Books I have read

I went to school in the 70s and 80s in Ireland and I think there was some kind of progressive experiment going on because we didn't study phonics or grammar! I was not a natural reader, but equally I was not encouraged to read at all growing up or in school. How I can read and write is a mystery to me! 

Even so, I did read a little growing up - Go Ask Alice, The Flowers in the Attic series, many anthologies of Irish ghost stories, and hmmm… well, nothing that was not 'dark', books I would never let my kids read! It wasn't until I was 23 that I really took up reading! I am a sporadic, but passionate reader - I won't pick up a book for months, but then I will get into a story and you won't see me for 2 days! A good book can truly drown out the rest of the world! I love that feeling. 

As an adult I have read many books, but only a few stand out in my mind. In general, I enjoy two kinds of books 1) modern literary fiction and 2) fast-paced, easy to read stories.

Here is a (partial) list of type 1 books that I have read and enjoyed (you may notice a book to movie theme here):
Atonement
The book Thief
The Kite Runner
Lovely Bones
Water for Elephants
Wuthering Heights
Trainspotting
Endless Love
Gone Girl
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Love in a Time of Cholera
Solider of the Great War
Many Jean Plaidy books
Sleeping In Eden
Burial Rites

type 2 books:
Twilight
The Notebook
Dear John
Hopeless
(I have read so many more light weight books that I picked up at the grocery store for summer reading, but they are not worth mentioning!)

While I would love to write something that would make the literary world swoon, with perfectly crafted lines, realistically my novel is more along the lines of type 2. And that's ok! There is room in this world for all kinds of stories. 

Gala is an easy read. It is a clean (read, no bedroom scenes), emotional, love story, with a fair bit of action thrown in. I like my book. I really do. I like the story because it is based loosely on a beautiful love story in the Bible - Ruth. I used the bones of that story to guide me in crafting this one. I have in mind two more books based on some awesome Old Testament stories. But I get ahead of myself! 

If you have a favorite book type or actual book that you would like to recommend, I would love to hear. I need a book to read during my international flight in a few weeks. It will need to be an easy read as I will have my toddler in tow!