Happy Kindleversary to me! 1 year ago today, May 7, 2009, my Kindle arrived. 146 items later, here are some of the best things I've read on this miraculous device:
Best Never Ending Series
My college bff & Alpha Chi pledge sister, Maura, recommended Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series as a good read that wouldn't go by too quickly. Wow, she wasn't kidding. Each of these books is at least 800 pages and filled with all kinds of excitement - time travel, wars, pillage, you name it. I've read Outlander, the first in the series (896 pages); book two, Dragonfly in Amber (906 pages); book three, Voyager (1062 pages); and just finished book 4 Drums of Autumn (1088 pages). Let's face it, after that much of one story, I needed a break! When I'm ready there are two (maybe three?) more books to tackle.
Best Free Book
Free: The Future of a Radical Price by Chris Anderson, recommended by Niki Black (another of my CWRU AXO sisters). Is free becoming a new business model? Can businesses give things away and still make a profit? Chris Anderson argues that they can and he argues it well. It changed my thinking and made me aware of how (especially online) the world is changing.
Best Memoirs
Orange Is the New Black: One Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman was recommended by Malena Lott of BookEnd Babes. Malena is also an Alpha Chi Omega. She went to U of Oklahoma. (Not everyone can be a Case alum!)
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (with the long subtitle "Or Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun"). Seriously if I'd have known the subtitle I might not have read the book!
These two books hit a similar note with me. Though they could not have taken place in more different locations, each author finds her way to make the best of her current condition and find happiness (or at least greater contentment). Thought-provoking reads, in their own way each book makes you think about the world and how you move through it.
Best Nostalgia
You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation. by Susannah Gora. Another Book End Babes selection, this one is chock full of details and fun facts about the John Hughes movies (plus a few others, like my favorite Say Anything). It was a trip down memory lane that improves your memory. I kept wondering, "Did I know this at the time?" I'm sure I knew some of it, but certainly not all of it. I especially enjoyed the stories about the music in the films. Can you imagine if Peter Gabriel hadn't given permission for "In Your Eyes" to be used in Say Anything? Wow. If you love the movies or grew up with them, give this book a read.
If you haven't checked out Book End Babes, it's worth a visit. I've yet to read a book recommended there that I haven't enjoyed.
P.S. I think without Alpha Chi and Twitter I would have had much less to read!
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