I’m reading more cookbooks than novels these days but I at least wanted to check in one final time to wrap up the books I read this year. The grand total ended up around 39. Maybe I’ll squeeze one more in just to make it a round 40. Hmmm…something to think about.

I’m probably going to switch up my book reviews next year just because doing a monthly round up is feeling a little boring but I haven’t quite figured out how just yet. My fellow book nerds: I’m open to suggestions. Anyone write book reviews that you love? How do they keep it interesting? Anyway, here is a quick review of the last few books I read this year:

Little Children by Tom Perrotta – This was my suggestion for Book Club this month and I have to admit I was a little nervous. The last book I suggested for a Book Club was so hated that years later we are all still laughing about it. I thought this would be better, I enjoy Tom Perrotta, it got made into a movie — what could go wrong? And for the most part, nothing did go wrong. It was a really engrossing read. But it is a bit of a heavy book, so I would definitely say you have to be in the right mood.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles – I think I’ve obsessed about this book enough on the blog. WHY HAVEN’T YOU READ IT YET?

White Jacket Required by Jenna Weber – Ah, man. I really didn’t love this book, and I feel kind of bummed about that because Jenna’s blog is one that I enjoy. While I rarely cook her recipes because they are so un-Paleo it’s not worth tweaking, I really enjoy her food photography, book recommendations, travel stories and perspective on life. But this book? Was a great concept but sort of missed on the execution. I feel like it suffered from really poor editing because the stories were disjointed and one chapter didn’t really lead into the next, but it was clearly NOT a book of stand alone essays. Also, I felt like things were portrayed a bit different than they were on her blog which is always kind of interesting. And the recipes either felt forced into the stories or they just completely didn’t belong at all. It was kind of a bummer actually, but I will still enjoy her website. I just don’t think every website translates into a memoir. I mean, HELLO, remember Dooce’s memoir?

StregnthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath — This book includes a personality assessment and then which determine your overall strengths. The book then breaks down strategies to take advantage of each strength in the work place. While it is definitely a professional book, I think is has a lot of practical application in life as well. I was not surprised that my most emphasized strength was “Acheiver.” The paragraph describing that theme was as follows:
You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by “every day” you mean every single day — workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment.

BWAHAHAHAHA! No one who reads this blog will feel surprised by that, I’m sure. Hey, at least I come by my crazy honestly. What I didn’t love though, were the suggestions for how to take advantage of this part of my personality. Two of the suggestions were just to “Understand you probably don’t need as much sleep as other people” and to “Accept that you will feel dissatisfied with things even when you are achieving.” I know this is about harnessing the “strength” of this theme, but I just didn’t love that it ended there. Like, really? I’m doomed to be a psychotic insomniac goal setter who will constantly disappointed? WHERE IS THE SILVER LINING HERE? Anyone else read this book? What did you think?

Blackberry Winter by Sarah Jio — This book was just okay for me in the beginning. I wasn’t really sucked into the story, but as the mystery began to unravel I felt my page turning quicken. Not my favorite of Jio’s books but definitely a good fluffy book to curl up with on a rainy day.

*****

And that’s really it. Actually, now that I have confessed my achiever tendencies to you all (ha! confessed!) I can be totally honest with you and tell you that I am ABSOLUTELY going to read one more book to make it an even 40 for the year. Care to suggest one?

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Well as it stands I’ve read 34 books towards my goal of reading 50 this year. (Originally it was 75, but well — that just WASN’T gonna happen.) 16 is probably a manageable amount of books to read for some people in the next two months, but something tells me during the holidays I won’t be finding the time to read two books per week. Stranger things have happened though. Like, hey, reading 5 books in October. When’s the last time I did that?

No idea.

Here is what I finished:

Perfect Bait by Michael Fowlkes – This book just sounded like it was going to be fast-paced and super thrilling. It ended up being a bit slow to start and more violent than thrilling. But at the end I did like some of the characters and the story was entertaining in parts. Lots of boat talk though, and I’m really not that intrigued by boats I guess.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn – I already told you all about this here. Super fun brain-candy. It is $6 on Amazon right now, and I will tell you straight that it is totally worth $2 lattes.

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper – So most of Jonathan Tropper books are thematically about the same things: family dynamics, relationships with people, flawed individuals figuring their stuff out. And I guess in some ways this could seem repetitive, except that he just has such a way with words and such witty humor that I don’t really ever *feel* like his books are repetitive. Also: why I keep reading them.

I Shouldn’t Be Telling You This: Success Secrets Every Gutsy Girl Should Know by Kate White – I don’t know, sometimes I just like reading cheesy advice books. And since I am particularly fond of Kate White’s fiction, and I mean she was the Editor In Chief at Cosmo at one point, so I thought it might be interesting to thumb through. It was a super quick read, I finished it in about a day and half, but I didn’t find the advice particularly relevant because I am already pretty deep into my career. But I thought it might actually make a fun gift for someone just out of college, or potentially navigating the corporate world for the first time.

The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger — Okay seriously, WHAT THE HELL? I don’t even know why I picked up this book (Wait yes I do, it was because when I read about it here I thought, “Hmmm…might be intriguing.”) But the thing is, I don’t like graphic novels. Like, at all. Sorry, I just can’t get into them. And this one was…well, weird. And kind of dark. And sure it resonates with book lovers and has kind of a neat concept, but also…it’s just really freaking weird and I didn’t love it. Good think I just sat down and read it in one sitting.

*****

Clearly it was quantity over quality this month. The good news, November is already shaping up to be full of quality! Anything good you’ve read lately that you can’t put down?

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By now I should have posted a September Book Update, but guess what?

I only read one book. And I already wrote about it so no need to beat a dead horse.

Loserville – Population: 1.

But. BUT! I am currently reading a very fun book: Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn. Have you read this? It is so much better than it’s cover. The cover is not AT ALL how I am imagining everything. I hate when that happens.

Anyway, it is taking me so long to read because I am doing that thing where I am only making time to read right when I get into bed at night, and that is never a productive idea to begin with because I have a special quasi-narcoleptic talent of being able to fall sleep basically the second my head even comes into the same room as my pillow. And as I mentioned yesterday, stopping caffeine isn’t exactly doing me any favors. I guess what I’m saying is I’m reading it about 5 pages at a time, but holy hell each night those 5 pages are so enjoyable!

It’s a bit of a satire about motherhood, celebrity and wealth in Park Slope, which I’m always sort of curious about because I read too much US Weekly. Here’s a thought, maybe I should put down the US Weekly and then I’d get more reading done, eh? That’s probably not going to happen. But anyway — Park Slope is sort of fascinating to me in the way that Los Angeles was fascinating to me as a Northern Californian when I lived there. And so is Amy Sohn. She’s one of those people I always catch myself reading about and thinking “Hmmm…I should check out one of her books.” So I finally did after reading this crazy piece on The Awl this summer.

I mean…SERIOUSLY??? WHAT???

Crazy article aside, so far this book is just the fun, trashy little novel that I think I need to get my reading groove back. that and (next up) the new Jonathan Tropper and I think I’ll be good to go!

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Just chugging along slowly with my book reading, as usual. 28 books down on a goal of (hopefully)(but, let’s be honest, probably not) 50 books this year.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I discovered and enjoyed Gillian Flynn last summer, and I definitely think she knows how to write a good sultry thriller. If you enjoy dark books, she will be right up your alley.

At this point, you’ve probably heard of this book. The fact that it was the “It Book” of the summer had me anxiously awaiting its delivery from the library, but because I had to wait so long and had heard from so many that there were shocking “twists and tricks” I think it affected my experience with it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it, let me be clear — I LOVED THE ACT OF READING THIS BOOK! It is the kind you read under the covers with a flashlight until way too late at night because you just HAVE TO FINISH. (So page turning, ohmahgawd.) But. I was suspicious of everything right from the start, so I think I there were parts that I over thought and maybe that killed a bit of the enjoyment. Also, the ending rubbed me the wrong way too, and I’m still thinking about it. But I would totally still recommend it (and have!) because the reading experience was so fun. I like a book that gets me all obsessed.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Read this for Book Club this month and had a mostly pleasant time with it. There were elements I really enjoyed about it: the fact that it is an epistolary novel (I’m a sucker for that) and the fact that it is a bit of a romance in it wrapped up in war + history (I always enjoy learning something while hearing a good story.) But I wasn’t IN LOVE with this book.

It was a bit slow to start, the narrator was somewhat irritating at times, and I just generally didn’t feel like busting out the jazz hands while reading it. Perhaps it was because I read in a short period of time and didn’t savor it. That said, it was fine. An enjoyable enough read. Great way to pass the time on a plane trip maybe? But as soon as I closed the book I had already forgotten about the characters. It did leave me wanting to pick up some more historical fiction though — so that could happen.

Hell or High Water by Joy Castro

Hmmmmm…this book. I’m still not really sure what I thought of it. I picked it up mainly because it was billed as a journalistic thriller about kidnapping in New Orleans. I have had New Orleans on the brain a lot lately and LOVE reading books set there. (If you’ve read a good one tell me about it!) It seemed like it would be a great read, but in the beginning I found the protagonist to be completely unrelatable. Her outlook on life and her odd behaviors just felt sort of one dimensional for a while.

My other problem was that the pace of the book was really choppy. I was hoping for a page turning mystery where the setting almost acted as a character. But it was not like that at all. The plot would move forward a bit and then there would be pages and pages of digression describing places in New Orleans or Post-Katrina observations. I’m not against hearing about all of that, but when it doesn’t move the plot forward at all or give much insight into an already unrelatable character it makes a book feel awkwardly disjointed. Also, the ending was ridiculous. RIDICULOUS.

Well then, I guess I do know what I thought of this book now, don’t I?

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Completely coincidentally I read this book following Hell or High Water and it was also about New Orleans and Katrina. Though this one was VERY different. The thing about this book is that it has all the things in a book that makes you want to like it: brilliant structure, complex characters, gorgeous writing, and intelligent symbolism. But something about all of that just didn’t add up to an enjoyable read for me. Maybe it was the fact that I was coming off an oddly paced book about New Orleans but I just kept thinking “When is stuff going to start happening?” And I just never really felt like it did.

There were parts that I did enjoy, like the picture the author painted of some of the familial relationships, but I felt like a lot of it was heavy handed and I was not in the mood to be in awe of a book at the time. I was in the mood to read a good story. And this story, was just ok for me.

Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo

I read through this in about 2 days and I immediately wanted to get into my kitchen. Unfortunately there are a number of recipes in this book that aren’t Whole 30 approved and we were in the midst of that challenge at the time. In the last couple of weeks though, I have probably tried over half of the recipes and most have turned out fantastic. the funny part is, I didn’t really buy it for the recipes.

What originally drew me to this book was the idea that she has customized 30-day Paleo Meal Plans depending on what your health goals are. There are menus for fat loss, for autoimmune disease control, athletic performance, blood sugar regulation, digestive issues — I mean, quite a few options! But when I got the book I realized that it was much more than that. First of all, it is a HUGE book. They should tell you that on Amazon — it weighs like 10 lbs, I swear! The beginning goes into the principles of Paleo in a really approachable way, but with lots of good scientific information. Then there are meals plans. Then there are recipes. It’s a great format. And even as someone who has been Paleo for years, I learned a few things.

*****

Did you come across an good reads this month?

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Last month was a good reading month. Well, not in quantity necessarily, but certainly in quality. Every book I read was a recommend, and even though they were similar on the surface, all were very different. I’m actually excited to tell you about every single one of them, and when does that happen all in one month? Not a single stinker!

23 books down this year on my (new and improved!) goal of 50.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

I mentioned last month that we read this for book club and that I devoured it over one singular weekend. I do not recommend that you do that, at all. This is sort of a book to savor, I think, and having to rush through it bummed me out because it is epic in nature. Don’t you love a good true story of triumph over UNTHINKABLE obstacles. And that really sums up this entire book (cliche as it may sound) but what I enjoyed most was that the author didn’t dwell on the unthinkable.

These types of books have the potential to be chock full of description of bad things happening to good people and those books generally make me feel a little bummed. This was not a bummer at all — it was just realistic enough to have you gasping on occasion, but inspiring enough for you to be able to tolerate all the crappy stuff because you know it all works out in the end when you go into it. That said, the entire time I read about his time floating on the ocean I was SO FREAKING THIRSTY. And I felt sort of guilty that I could just hop up and grab a glass of water at my convenience. Hillenbrand paints a vivid and entertaining portrait of a man and of a particular point in history. It is a completely worthwhile read.

Most Talkative: Stories From the Front Lines of Pop Culture by Andy Cohen

You had to know I would read this, what with my love of all things Bravo and specifically the Real Housewives of Everywhere. Guilty Pleasure with No Apologies. I love some good trash television! That said, I did not have high expectations of it. I wasn’t sure Andy Cohen’s life was going to be full of memoir filling information and so I picked it up just to see if there was any juicy Housewives gossip or interesting tales about running a network.

First of all — he is super interesting. Specifically, I found his career trajectory and experiences engaging. I didn’t realize his background was in news and so hearing about the decades where he was at the front lines of major world events was exciting. And he totally drops stories about famous people along the way in a perfect Celeb Autobiography way. Is there anything worse that cracking open the memoir of a famous person just to have them tell stories and keep everyone nameless. Hate that. None of that here.

The housewives scoop was not as large as I would have liked (but let’s be honest, I could read a whole book on that topic and I realize this was Cohen’s memoir, not a Housewives memoir) but what he did dish was very revealing in an indirect way. You definitely learn who he likes and dislikes and he gives insight into the way things are filmed and the varying personalities. This book was like candy you all, and I was so sad when it was over!

Dinner: A Love Story: It All Begins At The Family Table by Jenny Rosenstrach

I picked this up on a whim, as it was sitting in the “Lucky Day” section of my library. I mean, I’m a fan of dinner and you know I love a good food love story, so I thought it was worth picking up. Man, I love when I’m right.

This book is a mix of memoir and cookbook and commentary on how making dinner can help bring your family together. I’m a fan of this concept in general — food, and specifically the ritual of a meal, bringing people closer together — so I was not a hard sell on the overall concept. What I loved was how she showed what this looks like in various stages of life: as a young couple, with brand new babies, with toddlers who sit at the table. Dinner at every stage of life. She gave some good tips and inspiration for all of the phases and told some funny stories in the process.

A surprising benefit (to me at least) were the versatility of the recipes. I eat a pretty specific diet so I rarely go into a mainstream cookbook expecting to have a ton of takewaways, but there were a lot of recipes that I copied verbatim, and a lot that were easy to modify in a way that worked for my lifestyle. Total win! And beautifully photographed and designed. It felt like reading a really fun blog, but the paper version, which I guess is no surprise since she writes one.

It Starts With Food by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig

I have read A LOT of books about what to eat, let me tell you and not all of them are very valuable. Forgive me for putting what I’m about to say in giant letters but I would like to make sure I underscore this appropriately: THIS BOOK IS THE LEAST DOGMATIC, MOST PRACTICAL RESOURCE ON HOW TO EAT TO MAKE YOURSELF HEALTHIER, NO MATTER HOW YOU CURRENTLY EAT. If you identify as Paleo, great – you will love it. If you do not identify as Paleo, I think you will also love it, because all of the information just makes sense and is really quite easy to read.

Now, it’s not 100% perfect, I definitely think the reliance on cute analogies goes maybe a step too far; however, science can be hard to understand and it is helpful to do it in a way that is easily digestible, so I was glad they erred on the side of cutesy rather than extra science-y, personally. Regardless, this book WILL change your life. I really believe that. I wish I could gift it to everyone I know just so they could get a glimpse of what factors they actually can control with relatively little effort.

I’m not the type of person who thinks that everyone should be doing and eating exactly what I am, but I am someone who thinks that as a person, as an adult rather, you should be at least *have* a philosophy about the food you eat. And Dallas and Melissa impart a lot of wisdom that I think can help ANYONE clarify, perfect, or amend their food philosophies in a way that is not at all preachy. And lack of preachy when talking about food is pretty darn hard to do. And if you are someone who wonders if this book is worth buying if you read their site regularly — it is. Surely you can find all of the information they discuss somewhere on the internet (if not 100% on their site) but it is a convenient compendium and a great resource and completely worth investing the (less than) $20.

CHECK IT OUT, YO.

******

So…hooray for great books this month! Tell me what you read and what you thought.

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Well, it’s official — I’ve changed my annual reading goal to 50 books. I was aiming for 75 books this year, since I finished 66 last year, but now that we’ve reached the halfway point it is very clear to me: THAT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN.

So I’m thinking it’s time to get realistic with myself so that I stop feeling pressure to read during every waking moment. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read — it is one of my favorite things to do — but since my free time has been scarce I want to focus on reading for pleasure and relaxation, not to hit an arbitrary goal. Ok well not *AS* arbitrary — 50 is still an arbitrary number. But I can’t help it, I need something finite to reach towards.

(Yes, I acknowledge that sometimes I am a crazy person.)

Anyway, shall we talk about what I read last month? There were two books, which now brings my annual total up to a whopping 19 books. WHOOPITY DO.

1. 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James – Hmmm, where to start with this book, so much has already been said! I love books like this that instantly create an Opinion Continuum in popular culture. I picked it up because I wanted to know where I fell on this continuum. The short story is I thought the book was terrible and probably won’t read the other two.

The longer story is that I didn’t find it “beneath me” or anything (hello, I celebrate Jackie Collins’ entire catalog) I really just found it kind of boring. Part of it, I’m sure, was that I waited so long to read it so I had heard about how “SHOCKING” it was over and over. When I finally read it, I was like “Wait, where was the shocking part?” Certainly that detracted from it. But mostly, I just didn’t really care about the characters or their lives. But I sure am glad I got to read it and have a laugh with some friends about the language used and The Contract. OHMYGOD The Contract. BAHAHAHAHAHAH! It’s always nice to get to have an opinion. Books like this that cause a great stir it always make me so happy that I read. And if this is a book that made others read too — AWESOME! I would like to put a moratorium on the phrase Mommy Porn, but hey — to each their own. Count me in for the next trashy romance/erotica/ridiculous BDSM book that comes out. I’ll read it. Whatever.

2. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Every once in a while I like to read some Young Adult fiction because it’s just so easy. The print is big, the pages have a lot of white space and there is usually a fun story that makes me a little nostalgic for my own Young Adult Years. What I like about John Green is that his books have all those things but they are also pretty smart. This is not news. If you don’t love John Green in this world you are basically a pariah, right? Of course I think it is equally agreed upon that sometimes the dialogue and the characters in his books are are a little overwritten, but he has made an entire career on this trait not being a detraction and instead having it be the thing that endears people to him. I’m definitely a victim of this. You just can’t help but like his books, I think.

This book was particularly up my alley because it had to do with death, dying, grief — all of that depressing stuff that I love in a good book. I know, I’m weird. But you keep reading this site, so you’re weird too obviously. Anyway, all of this to say that this was a great book to end the month on, especially after 50 Shades of Grey. Plus it only took about a day and half to read. Love a quick book that makes you feel some emotion.

Garrett is off in a corner rolling his eyes saying “You are such a giiiiiiiiiiiiiiirl!”

*****

Did you come across any good reads in June?

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Well according to Goodreads, I am 14 books behind pace on my annual reading goal. I guess I need to start reading comic books to catch up, eh? Actually though, is there any better time to play reading catch-up than during summer? I think not! I love summer reading and have such fond memories of the library summer reading challenges of my youth. So much fun. It might be completely worth it to have kids just to get to participate in that again!

This summer I want to help YOU get into the swing of summer reading too with a fun little giveaway. I’ve never done a giveaway here but why the heck not start now? Well, why not start in a minute…first we are going to talk about the books I read in May.

There were three:

The Likeness by Tana French
First of all, this was a book from The Bookshelf Project, and I’m excited to say I’m making steady progress here despite being behind on my annual reading goal. I’m averaging about a book a month from my own shelf and I’m happy with that. This book has been sitting on my shelf for years as I bought it right after I finished In The Woods. It’s become a joke in our house that it took me so long to read The Likeness considering how much I raved about French’s first book. Both books I HIGHLY recommend.

The thing about French’s books is that they are so much more than just thrillers//detective novels//mysteries. First, she writes beautifully — her way with words is just so engaging. But also she really has a gift for getting inside the heads of her characters — her books are equal parts character study and crime to solve. It’s just a great combination. The characters feel like real people that you miss when the books are over. I will definitely read anything she writes (even if it takes me YEARS to do it!)

Bared To You: A Crossfire Novel by Sylvia Day
I just typed “A CrossFit Novel” twice. Um…this is NOT a CrossFit novel. If you spend any amount of time on twitter you already know this is a super trash-tastic romance novel that you will hate yourself a little bit for reading.

Recommended by Smart Bitches, Trashy Books to those who liked 50 Shades of Grey I picked it up at the recommendation of a friend (BUSTED Liz!)– who I can now no longer look in the eye when we see each other since reading this book. Because dude, this books was FILTHY. I mean, almost hilariously filthy but I’ll tell you what the story kept the pages turning for me.

Quit laughing, I’m being serious.

It was a good story, but man I just don’t know if romance novels are my cup of tea, and it’s not because I’m highbrow in my lit choice. It’s mostly because there is so much suspension of disbelief. Like I am just not the type of person who goes to the grocery store and sees the checkout clerk and then has a five page aside about his forearms and what they may indicate or whatever. I usually just smile and buy my groceries. There is a lot of this in romance novels. Who knows, maybe I’m missing out. That said it was a fun departure. And honestly, I’ll probably read the next one. If for nothing else just to read hysterical phrases out loud to Garrett and watch him squirm with embarrassment. Now THAT was a good time!

After the Fog by Kathleen Shoop
So with a name like After the FOG, this doesn’t come across at first like a summer reading book, but there are elements of it that just make it the perfect juicy read to sink your teeth into this month. It’s historical fiction set in a steel mill town during the 1948 “killing smog.”

It is full of moody secrets and twisted family dynamics and I just love stuff like that! It’s a book you can sit down with and get caught up in. The characters are complex, and I actually learned a lot while staying entertained. I always like when that happens. A bit slow to start, but man in the end it was a totally worthwhile read.

And I mean, hello — the kindle edition is $2.99. Get after it! But you know what is even better than a $2.99 kindle book? A FREE BOOK!

Heeeeeeey-O, we should talk about that.

Summer Reading Giveaway

So I’ve never done a giveaway here on the blog and it’s mostly because I hardly ever enter giveaways myself. I don’t know why, but most of the time there are a million steps involved and so I just don’t. I’m lazy. Now you know my secrets.

When I decided I wanted to try my hand at it, I wanted to make sure it was simple and that it was something worth giving away, you know? What I’m saying is, something I would want. And FREE BOOKS are always something I want

So here’s the scoop — I’m giving away a copy of Kathleen Shoop’s book After the Fog (full disclosure, a giveaway copy of this was provided to me by BookSparks) as well as a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble (which was provided by my own bank account just because I’m so dang appreciative of all of the book suggestions you all give me each month!)

A new book to read plus a gift card to buy more? I LIKE IT. I would enter, so obvs I think you should too!

Here’s what you do:

* Leave a comment on this blog post (not on FB or Twitter) telling me about the one book you are dying to buy this summer (You didn’t think I was going to let you off the hook for leaving suggestions did you? haha)
* You have until Friday, June 8 at midnight EST.
* I’ll choose a winner using random.org and post the winner here.
* Open to the US only.
* Only one entry per person.

That’s it! No jumping through hoops, no Facebooking or Tweeting anything crazy (although if you want to share the giveaway with your friends, by all means please do so!)

All you have to do is leave a comment and you are entered. And then maybe a fun package full of BOOK and BOOK MONEY will show up in your mailbox. Groovy, right? I thought so too!

*****

So tell me…what book are you dying to get your hands on for summer, friends?

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Oh I’m just loathe to talk about April Books this month. You can probably tell since it is going on the third week of May and I’m just now getting around to it. I usually post about it during the first week of the month because I’m excited to talk books, but man — this was one of my worst reading month thus far. If this were The Bachelor, this would be the Most Dramatic! Rose Ceremony! Ever!

Here’s how it started.

A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
So many people loved this book! It came so highly recommended! I really wanted to love it. And I just…didn’t. It wasn’t for lack of trying, this was actually my third time starting it and checking it out from the library. It is written well, each chapter is told from the perspective of a different character and while they don’t all tell the same story, they are all loosely connected. Typically, this is one of my favorite types of books.

But something for me didn’t connect. I started this book at the beginning of the month and the days just kept ticking by one by one, and I kept leaving this book on my nightstand. Finally it was halfway through the month and I was feeling sad about not being involved with a good book, but still without actual desire to go back to this one. I put it down mid-month, and while I feel bad that I didn’t finish it (Oh how I HATE not finishing a book!) I think it just wasn’t for me. Maybe it’s for you though? Like I said, so many of my trusted reader friends loved it. It’s not you, Jennifer Egan, it’s me.

Then I moved on to a book that has been sitting on my bookshelf forever that I’ve been super excited to read.

The Town That Food Saved: How One Town Found Vitality in Local Food by Ben Hewitt
This book details the journey of Hardwick, Vermont, a small farming community whose economy had fallen on some hard times. It develops a local, sustainable food system that basically turns its economy around.

THIS IS RIGHT UP MY ALLEY…and yet.

I just couldn’t get into it this month and that bummed me out. It was not the author or the story, both were very interesting. Clearly I was just a little bit book moody this month. Instead of ruining this book for myself though, I just hit the pause button, put it back up on the bookshelf, and I will come back to it when I am feeling less like an adolescent with respect to my books. But if we’re keeping score, that’s now two books I HAVEN’T finished in April.

Then it was time to move on to the the book I was required to read this month.

You Have No Idea by Vanessa Williams and Helen Williams with Irene Zutell

I’ll tell you what, I have never been so happy to have been forced to finish a book! At this point in the month I was fanning myself on my Victorian fainting couch and feeling overwhelming devastation over my bad luck with books. Well, okay, maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but come on — you know what it’s like to be on an icky book run. So unsatisfying!

So I finished this one. Excellent. And I told you what I thought about it already, so we won’t beat a dead horse. But I do have to mention this one thing: I am fascinated with the life of ghost writers. Or well, celebrity co-authors, shall we say. How do you think one goes about getting that job?

For the record, I would like to offer up my services to have any of the following celebrities air out their dirty laundry to me, while I craft it into a compelling book with a reader friendly format:

*Shemar Moore
*David Beckham
*Ok, ok George Clooney, I will sit down with you IF I MUST!

Seriously, Irene Zutell — how does one get your job?

Lastly, because this month had been so ALL OVER THE PLACE I had to call in a sure thing. Yeah, I’m going to admit it, fluffy chick lit is my sure thing. So I picked up The Beach House by Jane Green

And you know what? This was just fine. Not earth shattering. Not even particularly fabulous. But I wanted to turn the pages every night, it didn’t give me anxiety when I read it before bed (I’m looking at you: The Snowman) and when I finished it I was happy I read it. Well, mostly because it is a book I can check off The Bookshelf Project, and man do I love to cross things off of a list. In that sense the month wasn’t a total loss now, was it?

Luckily I just picked up a huge batch of awesome (I hope) new books from the library that I have been waiting for. Man, the request queue at the library has just changed my life! And also, I’m currently reading a super awesome book (from my bookshelf, no less!) that I will tell you about next month so thankfully my bad luck is not sticking around for two months in a row.

*******

So because I’m so traumatized from last month, do me a solid and tell me one (or all) of the following:

*Your favorite book(s) if you can narrow it down. And it doesn’t have to be your favorite of all time, or particularly fancy, but just a book that you compare others too.

*A super trashy, guilty pleasure book (or series) that you shamelessly enjoy.

Ready….go!

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