November 9, 2018
Friday Favorite
Today in lieu of reviewing a new release, I am chosing to revisit an old favorite which I read years before starting this blog. (thanks for the inspiration Sandy’s Book a Day blog!)
I’m highlighting an old favorite because my last two reads were disappointing and I’ve decided not to write full reviews….however, you can find them mentioned later in this post.
Friday Favorite: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
Genre/Categories: Historical Fiction, Abolition of Slavery, Women’s Rights, African-American, Plantation Life
Summary:
The Invention of Wings is a fictionalized biographical account of the Grimke sisters as they become trailblazers in the abolition movement and early leaders in the fight for women’s rights.
The story takes place in the pre Civil War era and begins on a plantation in Charleston. On the occasion of Sarah Grimke’s eleventh birthday, she’s presented with her own slave, ten-year old Hetty “Handful” Grimke. Sarah has always been uncomfortable with this tradition. At first, Sarah and Handful are more like sisters and playmates as they develop a friendly companionship. As the story progresses, Sarah leaves Charleston to join her adventurous and fearless sister, Angelina, in the north as early pioneers in the fight for abolition and women’s rights. We follow Sarah’s and Hetty’s journeys for thirty-five years as both women strive to carve out a life of their own and navigate a close and complex relationship.
Amazon Rating (November): An amazing 4.7 Stars from over 12,000 reviews
My Thoughts:
The Invention of Wings has been a favorite for years, and it’s always at the top of my recommendation list. If you missed reading this or are looking for an excellent book club selection, I highly recommend this story! Pictured below are my dearest reading buddies from book club day.
We all enjoyed this intense, powerful, and amazing story based on the real life Grimke sisters.
Memorable characters. The story is told through dual, alternating perspectives as we follow the lives of Sarah and Hetty and learn of their fears, hopes, and dreams. From an early age, Sarah exhibits a strong sense of social justice and equality (evidenced when Sarah teaches Hetty to read), and later we see her straining against her family’s and society’s expectations for a southern woman as she makes decisions to speak for abolition and fight for women’s rights. Through Hetty aka “Handful,” we experience the cruel treatment of slaves and also learn about her cultural heritage on her mother’s side. Each character faces limitations put on them and learns she is stronger than she thinks.
Unputdownable. Every reader’s experience is uniquely her own, and I found this story absorbing, engaging, thought-provoking, well researched, and unputdownable. I particularly love stories about real people doing daring, visionary, and brave things under difficult circumstances and against the odds. Although this story is highly fictionalized, it helps us find the heart and soul behind historical facts.
Themes. Any book that becomes one of my favorites includes important themes. A few of the poignant themes in The Invention of Wings includes the brave fight for freedom, finding your voice, loss and sorrow, the injustice of inequality, the fight to make the world a better place, complicated relationships, friendship, sisters, family, determination, loyalty, hope, daring, and empowerment.
Recommended. The Invention of Wings is highly recommended for fans of Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees), for readers of historical fiction, for those who appreciate inspirational stories of strong, independent women, and for readers looking for an engaging book club selection.
Don’t miss this important story!
My Rating: 5 Stars
Buy Here (I suggest looking for the original non annotated version, not the Oprah annotated version)
Meet the Author, Sue Monk Kidd
Sue Monk Kidd’s first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, spent more than one hundred weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has sold nearly six million copies, and was chosen as the 2004 BookSense Paperback Book of the Year and Good Morning America’s “Read This!” Book Club pick. It was adapted into an award-winning movie in 2008. Her second novel, The Mermaid Chair, a #1 New York Times bestseller, won the 2005 Quill Book Award for Best General Fiction and was adapted into a television movie. Her novels have been published in more than thirty countries. She is also the author of several acclaimed memoirs and the recipient of many awards, including a Poets & Writers Award. She lives near Charleston, South Carolina.
Photo from Goodreads.
Happy Reading Book Worms!
“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke
“I love the world of words, where life and literature connect.”
~Denise J Hughes
“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones.”
~Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
“I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.”
~Madeleine Riley, Top Shelf Text
Links I Love
Have you voted in the 2018 Goodreads Awards? Voting in the semi final round started this week (Nov 6-11). Final voting is Nov 13-26. To vote, follow this link.
I love this inspirational Thanksgiving post over at The Thankful Heart…..a thoughtful reflection, a recipe for “pumpkin twists,” and craft ideas for the littles!
Have you seen The Hate U Give movie? Here’s the THUG trailer.
I’ve read positive reviews with some saying it could be one of the best movies of the year.
Disappointments:
Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak (The Book Thief). was not the book for me, and I can’t recommend it. It’s a long and tedious read at almost 500 pages,and is sprinkled with abundant offensive language and tragic and sad events. Although written beautifully in some places (Zusak is a master of figurative language and vivid descriptions), it’s obscure in others and sometimes entire sections left me confused. Fans of Zusak have been waiting thirteen years for a new book, and I fall in the group of fans that find this poignant story a disappointment. It’s also confusing that the target audience is YA, and I have difficulty envisioning this for them. I’m aware that reading is a personal experience and others have loved Bridge of Clay. Read more reviews here as you make your reading choice.
Two Stars.
Find my brief Goodreads review here.
Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen was my second meh read this week. Others have really loved this, so I chalk this up to “not my preferred genre.” It resembles a fairy tale for adults and includes some magical realism (not my favorite). Usually I enjoy a quirky story and adore quirky characters; however, the story was simply a mediocre read for me and I didn’t love it. I found myself bored and skimming frequently. I kept reading to the end because I wanted to find out what happened, thus three stars. Every reader’s experience is different and its early Amazon rating is 4.5 Stars, so I encourage you to check out more reviews here.
3 Stars
Looking Ahead in “Nonfiction November”
What do you have on your TBR for “Nonfiction November”?
One title that I’m seriously considering is In Pieces by Sally Field. Beginning with The Flying Nun, Sally Field has played a lifelong prominent role in my entertainment life! I’ve heard though that it’s a gritty read in places.
Another consideration is the new release by Doris Kearns Goodwin, Leadership: In Turbulent Times. I’m almost certain that this is what my hubs will be reading for “Nonfiction November” as Doris Kearns Goodwin is one of his “auto buy” authors!
My Fall TBR
I’ll be updating my Fall TBR list as I complete each read, so check this link often!
So far I’ve read nine out of my twelve titles (three more to go!).
Sharing is Caring
Thank you for reading today! I’d be honored and thrilled if you choose to enjoy and follow along, promote, and/or share my blog. Every share helps us grow.
Let’s Discuss
Have you read The Invention of Wings? Please leave a comment and tell me what you thought.
What are your reading plans for November? Do you plan to read a nonfiction selection?
In addition to nonfiction, I’m certainly looking forward to the new Louise Penny release on November 27!
And my easy comfort read will be Alexander McCall Smith’s recent #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency installment #19, The Colors of All the Cattle. Are you a Mma Ramotswe fan?
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Unless explicitly stated that they are free, all books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library.
Book Cover and author photo are credited to Amazon or an author’s (or publisher’s) website.
HAZEL GAYNOR is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from the Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail Canada bestseller, and was shortlisted for the BGE Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. In 2017, she has published The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris. Hazel was selected by US Library Journal as one of ‘Ten Big Breakout Authors’ for 2015 and her work has been translated into several languages. Hazel lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.
Kate Morton was born in South Australia and grew up in the mountains of south-east Queensland. She has degrees in dramatic art and English literature and lives now with her family in London and Australia. Kate Morton has sold over 11 million copies of her novels in thirty-four languages, across forty countries. The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours, The Secret Keeper and The Lake House have all been number one bestsellers around the world. The Clockmaker’s Daughter is her sixth novel.
In addition, you may be interested to read 
:::::sigh::::: I LOVE a great middle grade read from time to time! Do you? If you are experiencing a reading slump I think reading fabulous middle grade titles is a great remedy! Stories like 
Heather Morris is a native of New Zealand, now resident in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
Diane Chamberlain is the New York Times, USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of 26 novels published in more than twenty languages. Her most recent novel is the genre-spanning The Dream Daughter. Some of her most popular books include The Stolen Marriage, Necessary Lies, The Silent Sister, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes, and The Keeper of the Light Trilogy. Diane likes to write complex stories about relationships between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and friends. Although the thematic focus of her books often revolves around family, love, compassion and forgiveness, her stories usually feature a combination of drama, mystery, secrets and intrigue. Diane’s background in psychology has given her a keen interest in understanding the way people tick, as well as the background necessary to create her realistic characters.Diane was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey and spent her summers at the Jersey Shore. She also lived for many years in San Diego and northern Virginia before making North Carolina her home.Diane received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Prior to her writing career, Diane worked in hospitals in San Diego and Washington, D.C. before opening a private psychotherapy practice in Alexandria Virginia specializing in adolescents. All the while Diane was writing on the side. Her first book, Private Relations was published in 1989 and it earned the RITA award for Best Single Title Contemporary Novel.
Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar is a Syrian American author. Originally from New York City, Jennifer was born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother. She is a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) and of American Mensa. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Saturday Evening Post, PANK Magazine, Mizna, and elsewhere. Jennifer is a 2017-2020 Montalvo Arts Center Lucas Artists Program Literary Arts Fellow and an alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation (VONA) and the Tin House Writers’ Workshop. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net.
Sharon Bala’s bestselling debut novel, The Boat People, was a finalist for Canada Reads 2018 and the 2018 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. Published in January 2018, it is available worldwide with forthcoming translations in French, Arabic, and Turkish. The unpublished manuscript won the 
