May Reads

The Jungle Books | Kipling: I didn't read a lot of classical literature when I was growing up, so I've been trying to remedy that in the last several years.  I remember one story (Rikki-Tikki-Tavi) from a reader we had as kids, and I loved it, so I was eager to read more by Kipling.  There were a few stories or passages that were a bit tedious, but overall I quite enjoyed it.  He had some great lines like, "They [monkeys] boast and chatter and pretend that they are a great people about to do great affairs in the jungle, but the falling of a nut turns their minds to laughter and all is forgotten."

Fierce Faith | Worthington: Alli covers a number of fears - rejection, failure, missing out, betrayal, not being enough, to name several.  She talks about the unhealthy ways we often deal with fear.  She calls them "The Five Bad B's":  busy, blame, binge, bury, brood.  It was pretty decent, but didn't necessarily scratch where it itched for me.  I did appreciate her honesty and transparency.

Improving Your Serve | Swindoll: This book was written a while ago (something that showed in the typeset and formatting of the book, which didn't make the most enjoyable read).  He talks about servanthood, giving, unselfishness, forgiveness, Jesus's example of serving, the challenges of serving, and so on.  It was a decent read - but not good enough that I'd want to read it again and again.

Carla's Comfort Food | Hall: A selection of recipes from around the world, adapted for American kitchens.  Carla has a very fun, conversational style of writing, and the pictures were fantastically colorful.  I think I'd be quite happy to invite myself over, pull up a chair to her counter, and chat while sampling some of her tasty-looking recipes.

Jamie Oliver's Food Escapes | Oliver: Cookbooks like this make me want to travel all over and eat so many things.  Of course, being a realist, I know this can't actually happen (nor do I really want to spend my days gallivanting all around the world), so it just makes me want to eat all the things from everywhere.  More or less.  I loved the pictures and the stories.  He includes six different countries: Italy, Greece, Sweden, France, Morocco, and Spain.

My Paris Kitchen | Lebovitz: This cookbook left me highly uninspired (either to want to cook the food or go to the places he was describing).  It's very rare that a cookbook will do that to me, so I was quite disappointed.  Was it his writing style?  The recipes themselves?  The overall drab, grayish sort of feeling from both the pictures and his descriptions?  I don't know, but I was most thoroughly unimpressed.

Creating Great Guest Rooms | Bugg: Another rather out-dated book as far as décor trends go.  Some helpful tips for making guests feel welcome.

Cupcakes and Cashmere at Home | Schuman: Such an unexpectedly fun read!  Lots of good pictures.  Fun tips about home decorating, entertaining, renting vs. owning, plus personal stories woven in throughout.  A bonus: the setup of the book was very clean, with lots of white space (something I'm finding I appreciate more and more!).

Present Over Perfect | Niequist: I adore Shauna's writing style and voice.  Reading is effortless, yet engaging.  She's incredibly skillful in using language - lyrical, but not the vague sort of poetic-ness that leaves you wondering what on earth someone is even saying - and I love when people can do that.  Now, I have no desire to write a critique on the content of her book, but I will say it was a little bit of a mixed-bag for me.  There were some very well-put truths that I needed to hear and I loved her honest story-telling.  There were also definitely some things that I didn't agree with (or was unsure if I could agree with), but I'm still glad I read it and would love to read more of her books.  (This was the second one I've read.)

The Lifegiving Home | Clarkson & Clarkson: Written by a mother-daughter team.  I'll be honest, at first I wasn't sure what to think.  When people keep telling you how they did things in their family, it has the potential to feel a bit preachy.  But both of them were good writers and there turned out to be a good dose of honesty ("These are things we value/ideas we love, but we don't always do them perfectly or consistently."), so I let go of my initial reservations and thoroughly enjoyed this read.  Lots of great ideas about making home a haven - for your family, yourself, and to invite other people into.  They talked a lot about family traditions with special meaning to them (maybe because they moved around so much and the idea of "home" wasn't always tied to a physical location) and about celebrating everyday type things.  I really appreciated the multi-faceted perspective on hospitality as well as having the perspective of both an older lady who had raised a family and a single lady around 30.