Essentially...
Back at the beginning of the 2020 lockdowns, a reader wrote
to thank me for the few hours of distraction my latest book had provided (love
to get those kinds of e-mails!). She concluded
by saying “You are an essential worker, too.”
I was deeply touched and flattered, then somewhat astonished as more
letters echoing that sentiment began to come in. We all know what an important part of our
lives books are, but essential on the same level as groceries and UPS
deliveries? I’d never really thought
about it before.
As the global crisis wore on…and on…and on, I came to
understand for myself just how essential books, and the people who write them,
are. They provide more than an escape
when life spins out of control. They
provide engagement in times of isolation, friends in times of loneliness, hope
in the face of despair. They give us
something to look forward to when it sometimes feels as though there is
literally nothing else.
I recall a conversation many years ago with the librarian of
our small town. She agonized over having
to go to the county commissioners in an effort to persuade them to give her
money for the library that might otherwise go to essential services like the fire
department or EMTs. “I know they’re
saving lives,” she said, “but I’m trying to save the things that make life
worth living.”
I’d like to take this opportunity to salute all the books
(and the writers who created them!) that made life worth living this past year.
Like most of you, I read many more than can be listed here, but here are a few
of the ones that really took me away from it all, the ones that were hard to
put down and that I couldn’t wait to get back to—in other words, the perfect
pandemic reading. Maybe you’d like to
check some of them out!
Devoted
by Dean Koontz
No
Exit by Taylor Adams
The
Last Flight by Julie Clark
The
Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Behind
Closed Doors by B.A. Paris
The
Guest List by Lucy Foley
The
Rumor by Leslie Kara
One by One
by Ruth Ware
The Turn
of the Key by Ruth Ware
Big
Summer by Jennifer Weiner
Camino
Winds by John Grisham
Which essential
books saved your sanity this past year?
Comments
I discovered a New (to me author) and his series based in Scotland, Gerald Hammond.
The main character is a dog trainer/breeder in Scotland where there always happens to be a crime to solve. Sound familiar?
The Three Oaks Series:
1. Dog in the Dark
2. Whose Dog are you?
3. Doghouse
4.Give a Dog a Name
5. The Curse of the Cockers
6.Sting in the Tail
7.Mad Dogs and Scotsmen
I also have read Michael Connelly's The Law of Innocence
Silent Bite by David Rosenfelt
Damaging Evidence by Al Macy
The Guardians by John Grisham
Troublemaker by Leah Remini
The rest of my time is spent dancing and teaching dance classes or out with my dogs.
Stay healthy!
Jessica