Sandcastle Book Club members share summer favorites
After I posted an entry about the history of ‘summer reading’, a friend suggested that I ask blog readers to share the names of some of the books they especially enjoyed this summer. All it took was an e-mail to Sandcastle Book Club members and my ‘You’ve Got Mail’ light lit up!! Thanks to all who shared. Below are their responses in their own words–
Kathy Halayko:
I really enjoyed The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain. The story is about Laurent Letellier who finds an abandoned handbag on a Paris Street and feels compelled to return it to its owner. The story is a charming, beautifully written, funny and romantic tale. As the plot evolves and Laurent searches, the characters draw you in and make you smile.
Cathy Ladner:
Of all the books I have read so far this summer, one stands out as the most engaging. The title is The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell by Robert Dugan. Sam has an eye condition called Ocular Albinism that makes him look different. Nevertheless, this hardship molds him for an extraordinary life! It is truly a refreshing story full of hope and enduring love.
Roz Walman:
Four Winds– it gave you the feel of how life could fall apart during the stock market crash and dust bowl era. What families did just to survive and a precious few that were able to hold on to reach the other side. It was a story of the importance of family unity for a common goal.
Code Name Helene-As the book began I felt like I was reading about a cheesy cartoon character, a super woman who was going to take on the Germans and end the war all by herself with her red lipstick. Not sure why I continued reading, but I eventually got caught up in the story about an Australian living in England and coming to France as a journalist covering the war.
Her first entry into the French resistance was carrying a message for a friend. She decides she is good at it and likes any activity that will thwart the Germans. The resistance recognizes her abilities, and her connection to England makes her invaluable to them.
Spoiler Alert: the Heroine was a real person and this was her story with some time line adjustments.
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek–
A book about Appalachia and the blue people, which I never knew existed until I went to the Halsey museum. The prejudices they encountered, as Cussy and her mule traveled to isolated areas to deliver books, friendship, and care to the people of the hills.
Marcia Teal, who listens to books on Audible
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Narrated by Rich Orlow
Written: March, 2013
Story told by, Frank who as a boy of 13 experienced the tragic loss of a sister in 1961. Now 40 years later he relates the mystery of her death as his preacher father describes as an “awful grace of God”. There are other deaths during the summer he describes which all effect the lives of the people in this small Minnesota town. There are many passages that discuss faith in this wonderful story that will make you wonder about your own faith.
A more recently written book I enjoyed was Eleanor.
Eleanor by David Michaelis****
Narrated by Gabra Zackman
Written: October, 2020
Eleanor Roosevelt was America’s longest-serving first lady. This book details her acts of diplomacy, activism, and humanitarianism. She was widely admired and influential. She was married to her 5th cousin, Franklin, whom was not faithful. They forged an unusual bond as a power couple and parents without the deep, loving parts of a normal marriage. As Franklin coped with polio Eleanor became his proxy in political affairs. She insisted that we cannot live for ourselves alone but must learn to live together or we will die together. Her story is that of the American ideal: how our freedom is always a choice.
Connie Nelson:
I loved Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, the author of one of my favorite books, Never Let Me Go. I found it a gentle book that stretched my mind into the future and made me re-think the nature of love and devotion.
Eleanor Harris:
If you want to read about some awesome women, The Exiles by Christine Baker Cline is an excellent read.
Madeleine Kaye:
For an uttlerly unique slavery-themed story, try Ta-Nehisi Coates’s The Water Dancer. Some reviewers criticized the injection of fantasy into the novel, but for me that didn’t spoil the intense drama or the compelling story-telling. Nor did it diminish the agony of slavery from yet another horrific perspective. Maybe, just maybe, if we learn from our history we won’t be condemned to repeat it.
Carol Ray
This summer, I was fascinated reading March by Geraldine Brooks. It is a sequel to Little Women and follows the father in his agonizing service as a chaplain during the Civil War as well as flashbacks to his adventures as a young traveling salesman plantation to plantation in the South. Brooks did extensive research on Louisa May Alcott’s own father through his diaries and letters which are now kept at Harvard. It seems Alcott based Mr. March on her beloved dad, who also worked in his early days as an itinerant salesman and later, was a minister. I was so intrigued that I re-read Little Women. The small print and long sentences of its era presented a bit of a challenge but spending time in that lively household of girls was heartwarming and brought back fond childhood memories.