A Good Story

I read a lot.  I always have some book or other going, sometimes two.  I read mostly for entertainment.  In my adult reading life there have been only four books that, as soon as I finished them, I immediately wanted to reread.  My four favorites are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells, and my newest find, Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.

All four books tell a good story and a first read can be enjoyed for entertainment.  All four books are what I call a Southern genre.  But all four books have a deeper theme.  And the story in each has threads of meaning interwoven throughout.

What is amazing to me is that Moon Over Manifest is Clare Vanderpool's first novel.  No one would ever guess that, given the skill with which it is constructed and the wonderful storytelling involved.  The story unfolds in the Great Depression with flashbacks to the World War I era, as it unveils the secrets of a little town in Kansas and its colorful characters.
 
Moon Over Manifest has already won awards and has been compared to To Kill a Mockingbird.  On my bookshelf it will be in good company with the other books I mentioned, and I will revisit it from time to time, just as I do those others.  You will want to give it a try yourself.