SFist Reads
Books incite strong emotions in people, as you can see from the thoughts below. Sometimes we love a book so much that we want it forever, so we pick it up at one of our fine local independent bookstores. Other times we're glad we just reserved it online from the SF Public Library, because, dang, there are a lot of crappy books out there.
SFist Emily pre-empted all the hipsters, literary youngsters, and book group discussion leaders, and has actually finished Jonathan Foer’s* latest work, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Reading Mr. Foer’s first book, Everything is Illuminated felt like the reader was being worked over, mainly due to the frantic pace of the narrative and the character’s inability to say what they mean. Extremely Loud was a more relaxing read, although it dealt with similarly heavy themes (loss, searching, death, the holocaust, missing people, and not being able to communicate). Overall the book is an excellent read, with Emily’s main criticism being that she didn’t really like the nine year old narrator’s use of the phrase “heavy boots” to indicate sadness. All in all fears that Foer is Salinger-esque in that his first work will stand as his greatest seem to be unfounded. Extremely Loud may not be as good as Everything, but it shows that Foer is developing as an author, and can still write a book you should read.
*Please note that even though SFist quite likes his works, and thinks he seems to be a pretty alright fellow, we refuse to refer to him as Jonathan Safran Foer, mainly because that is just way too long of name.
All In My Head cover from Kamen's site
Sometimes a book comes along about just the right thing, at just the right time. And Paula Kamen's All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, and Only Slightly Enlightening Headache is that book. In the interest of not treading the Too-Much-Information threshold, Rain will just say that in reading this book, it is sometimes creepy how similar her situation appears to be. And when she got the chapter about how Kamen was now having to endure a seemingly endless stream of bridal showers while trying to cope with her never-ending headache, Rain had to put the book down and back slowly away from it. (Needless to say, Rain's calendar is not devoid of bridal showers and weddings this year...) But the best thing about the book is how Kamen manages to make her seemingly endless struggle with chronic pain a funny read, while also being damned informative, and at times downright angry.
SFist Sam has been caught reading her recipe books again but she promises us, she never peruses them in bed. The theme all this week on her personal blog has been Ind a, Curry & Spices. Not suprisingly, it is a favorite Indian recipe book that Sam has recently been studying. Titled Healthy Indian Cooking, it's the first place Sam turns when she wants to impress her mates with a fabulous spicy feast.