What to Read | X Height Ment

I’ll admit, I’ve fallen a little behind in my reading recently. But I’m still here with a few recommendations of the books I have read, and hopefully I can pick back up soon. As always, I’ve linked the titles on Amazon, but search for them in a local bookstore first!

The Selection / The Elite / The One | Keira Cass

This is a trilogy that is basically just one long book. I read all three in a day, so they’re very easy to get through! The story is essentially The Bachelor, with the man being the prince in a post-apocalyptic world. It also reminds me a bit of The Hunger Games, in that there’s a very distinct class system in place, and there’s a love struggle between the prince (Maxon) and the man she left back home (Aspen). I liked this series, but I do think it could have functioned well as just one novel. She also recently came out with The Heir, which is a sequel to the final book (that seems to be the first of a second trilogy!), but I haven’t picked that one up yet.

The Art Forger: A Novel | B. A. Shapiro

This book was such a pageturner for me. I love Impressionists, and I have a little bit of a soft spot for Degas (probably because of all his dancers), so The Art Forger grabbed my attention right away. Claire Roth works as a painter producing copies of famous works. She wants to be known for her own paintings, and she makes a Faustian bargain with a well-known gallery owner who says he’ll produce her first show. The plot follows a (fictionalized) version of the unsolved 1990 Gardner Heist, and goes deep into the world of art forgery. It also brings up a lot of interesting questions about authenticity and notoriety in the art world, something that I always think is important to explore.

The Rosie Project | Graeme Simsion

Don Tillman decides it’s time to find a wife. As a brilliant but socially inept geneticist, he creates the Wife Project–a 16-page survey designed to weed out those who are chronically late, the smokers, the drinkers, and more. He soon meets Rosie, a woman who is essentially the opposite of everything Don is looking for. As the pair collaborates to find Rosie’s biological father, he struggles with the whirlwind he finds himself in with Rosie, soon realizing that “despite your best scientific efforts, you don’t find love, it finds you.” This book is so endearing; it provides an unconventional perspective of those with Asperger’s, and you can’t help but think about the characters after you’ve put it down. I just got the sequel, The Rosie Effect, and I’m looking forward to reading it too.

Bossypants | Tina Fey

I know I’m late to the party with this one–it’s been on my to-read list forever, and I finally got around to it. I wish I had picked it up sooner! Tina Fey is hilarious, and reading about her experiences from her amateur improv days to SNL to 30 Rock is super enjoyable. This book is definitely a quick, light read. I love Tina Fey’s sarcastic, self-deprecating humor, and her writing feels very honest. One of the funniest parts is when she’s simultaneously balancing rehearsals for her Sarah Palin impression, convincing Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter’s Peter Pan themed birthday party (all of equal importance). If you’re one of the ten people who haven’t read this yet, I definitely recommend it.

What have you been reading recently?