This year's superlatives

This is the time of year for superlatives, although in year-end reviews about the only superlatives we see are best and, at times, worst. I could do the same, and often have at the end of a year, but as in 2018 I choose to gain the inspiration from a book called Remarkable Reads and examine the year's reading with a number of other superlatives in mind. In that book. J. Peder Zane asks a number of successful writers to write essays assigning superlatives to books they have read. Using a few of those same superlatives, here is a look back at my 2019 reading.

Ivan Doig

Most Enchanting Book: I rarely want to read books suggested or given to me by friends, but I made an exception for Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig, and I was glad I did. This tale about a boy's adventures on a Greyhound bus enchants from beginning to end.

Most Important Book: If Ann Patchett's little book The Care and Feeding of an Independent Bookstore, containing two essays and one list of book recommendations, inspires just one person to open a bookstore somewhere, its importance will be demonstrated.

Most Daunting Book: Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything wasn't particularly daunting for me, but it must have been so for Bryson. He is not a scientist but rather a professional writer best known for his humorous travel books. Yet here he wrote a long history of science, virtually every field of science, and explained difficult concepts in language for the layman.

Wisest Book: Theologians, preachers, writers, poets and others have been finding wisdom in the biblical story of Adam and Eve for hundreds of years. Bruce Feiler finds still more in The First Love Story.

Most Familiar Book: I read Mario Puzo's The Godfather even before they made the movie, and I have seen that movie several times. So when I reread the novel this year, the story was certainly familiar. Yet I was most struck by those forgotten passages that were left out of the movie. The Johnny Fontaine character figures much more prominently in the novel, for example.

Most Incomprehensible Book: John Brockton solicited essays about the most brilliant ideas in science and assembled them in a book called This Idea Is Brilliant. I enjoyed most of this book, but some of those essays were way over my head.

Most Beautiful Book: There are many contenders for this title, but my vote goes to Nobody's Fool by Richard Russo. At the same poignant and comic, the novel explores the invisible strings that tie us together. Beautiful.

Rob Bell

Most Fearless Book: The very people perhaps most likely to read Rob Bell's book What Is the Bible?, namely evangelical Christians, may be the very same people most likely to be offended by some of its conclusions.

Most Surprising Book: When I began reading Scott Spencer's novel Willing I didn't know it was about a man who takes a sex tour. So that was a surprise. Then I was surprised by how terrific the novel is.

Most Disappointing Book: I expected The Library by Stuart Kells to be much more interesting than it is. It is a history of libraries, after all, a subject that seems up my alley. But the book interested me only in spots.

Most Unpleasant Book: I loved photographer Sally Mann's memoir Hold Still. But then there is her chapter, complete with lots of photographs, about her photographing human bodies in various stages of decomposition out in the open air.

Most Luminous Book: All the Light We Cannot See does not sound like the title of a luminous book, luminosity being light that we can see. Similar in theme to Russo's Nobody's Fool, this great novel by Anthony Doerr is about the powerful influences that unseen people and objects can have over us.