Summer Books

I've been fortunate to keep stocked up on lots of good books so far this summer. I've had quite a few that I've been waiting to read and here are the ones I would recommend:

"Sarah's Quilt" and "The Star Garden" by Nancy E. Turner
If you loved Turner's first book "These Is My Words", you will also love these two follow up books about Sarah Agnes Prine and her family in the Arizona territories. I'm fascinated by the strength and endurance the early settlers of the west had to have to overcome hardships and trying times. Though these books are fictional, the author does a wonderful job of interweaving many factual historical people, places, and events. I never tired of reading about her family's day to day survival on their hot Arizona homestead. Sarah Agnes Prine has quickly become one of my favorite literary characters. These books are filled with adventure, heartbreak, romance, and so much more. I think they would make great movies or a mini series.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
This book is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the tense times of the Civil Rights movement. One of the main characters who is set on becoming a writer, decides to interview several different maids in her town and publish a book about their struggles working for white families and their many experiences good and bad - doing so forever changes their town. It was a dangerous thing for them to do, yet they wanted their stories to be told. Although this story is fictional it is also intermingled with factual events and public figures during that time. The interesting thing that drew me to this book, was that the writer herself was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi and taken care of mostly by her family's maid who was like a second mother to her. This book gave many different perspectives from these characters point of views and is spiced up with some sassy humor.

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley
The main character in this book is Flavia who is a feisty, witty, science loving 11 year old - but as you read the story you will soon forget she is only 11 since she has the smarts and sleuthing skills of someone much older. The writing by the author was rustic and engaging, the story is set in 1950's England. After someone is murdered in the garden at her family's decaying English mansion, Flavia sets out to solve the crime and have some unexpected adventures of her own - all the while trying to clear her father's name and find the true criminal. This was an entertaining and fun read.

"The Book Theif" by Markus Zusak
This book is narrated by death, which sounds quite confusing at first but I thought it was quite brilliant as I got farther into the story. This story centers around the life of Leisel Meminger a foster girl living outside of Munich during World War II. After learning to read and write she soon finds a love for books which keep her sane and become her most prized possessions during a tumultuous time of Nazi's, secrets, and hardships. One of the saddest parts of the story comes from the aspect that many Germans were appalled at that time of what was happening in their country and Europe but were afraid to speak out or make a difference, for those that did were punished. Leisel discovers that words are have a powerful ability to influence people for good and evil alike. I thought this was unique storytelling.

"The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton
I have been waiting weeks for the library to finally get this book in as it was a fairly new release. This is written in one of my favorite styles - a story, within a story, within another story. It has such an intriguing premise, I will share a snippet of the synopsis from the cover of the book:

"A tiny girl is abandoned on a ship headed for Australia in 1913. She arrives completely alone with nothing but a small suitcase containing a few clothes and a single book — a beautiful volume of fairy tales. She is taken in by the dock master and his wife and raised as their own. On her twenty-first birthday they tell her the truth, and with her sense of self shattered and with very little to go on, "Nell" sets out on a journey to England to try to trace her story, to find her real identity. Her quest leads her to Blackhurst Manor on the Cornish coast and the secrets of the doomed Mountrachet family. But it is not until her granddaughter, Cassandra, takes up the search after Nell's death that all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled. At Cliff Cottage, on the grounds of Blackhurst Manor, Cassandra discovers the forgotten garden of the book's title and is able to unlock the secrets of the beautiful book of fairy tales."

Not only is this book filled with the twists and turns of a good mystery, but it explores family history and relationships and the decades that separated them. It shows how one decision made by one of the main characters forever changes the futures of her descendants.


Hope you can pick up one of these books and enjoy a good read too.