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Books I read last summer (2010), part 2

September 2nd, 2011

This post is alternately titled, “A-G-L-E-T, Don’t forget it!”, which is a Phineas & Ferb reference.  I didn’t really want to quote P&F, but they’re so darn catchy.  I think the writers are seriously witty and they really love life.  If you haven’t watched this show, get yourself to the nearest Disney channel or Netflix instant streaming and add it to your queue.

Speaking of not forgetting, I did forget to blog about some books I read last summer.  Most of them were (or are now) book club picks.  In no particular order -

- Julie & Julia by Julie Powell.  I think this is the only book/movie duo I’ve ever read where I liked the movie better than the book.  I mean, Meryl Streep in this movie was fantastic as Julia Child.  Plus, the author of the book likes to use the F word a lot.  Really?  About a bomb, maybe.. but about cooking?  Don’t think so.  3.5 stars for book, 5 stars for movie (and, if you’ve seen the movie, DON’T read the book, you’ll be disappointed).

- My Life in France by Julia Child.  Julie Powell includes excerpts from this book in the J&J memoir, so it seemed like a natural choice to want to read this book.  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Julia Child’s memoir and life during the 1950s especially.  I was not a huge Julia Child fan after reading J&J, but this book made me want to watch her tv show and check out the cookbook which made her famous.  5 stars.  (PS – the link for this book is the 2009 “movie tie-in version” – I read the version from 2005, but there is no review listed in that link.  Apologies.)

- Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, et. al.  As I mentioned, I suddenly had the desire to learn about aspic and how to de-bone a duck.  After checking out this book, I’ll say, “never mind”.  It is worth a look, though, and now I understand a little bit more about my grandparents’ generation and why/how they cooked the things they did.. and why/how the American Housewife was born.  4 stars, if for nothing but posterity.

- The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. And now for something… completely different.  This is quite possibly the best, most suspenseful and well-written book I’ve ever read.  I can think about this book and still get chills as to how the plot was uncovered.  Fantastic and a must-read.  5+ stars.

- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  I thought this book would be a lot like a textbook – boring, drab, dull.  But I was surprised at how well the author takes a seemingly mindless subject (DNA) and turns it into a plot for a tv series.  Well, pretty much.  Worth the read, or at least a skim.  4.5 stars.

- The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.  I don’t know how to classify this book – is it sci-fi?  Whatever you call it, I’m not usually a fan of this type of literature.  But this one is a winner.  This author does a really great job of weaving the story in between time and characters.  I did like the book better than the movie, and if you haven’t read or watched either one, I highly recommend both the book and the movie – but they have different endings…  5 stars.

This post was made possible to you by the letters “A-G-L-E-&T”.  That was a Sesame Street reference.  The “aglet’ is what you call the tip end of your shoelace.

Entry Filed under: Funny, Life