Books lighting me up!

Greetings from Lorrie

Here in SoCal, it’s been a rainy week and the mountains surrounding LA are topped with snow. However, the hill above our house is green as Ireland, daffodil stems are bursting out of the ground, and my apple tree is dropping golden leaves like it’s fall. We live in confusing times, right?

But here’s something that will be predictable in 2024—my blog posts!

I’ve assigned each Friday of the month a different theme. For the last Friday of the month post, the theme is CURRENTLY—as in what I’m currently reading!

This is a great opportunity for us to begin a fun conversation. At the end of this post, please use the comment button so we can all learn what books are currently illuminating your life!

Let’s get to the good stuff!

Best Adult Fiction

The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook is tied for the best book I read in 2023 (with Shark Heart by Emily Habeck and Go As a River by Shelley Read). If you love News of the World and Lonesome Dove, you will LOVE this book.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride will stay in my mind for a long time. Some scenes were difficult to read, but essential to the story and handled with finesse. This book deepened my understanding of marginalized communities. In the masterful hands of a writer like McBride, he placed me in a time and world that I could never experience (hello, white privilege), and it’s exactly where I needed to be.

Best Middle-Grade Graphic Memoir

Mexikid by Pedro Martin. I’ve avoided graphic novels, but as a middle-grade writing teacher, I have to read what kids love. It’s funny. It’s touching. I learned about Mexican families. This could end up on my Best of 2024 List—for any genre or age.

Best Picture Book

An American Story by Kwame Alexander. It’s about the slave trade and how we teach about slavery in the United States. I wish I had this book in my hands when I was teaching eighth grade (and fifth grade although it’s very intense for younger kids). Alexander’s words are poetry. The illustrations by Dare Coulter are so powerful that I found myself staring at the pages long after I savored the words.

Best Adult Vacation Read

Homecoming by Kate Morton is a sprawling family saga with a mystery. It’s a big brick of a book and it kept me turning pages when the snow wasn’t good for skiing. Plot-driven with pretty good writing.

Best Sustack Newsletter

The Isolation Journals by Suleika Jaouad writes in my wheelhouse about finding beauty in hard things. Check out her ABOUT page and you’ll want to read more. This woman has a story! Plus, she includes writing prompts at the end of her newsletters!

Did Not Finish

The Latebloomer’s Club by Louise Miller. I loved her first book, The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living, but I just couldn’t get into this one.

I also DNF’d two books for book clubs that I attend. First, The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Second, The Whale by Chi-Young Kim. Both of these books are award-winning, but not for me.

For a deeper dive about why I include DNF books on this list, go HERE.

Currently at the Top of My To Be Read List

• Family Family by Laurie Frankel.

• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.

• North Woods by Daniel Mason.

• Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon.

• The Sentence by Louise Erdrich.

• Search: A Novel by Michelle Huneven.

• Congratulations, the Best is Over: Essays By R. Eric Thomas.

• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto.

• The Mysterious Benedict Society (Book 1) by Trenton Lee Stewart (middle-grade series).

Lorrie’s Little Free Library

For readers living in Palos Verdes, here are the books that will magically appear in my Little Free Library tomorrow morning! Subscribers get to grab them first! Happy reading.

• Middle-Grade Fiction

  • Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett.

• Adult Fiction, Paperback

  • News of the World by Paulette Jiles. (Haven’t seen the movie with Tom Hanks.)

• Adult Fiction, Hardback

  • The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan.

  • Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro.

  • An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.

Our library is conveniently located on BASSWOOD AVENUE between Silver Spur Elementary and Peninsula High School.

Light’s out. Lorrie’s out.

But before I sign off, I hope you’ll leave a comment about the books that are currently illuminating your life. Go for it!