2017 by the books

1. Linda Sue Park - A Long Walk to Water *****
2. Ken Ilgunas - Walden on Wheels *****
3. Alan Bradley - Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd *****
4. Gary Taubes - The Case Against Sugar *****
5. Gretchen Ruben - Better than Before *****
6. Tom Foreman - My Year of Running Dangerously *****
7. Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running ***
8. Chris Cleave - Everyone Brave is Forgiven *****
9. Joshua Fields Millburn - Everything That Remains *****
10. Maria Semple - Where'd You Go Bernadette *****
11. Xavier Amador - I'm not sick I don't need help ****
12. Sylvia Boorstein - Happiness is an inside job ****

13. Kazuo Ishiguro - The buried giant **

14. Brene Brown - Daring greatly *
15. Malcom Gladwell - Outliers ****
16. Elan Mastai - All Our Wrong Todays ***
17. Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way ***

18. Mark Manson - the Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck *****
19. Helen Russell - The Year of Living Danishly *****
20. Dallas Hartwig - It Starts with Food *****
21. Melissa Hartwig - Food Freedom Forever *****

22. JD Vance - Hillbilly Elegy *****
23. Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain *****
24. Andie Mitchell - It was Me All Along *****
25. Lodro Rinzler - The Buddha Walks Into a Bar ****
26. Rob Bell - How to Be Here *****
27. Kim Payne - Simplicity Parenting ****
28. Joshua Becker - The More of Less *****
29. Larry Olmsted - Real Food, Fake Food *****
30. Andy Andrews - The Traveler's Gift *****
31. Angie Thomas - The Hate U Give *****
32. Ann Brashares - The Whole Thing Together *****
33. Charlotte Cho - The Little Book Of Skin Care *****
34.  Joan Chittister - Following the Path *****
35. Joe Biden - Promises to Keep *****
36. Hillary Clinton - What Happened *****
37. Cheryl Strayed - Brave Enough *****
38. Liz Wolfe - Eat the Yolks *****

2016 By the Book

2016's list of books.  This is probably the least number of books I've accomplished in a year, but to be fair I did read my way through all of the Game of Thrones books which is no small feat.  I also fell in love with quite a few podcasts over the year.  Some of my favorites are Spartan Up, The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, Stuff Mom Never Told You, and Human Race.



1. Bryan Stevenson - Just Mercy *****

2. Adriana Trigiani - All the Stars in the Heavens *****
3. Paula Hawkins - The Girl on the Train *****
4. George RR Martin - A Game of Thrones *****
5. Pope Francis - The Name of God is Mercy ****

6. Ben Goldacre - Bad Science ***
7. Suzie Favor Hamilton - Fast Girl *****

8. Augusten Burroughs - Possible Side Effects *

9. Yann Martel - The High Mountains of Portugal ***
10. George RR Martin - A Clash of Kings *****
11. George RR Martin - A Storm of Swords *****
12. Paul Kalanithi - When Breath Becomes Air *****

13. Bill Bryson - the Road to Little Dribbling ****

14. Marie Kondo - Spark Joy *****

15. Anita Renfroe - Don't Say I didn't warn you **

16. Diana Abu-Jaber - life without a recipe **
17. Christopher McDougall- Natural Born Heroes ****
18. George RR Martin - A Feast for Crows *****
19. Drema Hall Berkheimer - Running on Red Dog Road *****
20. Erik Larson - The Devil in the White City **

21. Phil Knight - Shoe dog *****

22. Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain ****
23. Ryan Holiday - The Obstacle is the Way *****
24. John Parker - Racing the Rain ***
25. Brigid Pasulka - A long, long time ago and essentially true *****
25. Jojo Moyes - Me Before You *****

26. Ron Fournier - Love That Boy *****
27. George RR Martin - A Dance With Dragons *****
28. Shauna Niequist - Present Over Perfect *****
29. Mary Mann Hamilton - Trials of the Earth ***
30.Hope Jahren - Lab Girl ****
31. Rich Roll - Finding Ultra *****
32. Amy Robach - Better *****
33. Jojo Moyes - After You *****
34. Anna Kendrick - Scrappy Little Nobody *****

So what have you been enjoying lately?

Last year's list: here

2014 By the Books

Currently there are 8 library books sitting on my bedside table.  I just need a free weekend to catch up on my stack.

This year, a lot of non-fiction cycled through my hands.  The Remedy, The Meat Racket, Adrift, Dethroning the King, Everybody's Got Something....all come with my highest recommendations.

The star rankings are my own, I didn't get much book reviewing done this year but you can tell from the 1-5 scale how I felt about each book.

Which leads me to the natural question....Have you read any good books lately?


1. Pittacus Lore - The Rise of Nine *****
2. Cassandra Clare - City of Fallen Angels *****
3. Cassandra Clare - City of Lost Souls *****
4. Jeannette Walls - Silver Star *****
5. Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man and the Sea***
6. Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Angel ****
7. Veronica Roth - Divergent *****
8. Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Prince ****
9. Cassandra Clare - Clockwork Princess ****
10. Ron Rash - Serena *****
11. Orson Scott Card - Rebekah *****
12. JRR Tolkien - The Silmarillion Vol 1 ***
13. Diane Setterfield - The Thirteenth Tale *****
14. Robert Hicks - A Separate Country ****
15. Veronica Roth - Insurgent ***
16. Veronica Roth - Allegiant ***
17. Jeff Olson - The Slight Edge *****
18. Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers ****
19. Kirby Larson - Hattie Big Sky *****
20. JRR Tolkien - The Silmarillion Vol 2 ***
21. Ernest Hemingway - To Have and Have Not **
22. Daniel James Brown - The Boys in the Boat ***
23. Brunonia Barry - The Lace Reader *****
24. Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls *
25. Matthew Quick - The Good Luck of Right Now **
26. Julie Macintosh - Dethroning the King *****
27. Daniel Gilbert - Stumbling on  Happiness ***
28. Robert Edsel - The Monuments Men ****
29. Robin Roberts - From the Heart *****
30. Alan Bradley - The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches *****
31. Ali Wentworth - Ali in Wonderland ***
32. Christopher Moore - The Stupidest Angel *
33. B. J. Novak - One More Thing *
34. Jim Gaffigan - Dad is Fat *****
35. Paulo Coelho - Manuscript found in Accra ****
36. Ruth Ozeki - A Tale for the Time Being *
37. Ransom Riggs - Mrs. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children ****
38. Mary Karr - The Liars' Club **
39. Rob Lowe - Stories I only Tell My Friends **
40. Juliet Schor - The Overspent American ***
41. Napoleon Hill - Think and Grow Rich ***
42. Dave Bruno - The 100 Thing Challenge *****
43. Rachel Joyce - The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry *****
44. Shawn Achor - The Happiness Advantage *****
45. Elizabeth Smart - My Story *****
46. Helene Wecker - The Golem and the Jinni ***
47. Michael Morpurgo - War Horse ****
48. Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Love in the Time of Cholera ***
49. Leif Enger - Peace Like a River ****
50. Lauren Graham - Someday, Someday, Maybe ****
51. Ridley Pearson - Kingdom Keepers ***
52. Ben Haas - Look Away, Look Away ***
53. Maggie Stiefvater - Sinner *****
54. Justin Halpern - I Suck at Girls ****
55. Joe de Sena - Spartan Up *****
56. Tom Ryan - Following Atticus *****
57. Terry McMillan - Who Asked You? *****
58. Brian Jacques - Redwall ****
59. Solomon Northup - Twelve Years a Slave ****
60. Thomas Goetz - The Remedy *****
61. Thomas Stanley - The Millionaire Next Door *****
62. David Roberts - Alone on the Ice **
63. Lev Grossman - The Magicians ***
64. Tara Conklin - The House Girl ****
65. Cassandra Clare - City of Heavenly Fire ****
66. Amy Bloom - Lucky Us *****
67. E. Lockhart - We Were Liars *****
68. Steven Callahan - Adrift *****
69. Robin Roberts - Everybody's Got Something *****
70. Jacqueline Winspear - The Care and Management of Lies *****
71. Paulo Coelho - Adultery **
72. Robert Kurson - Shadow Divers *****
72. Adam Corolla - Not Taco Bell Material **
73. Lucinda Vardey - Mother Teresa A Simple Path *****
74. Nancy Horan - Under the Wide and Starry Sky *****
75. Jordan Belfort - Wolf of Wall Street **
76. Sue Monk Kidd - The Invention of Wings *****
77. Ben Sherwood - The Survivor's Club *****
78. Christopher Leonard - The Meat Racket *****
79. Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale ****
80. Beth Macy - Factory Man ****
81. Amy Poehler - Yes Please *****
82. Bill Nye - Undeniable **
83. James Herriot - Favorite Dog Stories *****
84. Ernest Hemingway - A Moveable Feast **

Last year's reading list

2013 - By the Books

Figures, the year I decide not to care whether I make it to 100 books is the year I very nearly do.

In Short:
I really enjoy Alexandra Fuller's writing style.  I read three of her books this year and have more waiting on my to read list.  Anyone who enjoyed Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle would enjoy Alexandra Fuller's books. 

I am not really a big Steve Jobs fan but Walter Isaacson's biography was an enjoyable, easy read.  Einstein's biography however was a different story.  I think I might be less of an Einstein fan after having read it.

I read The Spectacular Now simply so I could see the movie.  And then I didn't love the book ending and now I'm afraid to watch the movie.

Anyone who is a Downton Abbey follower would enjoy Kate Morton's The House at Riverton.

I'm nearly caught up on the Orsen Scott Card Books.  I think I might have enjoyed the Shadow series a lot more than the Ender series on that one.

I'm surprised that the interwebs claim Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises as his best literary works.  I just didn't get it. (Typical of me and "classics" I think).  But I did love Farewell to Arms.

Nora Ephron it turns out is my kind of funny.  I Feel Bad About my Neck would be a good gag gift for any over 30 girl in your life.

1. Mitch Albom - The Timekeeper****
2. John Case - The Genesis Code****
3. Justin Cronin - The Passage****
4. Geraldine Brooks - Year of Wonders*****
5. Alexandra Fuller - Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight*****
6. Walter Isaacson - Steve Jobs Biography*****
7. Jaycee Dugard - A Stolen Life****
8. Anne Tyler - The Beginner's Goodbye***
9. Scott Turow - Reversible Errors***
10. Helen Simonson- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand ***
11. Orsen Scott Card - Shadow of the Hegemon *****
12. Animals in Translation - Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson****
13. Alan Bradley - Speaking from Among the Bones****
14. Paula Deen - It Ain't All About the Cookin****
15. Ann Patchett - State of Wonder*****
16. Robb Wolf - The Paleo Solution*****
17. Cecelia Ahern - The Book of Tomorrow***
18. Nancy Turner - These is My Words*****
19. Orsen Scott Card - Shadow Puppets*****
20. Cassandra Clare - City of Bones****
21. Gabrielle Hamilton - Blood, Bones, and Butter*****
22. Nicholas Sparks - Safe Haven*****
23. Heather Gudenkauf - These Things Hidden**
24. Loren Cordain - The Paleo Diet****
25. Ken Jennings - Because I Said So*****
26. Orsen Scott Card - Shadow of the Giant****
27. Orsen Scott Card - A War of Gifts***
28. Betsy Carter - The Orange Blossom Special***
29. Orsen Scott Card - Ender in Exile***
30. Robin Sloan - Mr. Penembra's 24-hour Library*****
31. Barbara Kingsolver - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle****
32. Orsen Scott Card - Shadows in flight***
33. Justin Cronin - The Twelve****
34. Walter Isaacson - Einstein**
35. Jim Bishop - The Day Lincoln was Shot**
36. Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson - Spousonomics****
37. Bill Bryson - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid***
38. John Green - Looking for Alaska****
39. Joseph Marshall III - The Journey of Crazy Horse**
40. Julian Barnes - The Sense of an Ending**

41. Alexandra Fuller - Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness*****

42. Sarah Dunn - The Secrets of Happiness*

43. Marian Keyes - This Charming Man*
44. Barbara Kingsolver - Flight Behavior****
45. Orsen Scott Card - Earth Unaware***
46. Mark Haddon - The Curious Case of the Dog in the Night-time****
47. Ann Patchett - What now?*****
48. Alice Kuipers - Life on the Refrigerator Door****
49. Janet Chadwick - Busy Person's Guide to Preserving Food***

50. Sarah Blake - The Postmistress ***

51. Emily Giffin - Love the One You're With**
52. Vanessa Diffenbaugh - The Language of Flowers***
53. Khaled Hosseini - And the Mountains Echoed***
54. Haruki Murakami - What I Talk About When I Talk About Running**

55. Daniel Charles - Lords of the Harvest*****
56. Bill Lambercht - Dinner at the New Gene Cafe****
57. Jen Lancaster - If You Were Here**
58. Dan Brown - Inferno**
59. Betty Smith - A Tree Grows in Brooklyn*****

60. Tim Tharp - The Spectacular Now****
61. Pam Reed - The Extra Mile****
62. Kim Edwards - The Memory Keeper's Daughter****
63. Jhumpa Lahiri - Unaccustomed Earth***
64. Will Schwalbe - The End of Your Life Book Club****
65. Blake Mycoskie - Start Something That Matters*****
66. Kenneth Davis - Don't know much about the Civil War***
67. Nora Ephron - I Feel Bad about my Neck*****
68. L. Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz****
69. Joshua Foer - Moonwalking with Einstein**
70. Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements***
71. David McCullough - 1776**
72. Sarah Vowell - Unfamiliar Fishes**
73. Nora Ephron - I Remember Nothing*****
74. Lucy M Montgomery - Anne of Green Gables***
75. Cheryl Strayed - Wild****
76. William Kamkwamba- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind****
77. Kate Morton - The House at Riverton*****
78. Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl*****
79. Pittacus Lore - I am number four****
80. Mardi Jo Link - Bootstrapper***
81. Alexandra Fuller - Scribbling the Cat*****
82. Elizabeth von Arnim - The Enchanted April**
83. Cassandra Clare - City of Ashes****
84. David Denedictus - Return to the Hundred Acre Woods**
85. Kenneth Davis - America's Hidden History**
86. Erin Bried - How to Sew a Button**
87. Jeff Quinn - The last Gunfight***
88. Cassandra Clare - City of Glass****
89. Jim Fergus - One Thousand White Women****
90. Karen Thompson Walker - The Age of Miracles**
91. Paula McClain - The Paris Wife****
92. Pittacus Lore - The Power of Nine***
93. Mitch Albom - The First Phone Call from Heaven****
94. Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises**

Last Year's list of Books

 

Life on the Refrigerator Door

This is just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the ice box

and which you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

--William Carlos Williams



So it's been too long since I've mentioned what books I'm reading.  Rest assured, it hasn't been from lack of reading. 

Alice Kuiper's Life on the Refrigerator Door was such an interesting concept.  A story told entirely on post-it notes.  Which also makes it an extremely quick read.  It'd be a good commuting or going to a busy beach book.  It is the story of a high school student who lives part time with a busy working mom and part time with her father.  I am sure a lot of families can relate to life lived on the go and leaving notes for mom, dad, son or daughter on the kitchen counter. 

As much as I enjoyed this book, it left me wondering.  Are post-it notes on the way out?  In a world where kids are getting cell phones younger and younger I just don't think this story would have been as endearing had it been a book full of text messages.

These Is My Words

These is My Words (written by Nancy Turner) was another runner up book club choice.  The second I finished it, I wanted to read it again.  Like right then.  I enjoyed it that much.  But my to-read list gets longer every day, and who has that kind of time really?  Here I am a week later and I'm still thinking about reading it again.  I've also learned that there are two more books in the series.  I was sorry to see that there is not a box set of them yet.  That would have sealed the deal for me to buy them right now.

These is My Words, is written journal style and chronicles the life of Sarah Agnes Prine, as her family travels from New Mexico to the Arizona territory in the 1880s.  It describes the struggles of being a pioneer and the clashes with Indians along the way.  The first 20 pages are filled with heart break and loss but if you can get through those you will not want to put the book down until you have read every last page.

Anyone who is a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan will enjoy this book.  It is Little House on the Prairie and These Happy Golden Years all rolled into one book.

Year of Wonders

After having such a hard time getting a copy of last month's book club book, as soon as the choices were announced I put a hold on all of them...just in case.

A very uncommon, proactive move for myself. 

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks, was not chosen by the group to read.  But I figured since I already had the book and I found myself with some free time I'd still read it.  It was, after all, the one I voted for. 

It is a historical fiction account of the village of Eyam in 1666, the year the plague descended upon the area.  They voluntarily quarantined the village to prevent the plague's spread to other villages. It is told from Anna Frith's perspective, the housekeeper of the village rectory.  A widow before the plague began, she quickly finds herself completely alone.  Her two boys are among the first to die from the plague.  She assists the Rector in his attending the sick night and day and becomes good friends with his wife, Elinor.

I enjoyed the entire story and can see this book maybe being my favorite for the year, it is so far.

2012 By the Books

So, I thought I had slacked off a little on my reading, but I went back and looked at 2011's list and I only got to 67 books...final count this year is 68. 

I think I loved The Poisonwood Bible the most out of all the books I read this year.  Kevin Smith's Tough Sh*t should be a must read for any Silent Bob fan.  If you haven't read Ender's Game yet you should, but immediately after that you should read Ender's Shadow.  When the movie comes out you can thank me for the advice.  If you haven't read of any of Alan Bradley's books you should, the newest Flavia De Luce novel, will be out at the end of January.  I really did not enjoy the Chelsea Handler books, which is probably the same reason I don't watch her show. 

Have any good book suggestions for me for 2013?

1. Ann Brashares - Sisterhood Everlasting
2. Sandra Brown - Rainwater
3. Alice Walker - The Color Purple
4. Abraham Verghese - Cutting for Stone
5. Greg Iles - Third Degree
6. Wendy McClure - The Wilder Life
7. John Milton - Paradise Lost
8. Markus Zukas - The Book Thief
9. Jeannette Walls - The Glass Castle
10. Christopher Moore - Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
11. Alex Flinn - Cloaked
12. Paulo Coehlo - Veronica decides to die
13. Jeannette Walls - Half-Broke Horses
14. Alan Bradley - I am Half-Sick of Shadows
15. Barbara Kingsolver - The Poisonwood Bible
16. Alex Flinn - Beastly
17. Kate Dicamillo - The Magician's Elephant
18. Laurie Schloff & Marcia Yudkin - Smart Speaking
19. Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe
20. Beth Hoffman - Saving Ceecee Honeycutt
21. Jenna Blum - Those That Save Us
22. Erick Setiawan - Of Bees and Mist
23. Fannie Flagg - A Redbird Christmas
24. Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
25. Kevin Smith - Tough Sh*t
26 Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex
27. Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
28. Consuelo S. Baehr - Daughters
29. Sue Miller - The Lake Shore Limited
30. Yann Martel - Life of Pi
31. Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend this Never Happened
32. Mindy Kaling - Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
33. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game
34. Squire Rushnell - When God Winks on New Beginnings
35. Raymond Khoury - The Sanctuary
36. Pamela Druckerman - Bringing up bebe
37. Maggie Stiefvater - The Scorpio Races
38. Chelsea Handler - Are You there Vodka, it's me Chelsea
39. Chelsea Handler - My Horizontal Life
40. Lois Lowry - Messenger
41. Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
42. Tea Obreht - The Tiger's Wife
43. Markus Zukas - I am the Messenger
44. Susan Elizabeth Phillips - Call Me Irresistible
45. Doreen Virtue - Messages from Your Angels
46. Jeffery Deaver - The Empty Chair
47. Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead
48. Deborah Moggach - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
49. Maggie Shipstead - Seating Arrangements
50. Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore
51. Richard Nelson Bolles - What Color Is Your Parachute?
52. Ben Mezrich - Sex on the Moon
53. Alexander McCall Smith - The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
54. David Mitchell - Cloud Atlas
55. John Green - The Fault in Our Stars
56. Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh
57. John Updike - The Witches of Eastwick
58. Tatiana de Rosnay - Sarah's Key
59. Charles Dickens - Oliver Twist
60. David Liss - The Whiskey Rebels
61. Orsen Scott Card - Xenocide
62. Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose
63. Ruta Sepetys - Between Shades of Gray
64. Orsen Scott Card - Children of the Mind
65. Paulo Coehlo - Aleph
66. JK Rowling - the Casual Vacancy
67. Orson Scott Card - Ender's Shadow
68. Eion Colfer - The Last Guardian

Between Shades of Gray

Yes I typed that correctly.

This is NOT a review about 50 shades of grey.  Just keep moving if that's what you were looking for.  Or, stay a while and browse, maybe you'll find a book suggestion that catches your interest.  This is a story about a girl from Lithuania, who loved to draw, and whose life changed dramatically in 1941 when Stalin ordered her family to a labor camp.

It seems I have read a lot of Holocaust books this year.  Between Shades of Gray falls into that category, but with a little spin on a story we have heard summarized in every world history class.  While the world was focused on Hitler's reign and the atrocities he waged against the Jews, Stalin was busy with his own version of ethnic cleansing.  He rounded up lawyers, doctors, and educators and deported them to labor camps in the Baltic.  On paper, they were accused of being common criminals.  The author's note states that 20 million people died under Stalin's orders.  And unlike the concentration camps that were liberated at the end of the war, the Lithuanian people did not find freedom.  The main family in the novel remained in bondage for 12 years.  Twelve years of hard, manual labor with poorly built shacks to protect against the cold, arctic winters and scavenging for food.

My favorite line from the book:

Have you ever wondered what a human life is worth?  That morning, my brother's was worth a pocket watch.

The Whiskey Rebels

Have you ever picked up a book just because of its cover? I am such a sucker for an interesting title or eye catching cover. The Whiskey Rebels was just that. I didn't even bother reading the synopsis on the back of the book before I cracked it open.

The whiskey rebels is set in newly established United States. Washington is still president, and Hamilton and Jefferson are at odds as to how to run the government-owned financial system. The timing of this book with our current elections made it even better for me. It's the same bickering over property loans, who should be taxed, how much government involvement there should be in the stocks and bonds system.

If you are a US history junky or enjoy historical fiction, this would be a great read!

The Fault in Our Stars

I have been trying to limit the number of young adult books I've been reading lately.  Seems I might be on YA overload right now.  But I made an exception for John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.  I'm glad I did.

My middle school years contained a lot of Lurlene McDaniels' books.  A LOT.  I still have them tucked away in a box in the closet.  We don't really have to talk about it.   The Fault in Our Stars started out a lot like one of those books.  A young, terminally ill person falls in love with someone.  Except this one had all the humor of an episode of Gilmore Girls (the first couple of seasons anyway....not the last couple that were kind of craptastic).

It was as up-beat as book about cancer can be I think, but also fast paced and had not entirely predictable plot lines (which is a good thing of course!).

My favorite excerpt from the book (complete with the reference for the book title):

'Everyone in this tale has a rock-solid hamartia: hers, that she is so sick, yours, that you are so well. Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves." Easy enough to say when you're a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.'(p. 111-112)

Sarah's Key

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana de Rosnay, was one of our book club choices that didn't get picked several months ago.  And I noticed my sister had it on her book shelf the last time I went to visit her.  So I borrowed it of course.  I made it through all of 7 pages before I had to run to the computer and look up the plot spoilers.  I refused to continue reading unless I knew what was going to happen in the end. 

The story begins with the French government round up of Jews in Paris, 1944.  We meet 10 year old Sarah and her family as they are awakened in the night by officers coming to take them away.  Thinking she will return very soon, Sarah hides her 4 year old brother in a secret room and locks the door so he will be safe from the round up.   Can you guess where this is going?

Right then and there, as the girl is whisked away with her parents, I had to know.  What is that fate of that innocent, unknowing 4 year old boy.  He dies of course.  In the cupboard before Sarah can return to him.  The rest of the story describes how Sarah was separated from her parents and sent to the concentration camp for children and how she escapes to eventually return to Paris and discover what she guessed had already happened.

Even though the subject matter is gloomy, the story was well written and engaging.  I would recommend it with an asterisk of course about the little boy.

The Tao of Pooh

If you have not guessed by my blog home, I'm kind of a little in love with all things Winnie the Pooh.  Old, original Winnie the Pooh, not the newer Disney version.  Of course.

I came across a random comment on a random facebook post one day about the Tao of Pooh and I realized that I had not known about this book.

I am not anywhere close to a philosophy major but I still enjoy a good purpose of life book every now and again.  It was filled with snippets of original Pooh stories along with what I think is a perfect representation of what it would be like to try to have a conversation with Pooh.  There were interruptions, thoughts of honey, appearances by all the major characters, and in the end the realization that Pooh just IS.

My favorite line from the book:

Those that think that the rewarding things in life are somewhere just beyond the rainbow --
"Burn their toast a lot," said Pooh.

How did he know, I wonder, that I am always burning the toast?

Sex on the Moon

Did you hear the story about Thad Roberts?  How he and a couple accomplices stole moon rocks from NASA in 2002 and attempted to sell them on the Internet?

I picked up this book because I knew it was a true story and I had really enjoyed Ben Mezrich's Accidental Billionaires.  As I read through the book, I kept coming back to the same question.  How did I miss this news story at the time? 

The book details how Thad became a co-op at NASA in Houston and how the heist was planned, carried out, and the FBI sting that followed. 



The story moves pretty fast and would be a good read for a weekend vacation or the next time you travel by air.  And then you'll know all the major facts of the great moon rock heist, for the next time you appear on Jeopardy of course.

Our books are growing up

It has not escaped my attention that we are slowly thinning out the board books and trading them in for books with more than 10 words on each page and fewer pictures overall.  Every time I try to put goodnight moon in the giveaway pile I find myself setting it off to the side.  We still enjoy looking for that sneaky little mouse on every page.





And so, to sum up our baby to preschool favorites (and maybe you might find a few to add to your nursery library) here are some of our favorites: 

Goodnight Gorilla - Peggy Rathmann

Goodnight Moon - Margaret Wise Brown

The Paperbag Princess - Robert Munsch

Love you Forever - Robert Munsch

Brown Bear, Brown Bear - Bill Martin Jr

As hard as it is to pass these books along to younger readers, there are adventures at pooh corner to be enjoyed and little houses in big woods to dream about at night.

Life of Pi

Life if Pi is like Hatchet's older brother.   Except this guy got stranded in the ocean and not the Canadian wilderness.  If you've read Robison Crusoe or any of Gary Paulsen's books you will probably like this one.

It's the story of Piscine, who at 16 finds himself shipwrecked with a bunch of animals...well if you can call 4 a bunch.  It's survival of the fittest as he drifts at sea with a bengal tiger.  Well technically he finds himself adrift at sea with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a bengal tiger.  And then the hyena eats the zebra after reading his fate in the zebra's intestines, and now I am firmly entrenched in the anti-hyena fan club.  Sorry Disney's Lion King. 
And then one day Richard Parker, the bengal tiger, ate the hyena and I was all YAY! go Richard Parker.
And now I kind of want a tiger-striped cat that I can name Richard Parker.
And love him forever.
And when Richard Parker got bit by a shark I was certain he was going to get an infection and die.

But wait...this book is about Piscine.  Piscine finds among the safety supplies in his raft a survival guide.  I'm fairly sure that I'd need one if I was going to live for more than a day adrift at sea.  I think I was most intrigued by the solar stills Piscine had in his survival kit.  They were his primary means of getting fresh drinking water.  I guess I thought that even with today's technology it wasn't as straightforward as it seems to make ocean water potable.  I also was surpised to read that Piscine's survival guide said that a human could survive 14 days without water as long as they weren't losing very much to sweat.  And that most of thirst is psychological.  If you feel thirsty, you should try sucking on a button.

Yep.  Pretty sure I'd be a goner if that was me.

While I was looking up all things sea faring related, like what the heck a tarpaulin is, I discovered that Life if Pi is being made into a movie.   It comes out this November.  I'd go see it.  You should too, after you've read the book of course.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened

Jenny Lawson, aka THE BLOGGESS, recently published Let's Pretend this Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir). 

You can read the synopsis here.

She is like the girlfriend your parents prayed would move away and quit corrupting you with her irreverent language and crazy shenanigans.  There is a lot of swearing and vulgar words in the book, but if you take it with a grain of salt or a lot of grains of salt on the rim of your margarita glass, you will literally find yourself laughing-out-loud.  With that being said, you might want to choose your book reading location carefully.  I nearly got kicked out of the bed for full belly laughing when I was supposed to be sleeping and the boy was sleeping.

The book is a quick, mostly upbeat read, pack it in your beach bag or take it on your next road trip.  You won't regret it. 



Middlesex

Middlesex, a best sellers list novel written by Jeffrey Eugenides, was published in 2002.  Eugenides is also the author of The Virgin Suicides.  Have you read that one?  I have not.  Mostly because it sounds like it will give me night terrors and I'm kind of a wimp like that.  Feel free to change my mind on that.  My trusty sister-in-law book reference hasn't read it either.  She said it had too much teenage angst in it for her.

Middlesex is a family drama played out over three generations that culminates in the birth of Calliope Stephanides, who later on would find out that she is really a hermaphrodite.  It's written in both first and third person but it seems to work well for this story.  I enjoyed the flow of the novel and Calliope's matter of fact approach to coming to terms with the genetic cards he was dealt. 

Some critics have said that Middlesex is too wordy.  I would disagree, it is a long novel but there isn't pages and pages of scenery description or dwarf songs (Not that I'm complaining....JRR Tolkien.  I do love your books too!).   I enjoyed the language of the novel and think that it would be an example you could hold up in protest to someone trying to argue that the Twilight books were well written.  Oh I liked Twilight just as much as the next girl but this book is so much more developed in terms of characters, back story, and language.  The novel characterized the transmission of the autosomal recessive deficiency of the 5-alpha-reductase gene.  Something commonly found among isolated communities that practice some degree of inbreeding.  It had just enough science to catch my eye but not enough to worry about if that's not really your thing, or if you had trouble reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, for example.

I enjoyed Middlesex enough that should the opportunity present itself, I might give the Virgin Suicides a go.  Even if the reading of it has to be confined to daylight hours.

Of Bees and Mist

Sometimes a book lands on my to read list and gets stuck there for a while.  For one of many reasons, life being too busy, lack of time, I need to finish the book club book first (which I haven't yet...and we meet tomorrow....crappers!), not available at the library, etc.  There are times when a book has been on my list so long I can't really remember why I wanted to read it in the first place.  Of Bees and Mist apparently is one of those.  I was so excited the day I found it on the library shelf.  But as I got farther in the book I started to wonder why the heck I had wanted to read it in the first place.

So I went back and looked for a summary online.  Of Bees and Mist doesn't have a wiki page yet (I was bummed to find out).  If I had to describe it in a sentence or two I would call it a cautionary tale of scorned spouses, difficult-delivery babies, and conniving mother-in-laws.

There are more twists and turns in the plot than any book I've read in some time.  I found myself rushing to finish because I was doing a horrible job of predicting what was going to happen next.  I usually have the ending figured out before I finish a book.  Not this one.  If you are looking for not-your-average-story this might be a good one for you.

All while reading Of Bees and Mist, I was sure that it would end up on my did not like list.  But after having finished it and a day or two passed and I had some time to mull the entire story over, I found I really did enjoy it.  It kept my attention the whole time, the characters are one I will not forget, and I enjoyed the ending.

You should read it now, and we can discuss what you think about it.

Robinson Crusoe

Robinson Crusoe, written by Daniel Defoe, was first publish in 1719.  It is another one of those books that is often required reading in English classes, but apparently none of mine.  Oh, but don't you worry, I was assigned to read the Odyssey three separate times.  Three times.  Somewhere there is an epic failure in English class material coordination.

I assumed That Robinson Crusoe would be a lot like Gary Paulsen's Hatchet only with more primitive tools and for a much longer period of isolation.  I severely misjudged this one.  Since this is such a familiar tale, I don't feel bad typing out the plot spoilers below...if you are one of those people, look away now.

First item: Robinson Crusoe was stranded on the island for nearly 30 years.  During that time he never ran out of gun powder.  Never.  Really?  First he had to fish the barrels of gun powder from the ship wreck out of the ocean and dry them out.  That's pretty lucky in itself.  But using his gun everyday of his island life to kill game to eat and never running out of gun powder....I find that suspicious.

Second item: Brian, from Hatchet, spent several months stranded in the Canadian wilderness.  The stereotypical kid of my generation, chubby, video game playing, my parents are getting a divorce, moody, teenage boy.  He learned quickly to make spears and catch fish and forage for berries in the woods.  I assumed that Crusoe would also find the fish plentiful on his island home.  Or so the hit show Survivor has lead me to believe.  But Crusoe only ate fowl and any goats he could shoot with his rifle.  Really?  You can't whittle yourself a pointy little spear and go snorkeling for tropical fish?

Third item: After 23 years of solitude, except for the parrot he has taught to talk, Robinson Crusoe rescues a cannibal from death.  A cannibal I assume is one step up on the crazy ladder from a volleyball (sorry Wilson).  Instead of taking him in as his new bff, Crusoe names him Friday and takes him as his slave.  After 23 years, was his brain so spongy from lack of use that the only name he can think of is Friday, because that's the day of the week he rescued the lucky sap.  Maybe it just a difference in the times, but if I was forced to talk to myself for 23 years I might not think the first person I meet should now take over all chores, hunting, and once rescued from the island would have to follow me all over the civilized world and give his life for me.

I will give Crusoe credit for keeping his sanity enough to only lose one day in his primitive hatch mark counting method.  Nearly 30 years on the island and he only lost one day.  I try to skip over Tuesday and pretend it never happened practically every week. 

While I really was expecting something more from Robinson Crusoe, all in all it was a decent read.