Reading

What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me

by Ian Morgan Cron

I’m listening to this “memoir…of sorts” via my library’s Hoopla app. I read Cron’s novel Chasing Francis in graduate school, so I was already a little bit familiar with Cron and had heard good things about his non-fiction memoir. While some aspects of this book are certainly hard (an alcoholic father), I’m thoroughly enjoying hearing about Cron’s Irish Catholic upbringing in the 60s and 70s. Not entirely told chronologically, I’m also appreciating the essay-like structure of it and the author’s way of allowing the reader to make connections and draw conclusions themselves without always having to explicitly state what his experiences have meant to him. Not a light read, but humorous and worthwhile.

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What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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Attachments

by Rainbow Rowell

I snagged the Kindle version of this book after having read and enjoyed Eleanor and Park. While Rowell’s use of profanity irks me a bit (and feels unnecessary), her quirky, unique writing style is thoroughly enjoyable. Like Eleanor and Park, her characters are anything but trite. They are often deeply flawed, but lovable — and believable — people just like you or me. No incredible heroes or impossible heroines, but people you think, “Yeah, I could be friends with you.” Attachments was also a fun look back at the turn of Y2K!
 
 
 

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What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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I Am Malala

by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai

This has been on my TBR list since it first came out, but I never seem to make time for non-fiction. I have found my rhythm though, and as I commute an hour into work every morning, I listen to a podcast or non-fic selection. This is the latest on my Audible player. Malala became a household name when she was shot in the head at just 16 years old for standing up for the right of girls to access education in Pakistan. Today, she is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and an advocate for girls education around the world. Both her passion and her personal story piqued my interest. I’m enjoying hearing more about her culture, her home in the Swat Valley, her close relationship with her father, and her passion for education. Definitely recommend this one, and the audio version is great!

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What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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Unequal Affections

by Lara S. Ormiston

I’m usually NOT a fan of fan fiction. In my opinion, it never really lives up to expectations set by the original. That said, I read such great reviews about Unequal Affections that I had to give it a try. Granted, Pride and Prejudice is my all time favorite book, so it has some big shoes to fill. This novel, a retelling of the second half of P&P told as if Elizabeth had accepted Darcy’s first proposal, does not meet the caliber of Austen’s original writing (but really, how could it?). It is however, delightful. I am finding myself thoroughly enjoying this foray into what-if.
 
 

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What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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A Gentleman in Moscow

by Amor Towles

I am thoroughly enjoying making my way slowly through this tome. It’s a long one, and I’m a slow reader, but it is well worth savoring. I love how this NPR book review put it: “All of the verbal excess, the gently funny mock-epic digressions, the small capers and cast of colorful characters, add up to something undeniably mannered but also undeniably pleasant.” It may take me a few months to finish this one, but I know I will tackle his first novel, Rules of Civility, once I’m done.
 
 
 

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What’s on my night stand? (Or my audible player?):

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The Brutal Telling

by Louise Penny

I am absolutely loving the Inspector Gamache series, but I am trying to make it last all fall and at least up to the holidays. (Props to me if I can make it last all winter!) The Brutal Telling is the fifth in the Gamache series and at this point I love that I am getting to know all of the characters, including the best character of all — the town of Three Pines itself — a little more with each story. They are believable, enjoyable, engrossing mysteries. But it’s about so much more than murder, it’s about humans and emotions and real life. Penny’s writing has caused me to pause and think about my own life in new ways.

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