Read any good books lately?

THE FARMHOUSE

Read any good books lately? I’ve been reading a lot this year and wanted to share my recent favorites with you today. I love doing these book roundups as much to give you suggestions as to get your’s. So please (please!) share some of your recent favorites in the comment section!

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psst: you can find more book recommendations here, here, and here.

My mental health has dictated a little bit of a lighter book selection in 2021. Keeping things light when the world feels heavy and all that. So this list is mostly fiction, classics, easy reads, and historical fiction, but there are a couple suspense and post-apocalyptic novels in here too.

BTW I’m sharing links to both Amazon and Indiebound today. Independent bookstores could use your support and Indiebound offers an easy way to find your local bookstore. I usually sustain my reading habit mostly through our local library, and listen to their audio copies on the Libby App. That often means a long waitlist but I find waiting makes for exciting surprises in 4-12 weeks when my books finally become available! During the pandemic, we’ve bought more books than usual but I’m excited to get back into the library for physical books once I’m fully vaccinated (later this week!).

In no particular order, here are 13 books I’ve enjoyed lately…

Love and Ruin, Paula McLAin - This was a recommendation from a reader last year and I love it! It chronicles the stormy marriage between Ernest Hemingway and Marty Gellhorn, an independent woman and war correspondent in her own right. The novel follows their relationship from Key West to Spain to Cuba and Europe. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

The Children’s Bible, Lydia Millet - This novel is short and so engaging that I read it in under 24 hours on vacation. It’s about a group of children who are on vacation with their neglectful parents at a mansion on the Atlantic coast as ‘the end’ is nearing. ‘The end’ comes, in a not-so-distant-future, in the form of a large storm bringing disease and disorder. Disgusted by their parents, the children run away and learn to survive in this new world. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Anxious People, Fredrick Backman - I just love Fredrick Backman’s writing and the way his characters think and act and come to life. This novel is about a bank robbery and two small town police officers who are father and son, and touches on inequality and the character that makes up each of us. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Night Tiger, Yangsze Choo - This one was a Christmas gift from my sis and I loved it! this story follows an intelligent houseboy in 1930s Malaysia who has 45 days to find the missing finger of his dead mentor and a young women stuck in a patriarchal family. The characters entertain with unexpected deaths, dancehalls, and tigers in this beautifully-written novel. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

A Long Petal of the Sea, Isabel Allende - a Spanish couple flee their country after the Civil War in search of a new home. This historical fiction spans decades and speaks to what home and love mean. It’s a beautiful novel. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Kindred, Octavia E. Butler - Dana, a modern Los Angeles Black woman travels through time and space to the antebellum south in 1815 where she is treated as an enslaved woman. She is drawn back again and again, each visit becoming longer and more arduous. This is a page turner! (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott - I went through a couple of classics this winter including the Little Women, the coming of age tale of the 4 Marsh sisters. It’s been years (decades?) since I last read Little Women and I enjoyed it just as much. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Along the Infinite Sea, Beatriz Williams - In 1966, a socialite finds herself pregnant and broke and fixes up a vintage Mercedes for money. The car sells to a glamorous older woman with a secretive past. This historical fiction takes us back to pre-WWII Europe. I couldn’t put this one down! (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

The Rules of Magic, Alice Hoffman - I actually read this one last year, but forgot until my sister recommended it to me last month. So I had to share it today! This is the prequel to Practical Magic and follows the Owens siblings. They grow up in New York in the 60s with their mother’s strict set of rules. But when they visit Aunt Isabelle they unravel family secrets and begin to discover who they really are. This was such an enchanting read! (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Beach Read, Emily Henry - just as the title suggests, this is a lighter ready but still well-written, touching, and thouroughly enjoyable. A romance novelist and a fiction novelist trade genres for the summer and what ensues is hilarious and touching. The audio version was excellent! (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen - I reread this classic novel this winter about the Dashwood Sisters in 1700’s England. When their father dies, the Dashwoods are turned out of their grand estate and reduced to live in a cottage on a distant relative’s property. As they adapt to their reduced circumstances, romance and heartbreak ensue. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V.E. Schwab - In 1714 a young French girl makes a deal with the devil to live forever. The only problem, no one she meets will ever remember her. That is until, 300 years later, she stumbles into a bookstore and meets a man who does. I couldn’t put this one down! (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

The Midnight Library, Matt Haig - between life and death there is a library, a place where every book is a different path your life could have taken. Nora Seed finds herself at the library and lives life after life, undoing mistakes and making new ones, as she discovers what goes into a life well lived. (amazon affiliate, indiebound)

What about you…read any good books lately?