Top Five Wednesday: 1/4/23

This week's Top Five Wednesday topic is "Books to Read in 2023".  I plan to read the first three early in the year, but the other two will be ongoing.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)
This book is one of my top ten favorites. I love it so much I go all soft and mushy and fangirly over it.  (Here is a discussion on it I wrote in 2016.)  I saw on Goodreads that a friend read it for the first time and it made me want to reread it.  I've already set it out, and it will probably be next up.

The Unfinished Crime by Elizabeth Sanxay Holding  (1940)

Martin Edwards discussed Holding, and this novel in particular, in his book The Life of Crime (my review here).  I was intrigued and ordered it right away.  

Lonely Magdalen: A Murder Story by Henry Wade  (1940)

This one also came to my attention via Martin Edwards, this time from his book The Golden Age of Crime (my review here).  It's a must read this year, as well. 

Jane Austen's Novels

I'm currently listening to a lecture series from the Great Courses called "The Life and Works of Jane Austen" which is supposed to explore Austen and her novels minutely and give even Janeites a deeper understanding of both.  If I find this to be true, I'll want to reread each of the novels after the discussion.  We'll see how this pans out.

More Nonfiction

I love nonfiction.  I have an entire wall dedicated to nonfiction. Lately, though, it seems I love collecting it more than reading it. . .  (tsundoku anyone?)  I read the two books by Martin Edwards along with one memoir this past year, one history/biography in 2021, and one history/biography in 2020.  I don't intend to pressure myself, or feel guilty for reading fiction, but I do want to gently encourage myself to use that part of the brain that feeds on nonfiction books.

A small portion of my nonfiction wall.