I visited Venice back in 2008 and was completely intrigued by the city. It was so hard to do just about everything. Streets that looked like they led the right direction would end at a canal, or there would be no bridge at the spot you needed to cross a canal. Despite this, I felt that I would have enjoyed living in the city for a few months to truly get the feel of everyday life.

That’s why I was so excited to see Donna Leon’s book of essays about life in Venice. She has lived in Venice for thirty years. This would truly be an insider’s view of life in a unique city. And it was. I thoroughly enjoyed each of her essays on Venice, dealing with everything from noisy neighbors to trying to renovate her house. The problem was that the book is titled My Venice and Other Essays. The Venice essays only took up about a quarter of the book. Then there were essays on opera and animals and writing crime novels. Leon is a witty essay writer. I just didn’t really care about those other topics.

If you are someone who typically enjoys reading essays, then you would probably enjoy reading this book. Leon is a good writer, who sees clearly and describes acerbically. If you’re looking for a book about Venice, though (as I was), there are probably better options.

This book was not quite what I expected, but that’s not a bad thing by any means. I expected it to be mostly personal narrative, describing Hales’ trials and triumphs as she attempted to learn Italian. What it actually is, however, is a history of the Italian language. I was a little disappointed at first. But once my brain made the adjustment from expectation to reality, I discovered that I was completely drawn into this book.

Language has always fascinated me. One of my favorite classes in college was a class about the history of the English language. So La Bella Lingua  was right up my alley. Even if the history of languages isn’t your thing, you will still enjoy this book. Hales describes complicated evolutions of words and keeps track of various historical personages with ease. And humor. Who knew a book about a language would have you laughing out loud?

Hales touches on everything from food to literature to movies. The language we speak enters every part of our lives, so a book on a language is a comprehensive look at what it means to be Italian, in this case. La Bella Lingua is well worth a read if you’ve ever wanted to visit Italy, if you’ve ever wanted to learn Italian, or even if you’ve ever eaten spaghetti.

Michael Tucker lived the dream – he bought a house in Italy, moved there, made friends, and learned how to thoroughly enjoy the Italian life. I guess all of that is possible when you’re a (mostly) famous actor (He was in L.A. Law. Yeah, I didn’t know that, either.). For those of us for whom this life remains a dream, however, Tucker’s book is the next best thing.

He portrays his acclimation into Italian living with humility and humor. It wasn’t always easy (putting gas into a diesel car doesn’t work so well), but he embraced his successes and failures with grace. He describes the food so amazingly that things I would never even think of eating sound delicious. And he gathers around himself a cast of friends, both Italians and ex-patriates, who are fun to get to know in their own right.

Continue dreaming of living in Italy. And to make your dream seem even more real, read Living in a Foreign Language.

There have been many authors that have attempted to write as Jane Austen or in the style of Jane Austen. They have finished or fleshed out some of her unfinished manuscripts. They have taken her beloved characters in new directions. To write as Jane Austen is always risky, leaving an author open to much criticism. So what if you don’t want your whole book panned, just because you didn’t quite capture Jane’s elusive style? Why, include your Jane Austen novel as simply a part of another story.

That’s just what Syrie James has done. The Missing Manuscript of Jane Austen details Samantha McDonough’s amazing discovery of another novel by Jane Austen, hidden away for many years in a private library. Interspersed with Samantha’s story is Jane’s novel from start to finish. It really is a clever way to try your hand at imitating Jane Austen while still keeping your readers hooked with a modern-day story.

I love Jane just as much as the next person (sometimes more, depending on who that next person is), but I also realize that it is almost impossible to write just as Jane wrote. I see the flaws in Syrie James’ attempt (especially the beginning of Jane’s supposedly undiscovered novel. That drove me a little crazy and didn’t give me high hopes for what was to come). But gradually the characters and the plot won me over. No, Syrie James didn’t write exactly like Jane Austen. But her amusing characters and twisty plot certainly do Jane justice.

Samantha’s story was also well-told, although rather more predictable than the Jane Austen section. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Enough so that I plan on picking up James’ other related Jane title – The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen. Austen lovers need something to cling to and broaden their repertoire, and Syrie James adds creditably to this collection.

If you’re going to read a book about long-distance swimming, this should be that book. Lynne Cox is an amazingly determined woman and an absolutely incredible long-distance swimmer. She’s done it all – from swimming the English Channel (twice, setting world records both times) to being the first person to swim across. . .just about everything. The physical feats are remarkable, but just as remarkable is her determination and tenacity. In the middle of the Cold War, she decided she wanted to swim across the Bering Strait. It took her eleven years to accomplish this goal, but she never gave up. Cox is a good writer, drawing out the suspense of each swim. She tells the story of her own life humbly, although she has done many, many things she could brag about. This is a book to show you the power of determination and setting goals. It will encourage you to work even harder towards goals of your own. 

Rachel Friedman had one year of college left and no idea what to do with her life. Her solution? Move to Ireland for the summer. Suddenly a whole new world (literally and figuratively) is opened to her. She catches the travel bug, and she knows what she wants to do with her life, at least for the immediate future – see the world. She spends four months in Australia with a friend she met in Ireland, and then travels around South America with that same friend. Along the way, she discovers who she is – and it’s a very different person than who she thought she was.

Friedman’s memoir is wonderful. She describes her transition from a terrified-let’s-just-stay-in-the-hostel-instead-of-exploring sort of traveler to a sure-let’s-go-bungee-jumping-why-not sort of traveler in such a humble and engaging way. And amusing. This book was nothing if not funny. She constantly steps outside of her comfort zone and challenges herself. She grows into  the sort of traveler I want to be (minus the death-defying bus trips through mountains in South America). This book perfectly embodies Thoreau’s quote: “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Friedman discovered herself through her travels. By following along with her, we can maybe discover something about ourselves, too.

My family visited Yellowstone National Park the summer after I graduated from eighth grade. I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember Old Faithful and walking on very specific paths past brightly colored, bubbling hot springs. And the smell of sulfur. Oh, yes, that lovely smell.

I’m looking forward to visiting Yellowstone again someday, which was why I was excited to pick up Jack Turner’s travelogue about the National Park and the area surrounding it. He lives in a cabin there, and has spent many days and hours exploring and communing with nature.

The parts of this book that simply described his surroundings were wonderful. I found myself on Google Images several times searching for flowers that he mentioned (pink elephant head flowers are the coolest flowers ever). I’m not a fishing sort of person, but I even enjoyed his descriptions of angling (what a complicated sport). What I got tired of, however, were his diatribes on the lack of proper conservation and wildness. I don’t fault his enthusiasm, nor do I disagree with his position. I just wish he didn’t feel the need to elaborate (or rant) on it eighteen times (or more) in a 250-page book. If you’re more of an ardent environmentalist than I am, you may not find this quite so tiresome and therefore enjoy the book better overall. As for me, I’ll take my travelogue without excessive soapbox lecturing, please.

I’ve decided that I’m too young to truly do justice to a review of this book. I didn’t live in the 1960s. I’ve never lived in the South. In my memory, normal has been happily coexisting with people of all races. And yet, maybe it’s people like me that need to read this book the most.

If you’re not familiar with the storyline of The Help, here’s the basics. It follows three women in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s. Two of them, Aibileen and Minny are black women, maids to the white women of the city. The third is one of those white women – Skeeter Phelan, whose plan for her own life is very different from her mother’s. She wants to be a reporter, a real writer. When a New York publisher tells her to write about something that bothers her, she comes up with the idea to write a book telling the maids’ stories. What is it like to work for the white women of Jackson? To be told that you are diseased so you can’t use the indoors bathroom? To be expected to clean the house perfectly while taking care of the children? Aibileen and Minny know how dangerous this project will be, while Skeeter is discovering a whole new side to what she thought was reality.

I grew up in a time and place where racism wasn’t really a problem. I know our country isn’t perfect now when it comes to this area. But I just was blown away by how far we’ve come in the past fifty years. I have no doubt that this was these women’s reality. They feared for their lives and for their families if they spoke out. I can’t imagine living like that, and I have so much respect for those that did.

The Help brings this time period to life for those of us who didn’t live through it. Kathryn Stockett views the issue of racism through so many people’s eyes – the fresh college graduate determined to change the world, the older generation that can’t see anything wrong with the way things are, the younger generation determined to keep the status quo no matter what, the maids who give their lives to these families only to be treated like nothing, the maids who love the white children as their own, and all who were determined to take a stand despite the danger and their fear. It was really this that sold me on this book. It’s not a one-sided look at life in the South in the 1960s. It covers as much ground and as many perspectives as it can. This is one of the many reasons why reading this book is most definitely worth your time. And there is no doubt of that – reading this book is most definitely worth your time. Everyone can learn something from this book, whether you lived through the 1960s or not. Kathryn Stockett’s story is one that needs to be read.

Where has this series been my whole life? I had never even heard of it until a few months ago, and even then I only put it on my highly populated TBR list. I should have gone immediately to the closest library or bookstore and found myself a copy.

Several years ago, I discovered Georgette Heyer, who wrote Regency romances reminiscent of Jane Austen. They are wonderfully good stories about a time period I love. The Pink Carnation series is simply Georgette Heyer with spies! Could it get any better?

The story of the creation of the Pink Carnation, a British spy in Napoleon’s Paris à la the Scarlet Pimpernel, is perfectly framed by Eloise’s story, a young woman who is writing about the Pink Carnation for her doctoral dissertation. Except all of the myriad historical documents she’s looked through have no hint whatsoever of who exactly the Pink Carnation was. Until she gets permission to look through the documents of the Selwick family. There she discovers more than she bargained for.

Both Eloise and Amy (the main historical character) are fun narrators full of their unique voice and style. The book is replete with witty dialogue between the characters in both time periods. Overall, this is just an enjoyable read – the perfect escapist book for those moments when Regency spies are just your cup of tea.

George MacDonald was a writer greatly admired by C.S. Lewis, and that is the sole reason I picked this book up at a used book sale sometime in the last five years. The premise of the story (the laird of a Scottish castle and his son struggle to make ends meet) didn’t particularly intrigue me. It’s certainly not a fast read – even though the version I had was an adapted version: the Scottish dialect was pared down and the book was shortened by a couple hundred pages. This book did not capture my heart quickly, but when it did, it captured it fully. Reading this book is a spiritual experience. MacDonald’s vision of God as a loving heavenly Father shines through clearly on each page. I found myself dog-earing corners so I could easily find certain sections again, and I never dog-ear corners! By the end of this book, my soul felt refreshed. There are not many books I can say that about. I can easily see why C.S. Lewis admired George MacDonald. I look forward to turning to him again in order to rejuvenate my soul.

Natalie’s life is not going exactly as she planned. Her job is less than exciting, and her boyfriend of many years just decided he wants out of the relationship. Natalie’s best friend, Tom, devises a plan to cheer her up: each weekend, they would do something together, starting with each letter of the alphabet. He gets to pick the activity for A; she gets to pick for B; and so on, until they reach Z. Tom’s ulterior motive, however, is to turn his friendship with Natalie into much more. Interwoven with the story of Natalie and Tom are the stories of the families around them. Natalie’s parents and Tom’s brother and sister-in-law feature in their own dramas. Each story line shows people struggling to find love and the meaning in the love they’ve found.

The idea of the alphabet weekends is what drew me to this book, and what kept me there. It’s so intriguing, in fact, that I’m considering making my own list of alphabet activities (let’s see . . . R is for reading. . .). The characters of Natalie and Tom were fun to get to know. This is a good chick-flick, escapist sort of novel. Not terribly deep (although there were certainly serious moments), but a fun read with some enjoyable characters. And some alphabetical inspiration.

This novel takes place eight years after Big Stone Gap, the first in the series, but the characters you know and love are still the same. Ave Maria and Jack are married, although that doesn’t always go as well as Ave Maria was hoping for. They’ve been through some rough times over the years, and that is starting to take its toll on their marriage. Big Cherry Holler  is the story of a marriage in trouble (and hopefully without spoiling too much, it’s exactly the sort of story I was looking for in this Smiling Shelves Soapbox post). Trigiani’s characters shine through like always. She chronicles Ave Maria’s thoughts remarkably and honestly well. This is a fun book, but not a fluffy book. There are struggles and truth in here as well, and Adriana Trigiani brings it all to life.

I don’t know what I was waiting for all these years before I picked up an Adriana Trigiani book. Okay, I do know – I hadn’t heard of her before people’s BEA posts from this past year. But now that I know what I’ve been missing, it won’t be long before I devour every book she’s written.

Big Stone Gap is the first book in the Big Stone Gap series. It follows Ave Maria Mulligan through her thirty-fifth year, when she goes from being the town spinster to being content with who she is. Of course, it turns out that who she is is different than who she thought she was (everyone follow that sentence?). Ave Maria’s mother left her a letter when she died, explaining that the father she grew up with was not her biological father. Ave Maria, who has always been so in control of her life that she could spend it focused on others, suddenly needs to discover who she really is. Ave Maria’s voice shines throughout the story, and this is what had me hooked by page two. I knew Ave Maria and was inside her head from the very beginning.

There are moments when I’m glad I’ve been introduced to a series late, and this is one of them. I can go to the library right now and get the rest of the Big Stone Gap series, without waiting years between publication dates. On the other hand, some series need to be read slowly and savored, rather than devoured, and this is certainly one of those. I love Adriana Trigiani’s writing! You’ve got to slow down and read carefully or you miss some of the best phrases. To savor or devour. . .Oh, the dilemma!

If you, too, are late to the Adriana Trigiani party like I was, please remedy that soon! Find a copy of Big Stone Gap or any of her other books, and introduce yourself to this amazing author and her irrestible writing.

The Gilmore Girls is one of my all-time favorite shows (I refuse to admit how many times I’ve watched some of those episodes), so when I saw that Lauren Graham wrote a book, I was beyond excited. I was able to get ahold of it sooner than I expected/feared, considering my typical source of new releases is the library.

When I have such high expectations for a book, I always read half-expecting to be disappointed. But Lauren Graham did not disappoint. I loved every bit of this book!

Franny Banks wants to be an actress. So when she graduated from college, she moved to New York City to pursue her dream. She set a deadline of three years to become “successful” (whatever that is, exactly), she joined an acting class, and she. . .began waiting tables. Such is the life of an aspiring actress.

It’s really not the plot that makes this book, so that’s all the summary you get. It’s the characters, the realism, and the voice. Franny is surely a living, breathing person somewhere. Her dreams, her struggles, her experiences – they are all told with a large dose of the sophisticated wit and humor you would expect from Lauren Graham. For Pete’s sake, she even included pages from Franny’s datebook, with Franny’s scribbles all over them. The journey that Franny goes on seems like one that many, many actors travel. Halfway through the book, I was beginning to wonder what would constitute a happy ending for Franny. I knew, of course, that there would be a happy ending, but what exactly would that entail? I was fairly certain that whatever is was, it wouldn’t signify the end of Franny’s struggles and endeavors. No real person stops striving, even when they achieve their dreams. It’s not the end; there’s always more. Same is true for Franny Banks.

I could go on for a very long time about all of the things that I loved about this book, but I’ll hold myself back. Fan of Lauren Graham or not, everyone can find something to enjoy in this novel. Find a copy, and discover what it is for you!

This is a book about books. Queenan wrote eight essays, covering everything from public libraries to keeping books you know you will never read. It’s usually fun to hear another bibliophile’s take on these topics. Queenan is a witty writer, but he’s also, well, snarky (in the words of his local librarian). He’s been a voracious reader since his youth, reading mostly classic literature and nonfiction on obscure topics. And somehow those reading choices make him a better person – or at least, reader – than I am. Or you are. He comes across as a bit of a reading snob, even looking down his nose at classics like To Kill a Mockingbird. I enjoy reading about others’ reading tastes, but not if it makes me feel like less of a person because I read fiction books that people have actually heard of.  I enjoyed Queenan’s take on some bookish things, but I would have been just fine without having ever read this book.

Paul Collins has fallen in love with the town of Hay-on-Wye in Wales. Who wouldn't? It's a town with 1,400 residents and 30 bookstores. Every book lovers' heaven! Collins loves it so much, however, that he decided to move there - taking along his wife, young son, and many, many boxes of books. And we get to embark on his adventure along with him. Sixpence House follows him in and out of the bookstores and unstable piles of books. It chronicles his family's search for the perfect house in Hay-on-Wye ("perfect" being defined as level-ish floors and not too much mold). It introduces us to some of the residents of the town. Bibliophiles galore! Collins also intersperses amusing quotes from obscure books that he has read. These were some of my favorite parts, since I know I would never have come across these quotes in any other way. Collins writes with wit and humor. His adventure in this bookish town in Wales is well worth your time. You will most certainly add Hay-on-Wye to your list of places to go someday, just as I have!

Unicorns with an attitude. Escapee griffin cubs. A hibernating kraken (or is it?). Do I need to say more to get you to read The Menagerie?

The Menagerie is a refuge for mythical creatures. It is top secret, obviously, but somehow six griffin cubs have escaped. And the supervisory agency is performing an inspection in two days. Luckily, Logan, the new kid in town, discovers one of the griffin cubs underneath his bed. Although outsiders are strictly forbidden from becoming involved in the Menagerie, his skills at griffin-cub-finding allow him to make friends with the animals and the family who runs it.

This was an extremely refreshing and fun read. The idea of the Menagerie is so imaginative. Each mythical creature is given its own personality and quirks. The main human (or human-ish) characters are written with depth and have extremely amusing interactions. The plot is suspenseful and twisty and has all the right things to keep you reading breathlessly to the very end. The authors, Tui and Kari Sutherland, are sisters, and you can just tell they had tons of fun writing this book. It shows in every word.

For a fun, entertaining, and mythical read, enter the world of The Menagerie. You will not regret it. (Although you may find yourself wanting a griffin cub.)