What I Read in October and November

Here’s what I read in October and November. You’ll notice I’ve already surpassed my goal of reading 100 books this year!

October:
90. Project Rebirth: Survival and the Strength of the Human Spirit from 9/11 Survivors by Dr. Robin Stern and Courtney Martin. I read this because I really respect Courtney Martin’s work, and I enjoyed this book reasonably well. However (maybe because it’s a companion book to a documentary) it didn’t feel like “enough.” There were also some glaring grammatical errors.
91. Flat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform I read this after Katie mentioned that she’d be reading it in her women’s studies class this semester. I LOVED this book—not because it was particularly cheery, but because Hays laid out welfare reform thoroughly and honestly. She did a great job of exposing the problems with welfare reform.
92. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. This was from Jason’s reading list. Almost the entire novel is written in first person plural, which was interesting. It’s definitely a flawed book, but very unique and readable.
93. The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith. I really enjoyed this book…great advice for writers, especially those interested in writing memoir (whether it’s a book, blog, letter, whatever). I wish the book had been longer.
94. Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros. I’ve always enjoyed Cisneros, but this particular collection (aside from a few beloved stories, some of which I’d read before) just didn’t grab me.
95. Dreaming Frankenstein by Liz Lochhead. Fabulous book of poetry with some fairy tale themes.
96. The Great Fairy Tale Tradition edited by Jack Zipes. This is a 1,000-page Norton Critical Edition of fairy tales and critical essays. I read the entire thing. It was great, though not for the faint of heart in terms of length!
97. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. This is another Norton Critical Edition, which I actually bought for a Women in Literature class in college (I dropped out before we read it.) I finally opened it up and was spellbound after just a few pages. I sped through it, riveted. Definitely an argument for contentment if there ever was one.
98. Candide by Voltaire. Meh.
99. The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright. Meh again. She can turn a pretty phrase, but the story was lacking.

November:
100. Rose: Love in Violent Times by Inga Muscio. I thought this book was splendid. I don’t always agree with everything Muscio says, but I love hearing her point of view all the same. If you’re interested in feminist nonfiction and theory, consider checking out some of her stuff.
101. Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire by Lisa M. Diamond. I’d wanted to read this book ever since I read about it in a feminist magazine a few years ago. I finally got my hands on a copy and it was fine. It’s definitely a scholarly text (which, thankfully, I knew going in!), and it was interesting enough, but very dry.
102. The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine. I received a review copy of this book and will post about it soon!
103. The Surprising Power of Family Meals by Miriam Weinstein. I wanted to love this book, but it read like 50 pages of good content thinned out over a couple hundred pages.
104. Laughing at Wall Street by Chris Camillo. I received a review copy of this from BlogHer and I thought Camillo’s insights on investing were interesting, but after a while it became fairly repetitive and I found myself thinking “duh!” a lot. If it had been much longer, I wouldn’t have bothered to finish it.
105. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. This is my favorite book of all time (though I don’t suffer under the delusion that it’s a perfect book), and I read it every winter.
106. August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. This is a play my friend Joanna recommended to me, and I really enjoyed it.
107. Death By Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil Degrasse Tyson. Neil Tyson is a favorite in our household; he’s deliciously nerdy and hilarious. Jason put this book on my reading list and I was solidly entertained, even though I’m not nearly as well-versed in physics as Jason.

Have you read anything great recently?