Freckles

This is such a sweet and lovely book. My mother introduced it to us kids when we were young and I hadn't read it since. I remember now why I loved it. Written in 1904, it has beautiful language, a sweet story, and more than anything, engaging characters. You fall in love with all of them, especially little Irish Freckles, and also in love with the Limberlost - the swamp forest she lived near and a main character in the book. Gene Stratton Porter was considered kind of a precursor to environmental writing, her love of that forest comes through the pages and you practically want to pack up and move there (and time travel to when it was like the way she wrote). It was like reading an old friend. Her other book - The Girl of the Limberlost was also one of my favorites growing up...a sort of sequel, but one that captured my imagination more, so I will be rereading that anon.

Three Cups of Tea

After hearing a million wonderful things about it, this took me a while to get into. It's very slow starting and I really struggled with (and didn't love) the odd perspective that was created out of having two authors that way. Eventually I got used to the writing style, the story picked up and I ended up really, really liking it! I was impressed with Greg Mortensen's tenacity and single-mindedness, not to mention empathy. It was inspiring and really did make me feel like anyone can do anything. I also very much enjoyed getting to know Pakistan, its people, and its main religion - I have a new deep appreciation of all three.

The Walking Dead

I believe a true bibliophile loves all forms of books and writing...and I have always loved comics and graphic novels in addition to traditional novels. This is different than what I normally read - a graphic novel series specifically about zombies (if you couldn't guess from the title). But it really is about the people going through it, and the characters are really well developed. It paints a grim portrayal of human nature during times of crisis, and it is really well done - though not for the faint of heart. It actually reminded me several times of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It's not over yet, and I look forward to finishing the series. It is also going to be a show on AMC this fall, which I'm looking forward to. Thanks to my friend Aaron for recommending it!