Recommendations

A friend asked me the other day what books I would recommend. I don't think she understood that I could go on forever talking about which books I have enjoyed reading. I made a Top Ten list for her and then noticed that I would not have found most of these books if I had not been a member of our book club. These are not in any particular order so the last one on the list is just as dear to me as the first one. My recommendation is to read them all.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Rossetti Letter by Christi Phillips

Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (book 1 of the Millennium Trilogy)

At Risk by Stella Rimington (book 1 of 5 in the Liz Carlyle series)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (book 1 of 3 in the Flavia de Luce series)

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King (book 1 of 10 in the Mary Russell series)

On Basilisk Station by David Weber (book 1 of 12 in the Honor Harrington series)

The Bone Collector by Jeffrey Deaver (book 1 of 9 in the Lincoln Rhyme series)

Murder on the Iditarod Trail by Sue Henry (book 1 of 13 in the Jessie Arnold series, and this one spins off into a second series)

Note: I can count just fine, I just can't limit myself when talking about books. Yes, when I recommend book 1 of a series I really mean that you should read the whole series.

Bonobo Handshake by Vanessa Woods

I almost never read non-fiction and I especially avoid memoirs, but this time I am really glad that I went outside my comfort zone. I won't give away the content of the book because I want people to read it for themselves. I loved reading this book because it flowed easily, the main character is likeable and just as flawed as the rest of us, and because I now know things I would not have learned otherwise. This book is so much more than the story of the author's life for a year. I will grant you that she had a very exciting year, but what I liked most about the book was the questions it raised in my mind while reading it. What makes humans different than animals? What makes us the same? How can we do research on animals that will benefit both animals and humans? How can we make a positive difference in countries in Africa that need outside help? Reading this book gave me both an escape from my own life and challenging things to think about.

Guilty Pleasures

These are my favorite light-weight reads. These are the books I reach for when I want to escape and laugh. (in alphabetical order by author)

The Meg Langslow series by Donna Andrews
The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters
The Eve Dallas series by J.D. Robb
The Callahan series by Spider Robinson
The Hot Flash Club series by Nancy Thayer

How we started

A couple of years ago I noticed that every time I got together with one of my friends we spent most of our time talking about the books we enjoyed. It occurred to me that it might be fun to bring all of my reading friends together in one place so we could all talk about books together. We had a great time and decided to keep meeting together. The original purpose of the book club was to start reading books that were outside of our comfort zone. (For me that meant anything besides cozy mysteries.) As a group we have found several books that we dearly loved and a few we wish we had never read. The group has grown and now includes new friends and friends of friends and even far away friends. As a result of being part of this group I have grown and I now enjoy a wide variety of books that I never would have found on my own. Thank you to all my friends.

Go Ask Alice by anonymous

This was both a wonderful and difficult book to read. It was wonderful because it brought back memories of being in high school and how dramatic and important everything was to me, and how my parents didn’t seem to understand. It was also wonderful because reading someone’s diary brings the reader into immediate intimate contact with the character. It was difficult because as an adult now I have a different perspective and it was heartbreaking to read how desperately Alice wanted someone to talk to. It was also difficult knowing that I was reading a true story that probably wouldn’t have a happy ending. The story is both compelling and evocative. It became even more so for me when I checked the copyright date and realized that this book was probably one of the first addiction recovery stories ever published outside of a 12-step program.

This book goes into some graphic details about unpleasant subjects and that seems to be common among banned books. Most of the time I read for entertainment rather than education or enlightenment, but I want which books I read to be my choice, not subject to the approval of some governing body. To parents who are tempted to ban books from their children in the name of safety I pose the following question: Is it better to read about the dangers of the world first and then experience them, or is it better to be naïve? I don’t think there is only one correct answer. I think the answer can change depending on which individual child you are considering. But I do think that it should be your choice, not subject to a school board who can only make one choice for all the children in their school district.

A Wrinkle in Time - The Series and Chronological Reading Order

Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Book 1:
A Wrinkle in Time
Book 2:
A Wind in the Door
Book 3:
Many Waters
Book 4:
A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Terry-Jo

first post

Hi All,
I am learning how to blog. This could be trouble because I have lots of opinions to share. Stay tuned!