Book Recommendations

I can't believe it's been a week without a blog post. 

Nothing too exciting has been going on this past week except for spring cleaning, grout cleaning, and normal weekday events. 

But I have made some time to read so I'll share some recommendations with you.

I recently found out about http://www.goodreads.com/ and I'm loving it.  Are you on?  If so, please friend me.  I love tracking the books I've read and keeping up with a to-read list.  I have waaay too many on my list but that's OK.  It's a great place to keep all those book names that people recommend so you don't forget about them!

I just finished reading Steve Martin's latest book, An Object of Beauty. I cannot believe how quickly I got through it. He's a good writer and this story was light but also detailed in its own way. I got sucked into the story right away.  It's about the New York City art world and now I'm dreaming of taking an Art History course at the local college or reading Art for Dummies (which I have). I enjoyed it for a change of pace.

Our Book Club read Leaving Mother Lake this month. 

When one of our members mentioned this book several months ago I think I actually (inadvertantly) yawned when she was describing it. 

I'm always a little leery about books that I've never heard of or been recommended before.

But I'm so glad she encouraged us to take this one on and maybe I shouldn't be so suspicious!

It is the life story of a famous singer in China and her native Moso tribe in China near Tibet. 

 It is a largely unknown tribe that is matriarchal/matrilineal where marriage is not the norm. 

It's non-fiction and I found it just amazing.  Well-written and so interesting. 

Every once in awhile I pick up a Stuart Woods.  He writes legal-type mysteries. 

A friend compares the Stone Barrington series to Domino's pizza - maybe not the best pizza in the world, but you always know what you're going to get and you close the book satisfied. 

I'd agree with that assessment.  I've read several in the series and they're great for a change of pace between the Moso tribe and studying up on Digital Photography.

I saved up for a couple of years and bought a DSLR camera last year.  I love it but honestly don't know 5% of what I can do with it. 

I set it on Auto and start shooting most of the time. 

I decided in Janaury I was going to study up and maybe improve on my photography skills. 

I have had Scott Kelby's seminal book on my library hold list for months but I was way down on the list. 

I finally just bought the book and am so glad I did.  I've marked it up like crazy, highlighting great tips.

It's fan.tastic. 

A lot of photography terminology panicked me (aperture, ISO, color balance...) 

This book de-mystifies it all. 

I highly recommend it if you have a DSLR and are new to photography as I am.

Here is a book that I read last year that I forgot to mention.  It's not that memorable of a book, but it is a good beach read if you're looking for something light.  It's about two very different sisters who inherit a house from their aunt in the Hamptons.  It's certainly not a must-read but good if you need a break from longer, heavier tomes.

Happy Reading!

Recent book recommendations can be found here:
http://theboatwrightfamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/book-recommendations.html