Happy Thanksgiving from your Floyd County Library. This time of year is always a time of reflection for me. I’ve asked our blog team to share a book each of them are thankful for this year. This is one of my favorite posts of the year. We’re sharing bookish gratitude for many different reasons. And this post serves as a little time capsule of our reading as we have learned about the world around us, fallen in love, mourned losses, survived historic events, introduced our children to books, developed deeper empathy, and more. I invite you to check out this year’s blog team selections and to peruse past years. What’s a book you’re thankful for this year?
Check out the books our team was especially grateful in 2023 * 2022 * 2021 * 2020 * 2019
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1846; 1188 pages). Also available on e-book and downloadable audiobook.
Darlene says: My selection is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It is my all time favorite book. Forget every movie EVER made about this book! NONE of them have it right. There is no way to capture a 1200 page novel in a two hour movie. Soooo much is left out that makes this story the masterpiece that it is. I love this book because it has it all! Mystery, intrigue, romance, betrayal, revenge, exceptionally developed characters, and a plot that is so well crafted it blows my mind! The best part for me is the protagonist, the Count of Monte Cristo himself. His character arc is nothing short of a masterpiece in writing craft. I was completely captivated by his every move and was sad when I reached the end of the book and the end of his story. There is nowhere else to go to read more about him except to read the book all over again. Which I have most definitely done, several times in fact. Each time I read it I find new elements of this story to be in awe of. Alexandre Dumas proves his mastery of the written word and has secured his place at the top of my all-time favorite books with this treasure. Don’t miss it!!!
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990; 464 pages). Available on e-book and downloadable audiobook.
Emily says: Anyone who knows me will know that this is very “on-brand” for me, but a book that I am thankful for is Jurassic Park, the 1990 Michael Crichton novel that sparked the entire movie franchise. Jurassic Park was one of the first “grown-up” books I ever read, and the summer of 1993 remains one of the most memorable reading experiences of my life — I can still recall being 12 years old, sitting on the wooden swing in our backyard, listening to the movie soundtrack on my cassette player and reading the book over and over (3 times that summer!) Though I haven’t re-read it in 30 years, I still have that old battered paperback copy on my bookshelf at home, and I treasure it as one of the books that made me the voracious reader I am today.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (2021; 372 pages). Also available on e-book and downloadable audiobook.
Abby says: I had the pleasure of reading this book out loud with my partner. Being in a long-distance relationship, sharing books in this way has become a favorite way to connect with each other and to share experiences when we’re not able to physically be together. Not only is this a fantastic story with beautiful writing, but it brought us closeness and comfort during a difficult month this year. My partner and I were able to attend a virtual book discussion together, having read the book together, and I think it’s something I will always remember. I hope that we’ll keep up this habit and continue attending book discussions together into our golden years (hopefully in person at some point!).
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999; 213 pages). Also available on e-book and downloadable audiobook.
Sharon says: I recently re-read this book as a grown-up, and…wow! This book is amazing and powerful! Though I connect with it in a different way now that I have grown children, I vividly remember the struggles my kids went through in their teen years. As some very smart people recently discussed, The Perks of Being a Wallflower may more aptly be described as a “losing one’s childhood” story rather than the traditional “coming of age” story. Certainly, Chbosky threw everything into the story: suicide, anxiety, drug and alcohol use, rape, sexual assault, disfunctional families, and teen pregnancy, and some folks may be hard to read, but it is a redemptive and beautifully delivered story. In the end…this is a book that normalizes mental health issues, makes every reader feel “ok” and offers hope!
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (1938; 410 pages). Also available on e-book and downloadable audiobook.
Melinda says: This year I am especially thankful for Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It was given to me at a vulnerable time in my life by my school librarian, who personally invited me to join the high school book club. I already loved to read, but this is the book that opened me up to using books as a way to connect with the world around me, rather than disconnect. At a moment when that habit is essential to my survival and well-being, I can’t help but think back on the moment I was handed Rebecca. It’s probably the turning point where “librarian” became a possible profession for me. I’m lucky that it happens to be a book I still appreciate when I revisit it twenty years later, a yardstick many childhood favorites don’t measure up to.
