July Book List

God Loves Ugly by Christa Black
In this brave memoir, singer-songwriter Christa Black shares her journey from destructive perfectionism to thriving and resting in God's love. While I haven't dealt with an eating disorder, I really connected with Christa's struggles, and have learned similar lessons in my own life (though probably not as thoroughly). Her perspective helped me see a lot of things in a new light, and I commend her for her honesty. I want to go through the book again and do some of the journaling/application at the end of the chapters. Highly recommended.

Angel Eyes by Shannon Dittemore
I already reviewed this here.

Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik
A Clueless-esque retelling of Pride & Prejudice at an L.A. prep school. Sisters Elise and Juliana have just moved to the West Coast with their principal mother, teacher father, and two bratty younger sisters. Right away, they meet two popular guys - Chase, friendly and sweet, and his BFF Derek, the standoffish son of two movie stars. If you've read P&P, you know the bones of the plot, but I was impressed by the smooth adaptation to modern-day Hollywood. Although it took me a little while to really get into the story, I ended up liking it a lot. Great summer read!

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore
Although I pretty much liked this novel, I agree with another reviewer that it's less than the sum of its parts. It chronicles a year or so in the life of Tassie, a Midwestern college girl, right after 9/11. Desperate for work, she becomes a nanny to a troubled couple who have just adopted a little girl of another race. She also gets involved with a supposedly Brazilian guy whose activities become more and more mysterious. At the same time, her younger brother, bereft of life options, joins the military and is shipped off to Afghanistan with disastrous results. Don't get me wrong, Lorrie Moore's writing is amazing, but this book lacked focus and tried to address too much. I felt very disoriented when I finished. Maybe that's what she was going for - who knows. Like most Literature, this book left me feeling like I must not be smart enough to Get It.

Books for July: 4
2012 year to date: 38


Most of this reading was done in transit to and from NYC. The rest of the month has been insanely, unusually busy and I can barely get to bed on time, let alone find time to read. Sigh.