(thinking about) Reading

For some reason I've been obsessed with books the last few weeks. Not obsessed with reading. Just books. So, while I've been re-reading YA novels (The Hunger Games, if you must know) (ok, and Twilight because I'm a dweeb) I've been thinking about reading literature. Or something.

I've also been totally into reading blogs by authors, wanna be authors, people in publishing, wanna be people in publishing etc, etc.

Then, yesterday I struck up a conversation with my co-worker (who wrote this novel) and he recommended How to Be Good which, ironically, is one of the few novels I've read this year. He then recommended Gilead which I've never heard of. Upon overhearing this, my other co-worker popped out of her office to explain how she had not liked Gilead AT ALL.

Then co-worker #2 went to lunch and came back with a typed list of "books recommended for Melissa*" along with notes about each book. (Wow!).

Later that same day I came upon this post from Crazy Aunt Purl asking her readers to suggest "classics" for her summer reading list. So many books. So little time. I started copy/pasting interesting sounding titles into my Amazon wish-list-come-books-to-not-forget-about list. Based on that, my Amazon recommended-for-you list is kind of funny right now**.

Also in the past few weeks Biscuit has officially learned to read. Just like that and she can pretty much read her own bedtime stories. I'd like to start reading her simple chapter books and had been trying to think what would be appropriate (The Secret Garden=no) (too much cholera).

So it was perfect when, today, Wisecraft linked to this new blog about books for children. I left a comment there requesting ideas for simple chapter book for pre-K kids and the very kind MC came over to my blog and left me a comment recommending DaddyRead which is awesome.

And while MC was leaving a comment, I was at the thrift store scanning the shelves deciding that serendipity would decide my reading list. Here's what I came home with; $8 worth of possibilities***.

 

Now I just need to get off the internet and into a book.

*My co-worker's list of recommended books (sans notes, links and proper italics because I am lazy)

• Austen, Jane (Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility)
• Fforde, Katie (Thyme Out)
• Frazier, Charles (Cold Mountain)
• Green, Jane (The Beach House and Dune Road)
• Groff, Lauren (Monsters of Templeton)
• Hardy, Thomas (Tess of the d'Urbervilles)
• Helprin, Mark (Freddy and Fredericka)
• Lipman, Elinor (The Family Man)
• McKinty, Adrian (Hidden River)
• Niffenegger, Audrey (The Time Traveler's Wife)
• Pilcher, Rosamunde (Winter Solstice and Coming Home and The Shell Seekers)
• Winspear, Jacqueline (Maisie Dobbs series)
• Non Fiction
• Kingsolver, Barbara (Animal, Vegetable, Miracle)
• Krakauer, Jon (Into Thin Air)
• Sacks, Oliver (Seeing Voices and The Island of Colorblind)
• Winchester, Simon (The Professor and the Madman and Krakatoa and A Crack in the Edge of the World)

**Amazon currently recommends for me (again, sans links/italics/etc)

• Rules of Vengeance by Christopher Reich
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
• The Possessed (DVD?)
• The Devils: The Possessed by David Magarshack, Michael Katz and Feodor Dostoevsky
• The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin
• Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
• Hmm, apparently I should check out Ursula LeGuin. Who knew?

****The books I bought in my swing through the thrift store. Top to bottom:

For Biscuit

• The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl (picked it up because I like Dahl then saw it recommended at DaddyRead)
• Junie B. Jones Has a Peep in Her Pocket by Barbara Park
• Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
• True Stories (from the American Girl series which I have heard recommended many times)
• Encyclopedia Brown (for a friend's son)

For me:

• Tuck Everlasting (can never resist a book I read as a kid)
• Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (someone on Crazy Aunt Purl recommended Allende)
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (have never read it, recommended on Crazy Aunt Purl)
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (I think Jamie mentioned this book ages ago)
• Esperanza Rising (maybe this is for Biscuit? Saw it mentioned on a list of best child heroes from books.)
• Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto (Recommended on Crazy Aunt Purl. With an author name like Banana it stuck in my head and jumped out when I spotted it at the thrift store).

Oh, and my friend loaned me The Secret Life of Bees yesterday. See you in a few months, internet!

Comments

[Tasha]

Personally, I liked "Animal, Vegetable, Mineral" (some parts are fascinating, some are preachy, some are bleak); I loved "The Time Traveler's Wife," and I was just ok with "The Professor and the Madman" (there's a lot of extra info that I suspect the author found interesting, but it drags down the plot.)

My favorite book right now is "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore. It's totally irreverent, so be forewarned, but it's hilarious.

In an odd way, it really drove home Christ's humanity because it opens up thinking about him in a new way (for me, anyway). And you know the ending, but you brace yourself for it anyway -- and for me, that brilliantly made the point of Christ's sacrifice. http://www.amazon.com/Lamb-Gospel-According-Christs-Childhood/dp/0380813815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271945491&sr=1-1

[Melissa H]

Freezer bag Cooking for Grandpa. Or anything for Photoshop CS4. A list for Grandma.

[Roxanne]

Last fall I read The Mouse and the Motorcycle to Sydney. She loved it so much she insisted being Ralph the mouse for Halloween last year. Just thought I would add to your list!

[Swistle]

Oh, Tuck Everlasting, I LOVED that when I was younger!

And I just read The Time Traveler's Wife and really liked it, although it helped that I expected not to like it.

[UK lass in US]

Have you heard of Goodreads.com? It's a site for adding the books that you read and posting reviews and sharing recommendations with your friends.

[Melissa Haworth]

UK Lass, I did just start using goodreads earlier this year. Surprised I didnt manage to invite you to be my friend when I accidentally spammed my entire gmail address book with an invitation. Oops!  I have been tracking my reading over there and should really start using it to keep track of to-read books.

Thanks for link :)
Melissa

[Christy]

Secret Life of Bees and Barbara Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible are my favorite books. I love books with strong female characters! For Biscuit, try Henry and Mudge and Mercy Watson (the pictures alone are worth the read).

ENJOY!

[Melissa Haworth]

Christy--I started Secret Life of Bees and Im really enjoying it so far! Thanks for the recommendations for Biscuit--Im not familiar with either of those. Oh, and I loved Poisonwood Bible after I got into it which took me a while.
Melissa

[Alli]

I loved Kitchen Confidential. Changed the way I look at pots and pans (and wash them). And Sunday brunches at restaurants.