I have some new book recommendations! I’ve read a few excellent books recently & want to share them with you. I hope you feel inspired to read these books, too. I just love when my nightstand is stacked with books & I can’t keep up with my “to read” list! I definitely get fired up about great books, discovering new authors, and learning more about subjects I know little about. Several of these books were book club picks, some were recommended to me by friends, and others have been on my radar for a while now!

Moloka’i, Alan Brennert

I just finished this book and seriously couldn’t put it down! It was about several topics I knew very little about: leprosy, leper colonies, and Hawaii at the turn of the 20th century. Moloka’i is a leper colony on an isolated Hawaiian island, and it’s where Rachel, a young seven year old girl, is sent to spend the rest of her life when discovered that she has leprosy. It’s such a sad, heartbreaking story of her life, but there is joy, friendship, courage, and love- and the story of Rachel’s resilience. I would highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait to discuss it this month at book club!

 The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning

I’d been meaning to read The Ragamuffin Gospel for years, but I just hadn’t gotten around to it… til last week! I picked it up at my Grandma’s library book sale for one dollar, too! This book is just so good, and it really made me stop and think. It challenged me in many ways, and it’s one of those books that you want to read over and over again because there’s so much to get out of it. It’s mainly about the transformative, unconditional love Christ has for everyone + His grace – especially for the “ragamuffins” of the world (which, really, is all of us).

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

I’m now in two book clubs (we just started a new one!), and I suggested we kick off our book club with this book. I absolutely love The Fault in Our Stars, and it’s a NY Times bestseller, too! There aren’t too many books out there that simultaneously can make me laugh and cry, and this book certainly does just that. Without giving too much away, it’s a tale of two teenage cancer patients… but the story focuses not on the cancer but on their love story. Highly suggest this book!

The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom

This is another recent book that I couldn’t put down – you know it’s a good book when you look forward to your metro ride because you get to read it again! This book was a book club book, but before I ever joined the group two years ago. I’d heard so many good things about it from the girls, and it definitely lived up to the hype. It’s about a young white girl who becomes an indentured servant on a plantation in Southern Virginia during slavery – and it’s about who her “family” really is throughout her whole life. There are a lot of dark moments and events in the book (as expected with slavery, etc), but there are some great twists and turns. You should read it!

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

I also loved this book! It was hard for me to summarize this book adequately, so I’ll let the N.Y. Times speak of the book:

“Clay Jannon, an unemployed Web designer, takes a job working the graveyard shift at a 24-hour bookstore, owned by the strange Mr. Penumbra. The store is just as inscrutable, with two kinds of customers — random passers-by who stop in so rarely Clay wonders how the store is able to stay open and a furtive “community of people who orbit the store like strange moons. . . . They arrive with algorithmic regularity. They never browse. They come wide-awake, completely sober and vibrating with need.” These customers borrow from a mysterious set of books, which Clay has been warned not to read. He surrenders to his curiosity and discovers that the books are written in code.”

Yep, go read it!

Tell me: have you read any really great (or really bad!) books recently? I’m continually adding to my list of books to read, and I’d love some new ideas!

“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” 

-Jane Austen