December 2013 to present
In recent years blog reading surpassed book reading. I'd like to reverse that trend. Also, I'm getting old and forget which Jodi Picoult I've read. Hence, this page, which, by the way, contains affiliate links.
2026
1. I Want to Burn This Place Down: Essays by Maris Kreizman. Relatable culural commentary from a Xellenial. (I realized in the acknowledgements that she is Josh Gondelman's wife.)
2. Smash the Patriarchy: A Graphic Novel by Marta Breen and Jenny Jordahl, translated by Sian Mackie. I learned some new bits of history!
3. Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through The Living History of Black Resistance by Alvin Hall. Interesting and informative but 30 or more pages too long. It got repetitive.
4. Show Don't Tell: Stories by Curtis Sittenfeld, who is, BTW, a woman. A collection of short stories, most relating to women in midlife.
5. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage: Essays by Ann Patchett. A lovely book of essays.
6. The Taliban Cricket Club: A Novel by Timeri N. Murrieta. Rom without the com and some insight into Afghani life under the Taliban. A reminder of how much worse things could be. Would make a good movie though it would fail the Bechdel Test.
7. ** Plant Magic at Home: A Complete Guide to Harnessing the Power of Nature from Rituals to DIYs by Enid Baxter Ryce. A good general resource with colorful illustrations by Clair Harrup. Consider purchasing.
I've perused a bunch of gardening books:
A) The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden: How to Grow Food in a Changing Climate by Kim Stoddart.
B) Starting and Saving Seeds: Grow the Perfect Vegetables, Fruits, Herbs, and Flowers for Your Garden by Julie Thompson-Adolf.
C) Regrow Your Veggies: Growing Vegetables from Roots, cuttings, and Scraps by Melissa Rauoach and Felix Lill.
8. Natural Watercolor Paintmaking: Create Beautiful Pigments at Home Using Bontanicals, Vegetables, and other Firaged Maywrials by Joanne Greene. Great introduction and resource!
9. Found and Ground: A Practical Guide to Making Your own Foraged Paints by Caroline Ross. Focuses mainly on paints from ricks and minerals. Google "veglair" for making paints.
10. Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon. A brief dive into speculative fiction. About a woman who stays behind on a colonized planet after the corporation that runs it irdered everyone away. The book was a Hugo finalist. I might have liked it more if I had a book group to discuss it with. P.S. came back to say that upon reflection, I like it more and have thought about it a bit since reading it.
11. The People’s Project: Poems, Essays, and Art for Looking Foward curated by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith. Brief, shallow, and, no doubt, rushed. I'm maybe not close enough to the target audience?
12. The Overstory by Richard Price. As ddense and beautiful as any old tree. Gorgeous, informative, sad, full of reminders of how life works.
13. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler. "Don't read Yesteryear," they said. "Read Kindred." So I read this harrowing time traveling tale that takes a Black woman back to the early 1800s, instead of one that imagines a modern-day trad-wife influencer back to a (not so) simpler time.
14. Heart the Lover by Lily King. Short sentences, wide margins, large-ish print + romance = this summer's beach read. I guess. I picked it up at the Little Free Library bc I'd heard it was a hot summer book. Maybe I'm too old for it?
15.
2025
1. Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change by Cady Coleman
2. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.
3. The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier by Kasley Killam.
4. I Made It Out of Clay: A Novel by Beth Kander. On the eve of her 40th bday and her sister's wedding and in the shadows of her father's death, a woman brings a golem to life.
5. All Fours by Miranda July. Overrated.
6. Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, and Advice for Living You Best Life by Ali Wong. Time for a new chapter now that she's divorced.
7. This Phenomenal Life: The Amazing Ways We are Connected with Our Universe by Misha Maya Blaise. Colorful illustrations that make this feel like it's a children's picture book. But I'm pretty sure I picked it up in the adult section specifically because I thought it was titled, This PERIMENOPAUSAL Life. 🤣
8. What Now? by Ann Patchett. A slight revision of a commencement speech she gave at in 20--.
9. Permission: The New Memoirist and the Courage to Create by Elissa Altman. Thoughts of food for thought for anyone writing personal narratives.
10. Crying in the Bathroom: A Memoir by Erika L. Sanchez
11. Uneducated: A Memoir of Flunking Out, Falling Apart, and Finding My Worth by Christopher Zara.
12. Lonely Planet's Guide to Death, Grief, and Rebirth: How Global Grieving Customs can Help Us Live (and Die) Well. Library book that I only perused but seems like a useful resource.
13. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism: A Memoir by Sarah Wynn-Williams. Wow, no wonder Zuck tried to stop publication. Scathing insiders's view of FB.
14. Sandwich: A Novel by Catherine Newman. I remember her from Brain, Child, and blogger days. Still a beautiful writer.
15. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from Sudan by Benson Deng, Alephonsion Deng and Benjamin Ajak with Judy A. Bernstein. WOW, what an eye-opening book about the Sudan Civil War from the early 1980s until the early aughts when the boys miraculously reunite in the US. The book starts out with that, so it's not a spoiler, but what they encountered as such young children is horrifying and how the survived is equally shocking.
16. Just One: A Journey of Perseverance and Conviction by Nour Akhras, MD. Following up the last book with a pediatrician who volunteered in refugee camps. Also not for the faint of heart!
17. Not finished, but want to remember it Storey's curious compendium of practical and obscure skills: 214 things you can actually learn.
18. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Wow, the last 4 books I read tell a story of their own. Refugees, real and imagined. Butler's story might have hit differently if I hadn't read 15 and 16 just prior.
19. Remarkably Bright Creatures: A Novel. Shelby Van Pelt. The one about the Octopus.
20. Everything is Temporary by Iris Gotlieb. A flowy graphic novel on the fleeting nature of life and contemplating its end and what's beyond.
21. How to Share an Egg: A True Story of Hunger, Love, and Plenty by Bonny Reichert. The daughter of a Holocaust survivor finally tells his story. And hers.
22. Also Here by Brooke Randell another Holocaust memoir. This was less enjoyable that How to Share an Egg.
2024
1. I’m Wearing Tunics Now: On Growing Older, Better, and a Hell of a Lot Louder by Wendi Aarons. A fun and relatable read to start the year.
2. Counting the Cost: A Memoir by Jill Duggar, et al.
3. Somebody's Gotta Do It (a memoir): Why Cursing at the News Won't Save the Nation, but Your Name on a Local Ballot Can by Adrienne Martin. I'm hosting a Zoom with her in hopes of inspiring friends to run for office.
4. Owner of a Lonely Heart: A Memoir by Beth Nguyen. Author came to the US from Vietnam as a refugee when she was a baby. Her mom stayed or was left behind.
5. Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, the Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer by Barbara Ehrenreich. I thought this was going to lean more into the memoir zone. I skimmed and then skipped swaths of the book. I was looming for more of her personal gems, like this one at the end: where in her old age she says "I pretty much eat what I want and indulge my vices, from butter to wine. Life is too short to forgo these pleasures, and would be far too long without them." k
6. Remember You Will Die by Eden Robbins. A wildly imaginative romp involving an AI's attempt to understand grief and her human daughter dies. Told over the scope of more than 200 years (including the future) and mostly through fictional obituaries.
7. Every Story Ever Told by Ami Polonsky. This fictionalized account of the short-term recovery of 2023 Highland Park 4th of July shooting told through the eyes of a 7th grader. The protagonists story was informed by my friend's daughter who were at the real-life parade-turned-massacre.
8. So Sorry for Your Loss: How I Learned to Live with Grief, and Other Grave Concerns by Dina Gachman
2023
My first reading goal in 2023 is to finish books I started in 2022...or earlier.
1 God is Here: Reimagining the Divine by Toba Spitzer. Interesting take on God as metaphor instead of anthropomorphic sky puppet. Lots of food for thought including "God is something to experience not to believe in."
2. The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt: A Tyranny of Truth by Ken Krimstein. This graphic novel was a quick and interesting read.
3. A Life in Light: Meditations on Impermanence by Mary Pipher. Having enjoyed her books, Reviving Ophelia and Women Rowing North, I expected to like this book better. It's really just a memoir, but not a compelling one.
4. Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince. Uterus-having person reflects on her life as a tomboy and is now a straight woman who still identifies as a tomboy and doesn't cave to stereotypical gender norms.
5. The Boys: A Novel by Katie Hafner. I follow her husband, Bob Wachter on Twitter for Covid updates and he mentioned her recent book launch so I pulled it from the library display. It seemed boringly straightforward until...plot twist!
6. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser. When Life smacks us, we can break and crumble or break open, face the pain, and find meaning.
7. This is Your Life, Harriet Chance by Jonathon Evison. Bought as a used book and drooped it in a Little Free Library. I was attracted to the story of an old lady taking a last hurrah Alaskan cruise. Relatable, right? It was an okay read.
8. When Franny Stands Up: A Novel by Eden Robins. ORDCamper book!
9. Red at the Bone: A Novel by Jacqueline Woodson. A short novel was an easy and intriguing read. I would follow the mother-daughter pair (Iris and Melody) into their next story, if there is one.
10. The Water Dancer: A Novel by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Magical realism meets the Underground Railroad.Good at 400 pages, but might have been better closer to 300.
11. American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the 21st Century by Shannon Lee Dawdy. Interesting overview on funerals and disposition of bodies in America.
12. The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig. Another Little Free Library find. Predictable and trite, but sweet in a way. CW: suicide! A necessary break from Bad Sex
13. Bad Sex: Truth, Pleasure, and an Unfinished Revolution by Nona Willis Aronowitz. I should have known what it was from the title but for some reason I thought it was a memoir. To be fair, it was part memoir, but also feminist history and politics. As noted at the end, is it possible to think about or experience sex without a cultural context? 🤔
14. Ministry for the Future: A Novel by Kim Stanley Robinson. Holy moly, this book was 563 pages long, which is excessive, but it was good in a near-future dystopian reality kind of way. Meaning it was informative, creative, but also depressing. I heard about this on NPR's Science Friday, where it was part of their book club. I'm sorry I missed that discussion. This book provided a lot of food for thought. Also, I recently listened to this podcast, https://tippingpoint-podcast.com/, and it's all super depressing. I wish MftF, which was published in 2020, was written after the first awful Covid year, also maybe after the 2022 epidemic of H5N1 bird flu, and maybe also the recent holy sh*t/we're f*cked polar ice melt/ocean warming/excessive heat waves of 2023.
15. Cool Tokyo Guide by Abby Debson. Guess where I'm headed?! A fun comic-like primer on Tokyo.
16. Bad Vibes Only (and Other Things I Brung to the Table) by Nora McInerny. A book of pithy essays with some quotable moments. The kind of book that makes me feel capable of writing a book of pithy essays except that she already has the following/ notoriety to get it published.
17. My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me: A Memoir by Jason B. Rosenthal. I was a big fan of Amy Krouse Rosenthal, but this memoir didn't grab me. Could have been 30+ pages shorter.
18. Schmutz: A Novel by Felicia Berliner. A Chasidishe young woman gets addicted to internet porn.
19. The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home by S.L. Wisenberg.
20. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous: A Movel by Ocean Vuong. For a novel, it reads an awful lot like a poetic memoir of a Vietnamese immigrant child.. Infused by sadness, but, as noted, poetically so. Unforgettable line: Let no one mistake us us for the fruit of violence--but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it.
21. Braiding Sweetgrass: Idigenous wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I loved this book about the gift economy, the interconnectedness of all living things. That said, it's a lot to ponder, to digest, and I've been "reading" it on and off (mostly, off) for 2+ years.
22. The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an American Inheritance by Rebecca Clarren. A timely read about colonialism, genocide, and stolen land.
23. You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by Maggie Smith. Beautiful, sad, memoir almost poetically told. #Goals
24. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. Interesting reading this after The Cost of Free Land, which did a better job explaining the guardian and allotment systems. Our country is built on a broken beam. Now to see the movie.
2022
1. They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, et al. Graphic novel that tells his family's and our country's story of the Japanese-American WWII internment camps in.2. The First Ten Years: Two Sides of the Same Love Story by Meg Bashwiner and Joseph Fink. A cute he said/she said book to start my reading year.
3. The Book of Ichigo Ichie: The Art of Making the Most of Every Moment, the Japanese Way by Hector Garvia and Francesc Miracles. As with the ventless, the book could have been shorter. A brochure, as I say. My karate sensei used the phrase ichigo ichie translating it as "one strike, one kill" or you only get one chance. Needless to say, this book focused on the latter aspect.
4. Nobody Will Tell You This But Me: A true (as told to me) story by Bess Kalb. An A autobiography of Bess's grandmother, whom she loved very much. A touching matrilineal told with an inventive twist.
5. FACE: One Square Foot of Skin by Justine Bateman. After a promising introduction, I expected stories of empowered older women who embraced the beauty of natural aging. Instead, there were stories of old ladies being called witches and being made to feel unattractive. I read approximately 38/60 entries. I do like that she called wrinkles lines and surgery cutting. She made a good point about the societal shift from discussing whether plastic surgery is safe to at what age a woman should consider it.
6. Unplug: A Simple Guide to Meditation for Busy Skeptics and Modern Soul Seekers by Duze Yalof Schwartz with Debra Goldstein. I picked it up because the cover featured an image I found online and used in artwork. I skimmed the book. Seems like it's helpful for someone who would want to get started with meditation.
7. Black is the Body: Stories from My Grandmother's Time, My Mother's Time, and Mine by Emily Bernard. A black English professor in Vermont shares family history and perspective.
8. Eat, Memory, Great Writers at the Table: a collection of essays from the New York Times edited by Amanda Hess. Light, pleasurable reading with recipes.
9. Crossing the River, Seven Stories that Saved My Life: A Memoir by Carol Smith. A heartbreakingly beautiful read about the traumatic loss of a young child and the grief work that took decades to bring a sense of relief. Poignant. This book felt like a talk with an old dear friend.
10. I Came All This Way Just to Meet You: Writing Myself Home by Jami Attenberg. A writer on writing and life.
11. How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog by Christina Hunger.
12. In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom. Amy recounts her experience of bringing her husband who developed Alzheimer's to Zurich to end his life on his terms.
13. Kitchen Medicine: How I fed my Daughter out of Failure to Thrive by Debi Lewis. My friend's first book!
14. This Will All Be Over Soon: A Memoir by Cecily Strong. A raw journal of grief in the wake of her young cousin's death in January 2020 and the Covid loss that followed. Relatable.
15. Am I Overthinking This by Michelle Rial. A clever romp through life's everyday questions with answers provided by creative graphs and charts.
16. The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker
17. The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet by John Green. A series of pithy essays on the modern world. I give this book four stars.
18. Lost & Found: A Memoir by Kathryn Schulz. Some poignant thoughts on grief and finding and love with lots of long, run-on sentences. I sort of skimmed the last 50 pages because it was due back at the library.
19. Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism by Elsa Sjunneson. Recommended. Just as we have unconscious bias when it comes to race and gender, this book points out the roots of ableism that are fed by the media and how they tend to take hold in the minds of abled folks.
20. Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life by Christie Tate.
21. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. Among Alecue's earlier work. Makes me want to reread the book about his mother.
22. When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Thought I'd like this more but if we're made into a movie, I'd see it.
22. Moral Disorder and Other Stories by Margaret Atwood.
23. I Want to Be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom. If you enjoy her musical comedy or her TV shows (new one coming soon to Hulu), you'll appreciate this peek into her mind.
24. You've Changed: Fake Accents, Feminism, and other Comedies from Myanmar by Parker Moe Thet War. Library find that lured me with the word Myanmar. Interesting glimpse into the culture and what it's like to walk a bridge between two worlds.
25. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Story of light-skinned Black twins froma tiny southern town. One sister passes and lives as a white woman. "Explores race, gender, and identity," says the book cover.
26. Florida Woman: A Novel by Deb Rogers. A friend of my OG blogger days wrote a fun novel that's a wild ride. Would be a great Netflix or Hulu 6 episode mini-series. "Blurbed" on the back cover by Joe Exotic 9f Tiger King fame.
27. The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America by Anita Hannig. I hope she'll ll blurb my book.
28. Nice Try: Stories of My Best Intentions and Mixed Results by Josh Gondelman. This may be one of my last serendipitous discoveries from Twitter. Sigh.
29. We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans and Comedy by Kliph Nesteroff. I nabbed this book from a display for Native American Heritage Month. It was informative and fascinating. The author did extensive research and his narrative flowed with the exception of a bit of repetition near the end. This book is a great primer for fans of Rutherford Falls, Reservation Dogs, and the like. Keep a phone nearby so you can Google as you read.
30. We Are What We Ate: 24 Memories of Food, edited by Mark Winegardner.
2021
1. Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. A chilling piece of historical fiction based on a "reform school" for boys in Florida.
2. You Won't Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar. Awful real-life anecdotes about the blatant racism faced by one (but also many) black woman.
3. Radiant: The Dancer, the Scientist, and a Friendship Forged in Light by Liz Heinecke. A longtime STEM blog friend publishes her first novel! It was interesting learning about Loie Fuller (the Lady Gaga of her day?) and diving into the background of Marie Curie in this piece of historical fiction.
4. Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. A novel about triplets. Beach read.
5. Song for a New Day: A Novel by Sarah Pinsker. A presciently-timed story for our pandemic world. Fantastic debut novel from an award-winning author.
6. Searching for Bubbe Fischer by... I wanted more memoir and less mah jong.
7. Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O'Brien.
8. Amelia Earhart The Sky's no Limit by Van Pelt.
9. I Had a Brother Once. A Poem. A Memoir. By Adam Mansbach.
10. Amelia Earhart: The Turbulent Life of an American Icon by Katheleen C. Winters
11. Flat Broke with Two Goats: A memoir by Jennifer McGaha.
12. Driving Miss Norma: One Family's Journey Saying "Yes" to Living by Ramie Lindley and Tim Bauerschmidt. Instead of hopping on the medical assembly line as a 90y.o. with the hope of curing her terminal cancer, Norma joins her son and DIL for a cross-country RV trip that is truly the ride of her life.
13. Wally Funk's Race for Space: The Extraordinary Story of a Female Aviation Pioneer by Sue Nelson. I started reading this week's ago when Wally was relatively unknown. Now she's making headlines daily and is scheduled to go to Space with Jeff Bezos in late July!
14. The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter by Margareta Magnusson, who is "between and 100 years old." Favorite/most unexpected line: Save your favorite dildo--but throw away the other fifteen!
15. Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone. Written for older kids, it tells the story of the "Mercury 13" with photos and other historic artifacts, like LBJ's letter that ended any hope of having female astronauts in the 1960s.
16. When My Time Comes: Conversations About Whether Those Who Are Dying Should Have the Right to Determine When Life Should End by Diane Rehm. It would have been easier to watch the special this was based on. The book is just interview transcripts.
17. The Color of Love: A story of a mixed-race Jewish girl by Marra B. Gad.
18. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir by Michelle Zauner.
19. Know My Name:A Memoir by Chanel Miller. A powerful, painful book (CW: sexual assault and trauma). A scathing indictment of how poorly our legal system and other institutions treat female victims of assault she is the definition of a survivor.
20. Clean: The new science of skin by James Hamblin. A physician turned journalist, James Hamblin is the male version of Mary Roach. That is, both informative and funny. Want better skin? More sleep, more nature, less stress, and fewer purchased products. Interesting history on the marketing of soap over the years.
21. Gentrifier: A Memoir by Anne Elizabeth Moore. Themed chapters consisting of choppy anecdotes. I would have preferred deeper essays, but the overall story arc is a novel one.
22. Everything is Flammable by Gabrielle Bell. A memoir in graphic novel form.
23. Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson. At turns funny and poignant.
24. Should We Stay or Should We Go? by Lionel Shriver.
2020
*1. Smoke gets in Your Eyes and Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty. Part memoir, part exploration of how our culture (mis)handles death with a pinch of a feminist perspective on the funeral industry. The book compelled me to rethink what I want done with my body after I'm done with it.2. From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Caitlin Doughty. I continue to enjoy and be challenged by Caitlin's breezy writing on deep topics, and I enjoy her feminist perspective. I was glad to have my phone nearby for the chapter on her visit to Japan so I could get a look at some of the tech-influenced cemeteries of Japan, which has a 99% cremation rate.
3. Knocking On Heaven's Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death by Katy Butler. Katy's dad received a pacemaker just as he was showing signs of dementia. What happens when the pacemaker kept ticking but he slowly lost his mind? A very unpleasant scenario for all. Katy describees a Medicare system that rewards high-tech interventions while barely compensating doctors for long consultations that might ultimately provide a better quality of life for the patient and their caregivers.
2. Negroland, a memoir by Margo Jefferson
3. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. The compelling story of his difficult childhood against a backdrop of poverty and apartheid.
4. Stretch: The unlikely making of a yoga dude by Neal Pollack. I remember him from the early days of blogging and I want to take yoga more seriously. Not super inspiring though.
5. Muslim Girl: a coming of age by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
6. The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien Tolstoy was right about unhappy families. This book is yet another take on a horrible childhood. I should make my own kids read it so they recognize what awesome parents they have.
7. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi
8. Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
9. Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult White woman gets woke
10. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr sad, but beautiful WW II story
11. All Who Go do not Return by Shulem Deen. Hasidic guy loses his religion.
12. Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hanberry
13. Just the Funny Parts...And a few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood boys' club by Nell Scovell
14. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
15. The Wrong Way to Save Your Life by Chicagoan Meagan Stielestra. A relatable and sometimes thought-provoking essays
16. Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman. Hus and I went to hear him speak and a copy of the book was included in each of our tickets. A fun surprise + great way to boost sales.
17. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.
18. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (now a major motion picture)
19. Sourdough by Robin Sloane, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. If you liked Sloane's first book, you'll enjoy this second one.
20. El Deafo by Cece Bell (graphic novel)
21. The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography by Deborah Levy
22. America for Beginners by Leah Franqui
2019
1. Canoeing with Jose by Jon Lurie, a modern retelling/reenactment of the classic(?), Canoeing with the Cree about paddling from Minneapolis to Hudson Bay.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A story told WWII occupation in England's Channel Islands through a rapid exchange of letters."Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." I picked my copy up at a Little Free Library.
3. This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel a transgender child, fairy tales, and family secrets.
4. Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. Treacly read about America's favorite library cat of recent memory.
*5. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Powerful and beautifully written memoir- religious fundamentalism, mental illness, family, and education.
6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Very disappointed by the ending.
7. Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Remarkable only because Steve Jobs was her father. It lacked the flowing prose of Educated. Mostly confirmed what I already learned about Steve Jobs: he was an asshole.
*8. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee. Amazing true story of a North Korean defector.
9. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I took issue with a couple of character development issues in the story, but overall a good read with a biology lesson about marshes, to boot.
10. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. An always informative, sometimes gruesome book about what happens to human bodies after death. Roach is a fantastic science writer who brings a relatable sense of humor to her subjects, even this one.
*11. The Art of Dying Well by Katy Butler It's what the title hints at. It's a must-read. I want everyone I care about to read this book. A friend bought multiple copies so she could pass them around. I might do the same.
12. Let's Talk About Death Over Dinner by Michael Hebb.
13. Women Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing as We Age by Mary Pipher (of Reviving Ophelia fame). I feel a few years too young for this book, but I found some gems of wisdom nonetheless.
14. Am I There Yet? The Loop-de-Loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood by Mari Andrew. An impulse grab in the graphic novel section of the library. Cute, quick read and has useful insights for adults and wannabe adults of all ages.
15. Can't We Talk about Something more Pleasant? By Roz Chast. A graphic novel that I first read in 2014. It resonates more now that my bn own parents are over 80.
*16. Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob. A good book. A graphic novel that is at once an easy read because of its format and a tough one because of its content- colorism, racism, and America 2015-19.
17. Ayiti by Roxane Gay. A short collection of short stories, some of which are mere vignettes, related to the Haitian diaspora.
18. Art Matters Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman, illustration by Chris Riddell. Thoughts from @Neilhimself that you may have heard or read previously, now with illustrations. Very quick read.
19. Calypso by David Sedaris. At first I thought I'd already read this book, what with tales of his seaside home and picking up trash in England. Ah, just another yarn about David's life. Read if you're a big fan. Convince yourself you already read it if you're not. The last chapter, about his father, was interesting, if unresolved.
20. First comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story by Huda Al-Marashi. A good read and brutally honest peek behind the scenes of an arranged marriage and the challenges of growing up as a first generation American while immersed in her family's native culture (Iraqi Shia Muslim).
*21. Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-Haims
*22. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
23. The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
24. Becoming by Michelle Obama. I didn't *love* it, but I did like it and some parts left me weepy and nostalgic. Also, f^ck Trump.
25. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed. 👏 Lori Gottlieb
26. Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them: A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale.
27. Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass. Selected as a mystery book from a Little Free Library, it was wrapped in brown paper with notes about a story of nature and Montana. True that, but it took me months to get through. Its biggest value was putting me to sleep at night.
28. Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. I expected more and yet this book could have been 50 pages shorter. Meh.
29. Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault: Essays from the grown-up years by Cathy Guisewite. A book of memoirish essays from the "Cathy" cartoonist! Cheeky in an Erma Bombeck way. I was most interested in the pieces that focused on her aging parents and her relationship with them. An easy relatable read for mid-life sandwich generation women who are too young for Women Rowing North.
30. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death by Caitlin Doughty, everyone's favorite mortician. Although the questions were posed by kids, an early reference to necrophilia makes me feel that perhaps this book is not For them. If you were fascinated Mary Roach's book, Stiff, then you're sure to find this book interesting.
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: A Novel by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. A story told WWII occupation in England's Channel Islands through a rapid exchange of letters."Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." I picked my copy up at a Little Free Library.
3. This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel a transgender child, fairy tales, and family secrets.
4. Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter. Treacly read about America's favorite library cat of recent memory.
*5. Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. Powerful and beautifully written memoir- religious fundamentalism, mental illness, family, and education.
6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Very disappointed by the ending.
7. Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs. Remarkable only because Steve Jobs was her father. It lacked the flowing prose of Educated. Mostly confirmed what I already learned about Steve Jobs: he was an asshole.
*8. The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story by Hyeonseo Lee. Amazing true story of a North Korean defector.
9. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I took issue with a couple of character development issues in the story, but overall a good read with a biology lesson about marshes, to boot.
10. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. An always informative, sometimes gruesome book about what happens to human bodies after death. Roach is a fantastic science writer who brings a relatable sense of humor to her subjects, even this one.
*11. The Art of Dying Well by Katy Butler It's what the title hints at. It's a must-read. I want everyone I care about to read this book. A friend bought multiple copies so she could pass them around. I might do the same.
12. Let's Talk About Death Over Dinner by Michael Hebb.
13. Women Rowing North: Navigating Life's Currents and Flourishing as We Age by Mary Pipher (of Reviving Ophelia fame). I feel a few years too young for this book, but I found some gems of wisdom nonetheless.
14. Am I There Yet? The Loop-de-Loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood by Mari Andrew. An impulse grab in the graphic novel section of the library. Cute, quick read and has useful insights for adults and wannabe adults of all ages.
15. Can't We Talk about Something more Pleasant? By Roz Chast. A graphic novel that I first read in 2014. It resonates more now that my bn own parents are over 80.
*16. Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations by Mira Jacob. A good book. A graphic novel that is at once an easy read because of its format and a tough one because of its content- colorism, racism, and America 2015-19.
17. Ayiti by Roxane Gay. A short collection of short stories, some of which are mere vignettes, related to the Haitian diaspora.
18. Art Matters Because Your Imagination Can Change the World by Neil Gaiman, illustration by Chris Riddell. Thoughts from @Neilhimself that you may have heard or read previously, now with illustrations. Very quick read.
19. Calypso by David Sedaris. At first I thought I'd already read this book, what with tales of his seaside home and picking up trash in England. Ah, just another yarn about David's life. Read if you're a big fan. Convince yourself you already read it if you're not. The last chapter, about his father, was interesting, if unresolved.
20. First comes Marriage: My Not-So-Typical American Love Story by Huda Al-Marashi. A good read and brutally honest peek behind the scenes of an arranged marriage and the challenges of growing up as a first generation American while immersed in her family's native culture (Iraqi Shia Muslim).
*21. Real American: A Memoir by Julie Lythcott-Haims
*22. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan
23. The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
24. Becoming by Michelle Obama. I didn't *love* it, but I did like it and some parts left me weepy and nostalgic. Also, f^ck Trump.
25. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed. 👏 Lori Gottlieb
26. Advice for Future Corpses (And Those Who Love Them: A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale.
27. Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass. Selected as a mystery book from a Little Free Library, it was wrapped in brown paper with notes about a story of nature and Montana. True that, but it took me months to get through. Its biggest value was putting me to sleep at night.
28. Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner. I expected more and yet this book could have been 50 pages shorter. Meh.
29. Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault: Essays from the grown-up years by Cathy Guisewite. A book of memoirish essays from the "Cathy" cartoonist! Cheeky in an Erma Bombeck way. I was most interested in the pieces that focused on her aging parents and her relationship with them. An easy relatable read for mid-life sandwich generation women who are too young for Women Rowing North.
30. Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals about Death by Caitlin Doughty, everyone's favorite mortician. Although the questions were posed by kids, an early reference to necrophilia makes me feel that perhaps this book is not For them. If you were fascinated Mary Roach's book, Stiff, then you're sure to find this book interesting.
2018
1. You Don't Have to Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie. Like Roxane Gay's Hunger, this is a beautifully written memoir of grief, pain, and shame.2. Negroland, a memoir by Margo Jefferson
3. Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah. The compelling story of his difficult childhood against a backdrop of poverty and apartheid.
4. Stretch: The unlikely making of a yoga dude by Neal Pollack. I remember him from the early days of blogging and I want to take yoga more seriously. Not super inspiring though.
5. Muslim Girl: a coming of age by Amani Al-Khatahtbeh
6. The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir by Maude Julien Tolstoy was right about unhappy families. This book is yet another take on a horrible childhood. I should make my own kids read it so they recognize what awesome parents they have.
7. Americanized: Rebel Without a Green Card by Sara Saedi
8. Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
9. Small Great Things by Jodi Piccoult White woman gets woke
10. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr sad, but beautiful WW II story
11. All Who Go do not Return by Shulem Deen. Hasidic guy loses his religion.
12. Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hanberry
13. Just the Funny Parts...And a few hard truths about sneaking into the Hollywood boys' club by Nell Scovell
14. Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
15. The Wrong Way to Save Your Life by Chicagoan Meagan Stielestra. A relatable and sometimes thought-provoking essays
16. Vacationland: True Stories from Painful Beaches by John Hodgman. Hus and I went to hear him speak and a copy of the book was included in each of our tickets. A fun surprise + great way to boost sales.
17. When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris.
18. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (now a major motion picture)
19. Sourdough by Robin Sloane, author of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. If you liked Sloane's first book, you'll enjoy this second one.
20. El Deafo by Cece Bell (graphic novel)
21. The Cost of Living: A Working Autobiography by Deborah Levy
22. America for Beginners by Leah Franqui
2017
1. Forgot to record
2. (Hidden Figures)
3. The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
4. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
5. Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog by Delia Ephron
6. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
7. Bejing Bastard: Coming of age in a changing China by Val Wang
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
9. Homegoing by Has Gyasi
10. Please Look after Mom: A Novel by Kyung-Sook Shin
11. Night at the Fiestas, Stories by Kristin Valdez Quade
12. Schadenfreude, a Love Story. Me, The Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunication, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For by Rebecca Schuman.
13. Hungry Heart: Adventures in life, love, and writing by Jennifer Weiner
14. Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer
15. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
16. Today Will be Different by Maria Semple
17. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
18. Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
19. Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
20. Are You Anybody? by Jeffrey Tambor
21. Hunger, A Memoir of (my) Body by Roxane Gay
22. The Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa
23. Fermentation on Wheels: Road Stories, Food Ramblings, and 50 Do-It-Yourself Recipes from Sauerkraut, Kombucha, and Yogurt to Miso, Tempeh, and Mead by Tara Whitsitt
4. The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes
5. Sister, Mother, Husband, Dog by Delia Ephron
6. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
7. Bejing Bastard: Coming of age in a changing China by Val Wang
8. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn9. Homegoing by Has Gyasi
10. Please Look after Mom: A Novel by Kyung-Sook Shin
11. Night at the Fiestas, Stories by Kristin Valdez Quade
12. Schadenfreude, a Love Story. Me, The Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Unfortunate Miscommunication, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For by Rebecca Schuman.
13. Hungry Heart: Adventures in life, love, and writing by Jennifer Weiner
14. Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer
15. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
16. Today Will be Different by Maria Semple
17. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick
18. Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
19. Dying: A Memoir by Cory Taylor
20. Are You Anybody? by Jeffrey Tambor
21. Hunger, A Memoir of (my) Body by Roxane Gay
22. The Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist by Sunil Yapa
23. Fermentation on Wheels: Road Stories, Food Ramblings, and 50 Do-It-Yourself Recipes from Sauerkraut, Kombucha, and Yogurt to Miso, Tempeh, and Mead by Tara Whitsitt
2016
1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
3. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
4. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
5. My Life in France by Julia Child
6. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
7. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
8. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
9. The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez
10. Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell. Wishing there was more Hamilton in it. I have forgotten from history class.
11. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
12. Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin. I could never live there.
13. First Jobs by Merritt Watts. Quick read of anecdotes on the topic.
14. When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. A young neurosurgeon's dying wish.
15. Every Last Tie by David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber
16. Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story (graphic novel) by Peter Bagge
17. Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim. An inside peek at an elite North Korean university
18. Making Makers: Kids, Tools and the Future of Innovation by AnnMarie Thomas
19. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons. 52 yo. laid-off journalist takes a job at a start-up where the average worker is literally half his age. Hilarity and annoyance ensue.
20. Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax.
21. A Thousand Naked Strangers: A paramedic's wild ride to the edge and back by Kevin Hazard.
22. You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein (she writes for Inside Amy Schumer). Not as funny as Tina Fey's Bossypants, but ahead of Mindy Kahling's, Sarah Siverman's and Amy Poehler's books. Fun summer read.
23. The Telling: A memoir by Zoe Zolbrod. A middle-age woman reflects on the sexual abuse she experienced as a young child, but did disclose until many years later. Needless to say *trigger warning*. Some parts are intense.
24. Mother, Can You NOT? By Kate Siege, the young woman behind @crazyjewishmom on Instagram. Meh.
25. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer. At turns funny, sometimes almost poignant, but it needed better editing. The book could have been better.
26. Chai Me by Tamar Manasseh
27. This One is Mine by Maria Stempel. After hearing the author on NPR I wanted to check out her new book, but the library only had her debut novel about a wealthy woman who has an affair available.
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2015
1. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (compelled to read Rachel Dratch to complete the Fey-Poehler-Dratch trinity)
2. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
3. I think I forgot to record a book or two, which makes it fitting (scary?) that the next book is....
4. Still Alice
5. The Voyeurs by Gabrielle Bell (graphic novel)
6. Ready Player One (sci-fi!) by Ernest Cline. A fun read for children of the 80s. Spielberg just signed on to make the movie.
7. The Teenage Brain by Dr. Frances Jensen and Amy Ellis Nutt
8. Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni
9. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
10. Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich, a series of nonsensical and amusing short stories
11. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner, her books left me inspired to try my own hand at "chick lit"
12. Out of the Dust by , a friend told me this was YA, but it's kiddie lit. Touching quick read about the Dust Bowl Days.
13. Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich. He's amusing that Simon Rich.
14. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, another YA poetry narrative. I especially liked the last third of the book.
15. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhump Lahiri, a great find from a local Little Free Library.
16. People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann. The kind of book I imagined writing once upon a time.
17. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance I'm not much on biographies, but this was pretty interesting. Musk is brilliant/crazy.
18. Ant Farm by Simon Rich
19. The Martian by Andy Weir
20. Breakthrough by Jack Andraka
21. I was a Child by Bruce Erick Kaplan
22. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
1. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
2. Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
3. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
4. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
5. My Life in France by Julia Child
6. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
7. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
8. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
9. The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez
10. Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell. Wishing there was more Hamilton in it. I have forgotten from history class.
11. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
12. Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin. I could never live there.
13. First Jobs by Merritt Watts. Quick read of anecdotes on the topic.
14. When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. A young neurosurgeon's dying wish.
15. Every Last Tie by David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber
16. Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story (graphic novel) by Peter Bagge
2. Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
3. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
4. Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes
5. My Life in France by Julia Child
6. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
7. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
8. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
9. The Book of Unknown Americans by Christina Henriquez
10. Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell. Wishing there was more Hamilton in it. I have forgotten from history class.
11. My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
12. Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin. I could never live there.
13. First Jobs by Merritt Watts. Quick read of anecdotes on the topic.
14. When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. A young neurosurgeon's dying wish.
15. Every Last Tie by David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber
16. Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story (graphic novel) by Peter Bagge
17. Without You, There Is No Us by Suki Kim. An inside peek at an elite North Korean university
18. Making Makers: Kids, Tools and the Future of Innovation by AnnMarie Thomas
19. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons. 52 yo. laid-off journalist takes a job at a start-up where the average worker is literally half his age. Hilarity and annoyance ensue.
20. Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax.
21. A Thousand Naked Strangers: A paramedic's wild ride to the edge and back by Kevin Hazard.
22. You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein (she writes for Inside Amy Schumer). Not as funny as Tina Fey's Bossypants, but ahead of Mindy Kahling's, Sarah Siverman's and Amy Poehler's books. Fun summer read.
23. The Telling: A memoir by Zoe Zolbrod. A middle-age woman reflects on the sexual abuse she experienced as a young child, but did disclose until many years later. Needless to say *trigger warning*. Some parts are intense.
24. Mother, Can You NOT? By Kate Siege, the young woman behind @crazyjewishmom on Instagram. Meh.
25. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer. At turns funny, sometimes almost poignant, but it needed better editing. The book could have been better.
26. Chai Me by Tamar Manasseh
27. This One is Mine by Maria Stempel. After hearing the author on NPR I wanted to check out her new book, but the library only had her debut novel about a wealthy woman who has an affair available.
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2015
1. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (compelled to read Rachel Dratch to complete the Fey-Poehler-Dratch trinity)
2. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
3. I think I forgot to record a book or two, which makes it fitting (scary?) that the next book is....
4. Still Alice
5. The Voyeurs by Gabrielle Bell (graphic novel)
6. Ready Player One (sci-fi!) by Ernest Cline. A fun read for children of the 80s. Spielberg just signed on to make the movie.
7. The Teenage Brain by Dr. Frances Jensen and Amy Ellis Nutt
8. Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni
9. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
10. Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich, a series of nonsensical and amusing short stories
11. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner, her books left me inspired to try my own hand at "chick lit"
12. Out of the Dust by , a friend told me this was YA, but it's kiddie lit. Touching quick read about the Dust Bowl Days.
13. Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich. He's amusing that Simon Rich.
14. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, another YA poetry narrative. I especially liked the last third of the book.
15. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhump Lahiri, a great find from a local Little Free Library.
16. People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann. The kind of book I imagined writing once upon a time.
17. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance I'm not much on biographies, but this was pretty interesting. Musk is brilliant/crazy.
18. Ant Farm by Simon Rich
19. The Martian by Andy Weir
20. Breakthrough by Jack Andraka
21. I was a Child by Bruce Erick Kaplan
22. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
18. Making Makers: Kids, Tools and the Future of Innovation by AnnMarie Thomas
19. Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons. 52 yo. laid-off journalist takes a job at a start-up where the average worker is literally half his age. Hilarity and annoyance ensue.
20. Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax.
21. A Thousand Naked Strangers: A paramedic's wild ride to the edge and back by Kevin Hazard.
22. You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein (she writes for Inside Amy Schumer). Not as funny as Tina Fey's Bossypants, but ahead of Mindy Kahling's, Sarah Siverman's and Amy Poehler's books. Fun summer read.
23. The Telling: A memoir by Zoe Zolbrod. A middle-age woman reflects on the sexual abuse she experienced as a young child, but did disclose until many years later. Needless to say *trigger warning*. Some parts are intense.
24. Mother, Can You NOT? By Kate Siege, the young woman behind @crazyjewishmom on Instagram. Meh.
25. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer. At turns funny, sometimes almost poignant, but it needed better editing. The book could have been better.
26. Chai Me by Tamar Manasseh
27. This One is Mine by Maria Stempel. After hearing the author on NPR I wanted to check out her new book, but the library only had her debut novel about a wealthy woman who has an affair available.
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2015
1. Yes Please by Amy Poehler (compelled to read Rachel Dratch to complete the Fey-Poehler-Dratch trinity)
2. Heartburn by Nora Ephron
3. I think I forgot to record a book or two, which makes it fitting (scary?) that the next book is....
4. Still Alice
5. The Voyeurs by Gabrielle Bell (graphic novel)
6. Ready Player One (sci-fi!) by Ernest Cline. A fun read for children of the 80s. Spielberg just signed on to make the movie.
7. The Teenage Brain by Dr. Frances Jensen and Amy Ellis Nutt
8. Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be by Frank Bruni
9. All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner
10. Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich, a series of nonsensical and amusing short stories
11. Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner, her books left me inspired to try my own hand at "chick lit"
12. Out of the Dust by , a friend told me this was YA, but it's kiddie lit. Touching quick read about the Dust Bowl Days.
13. Elliot Allagash by Simon Rich. He's amusing that Simon Rich.
14. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, another YA poetry narrative. I especially liked the last third of the book.
15. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhump Lahiri, a great find from a local Little Free Library.
16. People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann. The kind of book I imagined writing once upon a time.
17. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance I'm not much on biographies, but this was pretty interesting. Musk is brilliant/crazy.
18. Ant Farm by Simon Rich
19. The Martian by Andy Weir
20. Breakthrough by Jack Andraka
21. I was a Child by Bruce Erick Kaplan
22. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
2014
- The End of Your Life Book Club
(inspiring; made me want to read more)
- My Education by Susan Choi
(a high-minded beach read)
- The Interestings (dragged on; I stopped halfway in because life is short)
- Roar of Thunder, Hear My Cry (why did I not read this as a child?)
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place (bought this book in Kanab, Utah)
- Truth and Beauty (touching story of IRL friendship between the author and Lucy Grealy of Anatomy of a Face)
- Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices (good, but I wanted more depth. Then again, it's a book from the youth collection)
- The Reader (quick, but disturbing read)
- The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (HBO's "Girls" meets Holden Caufield)
- You're Not Doing it Right by Michael Ian Black (like his show "Michael and Michael have issues," the book is sometimes funny)
- Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman (if you want to read a lot of books in one year, choose books by comedians; they're quick, fun reads)
- Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer (Only slightly more engaging than The Interestings, but I finished this one)
- Relish by Lucy Knisely (practically cheating here it's an easy read graphic novel--with illustrated recipes)
- Letters to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
- The Husband's Secret by Lian Moriarty (stopped reading book for two weeks after the secret was revealed as it seemed improbable, but eventually returned and the book's epilogue tied things up nearly to my satisfaction.)
- What Alice Forgot by Lian Moriarty (Liked this book better than her last. Once again the epilogue tied things up neatly)
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Touching YA novel; a good read)
- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (I saw a trailer for the movie and knew I had to read the book first!)
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander. Contemporary Jewish short stories. I was a fan of his debut collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.
- Her Beautiful Brain by Ann Hedreen. A mother, a daughter, Alzheimer's.
- Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast A memoir in comic/graphic form. Very quick read.
- The Circle by Dave Eggers. A disturbing glimpse inside a fictional Facebook/Instagram/Google social media behemoth.
- Wonder by RJ Palacio. A quick, engaging YA read
A reading list from 2006-7 that I rediscovered in 2024
1. 100 Secret Senses by Amy Tan. Similiar to Alice Walker's Temple of My Familiar--past lives, lost loves, but a different cultural slant. Enjoyable.2. Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. "The trickiest part of getting what you want in life is just figuring out what you really want." Talked about making a "treasure map."Set goals, find pics of your desired reality, make collage or draw to create a roadmap. Write goals in the form of affirmations. "I now live in a four-bedroom house and have a house in the country as well as a family, and a growing profitable coaching and consulting practice." Repeat.3-5. Didn't read cover-to-cover, but skimmed Thunderbolt Thinking by Grace McGartland, What a Gret Idea! by Chic Thompson, and Min-Mapping by Joyce Wycoff.6. The Creative Spirit: Companions to the <1992> PBS Serie by Daniel Goleman, Paul Kaufman, and Michael Ray. Contains tips that could be incorporated into a workshop. " Researchers report that when teams of people are working together on a problem, those groups that laugh most readily and most often <within limits, obviously> are more creative and productive than their more dour and decorous counterparts."7. Mompreneur: Guide to Work at Home Success by Ellen Parlapiano and Patricia Cobe. Limited usefulness for a biz that's already established. Nothing on working through a pregnancy nor much info on post-partum weeks.8. 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople by Stephan Schiffman. A small, brief easy read with useful tips. Each (3-5 page!) chapter dives into one of the 25 habits. Habit #2 Ask the right questions to segue from small talk to sales talk9. Life's a Pitch, Then You Buy by Don Peppers. Not a fan. Ad exec who shares key strategies, some of which I find ethically questionable despite their cleverness. 10. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (book group). Intriguing Whodunnit. Couldn't put it down mid-point, but found the end disappointing. Interesting to learn about a cultural clash outside the US.
- The End of Your Life Book Club
- My Education by Susan Choi
- The Interestings (dragged on; I stopped halfway in because life is short)
- Roar of Thunder, Hear My Cry (why did I not read this as a child?)
- Between a Rock and a Hard Place (bought this book in Kanab, Utah)
- Truth and Beauty (touching story of IRL friendship between the author and Lucy Grealy of Anatomy of a Face)
- Open Mic: Riffs on Life Between Cultures in Ten Voices (good, but I wanted more depth. Then again, it's a book from the youth collection)
- The Reader (quick, but disturbing read)
- The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (HBO's "Girls" meets Holden Caufield)
- You're Not Doing it Right by Michael Ian Black (like his show "Michael and Michael have issues," the book is sometimes funny)
- Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman (if you want to read a lot of books in one year, choose books by comedians; they're quick, fun reads)
- Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer (Only slightly more engaging than The Interestings, but I finished this one)
- Relish by Lucy Knisely (practically cheating here it's an easy read graphic novel--with illustrated recipes)
- Letters to My Daughter by Maya Angelou
- The Husband's Secret by Lian Moriarty (stopped reading book for two weeks after the secret was revealed as it seemed improbable, but eventually returned and the book's epilogue tied things up nearly to my satisfaction.)
- What Alice Forgot by Lian Moriarty (Liked this book better than her last. Once again the epilogue tied things up neatly)
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Touching YA novel; a good read)
- Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris
- Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed (I saw a trailer for the movie and knew I had to read the book first!)
- What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank by Nathan Englander. Contemporary Jewish short stories. I was a fan of his debut collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.
- Her Beautiful Brain by Ann Hedreen. A mother, a daughter, Alzheimer's.
- Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast A memoir in comic/graphic form. Very quick read.
- The Circle by Dave Eggers. A disturbing glimpse inside a fictional Facebook/Instagram/Google social media behemoth.
- Wonder by RJ Palacio. A quick, engaging YA read
A reading list from 2006-7 that I rediscovered in 2024
1. 100 Secret Senses by Amy Tan. Similiar to Alice Walker's Temple of My Familiar--past lives, lost loves, but a different cultural slant. Enjoyable.
2. Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain. "The trickiest part of getting what you want in life is just figuring out what you really want." Talked about making a "treasure map."Set goals, find pics of your desired reality, make collage or draw to create a roadmap. Write goals in the form of affirmations. "I now live in a four-bedroom house and have a house in the country as well as a family, and a growing profitable coaching and consulting practice." Repeat.
3-5. Didn't read cover-to-cover, but skimmed Thunderbolt Thinking by Grace McGartland, What a Gret Idea! by Chic Thompson, and Min-Mapping by Joyce Wycoff.
6. The Creative Spirit: Companions to the <1992> PBS Serie by Daniel Goleman, Paul Kaufman, and Michael Ray. Contains tips that could be incorporated into a workshop. " Researchers report that when teams of people are working together on a problem, those groups that laugh most readily and most often <within limits, obviously> are more creative and productive than their more dour and decorous counterparts."
7. Mompreneur: Guide to Work at Home Success by Ellen Parlapiano and Patricia Cobe. Limited usefulness for a biz that's already established. Nothing on working through a pregnancy nor much info on post-partum weeks.
8. 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople by Stephan Schiffman. A small, brief easy read with useful tips. Each (3-5 page!) chapter dives into one of the 25 habits. Habit #2 Ask the right questions to segue from small talk to sales talk
9. Life's a Pitch, Then You Buy by Don Peppers. Not a fan. Ad exec who shares key strategies, some of which I find ethically questionable despite their cleverness.
10. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (book group). Intriguing Whodunnit. Couldn't put it down mid-point, but found the end disappointing. Interesting to learn about a cultural clash outside the US.
A list of books I always forget to reference when I'm at the library: All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
This is a Book about the Kids in the Hall by John Semley
You're on Airplane by Parker Posey
No One Tells you this: a memoir by Glynnis MacNicol
The Jew Store by Stella Suberman
Dinner at the nter of theEarth by Nathan Englander
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
Tell me How this ends well by David Samuel Levinson
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisely
Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
This is a Book about the Kids in the Hall by John Semley
You're on Airplane by Parker Posey
No One Tells you this: a memoir by Glynnis MacNicol
The Jew Store by Stella Suberman
Dinner at the nter of theEarth by Nathan Englander
The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe
Tell me How this ends well by David Samuel Levinson
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos by Lucy Knisely
Joy Enough: A Memoir by Joyce McColl
Bury my Heart at Chuck E.Cheese
No Happy Endings: A Memoir by Nora McIreny
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park (YA)
Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Where the Streets Had a Name – Randa Abdel Fattah
Day of Honey by Ciezadlo
Kitchen Literacy by Vileisis
Rachel Carson's Sisters
Day of Honey by Ciezadlo
Kitchen Literacy by Vileisis
Rachel Carson's Sisters
The End of Eve by Ariel Gore
Kalooki Nights
A Stranger in My Own Country by Yascha Mounk
Lust and Wonder by Augusten Burrows
Riven Rock by Boyle followed by The Birth of the Pill by Jonathon Eig
Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorious
Think Like a Freak by Steven D Levitt
Here is Where by Andrew Carroll (for DH)
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">
“Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe
Sweet as Sin a history of candy by Susan Benajmin
The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendale Viva
<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give by Ada Calhoun
<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">Waiting for the Punch by Marc Maron
Kalooki Nights
A Stranger in My Own Country by Yascha Mounk
Lust and Wonder by Augusten Burrows
Riven Rock by Boyle followed by The Birth of the Pill by Jonathon Eig
Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorious
Think Like a Freak by Steven D Levitt
Here is Where by Andrew Carroll (for DH)
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">
“Things Fall Apart,” by Chinua Achebe
Sweet as Sin a history of candy by Susan Benajmin
The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendale Viva
<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give by Ada Calhoun
<--started and="" did="" down.="" grab="" i="" it="" ne.="" not="" p="" put="">Waiting for the Punch by Marc Maron
Gathering Moss by Robin Wall Kimmer
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