Tag: recent reads

Recently Consumed

Lauren3 Comments

A list of things consumed by my head, heart, eyes, ears and stomach lately.

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Carrot Hummus at The Pig and The Sprout

We chose this spot for our Tuesday Date Night and when they posted a picture of this luxurious looking carrot hummus on Instagram that day, I KNEW I had to order it and see what was up with those “funyun” chips.  Turns out there’s no chickpeas involved in that hummus, hence the creamy texture and those chips DID have the exact flavor of Funyuns.  We dug it!

Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino

Forgot to mention our March book club read!  Probably because I really wasn’t into it.  Basic Plot: Grad student/aspiring writer borrows a very buzzed about book from her roommate and discovers it’s about HER (very troubled) past and was written by her long lost childhood best friend turned first love.  Ugh, just writing that description reminded how annoying this book was.  The entire cast of the book seemed to cater to this very selfish and immature main character and I was not about it.

Girls Final Season

The highest respect to TV writers who had reviews of the final season of Girls out the night of the finale.  It’s been weeks and I still can’t make sense of my feelings on the show in its entirety.  I meant to write about the finale and I didn’t.  I meant to post about my favorite episodes from all six seasons and I didn’t.  I meant to figure out why I’m so conflicted about this show and I haven’t.  I will say, that final scene between Hannah and Adam was easily one of my favorite moments of the entire series.  They said so much by saying so little and though it was heartbreaking, it felt right.  Also, I will continue to pretend “Goodbye Tour” was actually the finale because Hannah and Jessa reuniting (even if only temporarily) was so touching and the whole dancing scene interspersed with snapshots of Hannah’s future was really the only ending I needed.  Plus I really hated “Latching.”

Well that “quick blurb” certainly got away from me…

Broken Angels by Gemma Liviero

This book reminded me A LOT of both All the Light We Cannot See and The Nightingale, both in the setting (Europe during WWII) and the formulation (characters from different sides of the aisle whose stories eventually combine).  That being said, I felt the effect was damaged because I kept thinking “I’ve read this all before!”  And I liked the writing in both of those other books more than this one.  Still, I liked this one well enough and wouldn’t dissuade anyone from picking it up for themselves.

Sweet Corn and Zucchini Pie

Well I’ve mentioned this recipe on the blog approximately 7,000 times, sooooo HAVE YOU MADE IT YET?  If not, I don’t know what you’re waiting for, but I’m actually not waiting for summer to eat corn and zucchini.  JOEY cooked this for ME and even though we were short a few ounces of cheese, it was still SO GOOD.  So that’s probably why I’ve talked about it so many times.  Paired with the best sweet potato fries (Joey makes them so much better than me!) and I think this meal actually willed the sun out of hiding that day.

Beloved by Toni Morrison

GUYS.  OMG.  LITERATURE!  I tried to explain to Joey — in a lengthy and cocktail induced speech — the difference between what I read in book club and actual literature and how damn refreshing it was to know within seconds of starting Beloved that is was the latter but he was probably mostly hoping I’d just stop talking 🙂  But seriously, the writing is so poetic and the story is so deeply painful and beautiful and I don’t know why it took me this long to finally pick this novel up but I’m so glad I finally did.

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Happy Friday/Cinco de Mayo/Birthday to my mother-in-law!  We are celebrating all those things the best way we know how… with burgers, fries, beer and a Rockies game!  Bet you thought I was going to say tacos and margaritas, huh? 🙂  What are you up to this weekend?

Recent Reads

Lauren3 Comments

At the beginning of the summer, I set a goal to read six books.  We’re just 10 days into August and CHECK!  I marked that sixth tally on my Summer Bucket List on Saturday and it felt so good.  I mean it took me like four days to finish the last eight pages of that sixth book, but whatever.  Now, I’m in between books and it feels so wrong.  I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver this one to me tomorrow, so I guess I’ll just have to immerse myself in Olympic swimming until then.  Not that that’s hard.  PHELPS PHOREVER ♥

Here’s what I read this summer!

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The Life We Bury

So this book wasn’t perfect.  The main character was unexplainably DUMB towards the end, it all wrapped up just a little too neatly and I didn’t give a $#!% about the main character’s relationship with his neighbor, but I really really liked the main character.  I liked that he was tough but had the biggest heart and that it showed in the way he cared for his younger brother.  I do really wish we’d had more interaction with Carl, as he was pretty much the catalyst for the entire story, but overall I enjoyed this one.

Me Before You

Surprised the heck out of myself by liking this one quite a bit!  I saw the movie at an advanced screening a couple of months ago and even though everyone else cried through the entire ending, I was like “god this is cheesy!”  But then I read the book and it gave me so much more than the movie.  All the gaps were filled in, all the characters were so well fleshed out and okay, I still didn’t cry, but I got pretty close.  Fellow readers, are Jojo Moyes’ other books worth reading?

The Devil in the White City

Can you even believe the World’s Fair in Chicago existed??  It sounded incredible and the history nerd in me loved all the facts and behind-the-scenes information this book provided but it all seemed a little drawn out for me.  I got too much of a research paper feeling and not enough of a connection to any of the characters.

The Good Girl

This is the story of a privileged young woman being abducted by a complicated young man.  It’s also the story of a desperate mother, a failing marriage and a good-hearted detective.  The evolution of both of these central relationships was really interesting and Detective Hoffman was such an easy-to-root-for character but I didn’t particularly like the way this one ended.  Too much stock is placed on plot twists these days.  Also, Mia, the “main character” is almost exclusively shown through the eyes of other characters and I thought that was a really weird decision for the author to make.

The Nightingale

I liked this book a lot, though after this and All the Light We Cannot See, I think I need a break from World War II stories.  It’s all so heavy!  I loved the French aspect, the sister aspect, the strong female character aspect and the semi-twist at the end.  Prose-wise, All the Light We Cannot See is far superior, but this story was equally interesting.  Also, my mom and I were supposed to be reading this together and I’m fairly certain I’ll have forgotten the plot by the time she finishes it 🙂  (Just calling you out on the internet, Mom.)   

The Secret Life of Anna Blanc

So this was interesting… the author of this book actually lives in Denver and attended our book club meeting!  It takes place in 1907 L.A. and Anna Blanc is a spoiled desperate-not-to-end-up-a-spinster socialite, who secretly takes a job as a police maiden and gets wrapped in a serial killer mystery.  I wanted to like it, but Anna was just annoyingly stupid and never got any less stupid.  The author explained that she wrote her main character that way purposely and cited Scarlett O’Hara as inspiration and okay, that made me hate Anna a little bit less but this still wasn’t my favorite read of the summer.

I’ve got Reconstructing Amelia, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris on the brain for my next few reads, but what else do you recommend??