Forty Books I've Enjoyed: Part II

(Read Part I here).

Today I'll share the second half of my list of forty books I've enjoyed. I have to tell you, it was hard to only choose forty. There are a whole lotta books I've enjoyed that aren't included in these posts. I'm worried that the books have feelings, and that I've hurt some of them. Part of me thinks, "It's okay! I can make more lists!" but holy moly, I spent waaaaay too much time on these posts. The books consumed me! For now, I can't make anymore book lists. 

Without further ado, I give you books 21-40:

21. The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Read more about this book here. 

22. The How of Happiness by Sonja Lyubomirsky

When I did my practicum in 2017, I used this book for one of my resources (as well as a lot of peer reviewed research studies by the author). I liked her work so much that I tracked down her email address and sent her a thank you note. She responded, and I felt special.

Anyway, this book is a great overview of some of the findings in the study of subjective well-being (which is the sciency term for happiness). 

23. The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

This is the first book I ever read by Kate Morton (shortly later I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and was a little surprised at the similarities. Thirteenth Tale was published first, interestingly). 

Kate Morton books usually have alternating timelines, some sort of significant house with a mystery to unravel, and some sort of book, fairy tale, or story within the story. My norm is that I don't like books within books, and Kate Morton novels are no exception (I always dread the chapters where I have to read from some made-up "book”), but darn it, I enjoy her books anyway, so she gets away with it!

(I'm probably not convincing you to read this). 

I have read this book once and listened to it once. 

(You may want to keep notes on the characters and their connections if you ever read a Kate Morton book). 

24. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Read more about this book here. 

25. The Spirit of Revelation by David A. Bednar

This is a religious book by one of the apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

This book is divided into two sections. The first section reviews and outlines ten principles of receiving, recognizing, and acting on personal revelation. The second section is composed of examples of how revelation has come into Elder Bednar's life. I found the first section to be the most pertinent and can think of examples of each principle in my own experiences (if you want to cheat... just read the first section. Then skim or skip the second. But you didn't get that advise from me!)

I study the topic of personal revelation a lot. It's something I think about a lot, and this book came to me at a time I really needed it. 

26. Wildflower Hill by Kimberly Freeman

Confession: I remember hardly anything about this book, so it seems strange to put it on this list, BUT, I do remember really liking it and thinking, "This is my kind of book!" I also remember that it reminded me of a Kate Morton novel but a little shorter (can we all agree that Kate Morton, as much as we love her, can cut at least 100 pages out of all her books?)

(Aside: I have a goal to write something... anything... about every book I read when I enter it in to Goodreads just to help jog my memory when I look back at books, but I don't follow through with this goal very well. Then I'm mad at myself when I'm trying to remember a book, and I didn't write anything in the review box to help my future self! This book is one of those cases).

27. Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

I read this book twice a really, really long time ago, so I almost hesitate to add it to my list because I feel like I need to get reacquainted with it now that my frontal lobe is fully developed. I recommended this book to a friend who read it and absolutely ripped it apart. She said the characters were "too good" and "too evil" and didn't float enough in the gray area. At the time, her comments infuriated me because I loved this book, but now I understand better what she meant, and I might feel the same way if I read it again.

Nevertheless, I'm including the book here because it's one of the first books I enjoyed as a young adult (and let me tell you something... I didn't like reading until I was in my mid-twenties). 

Anyway, this book is based on a (real) legend that a woman once disguised herself as a man and was elected and served as pope for two years during the middle ages. 

28. The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

This is a fun middle-grade series. I always thought my kids would enjoy these books, and I had dreams of reading them together, but my kids are dream killers. I can’t get them to read anything nor let me read anything to them. I read about half of the first book to Nicky, and he suffered greatly. My kids are broken… sigh…

On another note, Jennifer A. Nielsen is a great author. She has written some wonderful YA historical fiction as well. 

29. My Family for the War by Anne C. Voorhoeve

This is another middle-grade book. This one is about a young girl named Frances (Franziska originally) who is taken out of Nazi territory and housed with a family in England not knowing if she'll ever see her real family again. 

30. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

I read this back in 2014 when it first came out, and all I remembered was grumpy bookstore owner and a baby. I also remember that there is a quote in this book that I adored and copied down in a notebook... somewhere. I intend to find that quote, but not today. 

The movie came out on Hulu in 2022, and it had been long enough since I read the book that I was able to enjoy the movie. So there's always that option for the cheaters (I give you a pass, though. You can't read everything. It's okay to go straight to the movie sometimes. Just make sure you read something every now and then, mmmkay?)

31. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

This memoir tells Paul Kalanithi's story of having stage IV lung cancer while doing his neuroscience residency. Paul shares fascinating insights about the brain as well as touching perspectives on life and death. 

This book was published a couple of years after his death with the epilogue written by his wife. 

32. How Lucky by Will Leitch

This book has lower ratings than most books I read (my go-to rule is to read 3.8 stars and above on Goodreads - it's rare that I read anything with a lower than 3.8 rating and like it. This book is 3.78).

I don't remember how I even heard of this book, but I really liked the main character. Daniel, who is limited by a physical disability, thinks he sees a kidnapping out his window. He then tries to help solve the mystery. 

33. Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox

Marty McFly was my first crush, and even though that crush has long passed, I've always had a special place in my heart for Michael J. Fox. I also have a tender place in my heart for Parkinson's disease. Both Scotty's and my grandpa had Parkinson's. 

This memoir by Michael J. Fox kept me occupied on a camping trip. I have always been interested in the psychology of fame and how it affects people, especially those who attain it at a young age. I found Michael's story fascinating - especially his road to sobriety and his onset of Parkinson's. 

If you don't want to read the book, check out his documentary, Still on Apple TV.

34. Fatal Throne by multiple authors

This is a book about the six wives of Henry VIII. Each wife is written by a different author (the audiobook also has six different narrators. Its written for a YA audience and fictionalized from the wives' points of view, but you learn a lot about the women. It's great prep work before you go see Six. 

35. As Bright as Heaven by Susan Meissner

This book takes place in 1918 Philadelphia where a family relocates in order to help an uncle as an undertaker with the plan to eventually take over his business. They are soon met with the difficulties of the Great War and the Spanish Flu pandemic. They face some challenges including a few ethical dilemmas - one involving parental rights to a child orphaned by the pandemic and one involving a man whose wife suffers irreparable mental illness.

This is a slow-to-unfold story, but that seems to be the way of historical fiction. This book was particularly interesting due to the COVID pandemic and the similarities and differences between that time period and ours. History truly does repeat itself, just with a few variations. 

(I read this book in the summer of 2021).

36. What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Husband: What's this book about?

Me: This lady whose grandpa dies, and then she goes back in time and becomes her grandpa's mom.

(And that's why I prefer to leave book summaries to the professionals). 

37. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Civil Townsend works for a family planning clinic in post-segregation Alabama. One day she is assigned to administer birth control injections to two young girls, and she starts to consider the ethics of some of the things her clinic is taking part in. 

This book opened my eyes to a part of history I didn't know much about - including the Tuskagee syphilis study and the forced sterilization of minorities throughout the 20th century. 

The second half of the book dragged a little since it delved into a lengthy court battle, but it was a really good book on a hard topic.  

38. The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer

This story alternates between 1942 Nazi-occupied Poland and modern-day. 

In modern-day, Alice is facing the end of her grandmother's (or babcia's) life, when her grandmother, with limited language, pleads with Alice to "find Tomasz." The problem is, Tomasz, Alice's grandfather, has passed away, and though Alice tries to explain that, Babcia is relentless in her plea for Alice to find Tomasz. Alice ends up taking a trip to Poland to discover her grandmother's past. 

This story is interesting because it deals with some of the realities of war in which records were destroyed and identities were changed. This is a unique part of family history in that sometimes, history is altered, and research has to sort out the truth. 

39. The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

This book jumps back and forth between two time periods. In one, it is 1957, and Naoko has fallen in love with an American sailor and finds herself pregnant with his baby. She must navigate the expectations of her family and the traditions of her culture as she tries to maintain her love and keep her baby. In the present day, Tori finds out her father may have had a baby with a woman in Japan. After his death, she sets out to unearth the truth about her father and her possible sister. 

Tori's discoveries in her family history made me think of how many stories are out there still to be found and how easily those stories can become lost. As I read, I couldn't help but think, "This is why family history is so important!" 

40. Silent Sisters by Joanne Lee

This is one of those memoirs that, if it were a novel, you would think it's so far fetched and unbelievable that it's not actually a good story. 

This story is so trippy! 

Joanne Lee tells of her experiences growing up with a mentally unstable mother. This mother… wow. It breaks my heart knowing that children grow up in circumstances like Joanne’s, and yet, it’s a devastating story we hear time and time again. Joa’s story is particularly disturbing because her mother hid the bodies of four babies in her house (readers be cautioned - the details are gruesome. I found myself growing ever nauseous while listening to the audiobook).

So how can I say I "enjoyed" this book? Well, it's not that I wish for these things to happen, but I am intrigued by behavior and family theory, so stories like this fascinate me. 

(I probably should not have ended with this book). 

-------

I believe this is my final list of forty from my (kind of) 40th birthday celebration series. It’s time for me to shut up about my birthday and just be 40. 

Hitting publish on this post feels like a huge step - as if I'm sealing my commitment to these books. There are more! More books! More wonderful and enjoyable books! And I'm pretty happy that it's so hard to narrow it down to forty.