Thursday, August 06, 2009

What Are You Reading?

Too many of the books I'm reading lately are books that I have already read. I do admit to be a chronic re-reader of books, largely by intention, but I have not been to the library - other than for Story Time, of course - in months. I do still love me a trip to the bookstore, but that hasn't happened either, so I've been diving back into my own personal collection a lot lately. It's really nothing to complain about, and I could (and probably will) read What's Eating Gilbert Grape? every two years for the rest of my life, but I need some fresh words.

So, what are you reading?

3 comments:

Jill N said...

i've read loads since i got here--one of my absolute favorites was "extremely loud and incredibly close.' at first i thought the subject matter would be a bit of a downer (it's about a little boy in nyc who tries to learn more about his father after he dies on sept 11), but i LOVED it, i think because the story felt almost magical.

almost everyone i know who's read 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time' (which is told from the perspective of an autistic boy) enjoyed it.

if you're looking for really beautiful prose and a pretty epic story line, 'snow falling on cedars' is really well done.

since i know you're a busy mom (and therefore probably don't have a ton of time for reading), the tao of pooh is really cute, fun and insightful--and also easy to pick up and put down because of how it's written. another one of my favorites from my time here.

other fun books: 'i was told there'd be cake' (short stories by some crazy young lady that are pretty hilarious), 'babylon rolling' (which follows the lives of four families in NO pre-katrina), 'the girls' (a quick read narrated by the oldest set of conjoined twins...it's fiction that i stumbled upon accidentlly at a hostel but was super fun to read), 'like water for chocolate' (a mexican food fairy tale:), 'traveling mercies'(short stories about everyday wonders), 'botany of desire' (non-fiction that explores how four different plants dramatically changed history and our lives), 'the friday night knitting club' and 'knit two' (for obvious reasons...although no real literary masterpieces, they're still fun!).

hopefully that helps a little--i have loads of recommendations and other ideas...maybe i should have sent an email:)

Kate said...

Yay! A to-do list, and the only thing I've already read is "Snow Falling on Cedars!"

Alison said...

I just finished Middlesex, which was a good, long & well-paced novel. If you have not read Ella Minnow Pea, What is the What, Life of Pi or The Road, all of those are good reads that are not too short, but not too long and easy to keep up with if you have to put the book down multiple times :)
Also, I second Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Jonathan Safran Foer is amazing. His other book, Everything is Illuminated is also great, but I like Extremely Loud better. His wife, Nicole Krauss, is also an author with a similar style. I've read The History of Love by her & would suggest it if you liked Extremely Loud or Everything is Illuminated.