By Dana Barfield
So many New Year’s resolutions are made with a steely determination to get it right this year, no matter what. Lose weight, get organized, make more money. Why not a resolution that makes you smile just thinking about it? Read a novel a month, a novel a quarter, a novel a year. It doesn’t matter what the timeline is but it must be a book you love. No forcing your way through “Herodotus” just to check a box. The beneWts of this resolution will sneak up on you. It might feel indulgent to make time in the evenings to curl up with a book, but studies have shown that reading does some wonderful things for the brain. Books, particularly fiction, allow the mind to detach from everyday routine and see the world from a new perspective. Often as we read, we subconsciously apply the story to our own
lives, helping us work through problems, understand relationships and more easily experience empathy.
To help get you started, here are five favorite novels:
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr – World War II, a blind French girl, an ingenious German boy, a cursed diamond and other characters move in and out of each other’s worlds in a moving depiction of the human heart’s capacity for love.
Chocolat, by Joanne Harris – a woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop that shakes up the rigid morality of a small French village. See the Mayan Hot Chocolate recipe on this page inspired by this heartwarming love story.
Euphoria, by Lily King – a fictional glimpse into the love life of anthropologist Margaret Mead and the compelling world of anthropological study in the 1930s. Be warned. This one is likely to inspire wanderlust in even the most dedicated homebody.
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel – a Shakespearean acting troupe travels from community to community in an attempt to keep the arts alive after a flu epidemic wipes out most of humanity.
Tenth of December, by George Saunders – a collection of zany and dark stories that are filled with surprising insight and humor.
