Quarterly Book Report I

Hello all! It's time for my first quarter book report! Many of you liked my year-end summary of things I had read in 2007 but with my goal of reading between 35-50 books this year - I figured I better sum up a little at a time.

I get lots of suggestions (and when I am lucky, books on loan) from friends. I also get ideas of things to read from magazines. But, my favorite method is going to the book store for a few hours and choosing a stack of books based on the feel and look of their covers and pages, the title, the first sentence, the description, and so on.

So far this year, I have read 18 books. I will list them for you here in case you want to comment on any, or read any. I will LOVE comments that tell me what you're reading now, what you've read recently, what books you are in love with...

1) Born on a Blue Day by Tammet, Daniel - an autobiography by a man with Asperger's syndrome
2) Eat, Pray, Love by Gilbert, Elizabeth - one of the current book crazes in the States right now, but I wasn't super crazy about it.
3) The Secret by Byrne, Rhonda - a gift from my sister
4) Jitterbug Perfume by Robbins, Tom - a loan from Mrs. Cyclone - some of the more "adult" passages did cause me, with my sensitive nature, to swoon a bit but I am getting used to the fact that, apparently, grown up modern literature is going to talk about some of these things *fan face with hand*
5) Swimming to Antarctica by Cox, Lynn - I LOVED THIS BOOK. It is an autobiographical book by this woman who has swum in crazy situations all over the world - setting numerous records and swimming "firsts". She set a record for swimming the English Channel a couple of times and many other amazing swims. The book is fast paced, exciting, I couldn't put it down.
6) How I Live Now by Rosoff, Meg - a new take on a post-apocalyptic tale
7) Grayson by Cox, Lynne - by the same author as Swimming to Antarctica but nowhere near as good. It tells the tale of Lynn swimming with a lost baby whale. The best part of the book is the beautifully designed cover.
8) Oryx and Crake by Atwood, Margaret - I loved this book too - it is strange, post-apocalyptic as well (I seem to be on a p-a kick this year too), somewhat sci-fi like, wonderful. Apparently, since I liked this book, I can still be friends with Ms. Dragon-Fire.
9) Motherless Brooklyn by Lethem, Jonathan - I used to see people reading this on the train in NY all the time and had no interest in it. It was an interesting crime caper kind of tale, even though that's really not my thing.
10) The Magician's Assistant by Patchett, Ann
11) Tiggy by Miss Read - a lovely little birthday gift from Sky
12) Einstein's Dreams by Lightman, Alan - one of my old favorites from high school - I have read it many times. Short stories, fictional, of what Einstein might have imagined about time and how it affects our lives. It's easy to read - not scientific at all.
13) Moral Disorder by Atwood, Margaret - my brain is still processing this in the subconscious somewhere...I definitely do not have it sorted out yet.
14) Water for Elephants by Gruen, Sarah - I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not loving it. It's just a wonderful story and I couldn't put it down.
15) Winter by Bass, Rick - set in Montana, a place near and dear to my heart, about seeking out the refuge of wilderness and winter. There were so many passages in this book that I loved - nature, loneliness, snow, snow, snow.
16) White Pine by Mary Oliver - poetry from this pro...
17) Late Wife by Claudia Emerson - poetry
18) Cat Getting Out of a Bag - by Jeffrey Brown. A graphic novel type book - but really graphic short stories, if there is such a thing, because to call it a cartoon sells it far short. It is a wonderful look at cat ownership - anyone who has ever had or loved a cat will recognize their cat in it immediately. It was like he was hilariously spying on and chronicling our own Mushroom.

If you only read TWO books from this list, let them be Swimming to Antarctica and Water for Elephants.

On my "waiting on the shelf" list:
The Letters of John and Abigail Adams
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
The Gospel of Food
The Dogs of Babel
Every Last Cuckoo
The Last Town on Earth
The Martha Rules
Knitting


On my "to find and read list":
Skinny Legs and All Robbins, Tom
The Thornbirds McCullough, Colleen
Atlas Shrugged Rand, Ayn
The Kite Runner Hosseini, Khaled
Clara Callan Wright, Richard B.
Happiness Raymond Carver
Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - by James Joyce
Flaubert and Madame Bovary by Francis Steegmuller
A Brief History of Anxiety: Yours and Mine by Patricia Pearson
Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories by Tobias Wolff
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri
Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
Sun Under Wood - poetry by Robert Haas
Cloud Atlas - by David Mitchell
World Made by Hand - James Howard Kunstler