Blind Submission by Debra Ginsberg

A very fun and enjoyable book. I always like reading
about what goes on in the publishing industry, and this
book fits the bill. There's also the Boss from Hell
and a nifty little mystery going on as well. I wouldn't
say this is high literature, but it's definitely
entertaining and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a
light read.

Acid Row by Minette Walters

I must admit I was a bit disappointed in this book by Minette Walters. I've read several of her books, and this is probably my least favorite. There were too many characters and two separate plots that didn't really seem to go together all that well. I didn't feel invested in any of the characters, really. Still, the writing is good, and the level of suspense was pretty good. But I didn't enjoy it as much as "The Devil's Feather," which is her latest book.

In The Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming

Wow, this is the first book of a fantastic mystery series (the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series). A female Episcopalian priest (formerly an army helicopter pilot) teams up with the police chief in a small New York State town to figure out who left a small baby on the steps of the church and why. Well-written, well-plotted, and it kept drawing me in. It was definitely suspenseful, but the level of suspense was never so tense that I felt the need to skip to the end to see what happened (or who did it), which I confess I often do.

 

This is definitely a great read. I highly recommend it. It's the first of a series -- and I read the next five in the series over a period of three days, I couldn't put them down. Now I can't wait till her next one comes out.

One of Those Days by Amy Rosenthal & Rebecca Doughty

My friend Trisha loaned me this children's book. It is a great description of all the different possible ways you can have a stinky, bad day ("Say the Wrong Thing Day," "Feeling Left Out Day" and "Can't Find Stuff Day" are three of my favorites). Having a book that acknowledges that everyone has bad days is great, but the illustrations make it even better. I recommend this for any frustrated kid or adult in your life.

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner

What a great book! It was the perfect book to drag me out of the reading dry spell I've been having. I devoured the first third of it while eating my lunch one day, then savored the rest of it. I think it's the best Jennifer Weiner I've read. It's a bunch of stories (some related, some standalone) and it managed to make me laugh a lot and also feel sad. She writes really well about loss and how people deal with it. I recommend this book highly.

Jaran by Kate Elliott

I really enjoyed this fantasy novel. It was originally published in 1992 and is the first in a series of four books. I'm not sure I'll be running out to read the other books so quickly, though... because they killed off one of my favorite characters right before the end of this book. Why must authors do that? They get me all attached to these people and then they just take them away. Sigh.

Baby Proof by Emily Giffin

Highly entertaining and well-written "chick lit" about a woman who is having a hard time convincing everyone that yes, she really doesn't want children. I enjoyed it!

Brainiac by Ken Jennings

Brainiac: Adventures int he Curious, Competitive World of Trivia Buffs is written in a breezy, entertaining style by Ken Jennings, who had a 74-game winning streak on Jeopardy in 2004 (and maybe into 2005). I really enjoyed his dry sense of humor, and some of his comments made me laugh out loud, which is always a good sign. Describing a question that you're likely to see at a college bowl trivia event, he says "Unless you're a particular fan of dead mutton-chopped Republicans, you probably don't know too much about the life and administration of Chester A. Arthur."

 

Towards the end I must admit my attention flagged a bit, but I still had a good time overall and would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read (or some really odd facts).

The Geek Gap by Bill Pfleging and Minda Zetlin

What a neat book. It's sort of like "Geeks are from Mars, Businesspeople are from Venus." Both groups of people have their own perspective and they often have difficulty understanding each other's value to their company. This book is entertaining, containing a lot of "No -- they really said THAT?!!" anecdotes with a bunch of useful advice scattered in.

 

The main point that I got from this book, which is one that I keep having to re-learn in my own life, is that it's important to LISTEN and to consider that others' viewpoints may be different from yours and still be equally valid.

Cruciverbalism by Stanley Newman

The full title of this book is Cruciverbalism: A crossword fanatic's guide to life in the grid. (FYI: a cruciverbalist is a designer or aficionado of crossword puzzles.) It was a quick, breezy read and I enjoyed skimming through it. I learned a couple of interesting tips on solving crossword puzzles (such as the old chestnut "if the clue contains an abbreviation, the answer is probably abbreviated as well").

 

The book also contains a list of 100 essential words for crossworders to know, such as ALAR (meaning winglike) and URAL (Caspian sea feeder, I always get that wrong.)

 

It got me excited and made me want to go out and do crosswords, which I guess is a good thing... except then I stayed up too late doing crosswords and I had to go to work the next day. Oh well.

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas

I read this book several weeks ago and it has stayed with me. I first learned about it when I read a column that Thomas wrote in the Sunday New York Times. Her husband suffered major brain injuries several years ago and this is her story of how she has managed to carve out a life for herself, and do the best she can for him, since then.  Her courage and wisdom are very evident in her writing, and I enjoyed the book very much.

Kakuro - my latest obsession

I haven't been reading much at all lately because I've gotten addicted to Kakuro (thanks a lot, Ellie!). I have tried Kakuro before but didn't have much luck, and had given up in frustration several times. But then I found a "Kakuro for Kids" book (by Alastair Chisholm, a very British name, I think) that introduces you to kakuro gently, and doesn't make things too hard at the beginning. So the next thing I knew, I was hooked! It's pretty fun. But there's only so much leisure time in my life, so my book-reading has been suffering. I'm sure I'll grow bored with Kakuro at some point, but for now -- back to the puzzle! 

When life interferes with reading

It's not that I don't WANT to read, you understand... it's just that the job, the commute, time with friends and family, and of course sleep, are interfering. I've been trying to read the same book for a week now. Do you know how horrifying this is for me, a person who has been known to go through three books in a day?

If anyone would like to support me in the style to which I've become accustomed (and I don't need that much, after all, I'm a librarian), then I could lounge around all day and eat bonbons and catch up on my large teetering piles of unread books that threaten to take over the house. Heck, maybe I'd even find time to re-read some old favorites!

Bookishly yours,

Mary

The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation, by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon

A very interesting book. I think the authors did a great job of adapting the 9/11 commission report to graphic novel format. The graphic novel seemed just as immediate and horrifying as the text version. Very well-done. Highly recommended.  

Grease Monkey by Tim Eldred (graphic novel)

Many, many thanks to my reading buddy Joanne, who recommended this excellent graphic novel to me. I could barely put it down. It tells the story of a young mechanic named Robin who works with an expert mechanic named Mac, keeping the ships of a kick-butt squadron of female fighters in good shape. I can't even do the book justice -- the writing is fantastic, the sight gags are good, and I'm telling you this even though I don't much care for the way Eldred portrays the ship's library. (The head librarian is named Ms. Ann Thrope!  And she has a bun and a bosom the size of a ship's prow! C'mon, how stereotyped is that?)

 

Anyway, you MUST READ this book. If you're still not convinced, check it out online at http://www.greasemonkeybook.com/ -- you can read the first couple of chapters there, and then I bet you'll be hooked.

Full Dark House by Christopher Fowler

This is the first published Bryant and May mystery (the geezer duo), but it's the third one I've read. I enjoyed it, but I think if I'd started with this one I might have been a bit confused, because it keeps switching between the present time and wartime London. Still a good read, though!

The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen

I never read The Corrections, Franzen's fiction debut (you remember, the one that caused all that flap with Oprah because he said he wasn't sure if it was a good thing that she picked his book for her book club?), but he is certainly a good writer. Some of the chapters resonated with me more than others. (I especially liked the chapters where he discussed bird-watching.) But there were certain parts of the book that just lost me, for instance, when he spent several chapters quoting stuff in German and then translating it. Just couldn't get into that part. So, I practiced the gentle art of skimming and was done with this book in no time!

Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell

What a fun memoir! I must admit I skipped over some of the more gruesome parts involving trussing chickens and skewering lobsters and the like... but overall I just really enjoyed this book. I would definitely recommend it.

I Remember Running by Darcy Wakefield

The full title of this book is "I Remember Running: The year I got everything I ever wanted -- and ALS." 

 

In short, to-the-point chapters, Wakefield leads us through her journey as she finds her true love, discovers she has ALS (aka Lou Gehrig's disease), and struggles to deal with the slow disintegration of her body. As a former English professor, she really knows how to use words well to describe the emotional roller-coaster of trying to live well with a terminal disease.

Never Been Thawed (movie)

What a weird movie. It's a "mockumentary" about a group of Christian frozen-food enthusiasts in Arizona who are planning a convention to showcase their frozen entree collections. Anyone who has enjoyed Christopher Guest's movies would probably like this one too, except the language gets a bit blue in parts. But even that's kind of amusing. It's twisted and funny and I liked it a lot.