Book Lists

Continuing on with the book theme, I thought I’d come up with a list or 2 about my favourite books. Let’s see if I can do this!

Don’t let the titles fool you, most of these books deal with some heavy topics such as drug addiction, weight, death etc… Just because they are labeled “chic lit” does not mean that they are full of fluff and hearts. Sure their endings tend to be more of a feel good nature but the journey the characters take (not to mention the character development) are what makes these books so compelling. The authors are doing their job when the characters and their stories stick with you years after having read the books.

Woman’s Fiction

Marian Keyes – Rachel’s Holiday

Marian Keyes – Anybody Out There

Jennifer Weiner – Good in Bed

Jane Green – Jemima J

Emily Griffin – Something Blue

Judy Blume – Summer Sisters

Kate Jacobs – The Friday Night Knitting Cub

Jacqueline Susann – Valley of the Dolls

VC Andrews – Petals on the Wind

Ariella Papa – Up & Out

Favourite Series

Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse Series

Fiction – Other

JD Salinger – Catcher in the Rye (Cliche? Yeah sure, but there’s a reason for that, it’s a great book!)

Shakespeare – King Lear

Jean- Paul Sartre – No Exit (Huis Clos) (read both the French and English of this)

Non-Fiction

Anthony Bourdain – Kitchen Confidential (Picture this: Home at 3am from being out with friends and I see Evan Solomon  interviewing this surly guy about his food book on CBC Newsworld. Somehow I managed to remember the name and bought the book. It has opened doors to a whole new world for me. That doesn’t happen very often)

Phoebe Damrosch – Service Included

Michael Ruhlman – The Making of a Chef

Daphne Bramham – The Secret Lives of Saints

Naomi Wolf -  The Beauty Myth

Why I love books

I’ve been meaning to write about this for about a week and just never got around to it. So let’s see if my thoughts are coherent and well formed!

There’s been some press lately about The Baby-sitter’s Club because Ann M. Martin wrote a prequel to it. I have to say I’m tempted to get my hands on it, even if the intended audience is tween girls. I grew up with The Baby-sitter’s Club (TBC from now on). I may not have finished reading the series but I read a lot of those books. Same goes for all of the Sweet Valley Series, which has been getting press lately too because finally!! Francine Pascal’s book about where they are now is coming out this year.

Francine Pascal’s new adult novel, Sweet Valley Confidential, which follows the later-in-life travails of the twin protagonists from the author’s bestselling 1980 YA series, Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield

I am ecstatic over this news as I have heard about this book for at least a year or two now.

Those books were my childhood, pre-teen and early teen years. They mean a lot to me. Hearing about them took me back. It’s like when I detect a certain amount of spring in the air, it takes me back to a certain time in my life. Anyways, back to the books….

Hearing about them took me back to those pre-teen years. I look on them with fondness because at that time I didn’t have any real responsibilities, I didn’t think and worry about my loved ones’ health and our eventual demise (dark stuff eh? Welcome to my brain circa 2010). I had to go to school, deal with 12yr old girls acting like bitches and I would read and do other things. It’s strange that I look at those times fondly because at the time, I hated them. I had trouble sleeping because I worried about things so much (ok this hasn’t really changed about me, it’s a wonder that I don’t have health issues related to the amount of worrying I do, oh wait, actually I do). I didn’t really like life that much back then because I hated dealing with the girls in school. Bitchy, catty, gossipy etc.. and I was one of them too. There was all this pressure about who is friends with whom and who said what about whom. blah blah blah. Psycho drama you know?

But Sweet Valley and TBC? They took that all away. It was like being in paradise in my mind. My mind had a break from its daily life and my on-going growing list of worries. It was like taking a vacation because I was now in someone else’s mind and as a result my mind got a break. It was glorious.

I still seek refuge in books, lately I’ve been doing this a lot more than in recent years. When I was in University and grad school I didn’t get to read as a form of escaping very much but at the same time I didn’t need it. Life was pretty good then, in terms of not having many responsibilities or thinking about “grown up” issues.

People like to laugh at me and be shocked over my choice of books, since I’m so politically-minded and have a love of academia. See, I tread mainly in the chic lit areas with a tendency to read some biographies and sociological or food related books. I tell them it’s because in University it took my mind off of things but that’s not the complete truth. The complete truth is that not only do I seriously enjoy these books but it allows me to escape. I can get to know some other characters, and deal with their life and its associated problems. It takes me away from my own problems and responsibilities. It helps my mind and body to relax and trust me that is not an easy thing for me to do (it’s entirely possible that if I were to take a meditation course, that my brain would fight it).

I actually have a pile of new books to read and haven’t really touched them because I go to the library constantly. Having a new book to read is an obsession of mine, I always have to have a few in the wings ready to go. I read on average 2 books a week and would probably read more if I a) didn’t watch television at night and b)would allow myself to relax during the day.

So while I may wish to go back to Sweet Valley High or go hang out in Claudia’s bedroom, I have new books to read and new places to escape to. With that in mind, yes I will be buying that TBC book and the new Sweet Valley one and will be relishing every moment, every page and every word in them!

A bit of a change

Yes I’ve been absent and keep promising that I will update this and never do.
Well here’s the thing, I just haven’t felt like it. Haven’t felt like sharing my thoughts and writing them down. So I will keep promising to try and post here more often, that is all I can say.
One thing that I will be doing though, is making this more of a pop culture/personal opinion blog because I have a new political blog. Check out the new blog at: Flip Flop Harper

I hear a voice say that it hates my heart

So I’ll probably post a few times on here today because I have a lot of time to kill and my head is running non-stop.
See it’s been a rough few months for our dog and we can’t seem to figure out what is wrong with him because other than 1 little problem he is perfectly healthy.
So today he’s having something called a barium xray taken so we can figure out what is going on in his G.I. tract. It could be something as simple as food allergies to a tumour (which we really do not think is the case). Needless to say it’s very stressful and I am probably in worst shape then he is. I’ve been a nervous wreck for months now and my focus is shot.

So now he’s at the vet and we wait for them to do the xrays and to find out what’s going on with him. I mean they could find nothing or well…something.

It just all sucks. A.Lot.

Sookie Stackhouse Books

This list will be updated as necessary.

You know you’re reading too much True Blood when…:

1) You are out in public and smell other people’s perfumes, scents etc… and call it tracking
2) It’s a dark, dreary day and you say to your dog “ooh the vampires would be out early today”
3) You know you’re a true blood fan when you are “doing it” with your bf and you call him ERIC!
4) You now think that shifters are normal
5) Your hatred for Debbie Pelt feels real
6) You think you see actual bottles of True Blood at the grocery store
7) You expect Vin Diesel to turn into a tiger
8) You will sit in a cold bath because you just can’t stop reading
9) You googled Bon Temps, Louisiana to see if it was a real place
10) You get excited over casting news for the TV show