Miniature Book Club Recommendations

Some friends can act a bit like a miniature book club, which is great when I'm laid low and need to rest. My personal recommendations are as follows:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly-Jean Dominique Bauby - a tiny little volume that easily hides among the bigger autobiographies at the bookstore, its bright yellow cover serving to quietly assert itself among larger black and hunter green volumes. Written by a man who, as a result of a stroke, awoke from a coma able only to move his head, brilliant mind locked silently into his body. Due to drainage issues his right eye was sewn shut---this irritates him later when the tapes loosen. Through painstaking process, an assistant read off the French alphabet, arranged so the letters used with the most regularity were read off first. When Bauby heard the letter he wanted, he'd blink, eventually forming words, sentences, paragraphs. Stark beauty, tales of smelling food he couldn't eat, recipes, dreams of dancing letters... all in barely 120 pages.

Dear Communion of Saints- The Ironic Catholic
A take on the basic Dear Abby format, with beautiful sarcasm. Those looking for serious theological reading will be very irritated... but those who are not will giggle at Job consoling someone about their wisdom teeth, Thomas Aquinas and Catherine of Siena discussing carob, and St. Rita discussing baseball. I think I committed one of the seven deadlies  ( I was frustrated, I'm not entirely sure I got wrathful, and no electronics suffered in the process.) attempting to transfer to Kindle app for Android, for which I am feeling terrible. It finally worked, and I love it. I got it free using an All-Saint's Day coupon code, however, it is available for $1.99 on Smashwords and in a variety of formats. I love it already and will be thrilled having it with me for those long waits.

The Game of Thrones series--- I always say the book is better. If you must have material until Easter, and you enjoy, among other things, knights, swords, medieval-style politics, then invest in a box set!

I've currently been my mother's bloodhound for out of print books. I'm not sure if I'll necessarily be answering anyone's "What do you want for Christmas?" with "A book"... I find their eyes tend to mist over... but if you insist... I'm fine. I'm good. I never know what to ask for.  But if you find anything interesting, let me know. And no, I have not touched 50 Shades of Grey, but found Ellen DeGenres' reading of it hilarious.