Recommended Reading

I always tear out pages of magazines that include book reviews, but I've yet to create a useful system for keeping track of them. This weekend, as I was organizing my apartment, I can across many of these sheets scattered about. In an effort to remember these titles, and to maybe even read them, I'm going to share some recommended reading. I can't speak to them myself, but they were featured in magazines I enjoy, and sound intriguing to me. If you have read any of them, please let us know what you thought!

What I Though I Knew, by Alice Eve Cohen. The memoir of a 44-year old woman who suddenly finds out that she is 6 months pregnant.

The Wisdom Trail: In the Footsteps of Remarkable Women, by Janet Lieberman and Julie Hungar. Interviews and stories from dozens of women who lived through the turbulent times of the mid-20th century.

Dreaming in Hindi, by Katherine Russell Rich. The memoir of a magazine editor who learns Hindi in India and is transformed.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe. A magical tale of uncovering family secrets.

The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, by Rebecca Wells. A new novel about friendship by the author of The Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood.

Small Wonder, by Barbara Kingsolver. A collection of essays on ecology by a most beloved author.

The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton. A compelling mystery set in England and Australia.

Happy Reading!

Book Wallpaper

I found this wallpaper via the blog A Cup of Jo, who found it in the latest issue of Lonny Magazine.

It's kind of amazing. Just saying. I have no idea where I would put it though...

Where would YOU put it?

Image: anthropologie.com

Reflections and A Reader's Wishlist

Most recent read: Latino in America by Soledad O'Brien

I've been MIA from this blog for over a month.  I'm still trying to sort out why...

This fall has been a struggle for me in many ways.  Still being unemployed has been difficult, and I find myself lacking motivation.  Plus, I've moved, and am still hopelessly unorganized.  Now even more of my books are pack up in boxes on far away shelves and so I've been reading less, much to my own dismay.  This lack of reading, and lack of motivation in general has meant silence in my corner of the blogosphere.

I've found that starting up the momentum again is the hardest, so here I go.  Sometimes, I wish I could blog about things not entirely related to books and reading.  After all, reading is about life, so this blog should be about life as well.  It will still be focused on reading, words, books, and other literary endeavors, but I'm going to share more daily thoughts as well, in an effort to help the writer within me blossom.  

Despite this small shift, books are still on the forefront of my mind, so I am going to conclude today's discombobulated post with a wishlist:

On That Day, Everybody Ate: One Woman's Story of Hope and Possibility in Haiti by Margaret Trost

Cornflakes with John Lennon: And Other Tales from a Rock 'n' Roll Life by Robert Hilburn

The Finishing Touches by Hester Browne

The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art, and the Comforts of Home by Jane Brocket 

Street Saints: Renewing America's Cities by Barbara J. Elliott

Let the Great World Spin: A Novel by Colum McCann

The Backyard Homestead: Produce All The Food You Need on Just a Quarter of an Acre! by Carleen Madigan

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester and America's Holiest University by Kevin Roose

My taste in books, as is the rest of my life, is highly eclectic and contradictory.

Wish List Wednesday

At a recent trip to Target, these titles caught my eye.  Into the Amazon wishlist they go.

The Wednesday Sisters, by Meg Waite Clayton

A Little Bit Wicked, by Kristin Chenoweth 

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire (okay, I didn't see this one at Target, but # 2 made me think of it)

Testimony, by Anita Shreve 

Girls in Trucks, by Katie Crouch

Resilience, by Elizabeth Edwards (love her!)

The Girl from Junchow, by Kate Furnivall 

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana deRosnay 

Shelter Me, by Juliette Fay

Has anyone read any of these?  What books have caught your eye recently?