Ruth Reichl

Tender at the Bone/ Comfort Me with Apples/ Garlic and Sapphires:

Tender at the Bone tells the story of Reichl’s childhood. Ruth started cooking to rescue her mother’s dinner guests from the awful food, propelling Ruth into the kitchen at a young age and laying the foundation for her future. Comfort Me With Apples outlines the demise of her first marriage and her first ventures into restaurant criticism, ending with her time as the restaurant critic and food editor at the Los Angeles Times. Seeing an opportunity, Reichl takes the available restaurant critic job at the New York Times, a job she describes in Garlic and Sapphires.

I read all three of these memoirs in quick succession for a Readers’ Advisory Workshop I will be facilitating soon. I adore these books. I had never read Reichl’s reviews in the New York Times or her other work, so I was pleasantly surprised at how down to earth and relatable she is. I would have thought that a celebrated restaurant critic would be pretentious and haughty. She’s quite the opposite. A bohemian who grew up in New York, then fled to first Michigan and then to Berkeley, Reichl really creates an impression that anything is possible. Her love of food comes through so strongly. And her use of food as a healing agent is something that I can completely understand.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Twelve-year-old Miranda is more than a little obsessed with the book A Wrinkle In Time. When she starts finding mysterious notes hinting at the future, a story unfolds that will not leave you disappointed. From ALA,”…Miranda encounters shifting friendships, a sudden punch, a strange homeless man and mysterious notes that hint at knowledge of the future. These and other seemingly random events converge in a brilliantly constructed plot.” This years’ Newbery Medal winner, Stead has done a wonderful job telling Miranda’s story.

I loved this book. I was also obsessed with A Wrinkle In Time as a kid (who wasn’t?) and I appreciated the subtle details that Stead threw in. I haven’t read L’Engle in a long time. It was so nice to revisit it. A quick read, it would be great for reluctant readers.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney

It’s hot, it’s summer, and Greg Heffley’s mom has decided that sleeping all day and playing video games is not an acceptable way to spend summer vacation. Dog Days follows Greg through his summertime adventures. You also find out how disturbing a pool locker room can be.

I do enjoy Greg Heffley’s antics, but this wasn’t as good as the first books in this series. Greg seems a little meaner. And sometimes you just want to smack him. Or, at least, I do, but I don’t really think that I’m in the demographic these books are written for…I’m definitely not a 4-7th grade boy.

An Off Year by Claire Zulkey

Cecily’s ready to go to college. All of her friends are going. But when Cecily and her father get to her dorm room on move-in day, she changes her mind. And she and her father start a silent journey back home. Cecily spends the next year figuring out what she wants to do with her life. She also discovers who she is and mends some bridges.

I liked this book, but I don’t think it was great. There are definitely some funny moments, but overall, it sort of fell flat. It would be good for teens who feel as ambivalent towards college as Cecily does.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Sam Taylor isn’t sure she believes in God anymore. Her mom’s in rehab and her father doesn’t have time for her. She distances herself from her friends. She feels lost. And she needs to keep all of her feelings and worry inside because she’s the pastor’s daughter.

When a local girl goes missing, the entire town comes together. Sam’s father acts as the family’s spokesman, meaning he has even less time for Sam. He’s also getting scarily close to the pretty young youth group leader while his wife’s in rehab.

Zarr does a great job of understanding how teen girls think (or at least the less shallow ones.) Sam is realistic in her doubts. It’s completely believable that she would pull away from her friends, fellow church members, when her perfect family has become less than perfect. I love Zarr’s books and this is no exception.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

This is an extensively research play-by-play of the tragedy that was Columbine. Cullen tirelessly interviewed parents, teacher, police officers, FBI agents—anyone who could shed some light on what and how Columbine happened. So well written, I couldn’t put it down.

I was in college when the shooting at Columbine occurred, so I didn’t recall a lot of the details until I read this. The story is strung together with the timeline of April 20, 1999 interspersed with details of the killers’ lives. Amazing and disturbing.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See

Pearl and May Chin are Beautiful Girls. They model for advertising and portraits of these sisters appear all over Shanghai. The daughters of a wealthy rickshaw company owner, Shanghai is all theirs—their friends are wealthy foreigners and the Shanghai elite, they are fashionable and smart. They have it all. That is, until their father loses everything to a gambling debt and sells both sisters into marriage. At least they marry brothers, so they will always be together.

This is the gripping story of the sisters’ exodus from China, into their husbands’ family home in Los Angeles. Their story begins in 1937, just before the Japanese invade China. The escape reads like an adventure story and a family saga rolled into one beautifully written package. See did a great job of making you feel like you’re there, running for your life with them.

I read (listened) to this book for the China Challenge over at Biblio File. This book is great on audio! Janet Song is a wonderful narrator. The sisters were so alive to me that I found myself wanting to know more about their lives after the book ended. Great listen!