A few weeks ago I gave away a gift certificate to Audible.com as a way to say Thank You because I’m so grateful for all of your support and friendship! Part of the entry was to write a comment about your favorite book, and last night I was finally able to get this amazing list together of your suggestions.
First a quick book review:
In the last post, I mentioned I was reading The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, which turned out to be an incredibly moving book. I actually had no idea what it was about or what to expect when I purchased the book. The description through Audible was so intriguing, so I had to purchase it:
The story of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some information about the audiobook, but in this case we think that would spoil the listening. We think it’s important that you start to listen without knowing what it is about.
Audible was brilliant to describe it in this way, and I was not disappointed. Here’s a brief description to what it was about:
A child named Bruno relocates with his family from Berlin because of his fathers career. He has no idea why he has to relocate and then he starts to notice that everyone around is wearing striped clothing. He realizes that some people are not being treated right, but doesn’t really understand why. He’s a really loving and compassionate kid and when his dad, who is a Nazi soldier, doesn’t treat people kind he feels deep sympathy for these people.
He goes on his back porch one day and notices a kid with the striped clothing sitting across the fence. He meets this kid everyday on the other side of the fence. They become great friends. The other side of the fence is a concentration camp, but Bruno (the main kid) does not know or understand what that means. The kid in the striped pajamas tries to explain it to him, but Bruno just cannot believe this is real, so he continues to just misunderstand what his friend is trying to tell him.
They meet everyday and become best friends. It was really moving to find out what happens to them and their friendship. I’m not going to give away how it ends, but I can tell you I was listening to it at work, I had to stop what I was doing, I got chills all over my body, and had to take a walk.
The end of the audiobook has a small interview with the author, and I had no idea but this book has been a #1 seller in other parts of the world and has been highly controversial. I thought it was interesting that the parents were using this book as a way to open up the dialogue about the subject of the Holocaust with their kids. The interviewer asked the author if he felt this was a children’s book, and his response was, “No, I think of it as a book. I’m not entirely sure I know what the difference is between a children’s book and an adults book. A story is a story.” He also said this wasn’t a book about his experience from being Jewish, but about being a human being, and he hopes that it will be read by as many religious and ethnic orientations as possible.
The interviewer ended by mentioning, “This book has seemed to hit people right in the solar plexus.”
I highly recommend this Audiobook, which you can link up to here
I also went ahead and put together a list of all of the book recommendations from everyone who entered the giveaway. If the book was available on Audible, then I linked it up. Some were not available, so if that was the case, I linked you to the Amazon book.
1. Stephen King (All Stephen King books)
2. Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee was not on Audible so this is linked to Amazon, however here is a link to all Tanith Lee books available on Audible.
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4.The Alchemist by Paulo Cohelo
5. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
6. Return To Life: Extraordinary Cases of Children Who Remember Past Lives by Jim Tucker
7. Shakespeare (All Shakespeare)
8. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
10. In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
11. One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp
12 .A Girl Walks Into A Bar – Rachael Dratch
13. Clifton Chronicles By Jeffrey Archer
14. You Can Heal Your Life Louise Hay
15. Living, Loving & Learning Leo Buscaglia – This was a life changing book for me. I was a bridesmaid in my friends wedding and she gave this to us as our gifts. I knew it came into my life right when I needed it. I was upset there was not any Leo Buscaglia on Audbile, so I linked you up to Amazon. You can’t help but feel loved and embraced in a big hug when you read this!
16. Surprised By Motherhood by Lisa-Jo Baker – This book looked awesome! I was going to reccomend it to all of my mom friends, but I can’t wait to read it myself! What really got my attention was this line: A poignant memoir of one woman’s dawning realization that being a mom isn’t about being perfect—it’s about being present.
17. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
18. Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron . I was so annoyed I couldn’t find this on Audible, especially since it was a recommendation from my dad! The link above is Amazon.
I am so excited to read or listen to all of these over the next few months! What will you read next?
Oh gosh this book made my cry and then of course I decided to see the movie as well and cried again. It was a great story and really makes you think about what’s important in life. It also made me take a step back and see the toxic things I was doing in my own life.
Thanks for stopping by! The movie is next on my list. I can’t believe I didn’t hear about this when it came out, but I am glad I finally did! One of the things I loved about it was how you really do have to learn to hate and be evil. Bruno naturally loved and naturally knew what was happening was wrong. I think the human condition is to love.
I just saw The Boy in The Stripped Pyjamas movie and I was completely bowled over. A gripping, touching and inocent story that will totally stay with you long after you’ve finished it.