Why Sleep When You Can be Reading?

Who doesn't love rainy mornings? I feel like they give me an extra excuse to be lazy and bum around all morning. I love drinking coffee and snuggling in with a good book or some blogs and get my day off to a lovely start.

This morning I finished The Supreme Macaroni Company: A Novel by Adriana Trigiani

Valentine Roncalli is now engaged to the love of her life, Gianluca. But how will they make a marriage work between the distant shores of New York and Italy, her responsibilities as a shoe designer, his tanning business, and the input of Valentine's very large and very demanding Italian family?

I have read other novels by Adriana Trigiani and I have enjoyed every one. I love how the dialogue between the characters flow and Trigiani definitely is full of wit and charm. This is definitely a beach read, since it is an easy read to put down and pick up when you have time. Also, the descriptions of Italy make me crave a vacation to the Mediterranean. Who's with me??

This book is part of a trilogy so if you want to start at the beginning of the story about Valentine and her designer shoe business I would recommend starting with Very Valentine.


Last week I couldn't put down A Life in Men by Gina Frangello

This is the story of Mary who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis in her late teens and now feels that she should live each day as if she were to die suddenly. She is also grieving from the unexpected loss of her best friend Nix. Mary's choices in life don't always make her feel as though she has much to offer the world, but the relationships she forms with the men in her life will make her look at her life in a different frame.

This is a complex look at how our relationships and the paths we choose in our lives can affect us exponentially. I was amazed at how Frangello was able to bring each character to life and develop the story even though it jumped through different times in Mary's life. It left me with the question of: who would you love in this world in you knew your days were numbered?

Have you read either of these books? What did you think? Why stories have caught your attention recently?