Reader's Fave

I recently interviewed my daughter, Erin Turner for our ninth installment of Reader's Fave, a casual talk with someone who shares their favorite book. Erin was visiting with her husband and daughter, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk with her about one of her favorite books. As we talked, Erin shared The House Of The Spirits by Isabel Allende, an author who is originally from Chile and now lives in California. She has written a number of books and is considered one of the leading authors of our time. Erin read this book about 10 years ago after finishing college.

After reading the book, Erin reflected on what captivated her interest. "I really discovered that I like a multi-generational book," she said. Erin has always liked fiction books, but now she likes longer novels that enrapture a reader, as if they have become a direct observer, watching the characters, their interactions, and feeling the history of time.

Another book Erin enjoyed was Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, which is considered to be an epic historical fiction. For Erin, this fits the multi-generational genre which interests her, as the various family characters face different challenges while moving from their native country of Korea to Japan. Erin went on to share that her interest in reading came from always seeing her parents read at home. "There were no screens in the house, so what else was there to do," she said. With shelves and shelves full of books to explore, there was always something to read. Erin also recalled how the family would always read together in the evening from some book. She remembers fondly The Yearling by Marjorie Rawlings being read aloud at home with everyone sprawled out on the living room floor.

One book Erin vividly remembers from her younger years is In The Heart Of The Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick. This was a more mature book than those she had been reading as a young one. She greatly enjoyed it and realized she had access to all these types of books right there on the book shelves – plus the weekly family visits to the library. Today, Erin lives a busy life working a full-time job and being a mother to a 1½ year old, but she still manages to read about 20 books a year, down from the 50 when she was single. She now does all of her reading on a Kindle using the Libby app as her primary source for accessing her books.

Whether it be hard-copy books or digital and audio books using the Libby app, may you wonderful Wahkiakum readers enjoy some good works.