The Top Twos in Books

Here are my top two picks for the year (read this year, not published this year) for 3 genres:

Fiction

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)-- It's charming, delightful, humorous...and begs a top spot on everyone's list. :)

2. Outlander (Diane Gabaldon)-- I know I said I didn't actually love it, but it turns out that these characters have a way of sticking with the reader. I miss them. To me, that makes a book great.

Nonfiction

1. Angry Conversations with God (Susan Isaacs)-- I can't express how much I love this book. It's all the things I wish I could explain but a heck of a lot funnier. I frequently think back to the "Darfur test"-- i.e., if your theology can't hold true in Darfur, it's not valid. God is not obligated to give us what we want and understanding that goes a long way to having a true relationship.

2. Columbine (Dave Cullen)-- Besides this just being a great book, I can't get this image out of my head...and surprisingly (given the book), it's very hopeful and life-affirming:

Patrick Ireland is one of the critically-injured survivors of the shooting. He was in the library when Dylan began firing and was shot in the head and foot while trying to apply pressure to the wound of a friend. When Ireland regained consciousness, he dragged himself over to the shattered window (the only escape he could see) and tumbled out from the second story while the SWAT team scrambled below to reach him. Despite severe damage to his brain, Ireland worked tirelessly in physical therapy, returned to school and graduated as one of his class's valedictorians. He gave this speech at his commencement, just over a year after the shooting:

It had been a rough year, he said. "The shooting made the country aware of the unexpected level of hate and rage that had been hidden in the high schools." But he was convinced the world was inherently good at heart. He had spent a year thinking about what had gotten him across the library floor. At first he assumed hope-- not quite; it was trust. "When I fell out the window, I knew somebody would catch me," he said. "That's what I need to tell you: that I knew the loving world was there all the time" (302).

Young Adult (YA) Fiction

1. Shug (Jenny Han)-- We read this book in the middle school mother/daughter book club, and I loved it. It's a book about a middle schooler whose mother is an alcoholic....but it manages to not just be about a middle schooler whose mother is an alcoholic.

2. The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)-- I just read this, and I'll post a longer review later.