Creating a Sense of Place

 One of the books that most captivated me I'm 2025 was Ocean Vuong's most recent novel The Emperor of Gladness. The story of Hai, a young Vietnamese American, opens with a rich description of East Gladness, Connecticut, the town where he lives. Even before Vuong introduces readers to his quirky cast of characters, who become chosen family, he sets the stage.

As I read the opening chapter, I thought about how readers sometimes skim over the descriptive passages, eager to get to the action, as if it's no more than filler. I know I've probably done the same. But Vuong drew me in immediately, making real a place I've never visited--in a state I've never visited. The introduction felt like a promise that the writing to come would measure up; it did. I often forget a lot about books I read, once I've moved on, but I have clear images of the streets and businesses of East Gladness. I know the little house Hai ends up sharing with Grazina, the elderly Lithuanian immigrant who essentially saves his life while she is losing her grasp on her on. Vuong's insight into human nature proves as keen as his eye for the details of the place in which he sets his story. 

Patrick Ryan's novel Buckeye, my first book completed in 2026, began similarly, with a description of the fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio. The description of the town in the early part of the twentieth century bore no resemblance to East Gladness, CT, but if literary descriptions were works of visual art, the two chapters would hang in the same wing of the museum. As the characters grow up and grow old, the change in the town is reflected: the hardware store where Cal works for his father-in-law increases in size, the plant where Felix Salt worked in management before he left for the war also thrives; neighborhoods grow and merge, so that when Margaret Salt returns after a twenty-year absence, she is aware of the changes in a way that those who never left may be unaware. The reader takes note.

When teaching reading or writing, I often talked about how setting can be very specific--Bonhomie, OH, from WWII through the Vietnam war--or general--long ago and far away. The latter lets readers pick and choose from their own memories or imagination; the former can take a fictional time and place and set the reader right down in the middle of it. When done well--as in these two novels--it works.

Creating a Sense of Place

What "Counts" as Reading?

 I love how passionate readers are about their own opinions as to what counts as reading. I missed the recent guest editorial by Brian Bannon in the New York Times Book Review entitled "Do Audiobooks Count as Reading?" However, I did catch the passionate letters written in response that were published the next week.

People get worked up about the topic, as well as whether physical books are superior to ebooks. I'll start by suggesting that it's okay to make that judgment for oneself but not for others. In my earliest years of teaching, I remember suggesting that a student with reading problems try listening as he read. He had better comprehension and retention than many of my students who had no learning disabilities. 

When my husband moved from Alabama to North Carolina in September while I stayed behind to let my children finish out the school year, I relied on books on tape for the long eight-hour drives on weekends when I visited him. I went from Cracker Barrel to Cracker Barrel where I could buy an audiobook, then turn it back in for a prorated refund based on how long I had it. I graduated to books on CD and then discovered the Libby app that gives me access through the public library (supplemented by Audiobooks.com and the Chirp app). 

I also had one of the earliest eBooks--the Sony version that predated Kindle and Nook--then went on to read on my iPad or my phone.

Yet I continue to buy books and to check out physical copies. I keep several going at once. 

I knew that the eBook experience was comparable--for me--when I would catch myself licking my finger to turn the page. And to answer one complaint about electronic books: Yes, I generally read with a very sharp pencil tucked behind my ear, so I can underlining favorite phrases or make notes in the back. I had to adapt with eBooks and audiobooks.

Last spring, my granddaughter rode with me to the beach as I listened to Abraham Verghese's Covenant of Water. At one point, one of the characters said something particularly poignant. Avery paused the audiobook, took my phone, and typed the quote into my phone notes page where I keep just such quotes. She knew I would want her to capture that one before I even asked. 

Sometimes an audiobook will be so moving that I buy a physical copy to keep, just so I can go back to favorite parts--or read again. But as I compile my list of books read at the end of each year, I include them all because, I have discovered, I can't always remember if I read or listened to a particular title. Since I already subvocalize (a habit speed reading coaches discourage), I already hear all the voices even when I read words on a page. 

Audiobooks make traveling alone more of a pleasure. I can often remember right where I was when I heard a particular passage of a book. (When I was listening to Familiaris in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Lenoir, NC, I remember a particular wave of grief I shared with the protagonist. )

I think of the Israelites in the Old Testament, standing as listening as the sacred texts were read to them. I think of books for the blind. I remember Mrs. Knott reading aloud every one of Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series.  You can decide for yourself what counts, but those counted for me.

What "Counts" as Reading?

Resolutions--To Share More

 

Even though the year end has been a little hectic, I have compiled my list of books I read this year. I have also made a resolution to add reviews of favorites, and I have also begun to build a list of other reading-related topics that are on my mind. For now, though, I am sharing my 2025 reading list. I'd love to hear your favorites for the year, as well as what you plan to read next. 

Richard Powers, Playground

Fredrik Backman, The Answer Is No

Richard Osman, We Solve Murders

Tana French, The Searcher

Jodi Picoult, By Any Other Name

Ariel Lawhon, I Was Anastasia

Gordon McAlpine, After Oz

Ingvild Pushoi, Brightly Shining

Kate Quinn, The Briar Club

Weike Wang, Rental House

Cathy Cook, The Beagle and the Boy

David Wroblewski, Familiaris

Ruby Todd, Bright Objects

Clare Chambers, Shy Creatures

Mark Sullivan, All the Glimmering Stars

Alison Epach, The Wedding People

Rufi Thorpe, Margo’s Got Money Troubles

Jean Hanff Korelitz, The Plot

Jeff Zentner, Colton Gentry’s Third Act

Anne Berest, The Postcard

Liz Moore, The Unseen World

Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

Matthew Sullivan, Midnight at th4 Bright Ideas Bookstore

Colum McCann, Twist

Amity Gaige, Heartwood

Lucy. Foly, The Book of Lost and Found

Jim Sollisch, How Donating a Kidney Fixed My Jumpshot

Natalie Sue, I Hope This Finds You Well

Julie Clark, The Last Flight

Tom T. Hall, The Songwriter’s Handbook

Tamara Saviano, Poets and Dreamers

Emma Donoghue, The Paris Express

Scott Lamascus, Let Other Hands

M.L. Rio, If We Were Villains

S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

Eileen Garvin, The Music of Bees

Fredrik Backman, My Friend

Jess Walter, So Far Gone

Florence Knapp, The Names

Alton Flippo, From the Fest of My Memories

Alice Hoffman, When We Flew Away

Terry Roberts, A Short Time to Stay Here

Chris Whitaker, All the Colors of the Dark

Kevin Wilson, Run for the Hills

Annette Sisson, Winter Sharp with Apples

Allen Eskens, The Life We Bury

Wally Lamb, The River Is Waiting

Terry Roberts, The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival

Barbara Demick, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

Nate Bargatze, Big Dumb Eyes

Jon Acuff, Soundtracks: The Surprise Solution to Overthinking

Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness

Charles Martin, When Crickets Cry

Virginia Evans, The Correspondent

Hampton Sides, The Wide, Wide Sea

Jo Harkin, The Pretender

Alan Levi, Theo of Golden

Marjan Kamali, The Lion Women of Teheran

Charmaine Wilkinson, Good Dirt

Charlie Peacock, Roots & Rhythm

Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl

Dan Brown, Secret of Secrets

Lily King, Heart, the Lover

Messie Condo, Nobody Wants Your S@#t!

Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, Christmas with the Queen

Richard Osman, The Impossible Fortune

Helen Maria Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus

Arlen Jay Staggs, Leta Pearl’s Love Biscuits

Beth Ann Fennelly, Irish Goodbye

Connie Jordan Green, Nameless as Minnows

Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds

Thomas Schlesser, Mona’s Eyes

Louise Penny, The Black Wolf

Ian Morgan Cron, The Fix

Craig Havighurst, Musicality for Modern Humans

The Daily Bible in Chronological Order (NIV)

Resolutions--To Share More