The Grand 3rd Annual Book List

"If you have never said "Excuse me" to a parking meter or bashed your shins on a fireplug, you are probably wasting too much valuable reading time." Sherri Chasin Calvo

This is so true!! I really like to go walking around campus during spring and summer and take a paperback to read while I walk. But you do get some funny looks and, yes, on occasion, I have had some near misses with random roads signs and/or other walkers. Here is a list of things I filled my valuable reading time with this year.

1.) "Real luxury is time and opportunity to read for pleasure.” Jane Brody

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Kidd Monk
The Last Summer of Me and You by Anne Brashares

Both of these books I read very quickly. They were smooth reads and entertained me a lot. Good old messed-up-and-needs-to-be-fixed love stories

2.) "You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." Paul Sweeney

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

So call me a loser if you will, but I really did have to mourn the end of the Harry Potter series. I've looked forward to every single book, and even though I loved the last book, I almost didn't want to finish it because I knew there wouldn't be anymore new ones once I stopped.

3. “When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing.” Enrique Jardiel Poncela

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

Pat Conroy is just an amazing author and this book definitely makes a person want to make a difference ... and maybe be a little rebellious. Oh and it makes you laugh.

4.) "Beware of the man of one book." Thomas Aquinas

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

But if he's only going to have one book, this one is a great choice. By the same author of The Kite Runner, this book continued to open my eyes to life in the middle east and made me very thankful for me life here. It is a must-read for sure.

5.) "Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life." Mortimer J. Adler

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller

Ol' Don lives on my annual booklists - he always gives a funny and honest account of his spiritual ponderings. This particular book made me want to take a road trip out west so badly I still haven't gotten over it, which is scaring some people I know.

6.) “Reading is a means of thinking with another person's mind; it forces you to stretch your own.” Charles Scriber, Jr.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor-in-chief of Elle magazine in Paris, France (which basically means he was a big shot there ... French people are all about fashion magazines). At age 43 he had a brain-stem stroke, which left him with "locked-in syndrome," meaning his mind was functioning perfectly but his body was basically like a vegetable, to put it not very eloquently. His only means of communication is by blinking his left eye ... and using that he wrote this (as you might imagine) short book about his experience. It is so interesting! And he calls his speech pathologist a guardian angel, which didn't make me like it any less. A quick read that packs that punch as far as making you appreciate your life. Oh yeah, and they're making a movie out of it.

7.) "Never judge a book by its movie." J.W. Eagan

The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory

Speaking of making movies, this book is being made into a movie because as my roommate Tiffany says "they keep having to use books because they can't write anything good on their own anymore." I haven't seen this movie, so I really can't tell you not to judge the book by the movie ... but I can definitely understand why they are choosing to make it into a movie. It's got it all -sex, lust, royalty, drama, betrayal, secrets, lies. I did enjoy it and definitely got into it, but it was pretty long so I have to admit by the end I was sort of thinking ok can there seriously be MORE??

8.) "My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter." Thomas Helm

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

It took me awhile to really get into this book, but once I did I was hooked and didn't want it to end. It's a really intricately written literary mystery/thriller. I sort of wish I had read Dante because I bet if you have you would REALLY appreciate all the allusions the author includes.

9.) “A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.” Daniel J. Boorstin

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult

Both of these books I definitely took to bed with me. These novels take a controversial issue (sister's keeper - organ donor kids, 19 mins - school shootings) and really take you into all the people involved and give you all the angles so you sort of get a chance to understand all sides of the story. You find your self rooting for all sides, even the ones you might normally not. I like being able to make myself look at both sides so I liked these books ... plus they have good twists. Pretty same format for both though. (And laptops sort of made this quote "obsolete" ... I take my computer to bed all the time ... did that sound dirty??

10.) "To feel most beautifully alive means to be reading something beautiful, ready always to apprehend in the flow of language the sudden flash of poetry." Gaston Bachelard

Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Che writes really beautifully and some of his descriptions of South America really are poetic. And he was a very forward thinker, and pretty funny too. So many of the places he was I have been and that was really cool to read and say "Ooooh I know exactly where he's talking about!" This is definitely one of those books you could judge by the movie ... I loved both.

11.) “Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.” P. J. O'Rourke

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

HAHA! I thought that quote was really funny! Well I've been trying to get through this book for ages and for some reason I just can't get that into it. I think if I could make it through a few more chapters, I'd really like it, but these first few just aren't grabbing me. But if all else fails, at least if I die, someone will say, "hmmm reading an Oprah's Book Club pick about a hermaphrodite ... not too shabby." hahaha.

Checked out but never read (I have a bad habit of checking out more books than I can read at one time):
Once Upon a Quinceañera: Coming of Age in the USA by Julia Alvarez - I heard about this on NPR and thought it sounded really interesting. It's about the quinceañera tradition and how it is being done here in the US and it's impact on hispanic women/girls. Sadly I ran out of time and was only able to finish a few pages before the library starting charging me.

Knots by Nuruddin Farah - I heard that "this book does for Somalia what the Kite Runner did for Afghanistan." That made me want to read it. I still do, I just need to check it out again.

Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje - same guy who wrote the English Patient ... I did actually start this one, but again the library fines and school work caught up with me. Plus it was kind of slow.

To Read:
any of the aforementioned (love that word) "Checked out but not read" books
any unread Pat Conroy book (Lords of Discipline, Beach Music, his cookbook, My Losing Season, Prince of Tides ... so basically most of them)
The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I got this and the previous books from Santa so I they're on my list because Santa usually has good taste.
Anything you might suggest to me that is good!

And two last quotes on books and reading:

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life." Helen Exley

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Francis Bacon