There’s been a slew of interest in all-things 1920s Paris recently. Not sure how these things happen. A few months ago, without any obvious reason, we had a surge of interest in Wendell Berry novels.

But all of a sudden, flappers and artsy cocktail parties and Parisian salons are all the rage. Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris hit the big screen. And The Paris Wife by Paula McClain has been tearing up bestseller lists.

I liked Paris Wife. I didn’t love it like Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank. But I’m certain that’s due to the books’ female protaganists. We loved to hate Wright’s mistress Mamah. Her actions at once made me hate her and sympathize with her. Hemingway’s wife Hadley is the everywoman. She is most of us– the average American woman that somehow got caught up with an extraordinary genius. And that makes her not nearly as intriguing as Mamah.

Nonetheless, The Paris Wife was a fun read and rekindled an interest in Hemingway, gave me more context to understand The Sun Also Rises and The Moveable Feast. And those are must-reads. Now I must.  -Katie

I am the first to admit that I was hesitant to start reading George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series.  Not only are the books all upwards of 1,000 pages, but the author also has multi-year gaps between publishing new installments.  I can barely keep my grocery list in my head, so the idea of following dozens of characters for thousands of pages seemed…daunting.  I am pleased to admit that I was wrong.

After a great deal of pleading from my roommate, I finally broke down and bought the first book.  (Admittedly, it wasn’t too hard a sell- I had seen the HBO series based on the novels and loved it.)  I’m not finished yet (a little less than a quarter of the way through), but I am flying through characters, worlds, and rich details that are a rare find nowadays.  Instead of feeling bogged down in details, I find myself constantly wanting to know more.  Martin gives his readers a unique opportunity to fill in the blanks about his fantasy-scape, which I find freeing (I have never been a fan of Tolkien’s exhaustive descriptions, much preferring to use my own imagination and intuitiveness about what’s presented to me).

The series takes you to the Westeros realm with 7 kingdoms and a number of warring families and rulers.  The interplay between all in the hunt for the throne is crucial- I constantly find myself torn between rooting for a family in one kingdom, and one of their enemies in another.  Martin does an excellent job of making his Medieval feeling realm seem completely new.

These books are filled with adventure, horror,  love, mystery…all the good stuff (plus a lot of things this humble narrator won’t spoil for you).  If you’re looking for a great read to get you through the summer (and maybe even kick off your fall), “A Game of Thrones” is a great place to start.

Scott and Reece and I took a roadtrip to Branson, MO recently for a good friend’s wedding. The drudgery of keeping a 10-month old entertained for a 15-hour roadtrip prompted us to drive through the night. Luckily, we had the CD of Hillenbrand’s Unbroken.

The true story of Louie Zamperini to kept us wide awake and fully enthralled all the way to Branson and back.

(SPOILER ALERT!) He was expected to break the 4-minute mile at the 1940 Olympics. No Way. Then WWII happened. Louie joined the Air Corps, was shot down  and survived in a raft for 47 days. No Way. Finally, he lands on the Marshall Islands and is taken captive as a Japanese POW. No Way. The story just kept getting better and we just kept saying “No Way.”

On a separate note, to celebrate our 7-year wedding anniversary, we allowed ourselves a day in the literary mecca of Oxford, MS (home of the Faulkner family and indie bookstore Square Books where we bought Reece her favorite new counting book, Ten Redneck Babies).

It was a lovely trip with Hillenbrand riding shotgun and one redneck baby in tow.