Question of the Week: Recommending Books, Part 3
by Jenners • 07/15/2010 • Book Recommendations • 13 Comments
This week’s question (once again!) comes from Nise’ at Under the Boardwalk who asks:
What book or books do you find yourself recommending over and over?
To answer this question, I decided to break up my answer into a series of posts where I recommend some of my favorite books in a variety of categories.
This week, I’m recommending books about restaurants, motherhood and offbeat contemporary fiction. Be sure to leave me your recommendations in these categories in the comments!!! I’m always looking for new books to read.
If you’re looking for books about restaurants, I recommend:
- Wife of the Chef
by Courtney Febbroriello
- The Fourth Star: Dispatches from Inside Daniel Boulud’s Celebrated New York Restaurant
by Leslie Brenner
- Kitchen Confidential Updated Edition: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
by Anthony Bourdain
If you’re looking for books about motherhood, I recommend:
- Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
by Ayelet Waldman
- Toddler: Real-Life Stories of Those Fickle, Irrational, Urgent, Tiny People We Love
edited by Jennifer Marguilis
- The Imperfect Mom: Candid Confessions of Mothers Living in the Real World
by Therese J. Borchard
- Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined
edited by Andrea J. Buchanan and Amy Hudock
by Andrea J. Buchanan
If you’re looking for offbeat contemporary fiction, I recommend:
- Christopher Moore
‘s books
- Gods Behaving Badly
by Marie Phillips
- I Love You, Beth Cooper
by Larry Doyle
- The Abstinence Teacher
by Tom Perrotta
- How I Became a Famous Novelist
by Steve Hely
Tune in next week, when I recommend books about real-life survival, writing and spirituality.
I love these breakdowns of recommendations…and you know I agree about Christopher Moore!
I'm making a note of the mom books. I should probably start reading those!
I haven't read anything on this list. In fact, I'm not sure I've read any books at all from those first two categories!
I'm always getting great ideas from your lists, though!!!
Thanks for that selection. Gods Behaving Badly is the only book on that list that I've actually read – a great story with a bit of a difference, I'd recommend it as well.
forgive me, but i'm totally ignoring your post and instead commenting about the books in the photo on your header!
how was the new sloane crosly? i just read a blurb about it in ny magazine. i didn't love 'cake' but would be willing to give her another try.
also, THE GARGOYLE!!!! love it. did you recommend that one to me a while ago? i can't remember, but if it was you, thanks. it's such a dark but good read.
and who doesn't love christopher moore?!? you have divine taste!
hey, guess what book i see up in your header! THE HELP!!!! Right there, stuck in the middle, jumping right out at me….saying "I'm the next book Jenners is reading…" LOL
i love how you break down your selections…i don't know how you do it so efficiently and thoroughly but it's quite impressive!
You always give the best recommendations. I love how they're broken down into categories.
This is very helpful Jenners. I've been in a reading drought lately. Too much job hunting. I need some good books to read. Thanks.
Interesting that you included Gods Behaving Badly. I think that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. Now that you have recommended it, maybe I should dig it out. Thanks!
GAH! Now I have to write some of these down…..
What about books about how to break down books into categories in order to recommend them?
I'm going to check out all your offbeat recs, except for 'How I Became a Famous Novelist' which I tried and gave up on after ten pages. I just couldn't will myself to deal with the yuck factor, and how much the protag reminded me of the male main character at the beginning of 'Knocked Up'.
In exchange for recs taken, I'll leave two for your motherhood category:
White Oleander, by Janet Fitch (this novel makes my top 20 all time list)
and a movie, 'My One and Only'.
You are amazing. There is no way I could break down my recommendations like that! I'm doing good just to find a half dozen general books to recommend. I blank out when people ask. I need to have a list in my pocket!