I'm compiling this list in spite of having lost a semester's worth of time to read. In the order I read them:

"On the Way to the Wedding," Julia Quinn: I still cast my mind back to this one every now and again. Yes, it's a cheesy romance novel, but it's a good one.

"The Year of Living Biblically," A. J. Jacobs: What it means to be a (Judeo- ( Read more... )

So I read this right after that worshipful book about David Petraeus, and it was a great counter-point. Sure, the first few pages were eye-rollingly melodramatic, but once Filkins settled down, it was really informative. Most of his reporting focused on the actual people who live in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he writes about his experiences moving ( Read more... )

Good fuel to the fire of my deep and abiding love for David Petraeus (not that it really needed the help). Also, as kind of a leftist/pacifist, this was useful for an alternate view of the military, which I tend to assume is made up mainly of kids with few-to-no ways out of the less-than-ideal circumstances in which they grew up. Nope, in this ( Read more... )

I read this book right before I moved to Philly, and all I really remember is a lot of the author patting himself on the back for living in open-minded liberal enclaves, while simultaneously denigrating those who choose to live only amongst people just like themselves. Long story short, I don't think I got much out of it.

Oh, I liked this book. I really, really liked this book... up until the very end. ( ATTENTION!! ATTENTION!! SUPER-UBER-CRAZY SPOILER ALERT!!! )

For some reason I'm surprised I've already read two other books by him (I've also since discovered who his ex-wife is). I suppose this is my long way of saying that I was surprised, once I thought about it, to realize that I had any previous experience with Auster at all, and also that I think it helped my reading of the book. I was annoyed that ( Read more... )

I tore right through this book in a couple of hours, and enjoyed it (woo, the supernatural!), but it left me with a funny aftertaste. Partway through started I becoming uncomfortable with the way the Mexican characters were treated (picture the magical negro relocated to the Yucatàn peninsula). And, now that the book is all over, I realize that I ( Read more... )

Ahh, finally. FINALLY. I've been waiting to read this book for SO LONG. I actually bought it to read on the train home from Thanksgiving break, I think?, and only just got around to it now. No matter. I devoured it. Funny, and touching, and kind of about the things that make us human, the sub-title is pretty well self-explanitory: "The Gospel ( Read more... )

This was the other book I purchased for my train ride back to Boston, and, like the other one, I was convinced I'd read it before. Luckily for me, it became obvious shortly after I started the book that I had not (although it seems to be an understandable mistake), and I enjoyed it much more than my other train book ( Read more... )

Wow, so I totally thought I'd read this book before. I purchased it (yes, purchased it!) for the train ride back to Boston from Philadelphia. Of course, it now turns out that I'd read another book by the same author about the same family that also involved a sub-plot involving cheating at horse racing, which I guess explains why the names and ( Read more... )