When my parents visited over the weekend we drove over to one of my favorite local spots, a little used bookstore in Campbell with a great kids’ section. I got all excited about a bunch of books and started to buy a whole stack of them “to read over the holidays,” and then remembered that I have two children and put back all but one (the Stephen King, obvs). There’s always the chance that Goldie will fall asleep on the flight to Ohio and let me get through a few chapters (ha hahahahahahah).
But MAN am I excited about the books that are out right now. So I thought I’d put up a list of some recent favorites and a few I’m looking forward to reading…someday. And if you have any suggestions, I’d love love love to hear them!
Recent Favorites:
I recently went through a little spat of reading half of a whole bunch of books and not especially enjoying them (I was – surprisingly – really not into Jenny Mollen’s or Judy Greer’s memoirs, and could not get through Stephen King’s Revival for the life of me). I usually persist anyway, because I hate discarding a book halfway through, but when life is as busy as it’s been lately the last thing I need is to spend hours reading a book I’m not loving. Anyway, these are the ones I stuck with:
- Yes, Please, by Amy Poehler. I’ve been reading it a little snippet at a time for about three months now, because I keep getting distracted by other, more linear books, but it’s the perfect book for picking up here and there. Not as straight-through funny as I might have liked, but the honesty is refreshing, I related like CRAZY to the sections about her crippling sleep disorder, and some (many, actually) parts are genius.
- The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt: Absolutely, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular books I have ever read. Also emotionally exhausting – I could only read a little of this at a time – but it was so worth it. I do not underline books, and I underlined this book because there were so many passages that I needed to show Kendrick later.
- All Fall Down: A Novel, by Jennifer Weiner. This story of a pill-addicted mom living in suburbia is fascinating and strangely relatable: the narrator’s substance abuse problems are jarring, sure, but I think the issues that led her to them are ones that we all experience to some extent as we move into for-real adulthood.
- 11/22/63: A Novel, by Stephen King. I did not enjoy the first quarter of this book (about a man trying to change the course of history by preventing JFK’s execution) at all, but read some reviews that said to stick with it…and it ended up being awesome.
Reading Now:
Finders, Keepers, by Stephen King. It’s in the vein of Misery – about an obsessive fan of a famous author – and so far not my all-time favorite, but pretty good.
Up Next:
- My Kitchen Year, by Ruth Reichl (I’ve read everything else the former NYT food critic has ever written. Love her.)
- Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl, by Carrie Brownstein
- Troublemaker, by Leah Remini (I know, I know…but I think this whole thing is FASCINATING)
- M Train, by Patti Smith
- Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson
- Why Not Me?, by Mindy Kaling
- The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories, by Stephen King
- Boys In The Trees, by Carly Simon
- Life, by Keith Richards
Anything you’ve read lately that you think should be on the list??
