New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion

I've just done a search of GoodReads titles with the theme of "new beginnings' and I have to admit that I have not read too many of them. One of the books named is Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows which is the last book in the series! So, I'm not sure I agree with the crowd source.

I've just started a new book called The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. It's about a slave who is kidnapped by John Brown and survives the Harper's Ferry raid. So, Henry has started on a new journey and is learning to survive in a very different atmosphere than where he was raised. So far, I'm finding it hard to put down. There is a lot of cursing but of the floridly descriptive kind that's very entertaining.

I'll post a book list of titles that constitute new beginnings of various sorts in my opinion. Anybody out there have any suggestions? Or maybe books to nominate from the past??

Most books by immigrants are about new beginnings. How about Native Speaker. Or the new one by Gary Shteyngart about being an immigrant from Russia.

New Beginnings -

here are my comments on Daughter of Fortune (Tripartite #1)

a cross continental saga set in the mid-19th century - a sweeping story of the binds of family that reveal itself in unexpected ways and love that awakens quietly, against a backdrop of Chile under England's colonial encroachment, an ocean voyage, and California's gold rush frenzy. also of racial and ethnic tensions, the emergence of "modern" civilization in new world development. all amid a motley cast of characters (the fallen missionary, maternal housekeeper, aloof mother, Joe Bonecrusher, Babaloo the Bad, and a mysterious and elusive bandit, to name a few.)fun and educational

isabel allende is enormously talented in the way she brings history, family and romance together into a compelling read

and the book description:

by Isabel Allende (Goodreads Author)

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 64,553 ratings · 2,192 reviews

Orphaned at birth, Eliza Sommers is raised in the British colony of Valparaíso, Chile, by the well-intentioned Victorian spinster Miss Rose and her more rigid brother Jeremy. Just as she meets and falls in love with the wildly inappropriate Joaquín Andieta, a lowly clerk who works for Jeremy, gold is discovered in the hills of northern California. By 1849, Chileans of every stripe have fallen prey to feverish dreams of wealth. Joaquín takes off for San Francisco to seek his fortune, and Eliza, pregnant with his child, decides to follow him.

As we follow her spirited heroine on a perilous journey north in the hold of a ship to the rough-and-tumble world of San Francisco and northern California, we enter a world whose newly arrived inhabitants are driven mad by gold fever. A society of single men and prostitutes among whom Eliza moves--with the help of her good friend and savior, the Chinese doctor Tao Chien--California opens the door to a new life of freedom and independence for the young Chilean. Her search for the elusive Joaquín gradually turns into another kind of journey that transforms her over time, and what began as a search for love ends up as the conquest of personal freedom.(less)

I didn't even think of this one...thanks! I loved that book and enjoyed Isabel Allende's storytelling ability. It's a great book to bury your head into.

Yes, you're right about immigrant tales. There are a couple on my list. One is The English American, a bit of a different tale about a young woman raised on Britain who never really feels quite right. She discovers that her birth parents are from the American South and comes to America to meet them, learn their customs and discover more about herself.

Here's my featured title list in no particular order:

Moll Flanders, Daniel Defoe FIC DEF
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens FIC DIC
The Opposite of Me, Sarah Pekkanen FIC PEK
Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures, Emma Straub FIC STR
Tne Next Best Thing, Jennifer Weiner FIC WEI
The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Agatha Christie FIC CHR
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Dorothy Gilman MYS GIL
Books Can Be Deceiving, Jenn McKinlay MYS MCKI
The First Phone Call From Heaven, Mitch Albom FIC ALB
The Childhood of Jesus, J.M. Coetzee FIC COE
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert 910.4 GIL
Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand 940.54725 HIL
Miss New India, Bharati Mukherjee FIC MUK
Dating Game, Danielle Steel FIC STE
Nicholas Nickleby, Charles Dickens FIC DIC
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe FIC DEF
Away, Amy Bloom FIC BLO
It All Began in Monte Carlo, Elizabeth Adler MYS ADL
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie FIC DAI
The Sunday Philosophy Club, Alexander McCall Smith, MYS MACCA
The English American, Alison Larkin FIC CAR

Here's a few more to add to the list:

The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver FIC KIN
In the Sea There are Crocodiles, Fabio Geda FIC GED
Evergreen, Belva Plain FIC PLA]
The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy FIC MCCA