People, I love a great book during the Holidays, especially one I wouldn’t think to get for myself. Lying in your PJs all day eating Holiday food and having the freedom to read is heaven. Here are some recent favorites…

Little people – There is nothing better than books by Kate DiCamillo. Buy, read, and be amazed by this genius, funny and inspiring writer. There are some for your littlest like Mercy Watson, Great Joy (Holiday favorite), Tales From Deckawoo Drive and Good Rosie and and as they turn 10, 11 and 12 you can try her more mature books, Because of Winn-Dixie (my favorite), The Tale of Despereaux (Newbery Medal), The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Try to finish it without crying your eyes out in happiness), Flora and Ulysses (Newbery Medal) and Ramie Nightingale (National Book Award Finalist). She has a new one called Louisiana’s Way Home which I haven’t read yet, but I’m sure it’s amazing. To me, she is Marc Chagall, Samuel Beckett, Steven Spiellberg and Judy Blume all wrapped up in one beautiful storyteller.

Pre-Teens – Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter. I started reading the books to my daughter when she was in 1st or 2nd grade, but she didn’t love them, so when she got to be 11 or 12 (the best age to read them on your own), she wasn’t that interested. The books seemed so big and she thought our reading some together had exposed her to it, and maybe it was kind of boyish and dorky. Thank goodness, she had a 5th grade teacher who pressured her into starting them over, from the beginning, and an obsession was born. My advice is don’t read them to your kids or if you already have, make them start over again on their own. It’s some kind of magical spell that J.K. Rowling casts on this age group. Also, all the Percy Jackson and The Trials of Apollo books by Rick Riordan and The Emily Windsnap series by Liz Kessler.

Teens – My daughter was obsessed with The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth, it’s similar to The Hunger Games. She also loved Legend by Marie Lu, The Ember in The Ashes by Sabaa Tahir, Zodiac by Romina Russell, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi,  Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, The Outsiders by S.E. Hynton (apparently still a hit) and is now reading everything by John Green.

Adult Non-Fiction – Educated by Tara Westover, The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk Wallace Johnson, Heavy by Kiese Laymon and The Bright Hour: A memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs

Fiction – History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund. Euphoria by Lily King. We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas, Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson, Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy and all the mysteries by Danish writer Sara Blaedel and British writer Susie Steiner. I just read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh which is crazy out there, but I cried at the end and felt I had been transformed by reading this strange little book.

What are you reading these days? I’d love to hear. love, C

 

 

 

Caroline Hall Books

124 Replies

  2. great to hear accolades for My Year of Rest and Relaxation – heard others say it’s great, but I wasn’t sure.

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