Copyright Anchorage Daily News
The Washington Post recently published a photo essay that captured people reading books around the D.C. area. We asked them where they got the books, what they thought of them and why they liked them. The feedback on that article has been tremendous, and another installment is in the works. In the meantime, my colleague Alisa Tang asked readers of The Post Local newsletter about their print-book selections. We got quite a few responses! We read them all, and since we don’t have space to include every single one, here are a few selections, edited for clarity and length. Thank you for reading. - - - Clair Sapilewski, 21, D.C. I love reading real, physical books. I love going to a bookstore and buying a new book, and I love it being mine. I am from Redwood City, California, but I go to school at American University. Today I am starting “World Without End” by Ken Follett. I bought it at Politics and Prose. I picked it up because I loved another book by the author, “Pillars of The Earth.” My mom loved reading these books and has been telling me about them for the past 10 years. She was right; these historical fiction, multilayered epics are indeed spectacular. - - - Mary Lou Cramer, 71, Spotsylvania, Virginia I have worked part time at my local library for years. I listen to a lot of audiobooks but I like to have a few print books around to read in bed at night. I recently finished the audiobook version of “Unlikely Animals” by Annie Hartnett, recommended by my daughter, and just loved it. I immediately checked out an older book by Hartnett to take with me on a trip to Maine to visit my daughter. Seven chapters in, “Rabbit Cake” has the same quirkiness and poignancy as “Unlikely Animals” and is also very funny - sweet, too, but not too much so. Anyway, I’m loving it, and it’s just the break my brain needs from the current state of things. - - - Joe Villani, 79, Germantown, Maryland I am reading Dave Barry’s most recent book, “Class Clown,” a birthday gift from my smart aleck brother, Jim. Not only is it a hardback, it’s autographed by Dave. And it’s very funny, though I’m not sure why Jim gave it to me. - - - Alison Flanders Shwayri, 43, Kensington, Maryland I’m reading “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series in paperback. I’m a mom of two boys, 6 and 9. I never have time to watch my own shows on TV, so reading a physical book sets a much better example for my kids. Instead of “Mom is always on her phone,” my kids see reading as a hobby I love and hopefully they will take it up themselves! - - - Ebaadah Jaka, 18, Purcellville, Virginia I’m currently reading “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” by Kiran Desai. I’m drawn to stories of people who could only have been brought together by fate and that get into the tremendous impact of its (seemingly) complete randomness on their lives. Also, I just finished “The Book of Heartbreak” by Ova Ceren. This one is a speculative fiction, my favorite genre. It’s got elements of Turkish folklore written into it very beautifully while also managing to focus on issues of identity and intergenerational trauma - with a little bit of romantasy too! - - - Trish Donnally, 70, D.C. This week, I was gripped by the poignant book - on paper - “Like Falling Through a Cloud” by Eugenia Zukerman. It’s hard to fathom how Zukerman, who was in her early 70s at the time she wrote it, could pen such poetic stories with such strength, tenderness and an insider’s perspective while struggling with Alzheimer’s. Discovering it gave me hope, and my husband, Robert, 72, an Alzheimer’s patient, is reading this library book now. - - - Allana Strong, 40, D.C. My college friends and I all love books, but I’m the only one who must have a hard copy. I’m reading “Clytemnestra” by Costanza Casati, and it’s excellent. It feels intelligent but moves quickly, exactly what I need at the end of a day. If a book is too grim or slow I won’t pick it up. If it’s too lightweight I’m likely to get bored or irritated and stop. I find this is a very hard balance to strike, so when I find an author who can do it I’ll happily keep coming back. - - - Rita M. Mattia, 82, Richmond I was a somewhat precocious toddler, so I’ve been reading books on paper for eight decades. There is nothing like it. Not audiobooks, books on laptop, books on tablet … blah blah blah. I love settling down in bed with a book, rereading the back or inside of the jacket from time to time. Rereading a chapter or paragraph. Assuming I own it, writing a little star on a page I love. I have a variety of charming bookmarks - most are gifts from friends - and I enjoy choosing one for each book. Favorites stay on my night table for weeks in case I want to reread/re-enjoy some part of them. Right now, the gems in the stack include: Lisa Wingate’s “Before We Were Yours,” Ariel Lawhon’s “The Frozen River,” Liane Moriarty’s “Big Little Lies,” Abdulrazak Gurnah’s “Theft,” Sally Field’s “In Pieces” and Fredrik Backman’s “My Friends.” - - - Paula Staudt, 60, Annapolis, Maryland I am reading “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” by Thornton Wilder. The pastor of my church recently mentioned it in his weekly homily when speaking about living your life each day faithfully, because you never know when a day will be your last. He said, “God’s presence can be found and embraced in every moment of daily life, particularly through responding to our obligations and accepting our circumstances with love and faith.” Wilder’s book draws connections between the fate and faith of five people who died in an Incan rope bridge collapse in Peru. It examines their individual lives and why they came together on the bridge and died together at that moment, and explores the theme of whether there is direction and meaning in their lives beyond the individual’s own will. - - - Elise Egan, 36, D.C. I read a lot - one of my favorite habits I’ve stuck to the last few years is reading before bed, and I love listening to audiobooks while traveling, walking or cooking, so I typically have two to three different books going at once! Surprisingly, I find I’m able to keep the plotlines and character names straight most of the time. I was especially grateful to have my reading habit to lean on earlier this year when my career at USAID was cut short. As far as paper books go, I have a huge stack I’m working through from Little Free Libraries. I am now reading “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by VE Schwab, after finishing “Kaikeyi” by Vaishnavi Patel; this summer I read the paperback of “Wish You Were Here” by Jodi Picoult, lent to me by my mother. - - - Jessica Brewer, 42, Vienna, Virginia I am struggling with distraction and needed to revisit an old friend. I picked up “Anne of Green Gables” and am laughing at the melodrama as a contrast to, and to pull me from, the sadness around me. - - - Elizabeth Hodges, 72, Richmond I almost always read on paper, with a pen too. I’m a retired English professor and am currently rereading “The Cello Suites: J.S. Bach, Pablo Casals, and the Search for a baroque Masterpiece” by Eric Siblin. It is a beautifully written, well researched and thoughtfully structured book that reads like a really good mystery, one that invites readers into the mind of the sleuth. I am rereading because each of the six sections focuses on a Bach cello suite, and each section is broken down by that particular suite’s movements, i.e., Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Minuet, Gigue. So I thought, why not listen to each of the six suites as I read, section by section. - - - Walter Hadlock, 82, Herndon, Virginia In nonfiction, currently I am reading “Outmaneuvered: America’s Tragic Encounter with Warfare from Vietnam to Afghanistan” by James A. Warren, which I got at my local library. I am a Vietnam veteran and an avid military history reader. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan, with multiple conflicts in between, have greatly affected ongoing discussions of U.S. history, policy and legislation. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan have taken on lives of their own, and I expect discussing the pros and cons will go on for years to come. As for fiction: After watching the four-part PBS presentation “Our House,” I got the book of the same title by Louise Candlish, also at the library. It’s the story of property theft, deception, marital conflict and personal relationships. Among other things, I want to see how closely the TV production, which was excellent, follows the book. - - - Lynn Abbott, age 64, Kensington, Maryland I just finished a beautifully written novel, “The Street” by Ann Petry, borrowed from my neighborhood library on the recommendation of a friend who’d recently discussed it with her New York City-based book club. Published in 1946, Petry’s debut work is set in Harlem, and is said to be the first novel by a Black woman to sell over a million copies. Through the main characters’ struggles, we see how race, class and gender often determine one’s fate - which is especially heart-wrenching, considering we haven’t made much progress in the past nearly 80 years. - - - Bex Sammartino, 27, D.C. I just finished “Carrie Soto Is Back” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I got it from my local library. My book club is reading her new book, “Atmosphere,” and I wanted to go back to some of her earlier works. My new book is “Lessons in Chemistry” by Bonnie Garmus, which I also picked up at the library. I watched the first episode of the TV show and was intrigued enough to pick up the book before finishing it. - - - Mary Lavin, 69 Rochester, New York I only read paper books, and many from my local library. Just never warmed up to the book-on-screen idea. Right now I am rereading Niall Williams’s “This Is Happiness.” I’ve read almost everything he’s written, but “Happiness” hit me in a spot I didn’t know I had. As I read his books, every two to three pages there is a paragraph or two that I must re- and reread. I learned of his work one early morning walking my dog when I stopped to watch a woodpecker shower the sidewalk with wood chips. A woman joined me and in silence just watched for a minute or two. As she crossed the street she turned and just called to me … “ You’d like the writer Niall Williams!” I thought that so odd I just had to investigate. There you have it.
