Mommy Made and Daddy Too, by Martha and David Kimmel with Suzanne Goldenson

A new friend made through my mom's group lent me this, and I'm asking for it for Christmas. It's a really user-friendly introduction with lots of yummy recipes, and lots of good information on each food. I've made several of the recipes already, and Clara seems to enjoy them!

Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron

I had this on hold at the library when a friend gave me her old copy of it. It's a little bit overwhelming, but appears to be full of good recipes.

Plum Island, by Nelson DeMille

Another John Corey book, and just as fun. Gets a little tediously implausible at the very end, but still good.

Night Fall, by Nelson DeMille

DeMille's character John Corey makes me and Chris laugh out loud occasionally, which is saying something, especially with Chris.

I enjoyed it. Slightly rogue cop, going off the reservation to solve a covered-up mystery. The ending of this book is both satisfying and unsatisfying, the reasons for which will be obvious if you read it, I think.

It Had To Be You, by Cecily von Ziegesar

A Gossip Girl prequel. Kind of more goofy than the rest of them.

Because I'm Worth It, by Cecily von Ziegesar

Another Gossip Girl book.

You Know You Love Me, by Cecily von Ziegesar

One of the Gossip Girl series.

All I Want Is Everything, by Cecily von Ziegesar

One of the Gossip Girl series.

I Like It Like That, by Cecily von Ziegesar

One of the Gossip Girl series.

You're the One That I Want, by Cecily von Ziegesar

One of the Gossip Girl series.

It Had To Be You, by Cecily von Ziegesar

One of the Gossip Girl series.

Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar

So, confession time. One of my latest guilty pleasures is the TV series "Gossip Girl". My penchant for reading books that have been adapted for screen has led me to read some of the series, which I will list after this, probably not in order.

The books are definitely engaging, and very quick reads. The TV adaptation is good. They've taken the essence of the series, and conflated some characters and story lines, and so far all the changes are good ones for television.

I have to say, these books scare me just a little, as they are targeted to pre-teens. They're pretty racy! Sex, drinking, drugs, etc. Entertaining reading, sure, but I hope there are no such books popular when Clara is older.

Later, At The Bar, by Rebecca Barry

If this girl hasn't read some Richard Russo books, I will eat my hat. Nice stories with that small, northeastern town flavor.

Hard News, by Jeffrey Deaver

Female protagonist, not the most realistic voice. Also a fairly unconvincing 4-year-old character. Still, an okay book.

Did I use any complete sentences there?

So Much To Catch Up On

Yeah, I know. It's been 2 months. I'm not sure I've kept very good track of what I've actually read, so there are probably going to be a few missing, and I'm certain they're not in the order I actually read them.

In other news, all is well in the Pierce family. We had a lovely Thanksgiving at home, our first time hosting, with a great potluck meal and 6 friends of various vintages. It was so nice, and fairly stress-free. Our friend Will cooked the turkey, which certainly contributed to my low stress level.

Clara got to try a bunch of new foods: turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, a tiny bit of hot cocoa, a crumb of pumpkin bread, some bites of roll. We're breaking all kinds of food introduction rules over here.

The Killing Kind, by John Connolly

P.I novel with supernatural overtones. Lots of fun. The dialogue and charcters are vaguely reminiscent of Parker's Spenser books.

Iron Orchid, by Stuart Woods

I love how Woods' characters wander through each other's books. It's fun to run into Will Lee and Katharine Rule and Stone Barrington in a Holly Barker book. His books are always good reading.

Perfect Nightmare, by John Saul

Perfectly disjointed, and full of characters you won't care about.

Beautiful Boy, by David Sheff

A really well-written, emotionally charged, and truly terrifying book. I read it just after having my first child, and it scared the hell out of me, and made me think about how I will deal with the idea and temptation of drugs when Clara is older.

Sheff not only tells his personal story of being an addict's parent, but he supports it with lots of research, most of it very scary, about meth addiction. I don't think I realized how horrible meth addiction is.

It's heartbreaking to see Sheff looking to himself as a possible source of his son's terrible downward spiral, and the scenes he details of Nic being sweet and wonderful with his half-brother and -sister make it all the more terrible how far down he goes.

I don't know if Nic has stayed clean at this point. I'm almost afraid to try to find out.

Tweak, by Nic Sheff

I'm about to write a longer, more reflective review of Nic's father's book detailing his son's meth addiction. Mostly because it was a longer, more reflective book. This one was mostly self-indulgent, I thought, and a little whiny. Sheff seems to be trying to find someone else to blame for his addiction. The last bit about the most successful rehab is interesting, though. It's almost as if Sheff becomes a different person when he is writing about trying to become a different person.

This book is only interesting as a companion piece, as counterpoint to his father's book. It doesn't stand alone.

The No-Cry Sleep Solution, by Elizabeth Pantley

I read this so long ago I don't remember what it was about, specifically. I don't remember being wowed by it.

The Attachment Parenting Book, by William and Martha Sears

I admit, I had gotten the idea somewhere that Attachment Parenting was a weird, no-boundaries hippie thing, so I didn't read this until recently. I was pleasantly surprised to find it very common sense, and kind of what we're doing already. Who needs parenting style books?

Hit Parade, by Lawrence Block

See other Keller review. Same stuff. Fun, though. Good dialogue.

Hit Man, by Lawrence Block

A Keller book. The nicest hitman you'll ever meet. These books read like short stories with the same characters.

Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, by Dyan Sheldon

Maybe I'm just getting to be old and fuddy-duddy, but the newer pre-teen-ish books are so stupid, compared to the ones I read. Yikes.

The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson

I'm not sure I ever read this one as a kid, but I really enjoyed it. Some pretty serious issues in there. Made me think about how challenging it will be to talk to Clara about the hard parts of being human.

The Zero Game, by Brad Meltzer

The first 20% of this book was told in one voice, and then Meltzer killed that voice off, and switched to another we'd only heard a little of so far. Disconcerting. Not the most fun I've ever had reading, but not awful.

Gone Bamboo, by Anthony Bourdain

Sort of the continuation of Bone In The Throat, but with slightly different characters in similar situations. Equally fun.

Bone In The Throat, by Anthony Bourdain

More of the same fun mobster/chef action from Bourdain. Very engaging. You can see him imagining himself as the protagonist.

The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

This one was as good as I remembered it. I read all of his books as a child. Maybe they're squirreled away in a box in my parents' house somewhere. Really fun to read again.

The Color of Blood, by Declan Hughes

Irish P.I. novel. Pretty much like American P.I. novels, but with dialect. Fun.

Footloose, by Leanne Banks

The worst kind of chick lit, veering into outright romance trash. Not as much fun as it sounds.

The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold

I hated her last book, so when I picked this one up to reread, I was afraid I would discover that I was crazy when I read it before, and that it was awful. Not so. Maybe not as good as I remember it being the first time, but then, it's a rare book that is. She is very good at pain.

Tanner On Ice, by Lawrence Block

I really enjoyed this weird little book. It's my first Tanner book, and while the language seemed almost dated, it was right for the character somehow. Fun.

The Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly

I love re-reading these. Every one I read, I can claim more of the LA references.

What To Eat, by Marion Nestle

This is a really great book, and reminds me, in an odd way, of my religious studies classes studying the bible with Professor Greenwald. We looked at the bible historically, semantically, fictionally, etc., and Nestle examines food in a similar way. She looks not only at the expected calories and fat and carb content, but also the political history of certain foods, and the sometimes frightening strength of the lobbies behind foods. It makes me never want to trust anything on an label again. She outlines strategies for getting the most out of food on your plate and in the grocery store. Very interesting.

Way Behind, I Know

Well. It's been some time, so I'm about to do quick reviews of a bunch of books. They are in no particular order. All is well here. The baby continues to grow, we work and play and enjoy the weather in LA.

The Bobby Gold Stories, by Anthony Bourdain

My first novel by Bourdain. It reads like a fictionalized Kitchen Confidential crossed with a Sopranos script. Nice writing style.

In A Strange City, by Laura Lippman

Moderately good mystery. Not my favorite series of mysteries. Nice Edgar Allan Poe/Baltimore plot basis.

Gone For Good, by Harlan Coben

Enjoyable, but his books feature really similar plot devices, so they are best read separated by other literary fare.

Tell No One, by Harlan Coben

Solid thrillers. I like his books a lot, and maybe I like this a little better than the ones featuring Myron Bolitar, master sports agent.

Finally Caught Up

So, you may have guessed that I didn't actually just read all of those books I posted. They've been scattered over the last month or two. I don't know why I find it so hard to keep up to date. I guess it's just not in my nature. I can't blame the baby, because I did it before her.

Speaking of the baby:

Well, never mind. Can't upload. Will try again later.

Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain

I've so much enjoyed Bourdain's appearances on Top Chef, and his own show about traveling the world in search of weird wonderful food. One of my clients has this book on her shelf and every time I see her I say to myself, "gotta get that one." Finally, I have.

Fun book. Self-deprecating and wry, and a really interesting look into the cooking subculture. He's written some novels, apparently, and I've put those on hold at the library. I'm predicting they will be a little self-indulgent, but fun.

Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

We just saw the movie, which was disappointing. Heavily over-directed. I read the book for the first time long enough ago that I couldn't remember what was tweaked a little and what was straight from the book. It's a pretty close adaptation, but there are conflated characters, and a couple of timeline issues. They also chose to present an absolute cause for the boy's death, while the book presented several possibilities.

Anyway, do both, or skip the movie, read the book.

Darker Than Night, by John Lutz

I read another one of this series a while back, a later one, and it's fun to put the pieces in place as far as character and relationships go. I'll read some more of his books.

Dead Watch, by John Sandford

A new hero for Sandford, and I'm not sure if I liked him. He seems a little too good to be true. Maybe he'll grow on me.

I miss Davenport and Kidd.

Marked Man, by William Lashner

Another one I don't really remember much of: I guess it's a standard legal thriller.

A Matter of Degree, by Tom Philbin

Interesting. The protagonist is kind of creepy, just a little too interested in the killers he chases. It reads a little dated, published in 87. I won't seek it out, but if I came across another of this series on a hotel bookshelf or something, I would read it.

Blinded, by Stephen White

It is not a good recommendation for this book that I had to google it to remember what it was about. Your basic thriller. I found the characters a little less than genuine.

Hit List, by Lawrence Block

This is my first Block, as far as I can remember, and I enjoyed it. I don't know what it is that makes assassins so compelling, but they seem to make really good main characters. I'm interested to read more John Keller books.

Blue Screen, by Robert Parker

I have to say, there is not much other than name and circumstance (and gender, in Sunny Randall's case) to distinguish Parker's non-Spenserian characters from Spenser himself. I'm not complaining. It's kind of refreshing, just to have a slightly different take, but the clever dialogue, overall toughness, and moral relativism is the same whichever protagonist we follow.

This one is good, just like the others.

Runaway Jury, by John Grisham

I read this a long time ago, but recently caught part of the movie on cable, and wanted to see how much it matched. It's an engaging story. Better than many of his have been recently.

The Other Side of the Story, by Marian Keyes

More fun than I thought it would be, and the author is very good at distinguishing the voices of the three "sides" of the story.

Watermelon, by Marian Keyes

Fluff. UK fluff, but fluff just the same. Fun to read for me right now in the throes of early-motherhood, since the main character has a baby in the beginning. It reads like an early book, though, and I wonder if her writing improved.

Cathedral, by Nelson DeMille

This one is a good read, and it's interesting how dated it feels. I don't think it's even 20 years old.

Anne of Windy Poplars, by L. M. Montgomery

I've just been re-reading the Anne books, and I hear on the radio that it's the 100th anniversary of Anne. Lovely, lovely books.

New England White, by Stephen L. Carter

I enjoyed his other novel so much, I was really looking forward to this one, and I enjoyed it, too. The main character is a side character from The Emperor of Ocean Park, which is kind of neat. Lots of overlap in terms of setting, characters, themes... It's also written from a different point of view. The writing is dense, but in a good way. You actually have to work a little to read this, and I think that's good.

Island of the Blue Dolphin, by Scott O'Dell

Another childhood favorite. I remember fantasizing about how I would live if I were abandoned alone somewhere. I learned after this reading that the main character was based on a real person, and that the island is one of the Channel Islands, which are off the coast about 2 hours from here. Crazy.

Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry

A beloved childhood book. Simpler than I remember it being. Funnily, I also remember it being more from the horse's point of view.

Clara's New Quilt

So fantastic, from her Great-, er...I mean, Terrific-Aunt Susan. Couldn't match the nursery better if we had picked out each piece of fabric ourselves. Clara could stare at it for hours.

Just Because She's Cute

Being a Mama

So far, so good. We have been blessed (so far!) with a pretty easy-going girl. She's made great strides developmentally in just the last few days. It's pretty amazing at this age (7 weeks) how you can almost see the milestones happening right before your eyes. Clara is following things with her eyes, and turning her head to follow sounds. She's got really good control over her head right now, and is making all sorts of funny little conversational sounds. She's also just on the verge of a full-out laugh.

Her Nana is here to visit, finally, and it has been a real joy seeing them get to know each other. Nana has introduced the "motorboat," and "You Are My Sunsine," and Clara loves them both.

Rain Fall, by Barry Eisler

More John Rain. This one I enjoyed particularly, since I have been reading them out of order, and this goes way back to meeting a love interest who has been featured in later books. Sometimes it's fun to read a series out of order, as long as the books are meant also to stand alone. Little things fall into place.

Resistance, by Owen Sheers

I really enjoyed this. It's a novel about a small valley in Wales, where the men disappear as part of the insurgency in an alternate ending version of WWII, in which Germany wins. The women are left to farm and survive on their own, and to deal with the small German unit that shows up to investigate. The language is really crisp and simple, and the descriptions of the work they do are vivid.

The Memory Game, by Nicci French

I really liked this book, and the twist at the end surprised me a little, though the fact that there was a twist didn't. It's another British one, which is always fun, and her style of writing is vaguely reminiscent of Elizabeth George, though not with such an impressive vocabulary. I will definitely seek out more of her writing.

The Master Bedroom, by Tessa Hadley

This book was all right, I guess. I did get engaged with some of the characters, but it's a pretty ponderous tone. I'm also not a fan of departing from regular punctuation in dialogue, unless there's a compelling reason in the content of the story. I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm not upset I spent the time on it.

Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips

An engaging book, if a little too cute. Lots of great references to London, and to Greek mythology, some uncommon ones. It's an imaginative book, and the way she uses features of London to parallel bits of mythology is fun. Very diverting, and a quick read.

T is for Trespass, by Sue Grafton

These books are so much fun, it makes me want to go back and read the whole alphabet. Not sure that I will, but I enjoyed this one. Grafton departs from form just a little, giving us a second point-of-view. I wonder what she'll do with "U"?

Anne of the Island, by L. M. Montgomery

Anne gets slightly less interesting as she ages, but Montgomery's other characters make up for it entirely. Davy Keith is always fun, and the new folks Anne meets at college are entertaining, too.

Anne of Avonlea, by L. M. Montgomery

I can't remember how far I got with these books when I was a girl, but my plan is to work my way through all of them, and perhaps into her other series as well. I love the character monologues and the language. So much fun. I hope that Clara will love them someday, too.

The Hearing, by John Lescroart

I can't believe I never read this one. Loved seeing Glitsky's courtship of Treya, such as it was.

Betrayal, by John Lescroart

I would love to know how to pronounce his last name.

These characters, including the city of San Francisco, are so familiar. I love reading these books, even when they strain plausibility.

The Emperor of Ocean Park, by Stephen L. Carter

This is the first serious book I read after giving birth. It took me a really long time to get through it, partly because it is long, and partly because of the baby. I almost felt that it was too long, but every time it started to get ponderous, something happened that kept me engaged. I love the main character, and how the most interesting character traits are their flaws. Really engaging book; I will look for more from him.

The Last Battle, by C.S. Lewis

It's all so obvious, now that I know things about religion. I wonder if kids who grow up in traditional Christian churches recognize the allegory when they read these?

The Silver Chair, by C.S. Lewis

This is one of my favorites. Puddleglum is one of my favorite Narnian characters.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis

More fun in Narnia.

A Few Hours After Birth

The Horse and His Boy, by C. S. Lewis

More Narnia.

Prince Caspian, by C. S. Lewis

More Narnia. So much fun to read. Can't wait to read them to Clara.

The Magician's Nephew, by C. S. Lewis

Re-reading the Narnia books again, and the Christian allegorical stuff is even more obvious than when I re-read them last. I love the green and yellow rings in this one.

Rite Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King

I picked up this book to be one of my disposable books for the hospital, and I read just the beginning of it there. I love this story, and I really think they did a lovely job of adapting it for the movie.

Cold Service, by Robert Parker

Love Parker. Always good. I started reading this one just as labor set in, and finished it the day we brought Clara home from the hospital.

And the next day, we had a baby.

Just realized that my last posts were the day before we welcomed our daughter Clara into the world. Somehow, I've managed to read since then, though nothing particularly meaty. She is wonderful, and we will tell her story in another blog that we'll get around to starting eventually.

At any rate, I predict less frequent posting, but I will try to keep up.

The Motive, by John Lescroart

More of the same from Lescroart, and always good.

The Last Assassin, by Barry Eisler

I just realized with this book what Eisler is doing with perspective. All of the action/operational parts are from Rain's point-of-view, while we occasionally get chapters from the lives of other characters. It's a neat way to get us firmly in John Rain's head, while also allowing us to know things he doesn't. Clever, and pretty seamless, since it took 3 books for me to notice it.

Killing Rain, by Barry Eisler

Another book about assassin John Rain. I'm enjoying these. The detailing is great, sort of like Tom Clancy restrained, and the characters are fascinating.

A is For Alibi, by Sue Grafton

Going back to the start of the whole alphabet-Kinsey thing. Very entertaining. Quick read.

How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn

I love this book. I read it a long, long time ago, but it felt wonderfully familiar. I love the poetic prose, and the crazy Welsh names. Such a lovely story of family.

The Book of Ruth, by Jane Hamilton

I kept expecting to recognize this one from having read it before, but I guess I missed this one along the way. Also kind of horrifying, like the Meg Tilly book, and with a similarly clear narrative voice. This one was interesting--the narrator's voice changed as she aged, in a very clear and believable way. I liked it.

Magic City, by James W. Hall

Thorn and Sugarman and Miami and the Florida Keys. Nothing new here, but a good story.

Singing Songs, by Meg Tilly

I read Tilly's Gemma a while back and really enjoyed it, as much as you can enjoy horrifying abuse stories. This is her first novel, which grew out of some of her short stories, and it doesn't hold together quite as well. Written in the voice of a young girl (Tilly's younger self, I presume), the voice is really clear, which makes the sections describing abuse that much more awful. But as a full piece of fiction, it didn't hold together for me.

The Dead Stone, by Vicki Steifel

I abandoned this book about a quarter of the way in because it was nearly incomprehensible, it was so convoluted. Then, due to poor library-management on my part, I ran out of books, so I picked it back up. I am disappointed to report that it did not improve. I almost abandoned it again, but by that time I was more than halfway through, and I figured it would not take very long to finish, especially since I was only reading about half the words on any given page.

Why do I do these things? I can't say, other than a sick kind of optimism. And she's won all kinds of awards and whatnot, which I guess doesn't mean much unless you know something about who's giving them. I have this image of a bunch of crappy thriller writers getting together to take turns lauding each other.

Capitol Murder, by William Bernhardt

Legal thriller. Not great, but the characters are familiar; I must have read something else of his along the way.

Straight Man, by Richard Russo

Russo is one of my very favorite novelists of all time, and I think he might be my most-re-read author. Straight Man was the first book of his that I read, pulled off the never-ending bookshelves of my friend Andy while I was staying at his apartment in Oakland one summer, between summer camps. I laugh out loud still at this one, and if you've ever been part of academia, you will be more likely to do so, too.

It's funny to me that my favorite characters in literature are middle-aged men, but Russo makes them so relatable and real and funny. He has a real gift for dialogue, as well.

If you've never read him, this, or Nobody's Fool are your best bets as Russo-gateway-drugs.

Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery

Just as sweet a book as I remember it being from my childhood. I am definitely going to pick up the rest of the Anne series soon. Charming characters, and wonderful dialogue. Anne's long stream-of-consciousness monologues are very funny.

In For The Kill, by John Lutz

Standard police/serial killer thriller. Not written particularly well, and intelligent-appearing characters do a lot of really stupid things.

The Nursing Mother's Companion, by Kathleen Huggins

As I said in the last post, much more dry to read than the other, but still full of information.

So That's What They're For: The Definitive Breastfeeding Guide, by Janet Tamaro

I think I can't really know how useful this book is until I'm doing the real thing, but it was chock full of information, and she uses a fairly entertaining prose style. It was easier to read than The Nursing Mother's Companion, and much less dry.

Projection, by Keith Ablow

Picks up where Denial left off and continues in the same vein. This one read more quickly, and slightly better. I don't know if it is actually better, or if my literary senses were just a little numbed by the first one. Maybe I'll try a third, just to see.

Company Man, by Joseph Finder

A reassuring thriller, after the Ablow book. A few segments where suspending your disbelief if just a little harder than it should be, but still a good read.