Sunday, October 06, 2013

Recommended Reads - September

Hello friends!  I hope you have had a great weekend.  I spent mine at a scrapbooking retreat - my first time away from my whole family in at least two years - since Nolan was born for sure.  I have been on this retreat a number of times before and have had a great time with the friends I go with; it's a good getaway and I always get a ton of pages done.  This weekend I got 13 made - I will take pictures and post very soon.  I did wonder how Nolan would do at home; if he would ask for me non-stop or have troubles in the middle of the night, but they all managed fine and Nolan wasn't stressed about it at all.  Whew.  So good to come home to a happy and relaxed family.

It's a little late, but here they are: the books I read in September that I thought were worth passing on to you!

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman - This was a beautiful sad story about a couple who has to make some really tough choices. Honesty and consequences...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skoot - A non fiction work; a great combo of an author who is passionate about her subject, but can also write compellingly.  "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more. Henrietta’s cells have been bought and sold by the billions, yet she remains virtually unknown, and her family can’t afford health insurance."

Insurgent by Veronica Roth - I re-read Divergent last month (book #1) for book club in September and then picked up Insurgent (book #2).  Book #3 comes out later this month.  They are easy reads, fairly simple but enough to make you think.  A young adult dystopian novel.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - This one was kind of a trippy read.  Have you ever wondered how a clone would experience life??

Loving Frank by Nancy Horban - About Mamah Borthwick Cheney's  clandestine love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright.  A bit of history, a bit of real human struggle and choices and effects.

Bonus!  I though I'd throw in this year's picks for our book club.  The way we do the deciding is to each bring two recommendations, and the others vote on which one we'll do.  Here's what we came up with:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Speak by Lori Halse Anderson
Quiet by Susan Caine
The Last Crossing by Guy Vanderhaeghe
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
The Deception by Barry Reed 
The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Happy reading!!

1 comment:

Nicole said...

Read Light between oceans not too long ago. One of my Regina friends recommended it:) it was sad but interesting. Just finished Resurrection in May by Lisa Sampson. Sad also but interesting....