The Fireside Cook book

I know that this is a new category but I have to recommend this as a cook book because I really love it. The recipes look great (even though I haven't tried any) and the illustrations are so cute. S&S has just published the 60th edition and basically everything in it is the same as when it was originally published. If you're looking for a gift, or for a few good recipes I would recommend this for anyone.

Here's a little bit from the intro:
Here, in short, is a book that is an indispensable addition to every American home in which good food is appreciated. It is a book to use constantly, to pore over with delight, and give to all friends from whom you can reasonably expect a future dinner invitation.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hosseini

I'm just finishing up A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (listening to it as audio book while I run). I know some of you all have read it already and I bet most of us have read The Kite Runner by the same author. I have to say that I loved this book! It's equal to or surpasses The Kite Runner for me which I didn't think possible. It has the vivid prose of the Kite Runner but I won't ruin the story if you haven't read it except that it's life in Afghanistan told from a woman's perspective. Sad yes, but beautiful just like real life. (Okay, now I want to go watch Life is Beautiful having said that).

I listened to most of this as the election was happening and it made me feel especially patriotic and thoughtful about the luxury of living in America where we are able to change leadership without guns. I could also talk endlessly about my thoughts on the separation of church and state but I won't. If you do the audio book, the narrator is terrific. I bought it for my iPod but I know the library has it on CD. xoxoxo. g.

No, I haven't read it but my grandmother has requested it for Christmas...

Has anybody Read?

Has anybody read The Shack by Wm. P. Young? Sally W.'s book club is reading it and she recomended it to me. Apparently it is a Christian story of redemption and is a best seller. Opinions?

Yay, I made it!

Hi guys...I finally enabled enough cookies or whatever to make it on the site. About the Twilight series...I have a hold request on all of the books in the series, so still waiting to find out what all the hype is about. I am very excited b/c for some time now I've had a crush on vampires...I can't explain it b/c I really am the world's biggest coward. However, something about them fascinates me, so I am looking forward to a new series to read. I also loved the Harry Potter series, so maybe juvenile fiction is my thing...glad to be on the blog!

New on the Blog

Thanks to Gwen for the invitation to the blog. I also love chatting about books, and currently work at the library - this, for me, is like spending my day at the dessert table, sampling everything, without gaining weight. A miracle, certainly! I am in the middle of a relatively recent book called "Turing's Delerium" by Edmundo Paz Soldan, said to be an important new Latin American writer (by no less a fellow than Mario Vargas Llosa). The plot has to do with government bureaucrats battling revolutionaries in Bolivia, all of them waging an internal battle to justify their actions, current and historic, to themselves and their loved ones. An international corporation has purchased the power company, and now nobody can afford any lights. This book was translated into English in 2006, so the writer didn't know about the coming financial crash...er, economic downturn, but his sense of the situation is quite prophetic. This is a really good book, but not something I would suggest for relaxation.

Jonathan Safran Foer

Another post! Already!
Aunt Gwenda's mention of crying while reading a book and Will getting irritated reminded me immediately of when I was trying to read JSF's "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" to Isabelle on our first night in Germany. We'd been reading it together or with the limit of one chapter ahead before the other could catch up, and sometimes outloud to each other. On this last night, going through the last couple chapters, I was trying to read to Isabelle (keep in mind, this is only a couple years ago) and finally had to stop because of my sobbing. THAT was a great book.

Better yet though, is his "Everything is Illuminated." These are both probably not books for everybody, but I don't know why. I've probably read the latter more times than any book in my life. Again, a somewhat fantastical blend of history to present day fiction and non-fiction, his style and voice really captures me. I especially love his ability to switch the first person characters without losing anything. So, will try to keep this snappier. Also, while I love it and how beautiful it's written, the first book has to do with 9/11. The best critical critique I ever heard of it was from my friend, saying "there are so many stories already... do we really need a made-up one?" Then again, "Illuminated" has to do with World War II.

I also want to make a shout out to my mom, a great book reader... happy birthday, Mere!

'Slaughterhouse V' and 'War with the Newts'...

Hallo liebe friends of Aunt Gwenda (and possibly mom and Isabelle)! Thought I'd throw something out here too... my, but blogs do seem to be my favorite thing, of late. While I barely have time to read (since I always feel like I should be doing something else (so why do I spend time on blogs?), I have the following recommendations:

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: Many have probably read this as required reading, but since all I got were things like "The Awakening" (hated) and "Tess of the D'Ubervilles" (loved... though I was the only one in my class like these as such, and have read neither since then)... blah blah blah, I did not read it. It is the last book I read though, and amazed me how obviously classic it is despite being, dare I say, really freaking weird. It also interested me a lot due to the German factor, but really... Vonnegut just has a very clear way of illustrating things.

WAR WITH THE NEWTS: A fantastic book that probably NO ONE has read, which Grandma Selby had to special order some time back and only let me read it on the plane back to Deutschland with the promise of returning it at Christmas. I loved this book because it spans all sides of "Newt" issue, from small time to country relevant. I also don't want to talk about what it's about, because it's just so interesting and new! In addition, it's written by a Czech author and translated, though keeps a lot of different language tidbits throughout the entire book (hence, good that smart women are reading this). I loved it.

In closing, I would like to quote my Selby grandma, who was talking about how she recently read a book that was ok, but lacked something, and how she used to always read such classic books where she felt like not a word was wasted. That stuck out to me. That every word had relevance and meaning, otherwise it would not be there. It also reminded me of another quote that is possibly from Kurt Vonnegut (but I don't remember) saying something like, "if you can take a word out, do it."

Twilight-Stephanie Meyers

I'm not really recommending this as what to read next, but have any of your kids started reading the Stephanie Meyer's series? The first book is Twilight that's coming out as a movie on November 21. Mary Rollins read the first two in the last 5 days and literally was reading them every free moment that she had...in the car on the way to school, sitting in the bathroom (said it was the only quiet place in the house), walking around eating breakfast. The books are being called the "new Harry Potter." My dad and I both read the first two and I liked them okay, Stephanie Meyer's no J.K. Rowling but the second book was better than the first. Anyway, I just wondered if your children had read them and what you all thought if you'd read them too?