Category: Books Page 39 of 163

This is where I should be introducing Carol and her blog, but she did the work for me. So I’m going to shut up and let her do her thing….

Shout Out to H.C. Newton @ IrresponsibleReader for this guest post opportunity!

I’m Carol, a retired 5th-grade teacher, an ardent and avid bibliophile, a literacy advocate, and your new bookish friend. My favorite genres are historical fiction, literary fiction, and contemporary fiction.

In addition, I enjoy reading selected memoirs and other narrative nonfiction. I’m an incorrigible mood reader.

My blog www.ReadingLadies.com is almost seven years old, and my mission is to share a love of great literature across a variety of genres with an intentional focus on new releases, thoughtful themes, diverse cultures, and “own voices” authors. I desire to be a trusted reviewer for your next great read! Respectful conversations are always welcome. 

I love making book lists and sharing recommendations. My Top Five or Top Ten of anything varies from day to day

If I were on an island, I’d be thrilled with ANY five books! After all, I’m the kid who read the back of cereal boxes. In reality, I’d have my entire library with me on my kindle (with a solar charger).

However, if I had a choice of grabbing five physical books, I might reach for the following:

 

A Book to Encourage Endurance: a survival story set on an island
Castle of Water by Dane Hucklebridge
Genre/Categories/Setting: Contemporary Fiction, Survival, Cast-a-ways, Remote and Uninhabited Island

Link to my review: https://readingladies.com/2017/09/22/castle-of-water/

Sophie, an architect and honeymooner, and Barry, disillusioned with his career in finance and seeking inspiration for his love of art end up on one very small island when their plane is hit by lightning and crashes in the middle of the South Pacific. Strangers and sole survivors and as different as night and day, Sophie and Barry wash up on a small uninhabited island and survival becomes their primary objective. Sophie and Barry draw from each other’s strengths and skills and through harrowing experiences, keep the hope of rescue alive.
“And so it came to pass that two utterly disparate lives happened to overlap … bound together on an uninhabited island some 2,359 miles from Hawaii, 4,622 miles from Chile, and 533 miles from the nearest
living soul.

Crap, as Barry liked to say.

Putain de merde, as Sophie was known to exclaim.”

A Book For inspiration: one that will encourage me to write my own letters
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Genre/Categories/Setting: Literary Fiction, Father/son, Faith, Small Town Rural America

Review link: https://wordpress.com/post/readingladies.com/16491

Pulitzer Prize 2005. New York Times Top-Ten Book of 2004. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. Marilynne Robinson writes the quiet story of three generations of fathers and sons. faith, and rural life. In the present day, our main character is most concerned that the son will truly know his father and appreciate the legacy he leaves.

“When things are taking their ordinary course, it is hard to remember what matters. There are so many things you would never think to tell anyone. And I believe they may be the things that mean most to you,
and that even your own child would have to know in order to know you well at all.”

“I’m writing this in part to tell you that if you ever wonder what you’ve done in your life, and everyone does wonder sooner or later, you have been God’s grace to me, a miracle, something more than a miracle. You may not remember me very well at all, and it may seem to you to be no great thing to have been the good child of an old man in a shabby little town you will no doubt leave behind. If only I had the words
to tell you.”

A Book About Family: one that reminds me of unconditional love
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
Genre/Categories/Setting: Contemporary Fiction, Complicated Family Drama, California

Review Link: https://wordpress.com/post/readingladies.com/6599

A Place For Us shares the story of an Indian-American Muslim family whom we meet as they gather to celebrate a family wedding. Through flashbacks, readers are filled in on the family dynamics, family history, and become acquainted with the parents, Rafiq and Layla, and their three children, Hadia, Huda, and Amar. Told mostly from the perspectives of Layla, Hadia, and Amar, readers begin to appreciate the complexity of family relationships, understand the bonds that draw the family together, and become acquainted with the personalities along with the insecurities and rivalries that cause conflict. In light of the parents’ conservative Muslim faith and living in California, the children must find their way in reconciling the faith of their parents and their traditional ways with the reality of day-to-day lives, and individual hopes and dreams. At the wedding of the oldest daughter, which breaks with tradition and is a union of love and not arranged by parents, Amar, the prodigal son, reunites with his family for the first time in three years. The last part of the story is told from the father’s heartfelt perspective. This is a story of love, parenting, coming of age, faith, and belonging.

“Of all my mistakes the greatest, the most dangerous, was not emphasizing the mercy of God.” 

A Historical Fiction Reread: one memorable and thought-provoking story

Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Fiction, Slavery, Abolition, Women’s Rights, Charleston, Plantation Life, pre Civil War

Review Link: https://wordpress.com/post/readingladies.com/6859

The Invention of Wings is a fictionalized biographical account of the Grimke sisters as they become trailblazers in the abolition movement and early leaders in the fight for women’s rights.

The story takes place in the pre Civil War era and begins on a plantation in Charleston. On the occasion of Sarah Grimke’s eleventh birthday, she’s presented with her own slave, ten-year old Hetty “Handful” Grimke. Sarah has always been uncomfortable with this tradition. At first, Sarah and Handful are more like sisters and playmates as they develop a friendly companionship. As the story progresses, Sarah leaves Charleston to join her adventurous and fearless sister, Angelina, in the north as early pioneers in the fight for abolition and women’s rights. We follow Sarah’s and Hetty’s journeys for thirty-five years as both women strive to carve out a life of their own and navigate a close and complex relationship.
“The world may try to dim your light, but it can never extinguish your fire.”

A Comfort Read: a favorite book about books
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical fiction, Book About Books and Book Club, Found Family

Written in epistolary form, this is a warmhearted story of a unique book club that formed on the Island of Guernsey during WWII. Juliet begins a correspondence with the literary members and learns about the impact
of the recent German occupation. Her in-person visit will change her life.

“Reading good books will ruin you for enjoying bad ones.”

For Hope and Comfort: words from Scripture
The New Testament

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