in november i read:
the invention of wings, by sue monk kidd (i'm teaching this book during interim term at my school. definitely worth a read - historical fiction that alternates between two narrators: a white southerner named sarah grimke (a real person who became an abolitionist and women's rights activitist) and her slave (also a real person). my mom and sister recommended it to me and i found the story quite compelling and the book very well-written.)
homegoing, by yaa gyasi (i loved this book, which we read in the diversity book club i'm running with faculty at my school. it tells the story of eight generations (from the 1700s to 1900s) within two branches of the same family tree; one branch lives in africa and the other begins with a family member who is sold into slavery and goes to the united states. our book club had a great conversation about this book and i would highly recommend it. i think we're all better off if we read books by authors with experiences and backgrounds different from our own.)
eleanor oliphant is completely fine, by gail honeyman (oh, i loved this book. uplifting, a quick read, a really well-developed and complex main character, and i couldn't wait to see what eleanor would do next. heart-warming, though tough to read in parts. highly recommend!)
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Monday, November 6, 2017
october: 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 & 48
this month i read (and listened to):
metamorphosis, by franz kafka (i listened to the [free] audiobook of this one - i had to read it in high school and clearly appreciated it more as an adult than i did when i was a teenager and struggling through required reading, though i missed having an english teacher to explain to me the deeper meaning behind everything that was happening.)
milk and honey, by rupi kaur (GO BUY THIS BOOK. poetry plus drawings by the author who is incredibly talented - this really spoke to me and i tore through it. there's a reason everyone has been talking about this book. read it!)
incendiary, by chris cleave (this is a book that had been sitting on my shelf - and i'm trying to read things (when i have time) that are already in my house (free! sense of accomplishment!). i loved little bee and this was not quite little bee for me. it's told as a letter to osama bin laden, after the narrator's husband and son were killed in a terrorist attack. i'm glad i read it and it was really different in tone and scope than anything else i'd read, but there's a reason you've heard of cleave's other books and not this one. it's skipable.)
things we lost in the fire, by mariana enriquez (this is a book of short stories - apparently this author is very popular in her native argentina but this is the first of her books to be translated into english. if you're into latin american/south american literature, you definitely need to read this. it was the perfect book to read on a vacation (costa rica!!) because it was very easy to pick up and put down.)
a little history of the world, by e.h. gombrich (Q gave me this book a long time ago and i've read it off and on and FINALLY finished it after (seriously) several years of reading it occasionally. this is the translation of a book written in german in the 1930s, where the author tells the history of the world to an elementary school-aged audience. i was totally charmed by it and would recommend it to anyone with a kid this age - it would be a perfect read-aloud before bed. glad i read it and have it on my shelf!)
dolores claiborne, by stephen king (i listened to the audiobook of this one, on veronica's recommendation - non-scary, kind-of-creepy story told entirely by a woman who is being questioned in the murder of her employer, set in the police station questioning room. the plot is slow-moving - as she recounts parts of her life to explain that she didn't kill this woman - but that made it perfect for an audiobook where you don't have to worry about missing something because you get distracted. (i get distracted during audiobooks because i'm always doing other things (driving) - does this happen to other people?) i really like stephen king's books...when they aren't scary. a few years ago i read and loved 11/22/63, and after this one i'm definitely planning to read more.)
metamorphosis, by franz kafka (i listened to the [free] audiobook of this one - i had to read it in high school and clearly appreciated it more as an adult than i did when i was a teenager and struggling through required reading, though i missed having an english teacher to explain to me the deeper meaning behind everything that was happening.)
milk and honey, by rupi kaur (GO BUY THIS BOOK. poetry plus drawings by the author who is incredibly talented - this really spoke to me and i tore through it. there's a reason everyone has been talking about this book. read it!)
incendiary, by chris cleave (this is a book that had been sitting on my shelf - and i'm trying to read things (when i have time) that are already in my house (free! sense of accomplishment!). i loved little bee and this was not quite little bee for me. it's told as a letter to osama bin laden, after the narrator's husband and son were killed in a terrorist attack. i'm glad i read it and it was really different in tone and scope than anything else i'd read, but there's a reason you've heard of cleave's other books and not this one. it's skipable.)
things we lost in the fire, by mariana enriquez (this is a book of short stories - apparently this author is very popular in her native argentina but this is the first of her books to be translated into english. if you're into latin american/south american literature, you definitely need to read this. it was the perfect book to read on a vacation (costa rica!!) because it was very easy to pick up and put down.)
a little history of the world, by e.h. gombrich (Q gave me this book a long time ago and i've read it off and on and FINALLY finished it after (seriously) several years of reading it occasionally. this is the translation of a book written in german in the 1930s, where the author tells the history of the world to an elementary school-aged audience. i was totally charmed by it and would recommend it to anyone with a kid this age - it would be a perfect read-aloud before bed. glad i read it and have it on my shelf!)
dolores claiborne, by stephen king (i listened to the audiobook of this one, on veronica's recommendation - non-scary, kind-of-creepy story told entirely by a woman who is being questioned in the murder of her employer, set in the police station questioning room. the plot is slow-moving - as she recounts parts of her life to explain that she didn't kill this woman - but that made it perfect for an audiobook where you don't have to worry about missing something because you get distracted. (i get distracted during audiobooks because i'm always doing other things (driving) - does this happen to other people?) i really like stephen king's books...when they aren't scary. a few years ago i read and loved 11/22/63, and after this one i'm definitely planning to read more.)
Saturday, November 4, 2017
september: 40, 41 and 42
more than a month behind on posting this. gotta get my shit together!
in september, i read:
imagine me gone, by adam haslett (this was on a lot of independent bookstore lists this summer and i really liked it - intriguing story inside a family struggling with mental illness. that makes it sound very depressing and it was not! as far as i can remember. since i finished it two months ago... thumbs up, though not the best book i've ever read.)
born to run, by bruce springsteen (i listened to the audiobook of this, which springsteen reads, and i was proselytizing about it left and right in august. i really enjoyed it. it led me to listen to more of his music - i knew the hits but nothing beyond that - and goes down as a similar book for me to patti smith's just kids: parts of it were relevant only to super fans, but parts of it really spoke to me. and i love a memoir. if the only thing i get from the book is appreciation to bruce for writing 41 shots, that would be enough. i mean, people. bruce was #blacklivesmatter in 2001.)
spoonbenders, by daryl gregory (i read this for my book club and it's one of those books that you're enjoying as it's going - but you know there's a layer beyond the one you're reading - and then at the end it just all comes together and your mind is slightly blown about the way all the pieces fit together. family drama plus paranormal activity...i'd recommend it!)
in september, i read:
imagine me gone, by adam haslett (this was on a lot of independent bookstore lists this summer and i really liked it - intriguing story inside a family struggling with mental illness. that makes it sound very depressing and it was not! as far as i can remember. since i finished it two months ago... thumbs up, though not the best book i've ever read.)
born to run, by bruce springsteen (i listened to the audiobook of this, which springsteen reads, and i was proselytizing about it left and right in august. i really enjoyed it. it led me to listen to more of his music - i knew the hits but nothing beyond that - and goes down as a similar book for me to patti smith's just kids: parts of it were relevant only to super fans, but parts of it really spoke to me. and i love a memoir. if the only thing i get from the book is appreciation to bruce for writing 41 shots, that would be enough. i mean, people. bruce was #blacklivesmatter in 2001.)
spoonbenders, by daryl gregory (i read this for my book club and it's one of those books that you're enjoying as it's going - but you know there's a layer beyond the one you're reading - and then at the end it just all comes together and your mind is slightly blown about the way all the pieces fit together. family drama plus paranormal activity...i'd recommend it!)
Saturday, September 23, 2017
august: 36, 37, 38 & 39
in august, i read:
six of crows, by leigh bardugo (this is a YA novel that i suggested for my book club...and it was not the best YA novel i've read...not sure i would recommend this to others. six teenagers who live in a post-apocalyptic world and try to seek revenge and freedom by going on a journey. this author has written a ton of books so she must have a pretty good following but this one wasn't quite for me.)
the dorito effect, by mark schatzker (i listened to this audiobook, about how the food industry manipulates us and promotes fake foods. i found a lot of it really interesting - "natural flavor," for example, means nothing and is entirely artificial....in the process of getting bigger fruits and vegetables and bigger cuts of meat we have sacrificed flavor...all things i suspected but now have some research backing up. if you're interested in food ethics i would highly recommend this!)
shadow of the lions, by christopher swann (chris is a friend of mine from atlanta! i read his book because...how could i not. i expected it to be pretty good - it was making a lot of "best of" southern author lists this summer, but i did not expect to love it quite as much as i did. i would highly recommend this! set in a southern boarding school both during the narrator's time as a student and then again when he comes back to teach. it takes some pretty interesting twists and the writing is lovely. two thumbs up!)
the hate u give, by angie thomas (okay, this is the best book i've read all year and if it doesn't win the printz award for best YA book then the whole thing is rigged. highly highly recommend. the main character is a black girl who attends a private school...and then watches her friend - a black teenage boy - get shot by police. i LOVED the narrator's voice and the author's writing style and i found the topic incredibly important and relevant. read this!
six of crows, by leigh bardugo (this is a YA novel that i suggested for my book club...and it was not the best YA novel i've read...not sure i would recommend this to others. six teenagers who live in a post-apocalyptic world and try to seek revenge and freedom by going on a journey. this author has written a ton of books so she must have a pretty good following but this one wasn't quite for me.)
the dorito effect, by mark schatzker (i listened to this audiobook, about how the food industry manipulates us and promotes fake foods. i found a lot of it really interesting - "natural flavor," for example, means nothing and is entirely artificial....in the process of getting bigger fruits and vegetables and bigger cuts of meat we have sacrificed flavor...all things i suspected but now have some research backing up. if you're interested in food ethics i would highly recommend this!)
shadow of the lions, by christopher swann (chris is a friend of mine from atlanta! i read his book because...how could i not. i expected it to be pretty good - it was making a lot of "best of" southern author lists this summer, but i did not expect to love it quite as much as i did. i would highly recommend this! set in a southern boarding school both during the narrator's time as a student and then again when he comes back to teach. it takes some pretty interesting twists and the writing is lovely. two thumbs up!)
the hate u give, by angie thomas (okay, this is the best book i've read all year and if it doesn't win the printz award for best YA book then the whole thing is rigged. highly highly recommend. the main character is a black girl who attends a private school...and then watches her friend - a black teenage boy - get shot by police. i LOVED the narrator's voice and the author's writing style and i found the topic incredibly important and relevant. read this!
Saturday, August 19, 2017
july: 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34 & 35
this month i read:
the fall of lisa bellow, by susan perabo (two girls go into a sandwich shop - there is a robbery gone wrong - one girl is abducted. we see the story from the girl who is left behind. in the summers i always try to read a few books from a list recommended to the teachers at my school by a local bookstore owner who comes on campus in the spring for this purpose. this is one - as are chilbury ladies and this is how it always is, also read this month. i enjoyed this book - the not knowing what has happened to the abducted girl and how it affects the whole community. thumbs up.)
theft by finding, by david sedaris (it took me a little while to warm up to literally entries from david sedaris's diary, but i did warm up to them and by the end i was reveling in the behind the scenes version of his life. like, he published a book and continued to help people remodel their homes because he needed the money. he worked as a seasonal fruit picker in california in his 20s! you get to see him fall in love with hugh, which is adorable. you get to read about the random conversations he overhears in the ihop where he writes daily for 9 years. i was totally entertained. be prepared, though, for this to be very different from the rest of his books.)
slow days, fast company, by eve babitz (are you single and in your 30s? GO BUY THIS BOOK. i already have four people for whom i will be purchasing this for christmas. hilarious and so true to life - even though she's writing from los angeles high society in the 1960s.)
the chilbury ladies' choir, by jennifer ryan (did you like the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society? you will like this book exactly that much. which is to say, it will not be the best book you read this year but you'll like it just fine. i enjoyed that the book is told in diary entries and letters.)
this is how it always is, by laurie frankel (the story of the raising of a transgender child. sweet, sad, funny, anxiety-producing. highly recommend, though parts of the dialogue felt a little too perfectly scripted.)
dear life, by alice munro (i wanted to read this because it seems like to be an educated american you ought to have read some alice munro. except her stories are all so SAD. beautiful writing, and i see why she's won the nobel prize, but i think this may be the only book of hers that i read.)
masterminds & wingmen, by rosalind wiseman (if you have a son or teach boys, you must read this book! she's brilliant and gives excellent advice. i recommended it to the parents that i work with in my back-to-school email.)
the fall of lisa bellow, by susan perabo (two girls go into a sandwich shop - there is a robbery gone wrong - one girl is abducted. we see the story from the girl who is left behind. in the summers i always try to read a few books from a list recommended to the teachers at my school by a local bookstore owner who comes on campus in the spring for this purpose. this is one - as are chilbury ladies and this is how it always is, also read this month. i enjoyed this book - the not knowing what has happened to the abducted girl and how it affects the whole community. thumbs up.)
theft by finding, by david sedaris (it took me a little while to warm up to literally entries from david sedaris's diary, but i did warm up to them and by the end i was reveling in the behind the scenes version of his life. like, he published a book and continued to help people remodel their homes because he needed the money. he worked as a seasonal fruit picker in california in his 20s! you get to see him fall in love with hugh, which is adorable. you get to read about the random conversations he overhears in the ihop where he writes daily for 9 years. i was totally entertained. be prepared, though, for this to be very different from the rest of his books.)
slow days, fast company, by eve babitz (are you single and in your 30s? GO BUY THIS BOOK. i already have four people for whom i will be purchasing this for christmas. hilarious and so true to life - even though she's writing from los angeles high society in the 1960s.)
the chilbury ladies' choir, by jennifer ryan (did you like the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society? you will like this book exactly that much. which is to say, it will not be the best book you read this year but you'll like it just fine. i enjoyed that the book is told in diary entries and letters.)
this is how it always is, by laurie frankel (the story of the raising of a transgender child. sweet, sad, funny, anxiety-producing. highly recommend, though parts of the dialogue felt a little too perfectly scripted.)
dear life, by alice munro (i wanted to read this because it seems like to be an educated american you ought to have read some alice munro. except her stories are all so SAD. beautiful writing, and i see why she's won the nobel prize, but i think this may be the only book of hers that i read.)
masterminds & wingmen, by rosalind wiseman (if you have a son or teach boys, you must read this book! she's brilliant and gives excellent advice. i recommended it to the parents that i work with in my back-to-school email.)
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
june: 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28
summer vacation = lots of reading!
hamlet's blackberry, by william powers (i have been proselytizing about this book since i finished it; it's the authors thoughts on technology, along with seven great thinkers (plato, seneca, shakespeare, and others) talking about technology in their time period and how people reacted to it. in plato's era, the big technology was writing down your ideas on a scroll and reading from it, as opposed to memorizing it. in shakespeare's, they had invented little erasable tablets, so there was the idea of revising your thoughts. i loved hearing how people across thousands of years have responded to technological changes - often in very similar ways - and thinking about how attached we are to our phones. great to read as i embarked on summer and had much more time to just mess around thoughtlessly on my phone.)
shrill, by lindy west (i listened to this audiobook - body-positive, humorous, moving. i was into it. she got a smidge shrill (ha) for me at one point, but i still really liked it. i hadn't realized that i knew this author - i listened to the book at the recommendation of my cousin, laura - but then realized i'd heard at least one story on a this american life episode, and had enjoyed it. thumbs up!)
hillbilly elegy, by j.d. vance (so everyone was talking about this after the election - a book to read to understand trump's america...or something. it got SO much press. i listened to this audiobook on a long car ride, and i was intrigued by the story of vance's life. i found some of it unsurprising, having grown up in rural appalachia myself, and maybe he did help me understand trump's america a little more. but i wasn't blown away by it and i was surprised by how much press it had gotten. glad i read it / but at the same time it wasn't revolutionary.)
vertigo, by joanna walsh (this was a pick i got in my monthly book subscription from a local independent bookstore. a book of short stories - fine - nothing exceptional - good reading while on vacation and i was only able to read in snippets.)
the uncommon reader, by alan bennett (kate lent this to me - a fictional imagining of what would happen if queen elizabeth fell so in love with reading that she couldn't rule. i was vaguely entertained but not blown away. both this and vertigo were short and quickly finished.)
a gentleman in moscow, by amor towles (i read this for two book clubs (thanks, book clubs, for picking the same book and making my life easier). it's a character study, really, of a man on house arrest in a hotel in moscow starting in the 1920s. not much happens, which frustrated me, but perhaps i should have expected it since he can't leave the hotel. my friends either loved it for how richly he and the hotel were depicted it...or they were slightly bored like i was. i have to admit that i can still easily walk the halls of this hotel in my mind, but i wasn't as blown away by it as i wanted to be. this book has gotten a ton of press this year, and our librarian at school said it was the best book she read this year. so maybe i expected too much?)
modern romance, by aziz ansari (every person who has ever online dated MUST read this book. so good. so true. it was really interesting to hear the research behind what i've experienced in real life. i listened to this audiobook, too, and loved having ansari read it to me!)
hamlet's blackberry, by william powers (i have been proselytizing about this book since i finished it; it's the authors thoughts on technology, along with seven great thinkers (plato, seneca, shakespeare, and others) talking about technology in their time period and how people reacted to it. in plato's era, the big technology was writing down your ideas on a scroll and reading from it, as opposed to memorizing it. in shakespeare's, they had invented little erasable tablets, so there was the idea of revising your thoughts. i loved hearing how people across thousands of years have responded to technological changes - often in very similar ways - and thinking about how attached we are to our phones. great to read as i embarked on summer and had much more time to just mess around thoughtlessly on my phone.)
shrill, by lindy west (i listened to this audiobook - body-positive, humorous, moving. i was into it. she got a smidge shrill (ha) for me at one point, but i still really liked it. i hadn't realized that i knew this author - i listened to the book at the recommendation of my cousin, laura - but then realized i'd heard at least one story on a this american life episode, and had enjoyed it. thumbs up!)
hillbilly elegy, by j.d. vance (so everyone was talking about this after the election - a book to read to understand trump's america...or something. it got SO much press. i listened to this audiobook on a long car ride, and i was intrigued by the story of vance's life. i found some of it unsurprising, having grown up in rural appalachia myself, and maybe he did help me understand trump's america a little more. but i wasn't blown away by it and i was surprised by how much press it had gotten. glad i read it / but at the same time it wasn't revolutionary.)
vertigo, by joanna walsh (this was a pick i got in my monthly book subscription from a local independent bookstore. a book of short stories - fine - nothing exceptional - good reading while on vacation and i was only able to read in snippets.)
the uncommon reader, by alan bennett (kate lent this to me - a fictional imagining of what would happen if queen elizabeth fell so in love with reading that she couldn't rule. i was vaguely entertained but not blown away. both this and vertigo were short and quickly finished.)
a gentleman in moscow, by amor towles (i read this for two book clubs (thanks, book clubs, for picking the same book and making my life easier). it's a character study, really, of a man on house arrest in a hotel in moscow starting in the 1920s. not much happens, which frustrated me, but perhaps i should have expected it since he can't leave the hotel. my friends either loved it for how richly he and the hotel were depicted it...or they were slightly bored like i was. i have to admit that i can still easily walk the halls of this hotel in my mind, but i wasn't as blown away by it as i wanted to be. this book has gotten a ton of press this year, and our librarian at school said it was the best book she read this year. so maybe i expected too much?)
modern romance, by aziz ansari (every person who has ever online dated MUST read this book. so good. so true. it was really interesting to hear the research behind what i've experienced in real life. i listened to this audiobook, too, and loved having ansari read it to me!)
Friday, June 9, 2017
comparing years...
i love to do this - look back through past posts on my blog.
in the first five months of this year, i read 21 books.
last year at this time, i had read 25.
in 2015, 10 (!!).
in 2014, 12.
in 2013, 17.
in 2012, 15.
in 2011, 14.
wait, i've been recording my books since 2011?
see. the magic of looking back through the blog history. :)
in the first five months of this year, i read 21 books.
last year at this time, i had read 25.
in 2015, 10 (!!).
in 2014, 12.
in 2013, 17.
in 2012, 15.
in 2011, 14.
wait, i've been recording my books since 2011?
see. the magic of looking back through the blog history. :)
may: 17, 18, 19, 20 & 21
this month i read:
the bees, by laline paull (okay, so veronica recommended this to me and i was like, "um, a book where all the characters are actual bees? no thank you." but then several months later i heard about it again and then all of a sudden i was reading it. but...actual bees as main characters is weird. i made it through the book but wasn't rushing home to read it. you are allowed to skip this one.)
midwinterblood, by marcus sedgwick (oooooh i loved this book. young adult, mysterious island, odd characters, multiple story lines that aren't hard to keep separate. our school librarian gave me a copy of the book and told me to read it and she was so spot on with her recommendation. will definitely be reading more by this author! title is weird. book is tons better than the title would suggest!)
the circle, by dave eggers (another one i really enjoyed; i read this for one of my book clubs. super creepy version of the future that is just a tiny bit less private than ours and a tiny bit more connected electronically...and it snowballs out of control. i was totally fascinated by the world-building in this story and sped through it even though it was almost 500 pages. highly recommend!)
and every morning the way home gets longer and longer, by fredrik backman (well, i freaking sobbed my way through this. it's a novella that i read in one sitting while going through three kleenex tissues...a lovely way to think about aging and the relationship between multiple generations and definitely i'm glad i read it. love this author!)
not my father's son, by alan cumming (i listened to the audiobook of this and cannot recommend it highly enough. alan cumming reads the audiobook (a big plus in my world), and this is the story of his relationship with his father and grandfather. fascinating, can't-believe-this-is-nonfiction stuff, and he is a lovely writer. i like alan cumming as an actor and this made me appreciate him as an artist even more.)
the bees, by laline paull (okay, so veronica recommended this to me and i was like, "um, a book where all the characters are actual bees? no thank you." but then several months later i heard about it again and then all of a sudden i was reading it. but...actual bees as main characters is weird. i made it through the book but wasn't rushing home to read it. you are allowed to skip this one.)
midwinterblood, by marcus sedgwick (oooooh i loved this book. young adult, mysterious island, odd characters, multiple story lines that aren't hard to keep separate. our school librarian gave me a copy of the book and told me to read it and she was so spot on with her recommendation. will definitely be reading more by this author! title is weird. book is tons better than the title would suggest!)
the circle, by dave eggers (another one i really enjoyed; i read this for one of my book clubs. super creepy version of the future that is just a tiny bit less private than ours and a tiny bit more connected electronically...and it snowballs out of control. i was totally fascinated by the world-building in this story and sped through it even though it was almost 500 pages. highly recommend!)
and every morning the way home gets longer and longer, by fredrik backman (well, i freaking sobbed my way through this. it's a novella that i read in one sitting while going through three kleenex tissues...a lovely way to think about aging and the relationship between multiple generations and definitely i'm glad i read it. love this author!)
not my father's son, by alan cumming (i listened to the audiobook of this and cannot recommend it highly enough. alan cumming reads the audiobook (a big plus in my world), and this is the story of his relationship with his father and grandfather. fascinating, can't-believe-this-is-nonfiction stuff, and he is a lovely writer. i like alan cumming as an actor and this made me appreciate him as an artist even more.)
Wednesday, May 10, 2017
april: 14, 15 & 16
beowulf (i listened to the audiobook of this - which i hadn't read since high school - and totally loved it. the narrator had an excellent voice, and i enjoyed the lyrical language and the easy-to-follow plot (i don't often do well listening to fiction, because my mind tends to wander a bit and then i get lost). but i guess i shouldn't be surprised to have enjoyed it so much - beowulf was written to be read or recited aloud! big thumbs up if you're into this sort of book.)
murder on the orient express, by agatha christie (i nerded out and read this along with a senior english class at my school, attending class once a week while they read it and participating in discussions (and taking reading quizzes!). i hadn't read any agatha christie before, and this is such a popular book in our canon that i wanted to have read it; it was an easy read and i was definitely entertained by it, but it hasn't turned me into a christie or poirot devotee. one agatha christie book might be enough for me!)
the little old lady who broke all the rules, by catharina ingelman-sundberg (this was my book club's pick for last month, and you can totally skip it. it claims to be in the genre of a man called ove, but i loved that one and didn't much care for this one. not sure if this one didn't stand up well in translation, or the swedish are into different things in their literature, or if i just didn't care for it. really fun premise, but the book dragged for me.)
murder on the orient express, by agatha christie (i nerded out and read this along with a senior english class at my school, attending class once a week while they read it and participating in discussions (and taking reading quizzes!). i hadn't read any agatha christie before, and this is such a popular book in our canon that i wanted to have read it; it was an easy read and i was definitely entertained by it, but it hasn't turned me into a christie or poirot devotee. one agatha christie book might be enough for me!)
the little old lady who broke all the rules, by catharina ingelman-sundberg (this was my book club's pick for last month, and you can totally skip it. it claims to be in the genre of a man called ove, but i loved that one and didn't much care for this one. not sure if this one didn't stand up well in translation, or the swedish are into different things in their literature, or if i just didn't care for it. really fun premise, but the book dragged for me.)
Sunday, April 23, 2017
march: 11, 12 & 13
with a spring break trip to france in the works, i planned my books this month to compliment the trip!
the paris wife, by paula mclain (i didn't love circling the sun, so i was slightly skeptical of this book, which has the same premise (take a real woman and create historical fiction around her life), but this book worked so much better for me than circling the sun did. this book tells the story of hemingway's first wife, hadley, and the five years they spent living in paris together before getting divorced and moving back to north america. if you are a hemingway fan - or a paris fan! - this is definitely worth a read.)
the nightingale, by kristin hannah (this book was recommended to me by becky a few years ago, and i finally got around to reading it. an aspect of WWII that i really didn't understand until very recently is the perspective of people who lived in occupied france. FASCINATING. this book, though fiction, helped me understand that time in france very well - the nuances of how horrible it was. again - so cool to read this while in paris, and i may or may not have cried on the plane ride home while finishing it up.)
a moveable feast, by ernest hemingway (so i had hadley's (somewhat fictionalized) version of things from the paris wife, and a friend lent me this book, hemingway's memoir of the very same time period: those five years in paris. i loved this book, and would so recommend that people read the two books together like i did. i hadn't read any hemingway since college and was reminded of how much i like his writing style. it was interesting to see his (actual) perspective on the fictionalized events of the paris wife (hadley really did lose the manuscripts of all his early work by leaving it in a train station!). i also loved the idea of 60 year old, nearing the end of his life hemingway reflecting back on his life when he was in his 20s. it was a quick read!)
the paris wife, by paula mclain (i didn't love circling the sun, so i was slightly skeptical of this book, which has the same premise (take a real woman and create historical fiction around her life), but this book worked so much better for me than circling the sun did. this book tells the story of hemingway's first wife, hadley, and the five years they spent living in paris together before getting divorced and moving back to north america. if you are a hemingway fan - or a paris fan! - this is definitely worth a read.)
the nightingale, by kristin hannah (this book was recommended to me by becky a few years ago, and i finally got around to reading it. an aspect of WWII that i really didn't understand until very recently is the perspective of people who lived in occupied france. FASCINATING. this book, though fiction, helped me understand that time in france very well - the nuances of how horrible it was. again - so cool to read this while in paris, and i may or may not have cried on the plane ride home while finishing it up.)
a moveable feast, by ernest hemingway (so i had hadley's (somewhat fictionalized) version of things from the paris wife, and a friend lent me this book, hemingway's memoir of the very same time period: those five years in paris. i loved this book, and would so recommend that people read the two books together like i did. i hadn't read any hemingway since college and was reminded of how much i like his writing style. it was interesting to see his (actual) perspective on the fictionalized events of the paris wife (hadley really did lose the manuscripts of all his early work by leaving it in a train station!). i also loved the idea of 60 year old, nearing the end of his life hemingway reflecting back on his life when he was in his 20s. it was a quick read!)
Saturday, March 4, 2017
february: 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10
this month i read:
family life, by akhil sharma (i would never have picked this book up if my book club hadn't chosen it for this month's selection, and i ended up really enjoying it. apparently david sedaris has been talking up this book, which seems like as good an endorsement as you can get. the book is a coming-of-age story of an indian boy who moves to america with his family. it grew on me as i read, and then when i googled the author after finishing the book i learned things that made me appreciate the book even more.)
the longest day, by cornelius ryan (i listened to this audiobook in preparation for my trip to normandy in a week. it was published in the late 1950s, so i was skeptical that it would stand the test of time, but it turns out there's a reason people point to this as the definitive book on the d-day invasion: it is fascinating nonfiction that reads like fiction. the book is split into three parts - the wait, the night (when the paratroopers landed), and the day (of the invasion from the sea). i learned a ton and hope it helps me appreciate seeing the beaches in person.)
family life, by akhil sharma (i would never have picked this book up if my book club hadn't chosen it for this month's selection, and i ended up really enjoying it. apparently david sedaris has been talking up this book, which seems like as good an endorsement as you can get. the book is a coming-of-age story of an indian boy who moves to america with his family. it grew on me as i read, and then when i googled the author after finishing the book i learned things that made me appreciate the book even more.)
the longest day, by cornelius ryan (i listened to this audiobook in preparation for my trip to normandy in a week. it was published in the late 1950s, so i was skeptical that it would stand the test of time, but it turns out there's a reason people point to this as the definitive book on the d-day invasion: it is fascinating nonfiction that reads like fiction. the book is split into three parts - the wait, the night (when the paratroopers landed), and the day (of the invasion from the sea). i learned a ton and hope it helps me appreciate seeing the beaches in person.)
the wonder, by emma donoghue (i loved room but this one kind of disappointed. interesting premise...but it wasn't a page turner. skip this one and read room instead.)
seabiscuit: an american legend, by laura hillenbrand (another audiobook - this one i had to check out from the library three separate times to get through it all. the ultimate question one should ask oneself before starting this book: how much do you care about horses? did i learn some fun facts: yes. was i charmed by the meteoric rise of seabiscuit: yes. did i really want to listen to second-by-second accounts of horse races from 70 years ago when i was driving to work: no. this is another one where you should read the author's other bestseller - unbroken - instead.)
the sun is also a star, by nicola yoon (ugh, a third i would put in that same category - i liked everything, everything better than this one, though i read this in three days and was charmed by it. if you like YA fiction you should familiarize yourself with this author!)
seabiscuit: an american legend, by laura hillenbrand (another audiobook - this one i had to check out from the library three separate times to get through it all. the ultimate question one should ask oneself before starting this book: how much do you care about horses? did i learn some fun facts: yes. was i charmed by the meteoric rise of seabiscuit: yes. did i really want to listen to second-by-second accounts of horse races from 70 years ago when i was driving to work: no. this is another one where you should read the author's other bestseller - unbroken - instead.)
the sun is also a star, by nicola yoon (ugh, a third i would put in that same category - i liked everything, everything better than this one, though i read this in three days and was charmed by it. if you like YA fiction you should familiarize yourself with this author!)
Sunday, February 5, 2017
january: 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5
super female-heavy january of reading! off to a fast start. this month i read:
the sixth extinction, by elizabeth kolbert (i actually listened to this one on my drive to north carolina for christmas and finished it up when i got back to houston. really really enjoyed this pulitzer-prize winning nonfiction about the extinctions of 13 different species throughout world history. so many fun facts came out of this! big thumbs up. audiobook was well narrated, too.)
lab girl, by hope jahren (ugh, i LOVED this book, too. part memoir, part nonfiction about plant biology, this was unexpectedly FANTASTICALLY written and super touching. don't let "memoir of a female scientist" lead you away from picking this book up. it's so much more. particularly loved the commentary on adult friendships and on finding love in your 30s.)
lilac girls, by martha hall kelly (this was our faculty book club pick, and we're going to be skyping with the author in a few weeks! the book follows three women during world war II - one german doctor, one polish woman who is imprisoned in a concentration camp, one american philanthropist. i liked this book but didn't love it - it was interesting that parts of it were based on real women and a true story, and it was kind of an unusual holocaust story (no jewish characters). i'm not rushing out to recommend this to people, but i had no trouble getting through it.)
all the bright places, by jennifer niven (a young adult book that's getting a lot of YA press these days. the author is no john green nor is she rainbow rowell, but i did enjoy this book - add it to your list if you're into YA.)
difficult women, by roxane gay (this is a book of short stories that was in places funny, in places devastatingly sad. this was the recommendation of the independent bookstore in houston that i frequent, and was published in january so i felt very fancy that i was reading it so shortly after it was published. i tend to stay away from short stories because i find it hard to dive into a character only to have them disappear forever at the end of the chapter, but i've read some good short story collections recently - this included - that are changing my mind about that. some of these stories have really stuck with me. thumbs up. since i'm in the process of cultivating myself as a nasty woman, the subject matter and title seemed appropriate for early 2017.)
the sixth extinction, by elizabeth kolbert (i actually listened to this one on my drive to north carolina for christmas and finished it up when i got back to houston. really really enjoyed this pulitzer-prize winning nonfiction about the extinctions of 13 different species throughout world history. so many fun facts came out of this! big thumbs up. audiobook was well narrated, too.)
lab girl, by hope jahren (ugh, i LOVED this book, too. part memoir, part nonfiction about plant biology, this was unexpectedly FANTASTICALLY written and super touching. don't let "memoir of a female scientist" lead you away from picking this book up. it's so much more. particularly loved the commentary on adult friendships and on finding love in your 30s.)
lilac girls, by martha hall kelly (this was our faculty book club pick, and we're going to be skyping with the author in a few weeks! the book follows three women during world war II - one german doctor, one polish woman who is imprisoned in a concentration camp, one american philanthropist. i liked this book but didn't love it - it was interesting that parts of it were based on real women and a true story, and it was kind of an unusual holocaust story (no jewish characters). i'm not rushing out to recommend this to people, but i had no trouble getting through it.)
all the bright places, by jennifer niven (a young adult book that's getting a lot of YA press these days. the author is no john green nor is she rainbow rowell, but i did enjoy this book - add it to your list if you're into YA.)
difficult women, by roxane gay (this is a book of short stories that was in places funny, in places devastatingly sad. this was the recommendation of the independent bookstore in houston that i frequent, and was published in january so i felt very fancy that i was reading it so shortly after it was published. i tend to stay away from short stories because i find it hard to dive into a character only to have them disappear forever at the end of the chapter, but i've read some good short story collections recently - this included - that are changing my mind about that. some of these stories have really stuck with me. thumbs up. since i'm in the process of cultivating myself as a nasty woman, the subject matter and title seemed appropriate for early 2017.)
Sunday, January 1, 2017
my year in books
a recap (mandatory):
2010: i read 15 books.
2011: i started my book challenge with the goal of reading 25 books; i read 38.
2012: 34 books
2013: i read 34 books again
2014: 32 books.
2015: 35 books
2016: in year six i read 58 books because...i'm not sure. less tv? (maybe) pop sugar book challenge motivated me? (probably - the social experience of talking about the challenge definitely did something for me) my social life sucks? (i don't think so...but now i'm questioning that)
2016 broken down:
33 books written by women
25 by men
(a little more of a gender balance than last year)
41 fiction books
17 nonfiction
(a pretty consistent ratio for me)
13 diverse books (as in, the main character or the author is not white) - this is almost double the number from last year. i'm proud of that.
my favorite books of 2016? between the world and me, by ta-nehisi coates (nonfiction) and a man called ove, by fredrik backman (fiction). read this books immediately.
i'm going to do another reading challenge in 2017 - comment or email/text/facebook me if you want to play along with me this year and i'll make sure you're clued in to the details! i'm not trying to beat 58 books because that is absurd, but i am trying to find books i'll love, read them, and talk with others about them. and that sounds like a good intention with which to enter 2017.
2010: i read 15 books.
2011: i started my book challenge with the goal of reading 25 books; i read 38.
2012: 34 books
2013: i read 34 books again
2014: 32 books.
2015: 35 books
2016: in year six i read 58 books because...i'm not sure. less tv? (maybe) pop sugar book challenge motivated me? (probably - the social experience of talking about the challenge definitely did something for me) my social life sucks? (i don't think so...but now i'm questioning that)
2016 broken down:
33 books written by women
25 by men
(a little more of a gender balance than last year)
41 fiction books
17 nonfiction
(a pretty consistent ratio for me)
13 diverse books (as in, the main character or the author is not white) - this is almost double the number from last year. i'm proud of that.
my favorite books of 2016? between the world and me, by ta-nehisi coates (nonfiction) and a man called ove, by fredrik backman (fiction). read this books immediately.
i'm going to do another reading challenge in 2017 - comment or email/text/facebook me if you want to play along with me this year and i'll make sure you're clued in to the details! i'm not trying to beat 58 books because that is absurd, but i am trying to find books i'll love, read them, and talk with others about them. and that sounds like a good intention with which to enter 2017.
december: 53, 54, 55, 56, 57 & 58
i didn't complete the 2016 reading challenge i'd embarked on (4 categories short!) but i did check off three more categories this month and end with 58 (!!) books read this year. not sure how i killed my previous year's reading record so forcefully, but i did. this month i read:
we should all be feminists, by chimamanda ngozi adichie (this is my "book that's under 150 pages" - it's super short and worth reading, even though at this point we all know we should be feminists. right?! because i'm unfriending everyone who disagrees. i'm a newly minted adichie fan so i had to read this one.)
whistling vivaldi, by claude m. steele (this is my "self-improvement book" because, yes, i get to decide what counts as self-improvement. this will improve me because it will help me better support underrepresented students. bam! i facilitated a faculty book club this fall where we read this book and had some pretty excellent conversations and connections about the role of race and gender in the experiences of our students. this was a re-read - i first read this in grad school and knew it would be perfect for getting the little diversity book club off the ground.)
slade house, by david mitchell (this is my "book recommended by someone you just met," and that "someone" is a person who works at an independent bookstore in st. paul, MN and wrote one of those little index cards that tells you why you should read a particular book. other things this book had going for it: i'd heard good things about the author and the book was short (ha - i have high standards at this point). this is a mystery that was described as spooky and was totally accurate. i don't often get creeped out by books, but this one did it for me at points. now, it was just okay - as in, i read it and all, but i wasn't totally captivated by the plot line and i didn't fully care about the fate of the main characters - and that's important to me. in fact, after reading it i took mitchell's cloud atlas off my "to read" list because i just didn't love his writing style. can anyone convince me i should add it back?)
we should all be feminists, by chimamanda ngozi adichie (this is my "book that's under 150 pages" - it's super short and worth reading, even though at this point we all know we should be feminists. right?! because i'm unfriending everyone who disagrees. i'm a newly minted adichie fan so i had to read this one.)
whistling vivaldi, by claude m. steele (this is my "self-improvement book" because, yes, i get to decide what counts as self-improvement. this will improve me because it will help me better support underrepresented students. bam! i facilitated a faculty book club this fall where we read this book and had some pretty excellent conversations and connections about the role of race and gender in the experiences of our students. this was a re-read - i first read this in grad school and knew it would be perfect for getting the little diversity book club off the ground.)
slade house, by david mitchell (this is my "book recommended by someone you just met," and that "someone" is a person who works at an independent bookstore in st. paul, MN and wrote one of those little index cards that tells you why you should read a particular book. other things this book had going for it: i'd heard good things about the author and the book was short (ha - i have high standards at this point). this is a mystery that was described as spooky and was totally accurate. i don't often get creeped out by books, but this one did it for me at points. now, it was just okay - as in, i read it and all, but i wasn't totally captivated by the plot line and i didn't fully care about the fate of the main characters - and that's important to me. in fact, after reading it i took mitchell's cloud atlas off my "to read" list because i just didn't love his writing style. can anyone convince me i should add it back?)
just mercy, by bryan stevenson (mandatory reading. stevenson writes about criminal justice and race in a hugely readable and very powerful way. also mandatory reading of the same genre: the other jim crow and watching: 13th. but this book is so personal, because it's part-memoir of his life and because he talks about individuals on death row in a very humanizing way. it's hard not to be totally drawn in to this one.)
empty mansions, by bill dedman (i listened to this one, mostly on my drive to north carolina for christmas, and i was totally captivated by this, too, though for different reasons. it's the story of a woman who inherited 300 million from her father - and became a (bizarre) recluse, dying in a hospital at 104 and giving most of her fortune to her nurse. i love getting inside looks into the lives of people who live really differently than me, and this is a story very well told. lots of googling ensued about what has happened since the book was published a few years ago.)
the forgetting time, by sharon guskin (a quick read with a compelling plot - a child believes he had a different mother before his current mother and she decides to believe him - that i enjoyed but won't be rushing out to recommend to everyone i know. vivid characters and a well-constructed plot.)
empty mansions, by bill dedman (i listened to this one, mostly on my drive to north carolina for christmas, and i was totally captivated by this, too, though for different reasons. it's the story of a woman who inherited 300 million from her father - and became a (bizarre) recluse, dying in a hospital at 104 and giving most of her fortune to her nurse. i love getting inside looks into the lives of people who live really differently than me, and this is a story very well told. lots of googling ensued about what has happened since the book was published a few years ago.)
the forgetting time, by sharon guskin (a quick read with a compelling plot - a child believes he had a different mother before his current mother and she decides to believe him - that i enjoyed but won't be rushing out to recommend to everyone i know. vivid characters and a well-constructed plot.)
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