1. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - A fantastic true story about WWII Veteran Louis Zamperini and the almost unbelievable trials he and his compatriots went through during the war. Makes me feel like I will never, ever have anything to complain about in my life.
2. The Dove Keepers by Alice Hoffman - This novel follows the intertwined tales of four women in the desert in 70 AD after the fall of Jerusalem. It was fascinating to read about the life of a woman living in such a time and culture.
3-5. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson. Fantastic books! A little slow to start but totally worth it once you get through the plot set-up in first hundred pages of each. Be warned, it can get a little dark and intense at times.
6. Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close. This novel follows the break-ups, marriages, pregnancies, jobs, and friendship between 4 college friends. Easy read! I'd say it'd be good for the beach.
7. To Die For by Sandra Byrd. A gift from Dolly! A very entertaining read about one of my favorite time periods. This historical fiction novel follows the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn through the eye's of her closest friend Meg.
8. The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. An intriguing look into the life of polygamist families in Utah. The novel spans over several generations, giving a bit of a history of the founding of the Mormon church and one of it's fundamentalist sects that practices polygamy to this day.
9. The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson. Ok, so the architecture chapters about Mr. Burnham in this can get a little tedious to get through. However, the in-between chapters about the psychopath Holmes' kept me reading! A great read if you are interested in architecture or the history of the first World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893.
10. Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. This book was absolutely hilarious! I think it just might be my favorite book on this list so far. Jenny spins great stories about growing up in the country with such a comedic spin - almost like a female David Sedaris. :-)
11. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. A tale about young, forbidden love between a Chinese boy, Henry, and a Japanese girl, Keiko, growing up in Seattle during World War II. You'll have to read this one to see if their love can survive long-distance when Keiko's family is placed in an internment camp until the war is over.
12. Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. A touching story about a family prepping for Katrina. The story is told through the eyes of Esch a teen girl learning what it is like to be rejected by someone you love and coming to grips with the secret that she will be a mother soon. Ward is such an excellent writer! I loved some of her descriptions of life in Bois Sauvage.
13. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. A really interesting look at the life of a traditional Chinese woman from childhood to old age. Not my favorite but still an engaging read.
14. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. A whimsical tale of two children, Celia and Marco, chosen and bound to one another in this unfathomable competition. Both are trained to be fantastic illusionists and paired to compete within a circus Le Cirque des Reves. You just have to read this one to appreciate it! Morgenstern does a wonderful job of making this circus-tale truly magical.
15. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. This story totally had me riveted to my seat the entire time! We read this one for book club and I just loved it. It definitely had some great surprises. The ultimate tale of the lengths one woman will go for revenge.
16. The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss. Charis and I read this clever little book out loud to little Cillian when I was visiting in Ireland!
17. Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. A bit long, but very well-written. This is the story of twins, Marion and Shiva Stone, children of a scandalous secret union of a nun and a surgeon. Orphaned at birth, they spend the rest of their lives seeking their destinies in medicine and trying to piece together their parent's love story.
18. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The last book in the Hunger Games series. The first two didn't make it to this list since I had already read them before my birthday! Honestly, I feel like she should have just stopped with the first one. This last one I had much more trouble finishing than the first. Regardless, it was worth it to see what all the hype was about!
19. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. My friend Emily let me borrow this one for my trip to Philly. I absolutely loved Gone Girl by Flynn so I was excited to read her other work. A thriller of a book about young Camille Preaker's journey home to solve the mystery of two girls' murders in her sleepy hometown in Missouri.
20. The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani. It was such a beautiful story I just couldn't put it down. I was actually in tears at one point. Trigiani guides you through the lives of Ciro and Enza as they both discover what it means to have family, love, and a home. It seemed no matter the circumstances, Ciro and Enza kept running in to one another until one day they decided to never live apart again.
21. The Revised Fundamentals of Cargiving by Jonathan Evison. This one wasn't my favorite but I felt like I had already gotten 100 pages in so I figured I should just keep going. It was an interesting tale of an adventurous road trip for a caregiver and the boy with a crippling muscular disorder who is his new charge.
22. Case Stories by Kate Atkinson. Another book that I thought was a bit blah but finished because I'm stubborn like that. Haha. A bit like Cold Case on tv, this is a novel about solving long unsolved mysteries, told by family members and the rather flat detective Jackson character. I'd give this one 2.5 out of 5 stars.
23. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. The last one of Flynn's books which I had yet to read. Dark Places is just as thrilling as her others. In this one, Libby Day is on a mission to resolve the mystery surrounding her family's tragedy once and for all.
24. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. It's a fictional tale told through the eyes of a girl living through a strange worldwide phenomenon. In the book, without warning, the rotation of the earth suddenly begins to slow and the days grow longer every passing day - wrecking havoc on normal every day life. Such an interesting concept!
25. War Brides by Lois Battle. I loved this book! It intertwines the lives of three Australian women who came to America after marrying Yankee soldiers during World War II. As each battles with homesickness, they all learn new things about themselves, their new families, and their new homeland.
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