Vickroy: Readers respond to recent column on love of reading with lots of book recommendations

A good book becomes a part of you. Once it’s in your head, or more specifically, your heart, it’s there forever.

When a story comes to life by virtue of interesting, complex characters, often the best-worst feeling in the world is reaching that last page. There is a triumphant sadness, a bittersweet blend of exhale and panic, when you close the cover.

And that’s why the next best thing to a good book is a recommendation for a next book.

A few weeks back I wrote a column about how semi-retirement has reopened the door on reading, particularly fiction, for pleasure. And now I know I am hardly alone but I guess it makes sense that newspaper readers would be avid readers in general.

You all are right there with me, kicked back in your recliners, lounging on your chaises, or comfy in a corner of the library. Reading, reading, reading.

Life never follows the plan but for many of us it can be like a hurricane, manic in young adulthood as we try to get established at work and on the home front, and exhausting in our later years, when illness or degeneration can bring a flurry of doctor visits and planning.

But for the lucky, there is a chapter of calm in between called retirement. The kids are grown, the commute is over, the extracurricular volunteerism is no longer needed, and the daily rush to get everything thing done has downshifted into “what’s the hurry?” In the quiet of the eye of life’s storm, you can hear the stories calling. And what glorious sirens they are.

In that recent column, I shared many of own book recommendations and, in return, many of you shared yours, via email and social media. And now I am obliged to pass those suggestions on.

Feedback included gratitude expressed for parents and other family members who instilled a love for reading. Kudos came in for particular authors and for several suburban libraries, including ones in Flossmoor and Highland Park, the latter of which is where Arlene Davis admits she practically lives.

“I’ve always been a voracious reader and now, since retirement, even more so, if that’s possible,” Davis wrote. “My eyesight responds more favorably to hard covers rather than smaller print paperbacks, and I simply can’t afford to purchase all the books I go through in a month. My kids have offered a Kindle every birthday and Mother’s Day, since they were first available, but I love the feel of a ‘real’ book in my hands.”

Davis has several recommendations, some going back a few years. Among them:

• ”The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin;
• ”The Art of Hearing Heartbeats” by Jan-Philipp Sendker;
• ”A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles;
• ”The Story of Arthur Truluv” by Elizabeth Berg;
• ”Me Before You” and “One Plus One” by JoJo Moyes;
• ”The Rent Collector” by Camron Steve Wright;
• ”The Book Thief” by Marcus Zusak;
• ”The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd;
• ”Tara Road” and “Evening Class” by Maeve Binchy;
• ”Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” by Jamie Ford;
• ”Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” by Mary Ann Shaffer;
• ”Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens;
• ”The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett” by Annie Lyons;
• ”The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman;
• ”All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr.

Rose Follenweider, of Tinley Park, is a lifelong reader who hit a wall during the pandemic.

“I could not concentrate on the written page — reading the same page over and over until I would give up. Lost two years of book reading,” she wrote. But then a friend who was compelled by the shutdown to read some 300 books gave her a tip: Set time each morning, afternoon and evening, either for 30 minutes or 50 pages. And it worked.

Now, Follenweider has some recommendations of her own: authors Riley Sager and Plainfield’s own Mary Kubica, particularly the latter’s “The Good Girl.”

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Pat Browne, of Lemont, recommends her book club’s recent selection, “Last Summer on State Street” by Toya Wolfe, a work of historical fiction from a writer who grew up in Chicago’s Robert Taylor Homes.

For fans of historical fiction, Debbie O’Donnell, of Elmhurst, recommends the works of Philippa Gregory. “I have read just about every one of her books and even have reread several of them. She does great research and really delves into her characters so you feel you are right there with them living and experiencing their joys and pitfalls.”

Doug Steinman submitted a pitch for “No Ordinary Assignment” by Jane Ferguson. “It is a memoir and autobiography by Ms. Ferguson who, at the age of 39, has been a war correspondent for 15 years,” he wrote.

My dear friend Donna Hornik, a retired English teacher who lives in Geneva, offered her list of recent reads, with reviews:

• ”Killers of the Flower Moon” by David Grann (“very good”);
• ”Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow” by Gabrielle Zevin (“best book in a year”);
• ”The Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead (“very good”);
• ”Once Upon a Wardrobe” by Patti Callahan (“good”);
• ”Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion (“very good”).

There you have it, even more reading recommendations. Remember, as a member of the universal book club, you are obliged to share and share alike. And if you come across a reason to revisit this topic, please reach out.

donnavickroy4@gmail.com

Donna Vickroy is an award-winning reporter, editor and columnist who worked for the Daily Southtown for 38 years.