thankful tuesdays: good reads

This Tuesday I am thankful for good books.

We are so lucky in Milwaukee to have an excellent library system. We are also lucky that the ashes of the former Harry W. Schwartz stores are being revitalized. In my neck of the woods, it's Boswell Books, where I recently visited for the first time.

I haven't had a chance to plow through any of the reads I picked up there, but I did want to share my thoughts on a book I reserved from the library after reading about it on the Wisconsin Public Radio Here on Earth Podcast.

I'm not generally a chick-lit fan (Bridget Jones and Jane Austen excluded), but the conversation with Margot Berwin about her debut novel intrigued me. Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire didn't break any new literary ground, but it was the first book I've read in a long time that I just could not put down. When I wasn't reading it, I was plotting time to get back to it. Berwin knows how to craft a story and the reader becomes completely invested in the world of botany, suspense and romance she creates. If you are looking for a quick, entertaining and at times, salacious, summer read, I highly recommend this novel.

I seem to have lucked out as I spotted White Tiger on the shelf today when I went to return Hothouse. I have to wrap this blog up to get back to reading it. I heard lots of buzz about it last year when the author, Aravind Adiga, upset literary stalwarts to win the Booker Prize. As I wrote to my friend and India travel companion, Jason, this evening:

I almost called you on page 7 after noticing that almost every single word describes our trip in general.

I have no idea how it ends, or where exactly the plot is going yet, but I guarantee you it's better than Slumdog.

I'll be sure to share my thoughts on this blog when I finish the book (which looks to be this week at the rate I'm flying through it).