Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

It's a simple mantra: Today will be different. But it's much harder to implement in real life, as the day goes on and shit just keeps happening. Life - it's never just easy, is it?

Eleanor has the best intentions, but once the school calls to say her son is sick, once she realizes she's forgotten a lunch appointment, once she catches her husband in a lie ... today may be different-like-unique, but probably not different-like-better.

That's not all, though. She's got some extended-family issues that seem to have popped up from nowhere, and it's emotional baggage she's having trouble lugging.

Overall, Eleanor is delightfully inept in a harried, scattered way (many of us relate). She's bumbling and blustering through adulthood, just trying to measure up to the other moms, to her career potential, and to her expectations for marriage.

The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry

When the headmistress collapses dead, the students at Saint Etheldreda's School decide to keep the news under wraps so they aren't returned to their families.

This is a precocious murder-mystery book for preteens, with very little gore and a lot of innocently made bad judgment calls. It's the kind of story where a church basement strawberry social is the very epitome of the town's social scene.

But it's also a cracking good mystery full of fun characters: these seven Victorian-era British school girls cover the gamut of personality types, from the goth girl to the flirt to the science geek to the actress. You'll find from the 1890's era to modern days there isn't much difference when you gather a group of girls - you'll get sisterhood and teasing, both affection and a few tears.

How long with the crime go unnoticed? And above all, whodunnit? There are quite a few twists and turns to the plot, because it turns out the girls don't know quite as much about things as they'd thought. The gradual drama is fun, and the big reveal is a surprise in many ways.

Inspiration: Asian

Reading books about other places, cultures, and experiences is a great way to expand your horizons, even when you're stuck at home. For this prompt, we're looking at books about by Asian authors and about the cultures, people, and immigrants of Asian countries.

I went looking for an official list of countries in Asia, and my world view has been expanded to understand Russia and most of the Middle East are included in Asia. I don't know what I thought they were ...

Here are a few I've read:

• Born Confused by Tanuja Desai Hidier
• City of Thieves by David Benioff 
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
• The Eye of Jade by Diane Wei Liang
• A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (what I'm reading right now)
• The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng
• Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Songs of Willow Frost and many others by Jamie Ford
• The Joy Luck Club (and other novels) by Amy Tan
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (I'll be honest - I didn't finish it)
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
• Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson (graphic novel)
• My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame (graphic novel)
• Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
• Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (and other novels) by Lisa See
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman (nonfiction)
• The Star Maker by Laurence Yep
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
• Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson (and the scandal later!)
• The Wise Fool by Shahrukh Husain & Micha Archer

A few authors and books I haven't read but would recommend anyway:

• Crazy Rich Asians series by Kevin Kwan
• Nicola Yoon (YA)
• Mindy Kaling (nonfiction)
• Gene Luen Yang (graphic novels)
• Arcady's Goal by Eugene Yelchin

And a list of lists:

• 5 Korean novels you should read now on Vanity Fair
• 10 award-winning books by Asian authors you should read on Culture Trip
• 10 best Asian novels of all time on The Telegraph
• 10 Japanese books you need to read on Culture Trip
• 12 Asian writers who should be taught in every high school on Mic
• Fiction set in Asia (that teens might enjoy) by the Seattle Public Library

My list seems heavy on Japan and China, with some India. Can you help diversify the list with some additional recommendations?

Inspiration: politics

This could be a really heavy topic, but it doesn't have to be!

You can choose nonfiction or fiction, local or international, history, current affairs or even speculative dystopian fantasy.

Pick a smaller topic than POLITICS: Choose economics, or narrow it down to a biography. Drill down to a current social topic.

• Love Hamilton? Try Ron Chernow's biography that inspired it
• Robert Penn Warren won a Pulitzer for this novel of an ambitious governor
• Lincoln's Team of Rivals was a smash hit for Doris Kearns Goodwin
• I was fascinated by How the States Got their Shapes by Mark Stein
• Robert Harris wrote the Cicero series about ancient Roman power struggles
• I mean, if the Hunger Games isn't political I don't know what is
• Radio Free Vermont made me laugh, and reminded me of some neighbors
• YA has lots of politics, because high school is full of evaluating moral values - try The Chocolate War or Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

Can you recommend something?

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

It's the typical rock and roll story arc: youngsters form a band, tour and party, find fame, then eventually self-destruct. Always captivating, and somehow I never get tired of reading it!

This time it's fictional, but that's sooo easy to forget while reading this one. The book's written in the typical music bio style of quotes drawn from interviews with those involved. The players don't agree about what happened exactly, and we get multiple perspectives on the drama.

The Six is a 1970s group led by Billy Dunne. He recruits his brother, another pair of brothers, and a couple other musicians (including a female keyboard player), and they eventually get some notice as a straight-forward rock band. They get along, they fight, somebody has a crush on the girl.

Daisy Jones is a wild child with a killer voice and the face of an angel. She wants to be a star, but she doesn't want to sing somebody else's words. Plus, she's got major rock star "habits," even before the fame. Eventually, somebody decides The Six and Daisy should work together.

You think you know what will happen, but you can't be sure - no Wikipedia to check the stories, and there's no YouTube clips to watch because THIS IS FICTION! (Continually, I wanted to actually hear these songs!) And there are surprises along the way.

I loved this one a whole lot. It's like "A Star Is Born" mixed with the juiciest rock bios. Love, ego, drugs, and flashes of genius. Divine.

Inspiration: celebrity endorsed

The easiest way to find a good book is to ask: "Hey, what are you reading?" People love to tell you about the books they're enjoying (or hating) and celebrities are no exception.

Sometimes they're hawking their own books or promoting a friend (or sponsor), and sometimes it's legitimately because they're inspired or in love with a book and want to share. Understand the difference, and you'll be happier!

Celebrity book clubs:

• Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine book club
• Oprah Winfrey's famous book club (that launched many careers)
• NFL quarterback Andrew Luck's book club
• Rocker Florence Welch's The Florence + The Machine Book Club
• Emma Watson's feminist book club Our Shared Shelf
• Emma Roberts on Belletrist
• Sarah Jessica Parker has a gig with the American Library Association recommending books

Learn about what inspires your heroes: Locate the online presence for someone you idolize, and see if they discuss what they're reading and what inspires them. Or follow an author you've enjoyed reading to see what they're reading.

So what are you reading this week that was endorsed by a celebrity?

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

The end is nigh (or maybe not)!

An unlikely angel and an odd devil work together to stop Armageddon in this genius partnership between two of my favorite writers. I picked it up now because it's about to be released as a TV series with Gaiman at its helm.

A kid in England is actually the Antichrist, but nobody knows that. Every time he thinks about something hard enough (Atlantis, UFOs, or tunnels to China) it happens - and let's just say Adam is a real thinker.

It's very funny, and wicked smart, so I can't wait to see how they film it, since Neil's overseeing it so maybe they can't bleed the fun out of it.