I recently read Women Under Glass: The Secret Nature of Glass Ceilings and the Steps to Overcome Them by Eric Shoars, and I got to meet the author at my local bookstore. This book actually fits together with a couple other books I read over the summer. I’ll be working on a roundup of sorts.
I just read Runaway by Alice Munro, recommended by SommerÃ¥pent on NRK this summer in Norway. I really like what she does with characters. I was a bit thrown off, though, by the short stories, and I was frustrated she didn’t write more about Juliet. (She had three stories about this character.) I wish she would have written an entire book about her.
I also read Norsk, ikke sant? Norge, Nordmenn & all things Norsk by Jenny K. Blake. A funny follow-up to her Brown Cheese Please book. Good stuff. Good as brown cheese.
The entire time I was in Norway this summer, I searched for a Norwegian doll for my friend’s little girl, who has a collection of dolls from around the world. I’ve seen them in souvenir shops. I have one from years ago. But I couldn’t, for the life of me, find one this summer. I saw them in store windows, but they were only for display, not for sale. I stopped in one jewelry store that had them in the window, and they couldn’t even remember where (or when) they had gotten them.
I had given up and relied on Plan B (wedding-cake toppers wearing Norwegian bunad).
Then? I went shopping at the Oslo airport.
Whee!
There was a shop with an entire shelf of these dolls.
Shopping at the Oslo airport rocks. I found a bookstore with an entire shelf of translated-to-English Norwegian authors, many of which I’d looked up and found impossible to get my hands on anywhere else. (As if I hadn’t already bought too many books in Norway. It’s typical that the last thing I could possibly spend kroner on before leaving the country … was books.)
*rubs hands together with a greedy grin*
Two of these books were by Jenny K. Blake, an Australian who lived in Norway. She hit the nail on the head about Norway and Norwegians with her drawings and words.
I read Brown Cheese Please: Norway inside out from the outside in on the plane ride home. She had me giggling all the way from Oslo to Minneapolis. If you’ve never been to Norway or you don’t have a weegie of your own, you might find it more confusing than amusing. But if you have and you do, give it a try and see if she doesn’t make you smile. Extra points if you laugh out loud.
I just read Heat Wave (on Kindle) by Richard Castle. Like the show, the book is campy and fun. The “daring duo” cops (called “Roach” in the book) are funnier on the show, though. There’s another Castle book coming out in September. I might just tune in.
The kids and I read Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl this summer. We also brought along the movie to watch when we were done. The kids loved the story.
I just read Motherhood, the Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck. I grew up in a time when Bombeck was a household name. I was around when her columns were still in the newspapers. This, however, is the first book of hers I’ve read as a mother. She’s a one-of-a-kind. I love her humor and wisdom.
I just read Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, recommended by Iowa author, Carol Bodensteiner. It was a great read, and it’s not surprising that it won the Pulitzer. The writing is wonderful. I can’t decide yet whether I like Olive or not, but I think that’s the point. She’s a complex character seen in so many different ways, depending on who’s doing the looking. That’s just like all of us. And the other characters come to life on every page. Thanks, Carol, for the recommendation!
I just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Thanks, Randi! Like another book I’ve read this summer, I have lots to say about this one. I’ll try to do that when I have more time.
I just finished reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (on Kindle). Sarah (@goonsquadsarah, Sarah and the Goon Squad) recommended it. I had read Atwood’s book, The Blind Assassin, four years ago when I was spending the summer in Norway. Hmm. Maybe Atwood is my official Summer-in-Norway Author.
What an oddly fitting segue from The War on Moms: On Life in a Family-Unfriendly Nation by Sharon Lerner, which was an impromptu read. Atwood’s book was on my summer reading list I made from recommendations. Lerner’s book made it on my radar after I read her Slate article about something I started writing about three years ago, the questionable “best company” lists in Working Mother magazine. Her article, “How Could One of America’s Most Sexist Companies End Up on Working Mother’s Best 100 List? And what does that say about American employers’ glowing reports about their own “family-friendliness”? ” was published May 24, 2010. It was good to see I wasn’t the only one to notice problems with the list.
Anyway. About the Handmaid. Unlike a Michael Douglas movie, which makes me feel glad I’m not him because I would never be in his situation, Atwood’s story seemed all too possible. It made me want to do a whole bunch of things — drink, smoke, run for president — because I CAN.
