Tonight I thought I would share some of my recent reads. These will not be full reviews, but just some observations about each book.
I just recently read all of the Newbery Award winners for this year. The Newbery Medal winner was Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. I recently wrote a post about the winners for this year, so if you want to know more about this book click on 2018 Newbery Books.
I have also been reading some of the books that have a chance to win the Pulitzer for Fiction this year. Each year I try and read the winner before it is announced 🙂
The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash is a great book about a young woman who participates in a strike in North Carolina in 1929. The writing in this book is very good. It is a great book about American Life and it is near the top of my list to win the award.
The Leavers by Lisa Ko is a great book that addresses undocumented workers, immigration and the effect that it has on families. In this book a young Chinese boy is adopted by an American family after his mother is deported back to China. The book follows his struggles in life and his search for his family.
I believe that this book would be a good choice for the Pulitzer. However, I have not yet made my final prediction as to what books I think may win. Look for a post closer to the announcement in mid-April.
I also recently read A Prairie Girl’s Faith: The Spiritual Legacy of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Stephen W. Hines. The author is recognized as an authority on Laura Ingalls Wilder and I was looking for some new information on her spiritual life. The book had a lot of great information, but much of it I already knew from other sources. However, I have not found a book that brings the information together like this one.
I was disappointed in the first pages of the book when the author stated the wrong location for the marriage of Ma and Pa which is a fact that is well documented. I was really surprised to see the wrong information, so did do some fact checking while reading the book. Fortunately the other facts I checked were all accurate.
The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish was a book that I picked up quite some time ago but finally got around to reading last week. It was a page turner and one that I really enjoyed. The story is divided between modern day London and London of the 1660’s. The plot is intricate and is well tied together. I really don’t want to give much away, but it is about a female Jewish scribe in the 1660’s and a female professor in the present who is doing some research on the documents that she penned.
The structure of the book is similar to those written by Charlie Lovett which I wrote about in Lovett Books.
Today I finished reading Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat by Jonathan Kauffman. This was a great book about Food History. I enjoyed reading how brown rice, whole-grain bread, carob, yogurt, sprouts, tofu and other foods were developed and made available to a wide range of groups.
Many other topics like organic farming, vegetarianism, co-ops and communes were also explored.
I had many memories as I read the book as our family often would try new ‘healthy’ foods and diets. I also discovered that the author is most likely a distant cousin as he comes from a similar Amish/Mennonite background and my great-great grandmother was a Kauffman.
Which of these books would you read?
Steven
These sound good, Steven. I am in a book club with 6 other women from our congregation. Is there one of these books that you think would be better suited for our group. Thanks
I can definitely recommend A Prairie Girl’s Faith. Also, if they are interested in Food History or food in general then Hippie Food would definitely generate some good discussion.
Thanks, Steven. I didn’t receive a notice that you had replied and forgot to come and look. Is there a woman that is not interested in food! 😁