Book 11: Mr. Muo's Travelling Couch [Dai Sijie]
This was an odd sort of novel with an odd sort of protagonist-- a middle aged Freudian scholar who returns to his native China after studying psychoanalysis in Paris for eleven years, Oh! And, as the author keeps reminding us again and again, he's a virgin. I was never completely engrossed in or ( Read more... )

Book 10: Anne Boleyn (Norah Lofts)

I've always been fascinated by the story of Henry VIII and his six wives. (And often looked upon strangely when I tell people that Katherine of Aragon is my favorite queen. You have a favorite queen? They ask. And why poor Katherine?) I had just been to watch The Other Boleyn Girl (good movie, even better book) and ( Read more... )

Book 9: The Future Homemakers of America

This is a book about friendship, about women and the lives they lead, the mistakes they make, the challenges they overcome. A product of the 80s and brought up in an environment where women are empowered to become anything and everything they wish to become, I often feel angered by stories of women who are ( Read more... )

Book 8: Cat's Cradle [Kurt Vonnegut]

It's hard to believe that I had never read this book because I am a huge Vonnegut fan. I love his writing style, his unconventional sense of humor.

Although I didn't like this as much as Slaughterhouse-Five, my favorite of his books, this was still a fantastic and entertaining read. I love the way it is separated ( Read more... )

Book 7: Jemima J 
(Jane Green)

I had never heard of this book or its author until a few days before I started reading it. Still, I read the back, categorized it as a "chick read" and decided to give it a go. And I was right; definitely a girly book, a story about a British woman who loses a bunch of weight and discovers that being super skinny does ( Read more... )

 Book 6: Atonement (Ian McEwan)

Uncharacteristically, I watched Atonement before reading the book. I loved the movie, did some research, read a few reviews, and decided that I had to read the book for myself. Yes, the film was phenomenal; but I had a feeling that I was missing out. I had questions that I thought only the book could answer. And I was ( Read more... )

Book 5:
Never Satisfied: How & Why Men Cheat (Michael Baisden)

I was looking forward to reading this book, hoping it would shed some insight into how men think. I wasn't so much concerned with the "how" men cheat--they always find a way--but with the "why." In all honesty, though, and as I dove deeper and deeper into the book, I felt myself wanting ( Read more... )

Book 4: The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank

I found The Girls’ Guide on a bookshelf in a classroom I inherited from another young teacher. I had never heard of it, was drawn in by the title, read the back cover, and brought it home for further inspection. I then saw the guide on book lists, heard it mentioned by people who ( Read more... )

 Book 3: My Darling Dead Ones by Erika de Vasconcelos

When I first got this book in the mail I couldn't wait to read it. The cover jacket is wonderful--filled with old faded snapshots and letters (written in the 'original' Portuguese) that were tarnished and yellowed with age. I could hardly wait to dive into it, to start exploring the ( Read more... )

 Starting the year off with two amazing reads.

Book 1: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I read Hosseini's Kite Runner last year and later watched the movie. I loved them both. When this new book first appeared, my colleagues couldn't stop raving about it. As winter vacation approached, I was anxiously awaiting some "me" time to read A ( Read more... )