Waiting to Be Heard by Amanda Knox

Did Amanda Knox kill her British roommate when they were both living abroad in Perugia, Italy?

Well, I guess the jury is still out on that one since another trial is set to start (although Knox will not be attending).

Knox tells her side of the story including her arrival in Italy, finding her roommates, the night of her roommate's murder, and the years Knox spent in an Italian prison. The last trial acquitted her, so she immediately flew home to Seattle, but that verdict was overturned in March 2013 which is why another trial is going to begin.

Is she guilty? I don't know, but Knox did make say some foolish things and act stupidly in the days and weeks after the murder, so I can understand why she wasn't thought to be exactly innocent.

If you're curious at all about Knox, this book might be interesting to you. But if the name doesn't ring a bell, then forget it.

The Mouse-Proof Kitchen by Saira Shah

Anna and her husband, Tobias, are excited about the arrival of their first child. However, when Freya is born, they find out that she will not develop normally. They move from England to France, to an old run down house (where there are mice in the kitchen) and try to start out a new life there with their daughter.

An uneven read with some weird and impractical plot twists. It ended up being a so-so book with a bunch of undeveloped characters. Not recommending it to you.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

We start off on the coast of Italy, the Hotel Adequate View, and an American actress who believes she is dying. Fast forward to Hollywood and Claire who has a bum boyfriend and unsatisfying job.

I really enjoy books with unrelated characters who somehow end up connected, and this is one of those. Fun!

And, a lot of the book takes place on the coast of Italy near Cinque Terre. So that's an added bonus. =D

A great choice for a holiday read. Not a super excellent book, but definitely an above average read, and I liked it.

Winger by Andrew Smith

Welcome to the world of adolescent males! Based on this book, it's a messy, crude, rough, and gross world. The narrator is Ryan Dean West, a 14-year-old junior at the boarding school, Pine Mountain. He's on the rugby team, has an awful roommate (who has a totally hot girlfriend), and is in love with his best friend, Annie.

Whoah. This book really threw me into the world of adolescent boys. It was crude at times. However, I kept reading. I also kept saying, "This book had better have a redemptive ending..." because I almost stopped reading several times. Luckily, the ending is redemptive.

Not sure if I'd recommend this book to you all. If you can handle reading about peeing into Gatorade bottles and lots of references to certain male body parts, then go ahead. But if you'd prefer not to, then don't pick this one up!

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

What a little gem of a book! It's small and easily readable in an afternoon.

The story takes place all in one day. Isabel is single, 20-something, and a lover of thrift stores. In one day, through her thoughts and conversations, we learn all about her, her family, her dreams, and her losses.

Sad and quaint. This book would go well with some tea and some Digestive crackers on a rainy afternoon. (What? You haven't tried Digestives? Digestives also make for an awesome pie crust instead of graham crackers.)

Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

Ava Lark, a divorcee (and therefore, outcast in the neighborhood - this is the 1950s), rents a house in the suburbs. Her son, Lewis is best friends with the neighbor siblings, Rose and Jimmy. One day Jimmy goes missing, and Ava is treated suspiciously. Years later, Lewis and Rose reconnect and figure out what really happened.

The word to describe this book is "solid." Solid story, solid characters, and solid writing. A great pick for these last days of summer.

More or Less: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity by Jeff Shinabarger

What is enough? This question is the focus of this book. Shinabarger challenges us to define what is enough and what is excess.

For example, in the case of food, he writes about how he and his wife decided to not buy groceries for an entire month, and to eat what they already had in their fridge, freezer, and cupboards. They were able to go seven weeks without going grocery shopping. Of course, they ran out of fresh fruit and vegetables pretty early on, but they had enough food for 147 meals already stored in their house.

I appreciate that Shinabarger starts off with asking about what defines us and how we can go about understanding that we are enough, and that we don't need to have the best clothes or gadgets or shoes in order to try and prove that we are somehow enough. He then tackles clothing, transportation, time, etc. When we decide what is enough, this can allow us to be much more generous.

Recommended if you want to be challenged and want to read about a different way of looking at things and life.