What have you read lately that helped you in some way or just put you in a good place?
That’s the question I posed recently. I listed a few books I’d been reading and asked you to tell me about yours.
I don’t know why I did that. It seemed like a good idea. Like the time I thought it would be fun to invite a few of my husband’s coworkers over for dinner and ended up trying to feed 40 people with 20 burgers and a bag of stale chips.
Good ideas, on my watch, have a tendency to get out of hand. It started with a note from a reader in Naples, Fla., who wrote: “I like to read but do not care for books with bad language or violence. My problem when I go to the library is that I do not know how to choose a book. If you could recommend any … I would appreciate it.” _ D.L.
I could’ve played it smart and told D.L. the best source for a book recommendation would be her local librarian.
Librarians know a lot about books and they live, bless their hearts, to help you find one. All you have to do is ask.
Still, I couldn’t resist offering a few recommendations and asking you to send me yours.
And oh my, did you ever. Who knew there could be so many good books? So many recommendations, so little space on my hard drive.
First, let me say thank you to everyone who took the time to tell me at length about their latest literary love affairs. Though time won’t permit a reply to each (I don’t expect to live that long) please know that I read every note and enjoyed each one thoroughly.
Second, let me apologize to those of you who wrote with such passion about books that didn’t make this list. If I can figure out how to do it, I’ll try to post them on my web site.
Let’s start with your favorite series: The Mitford books by Jan Karon; the “No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency” series by Alexander McCall Smith; “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery; “The Ladies of Covington Send Their Love” by Joan Medlicott; the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber; the “Tending Roses” series by Lisa Wingate; the Harmony books by Philip Gully; Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum mysteries; and Brendan O’Carroll’s “Mrs. Browne” trilogy.
Next, the top three titles you mentioned most often: “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet,” by Jamie Ford; “Still Alice,” by Lisa Genova; and “Same Kind of Different as Me” by Ron Hall, Denver Moore and Lynn Vincent.
Here in no certain order are some books that you loved and that I hope to read: “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese; “Here if You Need Me” by Kate Braestrup; “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers; “The Art of Mending” by Elizabeth Berg; “The Water Giver” by Joan Ryan; the Book of Ephesians by the Apostle Paul; “Fathered by God” by John Eldredge; “Three Cups of Tea” by Greg Mortenson; and “The Hearts of Horses” by Molly Gloss.
Finally, my favorite recommendation came from Marilouise Montgomery in Redding, Calif., who wrote to say the most important book in her life was “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger.
When she reached for it on the shelf of her college library, she said, she brushed hands with a young man she knew only slightly, who was reaching for it, too. The library had only one copy of the book, so they decided to read it together.
“We read together for 47 years,” she said, “until he died.”
You’ll be glad to know, as I am, Marilouise is still reading.
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