Books read:

• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• Wait for You by Jennifer L. Armentrout
• We by Michael Landweber
• A Snug Life Somewhere by Jan Shapin

Halfway through:

• After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen, but I hope to  do so in April.

To read:

Cairo in White by Kelly Ann Jacobson
Jacobson recently graduated from my writing program at Johns Hopkins, and I attended her reading of this book in December. LGBTQI themes are central to the story, so my interest was immediately piqued. I’m also a big fan of multicultural literature, so this book is right up my alley. In fact, I already started reading; it’s lovely so far.

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
This is our February nonfiction book club pick, so I better get started on this next! Pollan is a god among food writers, and I like reading experts; I love seeing a person’s passions. I’m also trying to eat more consciously these days, so the timing of this book is perfect.

Be With Me (Wait for You, #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I  enjoyed the first book of the series, Wait for You, more than I expected last month; it was fun and flirty but also dark and emotional, which is pretty much a requirement for me to enjoy a book. I have high hopes for the second!

The Sense of Touch by Ron Parsons
Strangely, I don’t read much fiction from the Midwest. It’s not a conscious decision. I know there must be great stories about the Midwest, from Midwestern authors, but I need to make more of an effort to find them. This is my first bid!

Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled Through the Joys of Single Living by Marion Winik
My class this semester is call “Writing Memoir & Personal Essay,” and this is one of three books assigned. Winik is a somewhat-local author–she lives in Baltimore–and she has been a commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered.” It’s been a little while since I’ve read a memoir, so I’m itching to get back to my favorite genre.

If I have time, I’m also hoping to start Gulp by Mary Roach, my fiction book club’s March selection. (I call it my “fiction book club” to differentiate it from the nonfiction book club I run at One More Page. But, obviously, we read a little bit of everything.)

Have you read any of these? Which should I pick up first?