In joining a friend in the aim to read 24 books, or two books per month, you learned with my last blog that we exceeded that goal. 17 books received a bronze rating. On a rating scale of 1-star to 5-stars, Matt with Matt Lynn Digital rated three books with a rating of 4.5 stars or higher.
Ranking at 5.00 stars in 2017 included this one (1) top ranked book that stands alone as the most significant and accomplished book that I read this year:
- Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
As I said in the opening paragraph of the review that you can link above still holds true for me now.
“Sherwood Anderson really accomplished something in tone, language, structure, and accessibility with Winesburg, Ohio that really tickled me. The detail and insight into character here are contemporary because they influenced 20th century American literature.”
If for no other reason than enjoying a book with honest narrative, consider reading Sherwood Anderson.
Ranking at 4.50 stars in 2017 included these two (2) books:
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon
The truth-telling of Night by Elie Wiesel is the emotionally-wrenching firsthand telling of survival through unspeakable psychological trauma when faced with the most atrocious forms of hate and violence perpetrated by humans against humans.
The overriding purpose of the material in Night is that you need to feel and experience it firsthand to truly emotionally connect; these emotionally real and dark qualities that Wiesel shares honestly with raw detail demand the high-rating granted this book.
Do not allow the lack of detail with the included review diminish your consideration for reading Night. For the graphic and psychologically necessary quality of the learning, engage this book with one or more readings.
The ground of The Noonday Demon contemplates entrenched taboos of culture and place from a different though also truth-telling perspective. This firsthand sharing of Andrew Solomon‘s depression, mental illness, and anxiety bring in other people’s experience while also incorporating scholarship. The overriding sense of advocacy combined with sincere attempts to convey the depressive experience connected with me.
The linked review includes perhaps a bit more information than I would want to include if reviewing the book again. Capturing detail on the nature of depression and anxiety, the causes of depression along with Solomon‘s disagreement of said causes, and other subjects like self-medicating, suicide, and the role of society in supporting those who suffer are all relevant advocacy items.
The goal to understand the real human quality underpinning disease makes this sincerely offered book worth the reading. That my high-rating props up the book by advocating for its quality, if nothing else, should offer you some curiosity and interest in reading The Noonday Demon.
The above listing of books reflects the gold listing of books that I read in 2017. The bronze listing was published on Friday. A silver listing followed yesterday. In a bit more positive tip of the hat to my year in reading than Joan Didion experienced with The Year of Magical Thinking, I found this to be a year of magical reading.
Matt – Sunday, December 31, 2017
Matt Lynn Digital 