16 July 2012

Reading Booooks

I'm working through my Goodreads list now that we're back in North America but I'm falling way behind on what's new and interesting in the literary world.  Still, here's my current reading situation:

Recently Read and Enjoyed
The Art of Eating In by Cathy Erway
A young New Yorker gives up eating in restaurants for two years.  She includes her observations on home cooking, restaurant culture, the environmental impact of eating out, and recipes.  I always enjoy a good food memoir.  About three quarters of the way through this one, I started skimming but I did like it a lot.

No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene
I love this author.  She also wrote There is No Me Without You about orphans in Africa, which I also thoroughly enjoyed.  This latest work is her own family story.  She and her husband have four biological children and five children adopted from Bulgaria and Ethiopia.  Her writing is so fluid and lovely that it feels as though you have just sat down with her and had a fascinating conversation about her experience.  I'm also a sucker for adoption tales.  I started reading them when I was about 10-years-old and first read a Reader's Digest condensed version of 19 Steps Up the Mountain.

Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
You know all about this one, right?  Super light reading from Mindy Kaling, a writer and actress for the American version of the TV show The Office.  Some chapters were better than others and I most liked the photograph and caption on the back of the book, which made me giggle every time I thought about it for an entire day.

Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos
I continue to love Marisa de los Santos's beautiful writing, although I like her other two novels better.  In this one, three close friends are reunited after years apart, considerably shaking up two of their lives.

Six Rules of Maybe by Deb Caletti
Scarlett's sister returns home unexpectedly pregnant and married to a man she doesn't seem to love, adding two more people to Scarlett's long list of projects--friends, family, and neighbors she works tirelessly trying to rescue. This is my favorite of YA author Deb Caletti's books.  I read several reviews comparing this one to Sarah Dessen, who I adore, and Caletti deserves the comparison on this one.  Her main character is likeable and the relationships are nuanced and compelling.

Checked Out but Not Read
Making Toast by Roger Rosenblatt
This one is supposed to be wonderful but I put it on my list to read so long ago that I'd forgotten what it was about until I got it home from the library.  It's a memoir written by a father after his 36-year-old daughter dies unexpectedly, leaving three young children behind.  I'm not emotionally capable of reading a book about motherless children right now.  It makes me cry to think of my bairn without his mama.

Heads You Lose by Lisa Lutz and David Hayward
Checked out but never got to it.  I really like Lisa Lutz for fun, funny fiction, so maybe I'll try again later.

Currently on Hold
Jane by April Lindner (YA)
I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan (YA recommended by Ann-Marie while I was in Scotland)
Smile by Raina Telgemeier (YA recommended by Ann-Marie while I was in Scotland)
Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian by Avi Steinberg
a collection of Dilbert cartoons 

What are you reading?  What do you recommend?

p.s.  I turned off word verification on the comments, because it was getting so complicated that I knew my mother would never attempt to leave a comment ever again. 

3 comments:

Katya said...

I think I read a version of Making Toast in The New Yorker. I'll have to check out the full book, since I am bairn-free. :)

eliana23 said...

tell me about Running the Books when you read it. Glad for the YA rec too.

MBC said...

Katya--I'm sure it's lovely if you're not sobbing while you read.

Eliana--Will do.

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