A House is not a Home without a Dog

Old Dogs are the Best Dogs by Gene Weingarten is photographic book with short entries describing the old dogs pictured. The dogs are at least 10 years old and the book celebrates their age while sometimes reminiscing about their younger years.

Personal favorites: Lexie, Chester, Hank, Chelsie, Buffy, Blue, Lucy, Magic, and Jake.

If you are a dog lover and have ever watched a dog grow old, this is a lovely book to pick up.

Another Dose of Optimism

I did this backwards but after reading his second autobiography I decided to go back and read Michael J Fox's first. Lucky Man describes Michael's life up until diagnosis and immediately after. It was interesting to get a closer look at a man who usually keeps his life so private. I so appreciate Mr Fox being willing to share such intimate moments in his life. I continue to find him to be a remarkable man and hope only the best for him and his health.

A British Booky

I can't quite explain what it is I like about Russell Brand but I guess it's mostly I just find him to be a genuine person. Perhaps it's all an act but he seems to be a good man. He seems to have learned from his mistakes and doesn't try to lie his way out of anything. He shares openly his life lessons and the tough roads he took to get there. When I saw that he had a book out I had to read it. Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex Drugs and Comedy was a wonderful read as I suspected it would be.

Brand shares childhood memories, career adventures, and addiction missteps. He keeps the reader entertained throughout it all. It's also quite a coincidence that I find out about this book and while reading it realize that a second part is due out the next week. Look for an entry in the next few days hopefully as I plan to read book 2 very soon.Save Now

New York New York

The Perfect Manhattan by Leanne Shear and Tracey Toomey was a great light summer read. The novel shares the story of a young woman just out of college and trying to find her way. She winds up becoming a bartender (believing it will help her pay off her student loans) and then winds up spending most of her summer tending bar out in the Hamptons among the elite rich crowd.

There are lots of funny twists and turns and also of course a summer romance thrown in with a happy ending. Lessons learned, growing up and into the adult world, and direction found. Not the greatest book I've ever read of course, but it was a fun flirty summer read.

Hiding Pregnancy

Here's a secret about my listening to books on tape, sometimes I can't wait to get to the next disc and know it's taking too much time so I'll try to see if the library has a copy of the book I'm listening to. At my current library this means walking through the teen section sometimes to get to the fiction area. This is where/how I stumbled into After by Amy Efaw.

The titled caught my attention as it begs the question, after what? After a teenage girl leaves her baby in a trashcan moments after giving birth. The story starts with the main character, Devon, being arrested though she continues to maintain she didn't have a baby even though all evidence points to the fact that she did. It's interesting to see the book through Devon's perspective after the pregnancy is over. The reader gets to decide along the way if Devon is a cold hearted teen or in such deep denial she never acknowledged her pregnancy.

It was very interesting to read this short novel and my only wish was that it had been a little longer to add some more detail. It felt like some piece of it was missing and I still can't decide if it was missing the pregnancy part which was sort of the whole point, or if it really was missing something the reader actually needed.

Oops

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this but, my desk hasn't been cleaned since August (*hides head in shame*). My poor desk also always seems to get so much clutter added to it. I tend to just pile junk on it so the floor stays clean. So today (to avoid writing a paper) my apartment got cleaned up as did my desk. In doing so I found the post it with the reading list from August and realized I had missed 3 books to blog about. Whoops! So this entry and the next couple are way out of sync but I guess that serves as a lesson to clean a bit more often, just don't tell my mom I said that, she won't let me live it down ;)

The Weight of Silence by Heahter Gudenkauf was added to my list after the cover caught my attention at work someday. It sounded slightly scary (for a wimp like me) but also intrigued me. I really enjoyed the book and found it unique enough to keep my interest. I have a bad habit of continuing to try to guess how books are going to end, particularly suspense books such as this one, but I honestly was wrong every time I made a new guess.

There are definitely some scary and sad parts of the book but the conclusion more than makes up for it and overall I was quite happy that even though I shouldn't, I had judged this book by it's cover.

Last McPartlin for awhile

Alexandra Gone by Anna McPartlin is the last book I read by McPartlin. Since I think at this point I'm through all the books released in the U.S. this will be the last entry on McPartlin, at least for awhile. I really enjoyed this last read of hers. I loved the beginning. The ending I wish had been a bit happier or for some reason a bit undecided, left up to the reader if you will.

In any case the story is about the search for one of the characters wife's who disappeared. As always McPartlin gives many characters a voice and the reader sees the effects of this tragedy through many characters eyes.

I highly recommend McPartlin's books to anyone looking for a new author!

Everything

Nothing by Robin Friedman shares the story of a young man battling an eating disorder. The book is split with both Parker, the main character, sharing his side of things, and also with Danielle, his little sister sharing her perspective. Easy, quick read. Liked finding a book about eating disorders that had a male character as males are often overlooked in this disorder. I enjoyed that the character was Jewish as well though I did feel a little too much explanation was given, ie the author explains several terms especially in the beginning. Maybe because I knew them I thought it was silly to be explaining but even so in any other novel your not going to get an explanation of "Christmas" or "baptism" While I appreciated the authors efforts I thought it was a bit unfair. If someone wanted to know what one of the terms meant the reader should have to go look it up. I think too I am forgetting the book is meant for a teen audience and perhaps it was better to have the explanations in...

Anyways, good read on a subject you often don't hear a male perspective on.

Current Read: Alexandra, Gone by Anna McPartlin

Tea

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin has been on my to read list for some time now. Each time it came in at the library the cover intrigued me greatly. The book was also quite popular and I now know why. What an amazing story.

A general overview (which does not do this story justice so go read it!) of the book is that it is the story of how Mr Mortenson began on a lifelong mission to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The story begins long before 9/11 and continues to this day. Oddly enough in my mind I kept thinking wow this is going to end after 9/11 happens and yet the story does not end. Mortenson continued on with his life work and continues to do so to this day.

I love the reasoning behind the title too. At one point Mortenson is having tea with one of the men he works with abroad and the man tells him the first time you have tea with someone it is as a stranger, the second is as a guest, and the third is as family. The man goes on to say that once you are family people will give their lives to protect you.

Mortenson seems to be an amazing man. I'd love to write on and on and on about the book but honestly the message and stories told within it are worth reading.

Current Listen: I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

Good Wife

I have liked Jennifer Weiner as an author since reading Good in Bed and In Her Shoes a few years ago. Her newest book, Fly Away Home tells an all too familiar story in not such a familiar way. The novel is about a politician who is caught cheating on his wife and giving a job to the much younger woman he cheated with. The story is told from the perspective of his wife and also of his two daughters. One of whom is currently having an affair and the other who is recently out of rehab for a drug problem.

I enjoyed the book though at first it was a bit slow paced and I was tempted to put it down. I loved that the novel was told from the three women's perspectives and the reader never got to hear from the husband. Though I'm not thrilled how the story ended, I as always enjoyed Weiner's writing. The subject matter is so current too and it was interesting to see it play out in a fictional setting.

invisible

I am more or less still on this new author find, Anna McPartlin, kick. Finished Apart from the Crowd most recently. I enjoyed the book and felt it was a little more what I was expecting from the author than my last read of hers. The story is of a woman who has had many losses in her life and a rock star from New York that winds up living next to her for some time. I am noticing that McPartlin always shares other characters perspectives and usually there are family members introduced as well as friends. Although love is a common theme in her novels as well, this one had a love story brewing for most of the novel.

I enjoyed the book but this time didn't rush to start another one of her novels. I will keep reading my way through her list though as I do enjoy her writing.

comedy vs tragedy

When doing some research I came across a book about eating disorders that was a 741.5 call number. After many years working at the library I can't say I memorized the entire system but I do know 741.5's are graphic novels. I was curious about a graphic novel on such a serious subject so I reserved it thinking if I didn't like it I would just return it.

Tyranny by Lesley Fairfield is that graphic novel, and I did not put it down. I read it in one sitting which admittedly didn't take too much effort. Even so I really enjoyed it. It sort of reminded me of Glamour magazines comic strips by Marisa Marchetto. Marchetto wrote Cancer Vixen, comic strip about her battle with breast cancer. Serious subject matter turned into a cartoon. Tyranny is done in the same way and still hits on the serious subject matter and gets its point across.

All in all I think it was a worthwhile read even if it wasn't on my list to read and set me back a book ;)