Week of 12/27/10: Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source with More Than 200 Recipes for a Healthy and Sustainable You by Terry Walters. If I were to write a cookbook, it would look like this: a veritable smorgasbord of easy-to-prepare, whole food dishes that focus on flavor and health. A lovely, lovely cookbook.

What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets by Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio. Absolutely fascinating look into how people around the world eat. The photos and accompanying essays elucidate on the current state of food; a powerful statement about how what we eat defines who we are. A must-read.

Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom. Brilliant short stories. Bloom balances detail and nuance with well-crafted story and flow. Doesn’t get much better than these, folks.

Week of 12/20/10: Less: Accomplish More by Doing Less by Marc Lesser. A Zen approach to business that is actually quite applicable to personal life as well. “Do less, not do nothing.”

The Really Funny Thing about Apathy by Chelsea Martin. An odd little charmer.

Week of 12/13/10: Back in the swing of things with The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf. I’ve read most of Woolf’s fiction and adore every drop of it. Her way with language makes me weak in the knees.

Week of 12/6/10: Taking a week off and reading magazines. Sometimes a little light reading is all I really want

Week of 11/29/10: Whole Green Catalog: 1,000 Best Things for You and the Earth. Despite my focus on not buying stuff here, if you’re looking for a guide to green companies and products, this is the most comprehensive I’ve seen. Everything from clothing to cleaning products to cars to gardening and children’s toys.

Nine Stories by JD Salinger. I’m re-reading and realizing how essential his books were to my first year in NYC. A masterful writer.

Week of 11/22/10: The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Performance by Tony Schwartz. For those of us looking to enhance our work performance, or transcend the “work harder” attitude for a “work smarter” one, this is the book to read.

An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 by Adrienne Rich. One of my favorites; she blends language and politics together so seamlessly.

Week of 11/15/10: The Anthologist by Nicholson Baker. A funny and irreverent look at the state of contemporary poetry.

Week of 11/8/10: Simplify: Seven Guiding Principles To Help Anyone Declutter Their Home and Life by Joshua Becker. Practical advice for the rational minimalist. Own a home and/or have kids, but still want to minimalize? Joshua’s book will help you navigate the process and make it pleasurable to boot.

Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets by Brenda Davis, RD and Vesanto Melna, MS, RD with Rynn Berry. If you’re interested the raw vegan diet, this is a terrific, comprehensive book. It explores the history and all the nutritional aspects of the raw vegan diet, compares raw vegans with conventional vegans and omnivores, and never sugar-coats anything. Several pages of recipes, notes, and an index complete the deal.

The Language of Sand by Ellen Block. Love, loss, and community on the Outer Banks.

Week of 11/1/10: Minimalist Business by Everett Bogue. I bought this a while back, but I just got my ass kicked by this post, so I’m finally reading it! Important information for those of us looking to build low-overhead minimalist businesses that enable us to passively make money so we can 1. live our lives free of wage slavery, 2. travel the world, 3. change the world.

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I’m making it a mission to re-read all the books I’ve granted space on my bookshelf. I haven’t read this one in 10 years.

Week of 10/25/10: Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra. For a little perspective on the I’m-almost-30 meltdowns. The Urban Vegan by Dynise Balcavage. Vegan goes cosmopolitan; lovely book, lots of yummy recipes. Raw Food for Real Peopleby Rod Rotondi. I’m so curious about raw food and clean eating, and this book makes it really accessible. Lots of important information and recipes you can actually make at home.

Week of 10/18/10: Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write about Leaving Men for Women edited by Laura Andre and Candace Walsh. Have I mentioned this before? It’s inspiring, it’s brave, it includes my essay; what more could someone ask for? Go out and read it! 

Week of 10/11/10: The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life by Francine Jay aka Miss Minimalist. Wonderfully clear and simple advice on how to pare down your possessions, commitments, media time, and more. Great beginner’s guide for those looking to minimalize.

Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World by Bob Torres and Jenna Torres. I’ve been toying with the idea of being a committed vegan for a month or so now, and this book left me on the fence. Part funny, part fierce, and unfortunately, part over-the-top (my opinion only), this book left me still undecided.

Week of 10/4/10: The Novelist’s Lexicon: Writers on Words that Define Their Work edited by Villa Gillet/Le Monde.

Room by Emma Donoghue. I couldn’t put it down. Here’s my review from Newpages.

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I’ve been wanting to read this one for a while now, and I was blown away (yet again) at how effortlessly Atwood creates our possible future. This made my 3-hour layover in Charlotte fly by. Read it, read it now (but read Oryx and Crake first)!

Week of 9/27/10: Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. The Cloud Corporation by Timothy Donnelly.Sitting: A Guide to Buddhist Meditation by Diana St. Ruth. A great beginner’s guide for meditation; this tiny book covers philosophy, sitting postures, breathing exercises and more.

Week of 9/20/10: Thin Kimono by Michael Earl Craig. As a poet, every once in a while I like to read poetry. (Ha!) Wave Books puts out some seriously gorgeous stuff.

The New Good Life: Living Better than Ever in an Age of Less by John Robbins. Lots of stuff I already know so far, but a nice compendium and great for someone just starting to wonder how to remake their world with less.

Week of 9/13/10: Finished up Boating and have moved on to Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life by Karen Maezen Miller. Every once in a while I go through a “Buddhist phase”. I’m in it right now.

Week of 9/6/10: Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics by Jennifer Baumgardner. An interesting and personal look at sexuality, what it means to be bisexual, and where those who refuse to side fit in.

Boating for Beginners by Jeanette Winterson. A 25 cent tag sale treasure! Love it.

Week of 8/30/10: The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris by Leila Marouane, translated by Alison Anderson. I’m reviewing this one for NewPages, so you’ll have to be patient and see what I think when the review goes up.

Week of 8/23/10:

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation).

Minor Characters by Joyce Johnson. Part memoir, part feminist exploration of what it meant to be Beat.

Week of 8/16/10: The Archivist by Martha Cooley. Beguiling exploration of poetry, religion, devotion, solitude, and more.

Week of 8/9/10: Still getting through On the Road.

Week of 8/2/10: On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I forgot how much I love this classic road trip book. Wish I could quit my day job and hit the road, though it might be kinda tough with 4 cats strapped to my back!

Week of 7/26/10: Don’t laugh me off the blogosphere, but I’m knee-deep in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Don’t read these if you’re looking for anything feminist or literary; do read these for the magnificent love story and a mightily imagined plot. Absolutely breathtaking, and believe you me, I never thought I’d say it.

Week of 7/19/10: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Creator of Dykes to Watch Out For recounts (reimagines?) her coming of age and coming out alongside her father’s life story. Throw in some neat drawings and plenty of angsty, literary allusions and you’ve got a compelling and bizarre tale.

Weeks of 7/4/10 and 7/11/10:

Cool For You by Eileen Myles. Working-class Massachusetts lesbian takes on her family’s past. Gritty, well-written, and a very interesting take on plot.

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. Sit down and read it in one day. Beautifully written, a sad and honest look at the complications of love and the costly effect of silence.

Week of 6/28/10:

I Am An Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler. Author of The Vagina Monologues returns with a call to the world’s girls. Very moving.

Books v. Cigarettes by George Orwell. Collection of essays about everything from freedom of speech, how inexpensive a reading habit actually is, and the trials and tribulations of a book reviewer.