No Internet Access Makes Emily Read a Lot More

Thanks to Lauren for guest blogging while I was traveling!  Apparently she is better at being me than I am…

While I didn’t have internet access while I was gone (it was slightly painful), I did have a lot of time to read, so I wanted to do a quick recap of the good books I read this past week.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

A very thinly veiled book about a Democratic librarian who happens to be married to the pompous, spoiled, slightly moronic president of the United States of America.  Good beach reading, and much better than the last book of hers that I read, Prep.  Ugh, I hated the main character in that book sooo much.  Still, the best part of this book is the ending, so to truly put a smile on your face, you must read the first 500 pages of smut/silliness/page turning drama.

Homopoliticus: The Strange and Scary Tribes that Run Our Government by Dana Milbank

I decided to stay political, but moved to the non-fiction side of things…Milbank’s book was silly enough, well written enough, (and doggone it likable enough), but there was nothing in there where I thought “Wow!  What a crazy story!  I’d never heard that one before!!”  Most of the tales of political malaise and crazy scandalous behavior I had read before, so I didn’t really walk away with anything new from this reading experience.  Still, it was fun.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

Jhumpa Lahiri is definitely on my list of favorite authors.  I’ve read every book that she’s published, and I’ve loved them all.  Her other books, Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake are also really good, but this one might be the best.  It’s all short stories (and one three chapter story at the end of the book), but every story is so enveloping that you completely forget whatever else you were doing and become completely soaked up by the lives of the characters.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Okay, I try not to read bestsellers with reading guides in the back, but my mom read this one and told me that I’d absolutely love it.  And I did.  I love a good dysfunctional Southern family story, I love historical fiction, I love children as narrators and I love books that shun racism.  Basically, on paper I should love this book and I did, natch.  Sue Monk Kidd also writes pretty darn well, which makes it an even better read.  Since I sincerely enjoyed the book, I’m hesitant to see the movie, but if you have, let me know what you thought.  (I also haven’t seen the movie The Namesake, either.)

I also started the book Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, but it’s due at the library in a few days, and I’m due back in New Jersey in a few days, so I’m leaning toward taking it back to the library.  Thanks to the Montgomery County Public Library for providing all these titles free of charge (umm not a special blogging perk, I just have a library card…).  Also, I’d like to give a heads-up to the approximately seven issues of New York Times magazines I read, the four WaPoMags as well as the kick-ass Economist double issue and some other lovely periodicals too.

In fun news websites: this is awesome, as is this.

In other news around the world: he’s still an idiot, she’s finally ready to get married, he tries to pay a bill with drawings, and I invented air, so every time you breathe you owe me 10 cents.