What's a Little Smoke Inhalation...

WHAT’S A LITTLE SMOKE INHALATION… when you're rescuing books from a fire? 

I am a reader.  If I could someone to bankroll my voracious habit, I would be a happy camper. It comes up all of the time: What are your hobbies? Reading.  What do you enjoy in your free time? Reading. What were you doing still up at 3 am? Reading.

So, as a connoisseur of crisp memoirs, dog-eared fiction, and highlighted non-fiction, I figured it was time to share a few more book recommendations.  For those that haven’t made it through the first list of my all-time favorites, click here for Books Worth Singeing Your Eyebrows

I have included reviews and comments about all of the MEMOIRS and SPIRITUALITY/LIFE LESSONS books for your enjoyment!

Please feel free to pass along any and all recommendations and your own reviews! As a card-carrying reading addict, my motto is “There can never be enough books…”

FICTION:

Open House – Elizabeth Berg
Year of Pleasures – Elizabeth Berg
The Book of Lost Things – John Conolly
You Remind me of Me – Dan Chaon
If Today Be Sweet – Thrity Umrigar
Songs Without Words – Ann Packer
Vises of Enchantment – Heidi Julavits
Mermaid Chair – Sue Monk Kidd
Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd
Autobiography of God – Julius Lester
The Red Thread – Anne Hood
Black Girl/White Girl – Joyce Carol Oates
Missing Mom – Joyce Carol Oates
Arthur & George – Julian Barnes
Wish You Were Here – Steward O’Nan
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
Court of Common Pleas - Alex Marshall
Away - Amy Bloom
MayTrees - Annie Dillard
Memory Keepers Daughter - Kim Edwards
White Oleander - Janet Fitch
Bee Season - Myla Goldberg
Abstinence Teacher - Tom Perotta
The Girls - Lori Lansens
Doctor's Daughter - Hilma Wolitzer
Secret History - Donna Tartt
Back when we were grown-ups - Anne Tyler
Sleep Toward Heaven - Amanda Eyre Wards
Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwarz
Weight of Water - Anita Shreve

MEMOIR:

Nothing Was the Same – Kay Jamison

• Written after her husband passed away from cancer, this psychologist writes passionately about love, marriage, grief, and surviving it all with Bipolar disorder

An Unquiet Mind – Kay Jamison

•  A brave memoir by a psychologist about losing her mind and her struggles with mental illness

Lovesong: Becoming a Jew – Julius Lester

• One man’s journey toward finding his Jewish roots and reclaiming Judaism as his own map for faith
  
  
  

  Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Thoughts on being a first-time mother, moments of urges to fling oneself out windows, and the overwhelming love that she stands on

Girl Meets God – Lauren Winner

• An interesting memoir of a Reform Jew who transitions into Orthodoxy, and then converts to Fundamental Christianity

Death Be Not Proud – John Gunther

• A father’s memoir of his son’s final months before dying of a brain tumor.  Deeply moving, it’s more about bravery, resilliance and a bright spirit than the weight of death

Hurry Down Sunshine – Michael Greenberg

• A father’s memoir of his 15 year old daughter’s psychotic break and the world of mental illness.  

SPIRITUALITY/LIFE LESSONS

The Lord Will Gather Me In – David Klinghoffer

• An adopted Reform Jew journeys into Orthodox Judaism, complete with four conversions and a burning desire for steady faith

Talking to God – Naomi Levy

• A beautiful compilation by a Los Angeles Rabbi, taking themes of psalms and converting them into present day language and words that touch the soul

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith – Anne Lamott

• Amazing essays and random thoughts about finding faith, incorporating spirituality and the struggle to do either

Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg

• A book to ‘free the writer within’ but is a jewel for everyone as a guide to implementing art in your life and viewing life with creative eyes

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life – Anne Lamott

• Even if you’re not a writer, this book will make you want to pick up your pen.  She weaves lessons on writing with lessons on life, muses about creativity and sparks passion for the artist within

Letters to a Young Poet – Rainer Maria Rilke

• My copy has few pages left that aren’t underlined, highlighted or dog-eared.  Quotes from this book help me pave my worldview and strike a truthful chord at every reading

Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons – Kurt Vonnegut

• A chance to hear this master writer speaking in his own voice about his worldview, writing, and living.  It is a compilation of essays, reviews, and speeches that urge late night book store runs for more of his writing

The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron

• One of the essentials for artists of all kinds, this book is a how-to in unlocking your paintbrushes and splashing color through your days