This week’s prompt: Being thankful and reflecting are common themes throughout November. Can you suggest a book that you’ve found inspiring and that tackles themes of appreciation, thanksgiving, or personal growth?
This is a great prompt. I mean, the obvious answer is that I’m grateful for books in general. They give me so much: a way to escape, to dive into a topic or experience I want to learn more about, to find people dealing with similar things to what I’m dealing with, and lots of varied emotions. But there are some particular books that have either given me something specific I’m grateful to have found, or that have told a story that really touched me. Here are a few of them:
Frank & Red by Matt Coyne
The Great Unexpected by Dan Mooney
Meredith, Alone by Claire Alexander
These four are stories that gave me all the feels and that featured protagonists that were different in some way to the majority of others I’ve met. They also, notably, included friendships that were unusual but that made me feel really good to read about. Each character was dealing with grief or trauma, and yet they all were able to find a way to connect to people around them, and that was very inspiring. One other common thread is that most of these books also, surprisingly, have a fair amount of humour in them. Trying to find something to laugh about even when things are hard is one of the things I try to do, so it really appeals to me when I’m reading, too.
Hidden Nature by Alys Fowler
Knife by Salman Rushdie
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey
Each of these books dealt with some element of hardship. Whether that was burnout, major realizations and life changes, trauma or illness – they each explored a part of life that was challenging, but all found ways to reach an inner strength that helped them to persevere. While very different stories, they all left me with a similar sense of how sometimes the hardest things we go through create a juxtaposing awareness of the things we do still have to be grateful for, and I think that’s beautiful as well as inspiring.
It’s been a challenging week for me, so it was actually really nice to write this post and think about some of the positive and encouraging reading experiences I’ve had in the past few years. I’d recommend any of these books if you’re at a low ebb, but particularly if you’re looking for a light at the end of a tunnel and need to hear from characters or people who’ve found theirs. I’d love to hear from you guys if you have any books to recommend that are similarly inspiring and encouraging!
The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly blog link-up that gives participants a different book-related question to ponder each week, and allows them to share their thoughts, find new blogs to follow and connect with new readers. The Hop was originally created by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and is now hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. To see a list of upcoming prompts go here.
