When I was in first grade, we were asked to draw ourselves as what we wanted to be when we grew up. I'm happy to report that my neon-colored picture won top prize. The reason my drawing was so colorful was because I had to differentiate all the books in my library. Yes, my library. I wanted to be a librarian when I grew up. That was the only possible profession that I imagined got to read for a living. And that's what I wanted to do. These last few weeks, I've had a lot of downtime to read. My inner 6-year-old bookworm self is jumping up and down. And she wants to share two awesome stories with you. :)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel. This book sat on my shelf for years. Everyone raved about it but for some reason I kept putting it off. Then the movie came out and I knew I had to read it before watching the movie (because books are almost always better!). Let me start off by saying it's not at all what I thought it was going to be. The quick synopsis is that a boy gets lost out to sea after his family's ship, headed from India to Canada, sinks. This is basically his story of more than 200 days at sea ... with the company of exotic animals that were being ferried to Canada and ended up on the lifeboat with him. At the end, however, there's a twist and everything is not as it seems. Life of Pi definitely makes you ponder religion, humanity and the will to survive. (**** [That's 4 out of 5 stars. Follow me on Goodreads to check out all my books.])
Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. Oh, this book! It's so smart. That's truly the best word to describe it. It's narrated by Bee, a 15-year-old, who goes on a wild adventure to Antarctica to find her mother who has vanished into thin air. The story is interrupted by letters, e-mails and faxes from and to Bee's mother—Bernadette, neighbors, a virtual assistant in India, faculty members at Bee's school, and Bee's father/Bernadette's husband. This story is funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. A must read! (****)
