The Library of Liz Lindsay

I read a lot. And then I forget what I read. So I thought I'd make a cute little side blog and write things down when I read a new book.

[libraryoflizlindsay]

The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Celia Thomson / Liz Braswell

I got a great copy of the Nine Lives of Chloe King on sale at Books Inc. - it's three books - The Fallen, The Stolen, and The Chosen - all in one book.  

I read the first of these books when I was in college over the summer when the abc family show was on, and I liked it.  Now, I read all three books - while I'm living in San Francisco, where the story was set.  Which is really cool.  Even though I had read it before while watching it on tv, I had an easier time picturing a bunch of the scenes this time because I've been in San Francisco - I know some of the streets and places.  I also had some questions - like, what bus is Chloe taking to Marin County from Inner Sunset?  That has to take a couple hours, but she does it back and forth on a few school nights.  What?  

I love a book with supernatural elements that (1) isn't vampires - the cat-people genre is much more obscure and (2) doesn't glorify abusive relationships.  

I continue to have a fiction problem.  With 3 books in one, it was even worse - I had this thing read within 12 hours of buying it.  Which would not be an issue if I hadn't stayed up late to do it.  

[libraryoflizlindsay]

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

I liked thinking about where first impressions come from, and how you can get better at thinking about them.  I can definitely see how I got better at understanding LinkedIn profiles quickly after sourcing people for jobs - and that was only four months, so it makes sense to me how experts with tons of experience will get better at different kinds of first impressions than people who don't know what they're doing.  I especially liked the food tasters - because I love food, even though my level of complexity is telling if food is bad, okay, or great.  There's a whole section on police shootings, which seems timely given Ferguson and other shootings.  

On the negative side, Gladwell could use a quick fact-check: a non-autistic person is "neurotypical" instead of normal "normal." But it's one example among many and, like many people, I think he's well-meaning and doesn't know.  So I'm just going to call him out here [Malcolm Gladwell, it is not nice to imply that people who think differently than you are not normal, and there's a better word for you to use] and not hold it against him.  

I really enjoyed this book.  And, as a non-fiction book, it was good for my commute and for reading before going to sleep.  (I have issues with not being able to put down fiction . . . )

[printemps]

“I do want to get married. It’s a nice idea. Though I think husbands are like tattoos—you should wait until you come across something you want on your body for the rest of your life instead of just wandering into a tattoo parlor on some idle Sunday and saying, ‘I feel like I should have one of these suckers by now. I’ll take a thorny rose and a “MOM” anchor, please. No, not that one—the big one.”

Sloane Crosley, I Was Told There’d Be Cake (via printemps)

[libraryoflizlindsay]

I Was Told There'd Be Cake, Essays by Sloane Crosley

I really enjoyed this book.  I like essays, I like humor.  The funny stories Crosley told make me think of the way my mom tells stories about real life - even if it's something totally normal, it gets told as an epic, hilarious tale.