Reading List

It seems fitting to do a post on book recommendations after all the talk lately of our bookshelves. It also gives me a reason to stop updating the weather map on weather.com every 12 minutes to check on Hurricane Sandy's latest antics. I know I shouldn't be all crazy lady about this storm, especially since I live in Cleveland and not the Jersey shore or NYC, where things are really bad. But still. I hate storms, and more specifically, I hate super windy storms. I can handle thunder and lighting and buckets of rain (though my basement may disagree on the rain part). But wind means two things I really don't like: losing power and trees falling down.

We live on a cute, tree-lined street. I like this about our street. Except in cases of strong, 60+ mile per hour wind gusts (as Sandy is supposed to bless us with tomorrow). Then those pretty trees become giant death traps, threatening to launch themselves on top of my garage or directly through my living room window. We have a huge, old maple tree in our front yard. I hope that since it's withstood some nasty weather for the last 100 years or so it can handle a little more abuse. The pine tree in the backyard makes me so nervous I can't even look at it. It's verrrry tall and skinny and moves back and forth more than any tree should have a right to. One move too far and it could easily split our garage in half.

Losing power is something that bothers me a ton and I really don't know why. Even if it's during the day and I don't need lights on or anything I feel really uncomfortable when the power is out. There's also the issue of losing all the food in the fridge/freezer, losing access to my ability to work on the computer or sew, and the biggest issue of having milk for the baby.

I guess what I'm saying is that I would have been a really crappy pioneer woman.

**Side note: Charlotte is going all Little House on the Prairie for Halloween and dressing as a pioneer girl. Unfortunately, if the weather predications are accurate, the only people who will see her adorable costume are Chad and I.

Ok, enough about the storm and back to how I'm attempting to distract myself from it: by reading. I've been reading a lot lately--some new, some old(ish), all good. I am lucky to live in a county with a wonderful library system. Anytime something new comes out that sounds good I request it right away and they ship it to my local branch for me to pick up. I don't think I've ever requested something they didn't have. My newest request:

I haven't started it yet but my sister-in-law read it already and said it was really good. Ever since reading the Harry Potter books I am of the belief that J.K. Rowling can do no wrong, so I'm sure this won't disappoint.

I just finished reading this book, and it was truly one of the best books I've read in awhile:

This book was so, so good. It was one of those books where you slow down toward the end because you don't want the story to end, and the fact that the whole story is true made it even better. To read more about the book and see the author's blog, click here.

Maeve Binchy. As with many authors and series I've come to love, I thank my sister-in-law again for introducing me to Maeve Binchy. I haven't read all of her books yet, but of the ones I have read so far they've all been great. Binchy is from Ireland and all of her books are set there as well. Her characters are well-rounded, believable and relatable--the markings of a good novel. Sadly, she passed away several months ago and I'm very much looking forward to reading her final book that will be published in the U.S. in March. Right now I'm reading this...:

...and just finished this:

And lastly, this book that just came out (and another one that I requested from the library):

To check out Luisa Weiss' blog, click here. It's a wonderful blog; you won't be disappointed. I haven't started this book yet either, but I like books that follow this formula of story interspersed with recipes. Some similar ones that I've read (and loved) are:

and my favorite:

Alright, time to go back to reading. And refreshing the weather map just one more time...

~Stacy