Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

susan meissner

5 on Friday: Best books of the first quarter

Last year, I tried to sum up the best books I’d read all year at the halfway point of the year. This year, I’m not sure I can wait that long. Maybe I’m getting soft or maybe I’m just finding better books to read, but in the first three months of this year, I’ve already read some books I won’t soon forget and would read again tomorrow if my to-read list wasn’t out of control.

I’ll try to keep it to five, but honestly, trying to pick my favorite books is like trying to pick a favorite child. I like them for different reasons! Anyway, here goes. (And they’re not ranked in order of favorite.) These five stand out because of their lasting effect on me.

QUIET_paperback_High-Res_Jacket1. Quiet by Susan Cain. You can read my full review here, but I learned so much about myself from reading this book. And I found within its pages permission to lead and influence, not in spite of being an introvert but because of it.

2. Outlaw by Ted Dekker. My first Ted Dekker book but not my last. The overall theme of this book is one I’m applying almost daily. With a unique setting and a powerful message, this is a life-changing novel. (It’s true, novels aren’t just entertaining!)  Here’s my full review.

3. A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner. You really can’t go wrong with anything by Susan Meissner but there’s something special about this one. Intertwined storylines set 100 years apart in New York City, it was everything I love about a historical and a contemporary all rolled into one. I not only enjoyed this as a fall of marigoldsreader but as a writer striving to blend contemporary and historical storylines into one. For me, this was for fun and research. Read the full review here.

4. Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider. I’m sometimes suspicious of books that offer a path to simpler living. That’s a me problem because living simply takes work and effort and I’m not always good at either. But this book by Txh Oxenreider is a helpful guide for discovering what it is each person or family values and how they can move toward a life focused on those values. She doesn’t offer one plan that must be followed to the letter but recognizes that every person and family is different. Her family’s story is just one among many. You can read the full review here.

pirate queen5. The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman. This was a surprising favorite, and I still can’t narrow down what exactly I liked about it. But it features a theme I’m drawn to: that of hurt and forgiveness and sacrifice and restoration. And it’s unique in that the characters are older than those I usually read about. My full review is here.

Ugh. That was hard! Stay tuned for another installment at the end of June. I’ve got some more good ones in the to-be-read pile/queue so I have no doubts I’ll have an equally hard time picking the next five best books.

What have you read so far this year that you would recommend?

Why I don't usually read this kind of book (but I'm not sorry I did): Review of A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

Reading a book by Susan Meissner is like treating yourself to fine chocolate. Her last work was a masterpiece that left me aching to return to Italy. She is a masterful storyteller.

So, when I knew she had a new book releasing, I didn’t hesitate to enter a Goodreads giveaway for a copy, even though I knew next to nothing about the story. And I won!

fall of marigolds A Fall of Marigolds has been sitting on my shelf for a few months while I tackled other reviews, but I recently finished it and can easily say this book makes my top whatever list of best books I’ve ever read.

The book opens in Manhattan 2011 with Taryn, a woman whose husband died in the Twin Towers on 9/11. She works in a specialty fabric store and lives above it with her 9-year-old daughter. A picture of her from the day of the tragedy surfaces suddenly and the quiet life she thought she’d gotten on with is disturbed.

Intertwined with her story is that of Clara, a nurse working on Ellis Island in 1911. She was a witness to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and has come to the island to escape the memories of her loss that day.

Both stories are steeped in heavy sadness, and honestly, I’ve been avoiding stories, documentaries and movies about 9/11 since the day it happened because I can sometimes still feel the weight of the national despair. I don’t often lean in to pain, and I might have been more hesitant to read this story if I’d known that was part of it.

And I won’t lie. This story is not all feel-good. There are heart-wrenching scenes as these two women, separated by a century of time, allow themselves to grieve the past and open their lives to the present and future. I had to set it down a few times and let the feelings sink in and pass before starting again.

The beauty of this story, though, is the thread of hope woven through the tragedies. Meissner does not avoid the reality of how these women were affected nor does she let them stay in their comfortable grief. When the story was finished, I felt full in my soul. I may have even released a satisfied sigh. This is one of those books that is not so much an escape as it is examination, helping readers to see that whatever hardship seems to be at the forefront, a larger, stronger force is at work.

After reading A Fall of Marigolds, I feel ready to explore other 9/11 literature, and I’d certainly read this book again.