Summer Reading

Julie & Julia by Julie Powell
365 days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen: How One Girl Risked Her Marriage, Her Job, and Her Sanity to Master the Art of Living



Memoirs are quickly becoming my favorite type of book. I love how real they are. And the fact that this book is based on a food blog makes it even better IMO. Although I have no desire to cook my way through "Mastering the Art of French Cooking", I could really relate to Julie Powell. I understood her frustration at being a 29 year old temp and wanting to do something more. I love how much Julie changed in just a year, going from being "lost" to finding passion in her life. And btw, her husband Eric is a saint.

"I have no claim over the woman at all, unless it's the claim one who has nearly drowned has over the person who pulled her out of the ocean."

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith



Since I'm a die-hard Pride and Prejudice fan, I was excited to get my hands on this book - even though I wasn't sure if I would really like it. I mean, they take 80% of the classic and keep it exactly the same - word for word. But then they just throw in zombies. But you know, it WORKS! I thoroughly enjoyed this book! And Mr. Darcy is even hotter as an expert zombie killer.

What's next? According to amazon.com, apparently "Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters" - weird.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson



It's been awhile since I've read a crime thriller and this one blew me away. The second half of this book became pretty gruesome - in fact, it reminded me a lot of Silence of the Lambs.

This book was a huge hit in Sweden, where it was first released under the title, "Män som hatar kvinnor" (Men Who Hate Women) - which is a more appropriate title but I understand why they changed the name: I can't really seeing myself reading a book with that title.

The characters are SO WELL WRITTEN - especially Lisbeth, who is one of the most complex characters I've read about in a long while. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel which was released the other day: "The Girl Who Played with Fire."