Thursday, September 23

{ book club summer }


It has been a hectic summer, a foggy summer, a summer of new beginnings...
...and it has also been a book club summer

My friend and fellow book club enthusiast, Anna, found the above card. Sums things up nicely.

But really, we do read. Or at least I do. I can't and won't vouch for the number of pages consumed by each and every member. 

Friends ask me all the time for book recommendations, and they always slip my mind on the spot. So I compiled a list of what we've read (and some that just I've read on the side) this summer. 
Cheers!


It's Kind of a Funny Story
By Ned Vizzini
Inspired by the author's own brief hospitalization in a mental ward duet to his depression, the teenage author wrote this stream-of-consciousness narrative with candor, colloquialism, and plenty of irreverent observations. 


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The Help
By Kathryn Stockett
Loved this one! Read it right before the summer started and it was the perfect vacation book. The author takes on three different points-of-view to describe how "the help" were treated and related to in the deep south. A poignant and meaningful novel full of compassion and realism.



__________


Eat Pray Love
By Elizabeth Gilbert
Who hasn't jumped on this train yet? I actually read this book two years ago when it first came out, but Book Club went and saw the movie together (We LOVE Julia!)...and then we went to a hole-in-the-wall, AMAZING Italian restaurant to gorge ourselves on wine and gnocchi. 
Do I condone taking a year off life to "find yourself" in your mid-forties? Um, no. Selfish much? Just a tad. But fun to read and dream about? Oh yes. 


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Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
By Rhoda Janzen
Okay, so I'm really into creative memoirs lately. (Maybe because I want to write one of my own...?) Rhoda is a hoot. She tells witty tales about her true-to-life experiences of going home (to her parents) in her late-forties when every outlet of her life seems to fall into crisis.



__________

The School of Essential Ingredients
By Erica Bauermeister
Sweet and easy read (by easy I mean I finished it in one evening). A great one for the foodies out there with a twinge of romance. Although the author does get a tad carried away with her similes sometimes—almost to a distracting point.
Example:
"...she couldn't help feeling embarrassed for the food, all smashed together like immigrants in steerage class."


__________

The Island
by Victoria Hislop
A young girl takes a dive into her mother's secret past on a historical leper island off Crete.
Full of sensuality, intrigue, and emotional history.


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And a recommendation from my dad, which I haven't quite finished yet... :)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
By Hunter Thompson
I think this quote sums it up:
"There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon."

4 comments:

Allie said...

Sounds like a great mix!

Unknown said...

Whoops…

Bridget said...

ah, i love book club recommendations.

while youre in florence you should read 'birth of venus'- its about a florentine family from back in the day. do it.

Anonymous said...

It looks like we have very similar taste in books! I've read a few of those and recognize most of the others as hopeful soon-to-be's! Thanks for sharing :D

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