Have you noticed how popular reading lists are these days? Going well beyond NewYork Times Bestsellers or Booker Prize Winners and Nominees, a quick search of the Internet will offer countless options: 27 of the Most Exciting Books of 2016; 69 Books Every Feminist Should Read; 11 Magical Books to Read When You Need to Escape (the suggestions here are not as silly as the heading might lead you to believe); 9 Books That Are So Much More Than the Next 'Gone Girl' ... and so it goes.
I really enjoy reading the Modern Mrs Darcy blog and, while I am not taking Anne Bogel's 2016 Reading Challenge, I do find the books she has planned for this year packed with ideas. How about a book published this year, a book you can finish in a day; a book that was banned at some point? If you would like to see the full list, together with Anne's choices, you will find it here.
What is on your current reading list? Do you have a reading list? When I'm not reading for a book club, I tend to choose based on my mood. There are stacks of new titles on the shelves (the result of buying more than I can keep up with) and a small pile of books on my bedside table, not to mention the 486 in my Kindle. Right now I'm halfway through All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson. I'd love to know what's keeping you awake at night as you read just one more page, one more chapter. Do tell! Oh, and if you have an e-reader and would like to receive daily updates of books on sale (the suggestions are based on your preferences) have a look at bookbub.com.
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close tells the story of Oskar Schell, a precocious nine year old living in New York. Oskar finds a secret key that belonged to his dead father in a cupboard in his mother's flat and sets out on a secret mission to find the lock that matches the key. His journey takes him to many of the boroughs of New York, and on the way he meets many sad, happy and angry inhabitants - some of whom help him, some of whom don't. Alongside Oskar's story is another that describes how an old man survives the Dresden fire-bombing of the Second World War, and the debilitating effect this has on the rest of his life. The links this old man has to Oskar's grandmother make up the second narrative strand of the novel.
The Art of Grace by Sarah Kaufman
Grace has long been taught as essential to civilized living. The Three Graces―goddesses of charm, beauty, and creativity―exemplify ease and harmony with one another and the world around them. But what has happened to this simple, marvellous concept of being at ease in the world?
With warmth, humor, and an ever-perceptive eye, Sarah L. Kaufman sifts the graceful from the graceless, celebrating heart-catching moments of physical elegance in sports, movies, dance, fashion, and music; rare sightings of celebrity grace; the secrets of gracious hosts; and grace found unexpectedly, in the kitchen of a high-end restaurant and among strippers in a basement bar. Kaufman’s thought-provoking reflections on these physical and social acts of grace offer hope for even the clumsiest, most awkward among us.
Guided by the muse of Cary Grant (with further inspiration from Smokey Robinson, Roger Federer, Nelson Mandela, Margot Fonteyn, Amy Purdy, Beyoncé, and others), Kaufman illuminates the importance of grace in the small moments of everyday life. In The Art of Grace, she inspires us to walk taller, spend time on unnecessary kindnesses, and celebrate the grace notes in our lives and those of others.
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
"I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will."
Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.
Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Even, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter.
An addictively suspenseful and tautly written thriller, The Good Girl is a compulsive debut that reveals how even in the perfect family, nothing is as it seems....
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we'd no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, What if I can't keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn't everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself? In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown, PhD, a leading expert on shame, authenticity and belonging, shares what she's learned from a decade of research on the power of Wholehearted Living--a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness. In her ten guideposts, Brown engages our minds, hearts, and spirits as she explores how we can cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough, and to go to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am sometimes afraid, but I am also brave. And, yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable, but that doesn't change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging.
All the Light we Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks. When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris in June of 1940, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure’s agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.
In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure’s.
Doerr’s gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of multiple characters, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
Notes From a Small Island by Bill Bryson
In 1993, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation’s public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells; people who said ‘Mustn’t grumble’ and ‘Ooh lovely’ at the sight of a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits; and Gardeners’ Question Time. Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation’s most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies.
