found: the best book recommendations

I've been trying to read more books lately, but after reading my Jhumpa Lahiri books for the third time, I decided I needed to branch out a little more. But how? I followed some recommendations from websites and such, only to be led to chick lit.

So what's a girl to do? How do you find books that tell a good story and are well-written?

So after scouring tons of websites, I finally found a source I can trust: NPR's What We're Reading. Each week, staff at NPR tell us about three or more books that they're reading, with a description of the book and their own personal reaction to it. It was through this site that I read "The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea" by Philip Hoare, a non-fiction journey through the author's life studying whales. I also found "The Lost Books of the Odyssey" by Zachary Mason, an imaginative reworking of the classic tale.

So if you're looking for something new to read, check out NPR's What We're Reading! Lots of good stuff.

Have you found another source for great book recommendations? Share in the comments section!

jhump for jhumpa!

What a treat! Ollie and I went to see our very favorite author Jhumpa Lahiri speak at Babson College last night.

Here's how it looked when I took off my glasses:

Actually, without glasses, it'd probably look even worse. Anyway!

She talked a lot about her writing process, being an author compared to being an "interpreter" for her characters, and lots of other good stuff.

I brought The Namesake and I had to buy a copy of her Pulitzer Prize-winning Interpreter of Maladies so that I could finally have all of my Jhumpa Lahiri books signed by the amazing woman herself!

It's too bad I left my already signed copy of Unaccustomed Earth at my parents' house. :( But these three books together will be yet another family heirloom! (I'm on a mission to create lasting heirlooms that our great-great-great-great-great grandchildren will treasure! I will be a legend! So far I have a music box, a pearl necklace and these Jhumpa books! Classic!)

More Jhumpa pics...

Here she is not smiling. I think her writing genius takes up too much of her mental capacity to be friendly to her biggest fans... Hmph. She was not very friendly. :P

My books!

all by himself

Do you wanna hear the saddest thing ever?

I'm reading a book about whales (This is not the saddest thing ever. It's coming.) which I heard about through NPR, and it's awesome! I've always been terrified/amazed by whales, and now I'm starting to fall in love with them.

Here's a sad story about one whale that The New York Times reported about back in 2004, an excerpt from the book I'm reading:

Twelve Years of Tracking 52-Hz Whale Calls From a Unique Source in the North Pacific was the result of research on a whale cruising from California to the Aleutian Islands off Alaska, 'calling out with a voice unlike any other whale's, and getting no response'.

'The call, possibly a mating signal, suggests that the animal lives in total, and undesired, isolation.' The sound had been tracked for more than a decade, and in that time its timbre deepened, suggesting that the whale was still maturing. One scientist thought it might be 'miswired, broadcasting on the wrong frequency but listening on the right one'; another considered that the caller could be the miscegenic result of a liaison between a blue whale and another species, 'and hence truly alone of its kind'.

Isn't that so sad?

Anyway, I totally love this book. It's called "The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea" by Philip Hoare. He weaves literature, history, personal account and zoology together to talk about his most favoritest animal!

This post is best when read while playing Celine Dion's "All By Myself" in the background. It'll make you cry!

More about whales to come.