Hello, and welcome back, friends! This week, I’m keeping it pretty light. The last couple of weeks have been crazy for me, health wise. Earlier this month, I was bitten by what I think was a spider, and that bite got infected. I developed cellulitis, and was placed on a strong round of antibiotics. Just when I start feeling better, and about a week into that treatment, I realized I was allergic to my antibiotic. I’m now three days into a six-day course of prednisone, so honestly, I’m sleep deprived, cranky, and my brain isn’t clicking as sharply as it could. That being said, I didn’t want to let a week go by without posting, so this week, I’m going to share with you five of my favorite books. It’s a fairly eclectic list, but I hope that you enjoy learning about a few of my favorite books, and why I love them so much! These are all stand-alone books, none from a series, because that’s a whole other kettle of fish. So, without further ado, let’s get into it!
Edit: I have included links to each book from Amazon. As a new blogger, and a stay at home mom, this is a way for me to support my family. If you are interested in any of these books, please click the links provided!
1. Poisonwood Bible --- Barbara Kingsolver
I read this book the first time when I was in college. I was sold from the very first lines of the book:
“Imagine a ruin so strange that it must never have happened. First, picture the forest. I want you to be its conscience, the eyes in the trees. The trees are columns of slick, brindled bark like muscular animals overgrown beyond all reason. Every space is filled with life: delicate, poisonous frogs war-painted like skeletons, clutched in copulation, secreting their precious eggs onto dripping leaves. Vines strangling their own kin in the everlasting wrestle for sunlight. The breathing of monkeys. A glide of snake belly on branch. A single-file army of ants biting a mammoth tree into uniform grains and hauling it down to the dark for their ravenous queen. And, in reply, a choir of seedlings arching their necks out of rotted stumps, sucking life out of death. The forest eats itself and lives forever.”
In these few lines, Kingsolver uses language to make this scene not only visual, but so real it feels as though you are physically in this space. You can hear that glide of the snake belly, the hum of insects, the incessant drip of water. Even though you haven’t yet encountered a human, you have met a main character already, and that is the Congo. So, what exactly is Poisonwood Bible about? Well, it’s the story of the Price family, and their mission trip to the Congo. The trip is ill advised, as the Congo is in the middle of political upheaval, but the patriarch of the Price family, Nathan, is spurned on to attempt to save the natives of the small village where the family is taken. It is the story of not only wider political factors, but the family’s own splintering dynamic. Orleanna Price, the matriarch of the family, is forced into a situation where she must do all she can to hold her family of four daughters together. Told from the perspective of the Price women (Orleanna, Rachel, Leah, Ada, and Ruth May), a full picture of a new way of life amid the colorful backdrop of the Belgian Congo is revealed. Along the way, there is heartbreaking struggle and loss, told from the vastly different voices of the Price women. Told over the span of decades, it is a strong narrative of how one event in life can set out spirals throughout the rest of one’s existence.
Don’t let the title fool you, it’s not simply a book about religion, but it does deal with religion in some sense. More, though, it is about family, the ties that bind and the vicious cycle of abuse, mental, physical and emotional. It’s about the scars left behind by tragedy as well, and it’s imminently relatable, especially when told by the voices of such different women. The entire book is incredibly visceral, and I felt it in the marrow of my bones. The book covers a range of human emotion, using elegant turn of phrase and beautiful language to capture you in the narrative. I have read this book numerous times, and every time I do, I discover something new. It’s truly a novel that keeps giving, with a depth and emotion that I’ve hardly seen matched.
2. Anne of Green Gables—L.M. Montgomery
This book is a classic for a reason. It’s one of the very first books that I remember reading and falling in love with. I identified with Anne with an E, a girl that escaped into stories, struggling to find herself in a place where she didn’t quite fit in. What I loved about the book was how bright Anne’s spirit was throughout the narrative. No matter what happened to her, she found strength and joy, never allowing a dismal, abusive past deter her from looking from the bright side of life. Anne found beauty in everything, and she was a kind, generous, passionate girl that grew into a strong woman. At its core, it’s a story of perseverance. Anne, a young orphan, is adopted into the home of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, an older brother and sister that live in Prince Edward Island, on a farm called, you guessed it, Green Gables. Hesitant at first, they grow to love the young with the indomitable spirit that has come to live with them.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to read this book, I’d highly recommend it. The language is beautiful, and LM Montgomery made me fall in love with Prince Edward Island. The way she describes the land makes the reader see it and feel it, and there is magic in that. I love watching Anne grow and prosper under Marilla and Mathew’s love, though they were very different in how they showed affection. Marilla is the structure and moral compass, sometimes a little harsh, but always for the right reasons. Matthew, shy and quiet, is the heart. He teaches Anne lessons about love and acceptance, showing never wavering approval of his Anne.
I have read this book so many times since childhood, but the amazing thing is that even as an adult, this book holds up. It’s from a completely different era, but young children and adults alike can learn so much from Anne, and her approach to life. For instance, in this quote from the novel, you can see so clearly the arc of Anne’s character from a young 11 year old girl to a young lady grown and gone to college, quite a feat for a girl of her consequence in that era. ““There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that is why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting.” I absolutely love this quote, because haven’t we all felt that there is more to us than just what the world sees? There are worlds in all of us, many untapped, and it was defining for me as a child to read that being a complex person is not only okay, it’s normal.
3. Where The Red Fern Grows—Wilson Rawls
Yet another childhood classic that ingrained in me the love of a good story. This book WILL crush your hurt, I warn you. If you’ve never read it, it’s the story of Billy Coleman, and his beloved dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann. More than just a sweet story about dogs, it’s a story about sacrifice and love. The reason this book resonates so strongly still is that message of what it means to work for what you want, and cherish it when you get it. It’s about a boy’s love for his dogs, yes, but it’s also about hard lessons of growing up, and losing pieces integral to yourself. It’s about how life has harsh, sometimes strange turns, but how they can also grow to be blessings as well. The language isn’t flowery, and the book is quite simple, but this is one of those books that thrives on simplicity.
Sometimes a quiet narrative is best, and Rawls delivers his best here. One of the first passages that I remember grabbing in the book was “It's strange indeed how memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face.” Told in a straightforward way, there is no need for bells and whistles to describe Billy’s love and devotion for his dogs, or how strongly they impacted his life. This was the first book that I read as a child that showed me that not all stories have happy endings, and that there could be not only sorrow, but hope in loss.
4. Carolina Moon—Nora Roberts
Yes, a Nora Roberts book. I admit it, I love her work. I think I’ve read almost every one of her books, and I’ve enjoyed them all immensely, but this particular novel is one of my favorites. It tells the story of Tory, a young woman that is haunted by the death of her childhood best friend, Hope Lavell. It’s set in South Carolina, and I do love a good book featuring the South. Tory has to overcome insecurities and inner demons, learning to harness her power of seeing visions in order to finally solve the mystery of who killed Hope. Why do I love this book? Strong female characters, a good romance, and a driven plot line that kept me invested in the book until the very last page.
“Like Hope, I felt the fear. Fresh hot gushes of it. When she ran, I ran, my breath sobbing out so that my chest hurt from it. I saw her fall under the weight of whatever leaped out at her. A shadow, a shape I couldn’t see clearly, though I could see her.
She called for me, Screamed for me.
Then I saw nothing but black. When I woke, the sun was up, and I was on the floor. And Hope was gone.”
In this short excerpt from the novel, you already feel terror, sadness, and hopelessness. I love the duality that Roberts uses here, with Hope, both the girl and the idea, dying. For Tory, they are one in the same. Tory’s whole life changes when she loses her Hope, and that is a theme that persists throughout the novel as she tries to find Hope again. That’s the main thing I love about this novel. I love the setting, the primitive, sweaty, mosquito buzzed feel of the south bouncing off the page. The imagery is fantastic, pulling you into the story, and then you are further anchored there by characters like Tory, and Faith, Hope’s identical twin sister. It covers a spectrum of emotions and is the perfect backdrop for the danger lurking just beneath the surface. Of all the Nora Robert’s books I own, I think I’ve read this one the most, to the point I need a new copy because the one I have is falling apart.
5. Small, Great Things--Jodi Picoult.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.” By and large, this book can be summed up with this one quote. This is a fairly new release, but it hit me in the gut like a truck. It’s such a timely book, discussing the sticky ins and outs of racism in American culture. It’s the story of Ruth Jefferson, a labor/delivery nurse in a Connecticut hospital, and an interaction with a Neo Nazi couple and their child. A split second hesitation on Ruth’s part sets the path for a life changing struggle that will have Ruth facing a myriad of changes. The book is complex, filled with complicated ideas on race from the point of view of Ruth, an African American nurse, as well as the father of the infant that changes the course of the entire book. Lessons are learned, changes are made, but the narrative itself is heartbreaking.
The book left me unsettled, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, a book must come along and rattle your safe little world, and that’s exactly what happened with this one. It made me look into myself and question the way I myself see the world, and that’s rare these days in a novel. Picoult is a hit or miss author for me, but in this one she truly knocks it out of the park. It’s not the easiest book to read, but it isn’t supposed to be. It’s brutal, and honest, and at best, challenging, but sometimes, that is exactly what the best books are. Of all the books on this list, this is the only one I’ve read just once, but I would definitely read it again. It truly is a great, thought provoking read.
That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed learning a little about some of my favorite books. For me, books really are like old friends that I continue to revisit again and again. If you have any ideas or suggestions for what you’d like to see in the future, or any sort of comment, even a hello, to share, I’d love to hear it! Until next time, friends!
No comments:
Post a Comment