Transcript / LoLT: Best Books of 2022 & New Books — 09 December 2022

This is a transcription of ‘Best Books of 2022 & New Books — 09 December 2022’

[cheerful music]

Melissa: Coming up, a totally different take on the twelve days of christmas.

David: A book that describes the trips of some great writers.

Melissa: Plus, our distraction of the week. I’m Mel.

David: I’m Dave. This is the library of lost time.

Melissa: Gosford Park is one of my favorite movies of all time. In case you’re not familiar, before he created Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes wrote the screenplay for this movie. It’s a country house murder mystery focused on the characters, rather than the crime. It has everything you could want: lush sets, beautiful costumes, accents like cut glass, and Dame Maggie Smith throwing verbal darts at everyone within her sight line.

Melissa: My only complaint about the film is that they didn’t decide to make it a Christmas movie. Add a snowstorm, a sparkly tree, and mince pie, and it would be the perfect holiday movie.

Melissa: Instead, here are two Christmas-y manor house books.

Melissa: Last year, I read a novel by Georgette Heyer. She was an English novelist who wrote regency romances and detective stories that almost always featured upper-class family murders. Her holiday book is called A Christmas Party. In my reading journal, I wrote, ‘It’s like if Gosford Park was set at Christmas time.’ In the story, a group of people gathers at Lexham Manor for Christmas. They’re the usual Golden Age motley crew: some relatives, spouses, a family friend, and a business partner. When the family patriarch is stabbed in the back in a locked room, everyone is a suspect. It’s a very entertaining romp about posh people.

Melissa: New this year is a novel called The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict. In this one, the Armitage family descends on their family estate in Yorkshire, England to play an annual Christmas Game. Every day for twelve days, a bunch of estranged cousins and our heroine Lily will solve 12 riddles. Each clue leads to a key. And the ultimate prize is the deed to Endgame House.

Melissa: Poor Lily has zero desire to play. Her mom died in the family home 21 years ago on Christmas. But Lily’s aunt promises that the clues will also reveal who killed Lily’s mother so many years ago. Of course, there’s an obligatory snowstorm. The phone lines are down. Everyone is trapped. And the fight for an inheritance turns into a fight for life.

Melissa: Aside from the story, which sounds super fun, the author built games for us readers into the novel. The gifts from the twelve days of christmas song are hidden in the book as anagrams. So when you read the part of the book set on the first day of Christmas, you can look for the anagram of ‘A partridge in a pear tree’ and so on. And as an added bonus, the titles of 12 country house mysteries are sprinkled throughout the book.

Melissa: That’s The Christmas Party by Georgette Heyer and The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict.

David: My book this week is The Writer’s Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats by Travis Elborough.

David: Travis Elborough is an English writer who I think might appeal to some of our audience. He’s done a lot of popular history. He’s written books on the history of parks, the English double-decker bus, and glasses. He’s written several books that revolve around letters or diary entries. He’s got a book called Our History of the 20th Century, which is a history of Britain through diary entries, journals, and letters. And, relevant to our site, he’s written a book called A Traveller’s Year: 365 Days of Travel Writing in Diaries, Journals, and Letters. Every day gives you a page or so of someone’s travel journal.

David: He’s also written a series of atlases. He’s got a book called Atlas of the Unexpected. That book will take you to places that were discovered by chance or sites where some surprise was revealed. He wrote another atlas called Atlas of Vanishing Places, which is exactly as it says, a guide to places that won’t be here forever.

David: His most recent book is The Writer’s Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats. This book tells you where great writers have gotten the inspiration for some of their work. So, you’ll see where Herman Melville went on his first whaling voyage. Or where, exactly, Jack Kerouac was on the road. Or you can learn more about Jack London’s trip to pan for gold in the Klondike. Or Agatha Christie’s voyage on board the Orient Express. There are maps and illustrations, and photos. It’s all pretty charming.

David: The Writer’s Journey: In the Footsteps of the Literary Greats by Travis Elborough is out now.

David: And now, our Distraction of the Week. [magical sound effect]

David: Largehearted Boy is a blog by writer David Gutowski of Brooklyn. The blog is 20 years old this year. He usually writes about music and books and the intersection of the two. I’ve been a fan of his since he’s been around.

David: I wanted to bring up largehearted boy because every year for the last 15 years, he’s kept a list of lists for the ‘best books of the year.’ Confusing, right? It’s a list of lists. It’s even hard to say. But, at the bottom of this list of lists are some really great books.

David: If you’re looking for, say, a book for a child in your life, you could turn to the largehearted boy. And he would show you that there are ‘best children’s books of 2022’ lists at many places. Amazon, Booklist, Goodreads, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Waterstones all have ‘Best Books for Children in 2022.’ He’s got them linked. You could chase down those links and see what looks good.

David: But maybe you want to browse for yourself instead of this hypothetical child. At that same place, you could see lists for mystery, romance, cookbooks, poetry, crime, sports, audiobooks, and so on. Some of the lists are the result of a group of dedicated professionals carefully considering their responses. NPR, for instance, or the Washington Post. Some of them are one person writing about what they enjoyed reading this year.

David: Last year, he wound up with over 1200 lists on his list. Do not let this overwhelm you. Go in, have a look, and get out. If you love reading, you can lose a lot of time with the largehearted boy.

Melissa: Visit strongsenseofplace.com/library for more details about the books we discussed and a link to Largehearted Boy’s massive list of ‘best of’ lists.

David: Thanks for joining us in the Libary of Lost Time. Remember to visit your local library and your independent book store to lose some time yourself.

Melissa: Stay curious! We’ll talk to you soon.

[cheerful music]

Top image courtesy of Taylor/Unsplash.