false 52 64 50 true 5795545 read 2 true 4398369 currently-reading 12 true 4398368 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74812170 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel (Paperback) by Lisa See
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/67918762 to: Say You're One of Them (Hardcover) by Uwem Akpan
AMAZING, powerful book. Really, really tough to read in one sitting - the stories are unlike anything a lot of people have read before. I've interviewed the author (my job is pretty sweet, y'all) and he's lovely and gracious and kind. I'm not under order to say this but: it's a must-read. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59301147 Anna Karenina (Mass Market Paperback) by Leo Tolstoy
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66197373 Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession (Hardcover) by Julie Powell
bookshelves: to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63333318 to: Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too (Hardcover) by Shauna James Ahern
I began reading this last night before bed. I've been struggling as a whole lately and her book has already given me much needed food-for-thought, no pun intended.

Shauna's book is the first one I've read about gluten-free living that has really and truly made me stop and pause. Sticking to this lifestyle is not easy, and it means eschewing everything from the occasional trail mix to my favorite CHEWING GUM, but somehow she's made the whole endeavor seem grace-filled. I actually made a list of the things I need to be avoiding, and have already said "no" and took a breath, and moved along, in the 24 hours since I finished the book. I do not have celiac disease, but I have an intolerance to gluten that causes me no shortage of pain.

A must, I think, for anyone who has to go gluten-free and needs someone to kindly tell her exactly why. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59300908 to: Here If You Need Me: A True Story (Hardcover) by Kate Braestrup
I started bawling like a child about 20 pages in. It's a powerful memoir. She has some refreshing, lovely and thoughtful ruminations on God and what it means to believe. No judging here in this book, and I look forward to her next.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63333340 to: Happens Every Day: An All-Too-True Story (Hardcover) by Isabel Gillies
Started reading this yesterday after the gym, on the walk home. While it's true that this really does feel like a book that could use some editing, it's really part of the charm. While marriages *do* end every day, they're not neatly edited, clean-up experiences, so you could say Isabel's prose is reflective of the messiness, the randomness, the pain of divorce. Plus, this style makes it clear that she's in on the trainwreck. Enjoying it thus far.

Update, 7/15: I finished it off last night. It's really that quick of a read. I liked it, though upon completion, as much as I appreciate the seemingly un-edited style of her prose, by the end it just started to feel like she was, literally, repeating the same phrase and sentiment over and over again.

THAT said, it's a good read, and she's raw and naked enough to expose how balls-out insane one feels when going through a divorce. And she has the courage and kindness to make it clear that while her husband is leaving her, he is absolutely and totally shattered by the conclusion he's made to do so.

This does happen every day, to many people, sadly, and this was a lovely, heartfelt book about the topic. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59300908 Erin's review of Here If You Need Me: A True Story
by Kate Braestrup

Oh it's wonderful. I'm actually about to crawl back into bed to read more! Thanks for the link, C. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/59300943 Erin's review of Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
by Ayelet Waldman

Ayelet Waldman's book doesn't exactly say anything new in the realm of the modern feminist dilemma of Good Parenting At Any Cost. The past five years have been filled with women frankly discussing motherhood, and how it is translated in this day and age.

Middle-to-upper-middle-class women, anyway.

For as much as she touches on just how hard women are on each other in the arena of parenting, this memoir really didn't need to be caged/hooked on that premise. She's done some awful things, some good things, but I think that's the point - that's what all parents do and have done since the beginning of time, it's just now that everyone is owning up to it.

Admittedly she's sometimes a bit much, in that way that really smart, privileged women get to be, and have earned the right in many ways, but I found this to be an honest, sharp, loving ode to her children, her family and herself. ]]>