Emily's Recent Reads

Be the Pack Leader: Use Cesar's Way to Transform Your Dog-- and Your Life;
Cesar Milan

            I really like Cesar’s approach to handling dogs. This book offers great advice on being a dog owner. He does assume you have seen his show and I feel like if you haven’t then his idea of “calm, assertive, energy” may be a little nebulous. However, I think this book is worth the read if you have a dog or thinking of getting one.

Masterpieces of Mystery and the Unknown
Agatha Christie

     I love Agatha Christie, but I think I like her novels are better than her short stories. This batch of short stories have been a fun read, but her characters are less developed (especially the women) when she doesn’t have as much space to let them grow. I still thoroughly enjoyed them, but if you’re going to read your first Agatha Christie novel go for one of her Hercule Poirot mysteries; they are excellent.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
Lynne Truss

    Confession: I still haven’t finished this book. Every time I read a bit of it, she reminds me of how awful people are at punctuating correctly and then I start to hate people with bumper stickers like “UFO’s are real.” So I’m trying to read it in small pieces so I won’t turn into a complete stickler who’s awful to be around. (And honestly, I probably make mistakes that make someone with even more passion for punctuation scream silently.)

Moneyball : The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Michael Lewis

            Michael Lewis is excellent at making a complex subject understandable and interesting. I know nothing about baseball, but I still found this book extremely interesting. I do think knowing what a ‘ball’ was would help the book be more meaningful.

Lost At Sea : The Jon Ronson Mysteries
Jon Ronson

            Fascinating short articles that slowly get more….ummmm…sickening as you work your way towards the end of the book. Once you hit the articles about old celebrities convicted of being pedophiles, I would stop. Other than that part; I loved his look at the random mysteries in the world, from UFO conventions to his experiences with a program meant to turn an Atheist into a Christian.

How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie

            I wish I had read this book when I was an awkward teenager. I’m still an awkward adult, but I feel like this book has given me some excellent tools to overcome my awkwardness. I’m constantly thinking “What question can I ask this person?” now rather than, “Oh please, let’s just not talk.” And I feel like that’s an improvement.

Freakin' Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave, Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate, and Generally Be Better than Everyone Else
Clinton Kelly

    You don’t need to seek this book out. I stumbled upon it and  since I loved What Not to Wear (Kelly as co-host) I thought this would be a fun read. It was that and honestly, less useful than part of me was hoping for. Watch the show, don’t read the book. J

The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing The Legend Of Master Forger Han Van Meegeren 
Jonathan Lopez

            Intriguing history to a piece of history I knew nothing about.  Not only does Han Van Meegeren manage to forge Vermeers for years (throughout WWII) he also manages to die a hero claiming he forged them to trick the Nazi’s; despite his clear Nazi sympathies. I loved how well Lopez shows the true story of Han Van Meegeren in a tasteful, interesting way. It certainly taught me more about the art world during WWII and culture during that time as well.

Tower: An Epic History Of The Tower Of London
Nigel Jones

            Interesting read; learned a ton about the Tower of London and now would really like to visit it. The more you already know about the rulers of England throughout history the more interesting this book is going to be. Jones does do an excellent job of reminding you how this guy is related to this guy who did this with the Tower. So even if you know nothing else about them, you at least have a solid timeline and some interesting tidbits about who they had beheaded there.