Books

I confess - I like junk food, especially salty, crunchy, fat-laden potato chips. An open bag is an empty bag.

Of course potato chips don't provide anything positive in the way of nutrition but they sure taste great in the moment.

Some books are like junk food. They offer a tasty high- calorie reading experience but lack " nutrition" to stimulate the reader's emotional or intellectual growth - and sometimes that's just okay.

This summer, I've been on a junk-food book binge because my life circumstances are a bit overwhelming and my stress meter has been bouncing around in the red zone. Junk food books offer a mindless escape from reality and require very little mental energy to consume. Problem is, I don't like how I feel after eating too many bags of potato chips in a row and ingesting a string of "pop" bestsellers is no different.

Now that summer is officially over, I'm ready to bring some balance to my reading stack but I want to recommend a few books of varying nutritional value to readers of the Times.

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls was a favorite this summer. Walls crafts an unsentimental coming-of-age story that held my attention without being overbearing. Spunky twelve-year-old Bean (Jean) Holladay and her sister, Liz, age 15, are abandoned by their mother when she runs off to pursue her latest "become a famous singer" scheme. When the police get wind that the girls are living on their own, they flee California by bus and travel cross country to arrive on their previously unmet Uncle Tinsley's doorstep.

The year is 1970 and the social and the cultural climate in the small southern town is confusing and a bit disturbing to the sisters. When Liz has a disastrous run-in with the corrupt cotton mill foreman, Bean courageously challenges the adult justice and social system and the entire family, mother included, must face their demons, forgive and support each other. I thought the ending was just right.

I picked up Big Girl Panties because the author's name is Stephanie Evanovich. I figured she must be related to one of my favorite junk food book authors - Janet Evanovich- and she is, in fact, Janet's niece. This is Stephanie's first novel and while she incorporates some of the same wise-cracking humor that her aunt is famous for, this book wasn't nearly as satisfying. Holly is a 32-year- old " fat girl" recently widowed and without a plan or purpose in her life. She meets Logan, an impossibly gorgeous personal trainer to elite athletes, on a flight from Montreal to New Jersey. Logan, who surrounds himself with only beautiful models and narcissistic athletes, sees beyond Holly's obesity and offers to train her. The plot is perfectly predictable from then on but I liked Holly's glib one- liners and determination to take control of her life.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford isn't a junk- food novel and after being recommended by my friends Rachel Hutchens and Lisa Haag this summer, it's on the top of my fall to-read list. This piece of historical fiction is set in Seattle and explores the themes of friendship, prejudice and hope through the lives of Henry Lee and Keiko Okabe.

Much of the novel takes place in the 1940s during the volatile time of WWII and the Japanese internment. Henry and Keiko's friendship is tested because Henry is Chinese while Keiko is Japanese. That period of our American history is quite disturbing to me, but both Lisa and Rachel assured me that I would enjoy this novel because it focuses on the relationship, not the hardships and injustices of the interment.

In an effort to increase the "nutritional value" of my reading, I've already begun rereading My `Antonia by Willa Cather. The difference between Cather's lyrical storytelling and the pop novels I've been reading is startling. Not many classics are described as page- turners, but this one is. I'm completely drawn into the lives of the characters as they struggle to settle the plains of Nebraska in the early 1900s. The themes are timeless and the characters richly drawn. Many consider My `Antonia Cather's greatest work. Maybe I'll add a few more classics to my list this fall. My brain has been on vacation long enough.