Some People Stress Eat, Apparently I Stress Read
Penfold left me a voice message saying that she was tired of thinking about work for the day and wanted to know what I was reading. I started to make a list of what books I'd gone through lately to voicemail her back and started laughing at how long my list was getting and at how odd the mix was. So I decided to answer the question here because…
Some People Stress Eat, Apparently I Stress Read.*
My Crazy Month of Stress Reading**
Just Finished Reading***
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Life's That Way: A Memoir by Jim Beaver
Stray by Rachel Vincent
Beguilement (Sharing Knife 1) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Legacy (Sharing Knife 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Passage (Sharing Knife 3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell
Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair by Countess LuAnn de Lesseps
The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Batusiak
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher
Lover Avenged: The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insiders Guide by J.R. Ward (w/ Writing Notes)
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
Random Book Notes -
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -Just read this one this week and now I want to go visit Guernsey Island! And, I want to buy this book for everyone I know! It's hard, but I am resisting. Especially as I don't know if everyone would find it as utterly delightful and charming as I did and I think I would be crushed if they didn't since I (heart) it so much right now. I guess the book came out a couple of years ago, but I apparently live in a hole and missed even hearing a whisper about it. True, I admit it, I originally picked it up while stuck in line at Barnes and Noble because it had such an odd title. I didn't expect to buy it and only wanted to know what this potato pie peel business was about. But by the time I got to the fifth page and up to the cashier I knew I was gonna read it. It's full of the sort of quirky country characters I love in British stories, uses as a back drop one of my favorite historical time points (WWII, the Days of Occupation, and WWII's Homefront impact on various communities), and is full of the subtle and sneaky sideways humor found all over Jane Austen and Gilmore Girls type dialogue. It reminds me strongly of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff being written all in letters, but with a better ending. This book just made me happy and I wished it was longer the minute it was finished so I could keep visiting with all the characters and see what they were still up to.
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell - I read this as a sequel of sorts to a book I'd read and liked on Julia Child last year called Julia Child: My Life in France by by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme. - I had no idea Julia Child was a spy with OSS/OSI during WWII. Very Diana Prince! (Update - Just found out while looking up the url links for this and saw the new covers. They're making a movie combining both books. Guess I wasn't the only one who read them and associated them together.)
Life's That Way: A Memoir by Jim Beaver - This is an incredibly touching and honest memoir by the Jim Beaver who plays Bobby on Supernatural. It's a compilation of his private thoughts and blog postings as his wife struggled and lost the battle with cancer in 2004 and then how he's worked through the first year of grief over it while raising their little daughter, Madison.
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell - I actually just re-read this one since I had borrowed the hardback the first time and the paperback just came out. This book makes me cry in parts and yet it's such an amazing story (and he lives, I mean he's the author, so at least I knew that going in). It's a true story about a Navy Seal who led a mission with his team to Afghanistan but the mission went horribly pear shaped and he's the only one who made it back. It's extremely well written and Marcus Luttrell reminds me a lot of characters like John Sheppard (SGA) or Jethro Gibbs (NCIS) and their back stories, except of course he's the real deal.
Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair by Countess LuAnn de Lesseps (I had no idea she was some reality TV show person from Real Housewives of NY. Show's you what I know. Not nearly as insightful as say Stacy London or as its title promises.)
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale - It had pie on the cover! And then I got sucked in. It was great all the way until the end and then like a balloon it deflated. You promise me pie and I get pie crumbs. Very disappointing.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson - Okay, I knew this one was about the great cholera epidemic of 1854. I like reading about forensics and the development of medicines, I'm weird that way. But still. Cholera. In London. In the 1800's. Big hint that it would be graphic. But, boy, it was um…detailed. The life of night soil men. That's all I'm gonna say.
Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher - This book was absolutely wretched. Just awful. Sigh. Note to self. Let that be a lesson. Pretty covers and tempting titles do not a good story make. Darn it!
And I've been re-reading segments from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden series of books which are still my all time Go To/Keeper authors, but I don't think those necessarily count since I'm always re-reading their stuff.
In the Middle of Reading
Love & Valor: Intimate Civil War Letters Between Captain Jacob and Emeline Ritner by Charles F. Larimer
All Things Austen: An Encyclopedia of Austen's World Vol 1. by Kirstin Olsen - it's very expensive, and out of print, so I'm reading it in segments at the library.
The Letters of John and Abigail Adams by John and Abigail Adams - I've been reading this one off and on for a couple of months now. It's good and they have such an interesting relationship. It's just very tiny print and very detailed so I'm reading it in medium sized bites.
The Life of Emily Dickinson by Richard B. Sewall - I got stuck in the middle of all her letters somewhere around page 460. Her life is getting a wee bit depressing. And she seems to have a really dysfunctional relationship with her best friend. Since I kind of know how it all turns out there's no real urgency to finishing it fast.
Just Started Reading****
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
The Enchanted Emporium by Tanya Huff
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Night Child by Jes Battis - It's got urban fantasy, CSI crime solving and is set in downtown Vancouver amongst streets like Granville and Robson. I couldn't help myself.
Entanglement by Martha Wells (Stargate Atantis novel) - Martha Wells? Martha Wilson? Hm…a similar style? Reading and seeing.
Okay that's my list of binge reading.****
What's everyone else reading right now?
Do you stress read too? Or do you close up shop and only read old comfortable favorites?
I tend to read several things simultaneously rather than one thing at a time, how about everyone else?
~
*If you know me, then you know it's my job and some things based at the university that's causing a high octane level of stress this month and hence my book binging. If you don't know me, then, gosh, thank you for reading my LJ!
**Remember I didn't say it was a good list, I just said it was a wacky one.
*** Of course I've also been reading fic, but mostly old comfortable favorites over the past couple of weeks. Although my MW zines just arrived with my box of stuff from the hotel so now I've got Blood Brothers and Rooftop Confessions 4 to finally read and Wubbles and Brate just sent me some links for some new fics (including New Star Trek Movie ones) to delve into.
****How am I finding time to finish all these books this month? Beats the heck out of me. I'm beginning to suspect there's a time turner secretly embedded in my new Supernatural bookmark from Cat's Meow.
Some People Stress Eat, Apparently I Stress Read.*
My Crazy Month of Stress Reading**
Just Finished Reading***
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell
Life's That Way: A Memoir by Jim Beaver
Stray by Rachel Vincent
Beguilement (Sharing Knife 1) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Legacy (Sharing Knife 2) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Passage (Sharing Knife 3) by Lois McMaster Bujold
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell
Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair by Countess LuAnn de Lesseps
The Day We Found the Universe by Marcia Batusiak
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher
Lover Avenged: The Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward
The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insiders Guide by J.R. Ward (w/ Writing Notes)
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
Random Book Notes -
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows -Just read this one this week and now I want to go visit Guernsey Island! And, I want to buy this book for everyone I know! It's hard, but I am resisting. Especially as I don't know if everyone would find it as utterly delightful and charming as I did and I think I would be crushed if they didn't since I (heart) it so much right now. I guess the book came out a couple of years ago, but I apparently live in a hole and missed even hearing a whisper about it. True, I admit it, I originally picked it up while stuck in line at Barnes and Noble because it had such an odd title. I didn't expect to buy it and only wanted to know what this potato pie peel business was about. But by the time I got to the fifth page and up to the cashier I knew I was gonna read it. It's full of the sort of quirky country characters I love in British stories, uses as a back drop one of my favorite historical time points (WWII, the Days of Occupation, and WWII's Homefront impact on various communities), and is full of the subtle and sneaky sideways humor found all over Jane Austen and Gilmore Girls type dialogue. It reminds me strongly of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff being written all in letters, but with a better ending. This book just made me happy and I wished it was longer the minute it was finished so I could keep visiting with all the characters and see what they were still up to.
Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell - I read this as a sequel of sorts to a book I'd read and liked on Julia Child last year called Julia Child: My Life in France by by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme. - I had no idea Julia Child was a spy with OSS/OSI during WWII. Very Diana Prince! (Update - Just found out while looking up the url links for this and saw the new covers. They're making a movie combining both books. Guess I wasn't the only one who read them and associated them together.)
Life's That Way: A Memoir by Jim Beaver - This is an incredibly touching and honest memoir by the Jim Beaver who plays Bobby on Supernatural. It's a compilation of his private thoughts and blog postings as his wife struggled and lost the battle with cancer in 2004 and then how he's worked through the first year of grief over it while raising their little daughter, Madison.
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell - I actually just re-read this one since I had borrowed the hardback the first time and the paperback just came out. This book makes me cry in parts and yet it's such an amazing story (and he lives, I mean he's the author, so at least I knew that going in). It's a true story about a Navy Seal who led a mission with his team to Afghanistan but the mission went horribly pear shaped and he's the only one who made it back. It's extremely well written and Marcus Luttrell reminds me a lot of characters like John Sheppard (SGA) or Jethro Gibbs (NCIS) and their back stories, except of course he's the real deal.
Class with the Countess: How to Live with Elegance and Flair by Countess LuAnn de Lesseps (I had no idea she was some reality TV show person from Real Housewives of NY. Show's you what I know. Not nearly as insightful as say Stacy London or as its title promises.)
The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale - It had pie on the cover! And then I got sucked in. It was great all the way until the end and then like a balloon it deflated. You promise me pie and I get pie crumbs. Very disappointing.
The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic and How it Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson - Okay, I knew this one was about the great cholera epidemic of 1854. I like reading about forensics and the development of medicines, I'm weird that way. But still. Cholera. In London. In the 1800's. Big hint that it would be graphic. But, boy, it was um…detailed. The life of night soil men. That's all I'm gonna say.
Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher - This book was absolutely wretched. Just awful. Sigh. Note to self. Let that be a lesson. Pretty covers and tempting titles do not a good story make. Darn it!
And I've been re-reading segments from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden series of books which are still my all time Go To/Keeper authors, but I don't think those necessarily count since I'm always re-reading their stuff.
In the Middle of Reading
Love & Valor: Intimate Civil War Letters Between Captain Jacob and Emeline Ritner by Charles F. Larimer
All Things Austen: An Encyclopedia of Austen's World Vol 1. by Kirstin Olsen - it's very expensive, and out of print, so I'm reading it in segments at the library.
The Letters of John and Abigail Adams by John and Abigail Adams - I've been reading this one off and on for a couple of months now. It's good and they have such an interesting relationship. It's just very tiny print and very detailed so I'm reading it in medium sized bites.
The Life of Emily Dickinson by Richard B. Sewall - I got stuck in the middle of all her letters somewhere around page 460. Her life is getting a wee bit depressing. And she seems to have a really dysfunctional relationship with her best friend. Since I kind of know how it all turns out there's no real urgency to finishing it fast.
Just Started Reading****
Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
The Enchanted Emporium by Tanya Huff
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
Night Child by Jes Battis - It's got urban fantasy, CSI crime solving and is set in downtown Vancouver amongst streets like Granville and Robson. I couldn't help myself.
Entanglement by Martha Wells (Stargate Atantis novel) - Martha Wells? Martha Wilson? Hm…a similar style? Reading and seeing.
Okay that's my list of binge reading.****
What's everyone else reading right now?
Do you stress read too? Or do you close up shop and only read old comfortable favorites?
I tend to read several things simultaneously rather than one thing at a time, how about everyone else?
~
*If you know me, then you know it's my job and some things based at the university that's causing a high octane level of stress this month and hence my book binging. If you don't know me, then, gosh, thank you for reading my LJ!
**Remember I didn't say it was a good list, I just said it was a wacky one.
*** Of course I've also been reading fic, but mostly old comfortable favorites over the past couple of weeks. Although my MW zines just arrived with my box of stuff from the hotel so now I've got Blood Brothers and Rooftop Confessions 4 to finally read and Wubbles and Brate just sent me some links for some new fics (including New Star Trek Movie ones) to delve into.
****How am I finding time to finish all these books this month? Beats the heck out of me. I'm beginning to suspect there's a time turner secretly embedded in my new Supernatural bookmark from Cat's Meow.