Book recommendations

A few people have sent me book recommendations, which I share below. Feel free to send more, and I will include them in a future post. Most of these are probably available in e-book or audio book format from your library.

From AnnaLisa

  My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows (Humor, Alternate History, Fantasy Fiction)

  Educated by Tara Westover (Autobiography)

 The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story by Hyeon-seo Lee with David John (Autobiography)

  Dumplin' by Julie Murphy (Fiction)

 The Martian by Andy Weir (Science Fiction) (Beware there is some swearing in this book.)

 Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance (Autobiography) (Beware there is some swearing in this book.)

 An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield (Autobiography)

 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Historical Fiction) -- Heather's note: AnnaLisa and I had a nice chat about this book. Let us know if any of you would like an informal book chat, and we can coordinate. It can be done by phone or Zoom.



From Sandy

 Endurance: Shakleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing--an amazing true story of survival---unimaginable hardship in a stark environment with no hope of rescuers finding them, while waiting out  an arctic winter, and struggling to come up with a plan to get back to civilization, all while living on a pack of ice.

 Moon over Manifest, by Clare Vanderpool (juvenile fiction)-- a story about a young girl dropped off by her drifter father to live in the town where he lived as a teenager.  She takes up clues from old newspapers, trinkets she digs up and stories from an old gypsy woman to discover the mysterious life of her father that no one talks about.  The story goes back and forth from when the small Kansas town of Manifest was thriving in 1918 to the time she arrives in the height of the depression in the 1930's.


From Heather D

 Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness by Ingrid Fetell Lee (nonfiction). This book helps you to see the joy that surrounds you in your everyday life. I've given this book to a couple of people for Christmas or birthday gifts.

 Finding Langston by Lesa Cline-Ransome (juvenile fiction; historical fiction). I listened to this book two days ago, and I loved it. Langston is struggling after his mother dies and he and his father move from Alabama to Chicago. After school, one day, Langston leaves by a different exit and gets lost. I was worried about him, but then he found the library! After that, I knew he'd be okay. Among other things, this book is an ode to the power of libraries and poetry to help us heal.

 The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (historical fiction). This book follows the life of Cussy Mary as she works as a book woman for the WPA taking books to people living in the mountains of Kentucky. I was angry through most of this book, but I still think it was worth reading. If it wasn't well written, I might not have had such a strong response. Cussy Mary has a genetic condition that makes her skin blue, and she suffers from discrimination by ignorant people. I love books about books, and it was interesting to read about the pack-horse librarians.

 The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel (nonfiction; history). This is about the lady computers at Harvard Observatory from the mid-nineteen century into the first half of the twentieth century. Fascinating!

 How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu (science fiction). Charles Yu is a time travel technician and spends his days moving through quantum space-time helping people get out of scrapes while time traveling. He's also searching for his dad who disappeared after inventing time travel. I sometimes had trouble wrapping my head around this book, but it was thoroughly enjoyable and gave me a lot to think about.

 The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic--And How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson (nonfiction; history; science). I know reading about a cholera epidemic doesn't sound very exciting, but this book was awesome. I need to read it again, because there is so much I don't remember. Steven Johnson is an excellent writer. I would read a book just because he wrote it.

I have more recommendations, but I'll save them for another post. Please send me your recommendations, and I'll include those as well.