Catherine Here. I wanted to share with you a great way to read and appreciate more books! Our family has a book club where we meet virtually
to discuss a book, about once a month - though we are very flexible about holidays, or even birthdays etc…. It has been very fun to read a wide variety of books, some I would never have chosen on my own. It has been wonderful meeting with our family members near and far - New York, Vermont, South Carolina, Arizona and of course New Hampshire. It was really fun to see the younger niece and nephews get interested in the book club, and now we all read a “kids book” to discuss with them before we delve into the “adult book”. We all laugh at that term as we are not actually reading what one would consider “adult material”. I highly recommend putting together a family book club. Here I will list and review some of the books we have discussed. ( The Kids Books are in bold):
Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller
The Dutch House by Ann Pratchett
Sooley by John Gisham
The Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
All the Light We Cannot See. Kristin Hannah
Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
First Contact by Evan Mandery
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred -Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson
Charming as Verb by Ben Philip
Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict
The Language of Birds by Anita Barrows
The Overstory by Richard Powers
Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougal
Wishtree by Katherine Applgate
Finding Me by Viola Davis
Megabat by Anna Humphrey
Braiding Sweeetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
My Otter Half by Michelle Schusterman
A street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
Mega Bat by Emily Winfield Martin
The Splendid and the vile by Erik Larson
InvestiGators by John Patrick Green
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
Nowhere Better than Here by Sarah Guillory
The Keeper of Stories by Sally Page
The Sentence by Louise Erdirich
The Adventures of Forest and Billy by Angela Hooker
All the lonely People by Mike Grayle
Zoo Patrol Squad by Brett Bean
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson
The Wild Robert Escapes by Peter Brown
Some of my favorites from among this list are All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale, two books by Kristin Hannah. I like most of Kristin Hannah’s books, though some are far better than others. These are two of her best historical fiction books, both take place during World War II. The main character in All the Light is a young blind girl. Hannah does a great job of describing what the young girl experiences through her other senses. The book is suspenseful, poignant and thought provoking. It has also been made into a Netflix series, nicely done, for those who enjoy watching movies based on books. The Nightingale tells the tale of a woman who ushered children who were in grave danger out of France during the war. Again suspenseful, and historically accurate.
A very different category of book is The Storied Life of AJ Firky, which tells the tale of AJ Firky, a lonely bookkeeper whose wife has recently died, a baby left in his shop and a lovely new female sales rep. There’s really not much not to like about this book, which is heartwarming and ends on a good note. This is a good summer read.
The Overstory was a challenging book for me. It is dense, and full of imagery and rich language. However it was a good book, and one I think about often. It tells the tale of nine people whose lives are entwined through their experiences with trees - it’s actually rather difficult to describe, so you just have to read it. It’s not a light beach read though and might be a better one to save for next winter.
Braiding Sweetgrass was one of our non fiction choices and is a book which draws you into the rich world of indigenous wisdom and thought. It describes the interconnection between humans and the natural world in which they live. This book can change the way you view and interact with the world around you.
A Street Cat Named Bob, was a look at a tough topic, addiction, but it was given an element of whimsy as the story revolves around a cat, named Bob, who helps his chosen human (I can’t call him an owner as that is not the relationship they have) to emerge from the dark world of addition and isolation he has found himself in for the last decade. Parts of the book are hard to read because addiction is a hard and ugly affliction, but in the end this is an uplifting feel good book.
I think my favorite of all these books is Horse by Geraldine Brooks. It was a great read with elements of history, racial inequality, human nature, romance, art and of course horses. I highly recommend it.
One of the “kid books” I have most enjoyed is The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. It is the first in a series. The motion picture The Wild Robot will be coming to theaters this fall so I recommend reading it this summer. It is a fun book, with suspense and many poignant moments, surprising for a science fiction book about a robot.
Any of the books on this list are worth reading. They are varied and interesting. I highly recommend getting family and friends together to discuss the books, it will push you outside your comfort zone and perhaps introduce you to some new genres you might not have considered on your own.
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