Book recommendations

Book recommendations are my love language. For myself or for my kids. I have a running list on my phone of things to check out from the library.

Here are some I have read in the last few months:

Anything by Sarah M. Eden. She has been fun for me lately. Light, easy escape, sweet characters, and good story telling. As soon as I finish one, I check out the sequel from the library. I read them all as e-books on my phone.

Shoe Dog.  It's the story of the beginnings of Nike, by the founder Phil Knight. I gave it to JB first, he finished it on the cruise then gave it to me, and I kept reading parts out loud back to him: "Did you know?" and "Listen to this!" A really good book.

The Book of Joy. By Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama. We are reading this for Book Group this month and I keep stopping to re-read a section, or think about it, or highlight a part.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Language and content warning but it was a page-turner for me. The characters grew on me, like in A Man Called Ove.

Miracle at Augusta. I found this in the cruise ship's library and it surprised me. A nice story of a pro-golfer helping a teenager.

Saints. So well written and well researched. Ever since I interviewed the authors for a news story, I feel a little possessive of it. Plus it's my people's early history, you know?

And I just re-read "Book of a Thousand Nights" by Shannon Hale and forgot how much I like that book.  She's the best.  

Also the best: L.M. Montgomery. Sometimes people look surprised when I tell them there are 8 Anne of Green Gables books...plus several more novels and 500 short stories. I can pick up anything by her and just get lost it in again. "House of Dreams," the new biography, is incredible. I loved it. It really shows all the inspiration for her writing. I recommend "The Blue Castle" to everyone, and it's a free e-book if you just google it.

I’m halfway through The Great Alone, set in Alaska, and I feel like I should read it by a space heater.

The kids

I am reading Harry Potter at night to 8 year old Andrew. We are on book 4 now.  I read all 7 books to Max and Ben at this age.

Nathan Hale Hazardous Tales and One Dead Spy series are really good for boys. 11 year old Ben is tearing through them. They are graphic novels about history.

Diary of  a Wimpy Kid, and Captain Underpants, and Ook and Glok. What can I say, it makes the boys read. Andrew adores them now, following in his older brother's footsteps.

Mike Lupica's juvenile literature. Sports stories that Max and Ben like. 

Mr Lemoncello's Library. Ben likes these and Max is trying them out.  

Brandon Mull. Fablehaven, Five Kingdoms. 13 year old Max has been trying them, too. He doesn't tear through novels like me, but that's totally fine. I encourage any reading, and he has a fair amount that's assigned for 8th grade homework he has to do, first.

We own all the Magic Tree House, and ABC Mysteries series (thanks to DI and a teacher-neighbor), and Max and Ben tried them out when they are younger but Andrew isn't really into them yet.

5 year old James loves to check out anything with dinosaurs, Lego, or superheros from the library. There are some good how to draw and character encyclopedias in the children's nonfiction section.

2 year old Millie LOVES Pinkalicious right now. We get new stories from the library but we own the main one and she has it memorized. Fancy Nancy, The Paper Bag Princess, and the Jane Austen and Anne of Green Gables board books are all ones she begs for regularly from her bin. I will be looking for book recommendations for a girl as she grows!