the ramble

After a long strand of books about serial killers and death-defying adventures, and a couple books on heaven and Christianity, I returned to my staple topic: travel. And then a totally new topic of interest, inspired by cleaning out my closet: fashion.

The Geography of Bliss [07/26]
An interesting and (obviously) geographic look at happiness. Where does it come from? Who has it? Where is it?

Countries explored: The Netherlands, Switzerland, Bhutan, Moldova, India, Qatar, Iceland, Thailand, Great Britain, America.

French Women Don’t Get Fat [07/28]
Delicious. Delightful. Light-hearted.

Countries explored: France, America.

The Lost Girls: Three Friends, Four Continents, One Unconventional Detour Around the World [08/04]
Interesting. Sometimes frustrating. Long.

Countries explored: Argentina, Brazil, Kenya, India, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia.

Eat, Pray, Love [08/09]
Still wonderful.

Countries explored: Italy, India, Indonesia.

Obsession: The FBI’s Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists and Stalkers… [08/14]
Not as good as his later stuff, but still interesting.

Countries explored: New Zealand, Kansas.

What I Wore [08/20]
Delightful.

The Little Black Book of Style [08/23]
Cute. Somewhat cliched.

The One Hundred [08/23]
Interesting fashion ideas. Though it doesn’t take into account body type (Sorry, but us busty girls can’t do the horizontal striped tee).

The Sex Lives of Cannibals [08/24]
Interesting. A little proud.

Countries explored: Pacific islands (specifically, Kiribati)

Books abandoned:
You Say More than You Think
The Body Language Handbook
I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar
Saved By Beauty
A Thousand Days in Venice

I’ve been reading French Women Don’t Get Fat. For those of you who haven’t read it, it’s a book about balance. About eating well. About loving food. About moving. All things I value.

(Don’t worry, I’m not about to go on a diet or start talking about diets. I know you would all flee, screaming from this blog if it turned into that kind of frequently-ranted-about-by-everyone-in-America drivel).

Things I’ve discovered from the book (and already tried):
Magical leek soup (plus, I added pepper)
Natural Greek yogurt drizzled with honey (which I purchased at the farmer’s market)

I find the book delightful and am going to have to buy it so that I can keep trying the simple, delightful recipes. Mmmm.

January: 7 finished, 4 abandoned
February: 5 finished, 1 abandoned
March: 5 finished, 3 abandoned
April: 3 finished (shameful!), 3 abandoned
May: 4 finished, 2 abandoned
June: 9 finished (that’s more like it), 2 abandoned
July: 9+ finished, 4 abandoned

July’s Bookworm Exploits

Inside the Mind of BTK [July 1]
Written in three parts, this book explores the murders, life and mind of the Kansas serial killer who called himself the Bind Torture Kill Strangler. Totally frightening, engrossing and fascinating. The only downside to the book is the unnecessary tangents about what the profiler was doing at the time he was analyzing BTK (I don’t care that it was one AM particularly). Superfluous detail. But overall a well-written book.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter [July 2]
You all know the TV show, right? Here’s the book that inspired the show. Well-written, though I’m not quite sure I believe the ending. Or like it that much.

The Great Divorce [July 4]
C.S. Lewis’ take on heaven and hell. Succinct and interesting…and the characters remind me of real people that I know.

Dearly Devoted Dexter [July 7]
Back to my favorite serial killer.

Dexter in the Dark [July 9]
And again. These are getting progressively creepier.

Dexter by Design [July 10]
And creepier…geeze. Even a bit much for me. I think it’s time to move genres…

How Did You Get This Number? [July 13]
Charming short stories that make me want to write.

The Hunger Games (again) [July 16]
Still fantastic.

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester At America’s Holiest University [July 20]
Funny, horrifying, familiar, foreign…and all very well-written. I never encountered this kind of racism in the church and groups of girls tend to be less homophobic in general, but he DID choose one of the most conservative school in the nation…so I guess some antiquated views are to be expected?

Abandoned:
C.S. Lewis’ Miracles
High School Confidential
A Grief Observed
Invisible Man (though I did read the Cliffnotes)

.One.
It is a strange thing to read a book (and a well-written one at that) written by someone younger than me. The first time this happened, I was just out of college. Now it’s starting to happen more often. I don’t feel old, and yet somehow I’m now old. It’s kind of like when RB and I went to that poetry slam in Denver’s art district. When we walked in a bunch of high school kids were introducing themselves around a circle. Then it came to us and comments were made about us “obviously being older.” And, weird.

.Two.
This summer has been strangely humid and wet for Denver. It’s a lot less enjoyable than usual and I’m starting to think that maybe I’ll live somewhere else for a little bit once my lease is up (which would be next summer). More on this later.

.Three.
I’m reading The Unlikely Disciple at the moment–a really interesting book. It’s about a journalist who goes undercover for a semester at Liberty University. Yes, Jerry Falwell’s college. Yes, the one the used to have separate sidewalks for men and women.

The author likes to talk about Liberty like it’s the most conservative college in the nation, but I think one may have them beat: Pensacola Christian College down in Pensacola, Florida.

I went there once to visit a friend. And it was rather ridiculous and otherworldly. At Liberty, guys and girls can hold hands, but nothing else. At Pensacola, high-fives are banned. At Liberty, girls wear tight pants and cute tops. At Pensacola, women must always wear hose when outside the dorm and ankle-length skirts when outside their rooms (even just going to another friend’s room in the same-sex dorm!). So, Liberty, sorry, but you’re going to have to up your game if you are vying for the Most Conservative award.

I know it’s only been a month since the last book update, but I’ve been busy reading. As you can see from the picture above…which I took when I realized how ridiculously large my pile of library books was. Oh, then I realized I left one out of the picture. At what point is reading considered an addiction?

So, without further ado, stuff from this month (not counting the guidebooks on Britain, Hawaii, Croatia and Belize or the couple classics whose sparknotes I perused).

Fascinating
The Cases that Haunt Us
Getting Out: Your Guide to Leaving America

Interesting
Alanna: The First Adventure
In the Hand of the Goddess
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Lioness Rampant

Just Okay
Vagabonding
The Grown-Up’s Guide to Running Away from Home
How to Retire Overseas

Mostly Boring
Slipping Into Paradise

Looking for the full 2011 booklist? Click here.