Talk Healthy

I think I read that on vacation, Spudd. I find vacation makes good books seem better (time to focus on them and absorb the goodness) but also makes bad books seem worse (I carried this 3000 km and it sucks? Well now it double sucks!)

I finished The Silent Sister and enjoyed it. It was a good beach novel.

I told you she was fun! I started another one by her, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. Sucked me right in. And I could not be happier to find out that, while this title was US$13 on kindle, it had also been released as The Lost Daughter and cost only US$6!

My problem with The Book Thief was more the style than the story, if I remember it correctly. But never mind me. I clearly have no taste, since I prefer cheesy soap operas to award-winning novels

I am LOVING Set Free The Kites. I just hope the ending doesn't disappoint.

I finished This is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel last night. I really liked it. Apparently it is fiction but the author did have a son who started wearing dresses in first grade because that's what she wanted to wear (there was a write up in NYT).

I have The Boy by Tracy Chevalier up next.

I also read some teen sex book with M yesterday. It became apparent this weekend that dad didn't do a great job when they had the talk earlier and to be fair this should be an ongoing discussion. Really good talk. At the end, he hesitated and asked me what 69 was because he's heard it in the locker room. I only paused for a second before telling him.

How did he react, Ro? to you for being so cool!

I finished Set Free the Kites. Parts were a little weird, like the author was trying to show off his literary knowledge, but doing it through the thoughts of the narrator, a 13-15 year old boy. Not that believable. But on the whole I enjoyed it.

Next is The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez.

It was a really good talk. I thought it might be a little embarrassing for him because I'm a "girl" but it wasn't at all. I had a few things that I really wanted to cover that he will likely experience soon and he took it all well. I hope that he always feels comfortable asking us questions. Plus he's going to hear things from friends with older siblings, I don't want him to not know what's going on and feel dumb.

Haven't started reading my next book yet. Hopefully I have a bunch of time for reading this weekend between games.

Finished Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton's doomed campaign - it was good but repetitive. Overall theme is that Hillary is in a bubble with little self awareness.

Grocery: The Buying and Selling of Food in America by Michael Ruhlman - it was really good and pretty interesting to learn about how grocery stores run and how they are trying to stay afloat with competition from Amazon, etc.

Blew through The Moth Presents: All These Wonders: True Stories about Facing the Unknown - love love loved this book and the stories. Big fan of The Moth podcast as well.

Just started The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone last night. It's a mystery/horror type book about ancient spiders eating people. Not far in but it's decent.

Finished The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. Far-fetched and soap-opera-ish, but so, so gripping. Her books remind me a little of Jodi Picoult in their themes (family dramas with something controversial thrown in), but without the courtroom part. Or the infuriating twists. But I think JP is a better writer.

I'm reading a sample of another of hers, Necessary Lies.

I just finished reading The Book of Unknown Americans. Loved it.

Next up is Hey Harry, Hey Matilda by Rachel Hulin.