12 Days of Giving: Books for Grownups

 

Today's list is a little different from the previous 11 lists because today's list is for grownups. Do you have an adult reader on your list? Or maybe you deserve a treat for yourself after buying all those children's books. Either way, here are some of my favorite books of the year for adults along with what type of reader might enjoy them. If you want personalized suggestions for anyone on your list, leave me a comment and I'm happy to help! 

Anxious People by Frederick Backman (Atria, 2020). Here's the book that says how we're all feeling this year! But seriously, this is a character-driven, feel good story about a group of very different people thrust together in a hostage situation. It's perfect reading for this year, not too suspenseful, super heartfelt, and a book that just reinforces a belief in the ultimate decency of people. 

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley (Pamela Dorman Books, 2020). This was one of the first books I could bring myself to read during the quarantine and it's another heartfelt, character-driven read that's a good choice if you need a feel-good book right now. Again, it features a cast of strangers, this one brought together by a found notebook called The Authenticity Project that calls upon those that find it to contribute by writing about their authentic selves. As a chain of strangers meet each other through this notebook, their lives become enmeshed in ways that will change each of them for the better. 

Beach Read by Emily Henry (Berkley, 2020). If you're in need of an armchair vacation, this romcom is just the ticket. Romance writer January Andrews and literary darling Augustus Everett find themselves spending the summer in neighboring beach houses, both stuck on their latest projects. So they issue a challenge - Augustus will tackle a romance novel and January will try her hand at literary fiction. I don't know about you but romcoms are one of the few genres I can really get into right now and this was one of my favorites! 

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2020). If a British romcom is more your thing, this is a super one. Laugh out loud funny and sensual rather than too sexy, this is the story of tangentially famous Luc O'Donnell who has trouble staying out of the tabloids. When his work issues an ultimatum - improve his image or find another job - he sets out to find a fake boyfriend to get him some better press. 

The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit, 2020). If you've got an urban fantasy fan or a New Yorker on your list, this is a fascinating and action-packed fantasy novel. New York is being born. As the city becomes cognizant, it's up to five people representing the five boroughs to protect the budding city from an otherworldly evil that threaten its very existence. This is a compelling, creative diverse fantasy read. 

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily Danforth (William Morrow, 2020). If something a little scary and atmospheric is what you're looking for, this queer, creepy novel is one that you can really sink your teeth into. Dual narratives - one in the early 1900s at the Rhode Island boarding school and one in modern day Hollywood - weave in and out, piecing together a creepy story of forbidden love, unjust consequences, and strong ladies getting revenge.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue (Little, Brown, 2020). If you're a historical fiction reader, this one is a timely choice. Set in 1918 Dublin during the throes of the influenza pandemic, this story might hit too close to home for some readers or it might be fascinatingly timely. Set over the course of three intense days, a maternity nurse manages a fever ward for laboring mothers infected with flu. It reads like the best episode of Call the Midwife ever and will appeal to fans of medical fiction. 

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi (Knopf, 2020). For the literary fiction readers on your list, I found this to be a moving portrait of an immigrant family torn apart by addiction. It's a novel that puts faces on the opioid crisis and examines what it means to have faith and to love. Obsessed with her neuroscience lab work, fifth year PhD student Gifty spends her days experimenting on mice in hopes of unlocking the key to curing drug addiction. Her older brother Nana was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose when Nifty was 11, shaping her world in irrevocable ways.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Riverhead Books, 2020). Here's another one for your literary fiction readers. This is the tale of African American twins in 1960s Louisiana and what happens when one of them runs away and starts passing for white. This is a book that has a lot to say about family and race and presenting yourself to the world in the way that you want to be seen, and what that means for where you come from and who you are. A major bestseller since it was published in June, if you're shopping for a reader who loves to stay on top of the trending books, this is a great choice, especially for those interested in reading about race right now. 

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur (Avon, 2020). One more light-hearted book for this list and this one is perfect reading for the holiday season. After a disastrous first date, social media astrologer Elle Jones and buttoned-up actuary Darcy Lowell both realize how convenient it would be to have a significant other during the holidays to take the pressure from their families off. So they make a deal. They'll be fake girlfriends through the holiday rush and go their separate ways at the new year. But you know how these things go. This is a warm, joyful romance set during the holiday season in Seattle and perfect for anyone who needs a light read right now. 

For the first 12 days of November, I've been posting a list of books perfect for gift giving this holiday season. Check out the full list of lists here to see what's been included. All the lists link to IndieBound to make it easy for you to find an independent bookstore to buy from (and as an IndieBound affiliate, shopping through those links supports me, too!). Independent bookstores need our support more than ever this year, so please shop local if you can or if you don't have a local independent bookstore, please consider ordering online from my local indie Carmichael's Bookstore. 

Recent Books on Homeschooling: Update Your Collection!

If ever there's a time to add to and update your books on homeschooling, now is the time. With so many school districts uncertain about in-person school, virtual learning, and more, you'll likely have more families choosing homeschooling than ever before. So, what books do you need to have on your shelf? 

The answer to that is honestly as varied as your homeschooling families themselves. That's the whole point of homeschool: you can do it the way you want to do it, which means there's no STANDARD way to homeschool. You should definitely open lines of communication to your families who already homeschool to see how you can best support them. But what about folks who are new to homeschooling and just looking for resources to get started? Today I've got a list of books on homeschooling published in the last decade. 

Here's where I tell you that I am not and have never been a homeschooling parent, nor was I homeschooled myself. These are some of the new and recent homeschool books that I've purchased for my library and if you're looking for some newer titles to update your shelves,  they may fit the bill! 

First, for the librarians... 

I have to put in a plug for Helping Homeschoolers in the Library by Adrienne Furness. ALA Editions, 2008. Yes, it may be a little older, but it has some great information about different types of homeschooling, how to approach homeschoolers at your library, and how to design programs and services for homeschooling families. (This one I can give a personal recommendation for since I have read it and found it super useful as I was developing homeschool programs at my various libraries.) 

Now, recent books for parents new to homeschooling: 

The Brave Learner: Finding Everyday Magic in Homeschool, Learning, and Life by Julie Bogart. Tarcherperigree, 2019. 

The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming Wonder in Your Child's Education by Ainsley Arment. HarperOne, 2019. 

The Everything Guide to Homeschooling: All You Need to Create the Best Curriculum and Learning Environment for Your Child by Sherri Lisenbach. Everything, 2015. This guide was revised and updated in 2015. 

Home Learning Year by Year: How to Design a Creative and Comprehensive Homeschool Curriculum by Rebecca Rupp. Broadway Books, 2020. This book was originally published in 2000 and an updated edition just came out this January. 

Homeschool Bravely: How to Squash Doubt, Trust God, and Teach Your Child with Confidence by Jamie Erickson. Moody Publishers, 2019. 

Homeschooling for Dummies by Jennifer Kaufeld. For Dummies, September 2020. You may laugh, but parents who are brand spanking new to homeschooling may be seeking this title out. First published in 2001, wait for the new edition coming in September. 

The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Norton, 2016. This fourth edition came out in 2016. 

What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know

What Your First Grader Needs to Know 

What Your Second Grader Needs to Know

What Your Third Grader Needs to Know

What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know

by E.D. Hirsch. Bantam, 2013-2015. 

You may have editions of these books from way back when, but K-4th were revised and updated starting in 2014, so make sure you have the newer editions if you think they'll be useful. If you don't want to purchase books from several years ago, a pro tip for figuring out what skills to cover in each grade level is to advise families to purchase a grade level workbook. They don't have to actually do all the worksheets, but it'll help them determine what skills to cover. (Credit to Janssen at Everyday Reading for the pro tip!)

What would you add to this list? Feel free to leave more suggestions in the comments! 

The Romance Project: Update #3

Hey, I'm an Amazon associate, which means that if you purchase items after clicking the links on my site I get a small commission. 

In 2019, I started my romance project to read more from this super popular a growing genre. I've been having so much fun with it that I'm going to continue the project into 2020 (more on that in a few days when I post my reading resolutions). Here's a last update from this year with the books I've been reading.

 

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin (Berkley, 2019). This modern-day Muslim retelling of Pride and Prejudice has super great characters that I enjoyed spending time with. Ayesha dreams of being a poet, but has taken a teaching job to pay the bills. Khalid is a conservative Muslim who faces prejudice at work for how he dresses, but he stands up to his convictions. When Khalid and Ayesha's younger sister announce their engagement, Ayesha grows concerned about the gossip she hears about Khalid's family and she also has to confront her own feelings for him. 

 

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (Avon, 2019). After a near death experience (and a depressingly spare life flashing before her eyes), Chloe Brown decides to get a life and makes a list of experiences she wants to have. Her building superintendent, sexy artist Redford, becomes entangled in helping her with her list and as they get to know each other, sparks start to fly. While I don't have the expertise to judge how accurate the representation is, I really appreciated a story with a protagonist living with a disability. I enjoyed getting to know both Chloe and Red as they sped towards the inevitable.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (St. Martin's Griffin, 2019). What happens when the First Son of the United States falls in love with a prince of England? Alex can't stand Prince Henry at first. He's always been a smarmy jerk in Alex's opinion. But when his dislike of Henry causes an incident at a royal wedding, Alex's staff insist that he has to make good. It's an election year, after all. So Alex and Henry are forced together to perpetuate the appearance that they're best buds. And along the way... well, you know what the trope is. This was a fun and sexy story, and although I admit that I skimmed some of the more political bits, I really enjoyed it!

 

The Right Swipe by Alisha Rai (Avon, 2019). Dating app developer Rhiannon Hunter has a few rules for her own dating life. When former pro football player Samson Lima, the guy who ghosted her after one date, suddenly reappears in her life, she's wary. But them working together just might be the best thing for her company. I loved successful, business-savvy Rhiannon and Samson is totally dreamy. 

 

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (Gallery Books, 2019). This breezy read is perfect for poolside or summer reading. Olive Torres has hated Ethan Thomas since she was first introduced to him, the brother of her twin sister's boyfriend. Now Ami and Dane are getting married and Olive's just hoping she can avoid Ethan at the reception. But when the entire wedding gets food poisoning from the seafood buffet - except for Olive (allergic to shellfish) and Ethan (germaphobe who avoids buffets), the two best enemies end up taking Ami and Dane's nonrefundable honeymoon to Hawaii. Can they pull off ten days pretending to be newlyweds without killing each other? Not only is this a fun and funny premise, but it's set in paradise!

What My Book Club Read This Year

Hey, I'm an Amazon affiliate and if you purchase items after clicking the links in my posts, I earn a small commission. 

2020's right around the corner and I got to thinking back on the books my book club has read in 2019. We're a multigenerational group, originally started in 2015 with my mom, my sister-in-law and her mom. We've now expanded to a group of eight women and we try to meet monthly, but sometimes skip a month here or there if things get busy. We tend to like books with strong female characters and tend to pick new releases because several of us are big readers and we try to pick books no one has read before. It's been a really fun group of ladies to get together with and we've read some really great books over the years.

If you're looking for even more suggestions of titles to try with your book club, check out last year's post with some of our top book club reads of 2018.

Here's what we read in 2019:

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty (Flatiron Books, 2018). This was our January book and it made a great start to the year by sparking some great discussion. Liane Moriarty is an author that we generally enjoy, so this may have been a sure bet, but I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would. When nine strangers meet at a retreat in the Australian desert, none of them could predict what happens. The quirky characters and mix of poignant and humorous tone made this one a winner for me, even if the plot does go a little off the rails.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan (Little, Brown, 2018). This beautiful, surreal book explores a teenage girl's grief after her mother's suicide. Reeling from her mother's death. Leigh is visited by a large red bird she's convinced is her mother. The bird leaves her a box of things and instructions to visit her mother’s birth home Taiwan. As Leigh searches for the bird - her mother - in Taiwan, she gets to know the grandparents she never knew and learns things she never knew about her mom. She also ruminates on what happened with her best friend Axel, the boy she’s in unrequited love with, in the months leading up to her mom’s death. Throughout the book, surreal images and colors leap off the page. All the members of our book club agreed that the artistry and imagery in the writing was fantastic, although this was a little too heavy for some.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Putnam, 2018). Yes, our book club, like every other book club, read this book this year. Our holds lists are a mile long for this book at my library! And I can tell you that it's a great read. Seven-year-old Kya is abandoned by her entire family except for her abusive dad in their shack in a North Carolina swamp. The story switches between two timelines - Kya's childhood and young adulthood in the 1950s and 60s as she copes with her abandonment and learns how to survive in the marsh - and 1969 when popular former quarterback Chase Andrews has died in the marsh and foul play is suspected. You know that Kya and Chase are connected and you find out how as the story slowly unrolls. Kya is an amazing character and I loved the nature writing in this book.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See (Scribner, 2017). This one was probably my personal favorite of the year. Li-yan and her family live in a remote Akha village in China, growing and selling tea to eke out a living. It's a harsh life and when Li-yan has a baby out of wedlock, she starts to explore life outside her village, eventually leaving for the city to get an education and build a business empire of her own. There are a lot of coincidences that stretched my disbelief at times, but I was enjoying the story so much that it didn't bother me. We talked a lot about the role of women in the Akha society (and society in general) when discussing this book. 

Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper, 2018). Willa has arrived at middle age with a pile of problems to deal with. She and her husband have both recently lost their jobs, her adult son has recently lost his wife just after his baby girl was born, and they've inherited a ramshackle house that is falling down around their heads. Willa's last hope is to get the house put on the historic registry in hopes that there will be some money for preserving it, so she starts to research. Alternating chapters tell the story of science teacher Thatcher Greenwood who lived in the house in its heyday. Although most of us are fans of Barbara Kingsolver, I'm not along in thinking this one was a bit slow, although some really enjoyed it. 

The Library Book by Susan Orlean (Simon & Schuster, 2018). This one was my pick and unfortunately it was a dud for our group (although I know lots of other groups and readers who have LOVED this book. It was even the LibraryReads TOP pick of 2019!). This true crime book investigates the 1986 burning of the Los Angeles Public Library, presenting a history of the library along with the search for a suspect in this devastating crime. I personally did find the history of the library interesting (of course I did!), but I think most in the group were disappointed by the anticlimactic true crime angle. 

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker (Flatiron, 2019). This twisty turny #MeToo mystery is set in a high-powered legal department in Dallas where an anonymous list of "bad men" has started circulating among professional women. Sloane, Artie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years and they have each kept secrets. When the sudden death of Truviv's CEO means that their boss Ames will likely take over, whispers start spreading... this time the women have decided enough is enough. Our group often likes novels with a feminist viewpoint and this book encouraged lots of discussion about our experiences with sexism that we've experienced. 

The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware (Gallery Press, 2019). This was our October read and it was a perfect spooky mystery for that month. When Rowan Caine starts a new nannying job - a job she came across when she wasn't even looking for anything - it seems too good to be true. The salary is amazing and she gets to live in a high tech mansion in the Scottish Highlands. But she quickly changes her tune when her new employers leave her alone with the kids to jaunt off to an out of town job and truly spooky stuff starts happening in the house. This is a thriller with lots of twists and turns and we had a lot of fun talking about the twists we saw coming and those that were total surprises.

Defending Jacob by William Landay (Delacorte, 2012). Andy Barber is an experienced attorney, but this latest case has thrown him for a loop. A kid at his son's high school has been murdered in the park and Andy's son is a suspect in the case. This book really gets you thinking about how well you actually know the people in your life. As many of our book club members are parents, I think this book touched some nerves and we talking a lot about kids and parenting and whether we thought Andy was a good father. 

Our last meeting of the year was in November, so this is our complete list of 2019 books, but we've got the next two picked out. I haven't read them yet, but I'm looking forward to both of these:

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton (Penguin, 2018) 

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes (Pamela Dorman Books, 2019)

Here's to another year of great reading in 2020!

Are you in a book club? What books has your group enjoyed? And if you've read any of these, what did you think?