On the plane I read Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares (another of the teen top ten) and it is just as good as the first two but luckily didn't make me cry like #2 did (since that's awkward on long plane trips).
Next up was a birthday/new-librarian gift from Margaret and Alan, The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, a very engrossing tale of the creation of the OED, a great read for anyone who cares about words or just loves stories of crazy little-known historical people who were obsessed with words.
Then a quick one, a birthday present from Mom, The House of Paper by Carlos Maria Dominguez, Peter Sis (Illustrator), Nick Caistor (Translator). Interesting tale of a man obsessed with books to the point that he builds a house of them, but more Literary (with the capital L) than I usually read, especially on the beach.
I then I finally read Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell (which had a long line of holds for it at the library) and LOVED LOVED LOVED it. After the first chapter I was going around the house telling everyone else they would have to read it. Karen expressed some concern since she doesn't cook -- but few can cook less than I do and I still absolutely loved it. Its more about Julie and her life and turning 30 and figuring out what you're doing in life and all... and of course it is all about cooking terrible sounding things like brains and kidneys and killing lobsters but it is hysterically funny and I couldn't put it down. Of course there's that pang of self loathing that other people can come up with an idea, blog about it, and become famous and published for it, but I won't hold it against her because the book really is wonderful and if anyone deserves a better apartment and kitchen and job sitting around writing in her pj's it is this woman and her very patient husband.
Posted by Emily at December 30, 2005 05:22 PM