Take a book from your bookshelf, whether a favorite or a blind, random grab --we just want to know what's on your shelves!
In three sentences or less,
tell us why this particular book is on your shelf.
Share, post in the comments below.
Please use the following format for your comment:
Book Title, Author, and then your three sentence review.
This was a random selection --closed eyes, even.
ReplyDelete"Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel.
I saw the film at the Detroit Institute of Arts when it was first released. Found myself in Mexico in 1994 and needing a book to read, picked it up. 12 chapters, 12 months, 12 recipes --all mixed together with love, need I write more?
This book is a favorite:
ReplyDeleteElla Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
It has adventure and magic. The book feels like a mixed up fairy tale. I FULLY recommend it.
The Game of Silence, by Louise Erdrich.
ReplyDeleteThe characters are poor but still funny. They don't want to lose their family and they don't. This is over the top good just like the other books in the series.
Truck A Love Story, by Michael Perry.
ReplyDeleteIf I could, I would buy a copy of this book for every single person I know & love. I recommend reading it out loud, slowly, absorbing every last nuance of his use of context and humor to pull you in so deeply, you won't want the story to end. You are sure to guffaw, you may shed a tear; you will shake your head with resonant knowing... just read it & you will see what I mean. Perry & his truck are like none other!
Wild Fermentation, by Sandor Katz.
ReplyDeleteWant to know where your food comes from, what food can do for your body, and that fermenting is just about a simple as composting? This book is the resource to start with. I have tried some of the recipes with great success and have been inspired to find out much more about what I eat and why I eat like I do.
Leisure, The Basis of Culture, by Josef Pieper
ReplyDeleteLeisure, Pieper says, is living and being able to make choices. In making choices, we form ourselves, we become. As such, it is not merely what we do that is NOT "job". It is every aware moment. The 85 page book is a delightful read, rich in insight.
Spilling Open by Sabrina Ward Harrison.
ReplyDeleteSabrina is whimsy, personified. Looking at her artwork is like taking a shower at a gym. But prettier. The sheer guts required to look within AND THEN SHARE IT, inspires me to no end!
The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
ReplyDeleteMy favorite book of all time.
Walking On Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution by Derrick Jensen
ReplyDeleteDerrick Jensen's writing is poetic, passionate, revolutionary, and truly thought provoking. I also love reading about natural learning. When I found out this wonderful author has a book about learning, I knew it would be wonderful as well, and it didn't disappoint! :-)
Stones From The River by Ursula Hegi
ReplyDeletePicked this book out randomly at the bookstore but ended up loving it. Story is told from the perspective of a little girl who is also a dwarf and also Jewish during WWII in Germany. Learned a lot historically but it is also a great story.
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
ReplyDeleteby Barbara Kingsolver
Choice inspired by my New Year's resolution to eat and buy more locally. Learned a ton and was even more motivated.
The River Queen
ReplyDeleteby Mary Morris
Love this - excellent travel writing, memoir, and SUCH descriptions of place, on the Mississippi River. Read as Morris explores her roots, explores the country, and explores life as a traveler on a houseboat. BRAVA!
Kitchen Table Wisdom
ReplyDeleteby Rachel Naomi Remen
My Mom passed this book to me after she enjoyed reading it, which makes the book a the must read automatically. I read it in one big GULP. And I will read it again and again and again.
For more about Kitchen Table Wisdom go to www.rachelremen.com/ktw.html
Dreams from My Father
ReplyDeleteby Barack Obama
I read this book a number of years ago and fell in love. I'm in the middle of it again and it's a whole new book. It hasn't changed, but the world has and so have I. It is powerful in its honesty and revelation of the search for identity and community that is - more or less - in all of us.
Servant Leadership, by Robert K. Greenleaf
ReplyDeleteIn I and Thou, Martin Buber suggests that life begins when we enter relationships of mutual respect and reverence. Greenleaf shares stories of the impact of applying this principle in business, where we are too often distracted by product to respect the producers. It is applied Christianity without the sword of conquest or the shackles of dogma.
The Journey to the East, by Hermann Hesse
ReplyDeleteAs UDM president Fr. Gerry Stockhausen steps down, I'm reminded of this book, an allegory centered on Leo, a monk, a humble servant who disappears from his group on a journey. The group, who had thought him an insignificant servant, falls into disarray, and discovers that he had been their leader, not through position, but by service. It is considered by many to be the precursor of the Servant Leadership movement.
Adventure and peril: Jon Krakauer's INTO THIN AIR which is no less than his personal account of Mt. Everest summit and the tragedies that lay and waited for those 29 who were on their way to the top as he descended...Into the Wild, also Krakauer's work that was recently featured in film, an excellent read about pushing the limits living free as a tumbleweed and the tragedy of living beyond those invisible lines of the north. There are many others, not currently on my shelf though ^^..
ReplyDeleteThe Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
ReplyDeleteI wanted to read the book before I watched the movie. I wasn't a fan of the movie but the book was great!
Eva Luna
ReplyDeleteby Isabel Allende
Rich, passionate, and magical. Eva navigates the world using stories as currency. This book sparked my love for Latin American literature.
Three books actually, but one story:
ReplyDeleteThe Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
My bookshelf would feel empty if this trilogy were not there.
Dragon Egg
ReplyDeleteBecause we bought it and it's pretty nice and I can read it pretty well all by myself.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
ReplyDeleteI have this book because so many of my friends say its THE best book they have read, and I LOVE series!
The ringmaster by julia golding
ReplyDeleteTHis was a blind and i love it and have read it ttime and time again. I would get it from the library but its only published in the UK.
Blind grab - "Rain of Gold" by Victor Villasenor who weaves the stories of his parents' families over several generation.
ReplyDeleteTo kill a mockingbird by Harper lee & the women's room by Marilyn French must always be in my book collection.
ReplyDeleteBetween these books I learnt about right, wrong and grey. Both made me think about what I would do in the plot.