Katherine’s New Year’s Wish for You: Escapism
We can’t always go on vacation when we want to, so what I wish for you in 2011 are those small opportunities to escape–specifically, getting lost in a good book.This past year, I began a new, hour-and-a-half commute, and I quickly discovered that people-watching was out of the question. Nothing exciting happens on New Jersey Transit (unless you count train delays). People are rather civilized and keep to themselves. So with the absence of the MTA distractions I’d been so used to–loud stereo systems, train break dancers, costumes, and religious pontification–I needed something to bide my time during my travels back and forth to suburbia. So I started to read… a lot.
I’m not really picky about the things I read. My husband would even say that a lot of what I read is crap (perhaps because they have nothing to do with the decline and fall of our economic system). But the way I see it, you need to have a guilty pleasure (or two or three). Even our esteemed Strategist, Elizabeth Ricca, reads about gorillas and bats when she isn’t conjuring up awesome ideas for our clients. And I’m sure that our Director of Copywriting, Dan Gunderman, reads Star Magazine. I can just feel it. But don’t tell him I said that.
So, in an effort to make the great Danielle Steele proud, here are my “Best Reads of 2010”:
Fiction
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy – Stieg Larsson
- How to Talk to a Widower – Jonathan Tropper
- Plan B – Jonathan Tropper
- The Passage – Justin Cronin
- In the Woods – Tana French
- The Likeness – Tana French
- Faithful Place – Tana French (Okay, so maybe I like Tana French)
- The Tourist – Olen Steinhauer
Classic Literature
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Fiction with a hint of truth
- Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter – Seth Grahame-Smith
Nonfiction
- Agent ZigZag – Ben Macintyre
- The Blind Side – Michael Lewis
- And the Sea Will Tell – Vincent Buglosi
But my all-time favorites
- The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas
- In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
- The Alchemist – Paolo Coleho
- Pillars of the Earth – Ken Follett
- World without End – Ken Follett
- Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
Up next for 2011
- Fall of Giants – Ken Follett
- Washington: A Life – Ron Chernow
Happy New Year, everyone, and happy escaping!