Tolstoy and the purple chair my year of magical reading

So first off, can we talk about this cover? I want this chair so bad. Though the purple chair the author actually sits in to read is nowhere near this pretty, from her description of it. I haven't got a good reading chair yet; I have one corner of a couch, next to a bookshelf, that is my current favored reading spot (reading lamp, blanket, and end table included). But eventually I will find myself the perfect reading chair and make myself a nook.

That aside. The premise of this book is the author trying to come to terms with the death of her older sister, who she idolized. Her sister died of cancer, so they knew it was happening, but it was still a shock when she passed. For a few years, Nina pushes her grief aside and throws herself into being busy, but she eventually decides to full process she's going to dedicate a year to reading a book every single day. She reasons that at her reading speed, she can reasonably finish a 300 page-ish book each day, giving herself time before her sons get up, while they're at school, and after everyone else goes to bed.

I saw one reviewer mention Nina's unrecognized privilege, and it's true. Nina is very privileged. She can afford not to work, and not to worry too much about chores, cooking, and the general running of a home. Her sons and husband all seem fairly self-sufficient, and her husband's job keeps them quite well, it seems. (I don't even want to think about how much the Christmas tree she describes actually cost, considering it reaches the chandelier hanging from the second-floor ceiling.)

But the book is about the books she reads, not how privileged she is. And in that respect I quite liked it. Her criteria for picking books are that she can't have read them before, though they can be authors she's read before, no author could be read more than once, and she had to review every book she read. There's a list in the back of the book of every book she read during the year. I've only read three of the books she read in that year: Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Cornelia Funke's Inkheart, and Octavia Butler's Kindred. All fantasy, of course, and none of which she actually mentioned in the text of the book! (I've also read Bram Stoker's Dracula, which she mentions in the beginning of the book, but wasn't part of her year of reading.)

I love the way she talks about the books she reads. She relates them to her life, or her father's memories of World War II. She draws lessons from the stories, and does, in time, begin to heal from her sister's death. The way she talks about reading, and her books, really struck a chord with me, and I think I'm going to buy myself a copy of this book. I want to refer back to it when I'm feeling uninspired with my reviews, and this might be a book I re-read often to encourage me to dive deeper into my books.

This is my pick for PopSugar's 2018 prompt “favorite color in the title” and I think it's also going on my personal Best of 2018 list. I just loved it that much. It's not a “I have to tell everyone about this and encourage everyone to read it!” kind of book. It's more a “this really touched on a deep passion of mine and has words I'll carry with me going forward” kind of book. It was just lovely.

You can find all my reviews at Goddess in the Stacks.

Nina's sister, Anne-Marie, dies. How can Nina go on? She tries doing everything for everyone and exhausts herself. Nina decides to honor her sister by doing something both she and her sister loved to do; she decides to read and review a book a day for a year. Most of the reading takes place in an old purple chair. And the result is this little book, a nice account of Nina's year of reading and reflecting.