Throwback Thursday--Best Books From the Past Decade

Pictures of You by Caroline Leavitt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published: December 2010

 

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn't put it down. I wanted more and more. Imagine packing your bags and leaving home to start a new life. On your way out of town you run into some very thick fog which makes visibility very difficult. And then the unthinkable happens...you have an accident where you hit someone and they are killed. And the stranger part of it is that you both are from the same town even though this accident occurs nearly three hours from that town. That is what happens to Isabelle Stein. The events that unfold after that are incredibly emotional. I don't know of another book I have read recently that made my heart ache for each character as this one did. I wanted to give them all big hugs and say,"Everything will be all right. " I want to read another book by Ms. Leavitt.

Here is another book that I read and reviewed before I got into blogging.  This book really touched my heart and I recommended it to a lot of people.  I hope you will give it a try. 

View all my reviews

To learn more about this book or to order a copy, click the book cover below:

 

Throwback Thursday

Happy Thursday my fellow book lovers.   Once a month, I'm going to share with you one of my favorite reads from the past decade.  We've started a new one this year, so I thought it only appropriate to share the books I fell in love with in my 30's.  I will say that my reading did slow down in my 20's and I just picked it back up early in my 30's.  

The first book I'm going to share with you is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.    My review of this book is not very lengthy.  I read this before I really got into reviewing.  I did watch the movie with my children a couple of weeks ago and it was very interesting to them to see the world in this manner.  We have watched movies about slavery and about black people who have worked for white people, but this is the first time they had seen a movie like this and could relate it back to a family member.  Their great-grandmother could have been one of the women in this book.  Now, my oldest wants to read the book.  

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Published: February 2009/Read in 2012

 

I read The Help on my Kindle and I couldn't put it down. I think I had to charge it at least 4 times. My mother had told me about the book and so I read it from her recommendation. It was interesting to me to read because my grandmother or my aunts could have very easily been in this role as well. Even though I know the timing of the civil rights movement, it intrigues me that it wasn't that long ago, and how life really was. As a black woman I have, luckily, not really encountered much racial tension in my life. I have always had friends from different backgrounds and have been able to get along with others very freely. To put myself in a world where I could not be friends with people I am friends with or would have to do so in secret made me keep turning the pages. Not that these women were necessarily friends, but if circumstances were different, I'd like to think that Miss Skeeter would have been friends with Aibileen and Minny.

The movie was very good as well.  I think it did a good job of covering everything that was in the book.  It was hilarious and sad to watch these stories unfold.  The actors they chose to play the roles was spot on.  

I recommend the book and the movie for everyone!

View all my reviews

To learn more about the book or movie, click the covers below:

Throwback Thursday -- A Look into my Bookish Past

So I have been blogging for a little over 5 years now.  I started because I wanted to share my love of books with the world.  When I first started out, I would get books to review from Blogging for Books, which is no longer around.  Then I joined NetGalley and started getting ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) of books from new authors I had never heard of before.  I went a little crazy when I first joined and requested a lot of books and downloaded a lot more that were Read Now.  Needless to say, I was just very interested in sharing with the world.  Now, five years later and I can't even remember when I last requested a book from NetGalley.  I have been getting widgets and books sent to me from publisher's without me even having to request them. My list of books to review that I have received is nearly four pages long.   Looking back on photos the other day, I came across one of the first books I received in the manner, Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris. (click the link to read my review) The publishers would send me little things leading up to the release date, I was so excited.  Check out these pictures from three years ago.

Since then, I've read everything that B.A. Paris has written.  I get excited when I get book in the mail, especially when I wasn't expecting it.  

The past couple of months have been rough on my blogging life, but I'm determined to turn that around for the rest of the year and going into 2020.  Even though, I've been doing this for the past five years, each year I'm trying to improve my content and attract more readers.  

I thank all of the people that have stuck with me throughout the years and I hope that you will be with me for as long as I'm able to do this.  Tell me something exciting from your bookish past.

Happy Reading!!