false 16 236 216 true 5624161 read 1 true 462759 currently-reading 19 true 462758 to-read 125 false 8723491 nonfiction 35 false 4092418 read2009 30 false 1025405 travel 26 false 2259401 50books2008 24 false 1370762 africa 23 false 1025386 science-nature 15 false 1228624 food-cooking 11 false 4711220 book-club 9 false 4622888 study-guides 5 false 1043696 library 5 false 1025400 wedding-books 4 false 1048330 author 4 false 4662077 sew-craft http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/93128-stephanie-s-2009-books Stephanie made a comment in the 50 Books A Year group:

35. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

This was a reread of one of my most favorite books of all time. I just needed something familiar over the weekend. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/122857-non-fiction-recommendations Stephanie made a comment in the 50 Books A Year group:

I read tons of nonfiction: My Nonfiction Bookshelf

Bill Bryson, David Sedaris, Jon Krakauer, and Sarah Vowell are some of my favorite authors. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/147877-collections-of-short-stories Stephanie made a comment in the 50 Books A Year group:

Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro

I've read several books by each of these authors and these are some of my favorites. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/63246666 At Play in the Fields of the Lord (Paperback) by Peter Matthiessen
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77165547 to: Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia (Paperback) by Elizabeth Gilbert
bookshelves: nonfiction, read2009, travel
This book seems to bring out some strong feelings, either you love it or hate it. I'm in the middle. I just didn't care enough to feel either way. However, there were some interesting travel tidbits and some genuinely funny moments. At the beginning of each section, I was ready to enjoy each new part of the journey. But by the end of each section, I was bored. I feel kind of sorry for the author, that she struggles so much with depression. But I kept getting impatient with the writing and after a while it even felt inauthentic.

]]> http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/241639-lauli-s-books-2009 Stephanie made a comment in the 50 Books A Year group:

Lauli wrote: " Nº 1: "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
I loved this book. To begin with, Hawthorne's penmanship is exquisite, but I also found Hester Prynne a fasci..."

I read Scarlet Letter this year, too. It was my suggestion for book club. I loved it! (But I don't think anyone else did.) I liked such a strong female character, who was just a regular sinner, not a witch, against the backdrop of Puritanical New England.

I've tried reading House of the Seven Gables, but as much as I like Gothic literature, I haven't made it through yet. I'll keep trying though. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77640246 to: Emergency Sex (And Other Desperate Measures) by Kenneth Cain
bookshelves: africa, book-club, nonfiction, read2009
I have mixed feelings about this book. In the end I settled on four stars because I think it describes important events going on in the world that we as Americans tend to forget about, except for those of us living and working "out in the field" trying to explain things to folks back home. Maybe because I'm a little bit older than the characters were at the start of the book, I found them annoying. By the end I appreciated them more, but I didn't see a smooth development of character in any of them. It's as if they just woke up one day and said, "We're grownups now." I felt a little sorry for them at first, as it seems like the UN didn't give them much training in hardship/conflict living. I actually felt better about the whole book after reading the new afterward to this edition, answering some of the questions I had. Questions that I think should have been answered within the narrative in order to make the book more complete. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77823464 Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo (Paperback) by Beth Whitman
bookshelves: nonfiction, to-read
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77823327 to: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the U.S. Constitution (Complete Idiot's Guide to) by Tim Harper
bookshelves: nonfiction, read2009, study-guides
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77823301 to: The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States (Bantam Classic) by Thomas Jefferson
bookshelves: nonfiction, read2009, study-guides
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