I love my kindle because I seldom like to reread a book so why buy them? There are, however, a few books I've been rereading for many years and are always still fresh to me. Here are mine. What are yours?
1. River Rising- Hubert Skidmore
This book was read to my 6th grade class by our principal, one chapter a day. I loved it so I reread it every 5-10 yrs. About 6 yrs. yrs. ago you could no longer check it out of our library because it was a collectors item. Had to be read on premises so I started an online search for a copy. Ebay was too high but found a copy at online consignment bookstore and bought it for 8.00 instead of 86.00 on Ebay. Its about a young man from the hills of Ky going to a lumber camp to teach for a year to earn money for medical school. I so love the stories of hill people and how they survive. This is a book any male would love, but I as a 67 yr. old female, love it too. There are two follow up books, Hill Doctor, which I bought and Hill Lawyer, which is still too high.
2. Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
I think everyone knows this book even if they haven't read it. The Civil War era is another of my favorite book settings.
3. A Tree Grows In Brooklyn - Betty Smith (available for ebooks)
This may be my favorite book ever but I'm trying to list them in order of how I read them originally. Another favorite book setting, the depression. This book is built around Francie, oldest child in a very poor Irish family in Brooklyn where .05 cents worth of ground meat for Sunday dinner for a family of four makes that day special, along with smashed pies bought at discount from the local bakery. This is about as poor as you can get, without being homeless, but they are still happy, make do, and try to improve their lot in life. Ridiculously good book, especially for girls and women.
4. Maggie Now - Betty Smith
This book is also set in Brooklyn. The main character is the oldest child in an Irish family left to raise her brother when her mother dies in childbirth. She also caretakes an unappreciative father. She eventually marries a man of some mystery but accepts her lot in life and adapts to whatever comes. This is another warm book giving insight into Maggies thought processes and how to make lemonade when life gives you lemons. Another book better suited for girls and women.
5. Forever Amber - Kathleen Winsor
Set in the days of kings and queens in England, this book is about a mistress of a man in high standing with the court. Amber is definitely not in his station of life. She reminds me so much of Scarlett O'Hara in her stubborness and vanity and love of life. She, like Scarlett, finds a great love with many problems and doesn't handle it well always. This is an old book and not on ereader in my library. I'm looking for this book also.
6 Touch the Wind - Janet Dailey
My favorite setting for books is historical fiction, particularly western/pioneer times. This is about a kidnapped woman and her abductor in a western setting. This is a romance book I've always loved but makes you wonder on each page how much more she can stand. My local library doesn't have this book in ereader format but has other Dailey books. The Calder series is a really good western read by her. Each book is written from the female perspective.
7. Christy - Catherine Marshall
Christy goes on a missionary trip to the mountains where the people are very poor and uneducated. They have a lot of superstition and doctor themselves with roots and herbs. This book follows her friendships with some of the mountain women and two men who vie for her romantically. The book is very detailed on the roots and herbs used, how dyes were made, how they survived on the land. Their superstitions were equally fascinating to me as I knew personally a woman who believed a lot of these. She always cut her hair in the full moon and buried it in the yard under a rock so it would grow fast. You could not convince her otherwise, lol. A nose bleed was stopped by putting a piece of brown grocery bag between the upper lip and gum. It worked. This has it all, suspense, mystery, romance, a wonderful character and lots of wonderful supporting characters.
8. Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
I just found this magnificent book and the two sequels. This is so different from anything I have ever read. It has romance, suspense and a very imaginative storyline. The economy has collapsed and the land is divided into districts with the Capitol the government. Each year two people are selected per district to compete in the game in which the last one alive wins a home and an allotment from the gvt. The districts are all barely surviving starvation and strict control of the gvt. The book is about the strategies of the players to survive and doesnt dwell on how they get rid of each other although we are told how it occurs. The game is kind of a survivor like atmosphere with the gvt. stepping in from time to time to make it more interesting. The main character is a young girl who takes her younger sister's place in the game and hopes to survive it. I will start the third and last book of the series next week and already I want to reread the first.
There are others I reread occasionally, like the Gwen Bristow and Jeanne Williams books, but the above ones are super special to me.
Blogs & Forums
