Looking back over my recent reading, I noticed a common thread. Whether memoir, fiction or non-fiction these books explore friendship, courage, healing and resilience and for the most part they are women’s stories.
My historical fiction reads took me to beautiful but often heart-breaking stories of women facing extraordinary hardships. Amidst these challenges the novels reveal the enduring power of sisterhood and resilience.
In Daughters of Sun and Moon, Lisa See tells the story of three Chinese women who arrive in Los Angeles in 1870. Moon, Petal and Dove survive against overwhelming odds. The novel recounts the long-forgotten and shocking ‘Night of Horrors’ while celebrating the courage and friendship of these remarkable women.
The Calamity Club by Katherine Stockett was a compelling read. This is what life was like in 1933 if you were a woman and poor in Mississippi. It was depressing and slow-moving at times, but the richly developed characters kept me turning pages.
Sharon Butala’s travel memoir How to Breathe Water is set in landscapes I know well – from the prairies to the woods. I discovered that Butala and I were born in the same hospital in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. As Butala travels with her friend, she reflects honestly on her life, sharing painful memories along with moments of beauty.
Equal parts memoir, guidebook, and spiritual journey, Sue Monk Kidd’s Writing Creativity and Soul encourages a creative life that honours the soul and personality. Kidd views writing as a spiritual act, and I found the book both practical and inspiring.
The Maisie Dobbs Series by Jacqueline Winspear is just what I needed lately. Maisie is a nurse, a psychologist, a survivor, a private investigator, and a feminist. Set primarily in the years following World War Two, the compelling characters and history drew me in.
I loved Madeline Miller’s Circe, so I picked up Song of Achilles. It is not the Achilles I learned about in high school, as the story is told from the perspective of Achilles’s lover Patroclus. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Circe, but both books rekindled my interest in Greek mythology.
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi became a surprise smash hit and is one of my favourite books of the year. The word-of-mouth novel tells the story of an older man who quietly transforms a small Georg a town by buying pencil portraits from a coffee shop and returning them to what he calls ‘the rightful owners’. It is a gentle story of kindness and generosity, demonstrating the quiet ways one life can touch others.
Virginia Evans’s debut novel, The Correspondent, was unputdownable and unforgettable. Told entirely through letters and emails, it follows 73-year-old Sybil Van Antwerpen’s exchanges with her friends, family, foes, and literary idols. Another favourite read.
In The Ladies Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness, Sarah Ramey tells a story that unfortunately is all too common. I appreciate Chelsea Clinton ‘s comments about this work: Ramey’s honesty about years of pain and being dismissed by doctors comes paired with real compassion – for herself and for every woman who has been told her symptoms are ‘just in her head’.
I am slowly making my way through Wisdom Untethered: The Quest for Questions by Michael A. Singer, reading a question at a time. Each question invites reflection and become part of my morning practice.
I delight in sharing my thoughts, such as these, in a newsletter, typically every few months. And now and then, ideas show up our Facebook page. Always love to hear from you via email.
