Us by David Nicholls

The story of how I came upon picking this book up is quite interesting.  I was traveling around Italy and Scotland earlier this summer, and I found myself at the end of the two week trip at an airport in Scotland, waiting 4 hours for my next flight to arrive.  So I wandered into this little airport bookstore to get some mints and a water and I found myself drawn to the bookshelves.  I picked up this book and one other (because it was a buy one get one sale!) and started reading immediately.

This is the story of a man named Douglas who lives in England.  His wife is considering leaving him after their son leaves for college and in an effort to remind his wife of why they got married in the first place, he takes his family on a trip around Europe.  Until he messes things up and his family begins to fall apart.

I really like how this story is written.  It flashes back very abruptly but in a way that makes sense.  You definitely have to have some idea of the language in England to get some of the humor. It's a really great read especially when you are traveling, or in the mood to travel but your bank account doesn't agree.  After I finished reading this, I actually saw this book on one of those Pinterest lists of like top 20 books to read in your twenties.  I'm ahead of the curve! I'm a trendsetter! Or I just picked up a good book by chance….Nah I'm a trendsetter.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This is the kinda book that you carry around with you everywhere just in case you find yourself with 5 minutes to kill.  It's the kind of book that you neglect your to do list all week until you finish it. It's the book that you finish 10 minutes before the Superbowl starts.  It's the book that you curl up with on the couch as snow softly falls outside and read by the light of your Christmas which is yes, still up since I live in an apartment with little storage (and it's just pretty!).

In case you can't tell, I love this book.  I originally read it back in high school, but that was a long time ago so I decided to reread it.  I love it even more the second time! As a rule, I generally don't reread books very often.  I have a large stack of unread and lonely novels waiting for me to unlock their secrets and bond with their characters.  But this book is the exception.

Written by Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler's Wife tells the passionate tale of a husband and wife who are bound in the romantic web of the husbands ability to time traveler.  Unfortunately, he doesn't control his abilities and therefore often leaves Clare alone, sometimes leaving her to see another age of her.  As confusing as this sounds, Niffenegger does an excellent job of keeping you in the loop, except for the twist ending.  Clare and Henry's love is stronger than time itself and as the story unfolds, this becomes more and more evident as you read.  You really need to read this book if you haven't already and then see the movie which is next on my list!  It's the perfect read to get you in the Valentine's day spirit.

Happy Reading!

Always the Baker, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker

Do you ever have those days where you just want to go back to being a little kid because everything in your life requires you to be adult and responsible?  Me neither.  But sometimes you just need a break from all of the stress of daily life.  I picked this book up out of the pile of books my mom gave me a couple years ago that I hadn't gotten around to reading yet.  The cover looked cute so I gave it a read.

I definitely think that this book is geared toward younger readers than myself, like preteens and teens, however it was a nice "fluff" book to read in between heavier novels (check out my next post on The Time Traveler's Wife).  It is super easy to read and I finished it in less than a week, even with being in school 4 days a week.  Sometimes its nice to just read a book that doesn't require you to look up fancy words or think about the hidden meanings.

The main character is Emma, a baker who ends up working for a business tycoon who recently left corporate life and bought a hotel in honor of his late wife who used to work there.  The author centers around God and how God is trying to repair Jackson's heart from the devasting passing of his late wife by introducing Emma into his life.  Basically a love story, this book takes a new path to exploring the love concept by tying in Emma's 'divorced' parents.  A perfect read with Valentine's Day fast approaching!

I really liked this book because at the end of each chapter, there is either a recipe or tips on cake decorating.  Some of the recipes are definitely some I will have to test out such as the recipe for Espresso Fondant.  Overall, I would recommend this book to any Christian women who needs a break from serious and heavy books.  Plus it's nice to get lost in a fictional characters problems rather than dwell in your own.

Happy Reading!

The Blue Plate Special by Kate Christensen

Recently I have been reading a new book that I picked up in the Seattle airport coming back to Michigan from a family trip to Alaska.  My mom and I were originally drawn to it because of the cover, depicting a gloriously lopsided stack of pancakes covered in melting pats of butter and dripping with syrup.  I had never read anything by Kate Christensen before, but now I will definitely look into some of her other books.

This book is unlike any book I've ever read before.  It's written with such detail and passion and it made me wonder if I could recollect my own life as well as Kate did hers.  I love books that feature food along the plot line, making your mouth water with every turn of the page.  Passages like the following are the type of writing that made my stomach gurgle in hunger as I devoured this book.

"One night the entire supper consisted soley of boiled zucchini, boiled potatoes, and homemade bread and cheese.  They called the zucchini courgettes, but they didn't fool me: I knew that stuff when I saw it.  I remembered a;; too well the horrible stuff from our Phoenix backyard, the zucchini bread at the Threefold guesthouse.  I sat down with disappointment and dread.
And then I tasted the zucchini.  It was sublime, subtly multidimensional in flavor and velvety in texture, not like succhini at all but some fair like, delicate thing of palest green, very fresh, with an herblike essence." -- An excerpt from Blue Plate Special by Kate Christensen

Sometimes I had to remind myself that this was an autobiography and not a novel.  In a way, reading this book was like having a chat with an old friend.  Each chapter was its own little one-sided conversation over a meal or a great cup of coffee with a friend.  Because of this, I often enjoyed this book with a pot of strong espresso and a dash of heavy cream while reading.

This book reminded me of how food plays a huge role in shaping every person's life, even if you don't think so.  Food is nourishment, it soothes us, or for some, it can be a source of pain.  Everyone can relate to food in some way.  Food brings memories, little flashes of our past captured in tastes and flavors.  And it brings people together, uniting them in a common source of love.