my top five: books I've read recently

1. So Here's the Thing by Alyssa Mastromonaco - This is Alyssa Mastromonaco's follow up book to "Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?" which was one of my favorite reads in 2017. She's brilliant and hilarious and for someone who was a Deputy Chief of Staff in the Obama White House she is incredibly relatable. As someone who suffers from a bowel disorder, her anecdotes about her struggles with IBS are at once painful to read about (because, BEEN THERE!) and reassuring. It's weirdly comforting when you know that other people suffer the same problems that you have and manage to lead a productive, awesome life in spite of it. She is literally one of the most awesome people on this planet and I highly recommend both of her books (plus every appearance she makes on podcasts, plus her twitter, plus her book events. Anything and everything Alyssa.)

Sidenote: She's also a very dedicated cat lady. I went to her book event last Tuesday which happened to coincide with Arrietty's birthday. When I was having my book signed I shared that excessive Crazy Cat Lady factoid with her. Her reaction was "F*ck yes!!" She made the book out to me and Arrietty and wrote "happy bday!" and told me that she makes cupcakes for her own cats on their birthdays! *dies* I was so excited to meet her and she exceeded my expectations.  I think I awkwardly said "I love you" when I left but I REALLY DO LOVE HER.

2. Saved on Sunday, Dead on Monday by Andy Ross - This is a short mystery novella filled with intrigue and nods to classic television, set in the world of a pimento cheese spread empire. This was a super quick read but I enjoyed it so much that I've been pestering the author on twitter to try to get him to write a sequel!

3. The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James - One of my favorite genres of fiction is "people stranded in space" and this is probably tied with The Martian as my favorite in the genre. It's about a young girl who is the last surviving member of a space mission. This is the very definition of a page-turner. I couldn't put it down! I also loved that it was science fiction set in a realistic world. When I read space fiction I don't actually like when there's too much world-building, so this was right up my alley.

4. The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes - I was trying not to make this list too Obama-memoir heavy, but looking over my 2019 reads so far, it really is mostly comprised of books by Obama staffers. I just love reading about behind the scenes and being transported back to an era that I honestly didn't appreciate enough while I was living in it. The World As It Is is the most policy-heavy memoir I've read thus far, but it was completely engrossing. I usually have this weird mental block when it comes to understanding foreign policy (specifically Middle East policy, it just seems so complicated to me) but Rhodes explained everything in such an accessible way that I suddenly found myself regaling my family with anecdotes about lifting the Cuban embargo over dinner. Rhodes book was also the first one that I've read that shows President Obama being frustrated sometimes, or moody. I am guilty of idolizing him and in a way it's almost a relief to know that he's only human.

5. Come As You Are by Walker Gibson - It's been a long time since I read a book of poetry, but when I stumbled upon this one at the Princeton Library book sale I couldn't resist. Most of the poems are fun and light, about subjects like outer space or Monte Carlo casinos. But there was one poem (actually it's the last verse of a longer poem) that really grabbed me and I've been a little obsessed with it ever since I read it. I memorized it and keep reciting it to myself to make sure it's still being properly stored in my mind.

Some people feel alone and lonely
To think this world's perhaps the only
Possible place where mankind clings --
They yearn for more unworldly things,
But if in all the universe
We're quite alone we could do worse
Than claim our own miraculous birth
On this elysian planet, Earth,
Where woods are green and warm and wet
With trumpet vine and violet:
The dew shines on the grass at dawn,
A rabbit bounds across the lawn,
And we can thank that lucky star
That makes this heaven where we are."

ps. I don't usually post reviews on goodreads, but if you just want to see what I'm reading, I do keep a running list of current reads/books I've completed on my account, here.

my last four books

In February I surpassed my goal of reading 2 books a month and read 4! yay!

First I read The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, like everyone else on the planet. I heard about it on a "must read" list somewhere and bought it, then while it was in transit I started seeing it all over the place and was like "uh, do I really want to read the most popular book on the internet right now?" I also found out it was actually a young-adult book and started having second (triple?) thoughts. But... then it came in the mail and I read the first page and I was hooked. There are going to be people who review this book and put it down because the main characters are teenagers or because you have to go to the YA section of the bookstore to find it, but just don't listen to them. It's beautifully written, incredibly deep and philosophical (not just for a YA book, but for a book, period) and very touching. Yes, it did make me cry (I'm human!) but not in a sappy, deliberately-tugging-at-your-heartstrings, soaring music kind of way. It doesn't jerk your tears, it coerces them. Even if you don't usually like books that make you cry, give it a try.

The second book I read was BJ Novak's One More Thing. I pre-ordered this baby the day that it went up on amazon and lived off of the little teasers that were released online in the weeks before... the epic book trailer, Mindy Kaling and BJ Novak reading excerpts on NPR, sneak peeks on instagram. And when it finally came in the mail I was not disappointed. There were a few stories that I didn't particularly love but the ones that I did like I really, really liked. I absolutely loved his writing style (my favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut and I think some of the stories had the same stark, dry wit) but my favorite thing about the book was how so many of the stories were crafted around the notion of questioning a mundane thing that we all take for granted. My favorite story was The Man Who Invented the Calendar (the full story is available on The New Yorker, here) Either you've wondered these things before (Who exactly invented the calendar? And why the heck would anyone call a month February??) and BJ Novak is finally shining light on a lifelong pet peeve or you haven't wondered these things before and you're grateful to him for finally bringing them to your attention. Either way, he does a brilliant job of it and I wish I was a good enough writer myself to fully express how wonderful I thought his book was.

The third book that I read was The Great Mortality by John Kelly. The subtitle is "an intimate history of the black death" but it took quite a while to get intimate. The first two chapters or so trace the route of the plague across Asia and Europe in the mid 1300's, going into painstaking detail about which merchants entered which ports at what time and how many miles per week the disease trekked across the continent. It's interesting stuff, but I was expecting much more about the actual people who were affected and the way that medieval life was changed by the black death. The author got into that a little more once I was about 3-4 chapters in, but it was still surprisingly dry for a book about what is quite possibly the most devastating event in human history. My main qualm with the book, though, was how often the author would say something in the main body of text -- for instance, his incredibly interesting story about the first recorded incident of biological warfare -- and then when you consult the footnote you find a disclaimer letting you know that most historians believe the above statement to be inaccurate. Um, well why did you include it then? argh! All in all, I did end up liking the book but I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for a different book on this topic.

My last book for February was Tina Fey's Bossypants. I've read it once and then last month I listened to the audio book ... actually re-listened, so I've read this three times now I guess? I just really like Tina Fey, ok? Her book is absolutely hilarious and I highly recommend listening to the audio version if you have the chance. Her words are fantastic but hearing them in her voice with her various intonations is perfection. I was having a particularly rough couple of days when I listened to this and it cheered me up considerably, plus it gave me a little boost of determination and go-get-em' spirit. If laughter is the best medicine, you should definitely keep a copy of Bossypants in your medicine cabinet.

Introducing: The Book Fair!!!

I've been working on this for weeks and I am SO excited to finally share it!!

Remember the book fairs from elementary school? I looked forward to them so much! To a little bookworm like me, they were magical! I loved getting new books and fun school supplies that you could never find anywhere else but the book fair -- pop-a-point pencils that smelled like strawberry, bright rainbow erasers and silly bookmarks! And remember Book-It, the button program where you'd get free Pizza Hut after you filled up your button with stickers??

Okay, well recently I was getting really nostalgic and decided to recreate that magic for myself. While I was at it, I thought maybe I'm not the only one with a hankering for a good old fashioned book fair. So I decided to open a new etsy shop dedicated to the books that fueled our love of reading as kids and the book fairs that brought them to us!

It's stocked with vintage young adult books, some PDF printables and art prints (well, one print so far but I'm going to add more soon) but the thing I'm most excited about is the book fair kit! It includes a 80's-90's paperback, 3 corny but fantastic bookmarks, a pop-a-point scented pencil, a rainbow eraser, a booklet to keep track of the books you've read, and a button with 10 stickers to mark off each book you've read! And it all comes neatly packed in a canvas drawstring bag hand-stamped with The Book Fair logo I designed :D

Okay, I'm done gushing now! :D You can check out The Book Fair shop here if you're interested! :)