Monthly Book Stack Review May
Image by Laura Kapfer on Unsplash
This year is a whirlwind in every way and I’ve been very grateful to fall into the world’s of others this past few weeks, and now that summer is finally here I’m sure you’ll be wanting a new friend or two to accompany you on your outdoor adventures!
This Woman is Still Girl by Raquel Franco
A dear friend handed me a book with a smile and told me to enjoy, ten pages in I was buying my own copy. Raquel Franco’s writing is raw and unflinching, and while you can read through it in an hour, each piece stops you with the need to digest the emotions and images she creates.
A book in three parts as girl becomes woman. A journey we have all lived through, traveled in moments we have either felt or witnessed. This one is a gift to take your time with.
Wonder by R.J Palacio
This is a must-read regardless of your age! It speaks to the entirety of the human experience, from the childhood need to fit in and be seen for the individual you are, while remaining part of the group, to the adult need to protect those we love while knowing that you just can’t and actually it’s not always best to.
After a childhood of being home educated it is time for Auggie to try school for the first time, a place his parents never thought he would be able to go because of a terrible facial abnormality. The truth they find is that the only protection you can offer anyone is the knowledge that they are loved beyond measure, so that when painful moments happen because they will, they will always have a safe place to turn to and remember who they are and how much they are seen, heard and wanted.
The Chain by Adrian Mckinty
When there is a who’s who list of suspense writers on the front cover of a book all effusive in their praise, it’s not something I can ignore. The Chain is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat read, and I loved it. A nice break from reality into a world that is close enough to my worst parental fears to keep me tense the whole way through.
The premise…
A STRANGER HAS KIDNAPPED YOUR CHILD.
TO FREE THEM YOU MUST ABDUCT SOMEONE ELSE'S CHILD.
YOUR CHILD WILL BE RELEASED WHEN YOUR VICTIM'S PARENTS KIDNAP ANOTHER CHILD.
IF ANY OF THESE THINGS DON'T HAPPEN:
YOUR CHILD WILL BE KILLED.
It’s a genius idea and a fascinating dilemma. We would all do anything to protect our children, but how far could you go? It made me think yet again, that people are incredible. We go through so much and instead of seeing ourselves for the resilient champions we are, we look for the things we could do better.
Apple & Rain by Sarah Crossan
This isn’t my usual kind of YA fiction but Sarah Crossan is an incredible writer. If you love poetry or lyrical prose yourself or are looking for a way to introduce it to a child, she is the writer for you.
This is a beautifully written story of a young girl called Apple, whose mother has returned after 11 years. She has a new English teacher who is tackling poetry in a new way and through the pieces, she has to work on at school, Apple is given a new way to express herself and to see the truth of her own experience. It is touching as I think each one of us has an element of Apple… the need to be loved and accepted, and the sneaking doubt that maybe we might not be enough.
To win me over completely, there is even a home educated boy that joins her school who is smart, unaffected by the rules of the teenage social order, and helps show Apple that who she is, is more than enough.
The Book of Two Ways – Jodi Picoult
Do you ever wonder if you took the right path and made the right decisions in your life? I genuinely believe that true freedom is having choice, but I’m also aware that in a culture where our choices can seem endless, that in itself can be so overwhelming that it has the opposite effect.
Jodi’s writing is just beautiful, and I found myself pausing to enjoy a sentence or phrase over and over again. Notes from this book will be turning up in my journal for a long while, I am sure.
We follow a character as a near-death experience causes her to question ‘what does a well-lived life look like?’ This is a book to dive into when you want to escape reality but find yourself.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
This one has been on my wish list for a long time, so I made it a gift to myself for the hours of driving I do each week. Listening to the voice of Laurence Fishburne I felt as though I were having intimate, private conversations with an incredible and fascinating man. I knew of his story in a loose general knowledge way, full of generalisations and filtered through the interpretations and opinions of others.
Listening to him talk about his childhood, his dawning realisation of the self-hate that comes with trying to fit into a culture that doesn’t belong to you in which to try to modify yourself to be like ‘the white man’ as he calls it, explained so much about the road his story took.
Agree with him or not, Malcolm was an important voice for Black Americans and a symbol of black pride and intelligence worldwide. With all things, we should do our own learning to develop understanding before we cast our opinion and the civil rights movement is no exception. To understand the Black Lives Matter movement, the voices of the past must be heard, and where better but from their own voices.
Holes by Louis Sachar
This book exists on dozens of ‘Books To Read’ lists, as well as being part of school curriculums for years. It’s been on our shelves for too long and finally, my youngest son and I sat down with it. We were not disappointed.
The story follows a boy falsely convicted of a crime, who is sent to a young offenders ‘Camp’ where the daily punishment is to dig holes. It sounds simple but this story has circles within circles as the past meets the future, and the fates of two families intertwine over generations.
It is a rite of passage narrative, as well as a morality tale about telling the truth and standing strong in the person you know yourself to be. One for anyone aged 8+
Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter and get in touch with your book recommendations and thoughts on any of this month’s stack!
In full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links which means if you choose to click on any of the images, you will be taken directly to Amazon so you can pop the book in your basket and I’ll earn a tiny commission to help fund my reading habits!