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Where would we be without books? I remember sitting on the couch with my Dad as a child, as he read to me from Treasure Island. My parents had a wall of books, including the Funk and Wagner Dictionary, Agatha Christie, Louis Lamour, Enders Game, Clan of the Cave Bear, and much, much more. From books I learned about Greek Mythology and romance; I learned about history and war; I learned about religion and food. Because of books, when a British person says that they are knackered, I know what they mean. I learned about travel and dreamed about going to the worlds shown in the pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica that my aunt had at her house. When I went abroad for the first time, I nearly had an entire suitcase full of paper books. I mean, do people in France have books in English? I did not know and did not want to take the risk that they wouldn't!
I guess what I am saying is that I love books. Over the years there have been some good ones and today I have twenty that if you haven't read, you may want to. Below I will give you the "what you can learn about if" you read the following books (FYI: not all are non-fiction!). I also have a Bookshelf Page if you are looking for more recommendations!
Let me know which ones you have read, what you thought and of course, what few books over your life have been your favorites!
1. Early Onset Dementia: Still Alice by Lisa Genova. This book will make you want to hug your loved ones and start working on your list of dreams.
2. Becoming Financially Independent and/or Retiring Early: Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen. If you want to find out an easy way to save, invest and travel, read this.
3. Apartheid / Mixed Race Household: Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. A first hand story of growing up in Africa with a Black mother and white father during apartheid.
4. The War on Opiates: Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe. An interesting insight into big pharma and how the US war on opiates began.
5. Eating Local/Surviving off the Land: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. A family decides to try to live off the land and eat local for one year.
6. Introverts: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Introverts are not lacking personality; they just recharge differently.
7. The Donner Party (+ Cannibalism): The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown. An attempt to get to California in a covered wagon before winter sets in goes horribly wrong.
8. Immortality: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. Would you like to be immortal? This book may help you decide.
9. Plagiarism: The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz. An author passes off someone else's work as his own. Will he get away with it?
10. The Tudors & Henry VIII: The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory. Henry the Eighth had a lot of wives, but not many of them survived! Learn more here!
11. Native American Oppression in the US: This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. Native American children are ripped from their parents and sent to boarding schools to learn to behave. Will it work?
12. Orthodox Jewish Women: Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman. A woman struggling with the Orthodox community tries to decide whether it's worth staying or not, because if she leaves she may be ostracized.
13: Cancer (From a Neurosurgeon Perspective): When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. A neurosurgeon gets lung cancer and tells his personal story from a doctor's perspective.
14: Vietnam: The Mountains Sing by Phan Quế Mai Nguyễn. A story about multiple generations of a Vietnamese family and their struggles before, during and after the Vietnam war.
15: The Far North of Canada: The River by Peter Heller. Two men go on a canoeing trip in the far north of Canada and a fire breaks out. Will they survive?
And because I particularly love learning about WWII, I have five for this category.
16. Resistance Women in France: The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah
17. Women Spies: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (or any book by Kate Quinn!)
18. Japanese Living in the US: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
19. Greece: Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
20. England: The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Have you read any of the above and if so, what did you think? What is the most interesting thing you have learned from a book? What are a few of the best books you have read over the years?
I've read a few of these! My shoutouts are:
ReplyDeleteQuit Like A Millionaire - Love her! Anytime she's on a podcast, it's an auto listen.
Born a Crime - I didn't read this one until years after it came out, and then I was mad at myself for waiting for so long. Soooooo good.
Indifferent Stars - the perfect road trip book
Unorthodox. I saw the TV show first, which kicked off my love of Israeli TV.
There was a room in my childhood home with floor to ceiling book shelves, and I have such fond memories of "traveling" through books. My library card was a passport.
I added The Indifferent Stars Above and The Mountains Sing to my TBR/Kyria tags in Libby! I have read a lot of these and also loved them. Still Alice is one of my faves of all time but such a heart breaking story. I am terrified of Alzheimer’s and hope and pray it does not strike our family. It’s a big fear since that’s what Phil’s dad died from and it was a very sad and horrible death.
ReplyDeleteWithout Reservations was a book I recommended a lot probably 10 years ago. It’s about a woman who is divorced and realizes her identity was entirely tied up in her roles as a wife and mother so she embarks on a months-long journey around Europe. I should re-read it! Into Thin Air is my favorite adventure story. It reads like a thriller. And my favorite Khalid Houssini book is ‘And the mountains echoed’. Alzheimer’s features prominently in that book too. That author hasn’t released a novel in a long time so he must be due to release something soon. I have loved all of his books and have learned a lot through reading them!
I've read quite a few of those, and I will say that Still Alice is one of the most beautiful and terrifying books around. I read it when it first came out, so a while ago, and every time I forgot something I would be like "Is that it, am I Alice???" Yeeeeeshhhh what a book! I have read other books by that author but they didn't affect me in the same way, I felt they were a bit too "teachy." But the information in Still Alice is so beautifully woven.
ReplyDeleteI will say though that I tend to not like historical fiction generally, I find it is a bit too "tell" instead of show. Also the way they wrap up is a bit too neat for my liking.