As a person who sometimes feels too much what’s going on around me, I’ve been reeling the past week, devastated by the pain I’m seeing in the news. My heart hurts for my fellow Americans, especially for the people of color who have been mistreated for so very, very long. Books and reading will not solve these problems, but if you need to take a step back for a short time, here are some suggestions.
Talia Vance – In Five Years by Rebecca Searle
A quick, engaging and multi-layered look at how the past informs the present and vice versa. When a newly engaged woman dreams of an hour in her life five years in the future, it is nothing like she expects. She is determined to create a different future for herself, but as that that fateful date approaches, can she?
Click here for the universal link for In Five Years.
Veronica Rossi – The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Exquisitely-written Russian-inspired fantasy. Very immersive. It took me a little bit to settle into the world, but once I did, I could not put it down. I loved it, and ended up reading the entire trilogy.
Click here for The Bear and the Nightingale‘s universal link.
Katherine Longshore – Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Multiple locations, timelines and points of view all blends perfectly in this gorgeously-written story of memory and redemption. Plus, an overlooked resort on the Italian coast, writer’s block, the Donner Party, 90s rock in the Pacific Northwest, and Richard Burton on a bender during the filming of Cleopatra.
Click here for the universal link for Beautiful Ruins.
Carissa Andrews – A New Earth, by Eckhart Tolle
As a Minnesotan, my heart has been very heavy these past couple of weeks, following the senseless death of George Floyd. In 2008, A New Earth rocked my world and helped me to understand some of the senseless acts and mindsets we, as humans adhere to. If you want a book to flip the script, this is it.
Click here for the universal link for A New Earth.
Juliet Vane – Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins.
This has long been a favorite of mine! It’s the perfect escape, with some romance, a bit of angst, and hilarity as the American heroine must navigate school dynamics and crushes in Paris, France. It’s on my “keeper” shelf.
Click here for the universal link for Anna and the French Kiss.