The last of my hurt-my-ankle-stuck-at-home reads was Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. It was pretty darn funny. I mean, sometimes I’d laugh out loud at really inappropriate times (ie. in the waiting room of the ortho). I loved that Bernadette was bright and quirky and left her job to be a stay at home mom. Her shenanigans and train-of-conscious emails with her Indian virtual assistant were too much. And I may or may not have thought of some of the ladies at school as “gnats” while reading this (shhh…don’t tell). All in all, it was cute, light and entertaining.
Goodreads says:
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic. To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter’s role in an absurd world.
So, let me know what’s on your bedside and in your beach bag!! I’m hitting the library this week with the littles.
xoxo
PS. We survived the first swim meet. Thanks for all of your helpful hints!!
Loved this book. And yes, be careful where you are reading it!!! There are a lot of laughable situations. And, having been a PTSA/Booster mom/room mom in my day I could soooo relate to the gnats!!! LOL
This is next on my list! After Sharp Objects I just had to read Gone Girl – loved it! And now I'm reading Still Missing – so far, so good! So glad the meet went well! xo
I guess I am in the minority of readers of this book Amanda. I thought it was a cute premise at first but the more I read, the more aggravated I got with Bernadette. I guess I just did not find the chaos she caused her family very funny. Right now I am reading Under Magnolia.
Unrelated to this post, but thought your Disney loving family would like this: http://buildyourdisneyside.com/#/choose
I love your On My Bedside posts! I just got around to reading " Gone Girl " based on your recommendation and LOVED it! Thank you!
I LOVED Bernadette! Such a fun little read.
I just got through The Husband's Secret as well as the author's less well-known title, What Alice Forgot. Both were phenomenal and I flew through them in a few days time (which is hard to do with an 8 and 3 year old!)
I so enjoy this series and I find that we are often reading the same things at the same time! And when we're not I always look forward to buying your current read.
Glad the meet went well!
I loved Bernadette – such a fun and quick read.
I loved Me Before You by JoJo Moyes recently.
Sounds like a great read..I just finished Defending Jacob for my book club read and everyone else seemed to love it…me, not so much. Another just finished was Family Pictures…couldn't put that one down! I am now reading Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews..I love everything she writes…light reading and she lives in Atlanta so there is a bit of the south in her writings..
I really like this segment of your blog!
Sharon
This is our bookclub book for June and I have to get started, our meetup is on the 20th…. we wanted something funny and light since our last book was The Book Thief and really sad.
I am looking forward to reading it!
Which, question for you: we like to theme our meals for our meetups to the book- since you've finished it already- any recommendations on what kind of food would be good for a meetup circled around it?
Hard question – you could do a bunch of takeout since that's basically what they eat. Other "themes" are Antarctica, cruise, making something from nothing, blackberry bushes… Would love to hear what you do!!
I don't know if you enjoy reading non-fiction but on my bedside is a book titled S.O.S. Spirit of Survival One Family's Chilling Account of the Costa Concordia Disaster. I am an avid cruiser and knew I must read this when I saw it at our local library. I am halfway through and am stunned by everything they went through to survive. I switch between the fiction and non-fiction genres because I like equally. ~Melinda