Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Why don't I read more...WHY!?!?!

I feel like an underachiever here...how can I not be reading more than this? So many good books and I am making so little progress on my "to read" list!

Deja Demon by Julie Kenner

Demon Ex Machina by Julie Kenner. More demon-hunting soccer mom. Fun stuff.

The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. This book was really interesting. One Wes ends up in prison while the other Wes makes a life for himself. Further reminder that sometimes a leg up and a little love can go a long way.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from my frontier by Ree Drummond. I am not sure if cookbooks technically count as reading a book, but I do read them cover-to-cover! Lots of great recipes in this one...now I just need to actually cook more than a couple of them!




Saturday, August 10, 2013

Hemingway and Demon Hunting

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. People have been recommending this book to me for a long while and I finally read it. I didn't LOVE it, but found the subject matter fascinating and it certainly piqued my interest in Hemingway and Hadley.

The Best of Us by Sarah Pekkanen. A light read. There was an awful lot of dysfunction, however - it made me feel uber normal.

Demons are forever: confessions of  demon hunting soccer mom by Julie Kenner

California Demon: the secret life of a demon hunting soccer mom by Julie Kenner.Two more in the demon hunting soccer mom series. Both fun.

 





Monday, July 15, 2013

Interesting one

Gulp by Mary Roach. And absolutely fascinating look at all this digestive, from the jaw to saliva to the stomach and the not-so-glamourous output. Very interesting and well-written.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

There must be a better way

It is certainly not a matter of life or death that I get my reading list recorded for posterity (really for myself), but I sure wish I could come up with a better way for me to get it done. Probably just logging on to the blog and typing is the better way (rather than procrastinating and saying I will get to it later), so maybe I will just go for that solution. But for now I am stuck trying to remember what I have read since January...

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. I am thoroughly convinced that if high schools focused on having kids read well-written YA like this instead of all Dickens and Shakespeare all the time that this world would contain more adult readers. I am all for the classics and wouldn't advocate not studying them anymore, but it is books like this that I think will truly engage young adults and open up the world of reading to "reluctant readers".

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an accidental country girl by Ree Drummond. Yes...another cookbook. But I read them from cover to cover, so I think they count as a read book! And the recipes I tried were super yummy.

Stranger Here: How Weight Loss Surgery Transformed my Body and Messed with my Head by Jen Larsen. I bought this one for a friend that recently had weight-loss surgery and had to preview it, of course. Interesting and insightful. Can't say it made me want to line up for gastric bypass surgery - sounds pretty unpleasant.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This was probably the first time I actually really read this book (I skimmed an Cliff-noted my way through it before) and it was a really good book. Tragic and sad and left me feeling pretty hopeless (briefly!), but an excellent book.

Fat to Skinny Fast and Easy by Doug Varrieur. I am always hopeful! But there was nothing terribly new in this one.

Let's Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. This one didn't disappoint. I love these humor/memoir type books. And I totally appreciated the part about buying a huge metal chicken that just "needed" to go home with her...totally something I would do. That is why I have a taxidermied raccoon eating Cracker jacks on a shelf in my basement.

The 100-year Old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. This was a great book. We've all got some life in us no matter how old we get.

Pandora's Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal by Melanie Warner. Another "food" book...I don't know exactly why I love these books so, but it is always fascinating to me to read about the food industry and gross myself out with the details of processed foods. Chicken nuggets don't mold, they turn to liquid gross-ness...who knew!?!?!

Carpe Demon: Tales of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner. Mindless and fun. Haf to track down the remaining books as they are currently out of print, but I suspect it will be totally worth it to have a bit more fluffy fun!

And there are about three books I am REALLY wanting to add as I am ALMOST done with them, but I will wait. It will provide a memory challenge when i get around to posting again, six months from now.





Sunday, January 27, 2013

reading, reading, reading

Got a few more under my belt.

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes.
I haven't read one of her books for a while and this one was a slight departure from what I remember. I little longer, a little mystical and a little more serious than I remember her writing. But still a good one.

Skinny by Donna Cooner. A YA book I picked up at a book fair. Follows an obese teenager and her journey to and through gastric bypass surgery. I thought the author did a good job of describing the main character's struggles and eventual triumphs.

Everyone Worth Knowing by Laura Weisberger. Fun, fun book. The type I love. A main character you are rooting for, a bunch of ridiculousness from the characters and a satisfying ending.

And I am going to go ahead and include one that I am ALMOST finished with (close enough that it counts)...

I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I ever Had by Tony Danza. I can't decide whether this book makes me hopeful or if it makes me want to cry, but I have enjoyed it. I suspect it is going to leave me feeling a little more optimistic about inner city schools and their teachers and their future than I really should, but I am glad I am reading it.





Monday, January 7, 2013

Try, try again

I didn't do such a good job of keeping up with the books I read last year, but what are new years for besides starting anew!

First up is St. Zita Society by Ruth Rendell. I didn't love this book, but I am not sure if it is because I just wasn't in the right mood for it or I truly didn't love the book. It was a slow start for me, but I did get into it about 1/3 of the way in. But the ending wasn't satisfactory to me - too many loose ends. I am not sorry I read it, but it definitely wasn't one of my favorites.