As you might have noticed, I've been answering questions that my friend Ned has been posing on his blog. So far I've answered "What are your favorite albums?" "Top Five Favorite Songs" and "What would you send in a care package to your 15-year-old self?" I've had so much fun with these that I decided to do another one. Today it is all about books!
It was a real challenge to name only five books that I love and recommend to people!
"Living Out Loud" by Anna Quindlen
I stumbled upon Living Out Loud while I was cat-sitting for a friend. It was tucked away on her bookshelf. By the end of the weekend, I’d inhaled the book. This was about fourteen years ago. Within those pages, I found that Anna Quindlan had given voice to many of the things I believed. Her words also helped shaped the woman I would become. A dog-eared, autographed copy of this book now sits on my bookshelf. Whenever I pull it out, I find it as fresh as I did fourteen years ago.
"Nest in the Wind" by Martha Ward
Here’s a useless fact about my life: while I was getting my Bachelor’s degree, I took almost every cultural anthropology class my college offered. Learning about cultures just makes my pulse quicken. I credit my love of cultural anthropology to Martha Ward. Her ethnography, Nest in the Wind, captured me. Because of my food allergies it wouldn’t be safe for me to go and live on a little island like Ward did. However, I am so thankful people like her do this and share their experiences with us when they come back.
"Operating Instructions" by Anne Lamott
For me Anne Lamott is one of those writers. I adore her stuff. My relationship with Anne began with Operating Instructions. On the cover it states that this is a journal of her son’s first year. But really it is about life and death and almost everything else.
"Tender at the Bone" by Ruth Reichl
Often when I tell people that I write about food, their eyes glaze over. At times like those, I wish I could shove a copy of Tender at the Bone into their hands. Ruth Reichl’s memoir captures just what makes food such an integral part of living.
"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
This is the only novel on my list. Things Fall Apart is a deceptively simple read. Trying to describe it makes me feel clumsy. I’ll just say that the themes of change, loss, fear and relationships stayed with me long after I closed the book
Love your list, though have read only two out of these.
ReplyDeleteI'd have a tough time coming up with a list of my own, though I already know that at the top of my list would be ' To Kill a Mockingbird"