With the stress of everyday life, it is hard to find time to enjoy yourself. A great way for reducing stress is reading, by getting lost into a good book real life becomes less overwhelming and allows you to escape into a different world all from the comfort of your couch. Here is my list for some of the best books I have read within the past couple of years.
- Red Tent by Anita Diamant
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This novel is told from the perspective of a young girl named Dinah. According to the bible her life is set for violent and brief detour. She is the only daughter of Jacob and has a dozen brothers born from Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah-the four wives of Jacob. This book portrays life during this time though traditions of ancient womanhood, and what it was to be a part of the red tent. Dinah is loved dearly by her four mothers and they often gave her gifts that will help support her during her youth, her call to be a midwife, and her solo venture to a foreign land that she will soon call home. Her story goes back to a period in ancient times but is told in a modern way allowing a deep connection with the past and what it was like for women during these times. This story is relatable to a lot of women because it tells the story of Dinah’s entire life, a story of love, heartbreak, and triumph. Highly recommended, this story was different from many books I’ve read in the past and had me laughing, crying, and by the end I wanted to read more.
- Whiskey Words and a Shovel by R. H. Sin
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This series of novels are poetry based and raise a lot of emotion while allowing you to gain perspective or help you feel whole again. His words were filled with raw and uncut emotional energy leaving them standing vulnerably on the page. The poems cover a wide variety of topics like relationships, love, pain, and perseverance. This is a book that made me feel like I could relate to it, his words were so well put that they were able to explain the emotions that most people cannot put into words. The book is about 300 pages filled with gritty and passionate writing that will tug on your heart strings while leaving you with a sense of peace.
- Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
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Another of my favorite poetry books would be Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur. This poetry collection includes aspects of life for many women and is split into four chapters each relating to strong emotion that will hopefully allow you to ease and deal with many different types of pain. This book will take you on a journey through what it is like to be broken, to love, to hurt, and to heal. Milk and Honey heals a heartache that you may have not dealt with or even knew was there, by taking you through bitter and sweet moments the novel is showing the reader that there is light everywhere if you are willing to open your eyes and look for it.
- The Help by Kathryn Stockett
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This is one of my favorite book/movies because of its truthful nature and how it is told from many perspectives allowing the reader to truly understand what it was like living in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s. This story is told from perspective of a few different women, African-American maids and white bosses. This story talks about the unjust treatment for black male and female workers during the segregation era in the southern portion of the United States. A white writer named Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, plans to expose the truth of what it is like for maids to serve white households across the South. Skeeter wants to get a better understanding of their journeys and stories to share them not only across the nation but across the world. The maids were on edge at first to work with Skeeter because of fear of violence that dominated society during those times, but eventually decide to work with her to finally show the truth.