Dancer Daughter is 23 years old and just went away to college in North Texas for the summer. She called this afternoon and asked me for some reading suggestions, so I thought I’d post my list for her so that you all could see it, too.
Some of Dancer Daughter’s favorite authors are Madeleine L’Engle, Robin McKinley, Agatha Christie, and Sarah Dessen. She also likes memoirs and true crime books and books related to biology and forensics. She’s majoring in college in laboratory science/biology.
Berry, Wendell. Jayber Crow. Jayber Crow is a book about community and about the secret life of a Kentucky bachelor and about love that is love even when it’s unconsummated. And Mr. Jayber Crow is one of the most thoughtful characters I’ve read about in any book. He’s a homespun philosopher, and better yet, a loving man.
Cahalan, Susanah. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. A journalist describes her remarkable recovery from a rare and mysterious illness.
Christie, Agatha. Evil Under the Sun. “And from June till September (with a short season at Easter) the Jolly Roger Hotel was usually packed to the attics. . . . There was one very important person (in his own estimation at least) staying at the Jolly Roger. Hercule Poirot, resplendent in a white duck suit, with a panama hat tilted over his eyes, his mustaches magnificently befurled, lay back in an improved type of deck chair and surveyed the bathing beach.â€
Dean, Pamela. Tam Lin. Dean’s novelization of the ballad/story Tam Lin is set on a modern day college campus that is “haunted†or maybe invaded by faery folk disguised as professors and students. The students themselves are rather pagan, with very little hint of even the vestiges of Christian thought to inform their decisions.
Godden, Rumer. In This House of Brede. An excellent story about the lives of women within a closed community of nuns. Not only does the reader get to satisfy his curiosity about how nuns live in a convent, but there’s also a a great plot related to contemporary issues such as abortion, the efficacy of prayer, and the morality of absolute obedience.
Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. Bring Me a Unicorn: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1922-1928. Before she was married to famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, daughter of the American ambassador to Mexico, kept a journal and wrote a plethora of letters. This book is the first of five volumes of collected letters and journal entries of Anne Morrow soon-to-be Lindbergh. The others are called: Hour of Gold Hour of Lead, Locked Rooms Open Doors, The Flower and the Nettle, and War Within and Without.
Mckay, Lisa. My Hands Came Away Red. Eighteen year old Cori decides to spend her summer in Indonesia, building a church, out of mixed motives. Yes, Cori is a Christian, and she wants to do something meaningful in God’s service. She also wants to get away from her confusing relationship with her boyfriend, Scott, and she just wants to experience her own adventure. She gets a lot more “adventure” than she bargained for.
Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for Stone. Co-joined (Siamese) twins are separated at birth but sustain an unbreakable bond throughout the vicissitudes of life in Haile Selassie’s Ethiopia, and even after one of the twins, Marion, must flee to the United States for political reasons.
Young, Glynn. Dancing Priest and the sequel, A Light Shining. The story of Michael Kent, Olympic cyclist, Edinburgh student, Anglican priest, and orphan with a mysterious past. Of course, it’s also the story of Sarah Hughes, American artist and also a student in Edinburgh, whose lack of faith throws a kink in the developing romance between her and Michael.
Ooooh, let’s play book tag:
“In this game, readers suggest a good book in the category given, then let somebody else be ‘it’ before they offer another suggestion. There is no limit to the number of books a person may suggest, but they need to politely wait their turn with only one book suggestion per comment.”
Only this time, instead of a category, look at Dancer Daughter’s interests and favorites, and suggest one book per comment for her summer reading list.
I’ll play! Has she read the Flavia de Luce mysteries by Bradley? Flavia is a chemist and sleuth par excellence.
Jayber Crow was the first WB book I read, and I LOVED it. I still do.
House of Brede and Jayber Crow are on my bookshelf. Thanks for highlighting them.
Sherry – thank you so much for the mention here!
I recommend Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Diebler Rose a true story of Darlene’s experience of being a missionary to New Guinea during WWII, her area being taken over by the Japanese, and her experiences in a prison camp.
That’s funny, Barbara. I suggested that book to her for summer reading a couple of years ago, and she owns a copy. I think she’s already read it, but maybe someone else will benefit from your suggestion.