Friday's Five Favorites: Summer Reading

It is Friday. Are you excited? I am. 4 days this week. 

Although it would have been nice to have a 3 day weekend. I will take a mid-week break any time. This week flew by and work was slow because so many people took longer off. 

I have learned that less people in the office equals me getting more done. Love it!

The past few months I have been reading up a storm.  I really enjoy reading.  I think one of my favorite parts of traveling for work is my quiet time on the plane. I can read guilt free.  What else can you do with no electronics, no internet.  Just me and my books. Love it!  

Here are my top 5 most favorite books of the last 3 months.  I listed them out by genre. You're welcome.

1. Life

 The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun

Although I don't typically read self help books, I really enjoyed this one.  I am not even sure you can call it a self help book. 

Gretchen Rubin chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier. Among other things, she found that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that money can help buy happiness, when spent wisely; that outer order contributes to inner calm; and that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.

For me, it was very realistic and relatable.  I read portions out loud to Mr. J.  We laughed. I guess our happiness improved during this reading.

 

2. For the Foodie

Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat

By 2007 chef Grant Achatz had been named one of the best new chefs in America by Food & Wine, he had received the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef of the Year Award, and he and Nick Kokonas had opened the conceptually radical restaurant Alinea, which was named Best Restaurant in America by Gourmet magazine. Then, positioned firmly in the world's culinary spotlight, Achatz was diagnosed with stage IV squamous cell carcinoma-tongue cancer.

This books describes Achatz background, culinary education, and experience.  Any foodie would love this book.

3. Oprah's Book Club

Drowning Ruth

This book is older and first came out in 2000.  Although it took me a bit of time to really get into it by the end I could put it down. 

Christina Schwarz's novel pivots on two of the lost "virtues" of the past: silence and stoicism.  The story is told through the view point of a handful of main characters. Looking back at past events and how they shaped the present.

4. For women and mothers and daughters

another piece of my heart

Did you read Jemima J?  Same author.

Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she's finally found him.  Ethan--divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia--is a devoted father and even better husband.  Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives.

It seems more heavy than it actually is...trust me.

5. For the Beach

How to Eat a Cupcake

Not really a food book but the main characters certainly spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  This plot made me contemplate quitting and opening my own bakery.
  

Free-spirited Annie Quintana and sophisticated Julia St. Clair come from two different worlds. Yet, as the daughter of the St. Clairs' housekeeper, Annie grew up in Julia's San Francisco mansion and they forged a bond that only two little girls oblivious to class differences could—until a life-altering betrayal destroyed their friendship.

A decade later, Annie bakes to fill the void left in her heart by her mother's death, and a painful secret jeopardizes Julia's engagement to the man she loves. A chance reunion prompts the unlikely duo to open a cupcakery, but when a mysterious saboteur opens up old wounds, they must finally face the truth about their past or risk losing everything.

What are you planning to read this summer?