Arthur Penhaligon is supposed to die on Monday. The asthmatic 7th- Grader should breathe his last during a run in P.E., right under the nose of his unsympathetic teacher, but it doesn't happen that way. Instead, something odd occurs. Something very odd that saves his life, but propels him into a bizarre world where paper, clocks and Victorian-style clothing converge in strange and baffling ways.

Opening Cooking with My Sisters by best-selling author Adriana Trigiani is like stepping into

I have so many challenges going right now, that it feels good to get another one behind me. The Unread Authors Challenge was a nice, easy one that helped me broaden my horizons. I have so many favorite authors that I often get stuck reading only their books, so this one helped me travel outside my comfort zone a little.

My challenge list is here (sorry, I'm too lazy to retype it). My favorite books were The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig and The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. I also learned a lot from my two non-fiction picks. I guess my least favorite read was The Bookseller of Kabul, although I still found it really interesting.

Thanks so much to Pour of Tor for hosting this one!

I've read so many crappy LDS novels, that it's really refreshing to find one that isn't. Don't get me wrong - I'm not giving Yearbook by Allyson Braithwaite Condie an A+, I'm just saying it was a very decent effort. It suffers from issues that plague all LDS fiction, but all in all, it was not a bad book. In fact, it was actually pretty good.
This young adult novel revolves around that most venerable of institutions - the local high school. In its halls, we are introduced to a group of students and teachers, who are beginning a new year full of hopes, fears and anxieties. Some of them (like class clown Dave Sherman) cruise through the hallways with confidence, others (like Goth Avery Matthews) slink by hoping no one will notice them, while still others (like English teacher Mr. Thomas) only want to forget their despair long enough to make it through the day. Most of the people profiled are LDS, but not all. Even among the Mormons, there is some diversity as the kids struggle to find, keep or strengthen their testimonies. Each one is different, but as the school year wears on, they all experience both trials and triumphs.
The voyeur in me liked peeking at each of the character's stories, although some rang more true than others. I found Andrea Beckett's storyline most authentic. She's a perfectionist, who works hard to make her life look effortlessly neat and tidy. For the most part, she succeeds, but deep inside, she's terrified of losing her composure. Her parents' divorce has embittered her, making her pull away from church and friends. On the outside, she's still perfect little Andrea, but on the inside she's screaming for help. Other characters leaned more toward the stereotypical. For instance, Michaela Choi is a typical Molly Mormon, with few problems more intricate than trying to catch Ethan Beckett's eye (which she already has, she just doesn't know it). The waters are pretty calm for her - in fact, she even manages to convert a friend during the school year. Another example is Avery Matthews, an angry Goth girl who feels as if she can't shake her reputation as the sister of two bad-boy-troublemakers. Predictably, she smokes, gets in trouble at school, and writes poetry. I thought Condie could have been a lot braver - after all, good girls sometimes get in trouble, too, and not all Goths are poets.
Like all LDS novels, Yearbook strives to be uplifting, and it is. There's a lot of talk about forgiveness, repentance, hope and endurance. I won't lie to you - in some spots, it gets mighty preachy, which is my pet peeve with YA literature of any variety. Condie seems capable enough as a writer to get her message across in a more subtle manner; she really doesn't have to resort to sermonizing, which seems alternately phony and preachy.
Another thing I thought the novel lacked was cohesion. Its theme is spelled out on the back cover: People are not always what they seem. Condie makes this point by allowing a different character to narrate each chapter, thus giving us a glimpse into their thoughts and feelings. However, the stories kind of stand alone, without an overall plot to unite them. The fact that all the characters have something to do with the high school works in a way, but bumps off track when Condie includes the Becketts' grandmother as one of the narrators. It was all a bit random without a unifying theme.
Still, Yearbook offers an interesting glimpse into a group of individuals who are more than they seem on the outside. It's an easy, pretty well-written novel that kept me reading. I especially liked Condie's idea of incorporating yearbook inscriptions in the story - I'm not sure I've ever seen that done before. To me, this proves that Condie has a lot of potential, and that not all LDS fiction is crap. Refreshing, isn't it?
Grade: B

Joe Harker - star of Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves - never set out to be a hero. All he wants to do is survive high school. If he somehow manages to earn a glance from pretty Rowena Danvers, well, that will pretty much take care of his life goals. Transforming from an average kid into an intergalactic warrior just plain isn't on his to-do list. But, here he is straddling all the dimensions of time and space to keep balance in the great, wide Alti-verse.


His adventure begins on an ordinary day that turns extraordinary pretty fast. Joe's Social Studies teacher, the eccentric Mr. Dimas, has dropped him and two others (the aforementioned Rowena and a jerk named Ted Russell) in an unknown section of town. Their assignment is to find their way back to the school within a certain time frame and without using a map. Oh yeah, and this is their final project. The test is not a good one for Joe, who gets lost in his own house. The challenge gets even more difficult when he discovers not only that he is lost - nothing new there - but more lost than just lost lost. In fact, he doesn't even seem to be in his own world anymore.

When Joe "cheats" and pays for a bus ride home, he stares out the window at the passing scenery. Everything has changed. Including his home and family. Then, a man in a mirrored mask steps out of the mist, creatures on flying disks appear out of nowhere, and Joe is running for his life from a seductive witch and her tattoo-covered henchman. It is only after Jay (the masked man) rescues Joe that Joe gets the truth: Joe is a Walker, a unique individual who can travel between worlds/dimensions. As such, he is hunted by enemies who want to harness his powers. His particular talents are also desired by the good guys of InterWorld Prime - the organization with which Jay works - who help maintain the balance between magic and science on all worlds.

Soon, Joe joins the good guys, landing in a sort of superhero training camp, where:

It was like being a new kid in a school you hated. Only worse.
It was like being a new kid in a school you hated that was run by the army on
vaguely sadistic principles, where everyone was from a different country and
they had just one thing in common.

They all hated you.

Once again, he's fighting for survival ... in school. And, once again, his "final" is taking him to places unknown. This time, it's a training mission in a (supposedly) controlled environment. When everything goes wrong, however, Joe is left to question his own heart, his own abilities, and his own courage. He must choose between a safe existence on his own Earth or a dangerous life Walking between worlds, a career path that is already paved with failure and death. For a guy who "had difficulty getting to the store on a two-dimensional grid life Earth's surface"(119), it's a decision that will change his life and those of all the various lifeforms on all of the Multiverse's various earths.

Although this book doesn't have the most original plot (an average kid learns he is anything but when his ordinary life goes all weird on him - even a sci-fi novice like me knows this one has been done before), but it has some really fun elements. The main character, for instance, is the kind of helpless underdog you can't help but love. He, and all the variations of himself he finds out in the Multiverse, are interesting although not always likeable. The book makes countless allusions to sci-fi classics like Star Trek (the retiarii's warning will sound familiar to anyone who's watched at least one episode), Lord of the Rings, and The Twilight Zone. Parts of it even reminded me of Stardust, my favorite Gaiman novel. For me, the most fun part was the character of Scarbarus - I love the idea of him being able to bring his tattoos to life.

Interworld offers a fun, if chaotic, mixture of magic, science and space exploration. It didn't wow me, but I enjoyed the story. If you like the Harry Potter books, The Lightning Thief and others, you will probably like this one about another ordinary boy who really ... isn't.

Grade: B

If you happened to read my last rant about cozy mysteries, you know I have just about given up on the genre. I'm tired of the fluff - poor writing, predictable plots, depthless characters and all the rest. From Joanna Fluke to J.B. Stanley to M.C. Beaton to Tamar Myers, I have scoured my library for decent cozy reads, but to no avail. Then, I stumbled upon Karen MacInerney (actually, Kay recommended her, so I put her on my list for the Triple 8 Challenge) and ... voila! My faith has been restored.

(image from Barnes & Noble)

Murder on the Rocks is the first book in MacInerney's Gray Whale Inn Mystery series. It stars Natalie Barnes, a Texas native who moves to rugged Cranberry Island, Maine to open a B & B. Accessible only by boat, the island is as much a refuge for humans as for the black-chinned terns (a fictional species) that nest in its rocky landscape. Although the natives still regard her with the suspicion they accord all "outsiders," Natalie feels at home on the beautiful island.

When Bertrand Katz, a wealthy developer, waltzes into the inn with blueprints for a mega resort he plans to build next door to the Gray Whale, Natalie is naturally upset. It's bad enough that he wants to destroy the terns' nesting grounds, but he also wants to raze Natalie's B&B to make way for a parking lot. He even has the gall to stay at her inn, despite the fact that his son lives within walking distance. She needs the money badly enough to wait on the oily developer, but she refuses to give into his schmoozing. Despite protests from her and other islanders, however, Bertrand's project receives a green light. Sunk, Natalie prepares to lose her inn, her nature paradise, and her financial stability.

Things began to look up - in a morbid sort of way - when Natalie finds Bertrand's dead body broken on the cliffs near her inn. She knows the resort project will lose some of its oomph without its ardent champion. Maybe, just maybe, she can save her inn and her beloved terns, too.

Although no one will miss the pompous developer, the police look into his death all the same. Soon, it's labeled a homicide and our heroine becomes a prime suspect. She's not alone in the line up, however, as nearly everyone seems to have a reason to want Bertrand dead. There's Barbara Eggleby, for instance, who tried desperately to outbid the developer and save the terns' nesting ground. Or long-time resident Claudette White, who vehemently opposes any kind of development on her island. Of course, there's also Estelle, Bertrand's beautiful daughter-in-law and her husband, Bertrand's bumbling son. Unfortunately for Natalie, the greasy, chain-smoking police Sargeant in charge of the investigation has it out for her.

Apparently, he's not the only one. People are creeping into the inn at night, throwing rocks through windows and sabotaging her bike. That doesn't stop her from following her own leads, exploring any angle that might clear her name. But, digging into islanders' secrets only stirs up trouble, and soon enough Natalie finds herself hunted by the police and Bertrand's ruthless killer.

Murder on the Rocks is not a perfect cozy, but it's the best example I've ever seen, uh, read. The old developer vs. conservationist conundrum is not a new idea, but the plot has enough surprises to make it original. The writing needs some polish, but it was good enough to pull me into the story and keep me there (I read the book in one day). I also liked MacInerney's characterization - her cast was colorful, but realistic. The one thing I really wanted was more background on the main character, Natalie. Although we're told she moved from Texas to heal her broken heart, we never get the rest of the story or any other info on her old life - I wondered about her old flame, her reasons for moving to Maine, what she did for work/school before buying the inn, etc. Because of this void, I didn't feel like I knew her as well as I wanted to. As for the killer's identity, it was pretty obvious, but not so much that it ruined the story.

My biggest beef with the book is an issue that plagues most cozies - a narrator who for no apparent reason decides to ignore the police and investigate on her own. I realize this is one of the main components of a cozy, but I think an author really has to work hard to make the situation believable. In the case of Natalie Barnes, proprieter of The Gray Whale Inn, it makes no sense that she would run all over the island gathering clues and solving the case. I get that the police investigator is not her biggest fan (although a plausible reason was never given for his dislike - did they have a previous run-in? Does he despise women? Why is he so bent on convicting her?), but her sexy neighbor is the island's deputy. Although he is not technically on the case, wouldn't it make more sense if she brought her information to him? So, that bugged me through the entire book; it would have been much more realistic for me if she and her neighbor worked together to solve the mystery.

When all is said and done, I really enjoyed this quick, comfy mystery. I liked the setting, enjoyed the characters and salivated over the recipes - did I mention them? In a word: Yum. In my humble little opinion, this book is the best of its kind. It's not perfect by any means, but in a genre full of clumsily-written fluff, this one stands out. Let's say it's as warm and satisfying as one of Natalie's famous Cranberry Island Blackout Brownies.

Note: Another thing I like about Karen MacInerney is that she seems very accessible. She maintains a website and two blogs, Poisoned Pen Letters and Cozy Chicks Blog. The former is her personal blog, while the latter is a joint project with six other writers. Of the six, the only one I have heard of is J.B. Stanley, whose writing I wasn't very impressed with - you can read my review of her Carbs & Cadavers to see what I mean. Still, if you like authors' blogs, be sure to check 'em out.

Grade: B

Eva's meme forced me to admit the shameful truth - although I have been a book lover all my life and hold a college degree in English, I had never read Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. You'll be glad to know that I have repented. Finally, I know why this novel is beloved by so many people, because it was book-love-at-first-sentence for me.

As the title suggests, the book follows the life of one Jane Eyre. When we first see her, she is curled up on a window seat trying to lose herself in a book. Escape into her imagination is her only retaliation against the cruel blows life has dealt her. After her parents' deaths, Jane was sent to live with The Reeds - her aunt, uncle and three cousins. Now widowed, Mrs. Reed has become an indulgent bore who treats Jane as little better than a servant. Her son, the sadistic John, tortures Jane with physical blows, while his sisters tolerate her with haughty indifference. Even the servants believe she is a "mad cat" (11).

Some respite comes in the form of bemused Mr. Lloyd, who encourages Mrs. Reed to send Jane to a school for poor girls. When the school's director poisons the other girls against Jane, she fears she will not survive the experience. She does, however, and soon finds herself qualified to work as a governess in one of England's grand old homes. Soon, she is the employee of Mr. Edward Rochester, the absentee owner of Gateshead. Her charge is Sophie Varens, a precocious child of 7 or 8, who has become Mr. Rochester's ward in the wake of her mother's death. Jane enjoys her student and her associations with the kindly servants of Gateshead. Only one thing mars her experience - she keeps hearing strange noises at night. The other members of the household dismiss it as the odd habits of servant Grace Poole, but Jane's suspicions are aroused. The strange occurrences aside, Jane feels content at Gateshead.

When Jane meets Mr. Rochester by chance, her world changes once again. Despite his oddities, she falls in love with him. Jane knows she is not attractive, but Mr. Rochester seems to appreciate her intelligence and wit. Still, his flirting with a beautiful, if shallow, society woman convinces her that he has better prospects. Finally, the unlikely romance blossoms into marriage, but a shocking revelation halts the happy proceedings. The mystery of Gateshead is finally solved, but Jane's heart is shattered.

Shamed, Jane flees to a distant town, where she begins life anew. This journey will bring her joy and despair - as well as another marriage proposal - but she can't seem to forget Mr. Rochester. The conclusion of the book begins with a Jane in turmoil, caught between two men and two very different futures. Will she abandon her desire for Mr. Rochester to pursue a life of missionary service? Or will she risk it all for the man she loves?

Call Jane Eyre what you will - sentimental, predictable, sappy - but it's a thoroughly charming novel. The voice of our heroine is brave, honest and determined. Even though the novel is essentially a love story, it's not all bubbles and roses. Its themes travel various paths, hitting on passion, moral choices, marital responsibility, duty to God, women's rights in the stifling Victorian period, etc. Hailed as revolutionary for its time, Jane Eyre endures because it's still relevant today. Besides all those noble things, it's simply a good story. It's readable, romantic and utterly enchanting. If you - like me - have committed the sin of not reading this book, repent now. You won't regret it.

Grade: A+

(Book image is from Modern Library)

I finally finished Joseph Smith, Rough Stone Rolling: A Cultural Biography of Mormonism's Founder by Richard Lyman Bushman, which I read for both the Unread Authors Challenge and the Triple 8 Challenge (and because I was really interested in the subject, of course). It took me about a month to get through it, not because it was boring, but because it is (very densely) packed with information. It required more of me than most things I read, so I wanted to give it the attention it deserved.

Basically, the book is a biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormons), but it's not a traditional recap. Bushman labeled it a "cultural biography," which seems to mean it's an examination of a people/culture instead of just one member. While the book begins with Joseph's birth and ends with his death, it's really not as much about him as it is about the church he created. In a nutshell, Joseph was a boy who felt troubled about religion. He really didn't believe in any of the churches prominent in his day. Confused, he turned to the Holy Bible for answers, where he found a scripture in James which exhorted him to ask God for answers. When he prayed, Joseph said he saw a vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ in which he was told to join no church. He was told he would be given more instruction concerning God's wishes for him, and he was. Through visions and revelations, he was commanded to start a church, which he did. Because he claimed he had spoken with God, Joseph was ridiculed. Yet, people were attracted to Mormon theology and soon Joseph had a large following. He was a man of the people, loved and revered by the Saints (as the Mormons called themselves) as a prophet of God. Outsiders, however, considered him a charlatan, and continually sought the destruction of him and his people. Still, he soldiered on, receiving revelations, publishing scripture (predominantly The Book of Mormon), building cities and temples, leading his people, even running for President of The United States. A controversial figure always, he was martyred in 1844, after which the presidency of the church went to Brigham Young. Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a thriving church known worldwide.

In retracing Joseph's steps, Bushman uses a plethora of sources from interviews to journals to newspaper accounts to original church documents. The amount of information he presents is staggering (the book is 561 pages long, with 177 pages of appendices and indexes). He analyzes Joseph's actions, revelations and policies in great depth. I've been a member of the Church for 32 years, and I've never read a history as complete as this one. Plenty of the information was new to me.

Richard Lyman Bushman is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He acknowledges that, as such, "pure objectivity is impossible" (xviii). However, I think he did an admirable job of presenting every side of Joseph Smith. He didn't shy away from situations which showed the prophet in an unflattering light, or ignore criticisms from Joseph's contemporaries. He presented the facts and, in effect, said, "Choose for yourself."

I expected Rough Stone Rolling to be a straight biography of Joseph Smith, and it wasn't. I would have liked more information about his personal life, family history and private thoughts. Obviously, there are other biographies out there (including one by Joseph's mother) that contain this information, but I wanted a little more from Bushman himself.

All in all, it was a thoroughly insteresting study that I, personally, found fascinating. Will it appeal to a non-LDS reader? I don't know. Some people's highest praise of a biography/memoir is that it "reads like a novel." This one doesn't. It's not a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat, but it is a fascinating, thoroughly researched biography of a man who lived and died in the service of his God. The man who was so reviled in his time left an incredible legacy - one to which Richard Lyman Bushman does great honor in Rough Stone Rolling.

Grade: A

Grading Fat Girl by Judith Moore is impossible. I've been thinking about the book ever since I finished it, and I still can't decide whether I liked it or not. One critic called it "brilliant and angry and unsettling." I agree with the "angry and unsettling," but I don't know if I would go so far as to call it brilliant. It was definitely thought-provoking, but brilliant? I don't even know if I liked it or not.

Basically, the book is a memoir chronicling Moore's life as an overweight girl and woman. From the beginning, she is frank, saying:

Narrators of first-person claptrap like this often greet the reader at the door with moist hugs and complaisant kisses. I won't. I will not endear myself. I won't put on airs. I am not that pleasant. The older I get the less pleasant I am.

And she's right. She is not pleasant. Not at all. She describes - coldly and bitterly - what it is like to be an overweight woman. From the injury of insults shouted by teenage boys, to the pain of not fitting into plus-sized pantyhose to the horror on a friend's face when she says she's in love with him, Moore tells it all. Still, in the first third of the book, I found her to be a mean, unlikeable narrator.

When Moore begins talking about her childhood, however, I couldn't stop reading. It was heartbreaking. Sad. And undeniably compelling. She endured a bleak childhood, unloved by her mother and abandoned by her father. Starved for love, she turned to food. If that sounds cliche, she offers other - more disturbing - examples of how emotionally scarred she was:

I began to chew my fingernails. I turned into a voracious eater whose meal was herself. I ripped and I tore at the flesh around my child nails; I licked, delicately and hungrily, at the blood that popped up in bright droplets at my chubby fingers' ends. I ate myself raw. (123)

The majority of the book reads like this, describing how lonely and painful she was as a child. The only glimmers of happiness in her life are imagined or real, but short-lived. She talks about the months she lived with her kind uncle, a joyous respite that was cut short when her cancer-stricken grandmother came to live with him. Life in the once happy house soon turned terrifying for young Judith, who had to sit by her mean-spirited Grammy, listening to the woman whimper, "I hurt" and "I don't want to die."

I hoped things would look up for Judith, but they didn't. She grew from an unhappy girl into an unhappy woman. In the book's forward, Moore promises not to sugar coat anything. And she doesn't. She swears, "Rockettes will not arrive on the final page and kick up their high heels and show their petticoats" (2-3), and they don't. Fat Girl does not have a nice, triumphant ending. What it does have is truth, truth so real that it hurts.

Judith Moore's writing is interesting. I mentioned that she isn't a warm and engaging storyteller. She is frank. She is honest. But, she is also coldly matter-of-fact. Her sentences are often awkward, like this one: "Uncle Carl, I don't know where he was, but we were not having the family meal with him" (176). In contrast, she offers brutal, but strong descriptions like this one about her maternal grandmother:

She was the Nazi of the barnyard, entirely businesslike in these procedures, and it seemed not to bother her when blood soaked her apron and blood dried in splotches on her bare arms and legs and in the folds of her neck. "If you want to eat you got to kill," she said, when I ran in fright from her.

You can see how ambivalent I am about this book. In one way, it is repulsive in its revelations of hate and abuse (and in several descriptions of sexual acts); in another, it is both compelling and moving. It is well-written in some respects, not so much in others. I couldn't stop reading, but I don't think I would have finished the book if I hadn't chosen it for the Triple 8 Challenge. I'm not even sure if I would recommend it to a friend. Is it angry? Yes. Is it disturbing? Yes. Is it riveting? Absolutely. Am I encouraging you to read it? Not really. I wish I could be more decisive, but I just can't. It's deeply disturbing, utterly heartbreaking, and absolutely riveting.

Grade: C

Okay, so I know I'm getting in over my head with the challenges, but I simply can't resist. Here's another one that I'm really excited about: it's the Triple 8 Challenge hosted by 3M. All the details are on the challenge blog, but basically you choose 8 books to read in 8 different categories. Some overlap is allowed, so it's not as overwhelming as it sounds! It runs from January 1 to December 31, 2008. I'm so excited! Here's my list:

Jane Austen

• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
• Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
• Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
• Austenland - Shannon Hale
• The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
• Becoming Jane - Jon Spence
• Me and Mr. Darcy - Alexandra Potter

Classics I Need to Read or Re-read

• Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
• Emma - Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
• In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
• Last of the Mohicans - James Fennimore Cooper
• Little Men - Louisa May Alcott
• Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
• A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

Books by LDS Authors

• The Yearbook - Allyson Braithwaite Condie
• I Am A Mother - Jane Clayson Johnson
• Running With Angels - Pamela H. Hansen
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (also reading for Cardathon Challenge)
• Rachel and Leah - Orson Scott Card (also reading for Cardathon Challenge)
• Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling - Richard Lyman Bushman (also reading for Unread Authors Challenge)
• Alone, Together - Jack Weyland
• No Doubt About It - Sheri Dew

Biography/Memoir

• Lemony Snicket: The Unofficial Autobiography - Lemony Snicket
• The Lives and Loves of Violet and Daisy Hilton - Dean Jensen (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)
• The Hiding Place - Corrie Ten Boom (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)
• Color Me Butterfly - L.Y. Marlow
• Fat Girl - Judith Moore
• The Wounded Spirit - Frank Peretti
• Porch Tales - Jewell Parker Rhodes
• A Girl Named Zippy - Haven Kimmel (also reading for In Their Shoes Challenge)

First In A Series

• Uglies - Scott Westerfield (also reading for Fall Into Reading Challenge)
• The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman
• The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (also reading for Fall Into Reading Challenge)
• Flamingo Fatale - Jimmie Ruth Evans
• On What Grounds - Cleo Coyle (overlap book/books about food)
• Catering to Nobody - Diane Mott Davidson (overlap book/books about food)
• To the Edge - Cindy Gerard
• Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay

Neil Gaiman

• American Gods - Neil Gaiman
• Coraline - Neil Gaiman
• M Is For Magic - Neil Gaiman
• Interworld - Neil Gaiman
• Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
• Smoke & Mirrors - Neil Gaiman
• Good Omens - Neil Gaiman
• The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish - Neil Gaiman

Random Picks From My (Never-Ending) TBR Pile

• Empire Falls - Richard Russo
• Whistling in the Dark - Lesley Kegan
• I Am the Messenger - Markus Zusak
• Saving Fish From Drowning - Amy Tan
• Peony in Love - Lisa See
• Summer Reading - Hilma Wolitzer
• Midnight Sea - Colleen Coble
• Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

Books About Food

• Fast Food Nation - Eric Schlosser
• Something From the Oven - Laura Shapiro
• Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen - Julie Powell
• Cooking With My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, From Bari to Big Stone Gap - Adriana Trigiani
• Murder on the Rocks - Karen McInerny
• Dead and Berried - Karen McInerny
• On What Grounds - Cleo Coyle (overlap book/First In A Series)
• Catering to Nobody - Diane Mott Davidson (overlap book/First in A Series)