u r b a n s l a n t

Looking for something to read? Find it here. And if you know of a book I should be reading, let me know by leaving me a reply below.

personal favorites:

Kitchen Confidential — Anthony Bourdain
I love Anthony Bourdain. He’s a professional chef who hates most of the sellouts on the Food Network and isn’t afraid to say so. Now he has his own show on the Travel Channel, but he’s the first to point out that this makes him a sellout, too, albeit a talented and wiseass one, which I’ll take over Rachael Ray any day. This book is about Bourdain’s life and times as a chef in New York City, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at the restaurant industry. It’s totally fascinating and one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

A Walk in the Woods — Bill Bryson
In this book, Bryson hikes the entire Appalachian Trail with his overweight and completely out-of-shape friend Stephen. From the difficulty of packing enough Little Debbie snack cakes to meeting truly bizarre characters on the trail, Bryson makes you appreciate the beauty of nature even as he is making you laugh.

My Life in France — Julia Child
This semi-autobiography (told in first-person as narrated by Julia to her nephew) covers Julia’s time living in France and the story behind that famous French cookbook of hers. Her love of France, food, and cooking comes through on every page, and she isn’t shy about voicing her frustration over conservative politics and conventional suburban life in America. I loved absolutely everything about this book.

Shutterbabe — Deborah Copaken Kogan
I discovered this book while I was in the Peace Corps, and must have read it ten times since then. It’s a memoir about Copaken Kogan’s adventures in the male-dominated field of photojournalism, as well as a narrative of her many personal relationships througout her career. She travels from Paris to Afghanistan to Romania to Zimbabwe covering wars, political coups, wildlife poachers, and drug overdosers, and it’s never less than fascinating to follow along.

Nine Hills to Nambonkaha: Two Years in the Heart of an African Village — Sarah Erdman
Erdman was a Peace Corps volunteer from 1998 to 2000 in a remote village in northern Cote d’Ivoire, there to promote health education and HIV/AIDS awareness to a community that regularly attributed death, disease, and destruction to sorcery and angered ancestral spirits. I ran the entire gamut of emotions as I read: fear, hope, anxiety, joy, anger, irritation, happiness, satisfaction, frustration, contentment, despair, delight, indignation, and sheer, unadulterated elation. When I was done, I felt like I’d already been there and back.

A Prayer for Owen Meany — John Irving
This book made me laugh, cry, and believe in the power of faith. It was my favorite book for about ten years and also the only John Irving book I actually like.

The Poisonwood Bible — Barbara Kingsolver
An outstanding novel that chronicles the lives of a southern Baptist missionary family sent to the Belgian Congo in 1959, and their subsequent defeat and reconstruction over the next 30 years.

Bird by Bird — Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott gives great writing advice while talking in ordinary terms and making you laugh at the same time. This is not your English teacher’s book. It is about writing, but it is also about the humanity in writing. When I need pointers, I pick up this book. Again and again.

The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
Betsy Lerner must be clairvoyant. I have never read a book and thought the author was secretly writing about me until I read this one. And for the record, yes, I have fervently sat down to write and then suddenly and inexplicably fallen asleep. I thought I was narcoleptic. According to Lerner, I am just a neurotic, obsessive, ambivalent writer. Go figure.

Bella Tuscany — Frances Mayes
Reading this book made me want to run out and buy a house in Italy, just like Mayes and her husband did. If you’re sick of the frenzied American atmosphere and are looking for relaxation and the pure enjoyment of life, this book is for you.

Lolita — Vladimir Nabokov
This is the most beautifully written book I have ever read. A true classic.

Animal Farm — George Orwell
I once heard a woman recommend this book to her teenaged daughter in a bookstore. The girl picked up the book and laughed. “Animal Farm?” she said. “Uh, I don’t think so, mom. I’m not really into animals.” She then read the book jacket and exclaimed, “Hey! This sounds like Cujo!” I had to leave. Immediately.

Bel Canto — Ann Patchett
This book has one of the best opening lines ever. You’d think a story about a dinner party taken hostage would be full of action and fast-paced suspense, but instead Patchett weaves a beautiful story about the characters involved, both the hostages and the hostage-takers, and about how those characters interact with and come to care for each other. Truly beautiful.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma — Michael Pollan
A fascinating and eye-opening read about what we eat, where it comes from, and why we should care.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — J.K. Rowling
Wow. Just…wow. This book is brilliant. Simply brilliant. If you haven’t read any of the Harry Potter books yet, this book is the most compelling reason to start. Yes, it’s technically a children’s book, but I can’t remember the last time a novel blew me away and left me speechless…truly, utterly speechless. The hardcover edition runs a whopping 870 pages and every page, every sentence, every word is perfectly executed and completely in synch with the previous four books. In fact, everything from the previous four books seems to simply come to life in this book, making your head spin at the genius of J.K. Rowling. This book tackles the complexities of adolescence as well as the realization that life is not black and white, but rather a million shades of gray.

Empire Falls — Richard Russo
The italicized prologue is somewhat daunting, but get past that, and you’ll be sucked into Russo’s story about the residents of a small Maine town, centered around restaurant owner Miles Roby and his family. It’s about class distinction, power, relationships, family, and life at all stages. Although the premise doesn’t seem particularly compelling, it’s Russo’s writing that pulls you in and keeps you enthralled.

Me Talk Pretty One Day — David Sedaris
Entertaining, hilarious essays. I will sum up this book in one sentence: You can’t kill the rooster. Read it.

Naked — David Sedaris
In his title essay, Sedaris discovers that a nudist colony–or in his case, a nudist trailer park–is not as peaceful and invigorating as it may seem. Reading Sedaris’s work makes me think that I could possibly make a living writing mine.

Revolutionary Road — Richard Yates
Flawlessly written, devastatingly told, depressingly perfect, this is a story about the unhappiness of suburban life, the desire to rise above it, and the bitter realization that maybe one isn’t so extraordinary, after all.

the best of the rest:

literary fiction
Vinegar Hill — A. Manette Ansay
The Handmaid’s Tale — Margaret Atwood
A History of the World in 10½ Chapters — Julian Barnes
The Good Earth — Pearl S. Buck
Possession — A.S. Byatt
The Prince of Tides — Pat Conroy
House of Sand and Fog — Andre Dubus III
Invisible Man — Ralph Ellison
The Corrections — Jonathan Franzen
Ellen Foster — Kaye Gibbons
Memoirs of a Geisha — Arthur Golden
Lord of the Flies — William Golding
Stones from the River — Ursula Hegi
The Kite Runner — Khaled Hosseini
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man — James Joyce
The Prodigal Summer — Barbara Kingsolver
The Ugly American — William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick
The Stepford Wives — Ira Levin
The Road — Cormac McCarthy
The Magician’s Assistant — Ann Patchett
Cry, the Beloved Country — Alan Paton
Election — Tom Perotta
Little Children — Tom Perotta
Midnight’s Children — Salman Rushdie
The Catcher in the Rye — J.D. Salinger
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan — Lisa See
The Joy Luck Club — Amy Tan
The Night Watch — Sarah Waters
Mrs. Dalloway — Virginia Woolf

leisure fiction
Angels and Demons — Dan Brown
The Da Vinci Code — Dan Brown
Term Limits — Vince Flynn
A Time to Kill — John Grisham
The Firm — John Grisham
About a Boy — Nick Hornby
Misery — Stephen King
She’s Come Undone — Wally Lamb
Wicked — Gregory Maguire
Interview with the Vampire — Anne Rice
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — J.K. Rowling

nonfiction
Tuesdays with Morrie — Mitch Albom
Why Do I Love These People?: Understanding, Surviving, and Creating Your Own Family — Po Bronson
I’m a Stranger Here, Myself — Bill Bryson
The Art of Happiness — The Dalai Lama
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius — Dave Eggers
The Vagina Monologues — Eve Ensler
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl — Anne Frank
Facing the Mirror — Frida Kerner Furman
Mythology — Edith Hamilton
Operating Instructions — Anne Lamott
Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith — Anne Lamott
Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith — Anne Lamott
Angela’s Ashes — Frank McCourt
Teacher Man — Frank McCourt
‘Tis — Frank McCourt
The Barbie Chronicles — Yona Zeldis McDonough, ed.
The Orchid Thief: A True Story of Beauty and Obsession — Susan Orlean
Reviving Ophelia — Mary Pipher
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood — Marjane Satrapi

food- and/or travel-related nonfiction (food and travel–my two favorite subjects!)
A Cook’s Tour — Anthony Bourdain
Heat — Bill Buford
eat, pray, love — Elizabeth Gilbert
Under the Tuscan Sun — Frances Mayes
The Apprentice — Jacques Pepin
Comfort Me with Apples — Ruth Reichl
Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise — Ruth Reichl
Tender at the Bone — Ruth Reichl
The Soul of a Chef: The Journey Toward Perfection — Michael Ruhlman

peace corps life
Dear Exile — Hilary Liftin and Kate Montgomery
The Village of Waiting — George Packer
Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle — Moritz Thomsen

short stories
Shooting an Elephant — George Orwell
Holidays on Ice — David Sedaris
The Mysterious Stranger — Mark Twain
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty — Eudora Welty

plays
A Doll’s House — Henrik Ibsen
Hedda Gabler — Henrik Ibsen
Hamlet — William Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew — William Shakespeare
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead — Tom Stoppard

on writing
Writing Down the Bones — Natalie Goldberg
The Elements of Style — William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White
A Room of One’s Own — Virginia Woolf