Bookworm: July 2017

“Did you ever want to be a writer?” “No,” she said, and she would have told him. “I only wanted to be a reader.” 
― Ann Patchett, Commonwealth

Loved: 

Commonwealth, Ann Patchett: The most gorgeously-written story of two dysfunctional families, and how their lives intersect through affairs, death, and heartbreak for over fifty years. I couldn't put it down - devoured it in a day. Highly, highly recommend.

A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin: I picked up this collection of short stories at one of my new favorite places in the Bay Area, Dog Eared Books in the Mission. The staff at Dog Eared slip handwritten notes into the inside covers of the books - jokes, reviews, recommendations and commentary - and I find that utterly enchanting. This was a fairly new foray into the world of short stories for me! I prefer to sink my teeth into a lengthy novel, but taking these bit by bit and reading one or two a day was a really fun way to experience the sparse, vernacular-driven writing. A book to nibble, rather than devour (unlike "Commonwealth!") 

The Opposite of Loneliness, Marina Keegan: "A Manual for Cleaning Women" got me on a short story kick, and I finally visited this collection, which was all the rage a couple years ago. The backstory is tragic: Keegan, a 2012 Yale creative writing graduate, was killed in a car accident just five days after her college graduation. Her parents, along with her Yale mentor, compiled her writing into this mesmerizing collection. I laughed out loud, cried, and at certain points had to reread sentences/paragraphs multiple times because they were just so evocative and gut-wrenching. If you haven't read this, do yourself a favor and read it, as soon as possible. 

Enjoyed: 

Rich People Problems, Kevin Kwan: The third book in the "Crazy Rich Asians" series, it made me laugh and was a perfect light beachy read for evenings with a glass of wine on the deck. The title kind of says it all - it was incredibly amusing and I really enjoy Kwan's bizarrely textured, totally foreign world. 

Tolerated: 

Nothing this month! How nice!

Re-reads: 

The Shadow Queen, Margaret Pemberton: I owned this book when I moved to California, but weirdly, I have no memory of actually reading it. I find Wallis Simpson (the woman for whom King Edward VII abdicated the throne back in the 30s) fascinating in a really weird way, but this novel left me kind of lukewarm. It's an easy read about a super interesting historical figure, but I think it could have been better. 

What are you reading?

Hi guys! Happy Monday! 

It seems like the whole world is off work today - I took advantage of the ghost town that is my office to swing to Facebook for breakfast with Laura, and am working on a few miscellaneous life lists this morning. 

This weekend, I had brunch with Charlie, one of my first and oldest college friends. Together we survived budget air travel and spring break mishaps in London, navigated life fresh out of college living right across the street from each other in Minneapolis, and now he's also in the Bay Area for a post-MBA career! So excited to have him close(ish). While we dined, we ended up talking about the most disparate topics - the future of Notre Dame football, the necessity and politics of graduate education, and the idiosyncrasies of Californians. He recommended a few books to me, and I took note of them in my phone to add to my list later. 

That afternoon, Dave and I grabbed beers at a local brewery, and he similarly had a new book recommendation for me. This is a thing in my life, guys...a friend of mine once told me, "You'll read anything that's printed. It's kind of like being a slut, but you read books instead of going down on guys wantonly." Knowing this, people share book recommendations with me like others share shows to binge on Netflix, or hot new music.

It makes me deeply happy...the act of reading can be so solitary that I particularly value when people's recommendations make it feel more social. Plus, I think sharing a book recommendation is such a personal thing. Telling someone that you enjoyed/loved/got something meaningful out of a book shares a specific little slice of who you are as a person in a way that I find insightful. 

All this to say...when I opened up my Life Lists Excel workbook (because, duh, I have a Life Lists Excel workbook) and flipped to the Books to Read tab (because, duh, it has a Books to Read tab, HI, IT'S ME), I realized the list has grown to 93 books. NINETY THREE. 

Given I average 8-13 books a month, I won't finish my current list for 7-12 months as is, but all these good recommendations I've gotten from friends have me wondering...

What are you reading?

I don't care about genre, or newness, or how "cool" or "trendy" your current book choice is. My list ranges from Hemingway and Nabokov to endless Roxane Gay and Meg Wolitzer. There is fiction. There is non-fiction. There is technical reading, and there are fairy tales. Love stories and murder mysteries (sometimes both in the same book, let's be real). Send recs my way - I am always looking for something new and previously unexpected to add to the list. 

(As for me: currently working my way through a collection of Lucia Berlin's short stories, above, as well as "Modern Lovers" by Emma Straub at night and "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer on my iPhone!)

Bookworm: June 2017

"I had no idea that such individuals existed outside of stories." - Brittany Cavallaro

My life has been bizarrely loaded with pinch-me moments in the last few weeks (like I've mentioned). One of my favorite job perks: access to Stanford's amazing library system. I'm already loving curling up in Green...which means my reading volume is going up at an alarming pace!

Loved: 

A Study in Charlotte, Brittany Cavallaro: Few people know that I'm a complete Sherlock Holmes fiend...like, read every story repeatedly in elementary school and haven't looked back since. (In London, I interned blocks away from Baker Street!) This novel imagines fictional descendants of the Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty families, going head-to-head solving a series of murders at an elite New England prep school. It sounds dumb, but the writing is imaginative and intriguing, and I really enjoyed the what-if of picturing the Holmes and Watson clan today.

The Last of August, Brittany Cavallaro: Part 2 in the trilogy shifts the action to Europe and the crime to art forgery and fraud, with equally riveting results. I did see a couple of the twists coming, but it wasn't enough of a detraction to keep me from highly recommending the series. Anxiously awaiting the third book, "The Case for Jamie," next summer!

Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler: If you read even one book off my reading list in the next few months, it should be this one. I could not put it down, and spent the better part of a day blowing through it. Set in one of New York City's highest-end restaurants, the novel portrays a young woman's coming of age through food, wine, and life experiences. It's incredibly dark and evocative and gritty, and kept me thinking of Spoon and Stable or Bellecour (my favorites) constantly. 

Enjoyed: 

Alex and Eliza, Melissa de la Cruz: Oh this was so cute. And everyone knows I can't get enough Hamilton in my life. This imagined tale of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler falling in love was deliciously escapist and sweet.

Tolerated: 

Romancing the Throne, Nadine Jolie Courtney: I get what this book was trying to be - a William and Kate re-telling for a high school audience - but it fell incredibly flat for me. The narrator, Charlotte, is meant to be a Pippa stand-in, but the tone was vapid and kind of shallow. For Will-and-Kate royal fiction worth reading (and re-reading!), check out "The Royal We" instead.

Re-reads: 

Wedding Night, Sophie Kinsella: I read this several years ago and had almost no memory of the plot, which is rare for me. It was a perfect summer re-read though - funny, charming and - best of all - quick.  

Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan: The third book in this series just came out, and the first is set to be made into a movie imminently, so I'm revisiting. A frothy beach read chronicling the lives and dramas of megamillionaires and billionaires in "new Asia," it's a fast read and incredibly fun and witty.  

China Rich Girlfriend, Kevin Kwan: Same as "Crazy Rich Asians," the lives and vices of the ultra-rich are dissected humorously and critically in a can't-put-it-down-because-it's-so-escapist kind of way. 

Bookworm: May 2017

“There's nothing wrong with reading a book you love over and over. When you do, the words get inside you, become a part of you, in a way that words in a book you've read only once can't.” - Gail Carson Levine

Loved: 

Terrible Virtue: A Novel, Ellen Feldman: It felt timely to read a book about one of the major crusaders in the fight for women's reproductive rights. This (fictional-ish) tale of Margaret Sanger was a fantastic read...I've seen it compared to "Loving Frank" and "The Paris Wife," which I also loved. 

The Names They Gave Us, Emery Lord: This sits solidly in the young adult readership camp, but I've loved Emery Lord's writing since she wrote for a website I follow like...eight years ago. This story of cancer and faith and finding one's own way was so light, quick and beautifully written. Totally recommend for any age. 

Enjoyed: 

Diana in Search of Herself, Sally Bedell Smith: I went on a royals biography kick and thought this biography of Princess Diana handled a really complex woman with candor and impartiality. Definitely recommend, especially in light of the 20th anniversary of her death this summer. 

Tolerated: 

It Seemed Important at the Time, Gloria Vanderbilt: Oh god this was just obnoxious. A totally self-serving account of how awesome heiress Gloria Vanderbilt is and how many men she's slept with, basically. Waste of about two hours of my life. 

Re-reads: 

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern: Magic and a circus at the end of the 19th century. I've read this about half a dozen times in the last five-ish years and I still love it every time. 

The White Queen, Philippa Gregory: Plantagenets doing duplicitous things. Very fictionalized, and not as fun as her Tudor works, in my opinion. 

The Red Queen, Philippa Gregory: Lancasters doing duplicitous things to Plantagenets. Again, not my favorite (If I'm going to read really fictional historical fiction, I want it to be sexier and really lean into the fictional aspect, HA.).

The Royal We, Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks: Another perennial fave - an imagined depiction of a fictional "William" and "Kate," but Kate (Bex) is American. I've read it about five times and it's still so fun. 

Love the One You're With, Emily Giffin: She wrote "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue," and this one, about the trials of old and new loves, is a quick, good beach read. 

Baby Proof, Emily Giffin: Ditto above, only with babies and whether or not people should/can/want to have them.

The Debutante Divorcée, Plum Sykes: The frothiest, silliest mid-2000s romp through upper upper class Manhattan. Super fast, super perfect for a beach or poolside (with a cocktail mandatory). 

Bergdorf Blondes, Plum Sykes: See above, minus the divorce stuff, plus falling in love adorably and a little bit of England, OOH! 

Bookworm: April 2017

Loved: 

Paris Letters, Janice MacLeod: This was the most charming story - an autobiography of a woman's experience quitting her high-powered communications job and heading to Europe to find happiness. She also found a hot French guy...and reading this gorgeously illustrated novel made me want to pack up and make my own major move. 

The Residence, Kate Andersen Brower: I've always been fascinated by the upstairs-downstairs dynamic - "Downton Abbey" remains one of my favorite TV shows - and this comprehensive peek behind the scenes of the White House from the Eisenhower presidency to Obama's tenure was right up my alley. SO interesting!

Enjoyed: 

Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life, Sally Bedell Smith: Also on my list of longtime loves is anything to do with the British Royal Family, and this gossipy history of Prince Charles, one of its most controversial members, kept me (mostly) fascinated. I did prefer Bedell Smith's biography of Queen Elizabeth II, but she's the OG boss bitch, so of course I preferred it. 

Tolerated: 

My Reality, Melissa Rycroft: When I had the flu at the beginning of the month, I re-read like every "Bachelor" franchise book I could get my hands on, and this was my least favorite of the bunch (I hadn't read it before). Rycroft, who was famously dumped by Jason Mesnick for his season's runner-up, is whiny, petulant, and sets female empowerment back decades with her crawling to and from her ex/now husband, Tye. BLEH. 

To Marry an English Lord, Gail MacColl: Any "Downton" fan should probably read this - it's a super-detailed history of the spate of American heiresses marrying bankrupt English nobility during the Victorian and Edwardian era. I liked it a lot - but it got a bit dry and pedantic at times. I'd recommend Daisy Goodwin's "An American Heiress" for those needing a little Downton in their lives!

Re-reads: 

I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends, Courtney Robertson: On the flip side, this "Bachelor" book is catty and hilarious in equal parts. Robertson, the villain/winner of her season, holds nothing back and is full of snarky anecdotes. 

I Said Yes, Emily Maynard: This is lower on the totem pole for me - a little preachy and a little self-pitying. That said, Emily's one of the best-known alums of the "Bachelor" world and it's worth a read solely for the double-dip of a contestant and being the Bachelorette. 

For The Right Reasons, Sean Lowe: I secretly really love Sean and Catherine, and enjoyed this book for that reason. (Their baby is the cutest thing in my Instagram feed on the regular.)

It's Not Okay, Andi Dorfman: One of my favorite bachelorettes and favorite contestants in general - her book is essentially a "how to survive a breakup" manual, with LOTS of juicy digs at ex Josh Murray.

The White Princess, Philippa Gregory: STARZ just started a mini-series based on this Philippa Gregory book, so I revisited the highly-fictionalized tale of Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry VII and mother of Henry VIII. It's good, but not as good as some of Gregory's other offerings. 

The Lady of the Waters, Philippa Gregory: Similarly, this tale of Elizabeth of York's grandmother, Jacquetta Woodville, at the beginning of the War of the Roses is interesting, but not my favorite.