Book Club

there are few text messages i enjoy receiving more than those seeking book recommendations. reading a book that no one else has finished is like hearing a juicy piece of gossip about someone none of your friends know. so i always jump at the opportunity to share, and ultimately discuss, my favorite works with my favorite people. i'm lucky enough to have little moments in my day in which i can sneak in a little reading, like my commute to work. but i am also diligent about making reading a priority, so i try to carve out extra time, like before bed or even early in the morning. thanks to this, i'm steeped with a volume of books to recommend, or advise against.

i thought i would start with a few of my standard recommendations from the past year and a half, or so

the handmaid's tale by margaret atwood : the instant i saw the trailer for the hulu series i knew i needed to read this book. as a rule of thumb, i attempt to read the book before it's adapted into either a movie or series and this one did not disappoint. i have to admit there are some alarming parallels to the current world, which makes the fact that it was written in 1987 even more astonishing but i think it's an imperative read for every young woman and also highly recommend the show.

everything you want me to be by mindy mejia: a high school senior is murdered, just as she has decided to run away from home. what follows is a riveting investigation with ample suspects with countless motives. i read it in a day because i could not put it down.

the rules do not apply by ariel levy: a few years ago, new yorker writer ariel levy published a gut wrenching piece entitled thanksgiving in mongolia about the trip during which her entire universe imploded. this memoir flushes out the events that led up to, and immediately followed, her incredibly popular essay.

small great things by jodi picoult: i've been a longtime fan of picoult's writing. she always chooses profound subject matters and structures the story in such unique ways that i almost always captivated. however, i had struggled more recently to get into her newer novels and was concernded that maybe i had simply outgrown one of my favorite authors until i picked up small great things. it is an extremely honest, raw and gut wrenching story about an african american labor and delivery nurse who is persecuted, and eventually prosecuted, by a white supremacist. it is another piece that has become increasingly more applicable to today's world and it tackles something that can no longer be ignored in a real and honest way. 

if you have any recommendations you'd like to pass my way i'd love them!