Archiving

1. Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China-Jen Lin-Liu (NF/MEMOIR)--DONE B (More Chinese food, but told in a memoir format. Easy to read and edifying.)
2. The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food-Jennifer 8. Lee (NF)-DONE A (Engaging first-person reportage of Chinese food through the ages and around the world.)
3. The Dangerous Joy of Dr. Sex and Other True Stories-Pagan Kennedy (NF/ESSAYS)--DONE B+ (Fascinating profiles of normal people's weird lives, each of which could easily have been it's own book.)
4. Hack-Melissa Plaut (NF/MEMOIR)--DONE B- (Eh. I learned some things about taxis and New York which were new t me, but the story was a bit choppy and, near the end, rushed and forced.)
5. someday this pain will be useful to you-Peter Cameron (YA FIC)--DONE B+ (Can't figure out why this is YA other than it's about a young adult. Well written story with a Catcher in the Rye vibe.)
6. World Made By Hand-James Howard Kunstler (FIC)--DONE B (Sci-fi post-apocalypse fiction; well written and sort of interesting, but I can't figure out why we would suddenly start speaking like it's 1800 eevn if we had to start living that way.)
7. Farewell My Subaru-Doug Fine (NF/MEMOIR)--DONE C+ (Sort of interesting, but mostly hipster-blow-hard blather about what a difference the author is, himself, making.)
8. The Watcher-James Howe (YA FIC)--DONE C (Well written, but very predictable story, even for YA FIC.)
9. Batman: Jekyll & Hyde-Paul Jenkins (GRA NOV)--DONE B+ (Good story, great art, 'nuff said.)
10. To Die For-Joyce Maynard (FIC)--DONE B+ (As much as I liked the movie, I can't believe it took me this long to read the book. The movie is a bit better...)
11. The Monster of Florence-Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi (NF/True Crime)--DONE B (A fascinating if anti-climactic study of a series of murders in Italy.)
12. Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis-Ed Sikov (BIO)--DONE B (A good narrative telling of Davis's life in film, moslty, with all the juicy tidbits you might want.)
13. While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family-Kathryn Harrison (NF/TRUE CRIME)--DONE B- (I like my true crime a little less literarily inclined and felt that this inclination in Harrison was a bit contrived anyway. But still, it's mostly true crime.)
14. When You Are Engulfed in Flames-David Sedaris (NF/MEMOIR/HUMOR)--DONE B+ (Only has a B+ compared to other Sedaris. Compared to other writer's It's a solid A. I ripped through this in a 2 days and a night and woke up Nate a few times with my laughter as I do every time a new Sedaris book comes out.)
15. Death Du Jour-Kathy Reichs (FIC/MYS)--DONE B- (Typical beach fare, and that is where I read it! If you like "Bones" this is okay for "brain chewing gum.")
16. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal-Lily Koppel (NF/BIO)--DONE C- (Many fascinating tidbits about a young woman growing up in the early 20th C. But no coherence to the narrative at all.)
17. The Wednesday Wars-Gary D. Schmidt (JUV FIC)--DONE B (Well written childrens' book about Vietnam War era middle schooler. Touching and astutely fleshed out.)
18. A Broom of One's Own: Words on Writing, Housecleaning, and Life-Nancy Peacock (NF/Memoir)--DONE B- (The memoir-ish part was very interesting and fun to read; the writer's advice/recollections were a bit too touchy feely for me.)
19. Run-Ann Patchett (FIC)--DONE B (Fast paced, a bit twisty and ties up well at the end.)
20. The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted: And Other Small Acts of Liberation-Elizabeth Berg (Short Stories)--DONE B+ (Smart, well-written, relatable short stories that were a bit liberating to read in a world of annoying chick lit.)
21. The Book of Dahlia-Elisa Albert (FIC)--DONE A+ (Amazingly written book about a snarky young misanthropic woman dying of brain cancer. Funny, well written, AMAZING! My first A+!)
22. Please Excuse My Daughter-Julie Klam (Memoir)--DONE B (A fun and frank memoir, but not a whole lot of substance. Kind of an ordinary rich girl's life.)
23. Entering Hades-John Leake (True Crime, NF)--DONE B+ (Fascinating and detailed, but wish there was more post-trial info.)
24. Helping Me Help Myself-Beth Lisick (Memoir)--DONE B- (Entertaining look at self-help industry, but a bit unevenly written.)
25. Against Happines: In Praise of Melancholy-Eric Wilson (NF, Polemic)--Didn't pass 30 page test.
26. Have a Nice Doomsday-Nicholas Guyatt (NF)--DONE B+ (Fairly objective, but nonetheless scary, book about the so-called Apocalyptic Christians and their terrifying effect on American politics.)
27. Dark Roots-Cate Kennedy (Short Stories)--DONE B (Good, literary short story collection, but a little uneven)
28. Nim Chimpsky-Elizabeth Hess (NF)--DONE A (Brilliant and sad story of a chimp raised as a child and dumped for research)
29. Stuck in the Middle-ed. Ariel Schrag (Graphic Novel/Short Stories)--DONE B+ (Relatable--for me--stories of middle school outcasts and their angst)
30. To Hell With All That-Caitlin Flanagan (Essays)--DONE A- (I wanted to dislike it as she is demonized by so many feminists, but I agreed with and related to much of what she says... Even if *I've* never had a nanny, houskeeper or gardener.)
31. The Virgin of Small Plains-Nancy Pickard (FIC, Mystery)--DONE B+ (easy reading mystery, but very engaging nonetheless)
32. The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs-Jack M. Gorman (NF)--DONE B- (somewhat informative, but a lot of what I wanted to learn is missing)
33. The Sky Isn't Visible from Here: Scenes from a Life-Felicia Sullivan (Memoir)--DONE B
34. Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume-ed. Jennifer O'Connell (Essays)--DONE B-
35. Manic: A Memoir-Terri Cheney (Memoir)--DONE C- (Some hyperbole and TOTALLY inaccurate account of ECT)
36. The Perfect Scent-Chandler Burr (NF)--DONE B+ (But it's very technical so only read if you are a fragrance nerd like me!)
37. The Kept Man-Jami Attenberg (FIC)--DONE A-
38. Swallow the Ocean-Laura M. Flynn (Memoir)--Done B+
39. Her Last Death-Susanna Sonnenberg (Memoir)--Didn't pass the "30 page test"
40. The Diving Pool-Yoko Ogawa (Novellas)--DONE B-
41. Have YouFound Her-Janice Erlbaum (Memoir)--DONE B+
42. The Cleft-Doris Lessing (FIC)--Only read about 30 pages; didn't enjoy
43. I'm Looking Through You:Growing Up Haunted-Jennifer Finney Boylan (Memoir)--DONE A