Book Roundup (the best of the summer)

I've been meaning to write a little recap of some of the best books I read this past spring/summer.  I probably got through about a book a week, which is pretty good for me these days.  But there were a few really good ones.  I like to look back at certain periods of time and remember what I was doing when I was reading a certain book.  So here is my list:


Wild: I have a weird obsession with books about long distance hiking.  A Walk in the Woods is still my all-time favorite book.  This one wasn't a funny story and the author wasn't particularly likeable (it was a memoir), but I could not put it down.  I was reading this right after we flew into town to move here - we were still staying at my parent's house.




The Fault in Our Stars: I read this just a few weeks ago.  It's a young adult novel, so I avoided it for weeks, but the positive reviews on Amazon eventually persuaded me to get it.  It's about cancer kids.  How uplifting!  No but really, the writing was so good - the dialogue between the kids in this book made it hard to put down.



Gone Girl: This book has been all over Facebook.  Everyone has read it, including my parents and Josh.  It was a thriller of a book about a seriously dysfunctional marriage.  Quite the guilty pleasure.  I read most of this when we were camping up in Challis, Idaho.



Scott Jurek's book, Eat and Run, was another Challis read.  I cruised through this book in a couple of days.  He's one of the world's best ultramarathoners and also happens to be a vegan.  It's a pretty unusual combination and it was interesting to hear how he does what he does.  He gave some really good advice on following a plant-based diet and almost convinced me to try an ultra one day.


The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: I'm reading this right now - more than halfway through it (thanks to a couple of nights of persistent insomnia, yay).  So far, I like it a lot.  It's a story about a guy who decides to walk the length of England to visit a dying ex-coworker.

Bossypants and Unbroken

I just finished two more great books.  The first one - Unbroken - is one of the best books I have read in a long time.  The story is the true (but almost unbelievable) story of Louis Zamperini, the famous miler who was shot down in the Pacific during World War II, then proceeded to survive for many days and months on a life raft and in a Japanese POW camp.  The NY times review has a better description than I can give.  Just go read it.  Josh has it on his list to read next - I think he will dig the WWII aviation references.  I think my dad would also love the history and background of what happened in the Pacific during WWII.  I learned a lot reading it, but the story was so engrossing it didn't feel like work. 

The next book, an obvious much lighter read, is Bossypants by Tina Fey.  I love her and pretty much everything she says.  She writes about what it was like to be a woman and in charge at SNL and her show 30 Rock, what it's like to be a working mom, and  how her famous Sarah Palin impression came about.  She's just funny and it's a quick and easy read.

I have a lot of books to get through on my Goodreads To Read list.  Josh and I get in bed between 8:30 and 9 every night with our Kindles.  We are such old people!!

Things I Love Lately

Just a note to talk about some of the things I have been enjoying lately.  You know, to influence this HUGE audience I have.

My BlenTec blender.  Yes, it is pricey, but it is AWESOME!  This thing can blend anything.  We have been blending apples, carrots, celery, making muffin batter, juices, anything.  We all have a green smoothie every day with lots of spinach or kale in it, along with fruit.  This thing blends it up so well you can't taste the greens.

 Some good books lately: Cutting for Stone and The Imperfectionists.  Both read on my Kindle, which I am also obsessed with.  I would recommend these two books to just about anyone.

 The new Panic at the Disco album: Vices & Virtues.  Good for working out.

The Moosewood cookbook - full of vegetarian and low fat recipes, that are delicious.  We have been eating most of our meals out of this cookbook over the past few weeks and they are almost all good.