It seems to me that every time a new season comes around I feel like book reading season has finally arrived.
At the beginning of summer I think AH, I can finally sit in the sun with a book and read.
At the beginning of fall I think AH, I can finally lay on the couch with a book and read.
At the beginning of winter I think AH, I can finally sit by the fire with a book and read.
At the beginning of spring I think AH, I can finally sit either in the sun/on the couch/or by the fire depending on the weird spring weather with a book and read. While inhaling that distinct springtime worm smell.
The truth is all seasons are great book seasons for all the reasons I've mentioned above. The trick is making yourself read. I'll tell you the worst thing to happen to my reading schedule was my stupid iPad. I used to read every single night before bed. And I mean since I was a child. Every. Single. Night.
Then I discovered the allure of the YouTube videos as seen on my iPad. If for some reason I'm not completely into my book, or I think I'm getting in bed early enough to both watch videos and read … I inevitably haul out the iPad and fall asleep while watching random videos on how to remove your own inner thigh muscle or blow build your own glass bottom boat. You know. Important things we should all know about.
Which means I don't read.
So I've banished my iPad from the bedroom because I'm simply not strong enough to resist the temptations of a good 3 minute long YouTube video on how to perfectly ice sugar cookies so they look like something Marie Antoinette would approve of.
I'm. Just. Not. Strong. Enough.
I'm back to reading every night in bed.
I've mentioned before (because seriously I've been doing this for 4 years now so I'm bound to start repeating myself) that very few things make me happier than a cupboard full of potato chips, finding cool stuff in other people's garbage, and having a whack of books beside my bed.
Sometimes I just look at them and get excited over the possibility of reading them all, which in turns leads me into a very small panic attack because then I wouldn't have a nice big stack of books waiting to be read anymore, which in turn leads me to Amazon to feed the addiction.
My name's Karen. And my life inspired the new TLC show Book Hoarders.
No it hasn't.
As I do a few times a year I'm going to share 5 of the books I've read, plus 5 of the books I'm going to read over the next season or two. Depending on how well my YouTube video addiction cold turkey stint goes. I once quit using fabric softener cold turkey and that resulted in a very close call with a cat, static electricity and a tetanus shot. So.
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This was the second time I read Silence of the Lambs
I have no idea when the first one was but about ⅓rd of the way into the book things started to seem awfully familiar to me. I'm assuming I liked it the first time around because I absolutely liked it this time.
I don't normally read Stephen King, but Betty convinced me to read this one. Betty doesn't like complicated books so her choices are always good reads, but easy ones. They're the kind of book I like to read in between heavier, heartier books. Betty's recommendations are the lemon meringue pie to my double, chocolate layer, carmel drizzled, black forest cake. Joylandis a murder mystery that takes place in the 70's at a beachfront amusement park. Loved it. Fun, engrossing, easy read.
O.K. Swamplandia!I did not like it. I did not like it one bit in fact. Which, based on the books description is surprising. It sounds like something I'd love.
"Grandpa Sawtooth, né Schedrach, bought some wildlife-infested land in Florida, sight unseen, and took his wife there to live in 1932. “A tiny crab scuttled over Risa’s high-buttoned shoe,” Ms. Russell writes of Grandma Risa’s first look at the place. “ ‘And when she didn’t scream,’ Sawtooth liked to say, ‘that’s when I knew we were staying.’ ”
I know a lot of people LOVED and recommended this book but I picked it up and put it down 3 times. I still like the cover though so that counts for something I guess. Swamplandia is a kindda weird and bizarre. Or so I'm told. I'm kind of the queen of weird and bizarre books so if that's what you're looking for you'd be smarter to give Geek Lovea shot.
Cutting for Stonetook me a while to get into but once I was there I was really there. Great book following the lives of 2 remarkable twins in Ethiopia from birth to adulthood. This is the book I keep thinking about.
Now the cookbook. I understand that most people don't think of cookbooks as really great reading material, but if you like baking bread, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is GREAT. It's the cookbook that my no knead bread recipe comes from, although I didn't know that when I started making it. The story behind how this cookbook came to be and is really great and the amount of recipes that you can make from their one Master Bread recipe is astonishing. Plus it's easy and the recipes work. That there is my official endorsement.
The Hundred-Foot Journeyis something I've had by my bedside for a while now but haven't read. The book revolves around a family run restaurant that goes through several generations and trials. It's based in India, England and France. I just keep waiting for the right time to read this book and I think the right time is now. This is another Betty recommendation. Sort of. Actually she liked the book but became incensed when she found out the author wasn't an actual chef. For some reason this bothers her to no end. I have no idea why. It isn't an autobiography, it's a novel. I'm not looking forward to the day I have to tell her that Frankenstein was written by a woman. Who wasn't a monster.
I have a thing about WWII and books that revolve around it. Most of what I've read is fiction that's based on fact, but this latest book of mine, Inside the Fourth Reich(which was given to me by a neighbour who read it) is a factual based that written like fiction. It's a first person account of Erich Erdstein's life as a Jew posing as a Nazi, infiltrating German diplomatic and military circles among a litany of other undercover operations, one which landed him in jail with Aristotle Onassis. I started this book, got distracted and put it down. I will be picking it back up again.
I've loved everything that Khaled Hosseini has written (The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns) so I can't imagine his latest, And the Mountains EchoedIt is a story about family. And it was written by Khaled Hosseini. That's all I need to know.
The Invention of Wingsis the book I'm most looking forward to. The book was inspired by the true life story of socialite sisters Sarah and Angelina Grimke and their fight for equality and freedom for women and slaves in the early 1800's.
The only problem I'm having is I wish I'd bought the audio version instead of the hard copy. Listen to it. Just listen to it. I could listen to the reader all day long.
And finally the winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize, The GoldfinchI've been holding onto this latest book from Donna Tartt for quite some time and started reading it a few nights ago. Last night I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning reading it.
Here's the synopsis from Amazon.
Theo Decker, a 13-year-old New Yorker, miraculously survives an accident that kills his mother. Abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. Bewildered by his strange new home on Park Avenue, disturbed by schoolmates who don't know how to talk to him, and tormented above all by his longing for his mother, he clings to the one thing that reminds him of her: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the underworld of art.
Anything that has me awake at 2:30 in the morning and doesn't involve the stomach flu is something to be taken seriously. I've been warned the book drags on in some place and could have been say, 500 pages shorter, but I'm prepared.
I have my iPad fully charged.
Carol
The Rosie Effect, Graeme Simsion's sequel to The Rosie Project, is available tomorrow! Not sure how it can be as funny as the original but I'll give it a chance.
Karen
Yes, I think part of the charm of The Rosie Project is that most people were surprised by it. Hmm. We'll see. ~ karen
Kitten Caboodle
Thanks, Carol, I had no idea there was a sequel. I LOVED "The Rosie Project"!
Heather
"At the beginning of spring I think AH, I can finally sit either in the sun/on the couch/or by the fire depending on the weird spring weather with a book and read. While inhaling that distinct springtime worm smell."
Who are you kidding? I bet in spring you are too busy planning your garden & everything else. Seriously I can't imagine you ever being able to sit still long enough to read a book - except at night in bed.
The iPad has certainly changed our lives. I like to download my books - just no room for a book collection - but often I won't start reading something because I know it will be "just one more chapter" and then it's 2 am and I haven't even closed my eyes yet and that 6 am alarm is looming.
One of my biggest distractions is Flipboard - where you get to pick your newsfeed. Mine have nothing to do with news - just food and travel and wine (can't forget the wine). One article leads to the next, etc.
Pam
If you like historical fiction, try The Orphan Train. That is one I keep thinking about.
Karen
I do. But I first read that as The Oprah Train. Which … doesn't sound quite as intriguing as The Orphan Train. ~ karen
Ann
I only do audio books. My eyesite totally sucks by the time I can focus on reading anything in the evening. I loved listening to The Invention of Wings, in fact I bought it before it was actually released so I got to be one of the first.
But normally I don't go for what everybody else likes. I hated The Book Thief. I know, probably the only person anywhere who did. So who knows, I might actually like Swamplandia!!!
I am collecting a few extra books to listen to on an upcoming trip with flights and layovers. Might have to see if The Orenda is available on Audilbe.
Ann
Going to find The Orenda led me to adding 5 more books to my wish list!!
Su
Invention of Wings... great book... Swamplandia? eh not so much either.... saving The Goldfinch for vacation next month as my beach read.... please keep recommending good books! One of my absolute favorite activities is browsing a bookstore or library....
Venesa
The Invention of Wings was soooooo good! I think you might also like Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. It's absolutely hilarious.
Judith
SO with you on the iPad issue. Just last week I banned both iPad and iPhone from the bedroom for exactly that reason - haven't had the attention span to read a book in I don't know how long, but that's going to change now! And I love Khaled Hosseini too, and also have 'And the Mountains Echoed' right there next to the bed, top of the stack. I think our brains are going to thank us for the back-to-books revolution.
Sally A
And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick Cave (of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). Super weird and a bit creepy, but I loved it! Part real and part surreal. Highly recommend. Make sure to read the Prologue first.
Karen
I had NO idea that Nick Cave had written a book! ~ karen
Sally A
Sorry so late in responding...you probably won't get this. Yeah, I was going to say, who knew? I liked this book so much that I tried to read another one by him, called something about a Bunny, I don't remember, but it wasn't nearly as good. Only made it halfway through. They say that everyone has one good story in them and I guess And the Ass Saw the Angel was his.
Beth
Karen, Thank you for not liking Swamplandia. I read that horrible book and hated it so much, but I thought I must have missed something. I too like weird books, but this WAS NOT IT :)
maggie van sickle
And the Mountains Echoed is a great read but then all his books are a great read.
Adrienne in Atlanta
LOVE The Goldfinch. The Vegas section is the part that dragged slightly (in my opinion), but is ultimately important to the overall story of how things play out later. Stick with it, for the payoff in the very end is well worth it.
I listened to the audiobook and found the narrator to be quite wonderful. The Secret History (also by Tartt) is quite gripping, too. I will read anything she writes thanks to The Goldfinch. She is masterful at the art of storytelling.
Debbie
I was going to see The Hundred Foot Journey, but after reading this, I think I may read it instead!
Melissa L.
Tonight I got into bed with the intention of reading but decided to check my email and there was a new post from The Art of Doing Stuff that I had to read first and now I'm getting really sleeeee... zzzzzzzz.....
Pat Legacy
I have read 4 of those on your to do pile and in my ranked order: Goldfinch, Invention, Hundred Foot, Mountains. All are good reads but would give the first two outstanding. Yes, Goldfinch is a bit long but worth it. The Orenda is violent yet it tells an important part of our Canadian history and the story itself surpasses the violence. I loved Cutting for Stone. Don't you just love that we can read anything we choose, either good or bad.
Michelle
I would suggest you give "The Pearl that Broke its Shell" by Nadia Hashimi a try. It wasn't my usual genre of book, but I couldn't put it down...
from Amazon: a searing tale of powerlessness, fate, and the freedom to control one's own fate that combines the cultural flavor and emotional resonance of the works of Khaled Hosseini, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Lisa See.
TucsonPatty
I've just now placed two more books on my library reserve list - thanks for the recommendations and reminders!
I once began a YouTube session watching a choir sing the Hallaluah Chorus and came too an hour or so later during part three of four on "How to Apply Drag Queen Makeup"! It was interesting, but Wowza, how far afield can you go!?
Bev
You have a great assortment of books - both read and to read. All the books on your to read are on my list as well.
Nancy
I loved The Invention of Wings!! Start it next! You will not be sorry! I was sad to see the book end. Read as a great novel yet I learned so much about events that actually took place. Can't wait to hear what you think!!
Maureen
It's GREAT! I was able to hear Sue Monk Kidd speak and she is the smartest person in the whole world. Except for you, Karen. But I'm pretty sure she doesn't raise chickens.
SeaDee
I'm right there with ya about the iPad, except my device is the iPhone. I need to force myself back to reading a few pages a night. I did, however, read The Martian by Andrew Weir. Great book by a first-time author! It's read-it-in-a-day good!!
Lesley Williamson
The Orenda. I'm 77 pages in and have cried actual tears twice. The author, Joseph Boyden, did a talk here last night and gorgeous, smart men make me swoon.
Dana
Joseph Boyden is yummy. I love his writing, but found I had to squint while reading the violent parts in The Orenda.