Category Archives: Books

Yesterday we workshopped purses, and today, we get in-touch with our intellectual sides.

Books: I read them.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Can we talk about how much I loved this book?  Because I am seriously considering buying it.

It spoke to my soul.

After finishing the last page, I was absolutely ready to plant my fields and live off of my acreage.  Except for that small detail where life on the Tundra is not as generous to agriculture as Appalachia is.

It makes me count my blessings to know that not three miles from our house is a family farm that we visit weekly during the summer to get our produce.  They don’t offer a CSA program (it’s really unnecessary), but I am contemplating calling the owners to see if we can just put in some sort of weekly order.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley

This.  Is a compilation of essays.  What actually happened between the covers, I couldn’t really begin to tell you.  It’s fairly nondescript as far as stories go.

It’s great that they compared Sloane to Sedaris.  But the two are not even remotely related.  Yes, there were a few laugh out loud moments, but nothing that will ever come close to The Santaland Diaries.

On second thought, probably read those instead.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

I have no idea who told me to read this.  Because really, who tells anyone to read anything about Columbine?

I take that back, on our run today, I actually told Brady that she would find it to be interesting.

So maybe I am that person.

Dave Cullen was one of the journalists who covered Columbine and the volume he produced analyzing the killers, their families, the community and the coverage was outright overwhelming.

I don’t want to say that everyone needs to read this, because everyone really doesn’t.  It’s heavy.  It’s dark.  There is no redemption.

In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson

Eric Larson also wrote The Devil in the White City. Which I reserved, checked out and ended up having to return without reading because I didn’t have the time and I was starting to get fined.

Someday.

Anyway, what I didn’t know is that this book was going to be about the American Ambassador to Germany (and his family) on the eve of WWII.  It’s narrative non-fiction and provides major insight into (the not-so-positive) American attitudes and opinions during that brief period of time.

If you like non-fiction, history and/or historical fiction, you would probably be able to get into this.

What have you been reading lately?

I’ll update our reading list next go-round!

Even though I am continually falling behind on my magazines, the reading continues.  What I realized a few weeks ago, is that I read some pretty interesting stuff.  Which isn’t to say that I’m some sort of book-purist who avoids total crap (just wait until you see what pops up next round).  But more often than not, when I turn the last page, I do so knowing that I actually learned something.

That’s a really nice feeling.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentices by Lisa Abend

I never thought I would describe the experience of finishing a book to reading a documentary.  But that’s exactly what this was.

If money were not an object and el bulli was still open and running, I would toss our names into the hat and book plane tickets in a heartbeat.

But money is an object and the el bulli that exists within these pages does not exist any longer.  So what Abend managed to capture was positively transporting.

It was the perfect book to read before our pilgrimage to Travail and our trip to Napa because it reached into an area of food production and restaurant service that I had never given more than a passing thought to.  A life that most all of us will never live, nor would we ever choose to live.  A detailed picture of what it really takes for a great restaurant to stay great.  The level of thoughtfulness and scrutiny that is brought to some of the meals we eat.

On the other side of the coin, it also made me realize how chaotic and unintentional our time in the kitchen and at the dinner table can be.

Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl

I was so disappointed when I finished Tender at The Bone because Ruth’s voice and storytelling abilities are so 11/10.  So when I found out that she had penned another portion of her memoirs, I reserved it at the library immediately.

I think I liked this book better, if that’s possible.

After trying to figure out what it was that makes Reichl’s stories so fascinating to me, I think it’s that she shares an unfiltered look at the early development of Californian cuisine.  That’s kind of a big deal when you live in a country that doesn’t have one specific food culture.

The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell

Summary: Eat a whole foods, plant-based diet.  It will drastically lower your chances of contracting Western disease and increase your longevity.

Surprise, surprise.

I’m glad to have finally had the chance to sit down and read it, but I don’t really think I was the person who needed to hear the message, you know?  Because Marcus and I already try to eat a whole foods, plant-based diet.

One friend pointed out that parts of this book are extremely repetitive.  It takes a lot of the guilt out from skimming.

Verdict: If you’ve already heard and received the message, you don’t need to take the time to read this.  If you don’t eat a lot of vegetables or feel that meat’s place on your daily plate is non-negotiable, this needs to be the next book you read.

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

I remember reading about this in the NYT Book Review when it was first released.  The plot: Some sort of non-religious rapture occurred and the book delves into the lives of those left on earth (hence the title, The Leftovers) a few years later.

Yes, this is one of those books where the more I tell you about it, the more that it ruins any chance of being surprised.  What I can tell you: The characters are well-developed.  They make you want to know more about them.

Just as you are finally getting to the point where you’re truly comfortable with the characters, the story is over.  Which is actually quite fitting when you think about it.  Suddenly, You Are Leftover.

And, as always, the list.

The Millenium Trilogy, by Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle
Anything by Chelsea Handler (I’ve read My Horizontal Life – it’s good, but if you loved I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, you’ll find it tame)
The Joy Luck Club (Tawny, I somehow managed to escape reading this one in H.S.!)
Anything by David Sedaris
Water for Elephants (Back in my book-club days I read this one – highly recommend)
Life of Pi
All Creatures Great and Small
The Gun Seller
Room
Unbearable Lightness
Immortal Life
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes (collection)
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (I love this book SO hard.)
Other People’s Love Letters
Bitter is the New Black
Slave
Not Ready for Mom Jeans
Madras on Rainy Days
Good Girls Don’t Get Fat
Here on Earth
A Thread of Grace
Outlander (series)
Under the Banner of Heaven
Lolita in Tehran
The Pact
A People’s History of the United States
Stori Telling
Cleaving
Julie and Julia
The Three Musketeers
The Lady and The Unicorn (along with anything else by Tracy Chevalier)
Beachglass
The Persian Pickle Club
Seaglass
Light on Snow
Two Kisses for Maddy
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
The Space Between Us
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Tipping Point
Blink
Outliers
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
My Life in France
Columbine
Sing me Home
One Day
Matters of the Heart
We
Moscow to the End of the Line
Girls in White Dresses
World War Z
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

What have you read lately and loved?

Apparently we haven’t Book Clubbed since September.  Which is a pretty long time in Kat Years.

I’m not so much in the mood to dissect each book today (who is?), so we’ll try something different this time.

Dystopian Stuff You’ll Love

If you liked The Hunger Games, 1984, or The Giver.

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

Really Depressing

Some of it is real, some of it is not.  All of it is written in a way that will suck you in and spit you back out.  Prepare Yourself Emotionally.

Unbearable Lightness, by Portia de Rossi

Room, by Emma Donoghue

Excessively Long and It Offers No Redemption

If you’re interested in something dry that continues on to no real end, by all means, go for it.

The Duchess, by Amanda Foreman

Happy Girls Are The Prettiest

You’ll want to pinch yourself while you’re reading these.  As it turns out, sometimes the truth is the best story.

The Girls From Ames, by Jeffrey Zaslow

Tender at the Bone, by Ruth Reichl

And, as per the usual, Our Book List.

The Millenium Trilogy, by Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle
Anything by Chelsea Handler (I’ve read My Horizontal Life – it’s good, but if you loved I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, you’ll find it tame)
The Joy Luck Club (Tawny, I somehow managed to escape reading this one in H.S.!)
Anything by David Sedaris
Water for Elephants (Back in my book-club days I read this one – highly recommend)
Life of Pi
All Creatures Great and Small
The Gun Seller
Room
Unbearable Lightness
Immortal Life
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes (collection)
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (I love this book SO hard.)
Other People’s Love Letters
Bitter is the New Black
Slave
Not Ready for Mom Jeans
Madras on Rainy Days
Good Girls Don’t Get Fat
Here on Earth
A Thread of Grace
Outlander (series)
Under the Banner of Heaven
Lolita in Tehran
The Pact
A People’s History of the United States
Stori Telling
Cleaving
Julie and Julia
The Three Musketeers
The Lady and The Unicorn (along with anything else by Tracy Chevalier)
Beachglass
The Persian Pickle Club
Seaglass
Light on Snow
Two Kisses for Maddy
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
The Space Between Us
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Tipping Point
Blink
Outliers
Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West
My Life in France
Columbine
Sing me Home
One Day
Matters of the Heart

What have you been reading lately? 

What have you loved?  Hated?

Like I said before, the A Song of Ice and Fire series pretty much had a monopoly on my literary-life for the past few months.  While they were incredible, reading another book here and there on the side kept me sane.  It’s hard trying to keep hundreds of characters and dozens of story lines straight in your head!

I can’t say that any of these would qualify in the heavy thinking category, but as they say, Variety is the Spice of Life.

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels, by Ree Drummond

I am a major disciple of Ree’s.  I agree with her style of cooking and the writing on her blog usually leaves me smiling.  Or thinking.  Or both.

But with Black Heels, I felt like she really sold herself short.  Without trying to sound overly harsh about the whole extravaganza, she came across as a caricature of herself.

While I don’t doubt that young Ree was a much different person than the strong ranch wife, blogger and Food Network star that we know today, I found the whole thing to be kind of disquieting.

And I love Marcus more than anything, but I can say with a clear conscience that I’ve never looked at him and felt my uterus do a somersault.

Like…seriously?

Let’s just say it was a perplexing experience at best and leave it at that.

Bossypants, by Tina Fey

Truth: I cheered through this entire book.  Marcus’ aunt gave it to me as a bachelorette party gift because I had asked if I could borrow her copy to take on the Honeymoon.

Smart lady.

I don’t know if I would have given it back.

Surprisingly enough (or not), I found the book to be a bit of an illumination.  I’ve always enjoyed watching Tina on the TV, but as I read further into her life and the stories she shared about being a woman in a profession that is dominated by men as well as her struggles to balance a career and a family, I was touched.

Her message was so clear and simple and true – Life IS hard and you have to fight like hell to create the world that you want to live in.

Don’t get confused, the book is funny as hell.  To Tina’s credit, I’ve adopted a number of her phrases and descriptions into my everyday speech with Crotch Nuggets (her term for that bit of fat at the top of your inner thigh) leading the pack.

You know you want to do it too.

Read it because you want to laugh so hard that you cry.  Read it because you need a serious dose of Lady Power.  Read it because you want to know more about the inner-workings of SNL, 30 Rock and NBC.  Just…read it.

Summer at Tiffany, by Marjorie Hart

Can you say impulse-grab from the autobiography shelf of the non-fiction section at the library?

I will be the first to admit that the moment I catch a glimpse of Tiffany Blue, everything else around me fades away.

Once I got past judging the book by its cover, I actually found this one to be a rather sweet story.  It’s the memoirs of a woman who spent a summer during WWII working as one of the first two female pages at Tiffany & Co.  The Tiffany stories were interesting, witnessing the transition of a country girl into big city life was endearing and her perspective of WWII was fascinating.

It’s not a long read or a particularly hard read – save this one for a cozy day.

The Persian Pickle Club, by Sandra Dallas

I cannot, for the life of me, remember who recommended this book to me, but they did so on the premise that if I loved The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which was apparently on The Duchess’ summer reading list), then I would love this too.

To their credit, they weren’t terribly far off.  Based in rural Kansas during The Great Depression as The Dust Bowl was setting in, it captured the sense of close-knit community and interdependence that I loved about the other book.

What I didn’t love?  The characters were far less complex than many of the books I’ve read recently.  In that sense it was almost as if I was reading a shadow of a book.  There was a depth I was craving that simply didn’t exist and there wasn’t a clear/obvious reason for that absence.

If you’re craving a book that embraces The Spirit of Sisterhood, then go for it.  It will leave you with a warm feeling inside.  Otherwise, I think there are other books that will scratch your itch.

Finally, our collective reading list…

The Millenium Trilogy, by Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle
Anything by Chelsea Handler (I’ve read My Horizontal Life – it’s good, but if you loved I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, you’ll find it tame)
The Joy Luck Club (Tawny, I somehow managed to escape reading this one in H.S.!)
Anything by David Sedaris
Water for Elephants (Back in my book-club days I read this one – highly recommend)
Life of Pi
All Creatures Great and Small
The Gun Seller
Room
Unbearable Lightness
Immortal Life
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes (collection)
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (I love this book SO hard.)
Other People’s Love Letters
Bitter is the New Black
Slave
Not Ready for Mom Jeans
Madras on Rainy Days
Good Girls Don’t Get Fat
Here on Earth
A Thread of Grace
Outlander (series)
Under the Banner of Heaven
Lolita in Tehran
The Pact
A People’s History of the United States
Stori Telling
Cleaving
Julie and Julia
The Three Musketeers
The Lady and The Unicorn (along with anything else by Tracy Chevalier)
Beachglass
The Persian Pickle Club
Seaglass
Light on Snow
Two Kisses for Maddy
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
The Space Between Us
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

What books are you excited to curl up with this fall?

Have you ever read a book and felt conflicted about the experience after you finished it?

I know, I know.

This week is just like the Island of Misfit Toys.

Or under-represented topics.

Or polar opposites.

Your choice.

But the absence of any proper discussion about books since May comes with good reason.

No, I haven’t forsaken reading.

About a week before the honeymoon, I realized I had zero clue as to what I was going to read (besides magazines) while we were en Europe.  That’s kind of frightening for a person who can put The Deathly Hallows away in less than a day if need be.

Having been totally enraptured by the millions of dollars that HBO threw at The Game of Thrones, I decided that it was time to commit to actually reading the books.

And the prospect of cramming 3,880 pages into my suitcase was The Insurance Policy against boredom.

When you add in the 959 pages that A Dance With Dragons brought to the table?

Well.

I think it’s safe to say that I’ve been occupied.

I am no stranger to fantasy.  I like to think that my childhood affinity for My Little Ponies and The Castle in the Attic lead me straight into the welcoming arms of Redwall, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Dragonriders of Pern, Harry Potter and His Dark Materials.

To worlds of woodland creatures who talk, the universe beyond the wardrobe, dragons that can travel between places and times, The Boy Who Lived and little girls who are wise beyond their years.

They’re detailed.  To the point where I feel like I should have some sort of textbook sitting next to me while I read to help me make sense of the thousands of years of history that have led up to these books.

Instead of focusing on one singular plot or purpose, he instead chose to create a world.  There is no quest, there is no singular aim.  And the further I read, the more I was able to see how it resembled ours.  The complexities of faiths that are at-odds with one another.  The issues that accompany social change.  The challenge of self-governance, or lack thereof.

Or more simply, loyalty.  Morality.  The Brotherhood of Man.

What speaks even more to the series is the fact that George R.R. Martin is an absolutely unapologetic author.  You’ve fallen in-love with a character?  They’re probably dead by now.  Things are starting to make sense?  Your world is about to be turned inside-out and upside-down.

I like to think that these are The Thinking Man’s fantasy series.  Because you don’t have to be into velvet and swords.  You do need to be into politics and history.

Or to distill that thought even further, Marcus is reading these books and he’s not even a books-reader.

Yes, I’ve just tried to sell you on an entire series without telling you what happens.  But that’s because if you actually wanted to know the plot, you could just Wikipedia it.  I’m the one who is telling you that they’re readable and enjoyably so.

Don’t fret – book club as we know it will resume soon!  I have managed to squeeze in a few other books here and there.

Have you read any of the books in the A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series?

What was your favorite book or series when you were a pup?

I will say that prior to kindergarten, I was rather fond of I am a Bunny.

It has been over a month since our last round of Book Club and it’s not as if I haven’t been turning pages like a pro since then.

I can’t say that this latest round of reads would qualify me for the title of “Intellectual,” but none of them elicited an eye-roll, so I think we’re in a good place.

What’s been keeping me sharp?

Comfort Food, by Kate Jacobs

Most of the time, beach books have pink covers.  But this beach book’s cover?  Was black.

I don’t really think that any book titled “Comfort Food” could really be that weighty, but how far we’ve come, if we’re now writing fictional works about people on the set of a cooking show.

…Seriously?

It was entirely implausible but completely adorable in the most tried and true tradition of a chick-flick.  There was just enough plot to keep you turning the pages until you made it to the entirely necessary and predictable happy ending.

Not mentally taxing.  Not terribly long.

gods in alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson

Y’all know I’m not really one who goes for books with any sort of mystery or family trauma.  They just don’t do it for me.

And for one reason or another, I don’t seem to read a lot of books that are set in the American South or West.  The coasts?  Yes.  The Midwest?  Yes.

But Alabama?

Never.

So in the spirit of knocking it out of the park, I ended up bringing gods in alabama home from the library.

For what it’s worth, this doesn’t happen to people who actually walk into the library with a plan.

What I did appreciate the most about the book was the fact that even though there was a bit of a mystery to the main character and the story, the book let you enjoy watching it unravel, rather than forcing you to solve it on the spot.

Actually solving the mystery?  Is SO not how I roll.

Living History, by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Once again, I had to go and get lost in the biographical section of the library and came out with this jewel.

I wish I could say that there was some sort of method to my memoir-madness, but beyond the fact that they all seem to be women (I did read Ben Bradlee’s autobiography two years ago), I’ve got nothing.

But there’s something inherently interesting about learning what makes someone tick when that person happens to be a former First Lady and Senator as well as the current Secretary of State.

Given that a good chunk of Hillary’s life has played out in front of all of us, we all have some familiarity with her as a woman and as a human being.

So, rather than tell you all about a woman whose life has played out on a very public stage for the past (almost) twenty years), I’ll give you one interesting/fun fact that I learned: Hillary Clinton worked on the research team for the prosecution in the Watergate case.

Go.

firefly lane, by Kristin Hannah

Oh, shit.  Prepare yourselves, people.  I sobbed like someone in my own family had died for probably…the last 60 or so pages.

At first I thought I could handle it with the sleeve of my sweatshirt.  But then, the Kleenex box was in my lap and I barely knew what to do with myself.

It was a mess of EPIC proportions.

If I had to list books that it reminded me of, I would have to say the first one that came to mind was let’s take the long way home, by Gail Caldwell.

So if you’re looking for a story of friendship that runs so deep it can absolutely shred your heart into a million pieces, then yes you should go read this immediately.  It’s probably one of the best books I’ve read in awhile.

As per the usual, our collective reading list…

The Millenium Trilogy, by Stieg Larsson
The Glass Castle
Anything by Jodi Picoult
Anything by Chelsea Handler (I’ve read My Horizontal Life – it’s good, but if you loved I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, you’ll find it tame)
The Joy Luck Club (Tawny, I somehow managed to escape reading this one in H.S.!)
Anything by David Sedaris
Water for Elephants (Back in my book-club days I read this one – highly recommend)
Life of Pi
All Creatures Great and Small
The Gun Seller
Room
Unbearable Lightness
Immortal Life
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Sherlock Holmes (collection)
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (series)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (I love this book SO hard.)
Other People’s Love Letters
Bitter is the New Black
Slave
Not Ready for Mom Jeans
Madras on Rainy Days
Good Girls Don’t Get Fat
Here on Earth
A Thread of Grace
Outlander (series)
Under the Banner of Heaven
Lolita in Tehran
The Pact
A People’s History of the United States
Stori Telling
Cleaving
Julie and Julia
The Three Musketeers
The Lady and The Unicorn (along with anything else by Tracy Chevalier)
Beachglass
The Persian Pickle Club

Summer is just around the corner – what beach books do you just LOVE?