6 Books I've Recently Read and Loved
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The past few years I’ve intentionally been reading for leisure more in my life. Growing up reading was one of my favorite things to do as a child, and even inspired why I went to college and graduated with a degree in education for Language Arts. In college English classes made up a big part of my coursework, so I was always reading and writing about books. Somewhere between the end of college, my first teaching job, and starting my master’s degree, I stopped reading for fun.
In 2016 I moved back home with my parents while I was finishing grad school and made it a goal to read classic novels that I had never read. 2016 sounds like a longggg time ago, but getting back into reading for fun was a habit I had missed and am so glad I’ve stuck with. Reading before bed has been an integral part of my bedtime routine for the past couple of years to help me wind down for the night. Reading fiction especially helps relax my mind and takes my mind to another place before I go to bed. All of that being said, I’ve read some amazing books the last few months and had to share them with you.
Harry Potter Series
I didn’t read Harry Potter growing up and always wondered about it. While I was teaching one of my best teacher friends let me borrow her Harry Potter books in 2018. As a 26 year old I dove into the series. I absolutely fell in love with it. Harry Potter was so easy to read, but also truly enjoyable and fun even as an adult. Towards the end of 2019 I finally finished the last book of the series. Such a magical series to read! Now I totally understand the hype and love around Harry Potter.
“The Women in the Castle” by Jessica Shattuck
I ordered this book and read it while on our Honeymoon in St. Lucia. Any fiction novel that takes me back into another time is always a favorite, and I typically love books that are about the WWII era. “Women in the Castle” is about a woman named Marianne whose husband was part of an assassination plot to kill Hitler. When the plot goes wrong, Marianne, follows through on her promise to find and protect the wives and children of the other men involved in the plot. This was a book that was emotional to read in parts as it goes through what life was like for people during WWII and what it looks like to start life again post-war. Highly recommend this one!
“The Tattooist of Auschwitz” by Heather Morris
Following the WWII theme, this is another book that I had seen recommended a ton and is based on a real story. Lale is a Slovakian Jew who is transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. He begins work as a tattooist and his job is to tattoo I.D. numbers on fellow prisoners. There are a lot of horrific acts that Lale witnesses during his time at the camp and many courageous acts on his part. One day Lale tattoos the arm of a young woman who he is instantly connected too. He is determined to survive the camp and one day marry her. There are many parts in this book that are hard to read and unimaginable to even think about happening. I cannot recommend this book enough!
“The German Midwife” by Mandy Robotham
Ok last WWII related read. Anke Hoff is a prisoner in a German Labor camp in 1944. Anke takes care of her pregnant campmates and gets them through their deliveries. Eventually Anke’s work is noticed and she is assigned to be the mid-wife for Eva Braun who is pregnant with Hitler’s child (this is totally made up, but a fascinating idea). Anke struggles with knowing if she should help this Nazi bred baby or if she should protect the world she has seen suffer. This one had a few places that made me emotional and has a little side love theme in it. Honestly, one thing that I did not enjoy about this book is that sometimes there were more details about what being pregnant and giving birth was like, than I would have liked to have read. As someone who hasn’t had a baby and isn’t that pumped about the birthing process, this book did not make me excited about it. However, the story of this book was really well done. If you can handle some birthing details and love WWII fiction then it’s a great read!
“All the Missing Girls” by Megan Miranda
I read this book over Christmas and it’s one full of suspense. I was always ready to pick it back up to see what happened. The interesting thing about this book is that it’s told backwards. Sometimes that was hard to keep track of, but made it different and entertaining to read. Nicolette Farrell left her hometown 10 years ago. When she left she had broken up with the boy she thought she’d marry. She left not knowing what happened to her best friend Corinne who disappeared 10 years ago too. When Nicolette gets the call the her father is near death, she returns home. Within days another young girl goes missing. Nic works to find out what happened to the missing girl and tries to find threads to what happened to her best friend 10 years ago. The way this one ends will surprise you!
“The Great Alone” by Kristin Hannah
When I first picked up this book from the library I was intimidated by it’s size. I thought it’d be a book that took me forever to read, but I breezed through it. Leni is a thirteen year old girl during the 1970s. After losing another job, her dad, Ernt, decides that their family is moving to live off the grid in the last frontier, Alaska. Both Leni and her mom, Cora, hope that Alaska will be the place that their family needs. Leni’s dad, Ernt, is a POW of the Vietnam War who has a fragile mental state and a tendency to be abusive. In Alaska, Leni’s family finds a small, supportive community who help them start their life and prepare for the months ahead. However, Leni and her Mom were not prepared for the isolation and darkness that the long winter months brought along with the decline of her father’s mental state. In their small cabin in the remote Alaska wilderness, Leni and her mom battle with love and the fight to survive. This was another incredible book that was hard to put down. “The Nightingale” by Kristin Hannah is one that’s on my Amazon list to order soon!
Currently reading “Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon
If you follow me on Instagram (@skylarrainphoto) and watch my Instagram stories then you’ll know that I have been watching the Starz show “Outlander” on Netflix. Brandon and I made it through season 3 on Netflix, but will have to wait for season 4 to be added. (* To be transparent the series has a LOT of nudity, sex, and violence, so don’t say I didn’t warn you). They’re currently showing season 5 on T.V. Anyways, I have become like weirdly obsessed with this show. Not only did I watch the show, but I also listened to podcast recaps of each episode (thanks to The Outlander Podcast). The women who created that podcast were HUGE book fans before the series was ever turned into a show, so I love hearing their insight as book readers and knew I had to read the books too. So here I am reading the first book of the series….and also listening to podcast recaps of each chapter. Wow I’m a true nerd. I’ll be sure to review this one when I’m done, but I know I’ll be recommending it. I also have to say that will all this coronavirus stuff, listening to podcasts about things totally unrelated has been huge for me.
Ok that’s it! I’d love to hear of any books you’ve read lately and recommend! Leave a comment below!