Hold on a second. I absolutely cannot relax in unnatural fibres. Hold on.
long pauseeeeeeeeeeeeee
O.K. I just changed my sweater. Holy crap, I haven't worn acrylic since 1982. I think it's quite possible the sun is made entirely out of acrylic. If I'm hot I can't relax, and if I can't relax I can't write. Writing's not unlike pooping. Any little thing can throw you right off. And today, I'm writing about reading, so if I were hot I might get irritated and confused and read about writing which would leave you folks with a blank post. Although after rereading my first few sentences here, reading a couple of chapters on how to write might not do me any harm.
My mother tells me I could read by the age of 4. I've been reading everything that's got in my way ever since. (except chicken banning by-laws) There are very few things in life that give me as much pleasure as a night table filled with a stack of books waiting to be read. Conversely, nothing gets me more anxious and agitated than nearing the end of a book with no remaining stack in sight. (except maybe an acrylic sweater)
The way some of you are always in a fit over what to have for dinner, I'm always in a fit over what to read. So ... I figured you too might be in need of some book inspiration. So I have for you today a list of my 5 favourite books from the past year and 5 books I'm looking forward to reading this year.
I've included synopses from either the Chapters or Amazon online site so you get a basic idea of what the book is about. Plagiarism in a post about reading and writing, is my gift to you.
Last Year
Table of Contents
Blood, Bones and Butter (non-fiction)
The Inadvertant Education of a Reluctant Chef
Before Gabrielle Hamilton opened her acclaimed New York restaurant Prune, she spent twenty hard-living years trying to find purpose and meaning in her life. Blood, Bones & Butter follows an unconventional journey through the many kitchens Hamilton has inhabited through the years: the rural kitchen of her childhood, where her adored mother stood over the six-burner with an oily wooden spoon in hand; the kitchens of France, Greece, and Turkey, where she was often fed by complete strangers and learned the essence of hospitality; Hamilton’s own kitchen at Prune, with its many unexpected challenges; and the kitchen of her Italian mother-in-law, who serves as the link between Hamilton’s idyllic past and her own future family—the result of a prickly marriage that nonetheless yields lasting dividends. By turns epic and intimate, Gabrielle Hamilton’s story is told with uncommon honesty, grit, humor, and passion.
synopsis from chapters.ca
The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Aibileen is a black maid in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi, who''s always taken orders quietly, but lately she''s unable to hold her bitterness back. Her friend Minny has never held her tongue but now must somehow keep secrets about her employer that leave her speechless. White socialite Skeeter just graduated college. She''s full of ambition, but without a husband, she''s considered a failure. Together, these seemingly different women join together to write a tell-all book about work as a black maid in the South, that could forever alter their destinies and the life of a small town...
synopsis from chapters.ca
Boy's Life
by Robert McCammon
Robert McCammon delivers "a tour de force of storytelling" (BookPage) in his award-winning masterpiece, a novel of Southern boyhood, growing up in the 1960s, that reaches far beyond that evocative landscape to touch readers universally.
Boy's Life is a richly imagined, spellbinding portrait of the magical worldview of the young -- and of innocence lost.
Zephyr, Alabama, is an idyllic hometown for eleven-year-old Cory Mackenson -- a place where monsters swim the river deep and friends are forever. Then, one cold spring morning, Cory and his father witness a car plunge into a lake -- and a desperate rescue attempt brings his father face-to-face with a terrible, haunting vision of death. As Cory struggles to understand his father's pain, his eyes are slowly opened to the forces of good and evil that surround him. From an ancient mystic who can hear the dead and bewitch the living, to a violent clan of moonshiners, Cory must confront the secrets that hide in the shadows of his hometown -- for his father's sanity and his own life hang in the balance....
synopsis from amazon.com
The Lacuna
by Barbra Kingsolver
In her most accomplished novel, Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities.
Born in the United States, reared in a series of provisional households in Mexico—from a coastal island jungle to 1930s Mexico City—Harrison Shepherd finds precarious shelter but no sense of home on his thrilling odyssey. Life is whatever he learns from housekeepers who put him to work in the kitchen, errands he runs in the streets, and one fateful day, by mixing plaster for famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. He discovers a passion for Aztec history and meets the exotic, imperious artist Frida Kahlo, who will become his lifelong friend. When he goes to work for Lev Trotsky, an exiled political leader fighting for his life, Shepherd inadvertently casts his lot with art and revolution, newspaper headlines and howling gossip, and a risk of terrible violence.
Meanwhile, to the north, the United States will soon be caught up in the internationalist goodwill of World War II. There in the land of his birth, Shepherd believes he might remake himself in America's hopeful image and claim a voice of his own. He finds support from an unlikely kindred soul, his stenographer, Mrs. Brown, who will be far more valuable to her employer than he could ever know. Through darkening years, political winds continue to toss him between north and south in a plot that turns many times on the unspeakable breach—the lacuna—between truth and public presumption.
With deeply compelling characters, a vivid sense of place, and a clear grasp of how history and public opinion can shape a life, Barbara Kingsolver has created an unforgettable portrait of the artist—and of art itself. The Lacuna is a rich and daring work of literature, establishing its author as one of the most provocative and important of her time.
New York
by Edward Rutherfurd
Edward Rutherfurd celebrates America’s greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga, weaving together tales of families rich and poor, native-born and immigrant—a cast of fictional and true characters whose fates rise and fall and rise again with the city’s fortunes. From this intimate perspective we see New York’s humble beginnings as a tiny Indian fishing village, the arrival of Dutch and British merchants, the Revolutionary War, the emergence of the city as a great trading and financial center, the convulsions of the Civil War, the excesses of the Gilded Age, the explosion of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the trials of World War II, the near demise of New York in the 1970s and its roaring rebirth in the 1990s, and the attack on the World Trade Center. A stirring mix of battle, romance, family struggles, and personal triumphs, New York: The Novel gloriously captures the search for freedom and opportunity at the heart of our nation’s history.
Synopsis from amazon.com
This Year
Steve Jobs Bio
by Walter Isaacson
Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.
At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.
Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.
Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.
synopsis by amazon.com
The Book Thief
by Marcus Zusak
It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .
Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.
synopsis from amazon.com
Little House on the Prairie collection
by ... seriously? Well O.k. ... if you really don't know ... Laura Ingalls Wilder
Set during the pioneer days of the late 1800s and early 1900s, Laura Ingalls Wilder's books chronicle her life growing up on the Western frontier. For the first time in the history of the Little House books, these new editions feature Garth Williams' interior art in vibrant, full color. Come along for the adventure with this collector's set of the first fiveLittle House books.
synopsis from amazon.com
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.
synopsis from amazon.com
The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
In this mesmerizing debut, a competition between two magicians becomes a star-crossed love story.
The circus arrives at night, without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within nocturnal black and white striped tents awaits a unique experience, a feast for the senses, where one can get lost in a maze of clouds, meander through a lush garden made of ice, stand awestruck as a tattooed contortionist folds herself into a small glass box, and gaze in wonderment at an illusionist performing impossible feats of magic.
Welcome to Le Cirque des Rêves. Beyond the smoke and mirrors, however, a fierce competition is underway - a contest between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood to compete in "a game," in which each must use their powers of illusion to best the other. Unbeknownst to them, this game is a duel to the death, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will.
synopsis from chapters.ca
If I'm being totally honest with you, 2011 wasn't a good year for me and books. I started a few I couldn't finish. Books I thought I'd love, but clearly didn't. Books by Ian McEwan, Jonathan Franzen, and old favourites like John Irving. I'll try them again later. Except maybe the Jonathan Franzen. I always give a book a second chance. Except maybe Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. Years ago, I tried to read Lonesome Dove. A few times. I hated that book. I hated it the first 5 or 6 times I picked it up. I always got to the same point in Chapter 1 and gave up. This went on for years. Then one day ... I was in the right mood. The right frame of mind for that particular book. That book, that struggle of a book, became my favourite book of all time.
O.K. folks. Your turn. What's your favourite book from last year? You can lie to me if you want and just say your favourite book in general 'cause there's no way I'll ever know that you didn't read it last year. If I ever find out though, I'll forever think of you as a liar and banish you to the depths of hell. Wrapped in acrylic. While reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
Rebecca
Karen,
I loved "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" and Chaim Potok's "The Chosen."
Nancy
I didn't see anyone but you Karen..recommend "Boy's Life" by Robert McCammon..I totally love this book and highly recommend it..Great characters..great story..This year I want to read "The Girl With" series.."The Help"..also the book recommended by Marsh.."Leisure Seeker" by Michael Zadoorian..sounds like one I would love as that is a trip (Route 66) that I so wish I could take..Thanks to everyone for all of the great suggestions!!
Sherri
Nancy,
I bought the Kindle version of BOY'S LIFE based on Karen's recommendation and a quick visit to Amazon to check out other reader reviews. It's sort of down the list of books I've got on hand to read, so I may not get to it until spring, but I'm looking forward to it!
Tay
The 2011 game plan: "I'm going to read 12 books by the end of the year!" didn't pan out.
I did manage to read:
The Road - Cormac McCarthy (this is one of the best books I have ever read)
Geek Love - Katerine Dunn (thanks for the recommendation - LOVED IT!)
Go Ask Alice - had never read it. Quite honestly, I thought it blew.
Gone, Baby, Gone - Dennis Lehane (I've never seen the movie but the book was great)
Rant - Chuck Palahniuk (twisted as always, love everything I've ever read by him).
Karen O.
Last year I read The Hunger Games. It was an awesome series. Finished all three books in four days. I highly recommend it.
Ann
Water For Elephants...much better than the movie.
Gina
Are most of you reading traditional books or a Nook or Kindle. For ereaders do you "lend" books ?
Curious.
Karen
Gina - I read "book" books. I got an iPad for Christmas and haven't downloaded a book onto it yet, but I plan to do that with some of these recommendations. I like the feel of a book. And when I'm sleeping and it drops out of my hand and crashes to the floor, it doesn't break. Plus, I was *stunned* at the price of ebooks. They're almost as much as "real" books! I think that's disgusting when you consider that a great deal of the price of the book is wrapped up in the actual book. The printing of it. ~ karen!
Nancy
I agree Karen..I got an e-reader for Christmas and couldn't believe the prices for e-books..I thought they would be much cheaper than actual books..I mostly wanted mine to get some of the magazines that I read so there wouldn't be a pile of them sitting beside my bed..guess what..the e-magazine subscriptions cost more than the paper ones mailed to your home..I don't get that at all!!
Lynn
Last year I randomly got turned onto the Inspector Gamache series of murder mystery novels by Louise Penny. They all take place in a little town in Quebec. A town which I'd move out of were there so many murders there for real, but is tremendous fun to read about as fiction.
This year's books are biographies (Coco Chanel), fiction, beekeeping (The Beekeepers Bible), food and wine pairing and definitely The Hunger Games. Once the boyfriend is done reading it.
Caroline
Hi Karen ~ these are some of the books I read last year:
Hunger Games Series
The Help
Stieg Larsson Series
The Traveler Series by John Twelve Hawks
Stephanie Plum Series by Janet Evanovich (for comic relief)
I am now attempting to read The Ice Princess ~ the first in the Patrik Hedstrom Series by a Danish author called Camilla Lackberg ~ the catch is that my aunt lent them to me and they are in French! Trying to make sense of scandanavian names and places while struggling with my french is a bit of a challenge but I am loving the first book so far!
I also must always have a book on the go - I will reread anything rather than have nothing to read!
Maureen Miller
I agree with several good reads mentioned. Here are a few others I have read and really loved enough to recommend. . .
Peace Like a River - by Leif Enger
Edgar Sawtelle - by David Wroblewski
City of Thieves (I had the audio) - by David Benioff
The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes - by Diane Chamberlain
A Fortune Teller Told me - by Tiziano Terzani
Daughter of Fortune - by Isabel Allende
Beneath A Marble Sky - by John Shors
Prodigal Summer - by Barbara Kingslover
Diane
Hi Karen,
Here are some titles I pulled from my book journal that I think you'd enjoy. My personal favorite is the Flavia deLuce series by Alan Bradley. The first title is Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Flavia is the best. Also try:
-- Tallgrass (Sandra Dallas)
-- Skeletons at the Feast (Chris Bohjalian)
-- Lottery (Donna Wood)
-- People of the Book (Geraldine Brooks)
-- Tea Time for the Traditionally Built (Alexander McCall Smith)... really anything by him is amazingly good!
-- Fair and Tender Ladies (Lee Smith)
-- Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson)
-- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (Helen Simonson)
-- Unbroken (Laura Hillenbrand)
-- The Wilder Life (Wendy McClure)... goes along with your Little House theme!
-- Sun Storm (Asa Larsson)
Sorry so long... and BTW, both the Book Thief and the Guernsey/Potato Peel book got three stars (my highest rating) in my book. Enjoy and thanks, everyone, for the suggestions!
Gina
I still reflect on Those Who Saved Us even though I read it two years ago.
Loved Sarah's Key and The Help.
I have a lot of required reading as I finish my BS for nursing, so I am picky about my recreational reads.
Marsh
Read the Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian and thought it was hysterical. He has the woman's voiced down perfect. It's about two old people and their motorhome taking their last trip across American on Route 66. Get it! You'll love it! I should know, I'm a librarian. :-)
Marsh
Jeez, talk about not proofreading before hitting send... should be woman's voice and across America. I'm not awake yet, it's only 10:00.
Karen
Marsh - I must admit, that sounds exactly like something I'd love to read. I'm adding it to the Wish List right now! ~ karen
Nicole2
I loved The Help and Sarah's Key. Presently reading The Secret Daughter.
My daughters read The Hunger Games series during the Holidays and loved it.
Thank you for the recommendations, Karen, it's always good to get someone else's feedback before buying a book. Otherwise, you're standing there at the book store scratching your head. (That's how I bought Sarah's Key. I was holding it at Costco and this lady told me it was a great book. That clenched it for me.)
Susie
I love all the Sweet Potato Queen books by Jill Conner Brown. She is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Funny. Have not found any man or woman who could read her books and not LOL a lot!!!! Her first book is The Sweet Potato Queen's Book of Love, followed by her Big Ass Cookbook and Financial planner, then her Big Ass Novel, then Raising Children for Fun and Profit and others. Her Mississippi humor is great. Check out her website for info on her, books, costumes, parade, etc.
Octavia
I read the entire hunger games series in less than a week. I couldn't put them down. They were great. I think you should read them first.
Courtney
Some of my favourites from 2011:
Divergent by Veronica Roth (if you liked The Hunger Games, you'll like this)
Louis Riel by Chester Brown (graphic novel)
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Shade of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Will read anything he writes - such an imagination!!)
So far this year I've loved Essex County by Jeff Lemire (graphic novel) and Clockwork Prince (book #2 in the Infernal Devices series) by Cassandra Clare.
The Night Circus is on my nightstand waiting to be read but I'm currently taking a mindless reading break and diving into a new Clive Cussler book.
Are you on Goodreads? Great way to track your reading and discover new titles.
christine hilton
I am trying to finish the BBC top 100 books this year.I did NOT enjoy Moby Dick.Every page was torture.But it did make me smrter. :)
Karen
Christine - Those were my thoughts about Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment. ~ karen
Pat
What a timely post! As I wrote down my latest read in my book journal, I was glancing back and thinking about my favourite books over the past few years. Actually, some of these I read years ago and they made a real impression. I have many that I really enjoyed but these stand out, not listed in any particular order.
Cutting for Stone
The Help
Three Day Road
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
Peony in Love
The Book Thief
The Jade Peony
Stones From the River
A Fine Balance
Karen
Pat - I've read most of those! Great books. I really loved A Fine Balance and The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Peony in Love was great too. I'm a sucker for a book with a good foot binding. So fascinating. ~ karen
Kristin
I got entirely, completely sucked into The Hunger Games trilogy, and had to read them all immediately. I'd finish one, then go directly to download the next one.
Right now, I'm reading a completely different genre, "Beyond All Price" by Carolyn Poling Schriber, and loving that, too. It's from the perspective of Civil War nurse Nellie Chase. Very good.
My favorite from the past couple years is a classic which I somehow missed. Have you read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith?
Just realizing that all three of these have strong female characters, and you like Little House, so they should be a good fit.
Another Karen
Funny you would name Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. My ex-husband gave that to me for Christmas. I haven't even picked it up and now, it seems, I don't have to.
What I am reading and I think you'd like *a lot* is Cool, Calm and Contentious by Merrill Markoe. Each chapter is a short story about her life written in a hilarious style. Makes me LOL.