Today I am thankful for books. I am thankful to the teachers who helped me learn how to read, and to the authors that wrote books that made want to keep reading. I am thankful that I still love reading (even after all my high school English teachers attempt to ruin it with terrible books!) and that I have many people in my life who enjoy talking about and recommending books.
In the spirit of that I have some book recommendations for all of you :) If by some chance you have some little ones in your life who enjoy reading books on a preschool/ kindergarten/first grade level, please check out Little Oink, Little Pea and Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthal... so cute and pretty amusing too. But the rest of my book recommendations are for adults, I promise.
I got the idea to read this book from browsing Lisa and Nora's read books on GoodReads :) Both of them enjoyed it so I thought I would too. In this story, a husband and wife pass away and their children come to stay at their Bed and Breakfast for their funeral. While there, the "children" (grown adults) learn that mom and dad wrote letters to each other every week throughout their marriage. As you read the book you learn more about the marriage and also about their children. This was a very fast read and I enjoyed it a lot. I felt attached to the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them. Plus, it's just nice to finally read a story where the husband and wife actually like each other despite many ups and downs over the course of a long marriage.
My mom has been telling me to read this book for awhile but I kept forgetting to get it from her so finally I just took it out from the library on my Kindle. This book explores the many life changes caused by a scandal at a private boarding school in Vermont. I thought the story line was really good- and it should probably be required reading for all high school kids, seriously. However, I personally would've liked it better if she chose to focus on less characters overall- there were times when I was like wait WHO is this person? I know her point was to show just HOW many people were affected but I found myself caring less about the characters because I didn't know them as well. Still I thought it was a good book and I'd recommend it especially if you like Anita Shreve's writing style.
Okay yes, this is totally the 10 years later Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I didn't say I was recommending classics, did I? I just loved these books when I was in college (I was going to say high school but the first one came out when I was in early college, oops). I had read reviews that this book was depressing, and I can see where those reviews came from but I thought overall it was really happy, and more just realistic of how life changes and some serious things can happen when you are no longer in high school anymore. It was fun to see what happened to my favorite characters and in the end I thought it was quite uplifting :) If you were a fan of the original books, I definitely recommend checking out the 10 years later book.
Next up, I am about the start The Postmistress which is our blogger book club book this month. I'm a little nervous because I've been told the beginning is slow and I am bad at making it through slow beginnings. I will really try though.
Who has another book recommendation for me? What have you been reading lately?
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I have been reading all YA for my children's lit class so I don't think you want those recommendations! ;) I'm hoping I can pick up The Postmistress this month. I found a used copy at a bookstore so it's all ready to go! This month for my book club we are reading We Need to Talk About Kevin and I'm excited to get going on that!
ReplyDeleteI loved the sisterhood books. thoughi think i didnt read the last one or something. i really need to re-read themand then read this one.perhaps that will be a summer project. ive read crap lately besides the scent of rain andlightning.
ReplyDeleteI read Sisterhood Everlasting and I loved it. I was a huge fan of these books in high school/college too.
ReplyDeleteI just downloaded Bossypants and I'm about to start reading!
I haven't read any of these but have heard really good things about the Wednesday Letters so I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteThe post mistress is not coming into my library so I think I'm going to have to miss this months bookclub. Wah :(
My book club is reading Cutting for Stone. I am starting to like it better but I have definitely had a few times when I was thinking...what/who are they talking about. It takes place in Africa and is about the life of twin boys who were born to a nun and a surgeon who both are not in their life from the time they are born. One of the reasons I like being in a book club is because I read books I probably wouldn't have picked up otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI was on a reading kick for a while, but now I only read when I am on the elliptical. So, rather than reading 2-3 books per month, it's more like one. I've been really into murder mysteries lately and right now I'm reading Fractured, by Karin Slaughter.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the reviews!!
I will have to check out that last book becuase I love the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books - which I read in my 20s, I believe? :) My sister was reading them in her teens and she would borrow them to me.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Wednesday Letters. There is a sequel that came out recently that I need to request from the library!
I really liked the Postmistress, but I know soem have struggled with it. I am fascinated by WWII so that helped me, I think. The first 30-50 pages were a bit slow, but after that, I had a hard time putting the book down.