Thursday, August 19, 2010

20. Financial Lives of the Poets

by Jess Walter (290 pp)

I read three books in the month of August! I might pick another short one so I can finish four in one month and get my star on the book reading walk of fame.

This is about a guy my age who gets into trouble in the financial crisis plus his family is unraveling. Every time things look up something goes wrong. But it's funny. Recommend.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

19. A Clash of Kings

by George R.R. Martin (969 pp.)

No, that's not a typo. I read a 969 page book in a little over a week. This is second in the series started with book #9. We took the train to Seattle last weekend and I knew I'd have big chunks of uninterrupted time to get into a book so I picked the brick book. Then I had to find out what happened next so I've been reading it every chance. Then I had insomnia last night so now it's done. It's about everybody wanting to be king and everybody dies or has to do terrible things to avoid dying. Now I have to run out and buy the third book.

Friday, August 6, 2010

18. My Life in France

by Julia Child (333 pp.)

"One of the secrets, and pleasures, of cooking is to learn to correct something if it goes awry; and one of the lessons is to grin and bear it if it cannot be fixed."

Another thing Julia says is the cook should never apologize for the meal, even if it's clearly dreadful. I need to practice that one. I can't believe how much I enjoyed this book. I didn't see the movie Julie & Julia so I didn't know that they used this for the Julia story. I love Julia's passion for France and food and sharing it with America. I think just reading about all the butter and cream made me go up a pants size. But I need to get my hands on her recipe for French bread.