Books like A Walk in the Woods and Wild inspire people to do crazy hikes every year. However, many people get started on their hikes, and then decide they should have stayed home and read. If you're in that camp (I know I am), here are some books to read after you've read A Walk in the Woods and Wild.
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I decided to re-read The Thorn Birds because of the "read a book from the decade you were born" category in the Bookriot Read Harder Challenge. It came down to a choice between The Thorn Birds and John Le Carre's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I probably should have picked the book I hadn't read before, but the sure thing won out.
I love The Thorn Birds because it reminds me of the soaps that always used to be on at my Nana's house growing up. I highly suggest this (long, multigenerational, sweeping) book if you were born in the 70's and are feeling nostalgic. You can even watch the made for TV mini series which actually just may be a bit better than the book due to the awesome portrayal of Mary Carson.
If you like sweeping melodrama you may also enjoy this trilogy:
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When I go on vacation I usually pack books before clothes. So when I didn't have any ideas of what I should read on my last vacation, and ended up reading The Thorn Birds just because it was part of a reading challenge and long enough to occupy me all week I knew something was off. I was entering a reading slump. I've been back a week, and it's still going on. I haven't had one this bad since I was pregnant, and it took all my brain power just to remember my PIN.
I'm trying not to fret. I'm trying not to push it. But the truth is I can't engage in anything, and I've been abandoning books like no one's business.
This too shall pass. In the mean time, here are a few strategies I use when I'm in a reading slump:
What do you do when you're in a reading slump?
Shylock Is My Name is beautifully written, with concise descriptions that made me laugh. Despite all that, I just couldn't get through it. I stopped about 1/3 of the way through. Maybe if I were a regular reader of Shakespeare, or if I knew the original story line of Merchant of Venice I would have been able to stick it out. But, I'm not, and I don't, and I'm a grown up so no one can force me to read a book I don't really understand. I'm going to stick with Jane Austen re-telling from now on.
Note: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a honest review.
If you love vegetables and Italian food this book is for you. For anyone who is stuck on the 30 minute gimmick and the cutesy sayings Rachel Ray is known for, put those aside and get ready to cook from this book all summer long.
This is not your usual spaghetti, meatballs, and chicken parm Italian cookbook. You'll find those things, but you'll also find dozens of recipes for eggplant, a whole chapter on using up garden veggies, and no less than three variations of mashed potatoes. (There's also a whole chapter devoted to cocktails, and some pretty damn good looking desserts.)
I read this book right after my herb garden started producing, so the first recipe I made was Savory Fennel, Rosemary, and Honey Oatmeal. It was amazing! The oatmeal was just the right mix of hearty food and tasty flavor. I can't wait to request this book again once the full garden starts producing, and cook through the vegetable section.
Other cookbooks that make you want to eat all your veggies:
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My daughter and I have really been enjoying trying out the poses from Good Night Yoga by Mariam Gates each night. My high energy daughter doesn't always have it in her to sit still for a story, so this has been a nice addition to our reading life. We can keep up the routine of reading before bed, but she doesn't have to stay still for it.
Cookie Monster cupcakes from my daughter's first birthday
Cupcakes are everywhere - they've come to symbolize the little treat we all need now and then. So, of course, I've read a few books that feature them. A large section of chick lit is made up of women who hit rock bottom, and rebound by open shops that sell flowers, yarn, or baked goods. I'm not complaining. There's something comforting about these books. Just like cupcakes, even our brains need a little bit of something sweet every now and then.
How to Eat a Cupcake by Meg Donohue is chick lit with a twist. Yes there's down on their luck girls who open a bakery, but there's also something sinister going on. But, recipes are included!
Meet Me at the Cupcake Café by Jenny Colgan is one of my current reads. The story is lite, and predictable, but just what I need at the moment. This one has recipes too, which is always a plus. (Note: this book has quite a few sudden point of view changes, and does things like refer to skiing and snowboarding as if they are the same thing. It hasn't bothered me too much, but figured I should give fair warning.)
Are you a fan of these "I lost it all so I opened a shop" type books?
I read like it's my job, so there's a fair bit of paperwork and tracking involved.
Back in the day when I saw a book I wanted to read I would just buy it, and leave it in a pile. Then I had kids, and ran out of space and money. Now I am a heavy library user.
My library has a holds limit 50 holds at a time, and I try my best to make it work for me. About 1/3 of it is taken up with books that have a long wait. My library is usually very well stocked, but if something's popular it's not unusual to wait 2-3 months. The other 2/3 is managed so as to try and read my TBR down.
I track my TBR in librarything. I pay a bit each year to maintain my 500+ book list, but to me it's worth it to have something I can sort and tag the way I want. I used to use Goodreads, but the cleaner look of librarything just suits me better.
When I finish a book I track it in three ways. I mark it read and give it a start rating on librarything. I also mark it read here - this isn't strictly necessary, but I like to be able to scroll through the cover images. Plus if someone is thinking about following me, I like to give them a snapshot of my reading life. Last, if there's any quotes I like from the book I write them down in my paper reading journal.
My journal isn't anything fancy. I use the free printable from Modern Mrs. Darcy. It's three hole punched, and enclosed in a cheap binder from target. I also use my journal to hold any print outs from reading challenges, and my immediate reading list. I pick about 10 books that I want to prioritize each season. The rest of my reading I pretty much leave up to chance and mood.
How do you track your reading?
Spring is officially here, meaning it's a whole new season of reading! I set some pretty ambitious goals at the beginning of the year in hopes of getting my TBR down. Here's how I did.
I made a list of 8 classics I want to read this year, and during the winter I read two of them. I just need to keep up that pace, and I'll nail this.
I read 16 out of the 50 non-fiction books I want to read this year, but only 7 of them were from my list of 40 assigned books. I need to pick it up if I want to read all 40 in 2016.
I assigned myself 5 chapter books to read out loud to the kids, and I didn't read any! (We did read two chapter books out loud, but none from the list.) I would say that we'll make up for it in spring, but we just discovered Mr. Lemoncello!
I made all of these lists at the beginning of the year as a way to really make an effort to read down my TBR. I started with 400 books, and am up to 401. So, I appear to add books at the same rate I read them. I guess I can be happy with that.
I love reading challenges! I'm doing two so far in 2016.
For The Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge I've read:
A book published this year: Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend
A book you can finish in a day: The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs
A book you've been meaning to read: 10% Happier
A book you own but have never read: Left For Dead
A book that intimidates you: The Green Road
For The Book Riot Read Harder Challenge I've Read:
Read a book out loud to someone else: Love From Paddington
Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic novel: An Ember in the Ashes
Read a book of historical fiction set before 1900: The Mapmaker's Children
Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie: A Walk in the Woods
Read a food memoir: Plenty
Read a play: The Importance of being Earnest
How is your reading year going?
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Warning: This post contains minor spoilers from books that came out about 10 years ago. If you are strictly spoiler free on The Dark Tower and Harry Potter this is not the post for you.
I started reading The Harry Potter series during a trying time in my life. It was 2006, and all of the books had been released but the last one. Harry & co. were pretty constant companions during that time. I was easily able to get used copies of the first five, waited a while but finally got the 6th, and pre-ordered the 7th one to arrive at my house on release day like every other muggle I knew. I sat on a blanket under the holly tree in my back yard and read the whole thing at once. I loved the series, when it came to the ending I was underwhelmed.
Eventually I decided to re-read the Harry Potter series. I re-read them twice actually - once for each time I was pregnant. There's something about Harry Potter that suits the mind numbing exhaustion of pregnancy. Then my kids were born, and I began to rely on audiobooks. That's when I met Jim Dale, and listened to the whole series again. Somewhere along the way I changed my mind. I decided that the ending was amazing. It just took me a few reads to slow down, and realize how it all fit together.
I'm not sure what made me go back and re-read a series when I knew I didn't like the ending. But it's reflection on Harry Potter that made me go back and start re-reading Stephen King's Dark Tower Series.
During my misspent youth I used to steal my Dad's Stephen King books, and hide them under my pillow to read late at night. He must have eventually caught me, but I don't think he was mad. (The Stand isn't really suitable for hiding under a pillow.) He even suggested that if I really wanted to read something amazing by Stephen King I should check out The Dark Tower. There were only four books at the time, but he said they were worth reading even if they were unresolved. Being of an age where I wasn't prone to take my dad's advise I didn't pick them up right away.
A few years later I was lonely while studying abroad, and picked up a copy of The Gunsliger at an Oxfam shop. I read the first four books while in England, and waiter eagerly for King to write and release the last three. I have a vivid memory of getting up early the day after my wedding so I could go outside and read Song of Susannah. Like Harry Potter, I got the last installment of the series on the day it came out and read it all in one huge gulp. When I finally got to the end I threw the book across the room. Then I picked it up to make sure I hadn't missed something. Then I threw it again.
My reaction to the ending was so violent that I'm amazed that I had the emotional energy to start reading the Harry Potter series just a few years later. Who knows, maybe that's why I put off reading Harry Potter when everyone else in the world was. When a book breaks your heart, you don't easily set yourself up to let it get broken again.
Last year I realized that just like with the ending to Harry Potter, my tendency to binge read might have made me miss the true genius of The Dark Tower series. So I started again. I made my way through the first four - the original books my Dad had told me about. Then I took a break before I started the last three. I finished Wolves of the Calla last week.
I forgive you Stephen King. I haven't yet gotten to the end of the series in this re-read, but I forgive you. The way you weave in the early 2000's into this book while remaining true to the original characters amazed me. Your world building and weaving ways astound me. Even knowing what's coming I am impressed. I'll keep reading with an open mind and a glad heart, and I promise not to throw anything when I get to the ending this time.
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Love to be reading outside again!
Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.
I had a sick day a few weeks ago, and reading A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie in bed was just the right medicine. I read this all in one day, and immediately reserved a few more in the series. I needed a good distraction while I waited for Career of Evil to finally come up on my library holds list.
I picked up Train Like a Mother by Sarah Bowen Shea and Dimity McDowell as inspiration for my summer hiking training. I liked the advice on time management, nutrition, coming back from an injury, and play lists even it was focused on training for a running race. Still useful even though I run a mile at best each week.
If I were to play the game where I had to match Cormoran Strike characters to Harry Potter characters Matthew the fiancé would be Umbridge. I was really hoping he would turn out to be the killer so we could be done with him. (That's not a spoiler: he was never a suspect.) Still a good book though; I can't wait for the next one.
The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton was the first book in recent memory that I could guess the ending to before it happened. That doesn't make it a bad book. I liked the characters, and I'm glad I read it.
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“I do not like postmodernism, postapocolyptic settings, postmortem narrators, or magic realism. I rarely respond to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn’t be - basically gimmicks of any kind. I find literary fiction about the Holocaust or any other magical world tragedy to be distasteful - nonfiction only, please. I do not like genre mash-ups a la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and cross breeding rarely results in anything satisfying.”
It only took me until page 13 to fall in love with A.J. Fikry, the grumpy bookseller main character from The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. Really, isn't it every bookworm's dream to find someone who can talk so eloquently about what they do or don't like in a book?
I put off reading about Mr. Fikry for ages because for some reason I thought this book was about time travel. I'm so glad I finally picked it up last week, because it ended up being one of those books that I loved so much I could only read magazines for a few days after I finished. There was a satisfying love story, a great father daughter relationship, just enough drama to make it a story, and an emotional ending that was sad but not in a manipulative way. And that is what I love in a book.
Other books that were so good I could only read magazines for a while:
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I have a high threshold for scary stuff in books. I can read Stephen King books by the dozen and sleep well at night. So when the first section of Left For Dead by Beck Weathers had my heart pounding, I couldn't wait to read the rest. But sadly, it was just, meh.
I can't think of anything scarier than being alone near the summit of Mt. Everest. Weathers' vivid descriptions of what it was like to wake up and realize he was alone, and most likely going to die were like nothing I've read before. The premise of the rest of the book (how depression led him to take such crazy risks, and how his mountain climbing left a scar on his family life) sounded just as interesting. The book didn't deliver though, and I just barely finished. Sadly, I can't recommend this one, but if you find yourself with a copy the first section is worth a look.
If you too have a fondness for books about disasters on high mountains may I suggest:
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I'm in full on garden planning mode this month, and finding ways to attract more pollinators to my yard has been a big part of that process. The Bee-Friendly Garden by Kate Frey and Gretchen LeBuhn is a great resource.
This book is a small one, but it's packed with information and beautiful pictures. There's something for everyone here. I'll admit I skimmed the section of the different types of bees, while my son poured over it. I, on the other hand, read the section about pollinators in the edible landscape twice.
While this book is a great resource for my personal garden it would also make a good gift. If your mom likes to garden, the glossy photos in this book would make it an excellent Mother's Day gift. It's never too early to plan!
Spring is coming!
Note: I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a honest review.
If you're a fan of The Rosie Project (and who isn't?), you should check out the lesser known non-fiction book The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch. It is funny, and poignant, and true, so there's no off the wall story lines. If you're looking for a real love story, read this one.
Other books I love that never made the best seller list:
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I have been on a travel writing kick ever since I had a square for it on my Summer Reading Bingo card last year. That must have been how I ran across Wide-Open World by John Marshall. It was a worthy addition to my current reading obsession!
This was a real life book about doing something kind of crazy that was at the same time relatable. It starts with a couple with two teenagers that is drifting apart. Their marriage isn't terrible, but it's not great, and they feel like they're about to lose their kids to facebook and adulthood. They would love to drop it all, and travel for a year, but aren't sure how to swing it. They realize that by leveraging volunteer work they might be able to swing it.
I'll cut to the chase: these are not self righteous, I'm better than you because I help people instead of traveling types. If you're afraid reading this book will make you feel bad about your next trip to the hotel swimming pool don't be. These are people who initially use volunteer work as a way to help them travel, but who end up being changed for the better by it. This book includes the good, the bad, and the ugly, and that's what makes it so likable.
Other armchair travel I've enjoyed:
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I read about The Green Road on Library Thing, and thought it sounded like the perfect book for me. I love Irish family sagas. Then I picked the book up from the library, and saw it had been longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. I avoided it for a while then because I assumed that meant unlikable characters with an unresolved ending. It was only a looming library due date with a holds list three people deep that kept me from renewing this book that got me to give it a try.
An old picture from a trip to Western Ireland I took in college. The trip that started my love for Irish family sagas.
You know what? The characters were pretty unlikable, and the ending was a bit unresolved, but I still loved this book. Despite their total selfishness, the characters read true, and Enright's writing was beautiful and efficient. She used just the right words. She let you know what was going on in the way F. Scott Fitzgerald told you all about Jordan Baker just by the way she drove.
Don't be scared off by this book's success. The Green Road is exactly the Irish family drama you were hoping for.
Each month I link with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit as a way to talk about the books I liked, but didn't review.
The Japanese Lover is about love, growing old, expectations, and loss. It is mostly a love story between a Jewish refuge and a Japanese man during World War Two in San Francisco, but there are current day issues as well. There's too much going on in this book to make it great, but it was perfect when we were snowed in.
When Books Went to War was a super interesting account of books, and their role in World War II. Reading! It's patriotic.
Hissing Cousins is a complete account of the rivalry between everyone's hero Eleanor Roosevelt, and the original mean girl Alice Longworth. I listened to this while I was shoveling us out from the blizzard, and I barely noticed what I was doing.
An Ember in the Ashes has all the elements of good dystopian YA. Love triangles (well, love squares really), battles between teenagers, conversations interrupted just when you're about to find out what's going on...
Read this one if you liked Divergent.
Maybe it's just because I'm such a super James A. Garfield fan girl, but I didn't get into Lafayette in the Somewhat United States as much as Assassination Vacation. Still it was completely worth it for the section on the political implications of playing a French Revolutionary War hero at Colonial Williamsburg during the Bush administration.
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If you need simple, tasty food that your kids will actually eat may I suggest 100 Recipes from America's Test Kitchen? I've looked at books like this before, and have been disappointed by lists of crazy ingredients or fancy twists on basic food. This book isn't like that. It contains basic recipes that use the best ingredients cooked in the best way.
A real sign of how basic these ingredients are: I was reading this book in the car on the way home from a hike, and saw a recipe for Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts. I decided it looked good, and was able to cook it from things I had on hand. That never happens to me due to the small children who live in my house and eat through all available ingredients as if they were a swarm of locusts.
I've never been tempted to cook through a cookbook before, but this book might just get me to do it. It seems as if it can get me to rise above the daily beat down caused by my lack of time combined with my suspicious of anything that is not pasta kids - at least once or twice a week.
I got this book from the library, but I'm planning on buying my own copy using cash money from the bookstore. That's saying something.
If you too are beaten down by life, here are some more cookbooks that might bring you back from the dark side:
I used to hate books told by two narrators to the point where I wouldn't even pick them up, but lately I have been giving them another chance. I'm not sure if old age has mellowed me, or if I just needed to find some good ones. The Mapmaker's Children by Sarah McCoy is a good one.
The novel is narrated by two childless women struggling to find their purpose. In the present day we have Eden, a former PR worker who moved to West Virginia to start a family. In the past we have Sarah Brown, the daughter of abolitionist John Brown, who reacts to her father's hanging with a resolve to fight on. Both characters are sympathetic, and the way their stories eventually come together is very creative.
If you like historical fiction, you'll love this book. The chapters that deal with the present enhance rather than distract from the engrossing tale of Sarah Brown and her family.
(Note: Blogging For Books sent me this book, but all opinions are my own.)
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