Summer Reading
Okay, I know summer is halfway over, but I'm just now getting into the summer mode and spending more time reading. So here's a list of some books that I've already read, some I am reading now, and some that I want to read (always the longest list).
Younger Next Year for Women by Crowley & Lodge~this is my second time through reading this. It is a wake-up kind of book and it made me rethink my efforts in exercise and get my butt off the couch and moving more!
the 9 inch Diet by Alex Bogusky~A real eye-opener into the sneaky conspiracy in America to make everything big (including us!) It is like reading a comic book almost, with lots of pictures and diagrams and a fun outlook, but it packs a serious punch-It made me look around and notice how much everything has grown-our plates, drinks, silverware, and along with them our appetites. I've down-sized to 9 inch plates-they looked so small to begin with, but they are just right!
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver~I'm currently reading this and enjoying the lyrical writing style of Barbara Kingsolver. This is set in Southern Appalachia "the wrinkle on the map that lies between farms and wildness" where there is an abundant natural world and Kingsolver describes it beautifully. I find myself taken in by her descriptions of simple daily life
I stop and reread lines just for the beauty of the poetry "My sister has expanded her soul for my support in ways that sometimes resemble wings. My daughters are such experts in grace and wonder that they deliver me a world baked fresh daily." and that's just from her Acknowledgements~I'm not sure how I feel about the actual story yet, but I'm still reading because I love her writing.
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon~I'm about halfway through this 2nd novel in the Outlander series. (I think there are 9 books in all). I don't know if I will get back to it. I zoomed through the first book in the series, Outlander and now have trudged through this one. It goes slowly and I just want to move through the story and get on with it! It is a Historical Fiction/Romance in one and this one focuses a little too much on the romance-enough already!
Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth~I've read a few of Roth's other books and she gives great insights into the crazy dieting trap. Sometimes while reading I think she is actually inside my head-how can she know so intuitively what I am thinking? This will be a book I revisit and underline and ponder over.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith~I just picked this up yesterday after seeing it on a blog. It was written in 1998 and is now back in print. The narrator is 17yr old Cassandra Mortman, it tells the story of her and her family who live in an old English castle and after I read the first lines I was hooked: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board, which I have padded with our dog's blanket and the tea-cozy. I can't say that I am really comfortable, and there is a depressing smell of carbolic soap, but this is the only part of the kitchen where there is any daylight left. And I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring-I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house." ...can't wait to get to it!
The Writing Diet by Julia Cameron~I picked this up on a whim..hmmm..2 things I need improvement doing, writing and dieting!~The line that got me was "readers will learn to treat food cravings as invitations to evaluate what they are truly craving" It looks like a great way to encourage creativity.
The Help by Kathryn Stockett~Loved it! I'd been wanting a book that had a good story and involved the south, this was it. It takes place in Jackson Mississippi in 1962 and is told from the viewpoint of 3 different women, 2 are black maids and one is a white 20 something college-graduate. I kept having to remind myself "this takes place in the 60's right?" because the thinking and attitudes towards blacks seemed like it was coming out of the 30's or 40's. It's a "don't want to put it down" storyline with great characters~a memorable story.
Younger Next Year for Women by Crowley & Lodge~this is my second time through reading this. It is a wake-up kind of book and it made me rethink my efforts in exercise and get my butt off the couch and moving more!
the 9 inch Diet by Alex Bogusky~A real eye-opener into the sneaky conspiracy in America to make everything big (including us!) It is like reading a comic book almost, with lots of pictures and diagrams and a fun outlook, but it packs a serious punch-It made me look around and notice how much everything has grown-our plates, drinks, silverware, and along with them our appetites. I've down-sized to 9 inch plates-they looked so small to begin with, but they are just right!
Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver~I'm currently reading this and enjoying the lyrical writing style of Barbara Kingsolver. This is set in Southern Appalachia "the wrinkle on the map that lies between farms and wildness" where there is an abundant natural world and Kingsolver describes it beautifully. I find myself taken in by her descriptions of simple daily lifeI stop and reread lines just for the beauty of the poetry "My sister has expanded her soul for my support in ways that sometimes resemble wings. My daughters are such experts in grace and wonder that they deliver me a world baked fresh daily." and that's just from her Acknowledgements~I'm not sure how I feel about the actual story yet, but I'm still reading because I love her writing.
Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon~I'm about halfway through this 2nd novel in the Outlander series. (I think there are 9 books in all). I don't know if I will get back to it. I zoomed through the first book in the series, Outlander and now have trudged through this one. It goes slowly and I just want to move through the story and get on with it! It is a Historical Fiction/Romance in one and this one focuses a little too much on the romance-enough already!
Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth~I've read a few of Roth's other books and she gives great insights into the crazy dieting trap. Sometimes while reading I think she is actually inside my head-how can she know so intuitively what I am thinking? This will be a book I revisit and underline and ponder over.
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith~I just picked this up yesterday after seeing it on a blog. It was written in 1998 and is now back in print. The narrator is 17yr old Cassandra Mortman, it tells the story of her and her family who live in an old English castle and after I read the first lines I was hooked: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink. That is, my feet are in it; the rest of me is on the draining-board, which I have padded with our dog's blanket and the tea-cozy. I can't say that I am really comfortable, and there is a depressing smell of carbolic soap, but this is the only part of the kitchen where there is any daylight left. And I have found that sitting in a place where you have never sat before can be inspiring-I wrote my very best poem while sitting on the hen-house." ...can't wait to get to it!
The Writing Diet by Julia Cameron~I picked this up on a whim..hmmm..2 things I need improvement doing, writing and dieting!~The line that got me was "readers will learn to treat food cravings as invitations to evaluate what they are truly craving" It looks like a great way to encourage creativity.I wish I didn't have to do anything else but read....
I love Geneen Roth but sad to say, I haven't heard of any of these other books. There will be a reading time in my life. Well, I read, but things like the autobiography of Parley P. Pratt. These books sound much more fun.
ReplyDeletei was so happy to stumble across your blog and see your review for 'the help', i've been wanting to read this book for some time ... now you've given me a reason too! thanks!
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