Thank You, Thank You, Thank You for the Recommendation!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. This meme was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They love to share their lists with other bookish folks and LOVE to see your top ten lists!

Each week they post a new Top Ten list complete with one of their bloggers answers. Everyone is welcome to join. All they ask is that you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post AND sign Mister Linky at the bottom to share with all those who are participating. If you don't have a blog, just post your answers as a comment. Don't worry if you can't come up with ten every time...just post what you can!

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Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended To Me

 

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett...Recommended by a high school friend.  No question that this will be one of my favorite reads of 2011.  It rated 5 stars, and I recommend it to everyone who asks if I can recommend a good book.
   
2. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier...A book group selection that I would never have picked up were it not on the reading list.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, perhaps largely because it was so different from my normal fare, but also because it was a really compelling story.
   
3. The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy...I have been a fan of Conroy for a long time, but had never picked up this book (one of his earliest).  I was standing in the used bookstore one day perusing the Conroy books they had in stock, and a woman pressed this book into my hand and said it was not to be missed.  When I finally read it last year, I was blown away.  It is a powerful story, exquisitely told.
   
4. My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas...This was given to me as a gift, and while I am a huge fan of Clarence Thomas, I don't seek out memoirs too often.  I am so very glad I read this, because it touched me deeply and has stayed with me for the many months that have passed since.  I will likely never forget it.
   
5. Family Baggage by Monica McInerney...Recommended by http://www.dearreader.com/, I was completely sucked in from the first few pages, and I could not put it down until I finished.  This lead me to Alphabet Sisters, and subsequently lead me to seek out a friend in Australia to find the rest of McInerney's novels for me, as they had not been published in the United States.  I have enjoyed them immensely, and would never have stumbled across this author were it not for the recommendation.
   
6. On Beauty by Zadie Smith...This was a book that kept showing up on reading lists of different people in my online book group or on Goodreads, so I finally listened to it a few years ago.  It was a really complex, meaty story that had a lot to love and a lot to hate.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, and am very happy that it happened across my radar.
   
7. Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton...I picked this up purely for the interesting title, and then my friend saw it and raved about it.  Her mom is a teacher, and this book had been on her required reading list for years, so with that that ringing endorsement, I read it and loved it.  Bonus:  the hymn "Walking Across Egypt" is printed at the end of the book (music included)!
   
8. Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym...This was another book club selection that I loved.  I had never heard of Barbara Pym before, and shortly after I read this one, Pym's book Excellent Women was recommended to me by another book forum.  Both were really different, and really interesting, and I will definitely read other Pym books.
   
9. Beachcombing for a Shipwrecked God by Joe Coomer...I can't remember if this was a book club selection or a recommendation from a book club member.  Not that it matters, really.  I L-O-V-E-D this book so much that I continue to seek out Joe Coomer's other books (which are not that easy to come by).  This one has stayed with me for years, and I regularly recommend it.
   
10. Bad Childhood, Good Life by Dr. Laura Schlessinger...After reading over and over the praise for this book from those who have read it, I read it myself.  It is probably my favorite of Schlessinger's books, not just because it is engaging and full of practical solutions, but because I had a really positive emotional reaction to it.  There is nothing better for navel-gazing than to be called out of your inertia and self-pity, hit with the bitter truth, and given marching orders for lasting mental & emotional health.