If your spring looks anything like ours, you would appreciate not just an extra blanket, some stay cool water bottles and another hour in your day, but something to fill those minutes you will inevitably spend waiting by soccer fields or tennis courts. Well, in our experience, a good book will brighten even the soggiest of sidelines. Here are 10 books for the sidelines that you are sure to love!
Spring loves a mystery and this one does not disappoint. After a lovely party at the lake house, the Edevane family’s 11 month old son Theo goes missing. Morton’s page turner takes this pivotal moment in a family’s history and creates something special and utterly unputdownable. Told from two vantage points–2003 London and 1930s Cornwall–this book will have you ignoring kids just to figure out what is happening and where this story will go. As always, Morton’s gift for managing complicated story lines while simultaneously creating well-developed characters will make you grateful for all that extra time you have to read.
A good friend recommended this book calling it a “sexy beast of a read”. If you are anything like me, that alone might make you want to read this book, but if it doesn’t, try this: this is a novel that won’t be compartmentalized. A virtual smorgasbourd of all good things literary, this book has action, suspense, courtroom drama, some literary allusions, and even a tiny sprinkling of horror toward the end. There are no small bites here; you will devour this book. Without a dull moment in sight, this book grips you from the first sentence and keeps you entertained and hungry for more until it delivers one sad reader at the very end. You will miss these characters and this story when it’s gone. Lucky for all of us, this is book one in a five book series. Read on, book warriors!
Don’t read the dust jacket: this book is neither Gone Girl nor The Girl on the Train, both books we really, really liked even with their creepy, psychological suspense. It IS a great read though. In fact, it reminded us more of Leanne Moriarty’s The Husband’s Secret with the marital secrets and the mystery at the heart of it. Sometimes, multiple points of view can be distracting, but in this case, the structure of the novel contributes to some of the magic. Be forewarned: you could easily lose an afternoon falling down this delightful rabbit hole, but the pay-off is worth it!
Our book club just read this one, and we universally loved and were inspired by it. So much so that those of us who had borrowed it from the library purchased copies to share with our kids. We were mesmerized by Malala’s chilling account of her hometown being taken over and then living under extremist terrorists, moved by her descriptions of the Swat Valley where she grew up, and emboldened by her courage. The book held up for us as a read, not just a recounting. 2016 is The Year for Global Girls. Lose yourself in Malala’ s incredible story and find yourself fired up about getting girls all over the world access to educational opportunities.
We share a huge author crush on Rainbow Rowell. We both LOVED Eleanor & Park and Fangirl, so we had huge expectations for this book, especially because favorite characters from Fangirl show up again in this story. Well, the inimitable Rowell never fails to surprise, entertain, and stun us with her craft and cleverness. She can also give you that rare stomach flip. Even in a book about magic, she is the real deal. Before you start to call this book Harry Potter for big kids, you have to know that this book is its own brand of special. How do we know? Over 500 pages disappear in a flash before your very eyes. This is Rowell at her best. The results? Magical.
In one sense, you can think of this book as bread crumbs in the forest because essentially that is how this smart novel is written. Bee, the daughter, assembles emails, documents, letters et al after her mother Bernadette disappears in an effort to assemble the clues to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. The structure of the novel is just one intimation that this book is something special. After you read each document in its entirety, the full force and power of this novel is brought to light. Bitterly funny, satirical, and off-kilter in the best sense of the word, this send-up about all the things we mock and fear and revere in our modern society is the equivalent of a literary carnival. Dork Alert: Fans of Arrested Development won’t be a bit surprised to learn that the author Maria Semple was also a writer for the series .
Erin gobbled this one right up. She even took it backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. Nothing says “must read” like a willingness to cart those extra ounces up and down a mountain. In any case, the novel opens as stay-at-home mom Allison’s life is about to go off the rails. She goes to her childhood best friend’s book signing one night and has a little too much to drink. Mere hours later, she is involved in a fatal accident in which a child dies. The air you take into your lungs in the big gasp in the beginning takes this whole well-paced novel to be released. This may not be high literature, but it is a captivating read that makes you think. Like we said, you are gonna want to take big bites of this one.
Erin laughed, cried, and ignored her kids for three days to finish this piece of book crack in the big, sloppy gulps it demands. You know from the beginning that there has been a terrible tragedy at the local school’s Trivia Night, because Moriarty leaves little crumbs at the end of each chapter. But that’s not the story here. This is NOT another legal thriller. A big, sprawling character study of modern moms, it may be. An ironic, funny take on modern parenting, it definitely is! It’s also a rollicking good time. You’ll laugh and cringe at just how right Moriarty gets all the characters hanging out in the school parking lot. A great read for fall while still reminiscent of that last joyful moment of summer indulgence.
A book lover’s dream, this first novel has the trifecta for a satisfying read: great well-developed characters, a dynamic and well-paced plot, and some nice curve balls to keep you guessing. Our protagonist Grace looks like a simple girl from Tennessee, but she can’t hide her complex and slippery character for long. You’ll root for her and want to wring her neck in equal measure. There’s a question that hangs over the novel from the beginning that’s begging to be answered and when Scherm finally gets around to it, you are grateful for the care she took in the build-up as well as the payoff itself. This is a debut that leaves you wanting more.
Moms of daughters, beware: this read will make you want to lock your girls up and throw away the key. But despite the dark cloud that hangs over this novel as a teen girl goes missing, there is so much to enjoy as well. Ng is a writer’s writer and she doesn’t so much document this family’s unraveling as their personal hell unfolds as invite you to pull at the fraying threads with her. At once, a novel about family, the mother/daughter dynamic, and cultural divides, this book is also achingly real and familiar. The truth hurts so bad in this one, but the reader is so grateful for every perfect note Ng hits. If the ship is going down, we might as well learn something from the trip. Ng makes sure she plumbs the depths so well that this is one dark corner now revealed.
We hope these page turners will brighten your spring!
This is a story of capitalism, big coffee, and the woman who would not be oppressed by their diabolical ways.
Okay, maybe that is a bit dramatic. Anyway . . .
I enjoy, crave, and need coffee, but I am often running short on time. When I was gifted a Keurig with its magical ability to deliver delicious coffee in minutes, it was this procrastinating caffeine addict’s dream come true. So when that one went kaput after years of service, I trotted out to buy a new one without one lick of research. The only thing on the shelf was the Keurig 2.0 and I thought, “Two point O? Fantastic! This will be even better!”
Except the 2.0 didn’t mean improved, it meant more proprietary. Seems the company’s K-Cup patent expired in 2012 and copycat K-Cups sprang up to take a bite out of Keurig’s profits. In response, Keurig developed the 2.0 that has a sensor to pick up the technology they embedded in the newly patented, next generation K-Cups.
This means old cups don’t work in your new machine even if they were designed by Keurig. Put an unlicensed or 1.0 K-Cup in your machine and you get this annoyingly cutesy message.
Okay, so no big deal. I only had three Earl Grey cups that weren’t working . . . or so I thought.
The ladies are from out of town so they spent the night at my house, and because my momma raised me right, I gave them full access to the Keurig with a refreshed and overflowing basket of K-Cups. I was feeling pretty smug about being a good hostess until I heard them call from the kitchen:
“Hey, none of these coffee things are working!”
Jessica is rightfully sad.
I have a penchant for buying in bulk at warehouse stores, but I lack the gumption and desire to rotate my stock. Seems I had just been dumping new K-Cups onto the old, but we had finally reached the bottom of the barrel so to speak. There were at least three dozen K-Cups that weren’t going to work in my machine. Now THAT is a big deal.
But there is a way around it! You just need heavy-duty scissors and scotch tape.
It’s really pretty simple. You just need to cut out the “ring” of a 2.0 K-cup. (There is also a gizmo you can buy on Amazon called a Freedom Clip, but I have not tested out how that works.)
You need to make sure to cut away the ridge or it will not fit in the machine.
Cut the foil out of the ring and just tape it on. While you really need to cut neatly, the taping is not as finicky. Just make sure the ring is seated on the cup and that you don’t tape across the center.
It worked! (To date, I have been able to brew ten cups of coffee with the one ring I cut out.)
And Jessica and Norine celebrated!
You know what would go great with that cup of coffee? Jess and Norine’s new book! These comic geniuses take all the highs and lows of parenting, apply the sciences to them, illustrate them up, and churn out humor we all can relate to.
Need an example? Check out this magnet gracing my refrigerator.
You can get your very own copy of their book on Amazon.
Looking for something perfect to put under the Christmas tree? Nothing warms our hearts and de-grinchifies us faster than a stack of great books. We crowd-sourced our in-real-life Sisterhood to put together this stellar booklist. Some books we have loved, others we are wishing to see under our own trees this Christmas. In any case, they all come stamped with a Sisterhood Seal of Approval, so you can feel confident that your favorite reader will move you to the top of their list after receiving any of these.
A book club pick, we devoured this book individually and as a group. In a nutshell, a young woman loses her job and then goes to work for a young quadriplegic, but that’s just on the book jacket. There is so much meat to this tale. The relationship that develops between Louisa and Will doesn’t just touch the reader, it makes you reevaluate the line between ordinary and extraordinary and the paths we take to get where we need to go. It also launched a great book club discussion which is, of course, the very best endorsement.
A cautionary tale for our hyper-connected world, this riveting tale of Joe and his obsession with the lovely, unsuspecting Beck will heighten your pulse and take your breath away. A creeper tale of the highest order, this story watches Joe watching Beck and then making his move from stalker to boyfriend. Read this one with all the lights on and feel to check your heart rate often during this compulsively readable and thrilling book.
A book club pick from another book club, we were thrilled by Hatmaker’s honest, funny take on parenting, marriage, and modern womanhood. A Christian blogger cum HGTV star, Hatmaker is the best girlfriend you wish you had. This book means you can carry her wisdom and wit with you all the way through the carpool line and beyond.
Wickedly funny, this book starts with relatively unlikeable characters, adds some loose connections to the story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, throws in a road trip, and somehow ends up with a satisfying read. The three young people at the heart of this one–Kezia, Victor, and Nathaniel–were best friends in college who crash back in to each other’s lives at a wedding. Their intricate dance throughout the novel holds all the moving pieces here together, but Crosley’s wry funny observations and humor are the real stars. Erin quoted this book out loud to her husband many times. Be prepared to laugh and cry.
Erin is a Freakonomics podcast enthusiast and found this recommendation in an episode. Funny as well as fascinating, this book takes on the idea that is transforming behavioral economics: small changes can produce great results. Finding a book to stimulate your mind and your funny bone at the same time is like finding a bathing suit in January, but this is one magical unicorn of a book. Not just appropriate for non-fiction lovers, this book will thrill anyone curious about why people do what they do. It might make you reevaluate how funny college professors really can be. A fun, fascinating read.
Full disclosure: we really liked Gone Girl so this book which has hints of that same dark heart beating beneath the shiny surface of the marriage between these two new beautiful people thrills us. But this is not Gone Girl Lite. Groff is a beautiful writer and the power of her prose combined with the structure she imposes here give this book new heights to reach and new depths to plumb. With the two points of view explored fully and exposed honestly, this book could also have been titled TheRise and Fall of a 20 Year Marriage, but even that falls short of the literary magic happening here. Love her or hate her, Groff of Arcadia fame is a reader’s writer and this story moves, breathes, and completely blows away what you ever thought about long term relationships.
Another wife gone missing book with an important difference: Pitlor’s gifted hand. She draws everyday married life in all it unexceptional uniqueness. When Hannah disappears after an argument with her husband Lovell, the story of their marriage unfolds as the mystery begs to be resolved. Pitlor deftly explores the special country that each love story spawns with exquisite and realistic detail. You have seen those blind turns, you have navigated these back roads. A page turner with heart and humor.
Another look at yet another marriage, but this time the focus includes the teens caught in the crossfire. The immensely gifted Pierpont draws the philandering Jack, his wife Deb, and their two children with such clarity that their pain is palpable. An inventive structure to the novel adds layers to this already complex and accurate portrayal of a modern family in distress.
This book is a novelization of the up close and brutal of the adoption process. The complex, often times unlikeable characters of Jesse and Ramone populate this novel with their insecurities and shortcomings, but ultimately this book wins because it has a raw honesty. Though it is at times bitter, this vulnerability and truth is also welcome. Dark humor and real emotion pull this novel along.
This book answers the question: what happens after the torpedo hits the bow? A novel set in New York City, this story follows the Darling family, a family firmly in the 1%, after a financial scandal threatens to sink the whole ship. Rich with details of what it’s really like inside the hearts, minds, homes, and work spaces of the wealthy elite, this book will definitely grab your imagination. The well paced plot and superbly drawn characters will keep it.
So don’t forget: nothing says “I love you” like a stack of books under the tree on Christmas morn.
Didn’t find what you are looking for?
Check out our other booklists from this year here and here and here and here.
Do you feel like the holidays are one raging whitewater current sweeping you up in October and dumping you onto the barren shore just south of New Year’s Eve? Or is it north of? Either way . . .
US TOO!
Picture us yelling that at you with a Charlie Brown style force sufficient to send you somersaulting backwards. Which reminds us, we need to dig out our copies of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Pronto. Oh wait, that’s what Netflix is for. Look at us, we just wiped one thing off of our to-do lists.
Anyway, what we really want to convey is that while we loooooovvve the holidays, they can be a bit overwhelming. And we’re thinking we aren’t alone. Doesn’t everyone’s festivities land somewhere between any Hallmark movie ever and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation?
We tell you all about it in this podcast (player is at the bottom of the post). In fact this book served as a launching pad for recounting our own holiday stories of hijinx.
We’ll tell you about
The year Thanksgiving dinner came out of a blender.
Why “BOOM GOES THE TURKEY LEG” is Erin’s personal battle cry.
The Pilgrimages to Poland for mechanical Santas. (You can SEE what we are talking about here.)
The year Ellen buzzed through Christmas on her Jazzy.
And finally, the miracle that will whittle down your outside decorating efforts to locating one extension cord: Star Shower Laser Lights. Ellen gives you the highlights in the podcast, but since we know you will want one, you can get your own here on Amazon. See how it shows up even on Ellen’s brick house? Amazing. You can use the green setting during Halloween and the red and green setting for Christmas.
If you have a hankering for our full buffet of holiday fare, behold.
Well, it’s official—autumn is here. Although fall is just as likely to punk us as shower us with pumpkin spice everything, we still love it or, at the very least, have to live through it. Sure, jam-packed schedules, rushed meals on the fly, and school’s many demands threaten to take us down, but we have learned a thing or two.
Step 1: Mutter under your breath, “This too shall pass.”
Step 2: Repeat Step 1 often.
Step 3: Rock the life hacks that keep our families afloat instead of drowning in the carpool.
Click the image to enlarge.
To hear the conversation–or maybe brain dump is a better description—where we lay it all out for you, just click the player at the bottom to hear our latest podcast. We give up the goods about all the tricks and practices that make our lives work.
Now we mention some really great stuff in this podcast, and since we’re nothing if not helpful, we’re hooking you up with a bevy of links. But you should consider these links the breadcrumbs to lead you back to where you really want to be: listening to our podcast. That’s where it ALL is.
1) We wax awfully poetic about our love for crockpots in this podcast. Two of our favorite crockpot recipes are Apricot Cranberry Pork Tenderloin and French Country Chicken. We get really excited about these, so seriously, go check them out. Now, we don’t mention these other recipes specifically, but we have a whole slew of yummy crockpot meals so if you want more, have at it. We highly recommend it.
2) We also mention a favorite recipe planning book that we both use. Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites: More Great Recipes That Save You Time and Money from the Inventors of the Ultimate Do-Ahead Dinnertime Method Shwoo, that’s a mouthful. Just click on this Amazon link and buy it now. Yes, we get a teeny tiny compensation, but we promise to throw that penny in a fountain and wish happy thoughts for you. If you don’t end up loving or using this book as much as we both do, re-gift it to your sister-in-law. She’s awesome and busier than you anyway. She’ll think you’re a genius for thinking of it.
But you’re probably going to want to keep your copy and buy your sister-in-law a new one because we have a Sisterhood Secret for you right here. In an unusual turn of events, Ellen took organization to a new level and created a coordinated menu of eight of the recipes with a complete shopping list for them all. Yeah.
3) We also introduce you to this great gal named Alisa who blogs at Mondays are Forever because she introduced Ellen to the Keep app from Google, our newest tech crush. We might get a little excited talking about this in the podcast. Bringing everything full circle, you can input the menu shopping list mentioned above, and just use it over and over again. Worth checking out, no?
And if you need more of a teaser, we share the do’s and don’ts of carpooling, the school supplies we ALWAYS have in our stash, and a little more about how we juggle all of the balls and why we do it.
Homework on the fly.
Intrigued? Interested? Desperate to hear a little something funny with a side of sensible?
Well, click that player at the bottom and hear our podcast.
Alas, summer is exiting stage right, but before we all cry a collective tear for the lazy, hazy days we are leaving behind, here is a happy thought: books are always in season. As other delights happily move to the forefront like comfy sweaters, roaring fires, and pumpkin lattes, we don’t have to put our proverbial favorites on the shelf. Heck, no! In fact, here is a list of books that will keep you great company through one of our favorite seasons. We dug deep for this list of our favorites, so each and every one of these is roaring-fire-latte-and-comfy-sweater-worthy. In fact, every last one of these books might make it on to your own list of favorite reads ever, we promise.
A book lover’s dream, this first novel has the trifecta for a satisfying read: great well-developed characters, a dynamic and well-paced plot, and some nice curve balls to keep you guessing. Our protagonist Grace looks like a simple girl from Tennessee, but she can’t hide her complex and slippery character for long. You’ll root for her and want to wring her neck in equal measure. There’s a question that hangs over the novel from the beginning that’s begging to be answered and when Scherm finally gets around to it, you are grateful for the care she took in the build-up as well as the payoff itself. This is a debut that leaves you wanting more.
Moms of daughters, beware: this read will make you want to lock your girls up and throw away the key. But despite the dark cloud that hangs over this novel as a teen girl goes missing, there is so much to enjoy as well. Ng is a writer’s writer and she doesn’t so much document this family’s unraveling as their personal hell unfolds as invite you to pull at the fraying threads with her. At once, a novel about family, the mother/daughter dynamic, and cultural divides, this book is also achingly real and familiar. The truth hurts so bad in this one, but the reader is so grateful for every perfect note Ng hits. If the ship is going down, we might as well learn something from the trip. Ng makes sure she plumbs the depths so well that this is one dark corner now revealed.
Fall is the perfect time for a book that begs you to get lost between the pages. Towles evokes a time and place in his portrayal of 1930s Manhattan that would be fun to visit in and of itself, but the plucky, lucky every-girl Katey Content as the protagonist powers this past just another period piece. Katey is trying to make something of herself and we are enchanted by this girl on the edge of metamorphosis. When random events and people like the charismatic Tinker Grey change the course and temper of her future, we recognize Katey and her transparent yearning and root for her. We all have been that girl (or guy) on the cusp of possibility. This is a wonderful, buoyant novel about coming of age in a time and place with an enchantment all its own.
A lesser author might have made this story into a tragedy, but this book is laugh out loud funny. Winn’s daughter is getting married at the Kennedy-esque family compound, and his world of privilege is unraveling. He’s a man with everything but true happiness, and the three day extravaganza is primed to turn into a spectacle rather than the refined affair he desires. Even as Shipstead takes on the world of the well-bred with a sharp, biting wit, you will be swayed by her sidesteps into the heart of desire, the obligations of love, and what we must never surrender for fame, fortune, or a seat at the country club. This is funny with a super sized helping of smart, and it goes down smooth.
Absorbing, interwoven stories and beautifully drawn characters help you travel back and forth over fifty years in this tale. You won’t mind the trip a bit. In fact, you will be drawn into this world. From the lovely actress to the soulless movie producer, from the novelist to the innkeeper, each character dreams deeply improbable dreams and you can’t help but be carried away with them. This is a book to fall into and lose yourself a little.
So this might seem a funny one to suggest for curling up with by a crackling fire. End-of-life issues? Medical research? Um, ladies, you have done lost it this time. Pipe down over there. Gawande is the most gifted of storytellers who just also happens to be a doctor. Every book of his is a gem, but this one might be his best yet. His beautifully drawn anecdotes and stories create a lovely scaffold to hang this question: If medicine has now reached the stage where it can give us a good life, is it ready to give us a good end as well? A surprising page-turner, you’ll not mind the twists and turns and hefty research he sprinkles throughout to answer this question. This is a book you’ll want to share with your friends and loved ones.
This one might make you want to lock up ALL of your college aged kiddos, but you HAVE to read it. You know how we love to talk to kids about everything from sex to drugs to alcohol. Well, Krakauer lays out why we need to talk to our kids about alcohol and campus rape too. YIKES! But why, you ask? WHY?! We get that this is a tough read in many places, but Krakauer’s firm steady journalistic hand makes this one of the best, most important (but still immensely readable) things you can read this fall, especially if you have kids filling out college applications or even already cozied up in dorm rooms. It is a book that launched a thousand conversations for us. We are sharing it with you in the hopes that it will do the same in your family. A MUST read!
Erin has already shoved this book into the hands of every person willing to take a book from a crazy lady. But in all seriousness, this book knocked her socks off. The premise is that Mark Watney is left for dead on Mars after an ill-fated mission. But he is so not dead. Watney’s humor and humanity breathe life into this well-paced and thoughtfully constructed story about a man’s struggle for survival in an unforgiving environment. He makes us laugh, gasp, and root for his plucky ultimate underdog self. Add to this already amazing mix that this is a real science brand of science fiction and the result is unputdownable fiction. You can just thank Erin later or, at the very least, not run from her when she is shoving books at you.
Broken hearts are good for one thing: creating some powerful books. In this case, Helen Macdonald has lost her dad and then her way. So she does what all grieving girls do: she decides to train a goshawk. Weaving together stories of her grief with her experience training the hawk and anecdotes about T.H. White who also trained hawks, Macdonald is spinning a special kind of magic here. Her vulnerability, her bare-faced honesty, and her well-researched and deftly placed bits about White mesh with her rich wells of talent to bring us something far more encompassing and satisfying than a memoir of her grief. This is writing at its highest level with sentences that hold up to re-readings. We are not grateful for her loss so much as deeply affected by it and the lovely piece of writing it spawned.
Erin laughed, cried, and ignored her kids for three days to finish this piece of book crack in the big, sloppy gulps it demands. You know from the beginning that there has been a terrible tragedy at the local school’s Trivia Night, because Moriarty leaves little crumbs at the end of each chapter. But that’s not the story here. This is NOT another legal thriller. A big, sprawling character study of modern moms, it may be. An ironic, funny take on modern parenting, it definitely is! It’s also a rollicking good time. You’ll laugh and cringe at just how right Moriarty gets all the characters hanging out in the school parking lot. A great read for fall while still reminiscent of that last joyful moment of summer indulgence.
Erin gobbled this one right up. She even took it backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. Nothing says “must read” like a willingness to cart those extra ounces up and down a mountain. In any case, the novel opens as stay-at-home mom Allison’s life is about to go off the rails. She goes to her childhood best friend’s book signing one night and has a little too much to drink. Mere hours later, she is involved in a fatal accident in which a child dies. The air you take into your lungs in the big gasp in the beginning takes this whole well-paced novel to be released. This may not be high literature, but it is a captivating read that makes you think. Like we said, you are gonna want to take big bites of this one.
Nothing warms the heart faster than a love story, and this one charmed us both. It’s a story of first love peopled with characters so real they could walk right off the page. Eleanor and Park are high schoolers the way we remember them and know them now. Funny, sweet, vulnerable, flawed, and deeply striving for love, acceptance, and independence, they are characters to cheer for, and you will. Erin walked around like a teen in love while reading it and couldn’t stop shoving it into the hands of any unsuspecting reader she could find. Don’t let the Barnes and Noble sales rack fool you: this is not a teen romance in the same way that War and Peace is not a book that concerns Russia. It IS a 24 hour read. Tops.
In one sense, you can think of this book as bread crumbs in the forest because essentially that is how this smart novel is written. Bee, the daughter, assembles emails, documents, letters et al after her mother Bernadette disappears in an effort to assemble the clues to unravel the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. The structure of the novel is just one intimation that this book is something special. After you read each document in its entirety, the full force and power of this novel is brought to light. Bitterly funny, satirical, and off-kilter in the best sense of the word, this send-up about all the things we mock and fear and revere in our modern society is the equivalent of a literary carnival.
Dork Alert: Fans of Arrested Development won’t be a bit surprised to learn that the author Maria Semple was also a writer for the series .
Loss moves us in lots of ways. For Cheryl Strayed, loss meant literally moving. Away from her broken heart after losing her mother, away from the painful detritus of her failed marriage, away from a life veering off the tracks, she needed to get away in the realest sense possible. So she hit the trail. For her, healing meant lacing up her brand spanking new boots and setting her sights on a trip she honestly was unprepared for in every way. Strayed’s recounting of her time on the Pacific Crest Trail is riveting. Not only is she gifted with a steely resolve worthy of wonder and awe, but she has a wordsmith’s touch and a clear-eyed honesty that will captivate you. Can’t-put-down-able.
Three years after the loss of her son, Anna Whiston-Donaldson has crafted something beautiful out of the crazy, sad space left behind after the loss of her son. “Rare Bird” is exceptional in its power and inimitable in its voice. It is a rare and beautiful find on a dark road. Anna’s story is also a story of deep faith in the face of that which rocks one to the very core. Her poignant, painful, and sometimes funny anecdotes don’t just paint a picture of grief but gives it clear edges and hard corners. This new framework that grief imposes leaves her struggling to find in this new dark place the God that has always sustained her. But her straightforward open-hearted approach to this journey helps her see the new big God who is walking beside her in this place. A beautiful, big-hearted, clear-eyed, and ultimately hopeful and inspiring read.
There you have it: a big, honking stack of readable, lovable books to keep you warm and in reading all season long. We hope you love them all as much as we do!
We love to share tips here at the Sensible Moms that will make your life easier, such as a tailgating menu that doesn’t have any icky mayo to spoil or packing tips to get you on your way with your fourteen pairs of extra socks.
As of lately, advice centered around kids graduating from high school and going off to college has entered into the mix. Erin has launched her first baby from the nest and has written about what she wanted to say to her son before he graduated and how she needs to be treated now that he is snugly tucked into his dorm room.
Look at this kid.
Ellen is not too far behind with her high school senior:
Ellen may have rendered herself into a pile of mush by creating this side-by-side on the first day of school.
So along those lines, Ellen had some information fall into her lap that we wanted to shout from the mountain tops because even the internet didn’t feel completely adequate to get the word out.
All above textual excitement was completely intended. Textbooks are expensive and renting tips don’t seems to be at the top of the information presented at orientations–Erin didn’t know. Ellen only found out because her daughter is taking psychology for college credit and it was casually mentioned that instead of going to the bookstore, she could look on Amazon for this book:
So list price at the bookstore was $189.00.
To buy it new on Amazon was $140.00 and buying it used was $111.00.
But then there was this little bubble to click that said “Rent.” Even though Ellen had never heard of such a thing, she clicked it and her curiosity was immediately rewarded. She could rent it for the semester for $28.72!
Do you hear heavenly hosts singing alleluia, too? You should! Even if you’re not to this stage of parenting yet, you have to know someone who is approaching this milestone. Be a hero and share this info with with them.
Ellen shared it with Erin, who immediately texted her son, who immediately jumped all over and saved himself some serious coin.
And we weren’t kidding about spreading this news like 1930s paperboys shouting headlines on the street corner. We told our friend, Mary, who has a high school sophomore, and were immediately rewarded with this little golden nugget:
“Did you know you could get cheaper textbooks on ebay’s site, Half.com?”
“No!”
It was too late for us to use this site for the fall semester, but our friend used it when she homeschooled and has been satisfied with it. You can also sell your textbooks back on the site. For comparison, here are the options for Ellen’s daughter’s book:
But back to the website option we’ve actually used: Amazon. Ellen learned an important thing while finding the links for this post. The Amazon prices fluctuate. Remember she got the textbook for $28.72 for the semester? Well, that was on August 28th. This is what the prices look like now in September:
So it’s a good idea to compare Amazon to ebay to get the best deal. The fluctuations in pricing would suggest that it is also a good idea to research and buy well before the semester starts.
Clarification: You should also compare renting to buying used and then selling it back to Amazon. When Ellen nabbed the book, renting was the most economical option. Now as the prices stand, buying and selling back would be a greater savings. Note however that the trade-in refunds fluctuates the same way the pricing does and trade-in amounts are heavily affected if a new edition is on the horizon. Also know that Amazon pays you for your trade-in with an Amazon gift card.
You definitely should check out Amazon’s FAQ, but here are a few highlights:
You can return a textbook for a full refund for the first 30 days after renting if it is in its original condition.
If you change your mind and want to buy the book, you are free to do so after the first 30 days.
To return your textbook at the end of the rental period, simply go to your account and print out the free shipping label.
If you need an extension, you can get it in 15 day increments. For Ellen, the extension is about $18.50. You can see the extension price for your textbook after you put it in your cart (but before you buy it).
As far as shipping and ease of service go, our families have Amazon Prime, but Amazon Student is an economical membership program for those in college. Check out the benefits here:
So there you have it! The Sisterhood Secret that has already saved us hundreds! Hope it helps you too!
Update: Our loyal reader, Lucy, had a couple of selling tips for purchased textbooks that have worked for her kids. 1. Search for Facebook groups created by students at your college and/or in your major, and if the rules allow, post to sell your textbooks there. 2. Check at the college bookstore to see what sections are using your textbook that semester. Email the professors teaching those sections asking if they would share with their students that you have a book for sale.
-Ellen and Erin
This post contains affiliate links, but all opinions and excitement are our own.
You know we’re big proponents of talking early and talking often with your children about all of the important things in life. And what can be more important to kids than their ever-changing bodies? So when Cider Mill Press asked us to review The Boy’s Body Book and The Girl’s Body Book, we were happy to oblige.
Although the following books are new to us, we quickly fell in love, because they recognize the obvious, beautiful truth: puberty is different for boys and girls. Each book has very similar chapters, themes, and information just slightly modified in tone and information to more gender-specific changes. Erin’s “baby” who happens to be going into third grade is enjoying the boy’s book immensely.
Yes, this book has all the requisite good scientific information we require of a resource we are going to hand off to our kids, but it’s packed full of other good things too. The layout and format are truly engaging. The breezy, conversational tone coupled with fun artwork and compact chapters makes it immensely easy to read, and more importantly, to comprehend. There are also some bells and whistles that got us excited to add these to our library. Erin’s newly twelve-year-old was a big fan of the Quick Tips like this one:
Don’t assume that someone doesn’t want to be friends just because they don’t say hi to you. The person could be really shy and afraid to make the first move.
“The Expert Says” sections were also a big hit. Research in a digestible soundbite? Sign us up for more of those please. And while you’re at it, keep the boy testimonials scattered throughout the book coming too. We loved reading real boys weighing in on real issues in their real voices in “Boys Say.” By far though, our favorite section was the one titled “The Care and Feeding of Parents” which gives kids great practical advice about how to talk to their parents so they’ll listen. We laughed out loud and then had the great conversation that you always hope will start when you hand your kid a book like this one.
All the fine points of the boy book with some changes to better suit girls and their adolescent journey. We loved how the “Boys Say” column became “Notes from a Real Girl” here, and the well-chosen and thoughtful quotes sprinkled throughout the text were just as meaningful and welcome. Erin’s now sixteen-year-old daughter said that the “Know the Facts” section about pads versus tampons was exactly what she was looking for when she was younger. This book would have totally made Erin’s life easier. This book addresses all the aspects of life for a tween and teen from dressing right, to school, to relationships with friends and family, and everything in between.
Overall, both books deftly handle the modern landscape that our kids have to negotiate throughout adolescence. They address the importance of staying safe in relationships and online, while still keeping them entertaining with a friendly, supportive tone too. These books imply that despite the tumultuous, sometimes confusing and isolating changes kids are experiencing in adolescence there is support as well as the opportunity to thrive in spite of the challenges they might face.
And to help you out, we’re giving away a copy of each book! If you are 18 or older and reside in the United States, enter the easy Rafflecopter form for your chance to win. Giveaway ends on 8/30/15 at 12:00 am.
It’s here, friends. The end of summer is upon us. We know. We’re sad too. But just because lazy days on the beach are ending, doesn’t mean the reading stops! In fact, just the opposite. No time like the present to lose yourself in a great book to escape the hassles and woes of Back-to-School prep and fuss. There’s some solace to be had by making the most of these last summer days.
To this end, we asked the uber-important question of our blogging buddies: What book would you recommend for a last blast of summer reading?
Actually, our friend, Meredith, from The Mom of the Year asked this question and was nice enough to include us. Every month she and Normal Level of Crazy meet through a virtual book club* to allow moms to come together and chat about fab books while still rocking their pj pants in the cozy comfort of their own homes. It doesn’t get any better, really.
This month, the skies have been blown wide open with an entire book list of great reads that you need to check out! Even better, we are giving one of you a $225 Amazon gift card along with seven of the titles on this list to read! In short, you will be in a reader’s heaven and completely forget that the daily school grind is around the corner. Oops! Did we just remind you? Forget we said anything and focus on the sweet deal instead.
Enter to score the gift card and the hard copies of the books before 8/14/15 at 5:30am ET through the Rafflecopter below. As long as you are resident of the continental U.S. and 18 yrs. or older, you are eligible to win!
What’s on the list of recommended reads?
The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks (Jessica of Herd Management)–Possibly the best Sparks’ book I’ve ever read. Two couples in completely different time periods paths cross and the end result is amazing. Tear-jerking romance is enfolded within the pages of the characters’ captivating challenges. Plus, I can’t resist a cowboy. Read this before you see the movie!
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Courtney of Our Small Moments)– How would you feel if the one you loved turned out to be from one of the richest families? Crazy Rich Asians shows the complexity of that situation.
The Liar by Nora Roberts (MamaRabia of The Lieber Family)–What would you do if you found out that your recently deceased husband was not only a liar and a thief, but possibly worse? Shelby Pomeroy decides to take back her life by clearing her name and fighting to make a better life for herself and her young daughter. But her dead husband still has some surprises in store for her!
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline (Jennifer of Real Life Parenting)–The primary female characters in this historical fiction are strong, feisty, and full of heart and personality. The way their lives in time are so far apart, their connections are close and poignant. I loved the blending of history with modern day happenings! A quick read because you just don’t want to put it down.
Child, Please, How Mama’s Old-School Lessons Helped Me Check Myself Before I Wrecked Myself by Ylonda Gault Caviness (Stacey of One Funny Motha)–Maybe I like this book because I’m old-school myself. Or it could be the author’s funny, lively, entirely personable voice that makes reading it feel as though you’re talking to a friend. Or it could be that I write about similar issues myself and found much to agree with in the author’s perspective. Whatever the case, this memoir is a throughly enjoyable read of one woman’s straight-talking journey through motherhood and was selected by Ebony as 1 of the top 4 must-reads of the summer.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (Alyson of The Shitastrophy)–Was the most amazing read for me. After having walked away from reading for pleasure for some time due to work commitments I selected this book to read on an airplane. I couldn’t put the book down and finished it within 2 days. The story winds and weaves through three friends lives together. The ending was something I didn’t see coming and was suiting to see how justice can come to fruition, even when not done judicially. I have gone on to read the rest of her books available and none have disappointed.
Now the Hell Will Start by Brendan I. Koerner (Femme of FemmeFrugality)–Part history, part thriller, all non-fiction. Now the Hell Will Start is the story of Herman Perry, a WWII American soldier on the run in Burma after shooting his commanding officer. Not only does it expose a massive part of WWII history we never learn about in school, it also follows his incredible run from the law, including marrying into a local, headhunting tribe.
The Reluctant Tuscan by Phil Doran (Alicia of Sadler House)–Many writers have extolled the virtues of Italy’s countryside, but no other story of Italian transplants is quite like this one. This witty memoir recounts how an award-winning Hollywood comedy producer finds himself renovating a 300-year-old house in Tuscany, where escapism gives way to real-life hilarity.
The Ocean at The End of The Laneby Neil Gaiman (Janene of More than Mommies)–We all have those reader friends who we want to be like. You know . . . the ones who are always reading WAY cooler books than we are reading? Well, this book came HIGHLY recommended by my reader friend who I have reader envy of, so, I think we should ALL read it and discuss! (I’m planning on reading it in August . . . so if you pick this one to read I’d love to hear your thoughts!)
Secret Lives of Husbands and Wives by Josie Brown (Dani of Cloudy, With a Chance of Wine)–My BFF sent me Secrets of Husbands and Wives by Josie Brown for my birthday in March and I absolutely COULD NOT put it down. I only ever trust her book recommendations, and she was spot on with this one. It’s the perfect late summer / back-to-school read, and will not disappoint!
House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (Norine of Science of Parenthood)–Though it reads like a Downton Abbey-esque drawing room drama, behind the mansions and manners and horse-drawn carriages, Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth is a fierce social commentary on the proscribed roles for American women in the 1880s. Wharton is a social commentator bar none. And Lily Bart, whose story this is, is my favorite tragic heroine. Every time I read this book, I root for Lily to emerge victorious … and am heartbroken all over again when she falters.
On Borrowed Wings by Chandra Prasad (Amy of Funny is Family)–On Borrowed Wings is the story of a girl who disguises herself as a boy to attend Yale University in the 1930s, before women were allowed to enroll. It’s a fantastic read that weaves well-researched historical details and the strong desire of a girl to break away from her predetermined life path.
All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner (Meredith of Meredith to Mommy)–This book really struck me. Well-off, suburban, mom blogger who is trying to do it all winds up addicted to pain meds. This constant monologue of “I can fix this myself. I have a plan. I don’t REALLY have a problem.” as she falls deeper and deeper into addiction made me choke up at how easy it is to lose control and wind up in a hole that you have no hope of clawing yourself out of alone, while still keeping up a strong facade as someone who has it all. I’ve read it multiple times, and find myself just as drawn in as I was the first.
Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe (Kimberly of Red Shutters)–Did you love Rob Lowe in “The Outsiders” and “St. Elmo’s Fire” as much as I did? Then, you’d love this memoir in which Lowe pulls back the curtain on his life in Hollywood, from 19-year-old heartthrob to award-winning actor, sharing life wisdom along the way. I enjoyed the audio version of this book, which Lowe narrates himself, complete with impressions of Christopher Walken, Francis Ford Coppola, and other film industry luminaries.
The Martianby Andy Weir (Kim of Let Me Start By Saying)–A man gets left on Mars by accident and his personality, smarts, creativity, and sense of humor carve a place in your heart for him as he tries to figure a way to survive–and eventually leave–his new home in space. What is happening back on Earth and in the ship that left him will have you cranking through the pages, itching to know what will happen next, because this book is full of surprises, laughs, details that make you feel right there.
We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (Stephanie of When Crazy Meets Exhaustion)–A thought-provoking punch to the gut that, unfortunately, mimics reality a little too closely. I read it before I had kids, then again after I had my three, and I think a parent’s perspective is far more frightening. In the novel, a sociopath “kid” commits the darkest of sins and turns a town–and his family–upside down. *Shivers*
Finding Zoe by Brandi Rarus (Stephanie of Binkies and Briefcases)–the story of a deaf mother and how she came to find herself raising an adopted daughter who is also deaf, as well as her biological children. As an adoptive mom myself, it can be hard to find other stories that relate to my own journey mothering a child with special needs who joined us out of foster care, and this book certainly does that. More than that, Finding Zoe alsogaveme a glimpse intodeaf culture (which was neat for me because before my grandmother passed away she volunteered as a sign language interpreter) and was full of cool trivia, like the author being cast as Marlee Matlin’s understudy in a play, but it was also real and relatable on a human level. I think any mom will be able to relate to this memoir.
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty (Melanie of Not So Super Mom)– I like it for summer reading because it’s not too heavy of a story but it does make us think a bit about our own lives, the expectations we had when we were younger and how changing priorities can set our lives on a different course than we imagined. What a difference a decade makes, right?
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn (Ellen and Erin of Sisterhood of the Sensible Moms)–Stop looking to other authors to give you the next Gone Girl and just read Flynn’s earlier work. Dark Places is told in a captivating flashback format, with Libby–complicated and damaged from a horrific tragedy in her childhood–narrating the present-day chapters in first person, while the flashback chapters, told in third person, describe the actions of several key characters on that one winter’s day in 1985.
The plot is gripping and complex enough to have you guessing how the puzzle really fits together until the very end. I only wish the story had been longer because it was the type of read you just want to binge on, but are sorry when it’s over.
Cutting Teeth by Julia Fierro (Carrie of Normal Level of Crazy and Meredith of The Mom of the Year)–With raw and heartwarming honesty, Fierro’s debut captures the sacrifices we make in order to seek understanding, compassion, and love.
Now that you have this whole list of awesome recommendations, it’s time to get reading, friends! Grab up these titles and make sure to enter in the Rafflecopter below for a super sweet $225 Amazon gift card and seven of these books for your very own!
* Note to Meredith and Carries’s dedicated book club fans: They will be discussing Judy Blume’s In the Unlikely Event as promised, but in the interest of this ginormous giveaway and recommendation list post, they’ve decided to table this discussion until September. Check in on the first Friday of the month, 9/4/15 to catch their thoughts on this book and snag their pick for the next month! It really is a good time!
by Kate Morton
by Fiona Barton
by Malala Yousafazi
by Rainbow Rowell
by Rebecca Sherm
by Celeste Ng 
by Jojo Moyes
by Jen Hatmaker
fame is a reader’s writer and this story moves, breathes, and completely blows away what you ever thought about long term relationships.
by Jess Walter
by Atul Gawande
by John Krakauer 
by Helen Macdonald
Loss moves us in lots of ways. For Cheryl Strayed, loss meant literally moving. Away from her broken heart after losing her mother, away from the painful detritus of her failed marriage, away from a life veering off the tracks, she needed to get away in the realest sense possible. So she hit the trail. For her, healing meant lacing up her brand spanking new boots and setting her sights on a trip she honestly was unprepared for in every way. Strayed’s recounting of her time on the Pacific Crest Trail is riveting. Not only is she gifted with a steely resolve worthy of wonder and awe, but she has a wordsmith’s touch and a clear-eyed honesty that will captivate you. Can’t-put-down-able.
by Anna Whiston-Donaldson
It’s here, friends. The end of summer is upon us. We know. We’re sad too. But just because lazy days on the beach are ending, doesn’t mean the reading stops! In fact, just the opposite. No time like the present to lose yourself in a great book to escape the hassles and woes of Back-to-School prep and fuss. There’s some solace to be had by making the most of these last summer days.
