Best Books of the Week

A bit early this week, but I'm afraid if I wait any longer, I'll have read too many good ones and won't be able to choose just three! :)  Here ya go!

Poser - Claire Dederer

As a huge fan of yoga, I loved this memoir! Each chapter begins with a different yoga pose (downward dog, child’s pose, etc.) that corresponds with a specific time in her life or a specific pose that she was struggling with at the time. I’m not sure if I would’ve been such a big fan if I didn’t know much about yoga and its poses, but I thought it was great. Very well written without being boring. I want to read it again!

Point, Click, Love - Molly Shapiro

Although I have NO idea why literary genius Tom Perrotta wrote a blurb for the cover of this book (it’s a fluffy, chick-lit piece that I would probably be embarrassed to be caught reading in public), I actually enjoyed it the whole way through. Four women all want different things from the Internet: Katie, recently divorced, wants a new man; single Annie wants to find the perfect sperm donor to mother her child; Max finds herself obsessed with celebrity gossip sites in order to deal with her less-than perfect marriage; Claudia just wants her husband to get OFF of Facebook and fix their failing relationship. While it did get a bit ridiculous (at some point, Katie finds herself interacting with a 60-something “sugar daddy” who gives her an “allowance”) and it was, of course, predictable and generic, it was a thoroughly fun read and I really liked it!



Swamplandia! - Karen Russell

LOVVVVEEEEE!!!! I was thoroughly impressed with this novel! Told from the perspective of Ava Bigtree, a young alligator wrestler mourning the recent death of her mother, and Kiwi Bigtree, her older brother who is yearning to leave the family business/theme park “Swamplandia!” behind, it sounds really weird, right? Well, it absolutely was, but in the best way possible. After “Chief” Bigtree leaves to raise money for the failing business, Kiwi goes away to the mainlands to get a job, and eccentric sister Osceola runs away to…talk to ghosts?, Ava is left alone, and she soon encounters a dangerous character called the Bird Man. It sounds utterly ridiculous, but trust me. I loved it. The swamp setting serves as an amazing part of the plot, and you will relate to the characters regardless of their strange occupations, I promise!

Happy reading!

xoxochelsea

Soon to come:  Mine and Fiance's dream living rooms!