Here are some of my favorites:
1. Down the Rabbit Hole: A spontaneous decision at age twenty-one transformed small-town Oregon girl Holly Sue Cullen into Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner’s #1 girlfriend. But like Alice’s journey into Wonderland, after Holly plunged down the rabbit hole, what seemed like a fairytale life inside the Playboy Mansion—including A-list celebrity parties and her own #1-rated television show for four years—quickly devolved into an oppressive routine of strict rules, manipulation, and battles with ambitious, backstabbing bunnies. Life inside the notorious Mansion wasn’t a dream at all—and quickly became her nightmare. After losing her identity, her sense of self-worth, and her hope for the future, Holly found herself sitting alone in a bathtub contemplating suicide. But instead of ending her life, Holly chose to take charge of it.
2. The Girl on the Train: Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost.And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Unable to keep it to herself, Rachel offers what she knows to the police, and becomes inextricably entwined in what happens next, as well as in the lives of everyone involved. Has she done more harm than good?
3. Hey Natalie Jean: he blog Hey Natalie Jean has won a cult following with writer Natalie Holbrook's honest, inspiring, and often witty posts on topics like marriage, babies, nesting, style, and DIY crafts. Natalie's first book, Hey Natalie Jean is one part manifesto and three parts ideas, projects, and advice. Beautifully illustrated and whimsically designed, the book offers 35 short essays and how-to's that serve as a guide to life: making date-night magic in the middle of the mundane, successfully exploring the city with a three-year-old, and creating a satisfying daily routine that still leaves room for little adventures and lots of magic. Natalie's optimism, creativity, keen eye, and zeal for life are palpable, and she encourages others to make their lives beautiful with ease. This heartfelt, personal collection of essays and photographs show Natalie's ability to identify and describe life's lovely incidentals in the everyday routine of errands, play dates, and naps
4. What Alice Forgot: What Alice Forgot, a novel by Liane Moriarty, starts out with the titular character in bed, obsessing over all of the rules that she has to follow because she’s pregnant. Her thoughts are routinely interrupted by other memories and she suddenly finds herself in a gym. Alice thinks this has to be a mistake because she would never go into a gym. It’s eventually made clear that she hit her head. Alice starts to ask her classmates questions that only get her stranger answers, as though she were asking something ridiculous. The paramedics arrive and start asking Alice questions, including how old she is. She says 29, but one of her friends informs them that Alice is in fact turning 40 later that year. They ask Alice what year it is and she answers 1998, when it is in fact 2008.
What books would you recommend?
