Aside: When I go to someone’s house for the first time, I love to quickly peruse 3 things: the bookcase, the CD and the DVD collection. As a Lit major, I have always been fascinated by what people read for fun and/or in their spare time. And as a pop culture sponge, music and movies are my way of assessing someone’s entertainment IQ.
 
Getting rid of my textbooks from college was a long overdue chore. For some reason I schlepped all of my sociology and feminism books from place to place after college. But as I spent several days on my side recovering in the guest room a few weeks ago, staring at our largest bookshelf, I realized that most of those books now merely serve as a reminder of the activism that I abandoned along with the Birkenstocks back in the early 90′s (thankfully). And I had to ask myself questions like, “will you ever really want to read The Beauty Myth again?” and “seriously, do you think you’ll revisit The Word of a Woman: Feminist Dispatches, 1968-1992?”

But of course I will never abandon certain classics and authors; their novels are always welcome, wherever and as long as I live.

I don’t really have a point.

So I will make a list of my favorites authors and/or books, because you know I can’t resist a good list opportunity.

Raymond Carver
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: Stories
Where I’m Calling From: Selected Stories

Michael Chabon
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Summerland
The Yiddish Policeman’s Union

David James Duncan
The Brothers K
The River Why [quite possibly my #1 book]

Nick Hornby
A Long Way Down
About a Boy
Speaking With the Angel (anthology edited by Hornby)

Michael Lewis
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (a fantastic look behind the scenes of building a professional baseball team, especially for an A’s fan like me)

Annie Proulx
Close Range: Wyoming Stories (includes original Brokeback Mountain short story)

Adrienne Rich [my favorite poet of all time]
The Dream of a Common Language

Sarah Waters
Affinity
Fingersmith
Tipping the Velvet

And a garden variety of other writers grace my shelves as well: Isabel Allende, Jane Austen, Melissa Bank, Michael Cunningham, Dave Eggers, Jeffrey Eugenides, John Irving, Frances Mayes, Rick Moody, David Sedaris, Alice Walker, etc.

Two weeks after back surgery, I feel MUCH better. I can walk around comfortably, and sitting down for longer than 15 minutes at a time is less painful every day. I am also practicing driving, as I prepare to go back to work next week. Considering how horrible the first two days were following the procedure, I couldn’t be happier with the progress of my recovery. And believe it or not, I’m tired of feeling stoned all day (in a prescribed-medicine kind of way), so as my re-entry back into the workplace and behind the wheel approaches, I am easing off of the good stuff.

I recently picked up and am in the middle of reading Eat Pray Love, which is easily one of my favorite books in recent memory. But I’ve reached the spiritual India section, and wanted something on the lighter side for the holiday.

This afternoon I took my first long walk since having surgery. I went to the bookstore and bought Candy Girl, an autobiographical and very entertaining look at a year in the life of Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody…back when she was a stripper in the Midwest. I’ve been obsessed with seeing Juno and haven’t been able to go due to physical limitations, so this was the next best thing. And let me tell you, I can’t put this one down. It is postpone-my-pain-meds-so-I-can-stay-focused good. Her writing and her story are very forthright and refreshing, and I am now certain that Cody deserves every bit of the hype being hurled in her direction. I also recommend her blog, which is just as deliciously frank.

MAD MEN & WOMEN: THE HAIR/WARDROBE/SET DESIGN

I could have watched the entire first season of Mad Men on mute, because the hair & makeup, wardrobe and set design were presented with stunning detail and accuracy.

30 ROCK GOES GREEN

WONDER WOMAN, THE SCIENTIST

 
Watching Emily Deschanel attempt to act like her typically tightly wound self on Bones while donning a Wonder Woman costume was, in a word, awesome. The bonus was her little superhero spin move at the very end of the episode. Apparently she was up for the lead role in Joss Whedon’s big screen adaptation of Wonder Woman at one point, which makes me appreciate her effort just that much more. Of course Whedon left that project due to creative differences, so I’m happy that Deschanel won’t be a part of it after all.

LOCKE BOX

Most people would probably list the season finale flash-forward shocker as their top Lost moment of this year, but the reveal of John Locke’s dad in box on the island and the subsequent revenge that Sawyer finally tastes was my favorite story and resolution of the entire series thus far.

DON’T STOP…

It is an obvious choice, but I still believe that the finale of The Sopranos ranks second only to Six Feet Under‘s as the best ending to a series ever.

ONE OF THE BOYS

Welcome to Seattle Grace, Brooke Smith. You are one of the only reasons that I still watch Grey’s Anatomy, and I hope to find that that your character successfully avoids all of the hospital man candy after the writer’s strike has been resolved.

FUNNY & DRUNK: THE NEW BFF

Jennifer Esposito, who knew you had it in you? Your role as the inebriated sidekick on Samantha Who keeps me tuned in. I hope to see you in more scenes with the fabulous Jean Smart in future episodes.

HOUSE IS THE NEW SAWYER