My Reading Recommendations

This is the true and incredible story of a teenage girl who takes a job teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in Alaska in the 1920’s. She learns to adapt to a new climate, new culture, and life on the frontier, and in the end becomes a special part of the community.

I wrote my Master’s thesis on Great Expectations, but my favorite of his books is either The Tale of Two Cities or David Copperfield. The Tale of Two Cities is much more accessible, however, and its a fantastic story of the French Revolution. It does have the classic Dickens connections that are much too coincidental to be realistic, but in this book it’s part of the magic. The ending of this book is one of the best in English literature, in my opinion.

This book caught my eye because Westover is a fellow Idahonian. Her story of growing up in rural southern Idaho in a family who feared the government, did not attend school, and did not go to the hospital (despite several amazingly horrific accidents), is an utterly compelling one.

This book is the first of three written by Hosseini about fictional events occurring in Afghanistan towards the end of the twentieth century. Two young boys have no idea how their friendship, their families, and their fates will meet and diverge, how they will hurt each other, how they will help each other. It’s a tearjerker written in beautiful language that captivates and engages.

If you thought, like me, that John Steinbeck was a stodgy old writer who wrote boring stories about middle America, read this book and let your mind be changed with nothing but pleasure. It’s a sweeping epic of early twentieth century America, a parable of good and evil with undertones of Caan and Able’s story, and overall a rollicking story that simply tells how we make decisions, and why. It’s good literature because it tells a singular story, rich in detail and nuance, of people who are still, fundamentally, the same people we are today.

This is my favorite book of all time, hands down. I have never found anything like it, and none of the modern myth retellings come anywhere near its grandeur, its prose, its elemental adherence to the meaning of myth. Which Lewis knew a lot about. (He wrote several essays on the subject). This tells the story of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche’s older sister, but it’s not just the magical elements that catch you–it’s the revelation. There is no one like Lewis for making the old myths not only relevant, meaningful the way fables and allegories are, but in displaying the real and raw elements which made the ancients believe in such fantastical things to begin with. They wanted to know who the gods were, and what that meant for their own mortality. This book brings that mystical experience to life.

Marilynne Robinson’s prose is almost singularly beautiful. I love anything by her. This book is the first in a collection of stories about people in the same town, but they are all stand alone novels. This one contains the thoughts and prayers of an aging preacher towards the young son he will leave behind. Sound boring? It’s not. It’s amazing.

I think since moving to Texas I have gained a new and fond appreciation for some real Texas literature. The descriptions of the land and wildlife are anything but boring, however, in this mid-century adventure story which takes place mostly in Mexico, after two teenage boys pack up in the middle of the night and ride their horses across the desert, crossing the Rio Grande naked with their guns above their heads. There is everything you could possibly want or imagine in this: bandits, horse stealing, love, loyalty, knife fights, and an absolute rawness at the end that made me wish there was anyone still alive who had the guts to ride their horse into the desert with nothing but a rifle and the dream of something wild.

If you like twentieth-century British authors, you will probably love this book. It’s a dystopian thriller but reads like Brideshead Revisited. It’s beautifully evocative and very realistic, not to mention prescient.

This true story is basically the last testament of a brilliant young doctor diagnosed with a fatal disease. It’s a moving story of his contemplation of life, suffering, and meaning.

This is one of my favorite books to come out of the Holocaust. This moving story tells of a hidden community of special needs children in Austria who band together to face Nazi persecution.

This is one of my favorite books from the World War II era. It’s the true story of a young Dutch woman and her fiance who became involved in the Dutch Resistance, becoming tough and skilled in their attempt to stay alive, stay faithful, and protect the Jews.

I don’t read a lot of poetry, but Oliver is easy to appreciate. It’s simply lovely, but also has incredibly poignant imagery. A favorite is “Is This the Place?”

Leif Enger might be a genius. This is a book about regular contemporary people dealing with trauma and grief, but it’s humorous and bright. It’s also mythical, beautifully worded, and intellectual.