During the orange guy’s administration I really retreated into older fiction. Although I have long leaned that direction, his anxiety-inducing tenure had me craving fiction that existed before him. The pandemic further pushed my anxiety buttons and had me seeking out older fiction. And then John’s death in 2022 really sent me to the metaphorical hills. My reading in 2023 was chock a block with old fiction and many re-reads of books by authors I love like Nevil Shute, Eric Ambler, D.E. Stevenson, and Barbara Pym.
Here are six of my favorites for the year. The Ambler and Wyndham were re-reads. Other highlights included The Red and the Green by Iris Murdoch and Anthony Powell’s epic 12-novel A Dance to the Music of Time. Really a brilliant work. Volumes 11 and 12 were less to my taste, but work in the context of the rest of them. I also decided after finally reading Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead that I was done trying to like Barbara Comyns. But those are fighting words around here, so I won’t say any more about that.
I also went to Hobart, NY which is sometimes referred to as the Hay-on-Wye of the US, but I’m guessing it isn’t.
My Hobart stack.
This wasn’t open when we passed through on a Sunday morning which was a disappointment.
I made some attempts to reorganize my library but was only partially successful.
hogglestock 
Thank god for books in times of stress, especially old favourites. I recently had someone else recommend Margaret Penn, after never having heard of her before, so must track her books down in 2024.
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I haven’t read any of your top reads, though the covers alone make me want to (except Triffids, tbh). And I’m always surprised that Comyns is so popular in the blogging world – I love her, but she feels like an acquired taste – so you won’t get any fighting from me on this front.
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My reading has been much reduced the last couple of years, and I, too, find myself drifting back towards more comfort reads. I took a stab at some of my older TBR books this year – was reminded seeing Paul Gallico in your stack – I tried The Poseidon Adventure and just couldn’t make it past page 106, which was honestly too far. The 1978 movie of the book had a star-studded cast and I could picture them in my head as I was reading, but alas, it was too much a product of its 1969 publication date. Coronation by him was also a fail for me (although short enough that I finished it), but I did enjoy the Mrs. Harris Goes to… books that I have read.
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My reading has been falling to the wayside these past few years and I am not happy about it. So, I reach for an old favorite now and again, just so I’m reading something. And, I tend to enjoy the rereads more than I anticipated.
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