Recommended Reads
Sometimes you pick up a book that is so good – for one reason or another – that you just wish everyone could experience it. Be it a sprawling epic that traverses an entire world over the span of decades – and as such, multiple novels. Or perhaps a quick jaunt through a series of tasks that is wrapped up by the last page. Either way, you will find listed here the books that I’ve read over the years that I’d recommend to anyone, along with a brief explanation of why. I figure I owe you that much ;)
Please, feel free to return the favor by offering a suggestion to me in the comment box at the bottom!
The Godspeaker Trilogy by Karen Miller – The series consists of “Empress,” “The Riven Kingdom,” and “Hammer of God.” Following a little girl known as Hekat that is sold into slavery. She is ambitious, working her way from slave to empress over a mighty kingdom. Karen Miller has constructed not one but two religions from the ground up. While we do not learn exactly what is behind the two forces, both play a strong role in the development of the story across all three books. A world led by strong beliefs – whether good or bad in their eyes and ours – and an epic journey of one woman rising to power, letting no man get in her way, and believing that it is in her destiny to the God she worships to conquer the world and force their religion upon it.
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King - A classic fantasy novel (a far departure from King’s trademark horror at the time of original publication), Eyes of the Dragon takes place in the land of Delain (which is part of the landscape The Dark Tower series takes place in). The story focuses on two brothers who stand to inherit their father’s crown and the evil wizard, Flagg, who frames one for the murder of the king and uses the other to take the throne and do his bidding. This is my second favorite King book of all time, right under The Stand, and if you love fantasy, a must read.
A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard – A Stolen Life is the personal account of what happened to Jaycee Dugard over 18 years as she was held captive by Phillip and Nancy Garrido. She was kidnapped when she was 11 years old, on her way to school in 1991. The Garrido’s kept her in their own backyard for 18 years where she was subjected to regular rape and terror. The book isn’t entertaining, it isn’t happy go-lucky, it isn’t even an easy read. It is told by Dugard as if she were talking to you, and as such, her writing is a bit all over the place as she retells the events as she remembers them, offers reflections on what was going on now that she looks back and so on. It made me mad, it shocked me, it depressed me. But it is real life. It is what can happen in a split second if any child is left alone. The book contains strong language, graphic descriptions of sexual acts, talk about drugs, abuse, etc. It isn’t pretty, but it is real and everyone should realize it can happen in your own – literal – backyard.
