The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Barf. This book sucked. I'm not even going to bother summarizing it, just suffice it to say that I warned you - the cool cover is a mean trick! The book is super boring and pretentious. Or at least the first half of it is, because that's as much as I read before chucking it on the floor. New York Times Bestseller? More like New York Times Barfseller.

PS: My husband read this post and suggested it would have been funnier had I said New York Times Bestsmeller. Thoughts?

It's Important to start them early

Reading The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

American Wife

LOVED IT. One of the top 3 books for me this year. It's loosely based on Laura Bush and I don't really care how much is founded in fact and how much is made up, I couldn't put it down. It starts with her as a girl in the 50's and 60's and continues all the way up to 2004 or so.

I loved Sittenfeld's first book, Prep, but was less than in love with her second book, but this one? Best of the three in my opinion. It's so articulate. And thought provoking. It makes you consider another side of George Bush; albeit not necessarily a more flattering one - just a more human one. It has such wonderful thoughts and insight on wealth and privilege, fame, politics, and what it means to be married. Please go read it. I don't care how hyped this book was - sometimes the hype is TRUE.

I enjoyed this book so much I'm worried about what to read next. Any suggestions of something that won't let me down?

Henry's Sisters

My mother always said that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

Turns out that reading with a baby isn't as hard as I'd originally thought. If I use my boppy while nursing Edie then I have my hands free to read while she eats! In this manner I polished off The Girl Who Played with Fire, sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which I read while pregnant. I found this book equally addictive, but was consistently distracted by the terrible translation from Swedish to English. The plot sucked me in really quickly and I kept hoping that Edie would get hungry so that I could read. But then while reading I would find myself thinking, "That's totally implausible!" or, "People don't really use those types of words in casual conversation!". Nevertheless, I kept reading and am looking forward to the third and final novel in the series. I'm kind of a sucker for a good mystery slash thriller.

The Art of Racing in The Rain

I know, right? It's been a LONG time. But dudes, I had a BABY so you have to cut me some slack. And despite all the howling the wee one seems to be doing lately, I managed to consume a book! Sadly, because of all the howling I have very little time to summarize my thoughts on this book, so this will be a short review.

Basically, I really liked it. My first thought was, "Its' written from a dog's perspective?? Meh." But really I ended up loving that about it! The dog was so sweet, exactly like I imagine a dog thinking. I loved imagining that dogs really do like that you leave the tv on for them when you go to work. I loved that it took place in Seattle where I live. I have many more things to say but the babe is grumped up and needing attention. Basically, go read this book - it's real good. Thanks Mom for loaning it to me.

In Case You Were Wondering

I had my baby. And she's pretty cute. Please welcome miss Edie Bee Culver.

Edie as in Ee-dee and Bee as in bumble bee, which also happens to be my Grandmother's middle name. She was born August 30th at 7:18pm and weighed in at 8lbs and 2oz. The birth was relatively uneventful as far as births go and we are all home and doing well, but sleeping little. Reading even less. To keep updated on our happenings (and for a ridiculous number of baby pics), feel free to visit my personal site - link is in the side bar.