Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson. This book was absolutely hilarious! I think it just might be my favorite book on my 25 books list so far. Jenny spins great stories about growing up in the country with such a comedic spin - almost like a female David Sedaris. :-) One of my favorite stories in the novel is this one where her family's chickens follow Jenny all the way into school one day and the hilarity that ensues when the librarian finds them. Ha! To give you an idea what you are in for with this book, here's a great quote from a chapter about dating her husband, Victor.
"It wasn’t really that [Victor's parents] disliked me. They just seemed uncomfortable around me. They were polite and kind, but baffled. It was as if their son had unexpectedly shown up with a neck tattoo that read 'MAKE ME SOME BASKETTI.'" (Lawson, Penguin Group Inc. 2012)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. My friend Emily kept telling me how great this book was, so when I happened upon it at the library the other week, I snatched it up. It's a touching tale about young, forbidden love between a Chinese boy, Henry, and a Japanese girl, Keiko, growing up in Seattle during World War II. You'll have to read this one to see if their love can survive long-distance when Keiko's family is placed in an internment camp until the war is over.
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. We had talked about reading this one for book club at one point but then decided on something else. I was curious to see if it was good since it won the National Book Award for 2011. Definitely worth it. A superb story about a rural Southern family prepping for Katrina. The story is told through the eyes of Esch, a teen girl learning what it is like to be rejected by someone you love and coming to grips with the secret that she will be a mother soon.
Ward is such an excellent writer. I loved some of her descriptions of life in Bois Sauvage and what it is like to be a teenager in love. Here's a passage that I just love:
"Manny begins flipping the silver and red lighter again when he mentions Rico. The image, which looks like a tattoo, reads Hearts on Fire, and pictures two hearts diagonal to one another going up in flames. His lips kiss the cigarillo and he pulls... There is a movement behind my breast that feels like someone has turned a hose on full blast, and the water that has been baking in the pump in the summer heat floods out, scalding. This is love, and it hurts. Manny never looks at me." (Ward, Bloomsbury USA, Copyright 2011, pg 94)
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