Books: Helping Us Survive the Holidays

Hello, fellow travelers!

During the holidays, one may find oneself in need of some entertainment or relief from a family like the Griswolds. 

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Many of us find ourselves on a long flight back home or off to a vacation in a far away land. So, the question is how do we entertain ourselves? Personally, I find curling up with a good book is the best way to pass time.

Soon to be B and I!

Books Worth Reading:

• 50 Shades Trilogy: $27.75 
• FIFTY SHADES OF GREY: "When college student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating.  The unworldly Ana realizes she wants this man, and Grey admits he wants her, too—but on his own terms. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionately physical affair, Ana discovers Christian’s secrets and explores her own desires."
• FIFTY SHADES DARKER: "Daunted by Christian’s dark secrets and singular tastes, Ana has broken off their relationship to start a new career. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and while Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Ana is forced to make the most important decision of her life."

• FIFTY SHADES FREED: "Now, Ana and Christian have it all—love, passion, intimacy, wealth, and a world of possibilities for their future. But Ana knows that loving her Fifty Shades will not be easy, and that being together will pose challenges that neither of them would anticipate. Just when it seems that their strength together will eclipse any obstacle, misfortune, malice, and fate conspire to turn Ana’s deepest fears into reality."
• Lolita: $10.85 (I am currently reading this one.)
• "Awe and exhiliration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation."
• A Walk in the Woods: $7.99 (I am currently reading this one as well.)
• "The Appalachian Trail trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaing guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the way–and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in)."
• Me Talk Pretty One Day: $10.87
• "A recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris, bestselling author of "Naked", presents a collection of his strongest work yet, including the title story about his hilarious attempt to learn French. A number one national bestseller now in paperback."
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Trilogy: $35.51
• "All across America, readers are talking about Stieg Larsson’s best-selling novels, set in Sweden and featuring Lisbeth Salander—'one of the most original and memorable heroines to surface in a recent thriller' (The New York Times). The trilogy is an international sensation that will grab you and keep you 'reading with eyes wide open' (San Francisco Chronicle). '[It] is intricately plotted, lavishly detailed but written with a breakneck pace and verve' (The Independent, U.K.), but 'be warned: the trilogy is seriously addictive.' (The Guardian, U.K.)."
• Anna Karenina: $12.24 (I plan to read this on my way to Germany!)

• "Described by William Faulkner as the best novel ever written and by Fyodor Dostoevsky as “flawless,” Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfolds as Anna rejects her passionless marriage and must endure the hypocrisies of society. Set against a vast and richly textured canvas of nineteenth-century Russia, the novel's seven major characters create a dynamic imbalance, playing out the contrasts of city and country life and all the variations on love and family happiness."
• "While previous versions have softened the robust, and sometimes shocking, quality of Tolstoy's writing, Pevear and Volokhonsky  have produced a translation true to his powerful voice. This authoritative edition, which received the PEN Translation Prize and was an Oprah Book Club™ selection, also includes an illuminating introduction and explanatory notes. Beautiful, vigorous, and eminently readable, this Anna Karenina will be the definitive text for fans of the film and generations to come."
• Tigers in Red Weather: $17.15 (I'm intrigued by this book and will read it soon.)

• "Nick and her cousin, Helena, have grown up sharing sultry summer heat, sunbleached boat docks, and midnight gin parties on Martha's Vineyard in a glorious old family estate known as Tiger House. In the days following the end of the Second World War, the world seems to offer itself up, and the two women are on the cusp of their 'real lives': Helena is off to Hollywood and a new marriage, while Nick is heading for a reunion with her own young husband, Hughes, about to return from the war.
  
  Soon the gilt begins to crack. Helena's husband is not the man he seemed to be, and Hughes has returned from the war distant, his inner light curtained over. On the brink of the 1960s, back at Tiger House, Nick and Helena--with their children, Daisy and Ed--try to recapture that sense of possibility. But when Daisy and Ed discover the victim of a brutal murder, the intrusion of violence causes everything to unravel. The members of the family spin out of their prescribed orbits, secrets come to light, and nothing about their lives will ever be the same.
  
  Brilliantly told from five points of view, with a magical elegance and suspenseful dark longing, Tigers in Red Weather is an unforgettable debut novel from a writer of extraordinary insight and accomplishment."

Budget Friendly Route:

• Head to your local library to rent!
• Borrow from friends and family members who already own them.
• Go check out a used book store!
• Head to your local Salvation Army for cheap books!
• Ask Santa to bring you books for Christmas ;)

Check back soon for Christmas present ideas!

Happy reading!