I’ve been celebrating #Sonderbooks25 – 25 years of writing Sonderbooks – for quite some time now.
It’s my own fault. My original idea was to choose one book to reread from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs. That led to revising the Stand-outs page to fit the new phone-friendly format. That led to rereading each review of the Stand-outs. That led to deciding to reread all the reviews I’d written, beginning in 2001. That led to wanting to reread a lot more than one book per year. Once I got to the years I added blogs, it also led to rereading all my Sonderquotes and Sonderjourneys posts. And I’d already been reading the Project 52 posts about the years I was writing Sonderbooks.
So – things have gotten out of hand! But the truth is, I’m having a lot of fun revisiting my old writings and wonderful books I’d recommended. I will probably stop calling it #Sonderbooks25 when I hit my 26th anniversary next August, but whether I’ve finished or not (I hope I will have!), I will probably want to keep going, because this is a treat.
So now for my report on 2009 with its fresh Sonderbooks Stand-outs page.
This time, I really did reread one of the books before I posted this – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and it was every bit as wonderful as I’d remembered. I’ve also been rereading some of the books from earlier Stand-outs, like Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card, from 2007, and I enjoyed both of those so much – in audio form this time – that I’m tempted not to place holds for any new audiobooks and just keep rereading.
But I think the biggest treat when revisiting 2009 was remembering what I was going through. The Sonderquotes posts from that year were about letting go, forgiveness, and finding joy. Sonderjourneys posts reminded me that things were not going well with my husband. He continued to tell me I was a horrible person, and negotiations about a divorce settlement were not going well. I was slowly coming to terms with the idea that it would be okay – maybe a good thing – to file for divorce myself.
And at the same time, I was indeed coming into my own! 2009 was my first full year working as a full-fledged librarian, and I was loving it. 2009 was when I discovered other kidlit blogs and did my first 48-Hour Book Challenge and attended my first KidLitCon. Also, my obsession with the Newbery Medal had started, and I took an online class about it. I applied to attend the Morris seminar and to be a CYBILS judge and did not get either one, but did not give up. I was completely loving having found my calling as a librarian.
At the same time, budget cuts were looming – but they didn’t hit my job until 2010. I hadn’t realized until I reread these blogs that this was the year my father had his first heart attack and my mother got her first dementia diagnosis (at only 68 years old). (They passed away within two months of each other ten years later, my father from a heart attack, my mother from Alzheimer’s.)
But most of the posts are about learning to live on my own as a single mom (with one kid at home in 9th grade) and as a librarian. My sense looking back is that life had opened up and I was thriving.
And my goodness, I read some wonderful books! As I read the reviews I jotted down way too many that I’d like to reread. Instead of listing them all out, let me encourage you to take a look at the list of 2009 Sonderbooks Stand-outs. Read some reviews and see what calls out to you! It turns out that for the most part, good books are still good books.
Happy Reading!