A wise woman recently suggested that I dedicate a post to book recommendations. MKIA does not normally cover books - not because I don’t read but rather because I am somewhat insecure about my taste level in this area. My mother-in-law (the aforementioned wise one) knows how much I love my Kindle because I’ve spent many family vacations by the pool buried in its digital pages. Ok, maybe she thinks MKIA could use some content of the more intellectual variety and that my impeccable taste is not relegated to Chloe boots, YSL makeup and fabulous jewelry.
I have always considered adding a book category to MKIA but my apprehension got the better of me. Leave it to my mother-in-law to tell me, in her own way, that I can do it. Thanks to Alice, MKIA now has a new category that I will do my best to fill (somewhat regularly) with great book recommendations and other literary related topics.
Here is a shortlist of great reads for your holiday vacation. These all qualify as gifts too!
FOR YOUR EDIFICATION…
Isabel Wilkerson, The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration – A pulitzer prize winning Journalist unravels the complicated history of the six million black southerners who migrated to the North and Midwest during the decades between World War I and the 1970s. Told through the lens of three members of this “Great Migration” as they journeyed from their formerly oppressed lives in the south to the potential “warmth of other suns” in the North, Wilkerson illuminates an important part of American history rarely discussed. Buy or download at amazon.com.
Stacy Schif, Cleopatra: A Life – Learn the real history of one of history’s most powerful, yet elusive, women. Schif takes us beyond the legends we’ve learned via Roman history and recreates the life of the actual woman with beautiful detail and never before attempted historical insight. Buy or download at amazon.com.
FOR A GOOD LAUGH…
Chelsea Handler, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang - The third installment from comedian Chelsea Handler is just as hilarious as the first two. Told in her quintessential no-holds-barred, no-detail-spared, screw-you-if-you-don’t-like-it tone, her antics (both in the bedroom and out) will keep a smile on your face from cover to cover. Buy or download at amazon.com.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race – Imagine the entire history of humanity created by the writers of The Daily Show in a manuscript for visiting aliens who discover earth after human extinction. All our foibles and follies are laid out in hysterical short, skit-like narratives. Buy or download at amazon.com.
FOR YOUR HEALTH…
Dr. Alejandro Junger, Clean: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body’s Natural Ability to Heal Itself - Make your 2011 resolution to take better care of yourself and start with Clean. Dr. Junger, a renowned functional medicine physician, explains how to naturally combat the toxicity of everyday life with nutrition and supplements in order to heal our current ailments and prevent future disease. Buy or download at amazon.com.
Frank Lipman and Mollie Doyle, Revive: Stop Feeling Spent and Start Living Again – Similar to Clean but focused on the sources of chronic fatigue and a detoxification program to correct a malady that ails far too many of us. Buy at amazon.com.
FOR YOUR IMAGINATION…
Steve Martin, An Object of Beauty – Steve Martin masterfully applies social commentary to an entertaining story about the rise of a female art dealer in the over indulgent world of the 90s and early 2000s. Buy or download at amazon.com.
Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants - Ok, so this is not a new book but it is a great one and the feature film starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon is due out in early 2011. So if you haven’t read it yet, I wouldn’t wait for the movie. This love story, set amid the dark background of circus life during the Depression, is at once magical and moving. Buy at amazon.com.
Let me know if you have any favorites, new or old, to add to this list. I should warn you, I am not a fan of the tragedy or horror genres, so don’t expect any recommendations for new Steven King novels.
