The Tiger’s Wife is a collection of stories within stories, of myth and folklore and a history that includes both. Natalie, the narrator of the book, is on her way to volunteer at a medical clinic in parts of the rural former Yugoslavia when she gets news of her grandfather’s death. From there the story spins through Natalie’s memory – of going with her grandfather to the zoo to see the tiger, of the copy of ‘The Jungle Book’ he kept in his pocket, of being a teenager during wartime and following her grandfather, by then an old man, through abandoned streets until they finally see an elephant being walked through the streets to the zoo. Natalie asks if there are any other stories “like that”, from before, and he tells her the story of the tiger’s wife. But the story is not just of the tiger’s wife – it is also a story of a deathless man, and of the myths surrounding the small village her grandfather grew up in.

I liked this book alot – I liked the pacing of the stories and the depth of the writing (no speed reading for this one!).

352 pages
4/5

Predictably, I loved Anthony Bourdain’s tell-most book about the professional cooking world. The book goes through the formation of Anthony Bourdain’s career – from his first experience of amazing food, through his drug addled coming of age in kitchens up and down the east coast, to culinary school, a string of failed restaurants, and eventually – a lucky break that opened the door to famous kitchen. The book is full of stories about kitchens and restaurants, but is also has some brotherly advice about how to outfit a home kitchen and why you shouldn’t order fish in a restaurant on a Monday or open a restaurant just because your friends love your cooking.

324 pages
4/5

The Outlander tells a story of a widow being chased through the mountains of the northwest by her creepy ginger headed twin brother in laws. She is unapologetically mad – she sees visions and hears voices and is generally unkempt. She survives although she probably shouldn’t, mostly based on the generosity (or naivety) of strangers.

This book is a fast, exciting read. I couldn’t put it down once I got started (although it stayed on my to-read stack for longer than it should have).

400 pages
4/5

Yeah, I know this isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but I think this 928 page book counts in my quest to read 52 books this year. This book is an extremely helpful primer to Filemaker Pro and a great reference guide, even if you’ve been using Filemaker Pro for years.

928 pages
4/5

Columbine is a well-written and thoughtful analysis of the events leading up to the 1999 high school shooting. The book is written by a journalist who covered the tragedy for the Denver based Rocky Mountain News, and refutes many of the myths that were prevelant in the news: that the two killers were part of a “TrenchCoat Mafia”, that they were bullied, that they targeted Christians, jocks, or guys wearing white hats, that they were social outcasts, etc. etc. In fact, the Columbine attacks were planned by a sociopath and his depressed sidekick. The book lays out a timeline for the planning of the attacks, and also tells the stories of survivors and family that I had not heard before. It’s an interesting read if you remember Columbine as an incident and not a town, and probably even if you don’t.

432 pages
4/5

Another vacation tradition is stopping at Hastings and picking up a book for the long plane ride home. I love Hastings because they have used books – I’m cheap when it comes to disposables. Anyway, I [mostly] loved No Country For Old Men (the film, haven’t read the book yet), and decided to give The Road a try. It’s quite depressing but definitely worth the read. The story is of a man and his son who have been walking for months or probably years in a post apocalyptic America. They are starving most of the time. They are hiding from almost everyone. They are trying to get to the coast.

When I picked this book up, I expected it to be hard to read because of the lack of quotation marks. It wasn’t. The writing is dreamlike and the story is very intense – an excellent combination.

4/5
287 pages

p.s. yes, I do realize that it is week 29/52 and I’m only on book 12. I’m behind on a lot of things. Oops.

The Space Between Us tells the story of two women who may have been friends or sisters in another lifetime. Instead, Bhima lives in the slums of Bombay, and she works for Sera, a well-to-do housewife. After 20 years together their relationship is complicated; Bhima was present while Sera raised her children and grieved her abusive husband, and Sera has been Bhima’s savior on more than one occasion. This is the story of their time together, before and after. It examines the universal lines defined by gender and class. The characters are very well defined and I had a great deal of empathy for them both. It is not a surprising book. I don’t usually cry at movies, or books, or tv shows, or really much of anything. This book was different. It’s an exquisitely written story of heartbreak – and it made me cry more than once.

4/5
352 pages

I’ve only read 3 books in the past 3 months…I don’t have any good excuses. I’ve been watching a bunch of documentary films instead, and travelling, and playing games on my ipad (the best toy I’ve ever owned). I’m going to try to do better, I swear. Here’s to catching up.

Book 7: Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson. I really enjoyed reading this book, which follows Jude, a teenager who is coming of age in Vermont without much parental influence. He and his best friend Teddy are typical slackers doing the things that slackers do: drinking, smoking, rock n roll. Eventually, Jude takes off for New York City where he gets into the straightedge scene. The book is researched well & reads easily.

400 pages
4/5

An intriguing read about the kidnapping and seven month captivity of New York Times journalist David Rhode. Rhode was newlywed to Kristen Mulvihill (a fashion magazine editor) when he went on assignment to Afghanistan. He planned an interview with a Taliban commander – knowing the risk involved – and he was kidnapped en route. The book is especially interesting because each chapter switches perspective between David and Kristen. My resolve to avoid kidnapping in a war zone has never been stronger.

4/5
384 pages