the lovelies | good reads

it’s not uncommon for me to have my nose in more than one book at a time.

not.at.all.

i am fond of options.

some days simply must be tucked away with evangelical hope + inspiration. other days, a portal into another life is my saving grace. and other times, i am so tired a book with short chapters allows me to feel accomplished before nodding off.

that said, i never intended to read like this with the lovelies.

but that is precisely where we found ourselves a few weeks ago.

it started with a book a lovely reader of this here blog recommended.

then, the lovelies came home with a book being read in class they were not following well.

and somewhere in the mix of those, m’lovely thought whimsically how fun her own school book club sounded(!). and recruited her sister + a few friends + their first book. which is how we happened upon our third story.

i have to say, we weaved in and out of the books fluidly. each was stitched together so perfectly with the right amount of detail + drama, it would have been impossible to forget what was happening. and i bow to these authors whose words and characters became our nectar.

so, if you are looking for something to enjoy over the holidays, might i suggest these. . .

rooftoppers by katherine rundell

“she begins each day with a cartwheel and believes reading is almost exactly the same as cartwheeling: it turns the world upside down and leaves you breathless.”

that morsel of magic on the book flap is just a glimpse into the kind of gravity shifting story rundell gifts us. the adventure begins with an orphan named sophie and the man who found her. and, then, it leapfrogs into their uncertain search for her mother. along the way, sophie meets up with a few other orphans and takes in the silvery glow of paris from atop its roofs. it is a story extraordinary in almost every way. and in that pregnant pause that happens after uttering the very last sentence, my lovelies and i had only one thought. more of this. please.

island of the blue dolphins by scott o’dell

i am certain this newberry recipient would’ve never been read cover to cover if it hadn’t been a school assignment. it takes patience and perseverance to read and comprehend. but my appreciation for this story was magnified because it is a true story.

a true story about a young girl named karana who becomes the only inhabitant on an island for over 20 years. just imagine that, will you?

in a single breath, i still feel humbled by her struggles to survive while also feeling incredibly empowered that if she managed a life on her own at such a tender age, what are we really capable of? so, for me, this is a song to our spirit’s resilience when faced with insurmountable odds. and i feel karana is a muse to all young women today that they, too, possess tenacious strength, especially when they are willing to live in the questions.

capture the flag by kate messner

this was the inaugural story for my lovely’s book club. i’m not sure if it was a lucky find or a hunch, but it was definitely an entertaining thriller. just when we would declare only one more chapter for the night, there would be a cliffhanger. of course. and we’d nestle into the next chapter. the story centers around three kids who all have links to a secret society and find themselves in the middle of a highly publicized mystery. the story plays out in the middle of an airport shut down due to a blizzard. the characters are enormously fun to read, and the plot has enough twists that my lovelies were never quite done guessing.

within a few chapters, the story will likely remind you of the movie national treasure. so, if you loved that flavor of history-meets-mystery-meets-fun, this book is a delight-full read for all.

next up is this, but enough about us. your turn. . .what have you + your chicks read lately?

xo