June 20, 2005
Recent Books
I've fallen behind again in recording the books I've been reading and listening to. Here are a few recent ones:
Candyfreak : a journey through the chocolate underbelly of America
by Steven Almond
excerpt
Emy recommended this one and it took me a while to get to because first I had put the tapes on hold and then Vered (my car) has a cd player instead of a tape player so I had to start over and get the CD. It was SOOOO awesome (and I think I may have to but a copy to bring down to Paul next weekend, given our tendency to write about candy companies (hersheys and glico) when we weren't writing b-school papers on QVC) The only warning is that it will make you want to eat chocolate -- and especially to go find rare, local, old-fashioned bars still made by small family-run companies and then buy them for all your friends to try too. Thank you Emy for recommending this one!
Murder Most Crafty
edited by Maggie Bruce
15 All-New Stories of Criminal Handiwork and the Art of Deduction (Craft projects included)
A good set of short-story mysteries by a ton of authors I hadn't heard of (and a few I know and love like Sujata Massey). Mom gave it to me when I was home last week and most of them were quite good. I think I'll pass it on to Emy next -- with the warning that one of them, "How to Make a Killing Online" by Victoria Houston utterly freaked me out. The craft projects include paper making, making gourd ornaments, macaroni art, mosaic flowerpots, sewing, knitting with beads, weaving lanyards, tying trout flies, basket weaving, wreath making, dyeing with indigo, candlemaking, furniture refinishing, and memory collages.
Artemis Fowl
by Eoin Colfer
Every time I work on the children's desk, some one seems to ask for the books in this series, and when one of my colleagues at my other job raved about the newest one, I figured it was finally time to see what the fuss was about. Fairies, evil genius boys trying to take over the world (or at least stock up on fairy gold), high technology and magic, great characters... so now I'm hooked and will definitely want to read the rest of them.
Confessions of a Teen Sleuth
by Chelsea Cain
This was another one Mom sent -- and this one is definitely being passed along to BobbiLynn when I see her next!
Death of the Party: a Death on Demand Mystery
by Carolyn Hart
Another one I picked up from Mom's pile when I was there last week. Annie Laurance Darling remains one of my favorite mystery heroines (I mean really, what would be cooler than owning a mystery bookstore???) A very satisfying read (and as, always, leaves you ready for the next one to be written!)
and I listened to 1/2 of A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (since I wasn't making any headway on reading the book after two tries. The tapes were great -- it sounds like you're listening to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (narrator with a great British accent explaining the history of the universe and pretty much the answers to life, the universe and (nearly) everything). Unfortunately, I no longer have a tape player, so I'll have to either track down the CDs or finish it up in print.
Saved Comments:
I so rarely read anything that no one else has read - I'm very excited that I was able to tip you off on "Candyfreak"! :)
Mmmm...chocolate. I love that guy.
Posted by: Emy at June 20, 2005 08:44 PM
I LOVED Candyfreak. And I absolutely agree with you - it made me scan the candy aisles with greater interest, looking for the unusual, the unique candy bar. Mmmmm, book. It's one of the books that I forced upon my friend to read or die. :-)
Posted by: ilona at June 20, 2005 09:17 PM