Hard to believe that February is just about over. Which of course means that it is time for What’s on Your Nightstand over at 5 Minutes for Books. I am trying to get better at posting here regularly so this makes my second month in a row doing the WOYN. Not great but a start.
What was on my list to read this month?
Finished:
- Persian Food from the Non-persian Bride: And Other Sephardic Kosher Recipes You Will Love by Reyna Simnegar. So many wonderful recipes and stories about Persian Jews. YUMMY! Sadly this one did not live up to my expectations. While I enjoyed some of the recipes I found some of the sidebars and stories unnecessary and offputting.
- The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. A coke addict drives his car off a cliff during a drug induced hallucination. He suffers horrific injuries from the accident and while recovering meets a woman who claims to know him. Not bad, not great. A good read. I think listening to it for me was the right choice. It was long and I might have lost interest in the convoluted storyline had I not been listening to it. It is gory at times and you need to definitely suspend your belief in reality to go with the story but I’m not sure I got all the references to Dante and the various philosophical/religious overtones. I don’t really wish to analyze any book I read that much.
- A Perfect Blood. Kim Harrison. Book 1o in the Rachel Morgan series. AMAZING!:
Put aside:
- The Paris Wife. Paula McLain. Next book for our book group. I didn’t finish this as much as skim it. It was okay. Nothing that I would have picked up on my own.
Still working on
- No Humans Involved. Kelley Armstrong. Another book in her Women of the Otherworld series. This particular book focuses on the necromancer from the Interracial Council. Haven’t finished this one yet. I really enjoy her books but am having trouble getting into this one for some reason. Not sure why.
- Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the World. Gil Marks. Another cookbook that looks like it has wonderful stories along with the recipes. This is still sitting in my pile.
Up next month:
- Book group pick is One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd. Jim Fergus. One Thousand White Women begins with May Dodd’s journey west, into the unknown. Yet the unknown is a far better fate than the life she left behind: committed to an insane asylum by her blueblood family for the crime of loving a man beneath her station, May finds that her only hope of freedom is to participate in a secret government program whereby women from the “civilized” world become the brides of Cheyenne warriors. What follows is the story of May’s breathtaking adventures: her brief, passionate romance with the gallant young army captain John Bourke; her marriage to the great chief Little Wolf; and her conflict of being caught between two worlds, loving two men, living two lives. Sounds good. We’ll see.
- Think Like a Chef. Tom Colicchio. Love him on Top Chef so I figured I would check out his cookbook.
- The Future of Us. Jay Asher. A teen book. It’s 1996, and less than half of all American high school students have ever used the Internet. Emma just got her first computer and Josh is her best friend. They power up and log on–and discover themselves on Facebook, fifteen years in the future. Everybody wonders what their Destiny will be. Josh and Emma are about to find out.
- Cleopatra’s Moon. Vicky Shecter. Another retelling of what happens to Cleopatra’s daughter Selene after Cleopatra dies and her children are taken to Rome.
- Just My Type. Simon Garfield. A book about fonts. Seems interesting.
- The Throne of Fire. Rick Riordan. The second book in the Kane Chronicles. Not as good as the Percy Jackson or the Lost Heroes but a fun romp through the mythology of Egypt. Listening to this in the car. Almost done.
That’s what’s on my nightstand. What’s on yours?
Great list! I’m very intrigued by The Future of Us, it sounds fascinating.
I agree about The Future of Us! Also curious about Tom Colicchio’s book, I love him too. Also I was kind of meh on the Paris Wife too, glad I’m not the only one. I thought maybe it was the narrated version I listened to since so many people loved it.