What I'm Reading | June + July

At Home in the World | Tsh Oxenreider

In her late thirties and as a mom to three kids under age ten, Tsh Oxenreider and her husband decided to spend a rather ordinary nine months in an extraordinary way: traveling the corners of the earth to see, together, the places they’ve always wanted to explore. This book chronicles their global journey from China to Thailand to Australia, Sri Lanka, Uganda, France, Croatia, and beyond, as they fill their days with train schedules, world-schooling the kids, and working from anywhere. Told with wit and candor, Oxenreider invites us on a worldwide adventure without the cost of a ticket; to discover people, places, and stories worth knowing about; to find peace in the places we call home; and to learn that, as the Thai say, in the end, we are all “same same but different.”

This memoir made me want to pick up and travel the world, yet at the same time inspired me to see that life doesn't always have to come to a complete halt once you start a family, as our culture often implies. Each chapter is divided by country traveled, and is written as a narrative that's easy to read and draws you in with every word. Plus, I'm always a sucker for a beautiful cover.

A Man Called Ove | Fredrik Backman

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon, the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell, but must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove's mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents' association to their very foundations.

Backman's writing in this novel presents a man who seems unlovable on the outside, and creates a feeling where the reader ends up finding him funny and endearing. This book made me think about my interactions with others, question things that our culture finds value in, and made me relate to Ove with every word of sarcasm and wit.

Dark Matter | Blake Crouch

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
This novel made me feel incredibly small and definitely gave the I-have-to-know-what-happens-next feeling while reading. I wouldn't consider "sci-fi" books in my genre preference, but this book was gripping and compelling and unlike any novel I've ever read. This book is a love story, thriller, and sci-fi book wrapped all in one and makes you think about who you are, where you come from, and what you want for your life. There's a lot going on in this novel and it's packed with inspirational quotes, emotional + dramatic scenes, and plenty of surprises.

The Mothers | Brit Bennett

All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we'd taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unripe secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season. It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance--and the subsequent cover-up--will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

This novel is set in a contemporary African-American community and Bennett's writing is impeccable. Nadia is a character that you ache for the whole way through and the novel has themes of love of many kinds: romantic, friendship, and maternal. It's easy to see why this novel created such a buzz over the past year, as the characters felt real and dynamic and I did not want to put this book down.

Bridge to Haven | Francine Rivers

To those who matter in 1950s Hollywood, Lena Scott is the hottest rising star to hit the silver screen since Marilyn Monroe. Few know her real name is Abra. Even fewer know the price she's paid to finally feel like she's somebody. To Pastor Ezekiel Freeman, Abra will always be the little girl who stole his heart the night he found her, a wailing newborn abandoned under a bridge on the outskirts of Haven. Zeke and his son, Joshua--Abra's closest friend--watch her grow into an exotic beauty. But Zeke knows the circumstances surrounding her birth etched scars deep in her heart, scars that leave her vulnerable to a fast-talking bad boy who proclaims his love and lures her to Tinseltown. Hollywood feels like a million miles from Haven, and naive Abra quickly learns what's expected of an ambitious girl with stars in her eyes. But fame comes at an awful price. She has burned every bridge to get exactly what she thought she wanted. Now, all she wants is a way back home.

This book was riveting + heart-wrenching at gripped me from start to finish. This novel is inspired by Ezekiel 16 and tells a story of tragedy, rebellion, grace, and redemption. To be honest, I usually avoid Christian fiction because I often find it cheesy, predictable, and unrealistic. However, Rivers is one of the only Christian authors that seems to reel me in, and she definitely does that with this book.