and let the summer reading begin.....

  

then again.
by diane keaton


i do love her.... her hat wearing, idiosyncratic personhood.  i also loved that i must have said out loud, "i didn't know that" about a million times about her and her life. AND.... oh the men she dated. woody. warren. al.  and the way she writes tribute to her mom.... giving her mom a voice from the journals she wrote that diane discovered after her mother died.   she is personal and candid. it feels very much like diane keaton..... lovable and enjoyable. perhaps not the best memoir i have read.....but it did make me want to go back and see some of her movies from the last thirty years.....including annie hall which i can hardly remember seeing the first time.






loud and clear.
by anna quindlen


i told you i would get around to more of her.  this is a collection of her essays originally published in newsweek and the new york times.  it covers parenting, social issues, politics, 9/11. i love her voice.... meaning the way she talks through issues, confronts herself, people, and just plain stupidity.  while i don't share some of her politics, i can appreciate her nuanced perspective as intelligent and even witty at times.  again.... i like her and have only had my appetite for her merely whetted.






blood, bones & butter: the inadvertent education of a reluctant chef.
by gabrielle hamilton


so.... i like to read about cooking. that being said, i was not sure what i expected from new york city's prune (restaurant) owner.... but what i found was a story of her life that was remarkable if not gripping in her ability to re-make herself and survive.  from the idyllic annual party her family threw in pennsylvania roasting lamb on an open fire pit..... to cocaine-head..... catering junky...... grad student..... married with two children....restauranteur..... she paints the picture of her "inadvertent" life with food.  i found myself relishing her cooking.... her love for food.... her distaste for the woman ordering her "half-caff-decaf skinny vanilla latte" as an abomination to coffee itself.  it continued to stir my love for food.  for her, it was how she survived life....for me, it is how i taste and see that god is good.  but i loved what she showed me about how to do it better.

king's cross: the story of the world in the life of jesus.

by timothy keller.

i did this as a book study with a friend. it was rich.... really rich.  keller walks you through the gospel of mark.  can i just say that he really is brilliant and accessible.  my only complaint is that i felt like there was something i wanted to underline on every single page.  he has really beautiful insights and explanations of gospel truths i  have known and understood my whole life.  he broadens them and makes jesus that much more real and powerful and amazing.  i would give you some specific quotes but i turned around and loaned out the book the day after i finished. sorry!

ps. i finished the battle of the labyrinth: percy jackson #4

i know, i know.... what can i say. i am dying to finish the series.