Happy January, happy Tuesday, happy 2015! Yeah! I thought it would be fun to share few things on my to-read or have-read bookshelf (virtual or otherwise) this month, and continue to do so throughout this next year. I hope you'll enjoy this monthly feature. Happy reading!
1. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory
My father-in-law is a mortician/owner of multiple funeral homes, and Hank grew up in and around a funeral home, so I've always been fascinated with this kind of stuff- very My Girl, right? haha. Anyway, I just started this book and I'm loving it. I can't give any sort of review because I'm at the beginning, but so far, so good. Read this little bit from Amazon and tell me you aren't intrigued, too! Most people want to avoid thinking about death, but Caitlin Doughty—a twenty-something with a degree in medieval history and a flair for the macabre—took a job at a crematory, turning morbid curiosity into her life’s work. Thrown into a profession of gallows humor and vivid characters (both living and very dead), Caitlin learned to navigate the secretive culture of those who care for the deceased. Get it and read it along with me!
2. Wild
I almost feel silly recommending this book because hello, who hasn't?! In fact, I recommended it years ago when I first read it. This past week I'd been re-reading as a refresher and goodness, I was reminded of just how much I love it. Then Sunday I went and watched it in the theater and now I really can't recommend both the book and movie enough! I thought the film did the story justice is almost every way, and I walked out of the theater feeling sad and happy and inspired and alive. To me, that's pretty perfect. And as I've gotten older one of my main interests has become the outdoors- hiking, trail running, exploring- and this book totally makes me want to lace up my hiking shoes and hit the trail. It also makes me want to crawl up in bed with my laptop and write, write, write. It's just a really inspiring book, and even though it's completely all over due to the movie, it's one of those picks that absolutely does live up to the hype!
3. Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
This book has the same author as Wild, Cheryl Strayed, and I can't say enough great things about it. It's part-memoir, part self-help, part something totally different, and I love that because it's a collection of different letters you're able to put the book now and come back to it whenever you'd like. It's the perfect bedside choice to read a bit of every evening before bed. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll relate to bits and pieces of stories that you didn't think you'd relate to. You'll find yourself feeling for the people asking for advice, and wanting to recommend this book to all of your friends, too. A must-read.
4. A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal
So I really love Anthony Bourdain. And I really love traveling. And who doesn't love food? Put it all together and you've got this book, which I'm extremely excited to dive into this weekend. It was recommended by no less than four friends over the course of a couple months, so I took it as a sign I should probably just commit. It looks great, and like it would be a great read for anyone who's interested in any of those things I mentioned above...which basically means that pretty much anyone should love it. It has 200 almost perfect reviews on Amazon so I don't think my prediction is too far off...but I'll keep you posted.
5. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: A Novel
Okay this is weird but I don't know anything about this book. At all. A girlfriend suggested I read it but told me not to read any of the synopses or reviews, so I didn't and now it's waiting for me on my nightstand to begin as soon as I can. This friend is generally right on when it comes to book recommendations so I'm taking her word for it. And you should too- in that whole "a friend of a friend told me it was good!" kinda way.
What else is on your to-read or have-read list this month?
