What Should I Read Now??

"I have a fondness for historical fiction, something wondrous like "Wolf Hall," but I'll read most anything as long as the story grabs my mind or my heart, and preferably both. You would be hard pressed, however, to find science fiction on my shelves." -Sue Monk Kidd

Kidd, author of Gilead and other novels.

I agree with Sue Monk Kidd regarding historical fiction! And I also concur that you will not find any science fiction on my shelves. I just can't get into all of that science fiction stuff, no matter how spectacular the time travel is or how many galaxies the characters invade. It's just too silly for me. The reason that I like historical fiction so much is that it touches two interests of mine at the same time: history AND a great story. In the past year I've read several historical novels, and I'm happy to see them doing well on the New York Times list as well as the Amazon bestseller list. These books include The Boys in the Boat, Orphan Train, Unbroken, All the Light the Light We Cannot See, Paris: A Novel, and War Brides. I thoroughly enjoyed each one of these books, and I recommend them to you as well. I seem to be following a trek through history that leads me to various dates in time, and many of them overlap. For example, when I read The Boys in the Boat, I realized that Louis Zamperini (from Unbroken) was once on the same ship to the Berlin Olympics with the rowing team from the University of Washington. All of these young men saw Adolph Hitler while they were in Berlin, so I wonder if they met each other too. I made another connection to War Brides when I read that one of the young women had been thinking about eloping to Grasmere, Scotland. Grasmere is a village in the UK that we were able to visit in 2014. It's known as a great place to get married, thus the reference in War Brides. Incidentally, William Wordsworth lived in Grasmere for fourteen years, and he described it as "the loveliest spot that man hath ever found." When I read that a young woman wanted to elope in Grasmere during WW II, I thought about our own our brief visit to the beautiful village.

And now for the next ten books in my card catalog. These are some of the books that I've read since 1984:

To Dream Again by Robert D. Dale
The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas
Encountering Evil by Stephen T. Davis, ed.
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Love For a Lifetime by Dr. James Dobson
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Room by Emma Donahue
House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

So what do you suggest that I read next? I'm reading Home by Robinson as of today, but I need a list of good books so that I can start to prioritize what I'll read next. Please note that I don't care for romance novels, mysteries, science fiction, or self-help books. So put it through the sifter and see what comes out. I would rather get book suggestions from readers than from a bestseller list (I don't always agree with popular culture as to what is a good book).
Have a wonderful week! Please leave me your book suggestions and comments. -Melissa