Whoops! Meant to publish this one earlier this week and I forgot to schedule it! Better late than never, right?

“Many people, myself included, feel better at the mere sight of a book.” – Jane Smiley

• City of Refuge by Tom Piazza – This book is part of my research and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested or seeking insight into the experience of New Orleanians during Hurricane Katrina and the direct aftermath. I think Piazza does a great job of conveying why people love that city so much and why they felt they had to return and rebuild. He also dives into the conflict of those who chose not to return. One line that stood out to me, and I think most people can relate to with other personal circumstances, “I think we are trying to do the right things, and there is no right thing…Every choice we have ends up with some kind of huge…loss. It ends u pith something getting lost that is really just…irreplaceable.” For me, the book resonated when it detailed the unique parts of New Orleans that are hard to describe to people who haven’t experienced it. And while it provoked both smiles and tears, I have to admit that the “love” of the city is laid out with a heavy hand. So Piazza might come across as a little overwrought and sappy at times, but if you’ve read his treatise “Why New Orleans Matters” you won’t be surprised at the over-the-top language he uses when talking about the city.
• Delicious by Ruth Reichl – This book was such a fun read! It’s about a young woman who gets a job at an well known cooking magazine. From there she meets some really wonderful people and discovers a unique piece of history that turns into a treasure hunt of sorts. It goes off in completely different directions that you expect at first, not in a “surprise twist” kind of way, but more in a meandering, life-doesn’t-always-go-as-planned kind of way. The characters are really character-y and fun to read, if not 100% believable. It’s long but I definitely would recommend if you are looking for an easy read that isn’t your typical boy-meets-girl fair.
• The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – This was a super quick murder/suspense read, very similar in style to her more recent book The Guest List. I enjoyed it for the most part. The characters were a little too…archetypical for me. The troubled gamekeeper, the woman running from her mysterious past, the self-obsessed aging party girl desperately trying to recapture her youth. There were parts that felt too overdone in trying to hammer home the neuroses of these characters that, at least to me, seemed super obvious from their first introduction. So…great literature it is not. But I liked it and finished it quickly.