mid year review

Not sure why, but it seems like a good time to take stock of my reading so far in 2010. Back in January, I read about the book a week idea. I liked the idea and have been committed to reading at this pace. It looks like I will definitely reach a goal of reading at least 52 books this year if I continue what I've been doing.

A quick check of the year's progress to this point reveals:

• I've read 38 books
• I've listened to one book (Making Toast)
• I've read one graphic-style book (Fun Home)
• Fiction: 18
• Nonfiction: 21

Stand outs:

• The Financial Lives of the Poets
• Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It
• Fun Home
• The Elegance of the Hedgehog
• American Rust
• Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog
• Brooklyn
• The Spare Room
• Unaccustomed Earth
• The Suicide Index
• Stuff - Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things
• One Day

How's your year coming along?

inquiring minds

What is the last book you recommended to a friend?

I recommended "Getting In" to Kathleen.
And, "You're Either In or You're In the Way" to Erika.
I also recommended "Gringo Nightmare" to George.

I've been a busy little recommender.

a wild & wacky ride

Just finished Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher. Several laugh out loud moments. Here's a snip to give you an idea:

But one of the reasons I think my life is going so much better is that having originally done Wishful Drinking (the show and now the book) as a singles ad -- a really, really detailed personals ad -- I think if I attract someone from one of my audiences or one of the readers of this book, he'll never be able to say, "You never told me you were a manic-depressive drug addict who turned men bald and gay," like men say to me now.

An entertaining, quick read that would be especially good plane/airport reading.

Winter Garden Giveaway

Kristin Hannah, bestselling author of Firefly Lane and True Colors has a new book, Winter Garden.

Description (from publisher)

Sometimes when you open the door to your mother’s past, you find your own future…

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, these two estranged women will find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. On his deathbed, their father extracts one last promise from the women in his life.

It begins with a story that is unlike anything the sisters have heard before—a captivating, mysterious love story that spans sixty-five years and moves from frozen, war torn Leningrad to modern-day Alaska. The vividly imagined tale brings these three women together in a way that none could have expected. Meredith and Nina will finally learn the secret of their mother’s past and uncover a truth so terrible it will shake the foundation of their family and change who they think they are.

"This tearjerker weaves a convincing historical novel and contemporary family drama..."

- Library Journal

Read an excerpt of Winter Garden here.

Giveaway details:

The publisher is generously providing two copies of Winter Garden to give away.

To enter this contest do any or all of the following:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Include an email address in at least one of your comments. I have to be able to contact you if you win! (1 entry)

2. Blog about this giveaway. Leave a separate comment with a link to your post. (1 entry)

3. Follow me on blogger or subscribe via email (current followers/subscribers are eligible too). Leave a separate comment for this. (1 entry)

4. Tweet this post on Twitter. Leave me a separate comment with your twitter user name. (1 entry)

Note: Giveaway reserved for residents within the U.S. and Canada.

The winners will be selected from the comments using random.org.

The deadline for entry is midnight, February 25, 2010.

Good luck!

Happy birthday, Stewart O'Nan

Today is the birthday of Stewart O'Nan, an American author I'd never heard of before until his "A Prayer for the Dying" was selected for my book club. That was a strange book but I liked the writing. Because I liked his writing, when I noticed the buzz around O'Nan's "Last Night at the Lobster," I eagerly read it. Very, very good. Since then, I've read "Songs for the Missing." I also enjoyed this book and have been surprised by the lack of attention given it.

Have you read anything by this author?

Quotable - Be cool

"Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job -- any job -- and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart. And it all starts here -- with the pizza delivery dude."

~ Sarah Adams, from "Be Cool to the Pizza Dude" in This I Believe.

handselling books at costco

Dr. Temple Grandin is the author of The Way I See It and the subject of a new HBO film.

a book a week in 2010

Last year, I set a goal of being fit by my birthday in early November. I lost about 30 pounds and got to where 30 miles was my minimum bike ride (I became pretty fit). I reached this goal well before my birthday by creating and meeting smaller goals, such as a certain amount of miles cycled in a week or time spent on the treadmill. I also started to set reading goals. I discovered if I read forty to fifty pages a day or when I had the opportunity to read, I would stay connected to the book I was reading even if it wasn't wowing me. At that pace I was reading about a book a week. I'm going to keep doing this and make it a goal this year to read a book a week.

Have you set reading goals for 2010? If you're thinking about reading a book a week, here's a very persuasive post explaining why it's a great goal to set along with some tips: How to Read a Book a Week in 2010.

a bookish kind of party

It's my book club's holiday gathering today. We're going to figure out the next five books we're going to read. This is always interesting. Also, we'll review the eleven books we read this year and talk about our favorites and least favorites.

I'm going to make chocolate chip shortbread cookies to take to the party. If they turn out pretty good, I'll post the recipe here later.

What are you up to today?

Five Books to Give Yourself

For all of you who received gift cards to bookstores this year, a list from NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Mrs. Astor Regrets: The Hidden Betrayals of a Family Beyond Reproach by Meryl Gordon

Book suggestions for the new President

Fifth graders have some books they think President-elect Obama should read. Listen here. Pretty cute.

The five worst books of 2008

Entertainment Weekly has just announced its end of the year best and worst lists of books. They have selected ten books that are the best in fiction and 10 that are best in nonfiction. And then there is the dreaded list of the five worst books period:

1. Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisberger
2. The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry
3. The Gargoyle, Andrew Davidson
4. Bright Shiny Morning, James Frey
5. A Wolf at the Table, Augusten Burroughs

Here's my personal tale of woe - I've not read any of the twenty best books but have read two out of the five worst books. I read "The Lace Reader" [absolutely dreadful] and "A Wolf at the Table" [tiresome and whiny with recycled material from Running with Scissors]. Since I agree wholeheartedly with these two books being on a worst books list, maybe I should consider the best books for future reading.

It's a Hard Life Wherever You Go

Nanci Griffith


Jill's review of Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry made me think of this song by Nanci Griffith. I used to think of this song while I was reading Angela's Ashes years ago. Must be in some Irish mood today...

Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about / discover this week?

I found:

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.
I recently watched "The Namesake" and enjoyed the film which was based on Lahiri's novel by the same title. Earlier this week I noticed Ms. Lahiri's collection of short stories "Unaccustomed Earth" was named to the NYT list of the Ten Best Books of 2008. I thought that perhaps I should begin reading this author starting with her first book, "Interpreter of Maladies," also a collection of short stories. Imagine your debut book being awarded with the Pulitzer Prize for fiction... I've ordered the book from my local bookseller and am excited about reading it.

"Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination."
— Jhumpa Lahiri from Interpreter of Maladies

Share your finds either by leaving a link to your own Friday Finds post or if you don't have a blog, in your comment. ~Thanks~

Discover a plethora of finds via Should Be Reading.

See this film - The Namesake

This film is based on Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel "The Namesake." Ms. Lahiri's book of short stories, "Unaccustomed Earth" has made the New York Times Ten Best Books of 2008. Her first book, "The Interpreter of Maladies," also a collection of short stories, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2000. I've not yet read any of Lahiri's books but I plan to read "The Interpreter of Maladies" very soon.

The National Book Award winners are...

Fiction
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country

Nonfiction
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family

Poetry
Mark Doty, Fire to Fire: New and Collected Poems

Young People's Literature
Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied

Turning Stones

Just finished Turning Stones - My Days and Nights with Children at Risk by Marc Parent. Like Parent, my first job after earning my undergraduate degree in sociology was a social work position with a nonprofit serving homeless families. There was a lot I could relate with in this book. As I said at the time, there's nothing like an entry level social work position to inspire one to go on to graduate school.

Here's my favorite passage from the afterword:

The agency is transforming its mission from family preservation at all costs to child protection at all costs. Imagine requiring a badly abused woman to return to her batterer, just hoping it doesn't happen again. And it does happen again, but still, she's required to return to their home. And again. And again. It's exactly what we've been doing to abused children.

While Parent's habit of describing his female coworkers in terms of their physical attractiveness was annoying, it was probably honest at least. He was in his early twenties after all and seemingly full of cool guy bravado. Aside from this, the book is definitely worth reading if you are considering working in the field of child protection or domestic violence. It's a good read too, if you were once on the front lines turning stones.