OK, I may have gone a little overboard on the Hemingway. After I finished the first five unread classics (including A Moveable Feast, that got me on the Hemingway bandwagon in the first place), I checked out three more! So yes, to recap… 4 of the 10 were Hemingway, and after For Whom The Bell Tolls, I was thoroughly depressed with war stories. I really liked The Alchemist. I wouldn’t call it a life changer, but I very much enjoyed the “create your own destiny”, “follow your dreams”, and “live in the present” fable. It’s also full of good quotes! Read more…

I love finding a book that is so descriptive and powerful that it makes you want to see things first-hand. In honor of Bastille Day (on Tuesday, July 14) here is a list of books that inspire the French arm-chair traveler in me. Like the movie Amelie — that made me really want to see Paris — these books take me to France.   The Count of Monte Cristo Location: Marseilles. My first foray into French novels was Alexander Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo. This books stands out in my memory as the ultimate epic tale – adventure, betrayal, Read more…

Not to be obsessive over arugula – last week I wrote about making Arugula & Goat Cheese Pasta Salad – but when arugula wants to bolt there’s no stopping it! Since one of our arugula patches is on its way out, we’ve been using it like crazy. After searching for more uses for arugula, I came across another Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe – from the January issue. I’d used the crust recipe for Pizza Margherita, so it was fun to try a different style of topping: arugula, shaved Pecorino Romano cheese, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Here’s the full Read more…

#57 on my 101 Things in 1,001 Days List was to read all of Seth Godin’s books. I was already about halfway done, when I added this to my list, but then he just kept on writing books! Give a girl a break, and let me catch up! ;) If you’re unfamiliar with Godin, he’s a best-selling marketing and business author who writes “bite size” marketing books and a blog. My favorite book of the 12 is Small Is the New Big: and 183 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. I like how this book is divided into alphabetized Read more…

I started the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Book Project in July of 2007, and while I did miss a few weeks here and there, I’m considering it complete! What I really enjoyed about participating in this challenge is that it reminds you to keep reading. Sometimes when life gets busy you forget to pick out new books or even make time to read at all. The downfall of this project is that the structure is fairly intense and doesn’t account for 944 page books like Shantaram: A Novel, which was the best book I’ve ever read. It’s simply brilliant! Read more…