Olaf Growald
January offers us a chance to take a deep breath after making it through the previous year and then turn a new page (pun intended). It’s the perfect time to set some new reading goals, like reading a book a month or reading more books than last year. Pick a goal that feels attainable for you and don’t worry about how that compares to someone else. Remember, small windows of reading time add up. When you’re in that parking lot again waiting for the kids to be finished with school or activities, when your friend is late to your coffee date, when you’re in the waiting room for an appointment … they all provide opportunities to make it through a few pages.
To kick off this new year, we asked Mayor Parker to share with us what she enjoys reading and five suggestions that have impacted her recently. Check out these recommendations or be inspired to start working through that pile on your own bedside table.
I’m an avid reader who always has a book on the bedside table, very often historical fiction. I find myself continually picking up stories about compelling people who lived through the incredible hardships of decades past, because the resilience of the human spirit is timeless.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a story of the terrifying unknown obstacles that we face in life, set in 1930s France. It takes a unique perspective on WWII, telling the story of two women facing war and finding ways to be powerful and brave. This story is hard to put down and stays with you.
A Time for Mercy by John Grisham is a winding legal drama full of suspense, set in Mississippi in 1990. It’s the sequel to A Time to Kill and Sycamore Row where the Jake Brigance story continues, and it’s always easy to get sucked into the world of a Grisham novel. As an attorney, sometimes it’s just fun to step out of reality and into the dramatics of a fictional courtroom.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a story within a story told by an absolutely captivating character. The book is less about the seven husbands and more about forbidden love, loss, identity, and the stories we choose to tell and create for ourselves.
State of Wonder by Ann Patchett takes you on a perilous hero’s journey complete with a beautiful world to get lost in and deep ethical questions to ponder. Patchett is one of the most beautiful writers; her prose is enviable.
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson is a tense and enthralling retelling of the story of America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany. It gives you a window into a dark time in our history told from an interesting point of view on how it unfolded in real-time, seeing how Hitler came to power and his atrocities built with the world watching.
