reading | Chatty Cha

Wow. I sure do spend a lot of money to host a blog that I never update. Life has been busy as of late. In February I started in a new position at the firm, and suddenly life went berserk, but in a good way. Here are some highlights.

1) I had to quit Daring Bakers because I was getting too stressed out with all the fancy baking. You can still visit their challenges monthly, and in fact you should because there are amazing bakers over there.

2) I discovered a new genre of fiction … urban fantasy. Yes, I’ve always been late to the game and this is no different. Trying to catch up on the werewolves/vampires/shapeshifter/fae fiction out there. And there is a lot of it.

3) Along those lines, the family visited beautiful Forks, Wash. It was C-R-A-Z-Y. Here is a taste.

4) I got a Kindle for my birthday. YES!

5) I’ve been spending my free time (after work and feeding the baby and playing with the baby and putting the baby to bed) reading. Or maybe working. But not blogging.

6) Baby is AWESOME.

7) What else do you want to know? I will try to come back and visit soon.

XOXO

I had planned on doing a “favorite-books-I-read-this-year” post but instead just ranted about Twilight. So here is that list that has been running through my head for the past few weeks. These are just books that I read this year, not books that were published this year. In fact, I think just one of these was published in 2009. I’m not saying these are good (because let’s be honest there is a lot of debate going on concerning the quality of my first pick, and I could argue both sides). These are just memorable.

In no particular order:

Twilight. Have to mention it but won’t say anything more since you can read my previous post about it.

The Hunger Games/Catching Fire. See above.

American Wife: A Novel. Curtis Sittenfeld’s third (and best, IMO) novel that follows the life of the fictional First Lady Alice Blackwell, who is patterned after Laura Bush. I loved this book so much I promptly checked out the Laura Bush biography that Sittenfeld used in researching her novel, only to sadly be reminded that fiction is way better than real life. I also loved it so much that I promptly checked out her second novel (but was disappointed again.)

What is the What, Dave Eggers. I picked this up over a year and a half ago while on jury duty. The cover said Dave Eggers and I was hooked. However I spent my seven days on jury duty reading Obama’s The Audacity of Hope (which, sadly, I still have not finished) and never got around to reading WITW until this spring. I had my misgivings when I saw what it was about but was entranced by Valentino’s amazing story. His true-life account, combined with Eggers’ effortless storytelling was a terrific mix. Again, enjoyed it so much that I took out my copy of AHWOSG to re-read. Only to learn that I didn’t love AHWOSG as much as I thought I did (I think it must have been the time in my life that I read it that touched me more than the book itself).

The Education of a Coach, David Halberstam. This was suggested by my former classmate, Jeff Kelly Lowenstein, in his book blog, (alongside a bio of Tom Brady, which was far less interesting, even for me, a huge TB fan). I’ve always enjoyed the Halberstam that I’ve read and this was no exception. He was one of the finest reporters America will ever see, and his stories and in-depth reporting for this was impressive and inspiring. This biography of Bill Belichik was a great suggestion to kick of the NFL season. It was fascinating to try to get inside the mind of what some call a football genius (and yes, despite the 4th down call vs. the Colts, despite the odd treatment of Randy Moss just last week, I still think he’s pretty wicked smart). Plus, you can’t go wrong when you’ve got New England prep school experience, right?

My Life in France, Julia Child. I picked this up randomly at the library (was going through a food book phase), not realizing that this was part of that Julie/Julia movie that came out later in the year. Julia Child’s book was fun, her cooking experiences tantalizing. It had me wishing I could visit France, but not today’s France, Julia’s 50s France. I quickly checked out the book Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously and, once again, was quite disappointed at how plain bo-ring that was compared to Child’s memoir.

Seeing a pattern here? Wishing I could recreate something I’ve just read and loved and always falling short.

Ah well.

My other favorite books: