Sarah’s Key
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This book is the U.S. debut novel for author Tatiana de Rosnay. The story revolves around an American woman, Julia, who moves to Paris at age 20 and marries a french man. She is a writer assigned to a story about the alarming role that France played during WWII. Her investigation concerns the 60th anniversary of the “roundups” that took place from the Paris Vélodrome d’Hiver to Auschwitz. Thousands of Jewish families were transported and killed. (The roundups were factual events that took place in
I loved Firoozeh’s first book, Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America, so it made perfect sense to purchase her follow-up publication. If you don’t like mass market fiction but want something light to read while traveling or at the beach, I’d definitely recommend this one. The short autobiographical chapters can be dipped into at any time without having to worry about keeping track of a complicated plot or a large cast of characters. I laughed out loud countless times and nearly cried at one point. I don’t usually choose books that deal with family relationships, but the anecdotes the author shares are easy to identify with and exceptionally entertaining. And you’ll learn about Iranian culture to boot!
The Showtime television series, which just recently won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and had the highest rating for any show in Showtime history is based on this book. Dexter is one of the best shows on television and recently ended it fourth season with a huge shock, but I won’t ruin it for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet. After watching that insane final I wanted to find out more about Dexter and found out the whole show is based on a series of books. 
I may be a little late in reading Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. I know many people have already read this thriller. The reason I picked it up was because I saw the movie and someone told me the book was much better—as is usually the case. This book is filled with symbols and history about the contraversies between religion and science that began centuries ago. It also has little known facts about Italy, italian artists, and scientists. I truly enjoy learning about all of it as I read along. I can’t imagine the amount of research that had to be done before writing this book! The details are engrossing.
I confess—this is my very first Jane Austen novel. Shocking, isn’t it? But then again I did major in the seemingly-more-useful-at-the-time French and political science fields rather than English…
I have been looking for different foods to bring for lunch. I found a few recipes that I am going to try cooking from a book called, Vegan Lunch Box Around the World by Jennifer McCann (Da Capo Lifelong Books - August 2009). The first dish I cooked was a from Tanzania, Black-Eyed Peas and Potatoes with Cilantro and Lime. It was very spicey, fragrant and delicious. I am not ready to become vegetarian. But it is going to be fun exploring a different way of cooking and eating.
For all of you anti-feline folks, I did give you a three-month break…
Bret hart is a retired pro-wrestler with many championships on his resume. Most people wouldn’t know him, unless they watched wrestling and probably wouldn’t read his autobiography; those people don’t know what they are missing. As you read the book you learn about where he came from and how he has changed as he has gotten older and start to see wrestlers more as humans, than steroid filled idiots. I have a lot more respect for wrestling after reading this book and understand how complicated and scary it can be. After reading this book you will understand why he is a hero in his home country of Canada and all around the world. He will be appearing on television for the first time in the States in almost a decade on WWE’s Raw show; Monday at nine in the evening on USA.
Here’s a classic that I’d never felt compelled to read before, likely due to my ambivalence towards the popular film adaptations of it. Expecting to be simply mildly entertained on my commute via the audio version, I was, in fact, enthralled. Like so many other famous texts, I discovered that Peter Pan is not the least bit overrated, and I highly recommend it for any age. While I did have difficulty trying to imagine the characters as originally written rather than in their familiar animated forms, the complexity and power of the often humorous writing helps to overcome this challenge. There’s plenty for adults to enjoy—even for those unfortunates who typically snub reading children’s books—and it leaves a lovely afterimage of magical adventure that lingers indefinitely.