I want to recommend a website (and "app" if you use them) called GoodReads.com. It is an online bookshelf where you can keep track of books you've read (I can never remember the author's name, this website helps!), books you want to read (where else can you keep track of friend's suggestions) and find books that your friends are reading.
The app version lets you scan barcodes, so when I am browsing in a bookstore, I can "scan" any book I want to read later and it stores it in my "want to read" section. I just love it.
You can find your friends (if you want) and follow authors (pick me!) - it's fun.
Two of my favorite books that I have read lately are:
Sugar Queen by Sarah Allen Addison (a quirky, half-magical story of a woman gaining the confidence to live her own life. It also revolves around a controlling mother, the love of candy bars and a new-found appreciation for helping your friends)
The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh (a fascinating story of a woman's power to help her customers - she's a florist- by sending "meaning or intent" through the combination of flowers in the arrangement. It is also filled with love (maternal and romantic), the foster system (where she was raised) and scrappy determination to learn. This is the book that made me want to drive to California "to fix some things."
