The Art of Racing in the Rain - Garth Stein
Told from the dog's point of view, it's the story of the dog, nearing the end of his life, and his owner, a race car driver living in Seattle. They believe the Mongolian legend that a dog who has learned all he can will be reincarnated in his next life as a human. He learns many things from his owner's passion for race car driving and relates them to life. There are some depressing things that happen in this book and I'm usually too sensitive to enjoy sad stories, but this one was so very good that I have to recommend it anyway. Rated PG-13.
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
This story is about African American maids during the early 1960s. The main character realizes that they are treated very differently from how the white people are treated, so she decides to write a book about being a colored maid in Mississippi. Very well written and thought provoking. I'm looking forward to seeing the movie!
Divergent - Veronica Roth
Here's the blurb: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
Very exciting read!
Matched - Ally Condie
Is also a young adult fiction novel set in a dystopian future. Here, couples are given what they eat, put into a profession, and even matched to their future spouses by the government. The main character, against all odds, is matched to her childhood best friend, but when she views his information microchip also sees another boy's face flash on the screen for just an instant. This causes her to consider the unthinkable: rebelling against the predetermined life The Society has in store for her. LOVED IT!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
This book is written as a collection of letters. The main character is a writer living in London after World War II. By chance, she receives a letter from someone who lives on Guernsey, one of the Channel islands between England and France which was under German occupation during the war. She begins to correspond with him and a group of his literary society members, falling in love with the people and the island itself. It took me awhile to get into this book, but the characters are so interesting and believable that I got sucked in to it and loved living in it's world.
Of all these books, this is the one that I would strongly pressure everyone to read! It was so wonderful that I immediately set out to read everything by the author, who I found died before the story was even fully edited (thus the listing of two authors) :( These characters still feel very real to me. I may have to just read it again!
2 comments:
So I just finished Matched. You didn't tell me it was a trilogy! Arg! Definitely a good book club read, thanks for the recommendation!
The worst part is that the second book just came out, probably another year until the third! I just finished the second one. I didn't like it as much as the first, but still good and I'm very much looking forward to finishing the trilogy.
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