This week’s Tuesday Topic is “What was your favorite book you read last year? “
This topic is a bit off of the normal ‘fitness’ track for me, though reading books is good for mental health, right? Even if the books I selected aren’t running related, they were all great ‘escapes’ that I highly recommend!
I’m linking up with Zenaida and Kim; be sure to check out their blogs for more suggestions on this topic!
Most of the books I read this year were read while on camping trips or road trips, and always on my Kindle. I still prefer a physical book, but the Kindle is so wonderful for travel of any kind, including camping!
There are three of those books that stood out in memory that I read in 2020:
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine:
By Gail Honeyman
I sped through this book on our camping trip to Madeline Island in June. It was one of those books I just couldn’t put down as I felt so emotionally engrossed in Eleanor’s life. This is an older book (2017, I believe), but a good one! A quick read too.
High level plot: Eleanor is socially awkward, no friends, no interest in her appearance. Clues emerge about her troubled past, from her scarred face to her visits from a social worker, to her painful weekly phone calls with her mother. She develops a crush on a local musician and becomes slightly obsessed with him, while also building a true friendship with a coworker.
I was so moved by the loneliness, trauma and friendship in this book. I don’t want to give away too much; this was a tear jerker and I look forward to seeing the movie adaption that is apparently in the works!
A Children’s Bible
By Lydia Millet
I read this book while in the Boundary Waters and I recommended that Dustin read it too after I was done. This was another engrossing novel, but this time about a very different topic than a socially awkward woman like Eleanor Oliphant! This book was a fascinating story about a post-apocalyptic world where a dozen kids “take over” their own survival.
From Good Reads: Pulitzer Prize finalist Lydia Millet’s sublime new novel—her first since the National Book Award long-listed Sweet Lamb of Heaven—follows a group of twelve eerily mature children on a forced vacation with their families at a sprawling lakeside mansion. Contemptuous of their parents, who pass their days in a stupor of liquor, drugs, and sex, the children feel neglected and suffocated at the same time. When a destructive storm descends on the summer estate, the group’s ringleaders—including Eve, who narrates the story—decide to run away, leading the younger ones on a dangerous foray into the apocalyptic chaos outside. As the scenes of devastation begin to mimic events in the dog-eared picture Bible carried around by her beloved little brother, Eve devotes herself to keeping him safe from harm. A Children’s Bible is a prophetic, heartbreaking story of generational divide—and a haunting vision of what awaits us on the far side of Revelation.
Midnight Library:
By Matt Haig
My 3rd pick for this post is the Midnight Library.
I just recently read this one over the holidays; it was another page turner! The Midnight Library was a lovely book about finding joy in the life you have. I read it around the same time that I watched the new Pixar film, Soul, and they felt kind of similar in a way.
“Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices . . . Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?” A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.”
Have you read one of these three books?
If so, what did you think? And if you liked these books, let me know if you have read similar books that I might enjoy, I’m definitely looking for more to add to my list!
All three books sound captivating in their own way. Thanks for the summary, Jessie!
The “Children’s Bible” sounds quite haunting, maybe because it’s close to reality.
The younger generations will have to find their way out of this apocalyptic environmental chaos that their parents have left them with. I hope there’s a happy end!
Well…you’ll have to read it to find out! 🙂
Oooh. I haven’t read any of these! Adding them all my list. They sound like just the kind of books I would love.
yay! Glad to hear it Jenn!
I have not read any of these, but they all sound really interesting — thanks so much for recommending them!
You bet, Judy!
thanks for sharing these picks! I haven’t read a fiction book in a long time. Based on these recommendations, maybe it’s time I changed that!
Fiction is great escapism!
I loved Eleanor Oliphant! Such a fun quirky read. I haven’t read The Children’s Bible or The Midnight Library yet. Glad to hear you liked them!
Yes! Such a quirky but good book.
Thanks for the recommends! I had not heard of any of these…all sound intriguing!
Let me know if you read any of them!
I read the first one and really enjoyed it. I also like Frederik Backman’s books.
Your other two books sound really interesting. I might check them out..
I have read Beartown!
I read Eleanor in one day on vacation a few years ago and I still have all of the feels. I don’t have another read to recommend that’s “as good” as that, but a few books that I’ve really enjoyed in the last few years are I Found You and Then She was Gone by Lisa Jewell, all of Ruth Ware’s books, The Secret Lives of Midwives by Sally Hepworth, and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.
Thank you for all these ideas Becket!
I have not read any of those books. Thanks for writing and sharing them with us. More to add to my list.
Thanks for linking up with us!
Thanks for hosting!
I read so many books this year not sure I could pick just one! These are all new to me thanks for the mini reviews!
Great!
You’re the third to recommend Midnight Library, so I need to look into that. I agree on how simple the Kindle makes life. Wanted to read more dead tree books this year while home, but that didn’t happen. We’ll see if it does with my new glasses. East Coast Girls was a fiction favorite. They don’t usually stick with me, but that one did.
I will have to check out East Coast Girls, thanks Cari!
This is a classic case of don’t judge a book by it’s cover (or title) for me! Looking at the covers, these are not books I would have picked off the shelf. But as soon as you shared what each of them was about, I was so drawn to the stories and would definitely read them! So fascinating! I’ll have to put them on my list this year.
Everyone’s book interests are definitely different 🙂
I get a lot of great book ideas from The Tournament of Books, which is a March Madness style contest pitting 16 literary fiction books against each other each March. There is a review of each match between two books, and then the commentariat weighs in with their thoughts, which is very rewarding. I’ve discovered so many diverse, wonderful books through the Tournament over the years.
The shortlist for 2021 was just announced, and The Children’s Bible is included.
https://themorningnews.org/article/the-2021-tournament-of-books-shortlist-and-judges
What a cool “Tournament”! Thanks for sharing Eric!
Oh, these sound like great books to get lost in.
They were!
I enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant. I’m currently reading a book called Valencia and Valentine which is billed as being similar. I’ve read a bout a third and can see why that would be the case, maybe one you could take a look at.
The Midnight Library is one I’m keen to read this year…