July 14-20, 2013

Diners, Drive-in, Dives: The Funky Finds in Flavortown by Guy Fieri - a collection of some of the places from the show with a short thought from Guy, a couple of lines from members of his Krew, sometimes something from the owners about how the show changed their business and then a recipe. Most of the recipes are not really something that would be easy to make at home. This book would be better used as a travel guide and I think many people do that. In the back is a list of all the places the show has been, not just the ones in the book.

3 stars
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TransAtlantic by Colum McCann - this is a book that is getting rave reviews but I didn't enjoy it. I spent most of the book wondering what it was about and when I would get to the story. It weaves real people and events from 1845 to 2012 and moves from Ireland to North America. The author writes beautiful sentences but what are they about?

2 stars
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Her: A Memoir by Christa Parravani - a true story of a woman dealing with the death of her twin sister. This was a very raw, let it all out book. The author pulls no punches when telling the depths each sister went to dealing with their various issues. 50% of twins die within a couple of years of their twins death. I came away with the idea that perhaps their relationship was not a healthy twin relationship but I don't know what it's like to be an identical twin.

3 stars
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A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams - this is a glorified Harlequin romance novel. The writing is nice but it's basically a girl loves boy/ loses boy over misunderstanding/ finds boy again. And it wraps up in a true hurricane story in 1938. There are sex scenes but not salacious.

3 stars
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Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan - if you're not a fan of Jim Gaffigan's comedy you probably won't like this book. Very short chapters about raising 5 children in New York in a 2 bedroom apt. I really enjoyed his chapter on people's reaction to his having 5 children. I also like his obvious love and admiration for his wife. Because I laughed out loud a few times it gets

4 stars
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Shadows of the Workhouse by Jennifer Worth - this is the second of the three books Call the Midwife are based on. I didn't think this was quite as good as the first, there wasn't as much nursing. It was more of an in depth look at three cases. She does go into quite a lot of detail about the workhouses and that was horrific.

3 stars
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Diary of a Stage Mother's Daughter:A Memoir by Melissa Frances - Melissa was on Little House On the Prairie the last two years of the show. This book tells of her and her sister's life constantly trying to please their mother but not knowing what was going to set her off. Melissa liked acting but she didn't like how her mother's love was lavished or withheld depending on her performance.

4 stars