Tuesday, July 15, 2014

NAS: Summer Reading List

Wow, the Not Alone Series didn't keel over?! Nope, it just decided to take summer a bit slower! We've got July's post this week and then a few fantastic ladies are meeting in Georgia together! Just a little bit jealous up here, but since Seattle weather has been in the 90s all week, I will stay here and enjoy the heat without the humidity :)

Share your favorite book recommendations! Beach reads, deep novels, anything! Share share share!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
Fiction; published 2012; set in England, 1941
My favorite books tend to rotate, so for this book to come up twice {in case you missed it, it was one I shared with Laura when we interviewed each other} is significant. This book, you guys.... it's really, really well done. This was the first book in a while where I would have chosen reading over socializing...and I'm a 9.5 out of 10 on the {made-up} extrovert scale! It's so gripping. Just read it!
Language warning: this is a war-time story and there is some intense - albeit appropriately used - language.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker
Non-fiction; published 2012
I've mentioned this book a couple times last year {a QT here and a Christmas post here}. This book wrecked me, and I need to read it again because change comes slowly. Jen picked seven areas of her life from which she eliminated excess and practiced simplicity, and this book is both blog posts from during each month {she focused on one area for 30 days each} as well as her conclusions after the fact.

Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Midwife by Peggy Vincent
Non-fiction; published in 2003
This was my first "baby" book that I read, and I think it may be my favorite for both a narrative and birth stories. Vincent weaves together both her journey as a midwife and wonderful birth stories of her clients, and the result is wonderful. If the subject matter is up your alley, this is a great and fun read!
Content warning: this is a book about birth, so guess what gets described in detail? Also, Vincent doesn't know Jesus and is in Berkeley in the 1970s, so that is something to keep in mind as you read.


Classic recommendations:
Emma by Jane Austen
Hello, I'm 25 years old and just read Emma for the first time a couple months ago. Read it. Push past how annoying Emma is. Pick yourself up from that swoon for Mr. Knightley. Read this classic {and check out this modern adaptation on You.Tube and Samara's review!} and let me know what you think!

Persuasion by Jane Austen
I think this is my favorite Austen novel. My friend Julie and I are re-reading it together right now, and I am reminded yet again how much I love it. Any one else a Persuasion fan?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is another book that I should have read as a teenager but missed it. However, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it last winter and highly recommend it as either a first-time read or a re-read.

There you go, friends! Enjoy your reading, and let me know if any of these books make your best or worst lists. Thanks for hosting, Jen and Morgan!

4 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness I am so tempted to buy An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess right this second! I have gotten rid of so many clothes and things lately, and have been wanting so much to eliminate computer time - it's just hard to figure out how. Definitely going on my list of reading for the future :-)

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  2. Yes, Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austen novel too!

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  3. Ugh, I feel so behind. I just read my first Jane Austen this summer! It's so dense though--and I'm a SUPER fast reader.

    I also am adding your nonfiction picks to my reading list--they sound so interesting.

    xo

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  4. Have you seen the movie Austenland, cause if not we must see together. I'm not even a huge Jane Austen fan but I think it was cute and really funny!

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