I Feel Bad About My Neck

by Nora Ephron

I read about I Feel Bad About My Neck when it first came out, and I thought it looked interesting, but I never seriously pursued reading it. I really just grabbed it off the shelf at the library on a whim. It's funny, but not as funny as other books I've read this year. I enjoyed reading it, but it's not one of my favorite books or anything. I had a hard time relating to Ephron's New York lifestyle of weekly pedicures, biweekly hair appointments, doormen, etc.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

by Rhoda Janzen

In Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Rhoda Janzen tells a story of going home. Janzen was raised Mennonite but pursues a decidedly non-Mennonite career in academia. After her bipolar husband leaves her for a man he meets on Gay.com and a drunk driver hits her car, causing significant injuries, she returns home to regroup and recuperate. The book is seriously funny. Janzen pokes fun at herself and her family but always in a friendly way. I learned a lot about Mennonites, and I laughed out loud.

Marley & Me

by John Grogan

After reading The Longest Trip Home, I decided to pick up Marley & Me. This is a great book. It's a fun and funny read, sad at the end, but not overwhelmingly so. Now I want to see the movie.

Bloodstream

by Tess Gerritsen

I like Tess Gerritsen and enjoyed Bloodstream. The book is about a doctor who moves to a small town in Maine that experiences an outbreak of violence. She learns that something similar happened 52 years earlier and sets out to find the cause. The ending was a little abrupt. It seemed to wrap up a little too quickly. But the characters were well developed and the plot moved a lot quite nicely. A good suspense book.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is another book I'm rereading for school. I read it at the beginning of the school year and fell in love with it. In fact, this book is the reason I decided to expand my literature circles project. As soon as I read it, I knew I had to teach it somehow. But I also knew it wouldn't appeal to everyone, so literature circles are the answer. The book is told by Arnold (Junior) Spirit who decides (after he is given the same math book his mother used) to go to school at a white school 20 miles away instead of on the reservation. Here's what I love about the book.

• It is absolutely hilarious. Laugh out loud while you're reading silently in class so that all your kids stare at you hilarious.
• It's illustrated.
• It is completely irreverent. (And occasionally inappropriate.) Arnold makes fun of himself, his friends, his family, Indians, white folk, everyone.
• It provides great commentary on race relations.
• It's heart-warming (in an irreverent way).
• It doesn't take itself too seriously.

So go read this book. You can borrow my copy.

All Things at Once

by Mika Brzezinski

I'm a big fan of Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC's Morning Joe, so I ordered her biography All Things at Once as soon as it was released. It was a quick read, and I learned quite a bit about the politics of network news.

I'd have to give this book a mixed review. Some sections were pretty strong while others didn't hold my interest as well. I felt like the kind of snarky voice Mika sometimes has on Morning Joe was missing from the book. Maybe I've been corrupted by the spunkiness of the young adult lit and blogs I read, but the writing felt kind of flat and impersonal. She was incredibly honest and up front about her career (even the painful and embarrassing moments), but the writing about her personal life seemed a little distant.

I am a stickler for organization, and this book was a little disappointing on that end. A few anecdotes seemed out of place; she skipped around in the chronology of events in a way that I felt was unnecessary and awkward. It seemed as if the book was maybe thrown together a little too quickly. It was a good read, and it was interesting, but I expected something with more pizazz.

In the Woods

by Robin Stevenson

In the Woods, the story of a boy who finds a newborn abandoned in the woods, is really more of a novella than a novel. It's a quick read (it took me about 25 minutes), and it's interesting, but there's very little character development. The characters are essentially just stereotypes. I think kids might enjoy it because it's so short and because the topic is engaging, but it's not particularly memorable.

A Little Friendly Advice

by Siobhan Vivian

I read Siobhan Vivian's novel Same Difference last semester and absolutely loved it, so when our school got A Little Friendly Advice, I checked it out immediately. A Little Friendly Advice is about a girl whose long-absent father shows up unexpectedly on her birthday. Her friends and new love interest all offer different advice on dealing with the situation, and she winds up uncovering the secret behind her parent's divorce.

This book had appealing characters, but it seemed a little immature in terms of the writing. Some of the dialogue was artificial, and I didn't think the characters' motives were developed as well as they could have been. It was an okay book, but not as good as Same Difference.

I Love You, Beth Cooper

by Larry Doyle

I bought I Love You, Beth Cooper in a bookstore in Berkeley when we were on vacation in 2008, but I never could get into it. I realized this fall that it had been made into a movie and kept meaning to pick it back up, but I never got around to it until this Christmas break.

This book is absolutely hilarious and was totally meant to be made into a movie. It's about a nerdy boy who professes his love of a beautiful cheerleader in his high school valedictory address, and then winds up spending a wild evening with her, trying to escape from her jealous, homicidal boyfriend. There's no deep meaning here, but it's a fun romp.

The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao

by Junot Diaz

I ordered The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao (which won a Pulitzer in 09) last fall after hearing an interview with the author on NPR. When I got the book and realized it contained things like footnotes (a lot of them), I decided it was far too deep for my sleep-deprived mommy to a newborn brain. I set the book aside until I was looking for something to read this past Christmas break.

I love the voice of this book, which is about a fat, nerdy Dominican boy living in New Jersey. There are a lot of Dominican Spanish phrases sprinkled liberally throughout the book, which I think kept me from getting everything out of the book. (I know, I could have looked them up...but that was too much work for me.) Even so, the book is both touching and funny, and I learned quite a bit about the history of the Dominican Republic.