Reading. And Read (past-tense).

Welcome to the August -November meeting of the LW Book Club...

My Lobotomy. By Howard Dully.

Wow. And Yikes. Interesting story. The story more interesting than the writing. Although it's a fairly quick read, I think it was a little too long for what it was. So if you're interested you can click on the book image at left to go to the NPR segment on it that started the whole thing.

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Gifted Hands. By Ben Carson, MD.

True story of his life. I'm pretty sure there is a made for TV movie of this book which I haven't seen but his story is great. It chronicles his rough childhood being raised by a single mother (who is undoubtadly to be credited for much of his success) through to numerous surgeries he has performed as a neurosurgeon. It sounds cheesy, but if you don't believe in miracles, you may after reading this book.

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Seattle Kitchen. By Tom Douglas.

Yes, I read cookbooks. Especially if they give you hints about places to eat where you live. This is a good one - the recipes and the suggestions. I can't remember what I made out of here but it was good. Oh yes I do, Corn Bread Pudding.

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Ad Hoc at Home. Thomas Keller.

I love everything about this cookbook. It's size, the photographs, the recipes, the prose. Delicious.

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Stumbling on Happiness. By Daniel Gilbert.

Saw this book on the Tovar's blog was intrigued by this blurb, so I checked it out at the library. It's about the psychology of happiness, written by a dazzlingly witty author. And I would really love to finish this book because it's such a pleasure to read but someone who I guess wants to be in my bookclub stole it from me and I haven't seen it since. By the way Ben, it's overdue.

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No Man Knows My History. By Fawn Brodie.

This is a loooonnng book, full of detail. So I am not done with it yet, and not sure if it will go the way of another very looonnng book about Joseph Smith - Rough Stone Rolling - and never be finished by me. Not for any reason except that I have limited reading time and a reading wish list that is quite extensive. Plus, although I am finding it interesting, I am growing weary of Ms. Brodie's attitude that is omnipresent. As if she wrote the entire thing with a smirk on her face. Let's just say, she don't like Joseph Smith. And she made sure to gather much of her research from like-minded folks. It's like using Kanye West as a resource for a biography of George W. Bush.

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The Year of Living Biblically. By A.J. Jacobs.

The premise of this book intrigues me. I am not very far into it - probably because it's the kind of book I want to read excerpts of out-loud to someone, but my someone is rarely home. So it's slow going so far for me. Hopefully no one is waiting for me to return it to the library because I keep renewing it I think this would make a great movie/documentary. And apparently Brad Pitt does too because it looks like his production company is working on it. Which is great. I just hope to finish it before it hits theaters. Here is a fun list of some of the "rules" he had to follow to fulfill his quest.

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Get Me Out. By Randi Hutter Epstein, MD.

Another winner for me. Just look at the cover. I love it. This is a history of childbirth from the beginning of time to today. It is so interesting. I need more people in my bookclub because I want to have play by plays of this one with someone too. Two thumbs up for fun, factual, sometimes disturbing info about making and having babies.

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The Freud Reader, By Peter Gay.

I'm just including this because it's in a pile of books I am looking at. I just got it to cross reference some facts in another book I was reading. This collection probably has some interesting theories in it. And may give me insight into why my carrots grew the way they did.

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In-N-Out Burger. By Stacy Perman.

The subtitle is "A behind the counter look at the fast food chain that breaks all the rules". I read two pages and realized that I didn't want to read about In-N-Out. I just wanted a hamburger.