Books to Read via Amy Sherman-Palladino

 

 Rory's love of reading on Gilmore Girls didn't come out of thin air. The show's creator, Amy Sherman-Palladino, is a big reader herself. Years ago when the show was still on, Sherman-Palladino release a list of some of her favorite books. It was broken into two parts, classics and newer releases. There were 60 books (120) on each list.

I printed off the list around 2006 and started reading books from it. I discovered so many amazing gems! The list introduced me to the work of Margaret Atwood, Mary Roach, Dorothy Parker, Ann Patchett, Richard Russo, and Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I discovered The Awakening, Ella Minnow Pea, and Middlesex because of this list. Not every book has become a new favorite, but I've gotten something substantive from almost every single one. As I read each book I marked it off my tattered list and checked to see what I had left to read. I still have a few, but I'm running out of her recommendations!

In the comments of recent post on Brick Lane Trish asked me where I'd heard about the book. It was from this list and I realized I should post about the wonderful books I've discovered in the last decade because of it. I couldn't find a single place online where all these books are listed. Honestly, it's been so long since I first found it, I don't even remember where I got it.

So I just scanned my very worn copy of the list that has traveled around with me for years. You'll see a list of 30 Books to Read Before You're 30 on there as well. It also includes a list of Best Picture Oscar winners that I've been slowly working my way through. There's a little list of Stephen King's top 10 audiobooks that ran in Entertainment Weekly years ago. That list is the one that first introduced me to Neil Gaiman's work!

You never know where you'll find a great book recommendation. Before I started blogging this list was my secret key to discovery so many of the authors who are now my favorites, so I had to share it. I'm so grateful for Sherman-Palladino's impeccable reading tastes!

p.s. If you have any questions about a specific book just ask! I'm sure some of the titles are hard to read because of my scribbles and notes.

p.p.s. If ANYONE know how I can watch the movie Cavalcade, please let me know! It's the only movie on my Oscar list that I haven't seen and I've never been able to find a copy of it. 

A Quiet Storm

A Quiet Storm 
by Rachel Howzell Hall 
★★★☆ 

Stacy has been taking care of her sister Rikki for as long as she can remember. The only kids of a religious and troubled family, the two try to keep up a semblance of normalcy despite Rikki’s mental illness. After a suicide attempt in her youth, it’s clear that Rikki’s issues are serious. 

As they grow up, Stacy begins to lose herself and her personal life in the drama that her sister creates. Bright and beautiful, most people don’t see Rikki’s struggle at first glance. Her loving husband Matt even minimizes its severity. 

Hall’s unflinching look at one family's struggle with mental illness is a powerful one. The reason it seems to work well is that you're seeing the situation through the eyes of the sister. She is not the one with the illness, but we are able to see the havoc it wreaks in everyone’s life through her experiences. It colors every single day of her life. The overwhelming responsibility she feels to protect and care for her sister puts a strain on her relationship with her husband, friends and family members. 

Some of the plot feels melodramatic, but I think that’s intentional. Everything with Rikki’s disease is either high or low and so there’s not a lot of room for thoughtful consideration in the mix. Her moods are driven by guilt, rage, jealousy, remorse, etc. The most disturbing aspect of the disease is that some people around her, like her mother, would prefer to pretend there’s no real problem. 

BOTTOM LINE: I found the meat of the story to work a bit better than the ending. I felt like it turned a bit into a cautionary tale with a melodramatic tone, but I still got a lot out of it. 

"It's difficult to accept that invisible, indestructible things can haunt a person."  

"I didn't believe what I had just said, but I couldn't resist the argument. College does that, you know."

Top Ten TV Shows That Are Off the Air

This week's Top Ten from The Broke and the Bookish is a rewind freebie, so I'm listing my favorite top ten TV shows that have been cancelled. Not very bookish, but that's ok. 

I'm always renting entire series of TV shows through netflix. If you're anything like me you're always trying to figure out what great TV shows you might have missed. So here's a list of a few of my favorites. Depending on your taste they're worth checking out!

1) Firefly – I’m a total Browncoat

2) Arrested Development – Can’t wait for the new episodes and then the movie!

3) Gilmore Girls – Pop culture, bookworm bliss in TV format

4) The Office (British version) – Before there Jim and Pam, there was Tim and Dawn, bonus points for knowing when to end the show.

5) LOST – There aren’t many shows that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout every episode, this was one of the few.

6) Pushing Daisies – Lee Pace is just adorable, I loved this quirky show  

7) Alias – Butt-kicking heroine and J.J. Abrams twists, yes please

8) Party Down – Before he was beloved as Ben on Parks and Rec, Adam Scott starred in this gem.

9) Veronica Mars – Smart and snarky female PI … in high school (and now they're making a movie!)

10) Freaks and Geeks/My So Called Life – These two are both teen angst at their best

Runners up (other shows I really enjoyed): Better Off Ted, Wonderfalls, Sex and the City, Friends

Image from here.