Now is the time to settle down with a good book

By Linda Cicoira

It’s that time of year again. The holidays are ending, the new year is rushing in and all you want to do is escape.

Our readers and listeners have the perfect solution. Read. As an unknown person once said, “A book a day keeps reality away.”

A few people from across the Eastern Shore say the cold winter ahead is the perfect time for a good read. Of course, so is spring, summer, and fall. Here are some recommendations from 2024 that we would like to pass on to you.

Despite her busy work and home life, Mary Sebra, of Painter, is an avid reader who devoured 55 books in 2024. In 2025, she again hopes to reach her goal. “This year was 75, which I fell short about 20 books, so I’m going to try again for 75 books.”

The best thing she read in 2024 was “Madness, A Dark Revenge Romance,” by Shantel Tessier. “I’ve read all the other books, and it was my favorite in the series so far. It’s a dark romance. I loved the plot.”

Patricia Hart, of Wachapreague, also loves to read. This year, she reread the 1977 Pulitzer Prize nonfiction, “Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay,” by William W. Warner. The book takes its name from blue crab or Callinectes, which is Greek for “beautiful swimmer.”

“The writing is beautiful,” said Hart. “It’s so informative. It makes you appreciate nature and your surroundings.”

As Walt Disney once said. “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

Mike Algiere, of Chincoteague, also picked a nonfiction book for his 2024 recommendation. “Send Me: The True Story of a Mother at War,” by Marty Skovlund Jr. and Joe Kent, was his top choice.

“It’s a true story about a woman who met her husband while working with the U.S. Special Forces,” Algiere said. “She was one of the first women to be known as an ‘Operator.’ She was killed in action by a suicide bomber in Syria on Jan. 6, 2019. A true American hero.”

Local painter Diana M. Davis, of Concord Wharf, said “Where the Crawdads Sing,” a 2018 novel by American zoologist Delia Owens, was her favorite read in 2024.

“My sister-in-law gave it to me,” Davis said. It was “so filled with nature and art. It was sweet and innocent, and she drew constantly. It was so good.”

The story follows two timelines that slowly intertwine. The first describes the life and adventures of a young girl as she grows up isolated in the marshes of North Carolina. The second follows an investigation into the murder of a local celebrity from a fictional coastal town.

Carrie Jacobson, of Wachapreague, another artist, said “Remarkably Bright Creatures,” by Shelby Van Pelt was the best book she read in 2024. It was “a book club selection, a great story, and (had) fun characters.”

The book was on The New York Times bestseller list and was named a best book of summer by The Chicago Tribune, The View, Southern Living, and USA Today. “It’s a charming, witty, and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow’s unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus,” a reviewer wrote.

Connie Burford, of Chincoteague, known for being a local schools advocate, said “Greenlights,” by Matthew McConaughey, was her favorite read of the year. “I love Matthew McConaughey,” she said. “He makes me laugh, and the book itself is hilarious.”

The famous actor exiled himself in the desert without electricity for fifty-two days while writing the 2020 book. It originated from diaries and journals McConaughey began writing when he was 14. He described the book as a collection of “stories, prayers, poems, people, and places and a whole bunch of bumper stickers.” In February 2022, the volume spent 55 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list.

Julie Nash, of Parksley, a college professor said “The Bible,” is always her pick. “I choose it every day because it is my daily bread. It feeds my soul, (and) teaches me wisdom, as well as right from wrong.”

Glenn Linton, a retired art teacher, answered “Quack, quack, and quack,” when referring to his favorite. “Quack,” is the name of his third children’s book, which he wrote and illustrated.

And don’t forget to check out Curtis Badger’s expanded and updated second edition of “Wilderness Regained: The Story of the Virginia Barrier Island II.”

       It tells, among other things, how the islands became protected as one of America’s unique coastal preserves, includes a large section on the necks of the Eastern Shore, the real story of how Broadwater Island came to be, and the story of the son of slaves who became the oyster king of New York.