When reflecting on reading, author Stephen King once said “Books are a uniquely portable magic.” Why do you read? To escape to a different time and place? To experience someone else’s imagination? To acquire knowledge? To know that you are not alone? To appreciate the craft of writing? To share ideas with others? To be inspired? To relax? Whatever your reason for reading, we hope that you will continue to share your recommendations with our readers.
The Midnight Library
by Matt Haig
Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets? (2020, 288 pgs; Fiction)
Perestroika in Paris
by Jane Smiley
Smiley penned a captivating, brilliantly imaginative story of three extraordinary animals–and a young boy–whose lives intersect in Paris. (2020, 265 pgs; Fiction)
Daughters of Yalta
by Catherine Katz
This is story of the fascinating and fateful “daughters diplomacy” of Anna Roosevelt, Sarah Churchill, and Kathleen Harriman, three glamorous, intelligent young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference with Stalin in the waning days of World War II. (2020, 400 pgs; Nonfiction)
The Fortunate Ones
by Ed Tarkington
When young Charlie Boykin gains entry into the wealthy society of the most exclusive part of Nashville, he falls under its spell. But he soon learns what he’d have to give up in return in this novel that asks why we envy and worship a class of people that so often exhibits the worst excesses. (2021, 308 pgs; Fiction)
A Long Petal of the Sea
by Isabel Allende
In the late 1930s, civil war gripped Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life irreversibly intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them wants, and together are sponsored by poet Pablo Neruda to embark on the SS Winnipeg along with 2,200 other refugees in search of a new life. As unlikely partners, they embrace exile and emigrate to Chile. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning. Through it all, it is that hope of being reunited with their home that keeps them going. And in the end, they will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along. (2020, 318 pgs; Fiction)
We look forward to hearing about the books you or your book club recommend.
- Include your name (although it will not be published), the title, and author of the book you are recommending and email this to Tidelines at seabrookislandblog@gmail.com. (You may be able to click on the email address to open a new message.)
- For audiobooks, include the name of the narrator.
- Tidelines editors will provide a blurb to tell a little about the book and add the book jacket image.
- Publication is at the discretion of Tidelines editors.
–Tidelines Editors
(Image and bibliographic credit: CMPL)