Elizabeth's Books

As I've mentioned previously, I've decided to try to make 2010 a year of more books from different genres, including young adult novels, which led me to Vegan Virgin Valentine .

I picked up The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture after hearing an interview with Nathan Rabin last summer on NPR. In the interview, he came across as a pop-culture-loving, geeky meek soul that I could relate to, or at least be friends with in an alternate universe.

There's been criticism on both side of Anne Fadiman's The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - it's either too pro-Hmong/Lia Lee's family or too pro-doctor. I've always believed that if neither side of a story is entirely happy with your article or book, then you've done something right.

After reading several positive reviews, I hunted down Next Stop, Reloville: Life Inside America's New Rootless Professional Class . The book is well-written and researched. It provides an interesting look at the "relo" lifestyle of many Americans, and Kilborn hammers home his thesis of the negative impact on communities like Alpharetta, Georgia.

My mom and I discovered Susan Isaacs a few years when I picked up Any Place I Hang My Hat: A Novel , which we both read and liked. After that, I eagerly picked up After All These Years: A Novel and Past Perfect: A Novel , and thought they were fresh, fun, and a literary step above your average "chick lit" novel.

Then I started going to Isaacs earlier work, reading Compromising Positions and now Close Relations . And I am befuddled.

While I slog through a book about business and housing, I decided to take a break and spend an evening reading Amazing Grace . I'm trying to read more young adult fiction to get a sense of what's out there.

I suppose you could do worse than read, or have your teen read, Amazing Grace . The heroine, 15-year-old Grace Kincaid, starts the story by leaving behind her stellar tennis career and celebrity status to live undercover as a regular girl in Alaska. (It's all very Hannah Montana meets Northern Exposure).

My father went out and bought The Help for me just because he had enjoyed reading it so much. (I think he had already lent his copy to someone, and yes, my father is awesome and a big patron of my book habit.)

A smooth continuation from Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America , Dumas continues to write charming essays on life as an Iranian-American. Laughing Without an Accent: Adventures of a Global Citizen tackles more of her adult life, from choosing to take the television out of the house and the effects of that on her children, to dealing with a mother-in-law who seems like she's out of a Grimm fairy tale.

Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater is an engaging memoir about the life of former New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, largely focused around his relationship to food. From his Italian family pushing seconds and then criticizing his weight, to his unhealthy stabs at extreme weight loss, Bruni never delves too far into psychobabble regarding food and body image. Yet he delivers a compelling look at the emotional connection to food.

It turns out that A Reliable Wife was the perfect book to read this week. Why, you ask? It's because it takes place in 1907 Wisconsin, which is remarkably similar to Baltimore 2010, currently suffering from Snowpocalypse: The Threequel.