The View from the Cheap Seats: Selected Nonfiction by Neil Gaiman, 522 pages

This is a collection of author Neil Gaiman's selected speeches, introductions to books, essays and articles.  It starts with an homage to books and libraries and includes other various topics like authors past and present, music, storytelling, comics, bookshops, travel, fairy tales, America, inspiration and ghosts.

I listened to the book, which was read by the author himself.  It provides wonderful insight into his smart and creative brain.  Very enjoyable and I added several books and authors to my "to be read" list

A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen, 50 pages

This is a little gem of a book that reminds readers to enjoy family, nature, ourselves . . .life.  It includes lovely pictures too.

I picked this up at the library's book sale last fall and finally took the time to read it.  Note to self: maybe a clue that I really needed it!  There is a post-it in the front from a previous reader or giver of the book that says "deserves to be read as a weekly reminder of what life should be."  Yep, couldn't have said it better myself.

Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr, 290 pages

Before author Anthony Doerr won the Pulitzer Prize for his novel "All the Light We Cannot See" he won the Rome Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The prize comes with a stipend, an apartment and a writing studio in Rome for a year.  He learned of the award the day after his wife had twin boys.  These new parents packed up the boys when they were six months old and headed to Rome.

Doerr had a novel ruminating in his brain that he thought he would work on during the year.  That novel eventually became "All the Light We Cannot See" but he didn't do much writing on it during the year he spent in Rome.

I listened to this book, read by the author, and it was such a wonderful peek into this brilliant writer's mind.  He knows his words, this one.   It was also a wonderful look at Rome and Italy and life in general.

Z: a Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, 375 pages

Z is a credible, fictional account of Zelda Fitzgerald's life just prior to her marriage to F. Scott until shortly after his death. Knowing very little about her life beforehand, I was captivated by this book from the jazz age time period, to the endless parties around the globe hobnobbing with some of the greatest literary minds ever, to F. Scott's alcoholism and his abusive nature (who knew?), and to her schizophrenic diagnosis that landed her in and out of mental institutions. Some doctors now believe based on old medical reports, that Zelda was actually bipolar.

 Although Zelda's life was spent in the shadow of her more famous husband, she was an author, painter and dancer in her own right. I can't help but wonder where she would be had she been born in a different time. This really was a well written, highly entertaining book that made me want to know more, to reread The Great Gatsby one of my all time favorites, and to read Zelda's work as well.