Top Ten Tuesdays (maybe I don't want to read...)

This week's topic: Top Ten Books I'm Not Sure I Want To Read

My TBR is a constantly evolving thing. The longer a book stays on the list, the less likely I am to read it. And if I buy a book cheaply in a used book store—more for the price than because I’ve been dying to read it—the less interest I’ll have in getting to it. The darker a book’s subject matter, the less likely I am to want to pursue it. And of course, the worse the reviews, the less likely I am to pick the book up. The following ten books fall into these categories. It doesn’t mean I’ll never read them, but for now they’ve fallen to the bottom of the pile.

 

The Mockingbird Next Door: Life with Harper Lee, Marja Mills

I was SO excited for this book, but shortly after its release I started hearing rumblings that it was not quite the authorized biography the author makes it out to be. It seems like an invasion of Harper Lee’s privacy if it is a sham.

Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton

Now, I have no great affinity for Hillary Clinton, but I love a good, thick political memoir. But this book has done so poorly, I’ve lost interest.

The Help, Kathryn Stockett

I feel like I “should” read this book, but I have very little interest in it. The movie was fine, but I don’t think I’d ever watch it again. Too much strife for me. When I think of this book, all I think about is that pie, and I have no interest in reading about how it was made.

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

I’ve read several glowing reviews of this book, and I bought a nice cheap copy recently thinking I’d read it someday, but I don’t know if that will be any time soon. I don’t know if I can handle 600 pages of fraught tension.

The Violinist’s Thumb, Sam Kean

I was so very excited to read this book and his The Disappearing Spoon, but I couldn’t get past page 70 in Disappearing Spoon before throwing in the towel. It’s not a science book for the casual science reader, which I mistakenly thought it was based on reviews. And although I always preferred biology to chemistry, if Violinist’s Thumb is anything like the chemistry one, no thanks.

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

I just don’t know if I’ll ever be able to read this book. I made the mistake of watching a movie adaptation of it recently, and it makes me want to read the book less. Too dark, too depressing.

Lucky Man: A Memoir, Michael J. Fox
I’ve been intending to read this book since it came out in 2002. But in the 12 years since its publication, I’ve lived the horror of Parkinson’s second-hand, and I don’t think I could stomach reading about it, too.

The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World, Greg King, Sue Woolmans

For some reason I lost all interest in this one. I went from an excitedly level of 10 to a level of 1 kind of overnight. Can’t explain why.

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith

See above. I think it has something to do with its African setting. I just seem to have very little interest in Africa as a setting. Also, it bothers me how prolific the man is. It’s probably unfair, but the thought nags me: Can anyone who writes that much be good?

Orange Is the New Black, Piper Kerman

I have a strong feeling I won’t like the narrator much, and that is a huge turn off. But who knows, I might read it yet.

 

Friday Finds (Aug. 8)

Click to join in the fun.

 

 

It's amazing how much good reading is out there. No matter how much I read, I'll never read everything I want to. Good thing that idea energizes instead of frustrates me!

Six little gems this week....

 

The Kingdom of Ice is a fascinating true story of an 1879 polar expedition that goes wrong. It was just released on Tuesday.

 

By now you know how much of a sucker I am for president's stories. The President Is a Sick Man is the story of President Grover Cleveland's secret surgery at sea (say that five times fast) and his steadfast denial of it. Yes, there's a whole book on that.

 

 

I'm not sure why Jacque Pepin's The Apprentice hasn't landed on my list before now, but I think it's time. I haven't read a French foodie memoir all year!

 

The First Family Detail is a collection of Secret Service stories about presidents and politicians, written by the man who broke the recent Secret Service prostitution scandal. I'm a little apprehensive about this one, as it seems quite sensational and perhaps spends more time exposing liberal than conservative politicians.

 

I loved Deborah Rodriguez's Kabul Beauty School so much, and I plan to devour her new memoir Margarita Wednesdays this month, but something tells me I just might love her fiction, too, so I've added The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul to my list.

 

Last week Bookmammal had The Shelf on her Friday Finds list, and I'm adding it to my list this week. I read a review prior to its release, and I was intrigued (I love a good project memoir), but I wonder if it will be too dry. Has anyone read it?

 

 

So, tell me, what have you added to your book pile this week?

 

 

50th Book

Let's talk about quantity for a moment...

I just finished my 50th book of the year. There was a time when I only dreamed of reading 50 books in a year, much less by early August. But in 2012, I somehow got through 55 books. And last year, I read 72. This year I'm hoping for 80 or 85. Perhaps I'll break the 100 mark in 2015.

How do I explain the uptick in reading? Several things.

1. I'm sure I read faster now than I did a few years ago. Whatever you do for several hours per day, you can't help but get better at.

2. I've gotten better at choosing books. I know my reading tastes better than I used to. I follow other blogs and read reviews to find new material. I seldom encounter a clunker anymore, and when I do, I know when to quit reading and move on.

3. I have learned how to challenge myself with new topics and fresh voices.

4. I blog. There's nothing like an audience to keep you on your toes!

5. I make reading a priority. I watch very little TV anymore, and I spend the time between supper and bedtime reading. Luckily, I have a very understanding husband!

I know 50 books isn't much to some bloggers. I'm in awe of the folks who read 150 or 200 (or more!) books in a year. How on earth do they do it? Will I ever be able to?

But until I become a reading savant, I'll just concentrate on one book at a time. And celebrate the milestones.


How many books do you average in a year? What's your top number?

Sous Chef, Michael Gibney

Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line

 

Michael Gibney

 

Category: Nonfiction; Food & Cooking

Synopsis: Gibney gives readers a 24-hour tour of a professional restaurant’s kitchen.

Date finished: 23 June 2014

Rating: ***

Comments:

I was really looking forward to this book, because I love a good food memoir. While I have no desire to ever work in a professional kitchen (four years in the low-end restaurant business was enough of a taste for me) I enjoyed being a fly on the wall. I’ve always been a little in awe of two things when it comes to the restaurant business: (1) the nuances of cookery: honing one’s palette, learning how to successfully marry flavors, learning how to season without relying on it, and the techniques that are second-nature to chefs that would seem so foreign to home cooks (remember the scene in Julie and Julia where Julia Child is learning knife technique by chopping a mountain of onions?); and (2) the frenzy of the kitchen, each station dependent on the one before it, the timing of the different items to make a meal and the different meals to make a table’s order. And Sous Chef talked about all of this.

The part that I don’t enjoy about professional kitchens (or at least the ones that make it into memoirs) is the underbelly of the kitchen staff. Let’s be frank. There seem to be two types of chefs: the uppity kind who apprenticed in Europe and the delinquent kind who make cooking their art and who live the hard life full of drugs and booze. I’ll take the snobby French chef over the strung-out dude any day. But this book was full of the stoner kind, and that turned me off. As soon as the sous chef was off the clock, I lost interest in the story. It was too gritty and unappealing to me. The dialogue between chefs and the language used was just plain gross. Most people probably have a higher tolerance for that kind of thing than I do, but it kind of turned me off from eating at a “good” restaurant. So, that’s my bias.

Also, I was unsure—is this a memoir? Being written in second-person, it can’t fairly be called a memoir. I imagine it was based on Gibney’s experience, and the characters and menu were composites. This thought kind of bothered me, though that shows more about my personality than about Gibney’s choice of narrative.

In short, Gibney did a good job of presenting the demands of being a chef. The book is well-paced and presents the down time and hectic times well. I enjoyed the kitchen scenes a lot. The non-kitchen scenes, not so much.

Would you recommend this to a friend?

If they’re interested in such things, yes.

You might also enjoy:

Yes, Chef
Delancey

Top Ten Tuesday (if you don't read poetry)

This week’s topic: Top Ten Books I’d Give To Readers Who Don't Read Poetry (But Want To)

Okay, here’s the thing: You DO like poetry. You really do. You just haven’t had it prepared correctly. If your only experience with poetry was high school English class or a survey course in 19th-Century British poetry, no wonder. It’s like giving someone a Filet-o-Fish and expecting them to like lobster. Or something. I’m no poetry expert, but I do love poetry. Modern poetry. Very modern poetry. So here’s a list of some of the best collections to try.

 

Good Poems & Good Poems for Hard Times, Garrison Keillor

When in doubt, get an anthology. Poets, more so than most any other writer, have a style. If you don’t like a handful of their poems, chances are you won’t like a whole book of their poems. A good anthology is a smorgasbord of poems. I don’t care much for Garrison Keillor as a general rule, but he puts together some fine poetry collections. Good Poems and Good Poems for Hard Times are both well-selected collections. He also has Good Poems, American Places, which I haven’t read yet. The poems in his collections are current and very approachable.

 

The Hungry Ear, Kevin Young (Ed.)

Another wonderful collection is The Hungry Ear. This book is comprised of poems about food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation, Roger Housden (Ed.)

So far as I know, Roger Housden is known for little more than his edited collections of poetry. I’ve read several, and I find them hit or miss, but this one is wonderful.

 

Poetry 180, Billy Collins (Ed.)

And then there’s Billy Collins. The man is a master at writing poems (two-term poet laureate), but he’s also a master at collecting poetry. And the man is funny. Poetry 180 has a sequel called 180 More.

 

Poet’s Choice, Robert Haas (Ed.)

Robert Haas is a former poet laureate with a good knack for choosing poems people can relate to. Poet’s Choice is no longer in print, but if you can buy it used, do. It’s a wonderful collection of his 1990s nationally syndicated column of the same name.

 

And some stellar single-poet collections.

 

Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems, Billy Collins

I’m telling you, Billy Collins is the place to start. While I haven’t read all of his collections, I enjoy this one the most of the ones I’ve read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Postal Confessions, Max Garland

The Wisconsin poet laureate and my former college professor. His poems are some of the most graceful I’ve ever read.

 

 

 

 

 

Dog Songs: Poems, Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver is known for her phenomenal books about nature and creatures. Dog Songs is a collection of dog poems she’s written over her career.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Father, Sharon Olds

I have a hard time reading this collection anymore. I found it when my father was diagnosed with a neurological disease, and I’ve read it several times since. The book is a collection of poems written about Olds’ dying father.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fuel, Naomi Shihab Nye

Nye is the daughter of an American mother and a Palestinian father, and several of her collections are about the Middle East. Fuel, though, is more domestic in flavor.

 

 

 

Friday Finds (Aug. 1)

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Not a lot of finds to report this week, which is a very good thing for the ole TBR list.


I work in a university library. Which is one big step away from working in a public library, but still, I could tell you stories. This is a collection of anecdotes about working in a library. It sounds like a quick, fun read.









A few weeks ago I heard about the book for children called The Candy Bomber about a WWII pilot who, to lift German children's spirits after the war, began dropping candy and gum by parachute for them. I love stories like that (can you say "Greatest Generation"?). This is the adult book about the Berlin airdrop effort.







The Submission is a novel about commissioning a 9/11 memorial and the jury that must decide which memorial submission to accept. When the identity of the chosen artist is revealed, all heck breaks loose. He's a Muslim. Written before the mosque-at-ground-zero controversy, it captures the same fear, hurt, and bad feelings.








And lastly, I found this announcement on Barnes and Noble yesterday. President George W. Bush is releasing a biography of his father, President George H.W. Bush, this fall (11/11/14, to be exact). I'm all in. This is the second biography written for President Bush the elder by one of his children. In 2006, Doro Bush Koch wrote My Father, My President.

What did you add to your reading list this week?

July 2014 Recap

While I didn't read a lot of books in July, the books I read were stellar. Everything from a hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the death of President Kennedy to life in North Korea to one of the best novels of the English language. It reminds me what my reading should be: quality over quantity.

One-word descriptions provided until real reviews are up.

Five Days at Memorial, Sheri Fink
thought-provoking

Killing Kennedy, Bill O’Reilly & Martin Dugard
compelling

Relish, Lucy Knisley

average

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

phenomenal

 

Nothing to Envy, Barbara Demick

heartrending

 

 

 

Going into August, I'm reading:

 

I'm still reading Bomb, not the best book for picking up and putting down. I'm losing the narrative thread, but I'm enjoying the information.

 

And Andre Agassi's autobiography. Wow. Am I ever glad I picked up this book! It's ten a hundred times better than your typical celebrity memoir, and I'm enjoying it SO much. You've got to read this book. It's about so much more than tennis or being a star. Agassi is a deep thinker, and the book explores personality and identity and search for self. Very, very good.

 

So, tell me, how did your July shape up? What were the books that will stay with you?