Two Book Recommendations for August

Summer’s already halfway gone and you’re behind with your 2017 Reading Challenge? Read my recommendations below about two books that will help you get back on track again!

Sweetbitter: Last week I finished re-reading Stephanie Danler’s Sweetbitter, a lush, raw and hypnotising novel about a young woman moving to New York. Tess, our twenty-something heroine, comes to the city that never sleeps seeking to reinvent her life and find some sense of belonging. She stumbles upon a job at a renowned New York restaurant, where she delves into its intricate and chaotic world. Desires of all kinds are awakened as she throws herself into new experiences – food-, drink- and lifestyle-wise.

I rarely re-read books, but mid July I found myself almost craving the novel’s exuberant and sensuous prose so I had to come back to it. The novel has a certain je ne sais quoi that will draw you into its both disorderly and perfectly streamlined world and leave you yearning for more.

Year of Yes, How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person: This is a light-hearted, feel-good read that will fit perfectly your summer reading needs. In Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes, the übertalented creator of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How To Get Away With Murder, chronicles how saying “yes” for a year to whatever came her way had a transformative effect on her life. Rhimes’ writes in a conversational, unhindered manner that will make you feel like listening to your best friend.

Unlike many writers, whose books bear similar-sounding titles, she doesn’t promise to change your life; she is just documenting how saying yes stirred up a chaos in her orderly – but unhappy – life only to let things fall into the right place in the end. Can’t promise it won’t leave you tempted to try the same or, at least, spark that spontaneous burst of laughter halfway your boring commute.

Bookworm-ish (as always),

F.

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