Hello 👋 Friends! Back here for a favorite 🤩 post to share with you. These are quick snippets of favorite reads from the summer! I was surprised by all the nonfiction, coming-of-age, and Victorian favs. ❣️
Charlotte Fairlie by D.E. Stevenson – charming story – about a single woman, head of a girl’s school who feels a bit stuck. She finds herself getting involved in one of her student’s lives, helping her through her parents divorce. I especially loved how Charlotte and the student, Tess, help another student and her brother who are in an abusive situation.
Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri – slow, but heart-wrenching stream-of-conscious fictionalized memoir of a young Iranian’s experience as a religious refugee in Oklahoma. It took me a long time to get into this as it had a very unconventional writing style , but then I loved the thought-provoking themes it brought up.
Seasons of Your Heart: Prayers & Reflections by Macrina Wiederkehr – beautiful poetry and short Christian devotional entries. A bit unorthodox and slightly mystical, but really spoke to my weird, word lover side.
The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope – super interesting story about a Victorian woman who bucks tradition in a situation involving male entailment of property. This had so many interesting themes around marriage of convenience and friendship with a woman of “dubious” character.
The Historian by Elizabeth Koskova – deep, rich historical thriller with slight fantastical twist. The atmospheric setting of this was a amazing! Told through multiple timelines and flashbacks, the story of a daughter tracing her father’s discovery of a strange book with connections to Dracula. This has a lot of travel, Balkan culture, history, and so much more. I’d love to reread someday with the audiobook.
Klara & the Sun by Kazau Ishiguro – I listened to the audiobook of this and I loved being in the head of the AI Klara. The interesting way Ishiguro made you think and view Klara with sympathy. The teens Josie and Rick were interesting characters and this book brought up so many themes and questions on what does it mean to be human, love, technology, loneliness, etc.
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera – this was a darker, dystopian middle grade book coming of age story. I loved the main character Petra and how she kept hope alive through storytelling.
House of Dreams: The Life of L.M. Montgomery by Liz Rosenberg – I loved this heart wrenching biography on Montgomery.
Three Men in a Boat ( To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome – This was charming story and the travel/ nature writing superb. It had a humorous, arm-chair philosophical twist to it and it was a bit slapstick and so relatable.
The Stokesley Secret by Charlotte Mary Yonge – Christian fiction novella from the Victorian era! This may come across “preachy” to some, but I loved this tale of Miss Fosbrook, a young governess, to a large family. She was compassionate, but just. So charming!
The Cottage Fairy Companion by Paola Merrill – I don’t totally connect with the author’s YouTube channel, but I loved her book. Overall, her watercolors, photos, poetry, and short essays were sweet and inspiring. Her and I don’t totally agree on worldview, but I still think about the gentleness of this title.
Home for Christmas by Susan Branch – a very short memoir of her childhood Christmas’ in a large family. The care that Branch’s mother put into everything was so inspiring.
All-of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor – This was a charming story of a religious Jewish family of 5 girl’s living in New York in the early 20th century. The audiobook was fantastic! I loved the sweet librarian and the mother was lovely!
Pillars of the House Volume 1 by Charlotte Mary Yonge – the first half of a massive family saga surrounding the lives of an orphaned family of 13. An in-depth coming of age story that I’m LOVING reading with a wonderful bunch of Victorian literature lovers. 😄
Distilled Genius by Susan Branch – a charming collection of handwritten and illustrated quotes. Branch and I differ on worldviews a bit, but I really adored this overall.
Two Old Women by Velma Wallis – a short story based on true events of two tribal Alaskan women who get left behind as their band is starving. A tale of survival and forgiveness. My friend recommended this and I loved it!
Pat of Silver Bush by L.M. Montgomery – wow! So beautifully atmospheric! I loved this book for the writing, but overall, this was not a happy book. It felt sad and lonely. However, it was full of interesting, quirky characters that Montgomery does so well. Another coming of age tale that I listened to via a YouTube recording, as one of the main characters has a heavy Irish accent.
How about you? What were your favorite reads for the summer? Have you read any of these above? Let’s chat! 📚🖤💟☕️🌞🌻✨🥀🍂🌾🍁🍄🌓🔥☀️💨
A.M. Pine - Hearth Ridge Reflections 