celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
Let’s celebrate the The Glass Castle: A Memoir
For me, never before has a memoir read so much like fiction and never before have I both loved and hated the same “character” so much.
If you haven’t read this book yet (of course many of you have as it was on the bestsellers list for a few years) I highly recommend doing so either before or instead of the movie.
Even if you have already read the book I hope you will enjoy reminiscing a bit with me.
During my recent trip to Chicago, I checked out the new American Writers Museum.
I highly recommend this experience to all fans and beneficiaries of American literature (and if you are reading my blog I’m assuming you are both of these!!). I found it interesting, inspiring, and even emotional.
This museum just opened in May, and I think the word is still getting out about it. I am excited to tell you more!
In 2005, I listened to “Mr. Brightside” from the Hot Fuss album all the way to my sister’s law school graduation, about a 3 hour drive! This was the beginning of my – maybe obsessive – relationship with The Killers.
But my (perceived) personal relationship with them began when I happened across the recording of their live performance, The Killers: Live from Royal Albert Hall, on Palladia. This, to me, is the best concert ever, featuring many songs from Sam’s Town
“The stars are blazing like rebel diamonds cut out of the sun
When you read my mind” – from “Read My Mind”
I stepped away from my summer reading list to read (quickly!!) some non-fiction: Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are.
The author, Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, spent several years analyzing Google data.
What is Google data? It is that phrase or question you type into the search bar in the privacy of your own computer or device.
Would you tell people everything you ask google? Probably not. And thus the appeal of this book (to me anyway). I wanted to know what people are asking Google!! Stephens-Davidowitz takes it further, of course, to explain how this data can be used.
We’re halfway through summer, and I’m about halfway through my summer reading list. That means it’s time for a giveaway!!
One lucky winner of my raffle will be able to choose ANY BOOK from my summer reading list, and I will ship it directly to the winner (continental U.S. only).
HOW TO ENTER:
I will contact the winner to confirm which book he or she would like.
The latest selection from my summer reading list is engrossing, informational, and timely; you’ll want to read this before August 21.
He Said/She Said is a psychological thriller set around a complete solar eclipse and characters who chase this phenomenon.
In 1999, Kit and Laura attend the eclipse festival in Cornwall, England. After they behold this rare and beautiful event, Laura witnesses a crime that has lasting implications on their lives and relationship.
The story models the five stages of an eclipse. As usual in modern thrillers (at least the ones I have read), it is told with alternating points of view and chopped-up time frames. This format has become the norm, I suppose, because it usually works to keep the pages turning.
I was “accidentally” eavesdropping on a conversation the other day – it looked like a first date and I just couldn’t help myself because I was well within earshot! Well thank goodness because that’s how I heard of this new show on TNT, Will, about a young Shakespeare.
The girl said she and her roommates or friends were getting together to watch it later that evening (this was Monday – it airs on Monday nights on TNT and is also “On Demand” if you have Comcast.)
Oh how I remember those fun days when I would watch my shows with friends! But now I prefer everyone to be in bed before I even start my show, so I can enjoy the TV to myself in the dark – ha!!
But I am soooo thankful to this girl for turning me on to this show which I checked out last night.
I am thrilled (pun intended) to give the latest recommendation from my summer reading list:
Billed as a mystery/thriller especially for fans of Agatha Christie books, this book shines because of its clever use of intertextuality (don’t be scared of that word – instead just click on that word to read my previous post on this literary technique!). It is a book within a book.
For the record, I have never read anything by Agatha Christie, and I still loved this “tribute” to classic British crime novels.
Because Roxane Gay writes with such raw honesty in Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
Roxane Gay, also the author of bestselling Bad Feminist: Essays
“When I use the world I am not insulting myself. I am describing myself.”
Much of her story is about living as a fat person in this world, including the embarrassment, the despair, the hopelessness.
But her memoir is also about WHY she is fat.
Evelyn Hugo came from nothing and climbs to the top of her profession in old Hollywood. In The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, 
This book and especially the character of Evelyn Hugo were so engrossing I sometimes forgot she was a fictional character. I felt like she was really sitting there telling me her life story of how and why she married seven times, which turned out to be different from the reasons I expected!
Hanging on every word of this woman who is characterized as a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, I also enjoyed the snippets from tabloids scattered throughout the novel that referred to the “truth” of the situations she is revealing.
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