I found this great idea from CARE, via OH's blog: Books that Stay with You, also known as "sticky" books. Sticky Books are books that stick with you over time. The books you can't put down. The books you go to over and over again.
Since I'm of the "so many books, so little time" philosophy, there are not that many sticky books on my list. I am, however, going to include some that I will return to, should I have that kind of time. (Probably during my dotage).
My List:
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - need I say more?
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen - this touched me on many levels. The writing is brilliant and the storyline compelling
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle - this gave me hope when I was a very lonely, eight-year-old.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - ditto - and I wasn't nearly as much of a fan of the other books - that first book was the one that grabbed me.
The Godfather - Mario Puzo - and I still think it's better than the movie.
The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith - again, I'm a major fan of this one, less so of the rest of the series.
The Jane Eyre Affaire - Jasper Fforde - ditto on the series thing. See a pattern?
Dead Until Dark - Charlaine Harris - yup... same deal on the series.
Dune - Frank Herbert - DUDE! I know... but I still loved it. Again, just the first book.
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - I actually pretty much liked the whole series.
On the Road - Jack Kerouac - and yes, I did hit the road at one point, thanks to this book.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan - such 60s poetry, but so much part of my teen years.
Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey - Isabel Fonseca - a brilliant piece of qualitative research, beautifully told.
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (this one keeps popping into my brain as I write the list, so it should be there, right?)
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
A Moveable Feast - Ernest Hemingway
The entire Annie Seymour series, by Karen E. Olson.
While this is probably long enough, I still have to include two more categories:
Even though I firmly believe that plays are meant to be seen and not read, given all my years in and around theater I just had to include these:
Richard III by William Shakespeare - yes, I love Hamlet, Midsummer, Macbeth, and Much Ado (among others) more, but this was the play that started a more than thirty-year love affair with Shakespeare.
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde - this never fails to make me laugh and laugh and laugh.
Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand - I truly think Rostand gives Shakespeare a run for his money with this brilliant, funny and heartbreaking play.
A Doll's House - Henrik Ibsen
Pretty much anything by Bertolt Brecht
And my favorite cookbooks of all time:
The New Basics Cookbook - Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins
Elegant but Easy - Marian Burros and Lois Levine
New York Cookbook - Molly O'Neill
A La Russe - Darra Goldstein
How to Cook Everything - Mark Bittman
and my new favorite - Comfortably Yum by Luisa Perkins.
And speaking of Comfortably Yum, the winner of our giveaway contest is Goofball of Goofballsworld! This was a fitting win, as Goofball just got married on Saturday (congratulations!), and now she can join her hubby in helping more with the cooking.
Now, what are your "books that stay with you"?
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, November 18, 2007
A Good Book
As some of you figured out from my Singular Saturday word, I needed some time to myself this weekend. And I'm one of those folks for whom "time to myself" usually involves reading a good book.
This time, I got to finish a fantastic book that I started long, long ago and only this weekend was able to return to. It's not that the book didn't grab me initially; it's more that I've had to read the classics that I teach, as well as many other books for my novel research.
One of the best things about this fantastic book that I read, Nightswimming, is that it was written by one of our fellow bloggers - Rebecca James.
I had the great good fortune to spend the last day and a half with Sarah, Brett and Josh and become completely immersed in their story. The synopsis can be found here , but I guess I'd add that the reason that I enjoyed the book so much was because the characters were so easy to relate to, the settings so familiar, and I was absolutely engrossed. It doesn't matter that the settings were in Australia; anyone who has had children and seen their romantic relationship change as a result will understand both Sarah's and Brett's feelings and actions. It was just absolutely marvelous writing and I enjoyed every minute of my escape.
As an appetizer, I was able to read the work of another talented, fellow blogger, Marianne Arkins. Last week was the release of her new story, "The Christmas Curse," and it is a humorous, light-hearted romp. I call this an appetizer because it's a short story, rather than a novel, but it brought me a very different kind of escape - one of laughter and lighter moments.
I'd happily and heartily recommend both books, and you can buy Rebecca's Nightswimming here, and Marianne's "The Christmas Curse" here.
I thank both of them for my wonderful weekend "getaway".
This time, I got to finish a fantastic book that I started long, long ago and only this weekend was able to return to. It's not that the book didn't grab me initially; it's more that I've had to read the classics that I teach, as well as many other books for my novel research.
One of the best things about this fantastic book that I read, Nightswimming, is that it was written by one of our fellow bloggers - Rebecca James.
I had the great good fortune to spend the last day and a half with Sarah, Brett and Josh and become completely immersed in their story. The synopsis can be found here , but I guess I'd add that the reason that I enjoyed the book so much was because the characters were so easy to relate to, the settings so familiar, and I was absolutely engrossed. It doesn't matter that the settings were in Australia; anyone who has had children and seen their romantic relationship change as a result will understand both Sarah's and Brett's feelings and actions. It was just absolutely marvelous writing and I enjoyed every minute of my escape.
As an appetizer, I was able to read the work of another talented, fellow blogger, Marianne Arkins. Last week was the release of her new story, "The Christmas Curse," and it is a humorous, light-hearted romp. I call this an appetizer because it's a short story, rather than a novel, but it brought me a very different kind of escape - one of laughter and lighter moments.
I'd happily and heartily recommend both books, and you can buy Rebecca's Nightswimming here, and Marianne's "The Christmas Curse" here.
I thank both of them for my wonderful weekend "getaway".
Monday, July 23, 2007
Join the Club - again, no spoilers
It was clearly a weekend of decadence.
My desk is strewn with bills, catalogs and other reminders of tasks I left abandoned. My kitchen is piled high with dishes, the surfaces covered with more leftover chores. The compost bucket is full. The fresh corn, collected on Saturday, has still not been shucked. A corner of the living room couch has a pile of shoes beside it, kicked off over and over again, as people made themselves more comfortable. Half-filled glasses with various liquids and empty snack packages are lying across the end and coffee tables.
I spent the weekend with an old friend. Several old friends, really - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, and to show my tuna fish sandwich side, some of my personal favorites of their crowd - Severus, Luna and Neville.
I swore I was going to savor this last adventure. I was going to read it slowly, wait until after my other family members had devoured the 784 pp. as they usually do.
But like the glutton I am, a day and a half after arriving early at Barnes and Noble and actually finding it open, the thing was done.
My orgy was over.
I'm also reading The Courage to Write, as I mentioned in a previous entry. I haven't finished it yet, but the crux of the book is being courageous in your writing. Staying true to yourself and your observations and your characters, etc. Very pretty words, and true ones. But it's often hard (from what I hear and read) doing that in the current publication environment. Publishers, naturally, want to sell books. Books become longer and longer, because the public wants more when the latest of their favorite series comes out. Mysteries get sexed up. I still love John Burdett and what he's trying to do with his Bangkok series, but whereas his first one only touched on the ideas of sex (which can be a lot more sexy, than being explicit, thank you very much), his second book becomes almost soft porn at points. And from what I've read of the third, it will go even further in this direction.
J. K. Rowling has got to be one of the most courageous authors I know. There has probably never been a writer in history who's had more notoriety - or pressure. One of the world's wealthiest women, coming from her infamous tea rooms and single motherhood, scratching out bits of Harry on legal pads, I believe she succumbed to certain pressures in the middle of her beyond-famous series of the boy wizard and his fight to save the world.
Not this time.
For those who can eat a box of chocolates and let it last for weeks (which I can, actually, but don't have this discipline with cheeses or favorite books), no, I'm not going to give anything away here. But let me just say, that I think, this time, Joanne Kathleen Rowling did things her way.
And we should all be grateful.
So, I'm off to put my house and family back in order, and to leave those two summer days of ravenous reading behind me. If anyone who's finished The Deathly Hallows wants to e-mail me to discuss, well... anything, please do! I'd love company.
I'm missing my old friends already.
My desk is strewn with bills, catalogs and other reminders of tasks I left abandoned. My kitchen is piled high with dishes, the surfaces covered with more leftover chores. The compost bucket is full. The fresh corn, collected on Saturday, has still not been shucked. A corner of the living room couch has a pile of shoes beside it, kicked off over and over again, as people made themselves more comfortable. Half-filled glasses with various liquids and empty snack packages are lying across the end and coffee tables.
I spent the weekend with an old friend. Several old friends, really - Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, and to show my tuna fish sandwich side, some of my personal favorites of their crowd - Severus, Luna and Neville.
I swore I was going to savor this last adventure. I was going to read it slowly, wait until after my other family members had devoured the 784 pp. as they usually do.
But like the glutton I am, a day and a half after arriving early at Barnes and Noble and actually finding it open, the thing was done.
My orgy was over.
I'm also reading The Courage to Write, as I mentioned in a previous entry. I haven't finished it yet, but the crux of the book is being courageous in your writing. Staying true to yourself and your observations and your characters, etc. Very pretty words, and true ones. But it's often hard (from what I hear and read) doing that in the current publication environment. Publishers, naturally, want to sell books. Books become longer and longer, because the public wants more when the latest of their favorite series comes out. Mysteries get sexed up. I still love John Burdett and what he's trying to do with his Bangkok series, but whereas his first one only touched on the ideas of sex (which can be a lot more sexy, than being explicit, thank you very much), his second book becomes almost soft porn at points. And from what I've read of the third, it will go even further in this direction.
J. K. Rowling has got to be one of the most courageous authors I know. There has probably never been a writer in history who's had more notoriety - or pressure. One of the world's wealthiest women, coming from her infamous tea rooms and single motherhood, scratching out bits of Harry on legal pads, I believe she succumbed to certain pressures in the middle of her beyond-famous series of the boy wizard and his fight to save the world.
Not this time.
For those who can eat a box of chocolates and let it last for weeks (which I can, actually, but don't have this discipline with cheeses or favorite books), no, I'm not going to give anything away here. But let me just say, that I think, this time, Joanne Kathleen Rowling did things her way.
And we should all be grateful.
So, I'm off to put my house and family back in order, and to leave those two summer days of ravenous reading behind me. If anyone who's finished The Deathly Hallows wants to e-mail me to discuss, well... anything, please do! I'd love company.
I'm missing my old friends already.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Summer Reading
Much to my amazement, I'm really enjoying The Scarlet Letter.
It was the bane of my high school and then college years, and I fell asleep reading it to my Armenian daughter during our first year hosting. She was required to read it for her American Lit. class, but didn't have the English skills to conquer the language, so we spent night after night reading through it. And I'd doze every time, until I felt her gentle nudge on my knee or arm, at which point I'd startle and try again.
Did I really have to be forty-eight to finally "get" this story?
This time around, it's little Pearl who's caught my attention. I don't think I allowed myself the pleasure of delving into her surprisingly modern portrayal, or Hawthorne's allowing a more natural take on children than Hester would have probably assumed in her day. Pearl is not seen, as children typically were in Puritan times, as a little adult, but rather she is left to be a child, and an ill-behaved one, at that. Which also pulls me in as a mother. I'm looking at Hester in a new light.
But where are the beach books?
Of my current list, the only beach book type is Bangkok Haunts, and yet that, too, is complicated and dense in its own way. Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the Bangkok detective who is at the heart of Burdett's Bangkok series, makes the series for me. The subject matter is often more raw than I would normally read or enjoy. Yet the themes of cross-cultural misunderstanding, and Sonchai's take on the West versus Thai Buddhist culture has me fascinated. Hence The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism...
But that's not particularly light reading, either. So, through Sonchai, I've become fascinated with learning more about Buddhism. But I'm also trying not to get sucked into too many directions so I can focus on The Courage to Write, recommended by my friend Charity.
And then there are The Nick Adams Stories, which I'm still sorting through for American Lit.
Where are the hours in the day?
It was the bane of my high school and then college years, and I fell asleep reading it to my Armenian daughter during our first year hosting. She was required to read it for her American Lit. class, but didn't have the English skills to conquer the language, so we spent night after night reading through it. And I'd doze every time, until I felt her gentle nudge on my knee or arm, at which point I'd startle and try again.
Did I really have to be forty-eight to finally "get" this story?
This time around, it's little Pearl who's caught my attention. I don't think I allowed myself the pleasure of delving into her surprisingly modern portrayal, or Hawthorne's allowing a more natural take on children than Hester would have probably assumed in her day. Pearl is not seen, as children typically were in Puritan times, as a little adult, but rather she is left to be a child, and an ill-behaved one, at that. Which also pulls me in as a mother. I'm looking at Hester in a new light.
But where are the beach books?
Of my current list, the only beach book type is Bangkok Haunts, and yet that, too, is complicated and dense in its own way. Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the Bangkok detective who is at the heart of Burdett's Bangkok series, makes the series for me. The subject matter is often more raw than I would normally read or enjoy. Yet the themes of cross-cultural misunderstanding, and Sonchai's take on the West versus Thai Buddhist culture has me fascinated. Hence The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism...
But that's not particularly light reading, either. So, through Sonchai, I've become fascinated with learning more about Buddhism. But I'm also trying not to get sucked into too many directions so I can focus on The Courage to Write, recommended by my friend Charity.
And then there are The Nick Adams Stories, which I'm still sorting through for American Lit.
Where are the hours in the day?
Friday, July 13, 2007
Fifteen Things I want for my Birthday
Friday Fifteen
My preachy list:
1. World peace
2. Universal healthcare
3. Clean water for all
4. Good public transportation in the U.S.
5. Support of local growers and a return to eating seasonally
6. Better protection for the Earth
7. Industrialized nations working together to lower carbon emissions
8. Campaign reform in the U.S. and restructuring to a parliamentary system
9. Sustainable agriculture
10. Alternative energy sources
11. A more globally aware U.S. citizenship and a MUCH more globally aware U.S. administration
12. Removal of said U.S. administration
13. Replacement with a much kinder, gentler U.S. administration that will have, as a goal, the restoration of the U.S. as a world leader instead of world villain.
14. To see all of my "kids," both those biological and those adopted through our exchanges, happy adults with loving families
15. To continue enjoying the wonderful love of my family and friends throughout the rest of my life and the good health to enjoy it.
Now, my just plain fun list, that's all about me, me, me (and not necessarily in this order):
1. To have partners in writing - through my writing group being revived or something similar
2. eve - The Restaurant Cookbook
3. The Spamalot CD
4. Hours and hours to read
5. Time in the day to listent to Ask A Ninja
6. Good chocolate - maybe from Grocer's Daughter
7. Some GOOD mysteries that have recipes/food themes (research)
8. Some good paranormal YA (research)
9. Time to read said novels
10. My turn with the new Harry Potter book when it comes out
11. A trip to Europe, Armenia and Japan to see all my exchange kiddos
12. A trip to New Zealand just to see it.
13. Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames
by Thich Nhat Hanh
14. As wonderful classes of students next year as I had this past year.
15. To continue enjoying the wonderful love of my family and friends throughout the rest of my life and the good health to enjoy it.
My preachy list:
1. World peace
2. Universal healthcare
3. Clean water for all
4. Good public transportation in the U.S.
5. Support of local growers and a return to eating seasonally
6. Better protection for the Earth
7. Industrialized nations working together to lower carbon emissions
8. Campaign reform in the U.S. and restructuring to a parliamentary system
9. Sustainable agriculture
10. Alternative energy sources
11. A more globally aware U.S. citizenship and a MUCH more globally aware U.S. administration
12. Removal of said U.S. administration
13. Replacement with a much kinder, gentler U.S. administration that will have, as a goal, the restoration of the U.S. as a world leader instead of world villain.
14. To see all of my "kids," both those biological and those adopted through our exchanges, happy adults with loving families
15. To continue enjoying the wonderful love of my family and friends throughout the rest of my life and the good health to enjoy it.
Now, my just plain fun list, that's all about me, me, me (and not necessarily in this order):
1. To have partners in writing - through my writing group being revived or something similar
2. eve - The Restaurant Cookbook
3. The Spamalot CD
4. Hours and hours to read
5. Time in the day to listent to Ask A Ninja
6. Good chocolate - maybe from Grocer's Daughter
7. Some GOOD mysteries that have recipes/food themes (research)
8. Some good paranormal YA (research)
9. Time to read said novels
10. My turn with the new Harry Potter book when it comes out
11. A trip to Europe, Armenia and Japan to see all my exchange kiddos
12. A trip to New Zealand just to see it.
13. Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames
by Thich Nhat Hanh
14. As wonderful classes of students next year as I had this past year.
15. To continue enjoying the wonderful love of my family and friends throughout the rest of my life and the good health to enjoy it.
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