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On SUNDAY, you Bitches will have your turn to tell us what you've been reading during the months of MARCH and APRIL for The 2016 Infomaniac Book Challenge.
But TODAY, we look at the Mistress's list of books for March and April.
NON-FICTION:
The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World’s Most Creative Places From Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley by Eric Weiner (published 2016)...
An historical travelogue, examining Athens, Silicon Valley, Hangzhou, Florence, Edinburgh, Calcutta and Vienna.
The author attempts to find out why “certain places, at certain times produced a bumper crop of brilliant minds and good ideas.”
Judge This by Chip Kidd (published 2015)...
Book designer Chip Kidd takes a fun, playful look at the importance of first impressions—in design and in life.
"From the design of your morning paper to the subway ticket machine to the books you browse to the smartphone you use to the packaging for the chocolate bar you buy as an afternoon treat, Kidd reveals the hidden secrets behind each of the design choices."
A fun, playful look at the importance of first impressions—in design and in life—from acclaimed book designer Chip Kidd.
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
A fun, playful look at the importance of first impressions—in design and in life—from acclaimed book designer Chip Kidd.
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
A fun, playful look at the importance of first impressions—in design and in life—from acclaimed book designer Chip Kidd.
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
- See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Judge-This/Chip-Kidd/TED-Books/9781476784786#sthash.Ibx48ick.dpuf
The Cabaret of Plants: Forty Thousand Years of Plant Life and the Human Imagination by Richard Mabey (published 2016)...
Richard Mabey writes engagingly of the secrets of the flora around us as he mixes history, science, and anecdote.
Mabey's enthusiasm is infectious as he recounts the deeply intertwined history of humans and the natural world.
West of Eden: an American Place by Jean Stein (published 2016)...
I read this book following Norma's comment, "I am VERY anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jean Stein's new book, "West of Eden." (Stein wrote a great book about Edie Sedgwick years ago.) Stein is the daughter of Doris & Jules; Jules who with Lew Wasserman founded MCA. This is Hollywood fucking royalty."
This book proves that money and fame can't buy happiness.
American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Lives of Teenagers by Nancy Jo Sales (published 2016)...
The author talks to girls ages 13 to 19 in ten American states to get their views on social media.
One girls says "if you're not on social media, it's like you don't exist."
Another girl told Sales that “social media is destroying our lives.”
So why wouldn’t they just go off social media?
“Because then we would have no life,” her friend said.
If you think your teenage years were hell before social media, read this book.
It Ended Badly: Thirteen of the Worst Breakups in History by Jennifer Wright (published 2015)...
"Spanning eras and cultures from ancient Rome to medieval England to 1950s Hollywood, Jennifer Wright's It Ended Badly guides you through the worst of the worst in historically bad breakups."
Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri gave up speaking, reading, and writing in English to compose her first novel in Italian; a language she adored although she struggled to learn it.
The Mistress, who also adores the Italian language (as well as Italian footballers,) savored this book as it contains both the Italian version and an English translation, all in one.
Lust & Wonder: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs (published 2016)...
If you enjoyed Burrough's previous memoirs including, "Running With Scissors," pick up "Lust & Wonder."
Could this be Burroughs' last memoir now that he's found happiness and contentment? He says in an interview, "No, I don't think it is. I think...catastrophe has sort of followed me around my whole life so we'll see."
FICTION:
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout (published 2016)...
Lucy Barton is in hospital, recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her estranged mother comes to visit her. Lucy loves her mother, despite the fact that her mother cannot say she loves her daughter in return. This novel explores the nature of their mother-daughter relationship.
So ends Part Two (March-April) of The Mistress's reading list for The 2016 Infomaniac Book Challenge.
On Sunday, May 1st, we'll be asking YOU Bitches what you've been reading. Until that time, we hope you've enjoyed browsing The Mistress's selections.
I did enjoy browsing The Mistress's selections! Especially Judge This and The Cabaret of Plants. The social media book will probably have me yelling at it. I think you're right - my teenage years of coming to terms with being a poof and living in a house with tweed curtains will pale to insginificance compared to what teeneagers deal with these days.
ReplyDeleteYay! First!
DeleteAnd also: "insignificance" and "teenagers", respectively (I was rushing in case anyone else was commenting at the same time and usurped my "first" status).
MR. DeVICE: I’m going with the incorrect spelling… “insginificance.”
DeleteNote that it contains the word “gin” and signifies that you were “in your cups” when you commented.
Tweed curtains? *shudders* You may need therapy. Click on the link in LX's comment.
I had to look up "in your cups" as I hadn't heard it before. How VERY dare you!
DeleteAlthough, I was on my second glass of wine... What? I have a day off work!
::wonders how long LẌ will be hogging that couch::
I believe the phrase originated in 17th century England.
DeleteSurely one of your personalities has been around since that time?
So pleased that The Mistress is in!
ReplyDeleteLX: The meter is running.
DeleteIt's no wonder you have no time for blogging. Jx
ReplyDeleteJON: Ah but it doesn’t really take away from my blogging time as I do much of my reading in transit or in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep.
DeleteIn transit I am far too nosy, looking in people's windows or gardens! Jx
DeleteYou remind me of the main character in the book “The Girl on the Train.”
DeleteShe’s a lonely, alcoholic divorcée who rides the commuter train to and from London each day and she daydreams about the people who live in one house, in particular. One day she sees something shocking.
Okay, so you’re not a lonely, alcoholic divorcée but you get the picture.
I rather fancied myself as Patricia Routledge's "Kitty": "I see life each week from the train window of my Cheadle Saver, and I think I can safely say people today aren't pegging enough out." Jx
DeleteJON: Could you please explain “Cheadle Saver” to me? I’m not sure what that is but it sounds like something we don’t have here in The Colonies.
DeleteAnd while you’re at it, could you please define “pegging?”
Obviously, The Mistress doesn’t get out enough.
Cheadle - "Kitty"'s home town; a typical "Middle England" sort of place.
DeleteSaver - off-peak rail ticket.
"Pegging out" - surely even in Canada they have clothes lines?
Evidently the phrase “two nations divided by a common language” applies to our own Dominions as it does to the US... Jx
We do have clotheslines here in The Colonies but I swear I've never heard anyone here say they're "pegging out" their clothes on the line.
DeletePossibly because, it seems, you call clothes pegs "pins"... Jx
DeletePerhaps in the U.S.A. they call them "clothespins" but here in Canada we call them "clothespegs."
DeleteWhat a wacky world of laundry.
'My mother gave birth to twins in an unheated wash house and then got straight up and finished the mangling, so think on.' Do they have mangles in Canada?
DeleteIs a wringer washing machine the same thing as a mangle? If so, they were popular in the 1800s through the early 1900s.
DeleteMangle is an apt term as they mangled the hands of many a housewife.
This is way to much talk about something called laundry. I take it to the drycleaner and they can deal with clothes lines and pegs, and mangles.
DeleteMISTRESS MADDIE: I have special settings on my washing machine.
DeleteI'm currently reading a very interesting bio on how Crocs came to be.
ReplyDeleteMISTRESS MADDIE: That's on the list of banned books!
DeleteWhat interesting reading choices! I'm particularly drawn to The Geography of Genius, Judge This, & Cabaret of Plants, because I love science, history, & sociology/anthropology.
ReplyDeleteI hope that book Jane Mansfield is reading has a chapter on tub etiquette--the only bubbles allowed in the tub must come from the bath soap or the tub jets.
EROS: One again, you are ahead of me for there will be a future Infomaniac Public Service Announcement on bathtubs.
Deleteas all you do, most impressive.
ReplyDelete(surprise, i'm not always a cunt!)
NORMA: Say it loud, “I’m a cunt and I’m proud!” Darling, you’re a gem. Slightly tarnished, but a gem nonetheless.
DeleteI'm all up for the Burrough's book (and how have I not heard about it before?) because I was very taken with Running with Scissors, and I'm off now to order The Cabaret of Plants, but the American Girls one sounds like something I would avoid, just like I avoid real life American girls. Except for the Tom Petty song.
ReplyDeleteAnd Judge This is both a great title and sounds like it would have been an excellent New Yorker article.
there was a favorable review of augustan's book in NYT recently.
DeletePEENEE: The Burroughs book didn’t get much press. Either his PR team is asleep at the switch or else the media has grown weary of his memoirs.
DeleteAs for “The Cabaret of Plants,” one reviewer described it as “the nature-writing equivalent of fine dining—rich, full of different tastes, lasting and satisfying.” You’ll enjoy it, I’m sure.
I read “American Girls” in order to try to understand why teens are so fixated on their devices (besides the obvious p*rn) and to try to understand how things have changed for teens since “back in the day.”
“Judge This” is only 144 pages long so it’s a quick read. It’s an extension of a “TED Talk” the author gave previously.
NORMA: Thanks. The NYT review of “Lust & Wonder” is here.
*Mumbles something and runs away*
ReplyDeleteSx