Book lists

2008 mini reviews
September/October 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008

2007 mini reviews
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007

2007 complete books read
SEE ALSO: 2007 books organized by category, which is how I think of them and may be more helpful in finding interesting read.

Heat - Bill Buford
The Secret River - Kate Grenville
Snow Blind - P.J. Tracy
*Two in a Bed - Paul Rosenblatt
* An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
I like you: Entertaining under the influence - Amy Sedaris
Girls - Frederick Busch
*American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
The Doctor's Wife- Ariyoshi Sawako
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
The Boy Book- E. Lockhart
Hattie Big Sky - Kirby Larson
* Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
* Poster Child: A Memoir - Emily Rapp
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Candy Girl: A year in the life of an unlikely stripper - Diablo Cody
Unseen - Mari Jungstedt
Cancer Vixen - Marisa Acocella Marchetto
Life as we knew it - Susan Beth Pfeffer
Great with child: Letters to a young mother - Beth Ann Fennelly
Falling boy - Alison McGhee
Two in the Wild - Susan Fox Rogers
Astrid and Veronika - Linda Olsson
The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
*The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz
Shyness and Dignity - Dag Solstad
Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich
The Inheritance of Sorrow - Kiran Desai
*The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade - Ann Fessler
*If you lived here - Diana Sachs
The looniness of the long distance runner - Russell Taylor
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

Waking: A memoir of trauma and transcendence - Matthew Sanford
Gaining: The truth about life after eating disorders - Aimee Liu
Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi
Love is a Mix Tape - Rob Sheffield
*Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See - Robert Kurson
Girl Stories - Lauren Weinstein
*Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States - Pete Jordan
*An Encyclopedia of Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Cabin Pressure: One Man's Futile Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor - Josh Wolk
Pretty Little Mistakes - Heather McElhatton
Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson

Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith - Anne Lamott
I love you Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle
Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night - Peggy Orenstein
Boundary Waters: The Grace of the Wild - Paul Gruchow
Dangerously Alice - Phyllis Naylor
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (reread) - J.K. Rowling
The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Ericksson
*On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
Frenemies - Megan Crane
Partly Cloudy Patriot - Sarah Vowell
Austenland - Shannon Hale
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant - Daniel Tammet
The Sweet Edge by Alison Pick
Without a Map - Meredith Hall
Two-part invention: The story of a marriage - Madeline L'Engle
Second Opinions: Stories of intuition and choice in a changing world of medicine - Jerome Groopman
Swapping Lives - Jane Green
Literacy and Longing in L.A. - Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America - Linda Furiya
Fourth Comings - Megan McCafferty
The Discomfort Zone - Jonathan Franzen
Still Life with Chickens: Starting Over in a House by the Sea - Catherine Goldhamme
The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million - Daniel Mendelsson
The Best of Friends: Two women, two continents, and one enduring friendship - Sara James and Ginger Mauney
Women, Water, Wisdom: Voices from the Upper Mississippi - Nancy Scheibe
Mary Reilly - Valerie Martin
Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex?: More Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Whiskey Sour - Mark Leyner
Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven by Susan Richards Shreve
Here if you need me: A true story by Kate Braestrup
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Novel by Leonie Swann
The Headmaster Ritual by Taylor Antrim
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver
Identical Strangers: A memoir of twins separated and reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein
The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
Gluten Free Girl by Shauna James Ahern
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
*Deep survival : who lives, who dies, and why : true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death by Laurence Gonzales
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
*Let the northern lights erase your name by Vendela Vida
The simple home : the luxury of enough by Sarah Nettleton and Frank Edgerton Martin
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume by Jennifer O'Connell, et al

Monthly book post: December

December list:
Deep survival : who lives, who dies, and why : true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death by Laurence Gonzales. One of my top ten books, I reread this when I realized I'd forgotten some of Gonzales's arguments.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. I was a bit put off by the title, which is reminiscent of nearly everything on the Barnes & Noble paperback fiction table, but the novel reads like a more coherent Mrs. Dalloway (which is good, because Woolf is one of my favorites) and was engaging enough to read up until the moment we left to line up for the marathon.

Let the northern lights erase your name by Vendela Vida. Set mostly in Finland, this novel plunges you into the cold icy stoicism, humility, and beauty of northern Scandinavia, and into the life of a woman who abandoned her fiance to track down her father. The characters in this novel don't act as you expect them to, yet it's not altogether unbelievable.

The simple home : the luxury of enough by Sarah Nettleton and Frank Edgerton Martin. Pretty pretty pictures of real homes that values resources, functionality, and aesthetics over McMansion acreage.

Also read:
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume by Jennifer O'Connell, Meg Cabot, Beth Kendrick, Julie Kenner, and Cara Lockwood. A series of essays: I love the first ones but my disappointment with the last half keeps me from recommending it.

Books by category

This is how I categorize the books I've read in my head. I think it may be more helpful that than just a chronological list.

Updated January 2008

Australia (colonialism)
The Secret River - Kate Grenville

Boy books (books that are manly)
*An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
Love is a Mix Tape - Rob Sheffield
I love you Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle
Heat - Bill Buford
Cabin Pressure: One Man's Futile Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor - Josh Wolk
*American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
The Discomfort Zone - Jonathan Franzen

England
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
Austenland - Shannon Hale
Mary Reilly - Valerie Martin
*On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Novel by Leonie Swann
The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell

Faith
Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith - Anne Lamott

Friendships, relationships
Frenemies - Megan Crane
Austenland - Shannon Hale
The Sweet Edge by Alison Pick
Literacy and Longing in L.A. - Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell
*Let the northern lights erase your name by Vendela Vida

Graphic novels
*American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang
Cancer Vixen - Marisa Acocella Marchetto
Girl Stories - Lauren Weinstein
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

Health issues (memoir)
*Poster Child: A Memoir - Emily Rapp
Waking: A memoir of trauma and transcendence - Matthew Sanford
Gaining: The truth about life after eating disorders - Aimee Liu
*Crashing Through: A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See - Robert Kurson
Cancer Vixen - Marisa Acocella Marchetto
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant - Daniel Tammet
Second Opinions: Stories of intuition and choice in a changing world of medicine - Jerome Groopman
Warm Springs: Traces of a Childhood at FDR's Polio Haven by Susan Richards Shreve
Identical Strangers: A memoir of twins separated and reunited by Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein

Illustrated
*An Encyclopedia of Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Impending Motherhood
*If you lived here - Diana Sachs
Great with child: Letters to a young mother - Beth Ann Fennelly
Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night - Peggy Orenstein

Interesting jobs (memoir)
Heat - Bill Buford
Candy Girl: A year in the life of an unlikely stripper - Diablo Cody
*Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All Fifty States - Pete Jordan
Cabin Pressure: One Man's Futile Attempt to Recapture His Youth as a Camp Counselor - Josh Wolk
The Best of Friends: Two women, two continents, and one enduring friendship - Sara James and Ginger Mauney
Here if you need me: A true story by Kate Braestrup

India
The Inheritance of Sorrow - Kiran Desai

Japan
The Doctor's Wife- Ariyoshi Sawako
Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, an Oscar, an Atomic Bomb, a Romantic Night - Peggy Orenstein
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America - Linda Furiya

Married life
*Two in a Bed - Paul Rosenblatt
Two-part invention: The story of a marriage - Madeline L'Engle

Minnesota interest
Boundary Waters: The Grace of the Wild - Paul Gruchow
*Poster Child: A Memoir - Emily Rapp
Candy Girl: A year in the life of an unlikely stripper - Diablo Cody
Waking: A memoir of trauma and transcendence - Matthew Sanford
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich

Outdoor Adventure/Appreciation
Two in the Wild - Susan Fox Rogers
Boundary Waters: The Grace of the Wild - Paul Gruchow
*Deep survival : who lives, who dies, and why : true stories of miraculous endurance and sudden death by Laurence Gonzales

Montana/pioneers
Hattie Big Sky - Kirby Larson

Native Americans
The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse - Louise Erdrich

Mystery/Crime/Suspense (in that they are these things, but they'd never be shelved as such)
Unseen - Mari Jungstedt
Snow Blind - P.J. Tracy
Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult
*The Spellman Files - Lisa Lutz
The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Ericksson
Mary Reilly - Valerie Martin
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Novel by Leonie Swann
*The Water's Lovely by Ruth Rendell

Running
The looniness of the long distance runner - Russell Taylor

Scandinavia
Astrid and Veronika - Linda Olsson
Shyness and Dignity - Dag Solstad
Unseen - Mari Jungstedt
Out Stealing Horses - Per Petterson
The Princess of Burundi - Kjell Ericksson

Science Fiction/Fantasy
Life as we knew it - Susan Beth Pfeffer
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling

Social/political issues
The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan
*The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade - Ann Fessler
Without a Map - Meredith Hall
Partly Cloudy Patriot - Sarah Vowell
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver
Gluten Free Girl by Shauna James Ahern
The simple home : the luxury of enough by Sarah Nettleton and Frank Edgerton Martin

Teen girls/Girls coming of age
The Boy Book- E. Lockhart
*Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl
Girl Stories - Lauren Weinstein
The Plain Janes - Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Dangerously Alice - Phyllis Naylor
Fourth Comings - Megan McCafferty
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume by Jennifer O'Connell, et al

WWII
Survival in Auschwitz - Primo Levi
Stones from the River - Ursula Hegi

Books I wouldn't recommend
Falling boy - Alison McGhee
I like you: Entertaining under the influence - Amy Sedaris
Girls - Frederick Busch
Pretty Little Mistakes - Heather McElhatton
Cancer Vixen - Marisa Acocella Marchetto
The Lost: The Search for Six of Six Million - Daniel Mendelsson
Swapping Lives - Jane Green
The Headmaster Ritual by Taylor Antrim
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler

Mais oui

Husband speaks French exclusively to the kittens. “Les petit chatons, qu’est que ce, ca,” he patters. I wonder if he’ll do the same with our kids. I once asked Husband to say "You are so sexy" in every accent that I could think of. My favorites were the Norwegian, which sounded jolly, and the German, which sounded gay because in his impressions all Germans are gay.

I’ve been reading lots of young adult nostalgic novels lately, including the incredibly violent Wolves of Willoughby Chase that my fourth grade teacher read us, so I’ll mention two books I read previously that I really enjoyed and could not help but tell others all about: Deep Survival: Who lives, who dies, and why by Laurence Gonzalez, which is a fascinating exploration of the assumptions and social rules we work under when threatened (particularly in the wilderness, but he also uses examples from 9/11, etc.) and why they help or hinder us. I also really enjoyed What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained by Robert L. Wolke. This book that has prompted me to share with others annoying facts such as that onions cannot technically caramelize and that adding salt to boiling water and a potato to salty soup doesn’t help.

Since my purse now contains nearly nothing (so far, the receipt from my license renewal, new insurance cards, and $20) I’ve taken to going around without it, and it is so freeing. I remember how loath I was to start carrying a purse in the first place – I resisted it until college ended. I do love with a passion not usually reserved for purses my black Kate Spade winter bag, so I’m sure I’ll be back in the swing of things by the time the temps drop to the 50s and the bag can come out of hiding.

Pet peeves du jour: The use of the word “frankly.” The phrase “and more” when detailing the attributes of something. Walking with someone who walks a step or two ahead of me (stupid, I know).