Trust Your Friends for the Best Books: Musing Mondays

Another wonderful Musing Mondays prompt from Should be Reading:

How do you decide to read a book by an author you haven’t read before? What sort of recommendations count most highly in making that decision?

I've said it many times... book clubs are an amazing resource for book recommendations. I love to read different genres and authors; I'm all about the experimentation. Before book clubs, I'd search through book stores. Sometimes it was a cover that attracted me, other times I'd look at the employee recommendations highlighted.

When I started going to book clubs, one of my favorite parts was the once or twice a year meeting where everyone brought books to offer as selections for the next year's reading list. We'd pass them around and hear people tell how much they loved them or why they were excited to read a certain author. Then it was time to vote. I would scribble down authors and titles like mad. In the end, we could only pick twelve books, but I always walked away with many more to read.

My new book club has a wonderful method for selecting books. Once a year we have a potluck and bring three book suggestions each. On a piece of paper, you print the synopsis, book title, author name, length of book, and why you are recommending it. You then make enough copies for everyone to take one home. I walked home with almost 40 recommendations. Then we went online, aren't we cool!, and voted on our top twelve.

This year, I was honored that my book, Depression Cookies, was chosen. We also chose another local author, Kathryn Johnson. I really enjoyed her novel, The Gentleman Poet. See my review here.

Since I self-published, I try to incorporate a lot of indie and small press reading. I've been amazed at the wonderful stories and quality work. I've met some amazing writers, giving people who hold nothing back, who truly seem interested in others' success as well as their own. I'm thankful to have found this new treasure chest of books.

What's your favorite source for a good book?

The Gentleman Poet by Kathryn Johnson, 4.5 stars

The Gentleman Poet is as engaging as the author herself. Kathryn Johnson came to our book club to share her passion for this lovely novel, and she was interesting and enthusiastic. I liked the novel the first time, but even more after listening to her (thus, the 4.5). She has written over 40 novels under various pen names, but this is the first she published under her own name. Although marketed as adult historical fiction, the book has also been embraced by the young adult audience winning the 2011 Booksellers' Best Award for young adult fiction.

Kathryn Johnson became intrigued with a gap in Shakespeare history, a time when Shakespeare is unaccounted for in England and a man named William Strachey survived a shipwreck. His accounts of the shipwreck are eerily similar to Shakespeare's The Tempest, the last play Shakespeare wrote alone according to historians. Coincidence? Not in the author's eyes.

The story centers on Elizabeth Persons, a young servant girl traveling on a ship heading to Jamestown and the New World. She has already survived family tragedy, and now finds herself shipwrecked in the Bermudas with an overbearing mistress and people frantically trying to survive.

She is immediately drawn to a reclusive poet named Will. He spends his days journaling the passengers' attempts at survival. He senses a story in Elizabeth and takes her under his wing. His concern for her leads to matchmaking and a desire to see Elizabeth end up with Thomas, the ship's cook. Elizabeth soon discovers two things: Will is actually William Shakespeare, and she's worthy of love and Thomas. Through her relationship with both men, Elizabeth finds herself and becomes determined to control her own destiny.

Don't let the title fool you. This is a love story and tale of survival, the character of William Shakespeare serves only as a catalyst. Historical fiction, romance and young adult readers will all enjoy the tale. Shakespeare fans, too, as they will appreciate the reference to his works. Each chapter begins with a quote from one of his plays.

There are moments of laughter, tears, fear and applause. Women everywhere will celebrate Elizabeth, a strong woman before her time, one that cannot be held down by circumstance. You will laugh with her, cheer for her and cry with her in the end.

For more information, please visit Kathryn Johnson's site.