Dear J -,
We are leaving for Florida on New Year's Eve morning. I would like to take a few books along with me. Could you recommend about 6 books for me that you have liked?
Love,
An Aunt
Dear Aunt,
That is my ideal vacation - several days to rest and a stack of books to read. :) Hope you enjoy your trip!
Hmmm... I'll list several books below, of various genres. Some I've read, some are on my to-read list. Hopefully some of them will be just the right books for your trip!
Love,
J-
Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler is one on my to-read list. He did grow up Amish and later became an evangelical Christian. I heard him interviewed on the radio. His blog is interesting, so I assume his book is, too.
We read Still Alice by Lisa Genova in Book Club. Very well-written, a fictional memoir of a neuropsychologist who develops early onset Alzheimers (and due to her profession, understands what is happening in her brain).
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas is another one we read in book club. It's a realistic fictional account of a small town in Colorado near a Jpse displacement camp in WW2. I recommend it.
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber may not be in your public library, but I highly recommend it. It's the memoir of a Canadian girl from a poor family who won a scholarship to Oxford. An atheist, this is the story of how she met God. Her studies (which led to a Ph.D.) were in English Lit, so each chapter opens and closes with an appropriate quote from Engl. Lit. And because she's a lit person, the writing is fabulous.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is a secular approach to a biblical command - to be grateful. It's conversational, easy to read, but thought-provoking, and has developed quite a following. She now has a regular column in a popular home magazine.
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, by Alice Ozma is a fun book telling the story of a father-daughter pair who read together every night for 10 or 12 years. Inspiring.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson is a delightful read set in a small English village. The traditional retired British Army major does some untraditional things, and the villagers talk.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set in England in WW2 and tells of life in a small village, with the added twist of spies and romance. Told in the form of letters to and fro, but not hard to follow.
Pulitzer Award winner Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains is a biographical account of a boy from Burundi, who flees to NYC, becomes homeless, and eventually returns to Burundi as a doctor. Very inspiring!
Katherine Valentine has a fictional series that reminds me of Jan Karon's Mitford series. Valentine's is set in New England and is centered on a Catholic priest.
Ron Hall's Same Kind of Different as Me is a modern-day story of a homeless man's life being changed, but, more than that, the life of the man who helped him is changed.
If you're looking for comforting fiction, I really like Alexander McCall Smith's Number One Ladies' Detective Agency series, set in Botswana or Joanne Fluke's cooking murder mysteries.
Have you read Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series? A retired widow, usually a member of the garden club, shows up at the CIA headquarters to volunteer. Sent off on the least dangerous (and least important) mission, it becomes life-threatening ... and important. Each book follows that plot, with its own twists.
Hmmm... I'll list several books below, of various genres. Some I've read, some are on my to-read list. Hopefully some of them will be just the right books for your trip!
Love,
J-
I read most of The Bookseller of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad.
I found it a fascinating look into a normal Afghan family, tho' to be honest it didn't hold my attention more than other books begging for my attention. 
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Growing up Amish by Ira Wagler is one on my to-read list. He did grow up Amish and later became an evangelical Christian. I heard him interviewed on the radio. His blog is interesting, so I assume his book is, too.
We read Still Alice by Lisa Genova in Book Club. Very well-written, a fictional memoir of a neuropsychologist who develops early onset Alzheimers (and due to her profession, understands what is happening in her brain).
Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas is another one we read in book club. It's a realistic fictional account of a small town in Colorado near a Jpse displacement camp in WW2. I recommend it.
Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber may not be in your public library, but I highly recommend it. It's the memoir of a Canadian girl from a poor family who won a scholarship to Oxford. An atheist, this is the story of how she met God. Her studies (which led to a Ph.D.) were in English Lit, so each chapter opens and closes with an appropriate quote from Engl. Lit. And because she's a lit person, the writing is fabulous.
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is a secular approach to a biblical command - to be grateful. It's conversational, easy to read, but thought-provoking, and has developed quite a following. She now has a regular column in a popular home magazine.
The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared, by Alice Ozma is a fun book telling the story of a father-daughter pair who read together every night for 10 or 12 years. Inspiring.
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson is a delightful read set in a small English village. The traditional retired British Army major does some untraditional things, and the villagers talk.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is set in England in WW2 and tells of life in a small village, with the added twist of spies and romance. Told in the form of letters to and fro, but not hard to follow.
Pulitzer Award winner Tracy Kidder's Strength in What Remains is a biographical account of a boy from Burundi, who flees to NYC, becomes homeless, and eventually returns to Burundi as a doctor. Very inspiring!
Katherine Valentine has a fictional series that reminds me of Jan Karon's Mitford series. Valentine's is set in New England and is centered on a Catholic priest.
Ron Hall's Same Kind of Different as Me is a modern-day story of a homeless man's life being changed, but, more than that, the life of the man who helped him is changed.
If you're looking for comforting fiction, I really like Alexander McCall Smith's Number One Ladies' Detective Agency series, set in Botswana or Joanne Fluke's cooking murder mysteries.
Have you read Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series? A retired widow, usually a member of the garden club, shows up at the CIA headquarters to volunteer. Sent off on the least dangerous (and least important) mission, it becomes life-threatening ... and important. Each book follows that plot, with its own twists.
Hi J-,
Thanks for all your great ideas. I found 6 of the books at the library today. Now my book bag is all packed and ready to go, thanks to you! I'm going to have a great time.
Love,
Aunt
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