OK. So I read a LOT this summer. It felt so GOOD to read so MUCH. In previous summers, I was plowing through graduate school, so I was doing a lot of reading, but not much that others would enjoy.
But THIS summer!!!
So here's a list, along with a sentence or two about my impressions:
1. "Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace," by Ayelet Waldman. This is a collection of essays over all things motherhood. Waldman is known for her plain speaking about motherhood, both the good and the bad. One of the things she wrote about that really resonated with me was that we need to be the parents our children need us to be, not the parents that we wish we were or that we wished we had when we were kids. I have to keep that in mind all the time, because I'm all getting worked up over some perceived injustice regarding my kids that my kids don't really care about. So I have to restrain myself.
2. "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present," by Harriet M. Washington. I decided to read this book after reading "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," which I reviewed previously. This book upset me SO MUCH. What in the hell makes people think it's OK to experiment on black people just because they're black? I was just stunned and shocked and pissed off.
3. "Columbine" by Dave Cullen. Another book that made me angry. The day that the Columbine shootings happened, I was six months' pregnant with Kyle. I am not pro-homeschooling for many reasons, but that day, that instant, I thought that all I wanted to do was keep my son in my house and not let him out for any reason whatsoever. This book was written with a journalist's eye and a lot of what I learned surprised me.
4. "My Horizontal Life" by Chelsea Handler. This was a desperation book. I had tried to read something by Sarah Vowell and it wasn't happening. So I read this one. I had heard that Chelsea Handler was hilarious, but I didn't really feel it with this book. It was OK.
5-7. "Poppy Done to Death," "Last Scene Alive," and "A Fool and His Honey," by Charlaine Harris. These are very light reading books, from the Aurora Teagarden series. They're mysteries and fairly enjoyable.
8. "Theater Geek: The Real Life Drama of a Summer at Stagedoor Manor, the Famous Performing Arts Camp: by Mickey Rapkin. This was pretty interesting. He basically gave the history of this drama camp, as well as followed some campers during their summer there. I enjoyed it.
9. "Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory" by Mickey Rapkin. A chronicle of four or so a cappella groups as they travel to nationals. Entertaining.
10. "The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook: A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal" by Ben Mezrich. Follows the founding of Facebook from the college dorm room where it all began. It's a more complicated story than you'd think. It's relevant because the legal battle is still going on.
11. "Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook" by Anthony Bourdain. Yum! This was a collection of essays by Bourdain. I liked it, although I wanted MORE. He talked about a dinner he was invited to at a restaurant with a bunch of famous chefs. But he didn't talk about the chefs themselves or what they said.
12. "The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story" by Richard Preston. Preston relates the story of the summer of the anthrax attacks. Fascinating.
13. "The Cobra Event" by Richard Preston. OK. Preston is known for writing non-fiction about weird illnesses and biological terrorism and stuff. So I bought this book and started reading it, thinking it was the same as his others. Except I didn't recall any of these events happening. Yep, it was total fiction. Good thing, because it was damn scary. I liked it, though.
14. "Shiprocked: Life on the Waves with Radio Caroline" by Steve Conroy. I watched "Pirate Radio" about the pirate radio ships in the international waters off Britain and wanted to know more (the movie is really good, BTW). This book served as a reference of sorts to the people who made the movie. It was interesting, although I would like a little more background to the whole thing, some history.
15. "The Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People," by Tim Reiterman. I am fascinated by cults. I always wonder how people fall for that crap. Well, now I know. As I started reading this HUGE book, I was thinking, "Hmmm. Jones' ideas sound pretty good to me." He advocated socialism, which I'm actually a fan of, but then it turned ugly. Whenever you involve people, a pure idea always gets turned. Anyway, the whole thing was horrifying, but incredibly interesting. Sort of like a car wreck that you can't turn away from.
16. "Whip It by Shauna Cross. I love the movie, and this is the novel upon which it was based. It's very, very close to the movie, so it was OK. I would love to find a non-fiction book about roller derby. That's really what I was looking for.
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