Books Tasted - Everything bookly (and a few other things)

If I learned anything from this book, it's that I cannot pronounce Swedish words. Also, I have no idea what Swedish holidays are.

I liked this book and I can't even tell you why - there were way more negatives to it than positives. Let me enumerate:

Do you love Jane Austen? Do you like silly chick lit? Are you not too concerned with a tightly woven, realistic plot? If you answered "Yes" to all 3 questions, then you'll probably like Shannon Hale's novel Austenland.

Qualifications required for reading a Laurie Notaro book:
- Have a sense of humor
- Enjoy potty humor
- Enjoy laughing at the embarrassing things that happen to real people, like stepping in dog poo or getting your skirt caught in your pantyhose
- Love personal essay collections

If you meet the above requirements, then you are sure to love almost any Laurie Notaro book, and her latest The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death: Reflections on Revenge, Germophobia, and Laser Hair Removal is no exception.

Back when I had just moved and was unemployed, my sister-in-law sent me to the blog Waiter Rant. Reading through the archives helped keep me occupied in my boredom. "The Waiter" wrote humorous or interesting stories of his life waiting tables.

Eventually, he got a book deal and wrote the book Waiter Rant. As he spent more and more time writing and publishing his book, his blog posts changed to be much less about waiting tables and more about experiencing book tours, etc. That's when I pretty much stopped reading the blog.

I've been terribly behind writing book reviews for the books I've recently read, and I've given up. What's the point in pretending? I am never going to sit down and write four in-depth, well thought out book reviews. Instead, I'll go the lazy route - 4 reviews in 1! Compiled for you reviewing pleasure, here are the four books I've read in the last month:

David Sedaris' latest book continues along the lines of his previous one - still full of interesting essays, but slightly less amusing, still entertaining. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a fun read, but it's definitely more poignant than laugh out loud funny.

There are about 340,232 pregnancy books out on the market, but these are some of the more popular ones. As luck would have it, my sister had both of these on hand so I didn't even have to buy them for myself. Of course the downside of that is that they're a bit out of date versions. Can't have everything!

Now granted, I haven't finished these books, but I have gotten far enough that I feel I can state my preference.

If you are expecting a baby and want to know what to buy and what to skip, this book is a great resource. It doesn't hit everything, but it does cover major purchases like cribs, clothes, high chairs, strollers, etc. It has reviews of manufacturers and often includes additional information for individual products per manufacturer.

No, this is not the John Jakes' novel North and South about friendships and families torn apart from the American Civil War, which was adapted into a movie starring Patrick Swayze being dreamy and Kirstie Alley with jungle fever.

This North and South is by Elizabeth Gaskell and was originally published in 1855.

Given that most of the books I've been reading lately are about pregnancy and babies, it's no surprise I haven't posted lately.

From the back cover description of The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, I was expecting this to be complete crap. It goes on and on about discovering oneself, the bond of womanhood, secret goddess power... barf. A back cover written for fans of Oprah picks and sappy books?