Recent Reads

1. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. After reserving this book twice from the library, finally finished it. It was my book of choice for our book club in January. As Sarah wrote in her review of our discussion, "I think all of us felt inspired by this book to bake more, cook more, taste more. Some of us even want to try our hands at canning and cheese making."

2. (audiobook) Bean Tree by Barbara Kingsolver. Her early novel about how a young woman from Kentucky drove through Oklahoma, had a baby handed to her, and eventually settled in Arizona. Half of the book is about Cherokee, it's culture and people. Can't say she put them in a glamorous light, but an interesting read nonetheless. Pigs in Heaven is a follow up of this book.

3. Andrea Bocelli, a Celebration by Antonia Felix. Great biography of a great man, lots of lovely pictures.

4. The Music of Silence by Andrea Bocelli. Autobiography written in Italian by the singer himself and translated to English. Not sure if the translation is that bad, or (sigh) Bocelli should keep his night job -- singing.

5. An Inconvenient Book by Glenn Beck. Picked up from New York Times best seller list. Don't waste your time.

6. Social Intelligence by Danial Goleman. Listened to this book on CD and had to borrow it again so I could read it word by word. Great book for understanding our social brains and how we learn to operate ourselves and our social relations. Would love to read his earlier book, Emotional Intelligence as well.

7. (audiobook) The King of Torts by John Grisham. Brain candy.

8. (audiobook) The Story of My Life by Helen Keller. What's amazing is not only a blind deaf girl could earn a college degree and become a writer, scholar, but how Anne Sullivan could get the concepts through the blank silence and touch the soul beyond that. Also makes me wonder how much money it'd cost to keep a 24x7 caregiver/tutor like that and afford all the supplies and expenses they need.

9. (audiobook) Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. Good theory, too bad I don't do diets.

10 (audiobook) 1984 by George Orwell. After living in a society with Big Brother staring down every moment, I really don't need to read about it in a science fiction.

11. (audiobook) Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Great book. If only there are more Morrie Schwatz's in this world, and more Mitch Albom's to record these great people.

12. Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis. Another great man. Good grief.

13. (audiobook) The Sky is Falling by Sidney Sheldon. More brain candy, works really well when I'm stressed and over worked. I'm not usually fond of crime novels, but I'm always happy to read Sidney Sheldon. It was my brother's influence when I was in middle school, and later in college I adopted the English name Vivian from one of the Sheldon novels Bloodline. Here is more about our names in my very first blog entry.

14. (audiobook) Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. Bryson's account of his "last look" of the British Isles before they moved back to the US. We listened to the book together on the way home from Lake Tahoe this weekend. Wish I could have beeped out a few choice words, but now Henry is reading the book, just have to exercise our parenting caution and remind him what to do with his language (and I'm sure he'll pick up the choice words first).