Welcome to Throwback Thursday, a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books!

It’s the nature of book blogging to focus mainly on new releases, but there are thousands of great books out there that haven’t seen the “New Releases” shelf in years. We hope to be able to bring attention to some older titles that may not be at the top of the current bestseller list, but still deserve a spot in your To-Be-Read pile.

You don’t have to be a book blogger to participate! You can put up a Throwback Thursday post on your non-bookish blog; or if you don’t have a blog at all, just use the comments to tell us about a book you remember fondly.

Here’s how it works:
1. Pick any book released more than 5 years ago. Adult, YA, Children’s; doesn’t matter. Any great book will do.
2. Write up a short summary of the book (include the title, author, and cover art) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
3. Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
4. Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Island by Victoria Hislop

No, this isn’t an explosion-filled action-adventure about strangely attractive clones. (Full disclosure: I kinda love that movie).

The Island is follows the story of 25-year-old Alexis, who travels to Crete to learn about her past and figure out what she should do about her own angst-filled life. While there, she learns the story of her great grandmother, Eleni, who was sent to the leper colony of Spinalonga in the 1930s, and of her grandmother and great-aunt, Anna and Maria, the daughters Eleni left behind. The bulk of the story actually follows Eleni, Anna, and Maria, with Alexis’ story bookending theirs.

I enjoyed this book, and while it is fictional, I found it rather eye-opening. I haven’t come across a lot of books about leprosy (granted, I haven’t been looking), and reading about the colony, how its inhabitants functioned, and how the disease progressed were really interesting. There isn’t a lot of action or mystery or suspense in this book; it’s quiet and introspective, a romantic and occasionally melodramatic story. It uses Nazis and World War II as more of a backdrop than a focal point, and most of the drama and conflict is contained within Crete and Spinalonga. But it was a quick and simple read, which got me interested in a subject I didn’t think I’d ever want to read about.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!