Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. My Horizontal Life by Chelsea Handler
2. Only With Your Love by Lisa Kleypas
3. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
4. A World of Curiosities by John Oldale
5. Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords
6. Ketchup is a Vegetable by Robin O’Bryant
7. The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
8. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
9. Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong
10. Night by Elie Wiesel

Monday Recommendation List

Monday Recommendation List

Random list of 10 books Monday! I have read and enjoyed each of these enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase.

Be bold and just choose randomly, stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

This week-- 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1. All I Ever Wanted by Kristan Higgins
2. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
3. The Four Agreements by Miguel Ruiz
4. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
5. Fire in the Ashes by Jonathan Kozol
6. I Killed June Cleaver by Deborah Werksman
7. The Nazi Officer’s Wife by Edith Hahn Beer
8. Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords
9. The President’s Club by Nancy Gibbs
10. Love Wins by Rob Bell

Monday Recommendations

Monday Recommendation List

I am trying something new this week. As this blog grows, old recommendations seems to get lost in the shuffle. Therefore, I’m going to post a random list of 10 books each Monday. Each book on this list will be one that I have read and enjoyed enough to flag for a potential personal library purchase. As you have most likely deduced, my taste is quite varied, so there should be something for everyone.

Be bold and just choose randomly! Or stick to your normal genre...or step outside of your normal reading zone and try something you usually wouldn’t. You can look up the descriptions at Amazon.com, or search my blog for old posts by entering the title in the little search box in the top left-hand corner and clicking the magnifying glass.

Let me know what you think!!

This weeks 10 recommendations (in no particular order):

1.      Fun for the health conscious food lover: Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko (several variations of this book)

2.      An emotional, contemporary romance: Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

3.      An inspiring memoir: Gabby by Gabrielle Giffords

4.      Surprisingly insightful and wrenching: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

5.      Beautiful read for animal lovers: The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll

6.      Thoughtful and spiritual: Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life by Karen Armstrong

7.      For the historian: At Home by Bill Bryson

8.      Genre bending: The Green Mile by Stephen King

9.      Historical, character based romance series: The Hathaway Series by Lisa Kleypas (First book is Mine Till Midnight) 

10. Hilarious. Just hilarious. READ this before going to the movie that just premiered! Hurry!!!!: This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper

Gabby

Gabby: A Story of Courage, Love and Resilience by Gabrielle Giffords & Mark Kelly

Description from Amazon:

"Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly’s story is a reminder of the power of true grit, the patience needed to navigate unimaginable obstacles, and the transcendence of love. Their arrival in the world spotlight came under the worst of circumstances. On January 8, 2011, while meeting with her constituents in Tucson, Arizona, Gabby was the victim of an assassination attempt that left six people dead and thirteen wounded. Gabby was shot in the head; doctors called her survival “miraculous.” As the nation grieved and sought to understand the attack, Gabby remained in private, focused on her against all- odds recovery. Intimate, inspiring, and unforgettably moving, Gabby provides an unflinching look at the overwhelming challenges of brain injury, the painstaking process of learning to communicate again, and the responsibilities that fall to a loving spouse who wants the best possible treatment for his wife. Told in Mark’s voice and from Gabby’s heart, the book also chronicles the lives that brought these two extraordinary people together—their humor, their ambitions, their sense of duty, their long distance marriage, and their desire for family. A new, moving final chapter brings Gabby’s story up to date, including the state of her health and her announcement that she would leave the House of Representatives."

My Thoughts:
I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best I have read recently. I was moved and inspired by this woman.

When Giffords was shot I saw the story, but didn't know a lot about her. This book goes through her life, with a minimal focus on the attack she suffered. The political climate in America today makes me so sad. Gabby, the staff and the spectators that were killed are American Heroes. They lost their lives supporting and loving Democracy. The photo in the middle of the book with President Obama holding Giffords hand while she was in a coma brought tears to my eyes.

Reading about Giffords ambition and passion made me even prouder to be an American. This book really put a personal face on a person who genuinely has a passion for America and making it a better place to live. The love between Kelly and Gifford is also expressed as a beautiful thing. I can't say enough about this book!!