

Winter Houses, machine quilted
pattern by Anne Sutton

unnamed, machine quilted

1857 Album quilt, hand applique and machine quilted
patterns from Gay Boomers

Unnamed, hand quilted

Vintage quilt block, Freedom of Speech, hand quilted

Cluck Cluck, hand appliqued and hand quilted
pattern from MODA All-Stars On a Roll

Baskets, hand applique and hand quilted
pattern by Anne Sutton

Thicket fabric from Gingiber quilt top

Hospital Sketches quilt top, unfinished
patterns from Barbara Brackman

Wizard of Oz quilt top, hand embroidered original designs

I made a table runner for my son and his girlfriend,
creating an applique to match the print

Its been a great year.