The Room is Real. Or it isn't. Or it is? Or it isn't?

The Room by Jonas Karlsson is weird. It's a weird book. I'm not upset that it's weird. I'm weird and like weird things. But it was totally weird and not at all what I was expecting. Granted I'm starting to think that "not what I expected" and "not something I would normally read" but "totally loved" are all starting to be a part of my vernacular when referring to books I am reading because of BloggingforBooks. The back of the book is sort of misleading. I started reading thinking that I was going to read a book about a guy that basically finds adult Narnia in an office supply closet. Instead, I got a story about a guy that is woefully socially awkward who may or may not spend the entire book hallucinating. I'm still not sure what happened at the end of this bad boy. Was the room a real place? Was there a government conspiracy cover up? Did he ever make out with that receptionist? It's all very confusing. The end of this book left me with a lot of unanswered questions. I keep going over it in my head and cannot for the life of me decide if he was a crazy person or if there was something else happening. Karlsson wrote The Room in really short little chapters, so I kept misjudging how much I had read and accidentally finished the book in about four days. Super quick read. Good, but quick. If you're in the market for a strange, thought provoking book that you could read on an airplane or waiting in the doctors office - this is the book for you! If you want a more cut and dry story that makes sense and has a main character that is likable, then not so much. Bjorn (our anti-hero) is a total weirdo, but a really interesting weirdo. Karlsson does an excellent job of portraying office life as a microcosm of human experiences, and touches on many different day to day interactions but makes them slightly off kilter. Totally weird, but totally interesting.

Happy DEAR Day! I hope the like four people who read this are enjoying their Sunday with a good book and a cup of tea. (I'm getting down on some short stories by BJ Novak in between homework assignments and sips of iced tea). May your books be long and your mugs never empty.

As always - courtesy of Blogging for Books via Random House (Thanks guys) 

Kleptomaniacs, Drug Cartels and Family

Prayers for the Stolen isn't the kind of book I would normally gravitate towards. But I am so happy I did. It follows the story of a young girl living in rural Mexico, whose life is anything but normal. I don't want to give too much away, but her story is fascinating. I know very little about the city and rural politics of Mexico. But this story gave me an insight into the struggles that exist just across our borders. Ladydi, our heroine, lives in a small town where next to no men live and the women live in constant danger. Her town is constantly under siege from chemical bombings, and raids by drug cartels. This isn't exactly a happy story, but there is beauty in it. It's amazing how these families have managed to survive for so long in such a difficult environment, and how they have almost evolved to survive in such a climate.

This novel is beautifully written and thought provoking. Jennifer Clement brings the reader into a world of danger and she shows you the the beauty that you can find among scorpions, alcoholics and murder. Above all else, this is story about the lengths that family will take to protect one another and the things anyone will do to survive.

Book courtesy of Blogging for Books

Books Are Delicious!

As evidenced by my first blog post. I love Ruth. She's pretty awesome in every way. So, I'm a little ashamed that it took me so long to finally read Delicious! her first nonfiction book. My big sister scored me a copy of it at BookCon, so I really should have finished this book about a year ago instead of a month ago. 

It's a surprising narrative, following the story of a young aspiring journalist. Combining food, history, romance, family drama and an eclectic score of characters, Ruth paints a fascinating story about Billie and her life in New York. I've always loved Ruth's ability to write about food in such a way that you really feel like you could be eating or smelling whatever it is that's being described. The main character, Billie, has an incredible ability to pick out flavors and spices from anything that she eats, and gets wrapped up in the foodie world of NYC. I couldn't help but getting wrapped in her back story and how she comes into herself while working at Delicious! a food magazine. I don't want to ruin too much of the story (yunno if anyone out there is actually reading this) but the historical aspect of this story if fascinating. Billie discovers letters from a little girl to the editor of the magazine, letters that were written during WWII. They're absolutely adorable. 

If books could always combine food, history, and romance - I would be a happy camper. Ten out of ten, Ruth. Ten out of ten. 

Because it was about time someone made vampires evil again

So. I'm a bit peeved. Ten points to Griffindor if you imagined Peeves. I already wrote this blog post on my phone while waiting an absurdly long time at the doctor's office. But the world hates me and deleted the draft. Tears. I shall persevere! And attempt to remember what I so eloquently wrote while posted up in urgent care for two hours.

I really did not expect to like this book. "The Secrets of Life and Death" by Rebecca Alexander sounded like a cheesy vampire historical novel. It wasn't. It was awesome. I was THRILLED when the "vampires", which were never actually referred to as vampires, were evil. Like serial killer evil. Which is what vampires actually are. They don't sparkle, they don't all live in Mystic Falls and they sure as hell shouldn't watch you sleep creepily through a window. Don't get me wrong. I love Vampire Diaries and am guilty of reading Twilight. However, this was so refreshing and different that I couldn't put it down.

Alexander pulls true historical events and warps them, turing a 15th century serial killer into a mystical being. This story is two fold. Based off of historical events revolving around Elizabeth Bathory and the writings of Dee and Kelley, she creates a mythical history of magic, witches and the possibility of cheating death. Jumping forward to today, the story follows several individuals who were pulled into the same magic that existed hundreds of years ago. All revolving around the disappearances of girls and young women throughout history.

This novel was different, kept me on the edge of my seat and didn't romanticize the undead. If you're looking for a historical novel about some seriously evil vampires and some modern day witch craft mixed with a pretty attractive history professor, this is definitely the book for you.

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

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)