I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts

I couldn't resist. Much like I couldn't resist ordering a book called Tantric Coconuts. As much as I do my best to not choose books based off of the covers, I absolutely choose them based on titles. And typically it works out okay.

Coconuts! Also yarn, because I'm actually an old lady

Finding a little brown package on my doorstep is always exciting. Remembering that it has a book inside, even more exciting. Accidentally setting my oven on fire while reading my new book, pushes past exciting and towards terrifying.

Look at that cute little fire extinguisher 

 Despite filling my entire house with smoke, using a fire extinguisher and discovering that our smoke detectors don't have batteries, I still managed to finish half of this book in one night. Because its awesome. After airing out my house and scrubbing the inside of my oven, I snuggled back down with a well deserved pumpkin beer (s/o to Blue Moon, you did fall right) with Tantric Coconuts. Because its awesome. As of writing this, I'm only halfway through. Because I had to go to bed. Because I'm an adult, sort of.

Delicious reward for not burning down my house

Several days later... my house is still standing and the second half of this book reads more like a crash course in every religion ever. If you're looking for a fun way to understand different religions and spirituality, this is a great read. It's not at all what I was expecting, but was silly and thoughtful at the same time. The story follows Ted, an awkward lawyer, on a cross country adventure to figure out where is stands spiritually. Angel Two Sparrows teaches him about religion in a crash course, and thus teaches the reader about religions, in a crash course. Not what I was expecting, but definitely educational, and fun. This book, I like it, another! 

Book courtesy of Blogging For Books :) 

Because Hillary is Basically a Badass.

A Short Review of a Really Long Book

For my first Blogging For Books (c) post, I wanted to step out of my usual reading niche. This resulted in toting around a tome about Hillary Clinton for the past two months. When I say tome, I mean 500 pages of straight facts. On really nice parchmenty paper. Yes, parchmenty is in fact now a word.

Since everyone seems to be gearing up for my girl Hillary's election in 2016, before she's even announced, I felt that I needed to be a a much more educated voter. Not just love her unconditionally, but love her because shes a political rock-star. HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton by Jonathon Allen and Amie Parnes does a decent job of walking you through the life and times of Hill. Its a little bit like reading Scandal or House of Cards, but with a lot less sex or killing people.

The book opens with Hillary's first push for the presidency and follows her through to very nearly today, with anxious voters wondering if she'll push through that political glass ceiling for the presidency in 2016. The Clintons are political royalty in the US and HRC shows how they have used their political capital over the years. If you're looking for a political narrative about one of the most influential women in the country, this is an excellent read. It is by no means a quick read, unless you frequently read textbooks for fun. However, if you want to learn more about our the (hopefully) first Madam President, I would recommend. (My copy also came with a fun spread of photographs in the middle. Bonus!)

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

BookCon: And all of the Magic it Inspired

I thought it fitting to write my first entry about what sort of started this all. While aimlessly scrolling through Twitter while waiting for a colleague to return a phone call, I noticed a strange hashtag. #BookCon started appearing in various feeds and tweets from the numerous authors and publishing companies I follow because I'm a nerd. So as any other bibliophile would do, I googled around until I finally came across the website that confirmed for me that yes BookCon is a real thing and yes it would be happening in May and yes it would be in New York where my oldest sister happens to live. Naturally we bought tickets.

As the days crawled by before this nerdy-extravaganza of books and authors, we attempted to read as many books as we could before we embarked on our journey of literary excess. This is how I found Ruth.

Cooking and reading are tied for my favorite activities. Ruth Reichl managed to combine them for me. Ms. Reichl was on the list of authors who would be at BookCon, so naturally we both checked out "Tender at the Bone" from our respective libraries. Claire started first and was finished in a matter of days. Have you ever read a review of a restaurant that made you so hungry that you were halfway out of your chair before you finished reading it? That's what Ruth's writing is like. I don't eat meat, but her descriptions of butchers shops and meals made me want to say to hell with it and go find the nearest place that serves brisket. Her memoirs tell the story of her life through food, which if I were ever interesting enough to write a memoir, I like to think mine would be rooted in my mother's pension for Indian cooking, and my sister Annie's inability to cook when we were growing up.

If you like food (which if you don't you're doing life wrong) and if you come from a family with just a touch of crazy, you should read "Tender at the Bone". If Jennette Walls and Julia Child got together to write a book, it would probably turn out very similar to Reichl's writing.

Not only is she a wonderful author -but I was lucky enough to get a picture with her and have her laugh at me for having a Polaroid camera. Like the bumbling idiot I am, I was incapable of telling her how amazing her writing is and how it affected me. She was a sociology major (like me) and sort of fell into cooking (like me) and comes from a slightly off balance family (like me). She gave me hope that no matter where your life is now, it could still end up in New York City as a food critic.

Ruth Reichl and me at BookCon (you can't tell, but I'm wearing a purple crayon costume because Claire and I were under the impression people would dress up for this. Harold and the Purple Crayon was our book of inspiration)