Books and more books

The saga of my laptop is still not over. I got it back and it has decided to not boot up ever again. Even my huband/Mac wizard couldn’t get it to boot up. So back to the shop it went. The verdict is still out but the upshot is I’m still relegated to the computer in the playroom. Let me tell you, getting the kids off the computer during the summer is quite a feat.

The good news is that I have read more in the last month than I have since the internet was invented. The gigantic pile of unread books that has been languishing next to my bed forever is almost gone. There are two very promising books left, but I am saving those for our plane trip next week (Am I foolish enough to think that I might actually get to read on a plane with six children in tow? Yes. There is a fine line between foolish and optimistic.)

My favorite books of the last month (in order):

Recipe for a Perfect Marriage by Morag Prunty. It’s fiction. And WONDERFUL! I don’t generally care for fiction but I loved this. It is maybe the best book about marriage I have ever read.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I’ve been avoiding this one for a while because it’s been so popular AND I thought it was a self-help book (but it’s a memoir. My favorite genre!) I figured I needed to read it before the movie comes out. I so loved this book (!!!) that I went straight to the bookstore and bought the sequel Committed (the review is further down in this post. Here’s a preview: hated it.)

Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag by Alan Bradley. The guy wrote his first novel (Sweetness) at almost age 70! (Way to go!) His books are charming mysteries set in 50’s England.

Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani (yet another novel. Great characters and great setting.)

My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs. A.J. is my very favorite humorist ever.

My least favorites:

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert. It should be titled “A Survey of the Horribleness of Western Marriage”. Ugh. The writing was dry and the subject matter was a downer.

Dreaming in Hindi by Katherine Russell Rich. I really wanted to like this but it was just so all over the place. I couldn’t follow it; the chronology was too chaotic. I tossed it aside after 100 pages.

How about you? How’s your summer reading going? Anything you can recommend? Or recommend we avoid?

| Filed under Books, IMO

14 thoughts on “Books and more books

  1. I loved the audiobook THE GUARDIAN (as well as other printed books in the only-lightly-interrelated O'Mally Series by Dee Henderson. Totally tense, exciting, sometimes shocking thrillers, and very well written!

    Some people might be put off by the hint of "Christianity" in the books, but all it did was make some characters be like I am. No big stress on it, but some characters do pray when they're in big trouble – just as you and I do.

  2. I am sorry that your lap top still isn't fixed! 🙁

    But I am glad to hear that you like Eat Pray Love. I haven't read it for the same reason, but now I think I will!

  3. I'm so glad you did this…I was in need of some more books. I had felt the same way about Eat, Pray, Love, so I'm glad to hear that you loved it.

  4. I totally agree with you about Eat, Pray, Love and Committed. I read Eat, Pray, Love on vacation a few weeks ago and absolutely loved it ~ I feel like I could read it again and can't wait to see the movie! So I went out and bought Committed and it's not good… what a bummer. I really liked The Help and am trying to get into The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I heard it's slow at the beginning (yes… yes it is) but gets a lot better so I'm going to stick it out. Happy reading!
    And here's to hoping you get your laptop fixed soon. Mine is broken too and I feel lost without it 🙁

  5. Wow, you really have been reading a lot! I'll have to make a list of those good books for when I ever have time. I was reading Sense and Sensability (how have I never read that when it's my favorite movie??) while the kids were at swim lessons the last couple weeks, but with only about 30 minutes a day, I haven't finished it and now swim lessons are over. I wonder when I'll have time to read again?

  6. I love memoirs. But I rarely read because I'm too picky.

    You should do a post on your top 5 memoirs. If you've read that many you liked. So I'll have something to go off of.

  7. Oh, I love Big Stone Gap and pretty much everything else Adriana Trigiani has written. So much fun.

    I just read Eat Pray Love for the same reason, the movie is coming out and I like to read the books before I see the movies.

    I have been mostly playing catch up with my book club books this summer. The Art of Racing in the Rain was a good one.

  8. had the same experience with Elizabeth Gilbert, read the first quite a while ago and was excited to read Committed. Disappointed!

    Two I have just finished and really liked are The Ladies Auxiallary Society-Fabulous! and Lost and Found, fine poolside read.

    I'm currently really enjoying Reading Lolita in Tehran.

  9. Am I the only one who couldn't finish "Eat, Pray, Love"? I thought she was whiney and selfish and couldn't take it anymore.

    I LOVED "Sweetness at the bottom of the pie". Who'dve thunk a 70 year old man wrote that?

    The best part of a 21 hour road trip with the fam and a husband who is a control freak driver was getting to read "The Princess Academy" in one fell swoop. Great prose, unexpected fairy tale.

    Also loved the "Number One Ladies Detective Agency" series. Great humor. Great characters.

    How was the bra shopping? Waiting for a post about that one…but let me know first. Sometimes my adolescent boys read your blog too.

  10. I didn't love "Eat Pray Love". It seemed really self-indulgent. But I 'spose that's what you get with a memoir.

    This summer, I am reading "Parenting with Love and Logic". It's supposed to prevent me and my son from killing each other.

    An easy, enjoyable read that I always recommend are the books by James Herriot. "All Creatures Great and Small" and "All Things Bright and Beautiful". So well written and endearing.

  11. I LOVED Eat Pray Love. I didn't know the sequel was out… but now I'm wary.

    Have you read The Secret Life of Bees?

    Most of my reading is fantasy and I don't think you'd like it. But hey, if you ever feel like a change, by most recent favorite is the Serial Killer series by Dan Wells. 😀

  12. I love reading… I usually try not to start reading anything unless my schedule is clear though because I'm a serial reader/avoider. I get sunk and wont/cant do anything until it's over. Not good with a 13 month old…

  13. I like the Eat and Love parts of that book… pray, not so much–meditation is so boring 😉 I have read: The Heretic's Daughter–loved it, historical fiction; Middlesex–lukewarm first half, great second half–generally not crazy about a book that takes 250 pages to get into, but I wanted to see what all the hype was about (although the big Oprah sticker turned me off for a long time ;-). I have also read a bit of food memoirs: Tender at the Bone–quite good and the sequel–Comfort Me with Apples–good too, but not as. Also read Julie and Julia–liked a lot and now I must see the movie.

    I posted about reading a week or so ago and got a ton of recommendations. I also get recs off of some of the reading reviews on NPR (the ones that appear in my facebook newspage… haha).

Leave a Reply to L. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *