I started this post back in March of 2021 and somehow am just now getting back to it! I modified my list, removing some books I can’t for the life of me even remember. While I may have loved those books at the time, if I can’t remember a single thing about them…well…then they must not have been my faves. So instead of my top 10…now it’s just the top 6. By the way, you might wonder how I can’t remember ANY of the books I’ve read over the past 3 years, well, thanks to Goodreads, I have a comprehensive list of all my reading. In 2019, 2020 and 2021 I read a combined total of 112 books. Out of those SIX really stuck with me…
- The Island of Sea Women by: Lisa See– Set on an island in Korea, this story follows the lives of two young girls learning and following their mothers and grandmothers into the sea…becoming the next line in their villages all-female diving collective. This takes place during the very tumultuous 30′ and 40’s all the way up to the current times of cell phones and selfies. This was a challenging read for me. I knew nothing of Korean history and the atrocities they faced during WWII and before. Some chapters are hard and it’s impossible to understand how humans can do the things they do to each other. But there is hope in this book. The bonds, while stretched are never broken and somethings really do last. While the diving collective looks different now (wet suits are the norm now) the long held tradition of the sea women carries on despite the modern world trying to take over. This book led me down a long and winding bunny trail on the internet. It was fascinating to read more and see real pictures of the people and places this book talks about. While not a biography of any one person, as this is historical fiction, the books seems to do a great job of capturing the sense of people and place.
- 28 Summers by: Elin Hilderbrand– Ok…if you know the storyline for “Same Time Next Year” starring Alan Alda, then you will get the premise of 28 Summers. Following author Elin Hilderbrands classic Nantucket beach formula, she puts together the story of a relationship that spans 28 years, marriages, children, birth, death and everything in between. Yes, this book, by it’s very premise, has an affair at the heart of it, and that is WRONG, but somehow you still feel for each and every character and how they come together and grow apart. Sprinkled throughout, of course, is the lovely island of Nantucket and all of it’s places that you can actually visit. As with all of Hilderbrands books, you will want to book a trip to Nantucket as soon as you finish the last page!
- The Bucolic Plague by: Josh Kilmer-Purcel- Written by one of the founders of Beekmans 1802 (known for their goat milk based soaps and other lovely things), this is the story of how Josh and Brent renovated an old farm in upstate NY. It talks about the ups and downs that come from such a major change of life (they used to live in the city). With some humor and a good dose of reality (old homes are VERY expensive to rehab!) we get a glimpse into what it took for these two guys to put together the life they have now. This book is kind of like a warm hug…you’ll feel better for reading it.
- Hostage by: Clare Mackintosh– A fast paced thriller. Airline pilot is given an impossible choice. His family has been kidnapped and unless he crashes his plane into a particular target they will kill his wife and daughter. Who do you choose…your family or all of the passengers aboard your plan?? (sorry no image on this one…word press and I were fighting! LOL!)
- Good Morning, Midnight by: Lily Brooks-Dalton– Short, short book! But so worth the read. The world is coming to an end. We, as the reader aren’t really sure exactly why, but our story picks up with an old scientist who chooses to stay behind instead of evacuating from his incredibly remote research center. He finds a child has also been left behind. The girl gives him purpose and helps him understand his failed relationship with his daughter. We are also introduced to an astronaut who is stuck in space due to the global crisis. Through weak satellite signals the old man and the astronaut connect with each other. I simply can’t say anything more about this book without ruining the core of the story. But lets just say I read the last page, set the book down and was in awe of what I had just read.
- All the Young Men by:Ruth Coker Burks– Oh this book. Oh boy. Think back to the 80’s and the brand new AIDS epidemic. When things were little understood and very, very scary. No medical treatments, societal misunderstandings and gross ignorance. This is a the true story of a woman named Ruth who stumbles upon a frightened young man. A patient in a hospital where she was visiting a sick friend. She hears him calling out for help and for his mother. No one, not a single medical professional would attend to him because he had AIDS. She steps in and stays with him while he dies. This becomes the catalyst for the rest of Ruths life. She becomes a champion of all causes related to HIV and helps countless numbers of people dealing with the AIDS crisis. This is a tough book to read. I was a kid in the 80’s and while I was aware of HIV/AIDS it asn’t anything I ever personally had to deal with. Ruths book opened my eyes to total and utter tragedy and devastation that an AIDS diagnoses meant at the time. Loss of friends, often cast out by families, a government who turned a blind eye for far too long and a medical profession that had no idea what to do with these suffering people. Of all the books on this list THIS is the one that will stay with you the longest.
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Dianne Bissell
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