To say I love reading is an understatement. Having 55 book boxes at my last move probably means a label like “fiend” is more fitting. I am a reading fiend. And proud of it!
With the upcoming three-day weekend, my thoughts turn to books. However, I’ll be too busy hanging out with my family (including lots of energetic, funny kids) to have reading materials in hand.
So here’s a quick list of books that have recently kept me turning the pages.
*The links below go to the authors’ websites.
The Book of Dahlia by Elisa Albert. Fiction. Love or hate the title character Dahlia Finger, you’ll be compelled to see how her story unfolds. Elisa Albert’s writing is frank, funny and extremely engaging. It’s a powerful, character-driven book. I can’t wait to read more of Albert’s writing.
The Lost Night: A Daughter’s Search for the Truth of Her Father’s Murder by Rachel Howard. Memoir. I could not put this book down. The 1986 murder of Rachel Howard’s father remains unsolved to this day. This excerpt from the New York Times review of the book says it best: “As a detective, Ms. Howard fails. She never learns the identity of her father’s killer. But as a memoirist, she succeeds brilliantly.”
Columbine by Dave Cullen. Non-fiction. The subject, a high school shooting, didn’t initially compel me to read this. It was Cullen’s exploration of how myths became “fact” according to media and how “fact” was a tangled mess as students on cell phones reported back to reporters what they were seeing on TV from inside the classrooms where they were hiding. Meticulously researched and extremely well written. I especially loved the narrative structure, with some strands of the story moving forward in time while others moved backward. It created incredible context.
Your turn! What are you reading? What do you recommend?
Jesaka Long 
Your list sounds good and also intense – unsolved murder and Columbine. At the moment I’m still working on finishing Anna Karenina. I am loving this book, even though I’ve started and stopped it several times in the last YEAR! I think that’s a sign of Tolstoy’s skills — I am able to pick up right where I left off without any question of what was going on. Or, maybe it helps that he originally published it in a newspaper so he had to make the material easy to recall week to week. Regardless, it’s a good read.
I have not been reading as feverishly as I was a year ago. But I did love Life of Pi. In non-fiction I enjoyed Karen Armstrong’s Short History of Myth and Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life: Thich Nhat Hanh, etc. I kind of enjoyed the essay collections, I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley, but thought it did not quite live up to the hype.
I’m trying to get into Martin Amis’s Money and some books on writing. I might even read The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway, which I just picked up for 50 cents at the library book store. I’d love to read A Moveable Feast.
These are great recommendations! My reading list just grew – again. Paige, you know I’ll be picking up the memoir of the French magazine editor. Nicole, I would love to hear more about The Other End of the Leash.
i am fueled by books. right now i am going back to the books i have read and loved. right now it is East of Eden – Steinbeck and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (one of my all time favorite books). some fiction reading for the summer.
on the professional front i am reading Raw Meaty Bones – Tom Lonsdale. all about raw feeding and the impact it has on your pets mouth health. also, The Other End of the Leash – Patricia McConnell. how we communicate so differently and how we can better understand our dogs and how to help them understand what we want from them.
Here are my picks:
1. I am halfway through Dave Eggers’ What is the What right now. It is a truly riveting story about the Lost Boys of Sudan, told from one LB’s point of view. Get it now. It will take your breath away.
2. Also loved The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by the late Jean-Dominique Bauby. It is the memoir of a French magazine editor who suffered a massive stroke that caused him to have what is known as locked-in syndrome. It’s a beautifully written book that was done, literally, in the blink of an eye. (If you haven’t read it, you’ll see what I mean).
3. I loved, loved, loved Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
3.