This summer I was a little haphazard about my plans for Summer Beach Reading. Oh, I made sure both of the girls had piles of books, but my own reading fate... well lets just say I was not one with the plan.
I am a strictly fiction girl. I like light, funny, character driven fiction. Often my reading of choice is fantasy or (dare I admit it) chick lit. So here's the funny bit. My Beach Book of Choice this summer, the tome that had me in the first 2 pages, the book that made me laugh and even cry, and didn't let go of me until I devoured the acknowledgements in the back.. was a non-fiction memoir about collecting Yiddish books.
Really.
Aaron Lansky's memoir Outwitting History is a book I bought as a gift for a dear friend, then I found a different present (a more perfect one) for that friend, and well... the book got shoved to the back of the Closet and forgotten. It resurfaced when I pulled out Sweetheart G's summer reading pile, and I shoved it in the beach bag thinking, "Well, if I've waited six months to give this book as a gift, I should read it before I pass it on." Because what would be worse than passing on a dud book you've had moldering in your closet? Well. Now I'm in a funny spot where I feel guilt for not having passed on this fabulous book (Oy, I deprived my dear friend this shining jewel!), yet I'm joyful that I kept it so I could discover it. Oh, and now I can't possibly pass on this copy (yes, I enjoyed it that much), so I'm going to have to buy another copy (or two).