The Bag Lady Papers by Alexandra Penney

 

The subtitle is, The Priceless Experience of Losing it All.

Except…she doesn’t.

I checked this out, thinking it would be an actual chronicle of someone who became homeless and clawed their way out of that nasty spot…but no. Penney is an affluent New Yorker who lives the glamourous life, and has plenty of resources.

Sure, she loses her retirement savings, and is left with several pieces of worthless real estate; she has to retrench, lower her standard of living and hustle for jobs and money. She started this blog as a way to earn money, and had plenty of friends who came to her rescue.

She chronicles her worries and fears for the first six months after the news about Madoff’s Ponzi scheme broke…but she came through it just fine.

Not as interesting as i had hoped, although I did listen to the whole thing.

 

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I have resisted this book since it came out and everyone raved about it…but I needed something for a long drive and picked up the audiobook (which was very well read, btw.)

I enjoyed it very much, although the kelp and meerkats had me rolling my eyes…until the end. Oh my god. I had dreams about the ending of this book. Wow.

Highly recommended.

The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whelan Turner

The second in the AMAZING TEEN FANTASY SERIES THAT NOBODY THOUGHT TO TELL ME ABOUT FOR SEVENTEEN YEARS.

But I’m not bitter or anything.

OMG, this is good. The last one I listened to in the car, missing freeway offramps and not stopping for anything.

This one? I was hiking. Not paying much attention to where I was going until I realized I had started on the HARDEST TRAIL at my local open-space park. The one that goes two miles steeply upward. OMG. But what the heck, it was an awesome book. Stayed up way too late last night finishing it.

I LOVE this series. Just started the third.

The Thief by Megan Whelan Turner

A family came into my library and was raving about the audiobook of this. I added it to my ipod for the trip to Vegas I took in April, but never got to it. So on the way home from Southern California in June, I thought it might be fun to try it.

Oh my god. I missed freeway offramps, blew off shopping and had to finish it at home with earbuds, it was SO GOOD.

And everyone I raved to about it was all, I read it years ago, can’t believe you hadn’t.

Well, I hadn’t. And now I’m going to listen to the other three in the series. This is WONDERFUL fantasy writing, if you (like me) hadn’t read it, read or listen to it NOW NOW NOW.

The Price of Everything by Eduardo Porter

Economics, pretty basic, kinda dry. Kept me going through a 6 hour drive, but not outstanding.

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

An ex-child-prodigy breaks up with the 19th Katherine he’s dated and goes on a road trip with his best friend Hassan.

One of the best, most charming, most wonderful books ever. I listened to the audiobook on the way to Vegas and all the way around Southern California. Loved it all over again.