vertically challenged

in-backyards:

I just finished this book.

Wickedly hilarious and utterly recognizable, Girls in White Dresses tells the story of three women grappling with heartbreak and career change, family pressure and new love—all while suffering through an endless round of weddings and bridal showers.

I loved it from the start, and I really can’t believe that it took me a couple of weeks, but all I know now is that I need to own it and read it five more times and highlight the crap out of it. The chapter, “Black Diamond, Blue Square,” is possibly my favorite chapter of anything I’ve ever read. The only other time I have felt this understood, as a reader and as a girl my age, is when I read Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series, and me comparing anything to those books says a lot.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lynn for recommending that I read this.

Look, you guys, Danielle loved this book too. Now read it!!!

WHY AM I GOING TO BE ON A PLANE WHEN THIS HAPPENS?!

rachelfershleiser:

Join us at Housing Works Bookstore Cafe for free drinks, fun swag, mixing, mingling, and readings by Edan Lepucki, Alexander Chee, and Baratunde Thurston.

Go to this and hang out with me! I also want to go to the Bookrageous/Vol. 1 Brooklyn/FSG party on Monday and the Comedians with Books show at Union Hall and I’m volunteering at the Housing Works Street Fair Sunday as wellll as BEA Wednesday morning (probably, if they get back to me). I’m maybe as stoked about this week as I was in college about CMJ.

(via staff)

Probably the best thing on Pinterest is the NYPL’s “Little Lions” pinboard. Although personally I think they should all be pictures of cats reading books because it’s a library, duh.

You guys! Guess what! I am almost completely caught up on my book a week thing that I’m doing. Here’s what I’ve read since I last posted about this:

6. Meghan Daum’s Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in that House (liked it in that I constantly want a new apartment, but couldn’t really get behind the whole buying a farm in Nebraska business)
7. Will Leitch’s God Save the Fan (the baseball stuff especially is so good)
8. Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City (I still don’t know if there was an actual tiger, kind of confusing and much too long [like his Fortress of Solitude] but pretty good)
9. The Believer’s You’re a Horrible Person, But I Like You (does this even count as a book? I was worried I wouldn’t catch up, but I might try for 53 because this is just advice letters from comedians [it’s really funny btw])
10. William Gibson’s Burning Chrome (sci fi short stories - some were good, some I got bored with because ya know sci fi)
11. Sarah Vowell’s The Partly Cloudy Patriot (essays about politics and life and shit; liked it)
12. Rob Sheffield’s Talking to Girls About Duran Duran (after you get past the somewhat sexist introduction, it says a lot of things about music and being uncool and Catholicism that I completely agree with)
13. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (everybody keeps talking about this damn book, so I borrowed Rachel’s e-reader to read it and ok, I get it, it’s pretty captivating)

Suggest me more things if you feel like it! I’m going to probably read the rest of the Hunger Games books and I have a lot of other books on my shelf, but I always appreciate recommendations!

Rob Sheffield

This is the third time I’ve tried to read Rob Sheffield’s “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran” and the third time I’ve put it down in anger over this line in the introduction: “But it’s tougher to talk to women about the Clash. (They love ‘Stand by Me’ but they don’t care that it’s really called ‘Train in Vain’ instead of ‘Stand by Me.’)”

I didn’t blog about this on January 1st because I was afraid I would forget right away and not actually read 52 books this year and then be embarrassed for even suggesting the idea. But! I have almost read as many books so far this year as there have been weeks! There was like one slow week so I’m trying to read two books this week, but otherwise I have been pretty diligent. What up son.

Here’s what I’ve read so far:

1. Mindy Kaling’s Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (hilarious)
   
2. Chris Gethard’s A Bad Idea I’m About to Do (hilarious/sad?)
   
3. Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (extremely sad & incredibly sad and let’s not even talk about this I might cry)
4. Raymond Carver’s Where I’m Calling From (short stories: most pretty good, but the whole “this is a story about a couple who’ve been married to other people before and live in suburban Washington State” gets a little old, but just a little)
   
5. Miles Klee’s Ivyland (pretty great and kind of scary in that whole “this is probably the future” kind of way)
   
6. Meghan Daum’s Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived in That House (currently, so idk yet, but I love her)

Meghan Daum, on Joan Didion for the LA Review of Books

Recommended Reading: Didion interviewin New York Magazine

Rob Gordon, High Fidelity

Forgot I took this screenshot and saved it in some random folder. Important, Joan-Didion-referencing things and all that.

Nicole Krauss’ “Man Walks into a Room” vs. 13 Going on 30

Just talking about the book I’m currently reading, which is great and interesting and from my favorite year, and a terrible rom-com, which I am ashamed to admit I own and have seen quite a lot. I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot since I started Krauss’ book a few days ago. The idea of skipping over a huge portion of your life (teens and twenties) and how that affects you and everyone in your life. There are some spoilers (for both book [something that happens in like the first few chapters though] and movie [something that happens at the end]) so click through to read.

Nicole Krauss, “Man Walks into a Room”

Lorrie Moore writes about Friday Night Lights!