The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

The Sweet Life in Paris: Delicious Adventures in the World's Most Glorious - and Perplexing - City (2009) by David Lebovitz is an account of a chef moving from California to Paris to start a new life.

The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

Though clearly written by someone who is not a 'writer', The Shepherd's Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape (2015) by James Rebanks was a compelling book about a lifestyle that hasn't changed much in centuries.

The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar by Martin Windrow

The Owl Who Liked Sitting on Caesar: Living with a Tawny Owl (2014) by Martin Windrow was a sweet book about an rather unusual (though at the same time so stereotypically British) relationship between a man and his owl.

It was truly fascinating to read about the habits of owls and how they did (and, in many ways did not) fit in with human habitation. Windrow made abundantly clear that he respected that owls, even owls that have been hatched and raised by humans, are still wild animals. In most cases, by adjusting his own habits and expectations to fit in with living with the owl rather than expecting the owl to do so. In short, he was never under the illusion that he could fully domesticate her to live as a pet but rather worked very hard to make co-habitation work.

While I loved the relationship between Martin and Mumble, he also very effectively dissuaded me from ever wanting to live with an owl myself -- issues with excrement alone would be a deal-breaker!

I won't spoil the ending by commenting on that, but at the end I was very glad to have read this short, interesting, funny book.

Perched on the back of a sunlit chair was something about 9 inches tall and shaped rather like a plump toy penguin with a nose-job. It appeared to be wearing a one-piece knitted jumpsuit of pale grey fluff with brown stitching, complete with an attached balaclava helmet. From the face-hole of the fuzzy balaclava, two big, shiny black eyes gazed up at me trustfully. 'Kweep', it said quietly. Enchanted, I leaned closer. It blinked its furry grey eyelids, then jumped very deliberately up on to my right shoulder. It felt like a big, warm dandelion head against my cheek, and it smelt like a milky new kitten. 'Kweep', it repeated, very softly.
[...]
Love at first sight – when it hits you late, it hits hard. It hit me at thirty-four, and I was a slave to it for the next fifteen years.

Keep reading! Beth

Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan

Dad is Fat (2013) by Jim Gaffigan (of the Hot Pockets joke fame) is absolutely hilarious, as expected! Even for someone without kids, many of his observations still resonated with me and made me laugh out loud - a lot!

He writes in a very tongue-in-cheek manner, often directly addressing the reader, always in a very funny way. I loved this style, which really made reading the book feel very intimate, like I was having a conversation rather than passively reading (which was of course what I was actually doing, but still...). He really made me feel 'in' on his jokes, and I loved it.

I don't want to spoil too many of the punch lines, but here were two of my favorite jokes from the book:

“Every morning after I get up, I always gaze longingly at my bed and lament, ‘You were wonderful last night. I didn’t want it to end. I can’t wait to see you again…’” (192) 

“I guess you could say I’m allergic to camping. Jeannie loves camping because she says camping was a tradition in her family. I always point out that prior to the invention of the house, camping was a tradition in everyone’s family. I don’t get camping. ‘Hey, want to burn a couple of vacation days sleeping on the ground outside? Chances are you’ll wake up freezing and covered in a rash?” No, thanks. If camping was so great, why are the bugs always trying to get in your house?” (258-9)

I completely agree Jim!

Keep reading! Beth

Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir by Stan Lee

Amazing Fantastic Incredible: A Marvelous Memoir (2015) by Stan Lee is hilarious, adorable, and illuminating -- a must-read for anyone into comics and/or super-heroes. Set in the form of a graphic novel, this memoir spans Lee's entire life, and therefore most of the 'life' of Marvel comics, from way before they were called Marvel comics.  

I thought it was interesting how he referred to people who ended up leaving the 'fold' as it were after being a big part of the comics productions. I liked that Lee acknowledged that some issues might have been his fault -- without really making himself look bad. A very tough balance! And he brought up some painful memories he didn't necessarily have to (like his wife's inability to have more children) in such an open and honest way that I was really impressed.

Overall, Stan Lee was humorously self-deprecating, clearly loves his wife and his work, and just seems like a wonderful person to be around. I hope he stays around for a good long time yet!

“Oh! Here’s one example of how we tried to have things at least vaguely grounded in science in the Marvel Universe. I wanted Thor to be able to fly. But I hated the idea of him just hurling through the air with no support. I figured, hey, he has a war hammer called Mjolnir, so how about he will have that hammer with him. And when he wants to fly he’ll whirl it around his head really fast, and then he’ll throw it, and since he’s attached to it by the thong around his wrist – when the hammer goes flying, it’ll take him with it! To this day I don’t know why NASA hasn’t invited me to join their science team.”

Keep reading! Beth

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (and other concerns) (2012) by Mindy Kaling is a super funny, very sweet book broken into many small chapters.  

As expected, Mindy has a wonderful voice that is at the same time endearingly self-deprecating, honest, and hilarious. I loved the insights into her life, though the format of segmented essays (while very easy to read) meant that she didn't delve super deeply into any one topic. But I didn't need this book to be a full autobiography or a sordid tell-all about her life, and it wasn't.

This was simply a collection of very funny observations and anecdotes covering lots of little bits of her life that certainly gave me greater insight into Mindy Kaling the person (not to be confused with her character from her show The Mindy Project - Mindy Lahiri. this is why I don't get when people name characters after themselves). And it made me laugh -- a lot! What more can you ask for?

"[M]y parents dressed both my brother and me according to roughly exactly the same aesthetic: Bert from Ernie and Bert. Easing them out of dressing me in primary colors and cardigans (seriously, I was a child who wore cardigans) and getting them to let me grow my hair out past my earlobes was a first huge step that took years." (191)

Keep reading! Beth

My Kitchen Year by Ruth Reichl

My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes That Saved My Life (2015) by Ruth Reichl is part memoir, part cookbook -- very similar to many of Nigel Slater's books (all of which I love) -- filled with both stories and recipes.

Following the year after the closure of Gourmet magazine in 2009 (RIP), and using her tweets from that time as the foundation of the story, it was a nice glimpse into what she went through following the abrupt closure of the magazine, and then later through the process of writing this book, and the beginnings of becoming a fiction author.

I liked that she didn't play up the 'sappy' quality of some of her tweets, and seemed to be pretty honest about what she went through and how she felt. I empathized with how personally she took the closure of the magazine as its Editor, and how responsible she felt for not only the readers of the magazine but also the dozens of employees put out of a job so suddenly by its sudden and totally unexpected closure.

And the recipes themselves looked wonderful. Some were complex and involved, but many were simple meals cooked to comfort herself and/or provide for her family. I love these kinds of cookbooks that give insight into not only what the recipe is about, but also the process of coming up with the idea as much as making it. That's the kind of thing that really inspires me!

"Sleepy gray afternoon. Storm blows in: pounding rain. Pasta sizzled in oil. Chile-sparked. Tang of bottarga. Splash of lemon. Awake!" (p. 266)

Keep reading! Beth

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (2006) by Alison Bechdel is a memoir in graphic novel form, a somewhat new format for me. While I love the Sunday comics, I've never been much of a graphic novel person - I sometimes find them to be visually overwhelming, like my eyes don't know where to look. Luckily, this book was arranged in a way that was very easy to follow.

I didn't know much about Bechdel before reading this book, in fact had not even realized that the now-famous Bechdel test was named after someone contemporary. The story itself is of her somewhat chaotic childhood and early adulthood, dealing with her father's mental health and identity issues as well as her own.

She grew up in quite a dysfunctional household, and I admire the way in which she writes and draws these events from her past in what seems to be a very truthful way, and even with some humor. I liked the foundation of classic literature, as something she and her dad connected over and a framework she used to make sense of her somewhat troubled past. Also interesting was the perspective of coming out as a lesbian in late 70s/early 80s. Fair warning: a few small scenes put the 'graphic' in graphic novel.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed learning about the very interesting Alison Bechdel, having a very quick read that still gave me great insight into a particular place and time, and getting a very easy introduction to the world of graphic novels. I'm excited to get into many more in the future!

"I employ these allusions to James and Fitzgerald not only as descriptive devices, but because my parents are most real to me in fictional terms."

Keep reading! Beth

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Having read Tina Fey's Bossypants and Aisha Tyler's Self-Inflicted Wounds within the past year (both great books), I thought Amy Poehler's Yes Please (2014) would be a similar collection of funny anecdotes and stories of embarrassing experiences, with some occasional behind-the-scenes 'shop talk' of the comedy and acting industries.

Though Yes Please had all of these, it was in very different proportions to the other comedy memoirs I've read recently, and was much heavier on the memoir and advice / words-of-wisdom, and lighter on the comedy and humor than I expected. It was much less of funny story after funny story and more sincere that I had assumed it would be. Amy was (or at least seemed to be) as honest about the lows as she was about the highs of her life.

This isn't a criticism; the book was definitely interesting, and I certainly feel like I know Amy better, even if I didn't bust my gut laughing regularly while reading. There was certainly still plenty of humor (heavy on the self-deprecating humor) and some great insider information, much more so than Tina's or Aisha's books. I really enjoyed reading about how things were run at SNL and her sitcom, and her experiences as a woman in what is definitely still a male-dominated industry were illuminating.

A really great read that I would recommend.

"Creativity is connected to your passion, that light inside you that drives you. That joy that comes when you do something you love. That small voice that tells you, 'I like this. Do this again. You are good at it. Keep going.' That is the juicy stuff that lubricates our lives and helps us feel less alone in the world." (page 222)

Keep reading! Beth