Brene Brown's "Braving the Wilderness" is one of her best books yet. She's the queen of vulnerability research and I really loved her thoughts on belonging.
Katie Davis Majors' "Daring to Hope" is a beautiful follow-up to her book "Kisses from Katie." Katie lives in Africa and has adopted 13 young girls there. Her stories are both heartbreaking and inspiring.
"Heating and Cooling" by Beth Ann Fennelly was a random recommendation on someone's Instagram story a couple months ago. It's a quick read full of essays that are hilarious and thought-provoking.
"The Nesting Place" by Myquillyn Smith is best described by the book's subtitle: "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." She has great ideas for making your home feel welcoming and comfortable.
"Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper is about a girl with cerebral palsy who is learning how to communicate without being able to speak, and navigating school and friends in the process.
Julie Buxbaum's "Tell Me Three Things" was a cute, quick read about a teenager who moves from Chicago to California and has to assimilate to a brand new school and culture in the wake of her mother's death.
John Green's "Turtles All the Way Down" comes on the heels of his popular "The Fault in Our Stars" and "Paper Towns." This is another fascinating storyline with interesting characters and I'd love to see it as a movie. :)
One Mixed-Up Night by Catherine Newman is a nod to E. L. Konigsburg's From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. It's an adorable story about two friends spending the night in an Ikea store. Jack picked it up after I finished and he also loved it.
Dream Big Dreams by Pete Souza is a collection of photos and stories from Obama's presidency. Souza was the official white house photographer for Obama's eight years (he was also Reagan's white house photographer, coincidentally) and he captured some pretty outstanding shots. The book is so enjoyable to just page through. We got it from the library, but it sat on our coffee table for the entire time we had it.
Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere was on so many people's "must read" lists, and I was on the library waiting list for a while, but I can see why. It's a very interesting story of how two family's lives intersect and how the past never actually stays in the past. Definitely a page-turner.
Setting Free the Kites by Alex George was my bookclub pick, and we really enjoyed it. It follows two tween-aged boys through stories of loss, adventure, and life in the late 1970s.
Katie Ganshert's Life After was an unexpectedly enjoyable read. The main character is the lone survivor of a train bombing that kills 22 other passengers. And through her journey of survivor's guilt, she ends up connecting with the families of all the victims.
The Wife, The Maid, and the Mistress by Ariel Lawhon was an extremely fascinating story. It's actually based on a true story, the unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Joseph Crater in 1930. Crater was presumed dead after six years, but there are many ideas about the details of his disappearance, and Lawhon takes a fictional look at the story through the lens of the three women closest to him--his wife, their maid, and his mistress.
Barking to the Choir is Gregory Boyle's second book. If you haven't read his Tattoos on the Heart yet, start there. Boyle is a jesuit priest who heads up the country's largest gang rehabilitation organization in Los Angeles. His stories are incredible, and his heart is huge. If you're interested, there's also a documentary about him and his work at Homeboy Industries called G-Dog that was very worthwhile. :)
Girls Like Us by Rachel Lloyd is a difficult read, but a very important one. Lloyd, a former victim herself, helps girls and young women who are victims of sex trafficking. It's extremely eye-opening and educational.
Elisa Korenne's Hundred Miles to Nowhere was also an enjoyable bookclub pick. Korenne lives in New York City and does an artist residency in New York Mills, Minnesota. Despite the small town culture shock, she winds up moving to New York Mills and has the best stories about her tiny little world in rural Minnesota. :)
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk was surprisingly delightful. Lillian walks all over New York City on New Year's Eve over the course of the book, flashing back to stories from her long and fascinating life.
Everybody Always is Bob Goff's follow up to Love Does, and it's just as great. He is an incredible story teller, and you'll want to be his friend. :) (Spoiler alert--stay tuned for giveaway day on August 10th to get your hands on this!)
No One Ever Asked is I think the third book I've read by Katie Ganshert, and it might be my favorite. It tells the story of a southern area's school district merging through the eyes of the various people it affects. Ganshert tackles the topic of racism gracefully and develops a wide range of fascinating characters.
I have followed Jamie Wright (known on social media as "Jamie the Very Worst Missionary") for a couple of years and was excited to read her memoir ("or whatever"). She is so fun to read, and she shines an important light on missions. But amid the thought-provoking parts, she also had me laughing SO hard. (Maneuvering the airport to come back to the US from Costa Rica with a cat they'd acquired while living there? Gold).
And Sugar by Kimberly Stuart, the perfect easy summer read. :) Charlie is a pastry chef in NYC, and she moves to Seattle to work in a restaurant with a friend from culinary school. Well, it turns out the friend is actually filming a reality show about the restaurant industry. Kind of classic rom-com in book form.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman is so quirky and delightful! You'll love this character, her orderly little world, and a glimpse into her socially awkward mind. :)
I ADORED Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, so I was very excited for The Great Alone to come out, and it did not disappoint. Set in Alaska in the late 70s and beyond, it's an amazing tale of frontier survival.
I talked about Annie F Downs' Remember God briefly on Facebook after I read it (actually listened to it) because it was so well-timed with Will's birthday (which is always a complicated time for me as we are also approaching our season of grief). It chronicles a trying year in Downs' life where she recounts God's faithfulness through trials. She's a beautiful writer (and also really fun to listen to!).
I read The Sacred Enneagram by Christopher Heuertz in preparation for an Enneagram workshop that he did at our church. In hindsight, being pretty new to the Enneagram, I probably should have started with something a little more straightforward and basic, but this was a really great book. And I'm glad I read it before the workshop--it made everything he talked about make a little more sense. :)
Ruth Reichl's Garlic and Sapphires was a "green light" from The Popcast's Jamie Golden. Ruth was the food critic for the New York Times and then the editor in chief at Gourmet magazine. The book recounts Ruth's time as food critic and her many disguises and reviews. It was so enjoyable to read, and it made me want to go eat in fancy restaurants. ;) It also includes some recipes, which was really fun.
*****
And now, Don't Bother!
Rachel Hollis' Girl, Wash Your Face. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I thought this book was over-hyped and nauseatingly self-centered. This review sums it up nicely, so I won't repeat it all here.
I adored Markus Zusak's The Book Thief and was very excited for Bridge of Clay. In fact, I got on my library's waiting list months before it even released. So the anticipation was definitely high when it came in and I picked it up. And then I started reading. Actually before I even started reading, I thought, "wow, this is long" (544 pages). And then I started reading and thought, "wow, this is going to be a long 544 pages." And it was. About 100 pages in, I read some Amazon reviews to see if I was alone in my thinking. But the reviews were pretty evenly split between "keep going, it gets better" and "don't bother." I decided to keep going because I had hope that Zusak wouldn't let me down. And it did get a little more tolerable, but certainly not what I was hoping for. So, save yourself 544 pages of reading time and pick up something else. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment