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FOUR BOOKS
I'm still reading. Not as fast and not as much, but I am. And each time
I do, I remember how much I miss it. How much I love getting lost in
another world. Here are a few from the last few weeks: Ever since I discovered him two years ago,
I immediately knew that I could never go wrong with Murakami and A
Wild Sheep Chase is no exception. An intriguing, hard to understand
book that leaves you with more questions than answers. I loved it
nonetheless. There's something about Murakami's style that just speaks
to me, I guess.
 And then I read The
Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes. This was a Costco find. I always try
to peruse the book aisle at Costco. I take photos of the titles I like
and then check them out at amazon and if they still look good, I check
them out from the library. This was one of those. It took me a while to
get into the story but I did enjoy it quite a bit by the end. I don't
know if I would recommend it as much as say that it wasn't a bad read.
 Which brings me to the sequels of Twilight.
I read Twilight back in January and I have no idea why I waited this
long to read the sequels, but I am so glad I finally remembered to check
them out. In the last week, I read 1,200 pages and I wish there were
more. Many more. These books are really wonderful. The characters are
well thought out and far from perfect or typical. The story keeps moving
forward constantly. The dialog is far from flat. One can sympathize with
each character in a different way. The writing is smooth and doesn't get
in the way of the story or the characters. Reading New
Moon and Eclipse
made me wish I was writing again. It made me wish I could write such
good stories, so well. It must be an amazing feeling to be able to write
books that people love to read. Books that are page turners. I
absolutely love these books. The fact that they are about vampires,
which is something I would never read about and young adult
novels, which I also don't read, is just icing on the cake that shows
good books are just good books regardless of subject or targeted age group.
 BALANCING IT ALL
And I remember saying to her, "The show is over by
noon. I could be in the car by twelve-thirty and be able to pick up my
kids from school every afternoon."
"It's perfect," Elizabeth said again. "It's the perfect balance of family and work." And it seemed it would be. A mid-morning show, four days a week, someone else's signature on it. A show that didn't belong to me - it would give me a certain distance, and the freedom necessary to raise my family. I think this is close to every workingwoman's dream. It's the fantasy that somehow you'll land a gig that allows you to explore your talents without shortchanging your children, a job both big and small to allow you to exist in all your dimensions - domestic, corporate, maternal, artistic. I've always been a fan of Rosie O'Donnell. I like her rawness. Her honesty. How so much of herself she is. So I was bound to read Celebrity Detox. The most profound parts of the book, for me, were about the struggle between motherhood and self-identity. There is no such thing as having it all. It does not happen. People who say it does are lying. People who think they have it are wrong. It's just not humanly possible. Each time you do something, you're sacrificing something else. It's just a fact of life. So the trick is to choose how you spend your moments wisely. TWILIGHT AND BREAKDOWN LANE
As opposed to last year's Christmas vacation, I got a lot less reading
(however a lot more scrapping) done this year. The two I managed to read
are Twilight
and Breakdown
Lane. So let's talk about Twilight. I'd read about this one on
multiple blogs and thought that there would be no way I'd like it since
I don't generally read young adult novels and I definitely don't read
anything about vampires. Ever. I really mean ever. Yet I loved this
book. It was a lightweight, easy read. Well enough written that it
didn't bother me the story was a perfect fit for my mood. I'd sort of
hate to admit it, but I did really enjoy reading this book.
 I picked up Breakdown Lane because when I
absolutely hated Twelve times Blessed, Kim and Cheryl told me to read
this one instead. And, man, they were right. I absolutely adored this
book. It was depressing as shit. Really, really depressing. And I was so
very sick so it only exacerbated my grief. But it was so much better
written than the other book that it's hard to believe it was the same
writer. The book left me with a lot of thoughts but that's for another day.
I've also read a few scrapping books but that's for another day. I really need some good fiction. Any ideas? WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
The first time I heard of
Water For Elephants
was on a beach in Connecticut. We were there for Jake's cousin's wedding and David was running around the beach.
I saw this woman reading the book and got it confused with another one and when I realized my mistake, I asked her
how it was. She said she was liking it, but didn't seem enthusiastic enough for me to want to place it on my library queue.
A few weeks ago, I was at Kepler's and saw the book again. I decided I wanted to give it a try. I got it from the library three weeks ago and it's been sitting around, waiting to be read. Despite being on vacation, I haven't read much at all in the last three weeks and I was getting worried that something was wrong with me. Turns out nothing was wrong with me, and everything was wrong with the books I was trying to read. I picked this book up since it was due back in two days and I wanted to at least check it out. And, man, am I glad I did. I read it in two days and loved loved LOVED it. I can't even tell you why. I fell into the story immediately and enjoyed every single minute of it. Despite the unusual setting, this is a timeless story and fantastic writing. Highly recommended. PEONY IN LOVE
I absolutely loved Snowflower and the Secret Fan so I was thrilled when I heard about Peony In Love
I couldn't wait to read more of Lisa See. Yet, it turns out the book is terrible. I mean it was so bad that I put it down 5 times. I told myself that I had to get to page 100 before I made a final decision and then at page 101, I gave up. It was bad and
it got exponentially worse. What a shame it is to see an author, who can obviously do ten times better, write such a mediocre (actually it isn't even mediocre) book.
ON CHESIL BEACH
I've been a fan of Ian McEwan for a few years now and I absolutely loved his previous book, _Saturday_, so when I saw he had a new one, I couldn't
wait to pick it up. On Chesil Beach is a tiny book
and I read the whole thing in an hour. While the last 5 pages were fantastic, I can't say that for the rest of the book. It was bleh. It went on and on and about
something I didn't care too much to read about. I didn't care about the characters enough to care. It was sweet, elegant and a fast read but it was definitely not up to his potential.
BOOKENDS
 I had never read a novel by Jane Green before I
picked up Bookends
I picked it up because one of the staff members at Kepler's recommended it and I dream of starting a book store and so reading a book about that seemed a lot of fun. While
she is a really quick read, I wouldn't qualify her as pure chicklit. She's a bit better than that. Her writing is relatively good. Her characters are 2.5 dimensional. I can
definitely see myself reading more of her, especially when I need a mental downtime.
AFTER DARK
 I have been a huge Murakami fan since I found out about him.
Last year, I went through a phase where I read a bunch of his books back to back. So it should come as no surprise that I wanted to read
After Hours
as soon as it came out. While the book was good and a little weird, it didn't measure up to typical Murakami at all. He is normally so incredibly fantastical and his
stories are so involved, so amazing, so mind-blowing that you cannot put the book down. This was an easy read but it wasn't nearly as amazing as most of the other books by him. Yet, I cannot wait for the next one.
DOT DEAD
I must say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked Dot Dead.
I brought it with me along a plane ride and finished that same night. I couldn't put it down. It wasn't the best-written book I read but it was certainly enjoyable and sort of surprising at parts. A great book to read on the plane.
It's a shame I missed him when he visited Google.
TWELVE TIMES BLESSED AND A THEORY OF RELATIVITY
I have read Mitchard before but I must say, Twelve
Times Blessed was one of the worst written books I've ever read. The
character is not believable. She is annoying and the whole story is
flawed in so many ways that I don't even know where to begin. To be
fair, I did get strongly affected by the story
and felt deep love for my husband who I swore to appreciate more. I
spose one cannot ask for much more from a book. 
Having said all of that, I also read A
Theory of Relativity and I absolutely loved it. Much more realistic,
more interesting. The characters were easier to relate to. The story was
still a bit more melodramatic than I would have liked it to be, which is
annoying cause it didn't need that extra drama. It was a beautiful
enough story as is.
GRACE EVENTUALLY
 I absolutely adore, adore, adore Anne Lamott. So it's no surprise that when she came out with a new book, I grabbed Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Faith immediately.
I have to admit that this wasn't one of my very favorites of her, but I still loved it. I swallowed it up and felt an inner peace that only she manages to instill in me. I am definitely not a religious person but I still loved her book. Maybe cause I do have faith. Or maybe cause Anne's a fantastic writer.
WITCH OF PORTOBELLO
Paulo Coelho never ceases to amaze me. While his latest, The
Witch of Portobello, is a bit weirder than usual in my opinion, it's
no less thought provoking than his usual. Here are a few excerpts that
spoke to me.
"What is a teacher? I'll tell you: it isn't someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to give of her best in order to discover what she already knows." ... "I've always been a very restless person. I work hard, spend too much time looking after my son, I dance like a mad thing, I learned calligraphy, I go to courses on selling, I read one book after another. But that's all a way of avoiding those moments when nothing is happening, because those blank spaces give me a feeling of absolute emptiness, in which not a single crumb of love exists. My parents have always done everything they could for me, and I do nothing but disappoint them. But here, during the time we spent together, celebrating nature and the Great Mother, I've realized that those empty spaces were starting to get filled up. They were transformed into pauses - the moment when the man lifts his hand from the drum before bringing it down again to strike hard. I think I can leave now..." ... Everything is at once so simple and so complicated! It's simple because all it takes is a change of attitude: I'm not going to look for happiness anymore. From now on, I'm independent; I see life through my eyes and not through other people's. I'm going in search of the adventure of being alive. And it's complicated: Why am I not looking for happiness when everyone has taught me that happiness is the only goal worth pursuing? Why am I going to risk taking a path that no one else is taking? After all, what is happiness? Love, they tell me. But love doesn't bring and never has brought happiness. On the contrary, it's a constant state of anxiety, a battlefield; it's sleepless nights, asking ourselves all the time if we're doing the right thing. Real love is composed of ecstasy and agony. All right then, peace. Peace? If we look at the Mother, she's never at peace. The winter does battle with the summer, the sun and the moon never meet, the tiger chases the man, who's afraid of the dog, who chases the cat, who chases the mouse, who frightens the man. Money brings happiness. Fine. In that case, everyone who earns enough to have a high standard of living would be able to stop working. But then they're more troubled than ever, as if they were afraid of losing everything. Money attracts money, that's true. Poverty might bring unhappiness, but money won't necessarily bring happiness. I spent a lot of my life looking for happiness; now what I want is joy. Joy is like sex - it begins and end. I want pleasure. I want to be contended, but happiness? I no longer fall into that trap ..... Reprogram yourself every minute of each day with thoughts that make you grow. When you're feeling irritated or confused, try to laugh at yourself. Laugh out loud at this woman tormented by doubts and anxieties, convinced that her problems are the most important thing in the world. Laugh at the sheer absurdity of the situation, at the fact that despite being a manifestation of the Mother, you still believe God is a man who lays down the rules. Most of our problems stem from just that - from following rules. .... "...Like love for example. People either feel it or they don't, and there isn't a force in the world that can make them feel it. We can pretend that we love each other. We can get used to each other. We can live a whole lifetime of friendship and complicity, we can bring up children, have sex every night, reach orgasm, and still feel that there's a terrible emptiness about it all, that something important is missing." MORE BOOKS: THE GREAT, THE NOT-SO-GREAT, AND THE SO-SO
I've been trying hard to read a book a week again. Some weeks I do well,
and others, not as well. But reading is really important to me. It's my
way of recharging, escaping, learning and growing. So I am working to
feed this need. I wanted to make sure to track all the books I've read.
So here's a post about my last few books that I haven't posted about.
Marley and Me was a book I'd been meaning to read for a long, long time. I finally checked it out a few months ago and was mostly disappointed. Maybe that's why I'd been putting it off for a long time. I sort of had a hunch that it wouldn't be great. I can't even put my finger on what I didn't like about it and it was heart-warming and all that. It just didn't do it for me. 
Once I discovered Picault, you knew I was going to read so very much
more of her, and of course, I did. I first read Vanishing
Acts and wasn't nearly as impressed as I'd been with My Sister's
Keeper. I wondered if that book was an anomaly, an exceptional book, a
formula that can't be repeated. I wasn't sure but I so badly didn't want
it to be true. This is not to say I didn't like Vanishing Acts. It was
so-so. If I hadn't already read the other one, I probably would have
loved it. But I'd seen what she was capable of and I wanted more. So
much more.
So then I picked up Ninteeen Minutes which was fabulous. Made me feel good about Jodi
Picoult again. The story was gripping and even though I knew there would
be a twist at the end, I was still surprised and loved every moment of
reading this story. Kudos to any writer who can take a really difficult
issue like school shootings and making an amazing story out of it so
it's about how hard it is to be yourself. How much we need to fit in.
How much it can hurt to be teased and mercilessly made fun of. People
who haven't had the abuse on that level can never understand how
life-changing and soul-changing it can be. This book illustrates it
wonderfully from many points of view. All interesting. Still not as good
as My Sister's Keeper but quite a fantastic book.
I can't even remember where I read about Welcome
to Oz but I am glad I did. The techniques shown by the author look
easy here but they are not. I loved all the details about the light and
the black and white techniques. Shows me that I have a long, long way to
go before I can call myself a Photoshop connoisseur. I love his effects.
I love his patience. I love his work. The drama, the story, the color.
It's all quite wonderful. This is one book, I've checked out multiple
times just to make sure I can master his skills.
The Palo Alto library has a special section reserved for new books and
when I go in to checkout a hold, I always try to visit this section,
just to see. That's how I discovered The
Lavender Hour and while I wouldn't call it literature, it was a
wonderful read. I loved the writing, the story, and the characters.
Controversial topic, maybe, but mostly just a love story. If you need an
easy, little book, this one isn't the worst choice.
Some
Nerve was another pick from the library's new books section. It's
nothing special. Easy, quick read about a gossip magazine writer who
tries to write about an actor, can't and gets fired. Returns back to her
hometown, only to find that the same author is checked into the hospital
where she volunteers. Isn't that a lovely coincidence? Life's full of
them. But books have even more. Not the worst book I've ever read but
also not the best. A sweet, little book.
The
Life You Longed For was creepy, scary and a blazing fast read. The
worst possible subject ever: a mother hurting her kid, taken to an even
more terrible level: not actually hurting the kid but accused of doing
so. This is a perfect example of how good intentions can go bad and ruin
lives and be the wrong thing to do. It sad, scary and very engrossing.
I read Still
Life with Husband really quickly, which would normally imply that I
loved it. Fact is, when I finished, I didn't know how I felt about it.
It took me a couple of days to really hate the book. Now, I am pretty
certain, I absolutely abhorred it. Terrible story. No plot worth
mentioning. Unrealistic, stupid ending. No empathy or even sympathy
towards the characters. Just could not enjoy this book.
Dark
Oval was another really fast read. About loss and sadness. The idea
of losing Jake is so tremendously scary to me that I wanted to be
finished with this book quickly just so I didn't have to think about the
possibility of his death. Life can be depressing, ironic and so very
frustrated. I thought this book was realistic. Depressing but realistic
and a wonderful read.
Considering the fact that The Kite Runner was my favorite book of 2005,
it was predictable that I would buy his second book the second it came
out. A
Thousand Splendid Suns is a wonderful, wonderful story. While it can
never be as good as Kite Runner, this one has its own special place
since it's about women and not men. It's about the friendship of two
otherwise very different women. It's touching, thought-provoking,
depressing, heart-wrenching. It's amazing how much he can educate his
readers about Afghanistan without any preaching or anything boring. I'm
from the area, I normally dont' enjoy reading stories about the Middle
East. But he is an exception. I love his books. I devour them. I can't
wait until the next one.
MY SISTER'S KEEPER
Next to my family, my favorite way to spend time is to read. With the
exception of horror and fantasy, I read and enjoy almost every kind of
book. But every now and then there's that one book that comes along and
stops my whole life. When I find one of those, nothing else much
matters. I completely fall into the story. I take the book with me to
the bathroom. I take it in the car. I read it while I am waiting for the
microwave. I read it as I walk from room to room. I don't put it down
for a second. I am so engulfed in these characters' lives that I don't
want to miss a moment of it.
Today was one of those days and My Sister's Keeper was that book. I can't even remember why I put this book on hold. I think I saw it at Walmart (in one of the very rare occasions I sadly visited this establishment whose politics and employee treatment I vehemently oppose) and I had heard of the Jodi Picoult many times before and wanted to read her. I can't tell you what made me pick up the book last night over the 22 books I have checked out. But I can tell you that since I picked it up, I didn't put it down until I finished it. I spent a good time crying afterwards just to get all the pent up emotion out. Jodi Picoult has a way with words. Not only does she create the most relatable characters, but she knows how to take emotions and wrap them around such simple, natural words that you wonder why no one else thought to express that emotion in that exact way before. It's like you know exactly what she means. This story is tragic. It's horrifying. It's a situation no parent ever wants to be in. From the outside, you can take sides, you can judge. But when you see the story from all the points of view, you can see the conundrum so well. You know there's no easy answer here. Even from the very beginning, you know it's not going to end well. But still, like the parents, you keep hoping. But the author doesn't disappoint. She doesn't cop out. She doesn't create a Hollywood ending. To the contrary, all the way to the very twist at end, the story holds true to its point. Life is too short and no one gets to have a say at how things turn out. COYOTE BLUE
When I read A Dirty Job back in January (or was it December?), I loved it so much that I wanted to read more Christopher Moore right away. So I checked out another book by him (The Stupidest Angel) and was really frustrated by how much I didn't like it. A few months ago, I wanted to give it another try, so I checked out Coyote Blue. The book was funny and overall I enjoyed it. However, in the end, it lacked the un-put-downable-ness of A Dirty Job. I want to read more by him cause I do like his unique sense of humor, but I am not sure which of his books to pick up next...
FIVE BOOKS: BERG AND QUINDLEN
We
Are All Welcome Here is Elizabeth Berg's newest novel. (There's a
newer one coming out in May.) I am a huge fan of hers and was thrilled
to find this book at the library. To be honest, it wasn't a favorite of
mine. While I thought the story was beautiful and touching, it wasn't as
strong as many of her others. Berg has a distinct skill of writing about
women and not making it cheesy or fluffy.
 Three little books from Anna Quindlen, another powerful and strong female author: Peing Perfect, How Reading Changed My Life and A short Guide to a Happy Life. I was interested in all of these books but didn't want to pay the list price for such a small book that I knew would be an hour read.  Thanks to the Palo Alto Library, I finally got my hands on them and was able to read the lovely little stories which really should have been essays and not books of their own. To be fair, the reading book did recommend many awesome books to me that I love. 
And finally I just finished Anna Quindlen's latest book, Rise and Shine. Since the story was about two sisters and took place in New York, I really looked forward to reading it. Quindlen is a fantastic author so, of course, the book wasn't bad. However, it wasn't great either. I felt that she has done and could have done a lot better. The characters were just not three-dimensional enough. 
I didn't feel
sympathetic towards either of the sisters and felt like some of the
major plot points were either implausible or unnecessarily dramatic. I had a pretty hard time getting into the story and I kept waiting for it to get more interesting and for something to happen. And when it finally did, I compeltely didn't believe it. It felt like a cop-out. However, when I got to the end of the book, the last two lines spoke to the core of the story and made me remember why I love her so much.
Another fantastic female author and one of my very favorites is Jane Smiley. And I am delighted that I'll be getting to hear her talk this week (cross fingers). Now I need a new book by Anne Tyler and I will be all set. THE DEVIL AND MISS PRYM
I am a huge fan of Paulo Coelho. I have read most of his novels and
found every one of them to be thought provoking and un-putdownable. And
The
Devil and Miss Prym was no exception. I read the entire novel in a
day and loved every moment of it. This one is an interesting study of
human morality. Or lack thereof. Books with this topic always make me
think of Lord of the Flies which I think is the ultimate story of human
nature.
Playing the part of a charitable soul was only for those who were afraid of taking a stand in life. It is always far easier to have faith in your own goodness than to confront others and fight for your rights. It is always easier to hear an insult and not retaliate than have the courage to fight back against someone stronger than yourself; we can always say we're not hurt by the stones others throw at us, and it's only at night - when we're alone and our wife our husband or our school friend is asleep - that we can silently grieve over our own cowardice. ... Not a single voice in the crowd was raised against the choice. The mayor was glad because they had accepted his authority; but the priest knew that this could be a good or a bad sign, because silence does not always mean consent - usually all it meant was that people were incapable of coming up with an immediate response. If someone did not agree, they would later torture themselves with the idea that they had accepted without really wanting to, and the consequences of that would be grave. There's something about Paulo Coelho that I completely connect with and I cannot describe in words. THE PARADOX OF CHOICE
I can't even remember where I read about Paradox of Choice. All in all, it wasn't the most interesting book I read. I
flipped through a lot of the pages but did read many passages with a
lot of interesting thoughts. There are a lot of passages from this one
and honestly each deserve their own posts, but I figure let's document
this first, I can always come back to them.
Participants in a laboratory study were asked to listen to a pair of very loud, unpleasant noises played through headphones. One noise lasted for eight seconds. The other lasted sixteen. The first eighteen seconds of second noise were identical to the first noise, whereas the second eight seconds, while still loud and unpleasant, were not as loud. Later, the participants, were told that they would have to listen to one of the noises again, but that they could choose which one. Clearly, the second to be repeated. Why? Because whereas both noises were unpleasant and had the same aversive peak, the second had a less unpleasant end, and so was remembered as less annoying than the first. ... When asked about what they regret the most in the last six months, people tend to identify actions that didn't meet expectations. But when asked about what they regret the most when they look back on their lives as a whole, people tend to identify failures to act. In the short run, we regret a bad educational choice, whereas in the long run, we regret a missed educational opportunity. In the short run, we regret a broken romance, whereas in the long run, we regret a missed romantic opportunity. So it seems that we don't close the psychological door on decisions we've made, and as time passes, what we've failed to do looms larger and larger. ... The fundamental significance of having control was highlighted in a study of three-month-old infants done more than thirty years ago. Infants in one group - those who had control - were placed in a faceup in an ordinary crib with their heads on a pillow. Mounted on the crib was a translucent umbrella, with figures of various animals dangling from the springs inside. These figures were not visible to the infants, but if the infants turned their heads on the pillows, a small light would go on behind the umbrella, making the "dancing" figures visible for a little while. Then the light would go off. When the infants did turn their heads, just by chance, and turned on the light and saw the dancing figures, hey showed interest, delight, and excitement. They quickly learned to keep the figures visible by turning their heads, and they kept on doing so, again and again. They also continued to show delight at the visual spectacle. Other infants in the study got a "free ride." Whenever a "control" infant turned on the light behind the umbrella in its crib, that action also turned on the light behind the umbrella in the crib of another infant. So these other infants got to see the dancing figures just as often and for just as long as their controlling partners did. Initially, these infants showed just as much delight in the dancing figures. But their interest quickly waned. They adapted. ... People do differ in the types of predispositions they display. "Optimists" explain success with chronic, global, and personal causes and failures with transient, specific, and universal ones. "Pessimists" do the reverse. Optimists say things like "I got an A" and "She gave me a C." Pessimists say things like "I got a C" and "He gave me an A." And it is the pessimists who are candidates for depression. When these predispositions are assessed in people who are not depressed, the predispositions predict who will become depressed when failures occur. People who find chronic causes for failure expect failures to persist: those who find transient causes don't. People who find global causes for failure expect failure to follow them into every area of life; those who find specific causes don't. And people who find personal causes for failure suffer large losses in self-esteem; those who find universal causes don't. ... I think the power of nonreversible decisions comes through most clearly when we think abut our most important choices. A friend once told me how his minister had shocked the congregation with a sermon on marriage in which he said flatly that, yes, the grass is always greener. What he meant was that, inevitably, you will encounter people who are younger, better looking, funnier, smarter, or seemingly more understanding and empathetic than your wife or husband. But finding a life partner is not a matter of comparison shopping and "trading up." The only way to find happiness and stability in the presence of seemingly attractive and tempting options is to say, "I'm simply not going there. I've made my decision about a life partner, so this person's empathy or that person's good looks really have nothing to do with me. I'm not in the market - end of story." Agonizing over whether your love is "the real thing" or your sexual relationship above or below par, and wondering whether you could have done better is a prescription for misery, Knowing that you've made a choice that you will not reverse allows you to pour your energy into improving the relationship that you have rather than consistently second-guessing it. ... As the number of choices we face increases, freedom of choice eventually becomes a tryanny of choice. Routine decisions take so much time and attention that it becomes difficult to get through the day. In circumstances like this, we should learn to view limits on the possibilities we face as liberating not constraining. Society provides rules, standards, and norms for making choices, and individual experience creates habits. By deciding to follow a rule (for example, always wear a seat belt; never drink more than two glasses of wine in one evening), we avoid having to make a deliberate decision again and again. This kind of rule-following frees up time and attention that can be devoted to thinking about choices and decisions to which rules don't apply. Lots of food for thought. MORE AND MORE BOOKS
Ok, so I am not doing so great on the "post more" resolution. But I am
working on it, I promise.
I've also read a bunch lately. I wanted to start with something easy so
I grabbed
Good
Grief which has been sitting on my shelf for several months. It was
as chick-litty as it looks but at least not superficial like some of the
other stuff out there so it was a good combination of easy reading but
not too unlikeable. 
Then I moved on to The
Lovely Bones which I have purposely been putting off for years. I
hadn't been prepared for the raw horror of it. And I knew it was a great
book but didn't think I wanted to read it. So I finally did and it was
horrible. The book was very well written and I read it in one gulp.
However the story itself was as bone-chilling as I worried it would be
and I got as affected as I thought I would be. So much so that I had to
watch some really silly TV before I'd sleep at night so as to not go to
bed with the book in my mind. I know Alice Sebold has another great book
but until she stops writing about rape, I am not reading another one of
her stories.
Then I moved to my very trusted source of AskMe and as usual, they
didn't let me down. I started with the recommendation of Christoper
Moore and the Palo Alto library had
A
Dirty Job
available immediately so I started with that. And I loved it. I
swallowed the whole book in a day! I loved the subject matter. I loved
his writing style. It was hilarious and I generally am not known for my
sense of humor! I have since checked out another Moore book and let's
see if he's consistent.
I have also checked out 32 other books that I am supposedly going to read in the next three weeks. I figure if I read another three that will be major progress. NOW DISCOVER YOUR STRENGTHS
Another pre-work book I read was Now Discover Your Strengths. Recommended by many and an interesting read. Especially in this way:This fixation with weakness is deeply rooted in out education and upbringing. We presented parents with this scenario: Say your child returns home with the following grades: and A in English, an A in social studies, a C in biology, and and F in algebra. Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter? Seventy-seven percent of parents chose to focus on the F in algebra, only 6 percent on the A in English, and an even more minuscule number, 1 percent, on the A in social studies. Obviously, the algebras grade requires some attention because to progress in school and secure a place at a college or university the child cannot to fail a subject. But the question was phrased carefully: Which of these grades would you spend the most time discussing with your son or daughter? Despite the demands of today's education system, does the most time really deserve to be invested in the child's weakness? It's quite amazing but totally accurate that we tend to concantrate on our weaknesses and how to make them better instead of using our strengths to circumvent the weaker areas. 
Here are a few more I've read since I last posted: Recommended by a friend: Paypal Wars was a very badly written but really interesting read. Quite interesting to see how many times they came close to closing up shop and how many stupid business decisions were made and how strongly they depended on paypal. 
And, of course, The Long Tail. Interesting and thought-provoking read and worthwhile for anyone who doesn't understand the difference between online and offline retail and the potential in both. There are many, many people in the world and their tastes and interests vary drastically.NOT FADE AWAY
So there are a few drafts I had left in my inbox before I started working at Google. I am going to try to post those (all have to do with books) first. I found out about Not Fade Away in someone's blog and decided to pick it up. I read the whole book in one day and enjoyed it very much. Here are a few quotes that really spoke to me:
And this, unfortunately, brings me to one of the most excruciating incidents of my childhood - one of those awful moments, totally trivial in itself, that you literally spent your whole life getting over. I tell this story as a plea to parents, coaches, teachers: For God's sake, be careful what you say when a child messes up! This is one of my biggest pet-peeves. Parents who speak without thinking, parents who think their children have the same sensitivity level they have. Parents who scar you forever. It would have been easy to finish that degree - easier than bolting. With the degree in hand, it would have been easier for me to land a job with one of the status quo watchdogs that with anybody else. Once I had the job, it would have been easier to amend my own beliefs that to change the organization. Thus, by increments so exquisitely gradual that they might have just passed unnoticed, I could have ended up being totally untrue to myself and living a life I hated. Twenty years later, I might have had a closet full of suits, a passport full of visas, and and irreparable feeling that I'd really blown it. Another beautifully poignant point. It's sad and amazing how quickly and quietly we lose control of our lives. How we wake up suddenly, years later, and we can't remember why we are where we are and how we got there. How easy it is to take the next easy step without thinking why and whether it's still a step on your eventual destination (assuming you still remember your eventual destination.) It's funny, in a way - our society warns us about the temptations of wealth and power, about the slender chances of a rich man getting into Heaven. But poverty has its pitfalls, too. Too little dough can erode a person's ethics and values just as easily as too much. THE ARITHMETIC OF LIFE
 I actually read The Arithmetic
of Life before Hardboiled Wonderland but forgot to put it up. Found
this book on the recommendation of the O'Reilly
radar. Within a day, the book went from being around 300,000th on
Amazon's rank to 3,000th. None of the bookstores around Palo Alto
carried it, so I used this occasion to enroll into the Palo Alto library
system and got the book within minutes and read it in hours. I found the
articles interesting and thought-provoking - albeit a bit repetitive.
The writer *really* hates the Congress and makes sure we know it often.
Overall, this book is a great read for those who say math isn't useful
in their daily lives. The articles are short, easy to read, easy to
relate to and even entertaining.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA
 After having read 100 Years of Solitude in one
day, I was looking forward to reading Love in the Time of Cholera. A good
friend of mine had said that, of the two, this was her favorite and I
enjoyed 100 Years so much that I couldn't imagine how much better it
could get. Maybe that's why, it took me a few years to get the book and
finally start reading it.
I started it in Turkey but I was so tired and sick that I kept having to put it down. When we got home, I took a break to get over jet lag and I finally managed to sit and read a large chunk of it in one sitting, which is when the book got good. Despite its beautiful story, interesting characters and fantastic writing, I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as 100 Years of Solitude. When I finished the book, I did have a wonderful, satisfied feeling, but I wasn't as blown away with this story and I had been with the previous. It wasn't as epic and magical. Still, it was a beautiful story and a beautiful book. THE ULTIMATE GIFT
 My sister gave me a Turkish translation of The Ultimate Gift when I was
visiting her. Normally, I don't read these books anymore. Mostly
because I read tons of them at some point in my life and I feel like I
want to take a break from all the advice-giving text. But since she gave
it to me and jet lag was preventing me from reading anything that
requires a lot of attention, I gave it a try. I struggled a lot with the
Turkish translation since it was so obvious that the translator didn't
make any effort to make it sound more Turkish. Some of the phrases were
direct translations and didn't make much sense in Turkish.
The "gifts" were relatively obvious to me but I did like a few of them, especially the idea of the Golden List. Overall, I thought it was an okay read but I don't know that I would have missed much if I hadn't read the book. HARDBOILED WONDERLAND AND THE END OF THE WORLD
I truly owe a big thank you to the AskMe crowd for introducing me to this great author. THE WIND-UP BIRD CHRONICLE
 Since reading Kafka on the Shore, I couldn't stop
thinking about the book, so recently I went and bought another one by
Murakami. I picked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: A Novel
because it's the novel that made Murakami famous in the US. This book
is considerably longer and thicker than Kafka and more convoluted. It
resolves a bit more but not a huge lot. There were bits that were
common to both novels but that didn't bother me. I feel like maybe if
I read more of his work, I might get closer to solving the puzzle of
his stories. I now have to go buy all of his books. Easy to read,
difficult to understand.
THE SEARCH AND THE GOOGLE STORY
 Since Google has a reputation
for having harrowing interviews, I thought it best to prepare as much
as possible. Even though I wasn't sure if The Search would be
helpful, I figured it couldn't hurt. It turned out to be a
fascinating read and gave me a lot to think about and a lot to talk
about. If you don't know a lot about the history of search and if it
does interest you, I would highly recommend this read. Despite the
cover design, the book is not solely about Google and explores the
full history of search engines.
 I also read The Google Story,
again, hoping that it might give me some insight or clever
conversation pieces. I'll be fully honest that I haven't finished
this one. Partly because I only had ten days between the phone
interview and the on-site one and I read non-fiction much more
slowly. This is much more specific to Google and it's more personal
and less about search. It's more about the people behind the story
and about how the company got started. At least so far. More
interesting if you're into the company story. Also, well-written.
I think these might fill the non-fiction quota of this and last month. PREP
 When I first heard about this book, I
thought it was yet another in the line of chick-lit like the Devil
Wears Prada or the Shopaholic series. There's nothing wrong with
those books but I haven't been able to enjoy them, so I steered clear
of Prep. The book kept coming back into my life. I
read about it everywhere and it was recommended by AskMe. After a few
months, when I ran into it at Costco, I figured maybe it was time to
buy it and read it.
So I did. Prep was a relatively quick read though it actually took longer than I thought, especially towards the end. I found the story less and less interesting as it went along. I related less to the character than I thought. To be fair, I didn't go to a prep school. Or maybe I did but it was in Turkey and it wasn't boarding and it was all-women. So I don't even know why I thought I would relate to it. Having said that, this book made me feel glad I hadn't gone to a prep school and sealed the already-determined fate of my son. I thought the writing was good. It didn't get in the way of the story, which is one of my pet peeves. When the story stopped being interesting and I stopped caring about the character, I just kept reading for the momentum of it. Overall, I'd have to say it was okay. But not fantastic. DIGGING TO AMERICA
 There are a few writers whose
books I anxiously await. As soon as they hit the shelf, I buy and
devour them instantly. Anne Tyler is one of those. Digging to
America is about two families who each adopt babies from Korea.
One family is "typical" American and the other is an immigrant family
from Iran. The parents of the adopted child are American (or
Americanized at least) whereas the grandmother, who is one of the
integral characters, is the one who came to the US from Iran. The
novel explores many of the complicated issues around what it means to
be American.
As always, it's a fantastic read and a wonderful snippet of the ordinary and yet incredibly complicated lives of people who live in the United States. It made me think a lot about the life my son's going to have. How he will forever be half-Turkish. How that might be interesting/exotic for him or it might be alienating/weird. How the way he feels about himself and his place in the world/country will say so much about what his place ends up being. That goes for all of us: we're so much of what we say we are. The way we see ourselves, defines the way we become. Defines the way others see us. Defines many of our shortcomings and strengths. The image you exude is the image others start getting to know you with. Before I get too off topic, Anne Tyler has written another terrific novel and made me wish she was much more prolific. KAFKA ON THE SHORE
 When I asked AskMe what books to read this
year, Kafka on the Shore was the most widely
recommended book. I figured one way I could guarantee that I would
read it was to pick it for our book club. I rallied the other women
around the idea and we picked it as our June book. So, of course, as
soon as I was done with Glass Castle, I picked it up. For some
reason, I was worried I wasn't going to like it. I thought it would
be dense and hard to read. I thought it might tire me out. It came at
a time when other not-so-great things happened to me so I sort of
didn't want to read it, if it was going to be hard.
But I was wrong. I was so wrong. I should have known to trust those AskMe people, they haven't strayed me wrong yet. I loved every minute of Kafka on the Shore. When I read the blurb, it sounded like it was going to be mystical and weird and not good and it was anything but. It was weird and it was mystical, but it was a breeze to read and it was interesting to the very last page. It did get predictable towards the end but I loved the predictability. I loved the ideas, the essence of the book. I couldn't wait for the stories to intertwine. I normally hate open-ended books but in this case, I didn't mind it one bit. And I think it was a perfect pick for the book club, it will lead to a very interesting discussion. Now that I've discovered him, I'm going to have to read Murakami's other works. I hear Hard-Boiled Wonderland is fantastic, too. THE GLASS CASTLE
 Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle is our bookclub's pick for May. I had already finished out April
selection (Lolita) so I figured I might as well get started on it.
The book took me three days to read. It's the memoir of Jeannette's
unbelievable childhood. Parts of it made me want to cry, parts of it
made me cringe. I was amazed at how intelligent both her parents
seemed and yet how little they cared about the welfare and health of
their children. The obviously did love their kids but it's amazing
that children can be brought up this way in the US and nothing is
done about it. It's a well-written memoir and will make you thankful
for your childhood and family.
It's a good read for when you need to keep your life in perspective. EAT PRAY LOVE
 Elizabeth Gilbert's
fantastic memoir was exactly what I needed to read. Eat,
Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India
and Indonesia is a very quick read, but don't let its humorous
tone fool you. It's a book that makes you look into your own soul and
think about the life you're living. At least, it did for me. I loved
her writing. It never got in the way of the story. I loved the way
she told her very sad story with great humor so that you never felt
sorry for her. I felt like the author was instantly likable. I loved
all three sections and all the characters in the book. I've never had
an interest in traveling to India or Indonesia (I wasn't against the
idea just never felt compelled to go) but now I would love to. I am
hoping to go back to practicing yoga and I truly think that sitting
quietly and smiling for an hour each day may change my life for the
better. Looking deep into myself is something I should do regularly.
But now I am just blabbing.
There are many articles about this book all over the net. I had never heard of it until my friend Nicole read it and recommended it. I read it in a few days and loved every single moment of it. It's not for everyone (especially if you're not spiritual at all) but it's quite a marvelous book for some people. Including me. With this little entry, we finally catch up to all the books I've read this year so far. I'm currently reading another memoir "The Glass Castle" which, so far, is great. With the exception of Lolita, this has so far been a year of great books. I hope to keep it up. SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
 After finishing the
dreadful Lolita, I had to cleanse myself with a different book
immediately. Two of the women in my reading club had just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and
they both loved it. I borrowed it from my friend Nicole and started
reading it Sunday morning. My day was relatively full. I had a shoot
at 7:15am and had to process all the photos, feed David's meals,
nurse him for his naps, play with him, work on the site and respond to the tons of emails
sitting in my inbox. I started the novel and ended up doing nothing
but reading. By, 10:30pm, I had finished the novel (and done all the
necessary tasks of the day including processing my photos.)
This novel was wonderful. Light but not trivial read. Three- dimensional characters and a completely character-driven story. I learned a lot about Chinese culture I didn't know and confirmed some of the sad things I did know. I enjoyed every page of it and it was exactly what I needed after Lolita. LOLITA
 I have met many book-lovers
over the years. Several of them, upon learning of my passion about
books, have recommended that I read Lolita.
I knew the premise of the book and refused to read it out of
principle. "But it's literature, it's Nabokov." I heard so many
arguments, but I still refused to read it. A few weeks ago, my bookclub met and we were told that the Mark Twain book we'd picked for April was dreadful and decided to switch it. I recommended we read Lolita. None of us were too thrilled about the prospect but we all felt that it was a book we had to read before we died. And now that were were in our 30s, and "mature," we might as well get to it. Semi-reluctantly, we all agreed to pick it as our April book. Knowing it would be a form of torture, I bought and started the book immediately. The text was much less dense than I had imagined and the story moved relatively quickly. There were some interesting bits here and there and the writing was quite impeccable. But that's it. I wish I could say all those people were right and I was wrong. I wish I could say I totally changed my mind on it and it was phenomenal. The truth is, I could never get past the child- molestation. I could never get past what a disgusting (and I find that to be the very perfect fit adjective in this case) man he was. There was no second in which I could relate to him or empathize. Thank God I don't have a daughter, I might have hated it even more. There was no room for my pity in the character. No explanation why he might have become such a despicable person. Nothing that spoke to me in a way that allowed me to enjoy the book, the story and the people. I ask you, if you're one of those "Lolita is amazing" people: please tell me what I missed? Why is this book such a must-read? THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER
 When I was telling my friend
Michelle that most of the books I read last year sucked, she
recommended The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson
McCullers. For some reason, I let the book sit for weeks before I
picked it up. I would look at the cover and keep putting off reading
it. I thought it was going to be really depressing and I wasn't in
the mood. Once I did pick it up, I couldn't put it down. I loved
every minute of it. I loved the characters, I loved how intricately
their lives were intertwined yet so very isolated. I loved how they
all felt close to Singer and yet they knew nothing about him. It was
a really enjoyable read and I am glad I finally did actually pick it
up. Both this one and The Solace of Leaving early were Michelle's
recommendations. Now I'm going to have to beg for more.
TEMPLE OF THE GOLDEN PAVILLION
 I can't decide how I feel
about Yukio Mishima's Temple
of the Golden Pavillion. Similar to the other two Japanese novels
I read in the last few weeks, it's mostly about the main character's
inner life. His thoughts, his ideas. The main character is a young
adult and is quite resentful of life. It's a slow-paced novel full of
wisdom and thought-provoking writing. Here are a few sections that
spoke to me:Perhaps a lyrical port lucked within that huge
body of his, but I felt that there was cruelty in his clear, blue
eyes. The Western nursery-rhyme "Mother Goose" refers to black eyes
as being cruel and malicious; the fact is that when people imagine
cruelty, they normally assign some foreign character to it. and another Cripples and lovely women are both tired of
being looked at, they are weary of an existence that involves
constantly being observed, they feel hemmed in; and they return the
gaze by means of that very existence itself. The one who really looks
is the one who wins. one final one I just wanted to make you understand. What
transforms this world is - knowledge. Do you see what I mean? Nothing
else can change anything in this world. Knowledge alone is capable of
transforming the world, while at the same time leaving it exactly as
it is. When you look at the world with knowledge, you realize that
things are unchangeable and at the same time are constantly being
transformed. You may ask what good it does us. Let's put it this way
- human being possess the weapon of knowledge in order to make life
bearable. For animals such things aren't necessary. Animals don't
need knowledge or anything of the sort to make life bearable. But
human beings do need something, and with knowledge they can make the
very intolerableness of life a weapon, though at the sam time that
intolerableness is not reduced in the slightest. That's all there is
to it.
HOW TO BE AN ADULT
 Recommended as one of two
self-help books that gives practical, usable advice, I picked up How to be an Adult from the library.
It was an extremely quick and very useful read. So much so that I
will write excerpts from it for the next few weeks probably. Many of
the ideas were reinforcements of prior courses I took of beliefs I
already had. These are the sort of ideas that need constant reminders
so that I get used to thinking that way. His writings on
relationships were also very practical, very sensible and very much
along the lines of what I hope to accomplish. This little book made
me think a lot and I will be referring back to it in the next few
weeks over and over again.
A PERSONAL MATTER
 A
Personal Matter by Kenzaburo Oe is one of two Japanese books I
checked out after I read Kokoro. This story is about a man named Bird
who is the father to a newborn baby who has a major birth defect. The
story is about the father's reaction and dealing (or not dealing)
with the issue. To be honest, about thirty pages into the story, I
hated the main character and wanted to put the book down immediately.
It depressed me so much that I didn't even want to pick up another book.
For some inexplicable reason, I decided to stick with it and I am glad I did. While this book was much more modern than Kokoro, it also was character based and full of ideas, morals and issues surrounding making difficult and immoral decisions. The book finally redeemed itself to me in its final pages and at the end I felt better about reading it. CLOUD ATLAS
 After the mistake with The
Cloud Atlas, I put the correct book on hold at the library and picked
it up last week. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell came
highly recommended by several members of AskMe. I made an effort to
spend my week with it and so read large chunks of it at a time. The
book has six stories. The first halves of five stories are told in
the first part, then the sixth story, and then each story is finished
going in the reverse order. The first story takes place on a ship
around 1850s and it's the journal of a notary traveling in the
Pacific. This was the hardest story for me to get through. I had a
hard time with the language and the character. It got a bit better
towards the end of the first half but I knew the book would get
better so I kept going.
The second story takes place in 1930's and it's about a musician exchanging letters with a scientist friend of his while he works with a maestro. I enjoyed this story very much and found it easy to read with entertaining characters. The third story is about a newspaper journalist who discovers a plot to a corporate coverup that could cause a disaster and it involves the scientist from the second story. The fourth story is about a book publisher who gets signed into a retirement institution against his will. The fifth one is a sci-fi story about a cloned human who is part of a scientific project. And the final story takes place in post-apocalyptic Hawaii. I wasn't crazy about the last story either but loved the other four. Each story briefly mentions the previous one and there are tones of reincarnation and strong moral lessons in each story. The writing is forced in some parts but great in others. Overall, I found it to be a fascinating book and I want to read more of his work. Here's what one reviewer says about the book, "Here is not only the academic pessimism of Marx, Hobbes and Nietzsche but also the frightening portents of Aldous Huxley and the linguistic daring of Anthony Burgess. Here, too, are Melville's maritime tableaux, the mordant satire of Kingsley Amis and, in the voice of Robert Frobisher -- Mitchell's most poignant and fully realized character -- the unmistakable ghost of Paul Bowles. Here is a veritable film festival of unembarrassed cinematic references and inspirations, from "Soylent Green" to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "The Graduate" to the postwar comedies of England's Ealing Studios. Here is an obviously sincere affection for the oft-maligned genres of mystery, science fiction and fantasy." YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE
 My second short story collection of the
year was another AskMe recommendation. You
Are Not A Stranger Here by Adam Haslett is a fantastic, fantastic
collection of magnificently well-written stories. This author is a
fantastic, published writer and a law student at Yale. A major
loser :). Each story involves some aspect of sorrow, depression,
sadness, disappointment, family, friendship. The stories are simple
and elegant. The characters are very relatable and memorable, even in
the short space of a little story. I got attached to each and every
one of them.
After Kissing in Manhattan and this book, I might have to start reading more short story collections. Either these two are major exceptions, or I am finally beginning to gain the maturity to enjoy short stories. Either way, I am delighted to have discovered Haslett. THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA
 I first read Philip Roth last year when I
read The Human Stain and enjoyed it very much. I liked the writing. I
liked the story. I liked the pace. Since then, I made two separate
attempts to read him, both of which failed. Both of the other books I
tried were too "dirty-old-man" for me. When The
Plot Against America came out, I knew I wanted to read it.
Especially since it was political and there were many reviews that
equated it to the current administration. I asked for the book and
received it as a Christmas gift in 2004. It sat on my shelf for a
year and I knew I would never pick it up unless I forced myself so I
asked my reading group if they were interested in reading it.
Everyone agreed so we picked it and I finally got around to reading it.
The book is a what if story about Lindbergh winning the 1940 presidency instead of FDR, written from the perspective of a Jewish family living in New York. The main character is a little boy named Philip Roth. It was very well written and a relatively quick read. For people, like me, who don't know a lot about the correct political history of the time, it's a bit confusing to keep track of what really happened and what's made up. I am usually determined to avoid any form of fiction or non-fiction that is set during the second World War but I knew this book would be worthwhile. And it was. It was also very disturbing and there was an engulfing sense of fear and panic throughout the entire novel, making me thankful for the thousandth time that I wasn't alive during that particular time in history even though this particular story was fictional. As much as I despise the current administration, I would have to say that the horrific tale of the book is not nearly as parallel to the current times as the media made it out to be. If it really were, I do think we'd see thousands flocking to Canada weekly. May it never ever get to be an issue. THE CLOUD ATLAS
 The
Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan was a mistake. The AskMe
recommendation was Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell but I didn't make
the distinction in the title until long after I'd started reading the
novel. Since I was already over 100 pages into the novel and enjoying
it, I decided to keep reading despite the confusion. The Cloud Atlas
is about a bomb diffuser in the army during second world war who is
sent to Alaska to dismantle the bombs the Japanese sent to the United
States inside air balloons. These balloons, of which there were over
nine thousand, fell all over Alaska and West Coast of Northern United
States. The balloons were rigged with explosives and are one of the
best kept secrets of the war. A completely fictional story based on a
true-world event.
The three main characters are all interesting, each a bit too extreme in their flaws. But I got attached to the main character and to the story in general. I cared about what happened and enjoyed reading it from the first page to the very last. Especially since I had no idea about the balloons and was quite amazed it was a true story. THE SOLACE OF LEAVING EARLY
 The
Solace of Leaving Early by Haven Kimmel was recommended to me by
my good friend Michelle. Probably one of the most beautiful books
I've read in my life. It's a story about a woman who drops out of her
doctoral program and goes back to her hometown and a minister in the
same hometown, both of whom are dealing with their own personal
problems and who are put in a situation where they have to take care
of two little orphaned girls.
It's so touching and so very emotional to read. It's really beautifully written and the characters are three dimensional and flawed and honest. There's a lot of color in the book and great descriptions of the children's reaction to the terrible tragedy and the adults' differing ways of treating the children. It's really a phenomenal read. I haven't read Kimmel's more famous book, A Girl Named Zippy, but I think I will have to after this. KOKORO
 Another AskMe recommendation was Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. As far as I
can remember, I've never read Japanese fiction so this was my first.
And what an inspiring beginning. I loved this book pretty much from
the very first page. My preference is usually character-based books
and Kokoro was nothing but. I loved the simplicity of the language,
could relate to the main character almost immediately. Cared about
him, about his story, about his feelings towards his mentor. I
enjoyed how non-contrived the story felt to me. Even though I was
wondering what made the sensei who he was, it wasn't crucial to me.
It wasn't like a mystery, it was like an unraveling of a personality.
I swallowed the book in a day and thought about it for quite some
time afterwards.
I liked it so much that I decided I wanted to read more Japanese books. My impression was that they were more about people and their thoughts, their morals, their ideas as opposed to actual events in their world. Maybe I am way off but I wanted to find out, so I went through the recommendations and put two of the other Japanese books on hold and encouraged my reading group to pick yet a third one as our book of the month for June. AMY AND ISABELLE
 The second book I read this year is Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout,
another AskMe recommendation. A quiet, beautiful story about a single
mother and her teenage daughter who has a relationship with her
teacher. It proves my disturbing thoughts about how little parents
actually know about their own children and where they are and what
they're doing at any moment in time. Disturbing at times, frustrating
at others, this novel rang relatively true to me. I enjoyed the
writing style even though I thought the book was a little slow but
still enjoyed reading it. I really am not looking forward to David's
teenage years. And while I am sort of glad not to have a girl for
that reason, I know boys can be their own bag full of troubles and
worries.
KISSING IN MANHATTAN
As I mentioned before, 2005 wasn't the best
year for books, for me. Determined to do better this year, I posted
on AskMe to ask for recommendations of people's favorite books. I got
a lot of answers and got started reading them one by one. This year,
I hope to post about each of the books as I read them. So to catch
up, I'll write about the ten I've read so far in the next few days.
 First up, is Kissing in Manhattan by David Schickler. I have never been a big fan of
short story collections so I am not even sure why I picked this out
to be my first book of the year. Maybe it's because the MeFi reader
said it was the book that got her out of her 2005 book-slump.
Whatever prompted me, I am really glad I decided to read it. Kissing
in Manhattan is fantastic. It's not the kind of book I would have
picked up in a million years. Each of the short stories is about a
different tenant who lives in a fictional building in Manhattan. The
stories, while different, sort of weave through each other in that
the same characters pop up in different stories and you sort of find
out some more about them through another tenant's story. It's very
well-written, sort of weird stories but good imagery, great character
development and very visual. I thought about the characters and the
stories well after I'd finished the book, which, for me, is a sign of
a great read. What a wonderful way to start the year.
Year of Disappointing Books While I didn't acheive my goal of reading fifty books this year, I have managed to read 46 and, my, what a disappointment they've been. Out of the 46, maybe three are what I would call expectionally good reading. The list contains The Kite Runner, My Friend Leonard, and How We are Hungry. The Kite Runner was simply an exceptional read. A book I would normally wouldn't have even considered buying. My mother in law told me it was great and bought it for me for my birthday. The same week, I heard about it from six other people ranomly and decided it was a sign. When I finally sat down to read it, I finished it it in two days. I couldn't put it down. The boys' lives had me constantly thinking about the book. While some parts were unrealistically optimistic, the book overall is pretty depressing and eye-opening. However, the best part is how universal the story is and how much one can relate to the grief and regret. The beautifully flowing and engrossing writing doesn't hurt either. My Friend Leonard was another fantastic book by Daniel Frey who wrote A Million Little Pieces, one of the best reads of 2004. What's amazing about this book is that most of the time, sequals are not interesting. I used to love Chuck Palahniuk but after three of the same , his books started to get old and the style was more annoying than interesting. Not so with Frey. The raw, short, and honest style of this author is fantastic and the story is amazing in the true sense of the word. And finally Dave Eggers. I've been a fan of Eggers for many many years abut I'll admit that I always thought his fiction wasn't that great. I loved the Staggering Genius but not so much the Velocity. So when the New York Times said this short story collection was good, I was skeptical. But since it is Eggers, I bought the book anyhow. I'm not a short story fan in general. I am not sure exactly why but I can't ever seem to get into them and always feel shortchanged by the end. So imagine my surprise when I loved this book. And I mean, loved it! I really enjoyed each story and found them unique and I couldn't even tell you what it as about these stories that reached out to me but I did love the book. What's sad is that those are the only three that somehow stand out. There are a bunch (like the shopaholic stuff) that I expected to be stupid. A bunch that were so so like the Didion book and the Coelho one. Ones that I wished would be better like the Hornby one and Melissa Banks and John Irving - each authors I truly cherish and love the work of. A few non-fcition ones that were interesting like the Armstrong books and Graham - of course- and Blink. I did enjoy the Curious Incident... quite a bit actually. And Saturday was much better than I expected. But none were amazing. And then there are those that I was really saddened by. The amazing Michael Cunningham who wrote The Hours did a sub-par job with Specimen Days. The author of the wonderful The Secret Life of Bees did a terrible job with The Mermaid Chair. Both of which made me want to cry. In this year when so many of my favorite authors came out with new books (Irving, Hornby, Banks, Cunningham, Coelho, Gladwell, Eggers, Frey) it's terribly sad that only three books really stood out. What books have you read in 2005 that spoke to you? Didion I just finished The Year of Magical Thinking and enjoyed it but kept thinking that something was bothering me throughout the book. For some reason I seem to enjoy reading books about grief. Maybe because it feels so human and so raw. That's exactly what I felt was missing from Didion's book. Despitate the fact that I am sure she must have fallen apart miserably as both her husband and her daughter died so suddenly, I didn't feel any of the raw emotion I expected. The book still had a calm and collected air about it for me. It was wonderful reading and I swallowed it up in a day but I just dind't feel moved like I expected to. I'm sure it's incredibly difficult to put the raw emotion on paper but I guess I expected better from such a skilled writer. Didion I just finished The Year of Magical Thinking and enjoyed it but lept thinking that something was bothering me throughout the book. For some reason I seem to enjoy reading books about grief. Maybe because it feels so human and so raw. That's exactly what I felt was missing from Didion's book. Despitate the fact that I am sure she must have fallen apart miserably as both her husband and her daughter died so suddenly, I didn't feel any of the raw emotion I expected. THe book still had a calm and collected air about it for me. It was wonderful reading and I swallowed it up in a day but I just dind't feel moved like I expected to. I'm sure it's incredibly difficult to put the raw emotion on paper but I guess I expected better from such a skilled writer. I Don't Know "Blessed are those who are not afraid to admit that they don't know something." - The Zahir by Paolo Coelho One of my biggest pet-peeves is when people don't admit if they don't know something. I had a friend like that. There were times when it was obvious he wasn't following me and yet he'd simply nod and act like he was completely following me. I find this to be true for both men and women, but for different reasons. Men are too macho and it's not "macho" to admit that you may not know something. Women are too scared to look stupid, expecially when they talk to someone who isn't. It drives me absolutely bonkers in both cases. Fact is, won't you stay stupid if you never admit you don't know something and thus never ask and never learn? Somehow I misses the memo that said it was embarrassing to ask questions. I ask shit all the time to everyone. First of all, I find people like talking about stuff they know. Secondly, they love when they have the opportunity to teach you something. It makes them look good. So there's an opportunity for you to learn something AND to make the other person feel good. Why, exactly, would you pass that up? Also, why does not knowing something make you look stupid? None of us know everything and we could all learn from each other if only we weren't afraid to ask. So, next time you have the opportunity to learn from someone. Seize it. And then let me know,too, so I can learn! Irresistible Irving I have been a John Irving fan from the first book I read. I can't even remember who told me about A Prayer for Owen Meany but I do remember that people stopped me to praise the book when I was reading it. I had the library hardcover and people of all ages commented on it. Old women, teenagers. It was their favorite book. And they were right. If you haven't read A Prayer For Owen Meany make sure to do so. It's fantastic. I went on a total Irving kick after that. I read The World According to Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, The Water-Method Man, Cider House Rules, Setting Free the Bears, The 158-Pound Marriage, A Widow for One Year, and all the others I could get my hands on. I read The Fourth Hand as soon as it came out (though that one wasn't my favorite). I've read them all, except for Son of the Circus. There's something about Irving's writing that I adore. It might be that he emulates Dickens and Davies, who are two of my favorite authors. It might be that I feel for his twisted, tragic characters and his endless plots. I started his latest novel almost two weeks ago. A novel never takes me this long to read. Not even an 800-page one. For some reason, I took my time with this one. I even read another novel in between and listened to three others. But I kept coming back to it. I wasn't giving up on Irving. I knew I was going to fall into the story at some point. Two nights ago, I did. It took my two weeks to read 450 pages and two days to read the next 250. I have about 80 pages left and I am not sleeping until I finish this story. It's at the point where the entire novel turned on itself and I cannot wait to see the ending and find out what happens to Jack Burns. I now think about it constantly. I feel like I know the characters in real life. To me, only the best books can accomplish that. It's an especially amazing feat for Irving whose characters are people I'd be completely unlikely to know in this life or in any other. I still do. I feel like I know them. I feel like they are living, breathing people. While a part of me is dying to finish the story finally, another part of me will be so disappointed when it's over. When these people won't be there to greet me each night. If you've never read Irving, make sure to pick up a book of his. Start with Owen Meany or, if you haven't seen the movie, Cider House Rules. They are simply fantastic. Storytelling at its best. Favorite Pasttime I've decided that my favorite thing to do in my spare time is to read. This is after spending time with my family, of course. Of the things I love doing like writing, taking photos, surfing the net, knitting, etc, reading is by far my favorite thing to do. There have been tims that I took a break from reading agressively. The most notable being during college. The first two years of college, I didn't read much during the school year. When David was born, I stopped reading for a while. I wasn't getting any sleep and I had a hard enough time juggling him and work that reading was out of the question. A few weeks ago, I randomly started reading again. I am not exactly sure how it happened but it opened some sort of flood gate. I've read 8 books in the last three weeks. I started with the fascinating Opening Skinner's Box and the always wonderful Elizabeth Berg's new Year of Pleasures. I moved on to Freakonomics and Hornby's columns from the Believer and Wisdom of Crowds and Anne Lamott's Plan B and Alice Munro's Runaway. I am now reading Ian McEwan's Saturday and enjoying it immensely, especially considering there's very little happening in the story. It's almost as if I'd forgotten how amazingly rewarding reading is for me. It's like food for my soul. I don't even know why I feel that way but each time I put a book down, I can't wait to get back to it. My favorite time of the day is the one hour after David goes to sleep where I crawl into bed and read. Okay, my favorite time actually is the mornings when David wakes up because he's so ubelievably happy but right after that is the reading hour. To add to my joy, some of my favorite authors are coming out with new novels this summer: John Irving, Nick Hornby and Melissa Banks. Thinking about those books makes me giddy! I don't know what prompted my return to reading, but I am so glad for the distraction. As David's growing old enough to voice his boredom loudly and he's still waking up anywhere from three to seven times a night, it's the books that seem to keep me sane lately. Concentration Levels of Zero or Below Anyone who's read my site regularly knows that I adore reading. It's one of the few activities I have consistently enjoyed since the age of four. Despite a short break during the school years in college, I've read at least one book a week for years and years. Even when I was in college, I spent my summers reading avidly just to catch up. So one would think that throughout the struggles of my pregnancy, I would take solace in my reading. I would bury myself in books. Well, not exactly. In the last six months since I've been pregnant, I've read a total of eight books. Four of these were on vacation in Turkey. That's barely one a month. Before the pregnancy, I'd been reading two a week. I still read the New York Times every Sunday and do a lot of other article reading, but books have been going so slowly. I started Franken's "Lies and ..." two weeks ago and I am only a quarter's way into it. I seem to be able to read fun books that don't require any concentration, but when it comes to a normal book, my attention span is all of two pages before either my eyes close or I get up to pee. Putting pregnancy reading aside (that's another entry for another day), I really miss reading. So I was hoping you might be able to make some recommendations of easy reading that's really a page-turner. I read everything but romance and fantasy. I am open to all suggestions. At this point, I figure any reading is better than no reading. Any good suggestions? A Million Pieces What'd they have to do? Cap the outside two, fill a cavity on this one. I point to my outside left tooth. Root canals on these. I tap the middle two. They are firm. They give you good drugs? They didn't give me anything. No fucking way. Yeah. They didn't give you anything? No. You got root canals on your two front teeth without any drugs? Yeah. Leonard looks at me as if what I have said is incomprehensible to him. - James Frey in A Million Little Pieces This section of James Frey's story reminded me of the anecdote I had told about my mom's client a few years ago. When my grandfather passed away, one of my mom's clients had approached her and said, "May God never give you as much pain as you can endure." A comment that at first startled her but then revealed its wisdom. Our bodies, minds, and hearts seem to be capable of enduring huge quantities of pain. Imagine moments of huge panic or fear. Enormous happiness. In those moments we appear to have extreme strength. We can take the pain. Think of the guy who cut of his arm because it was trapped and he was otherwise going to die. He broke each of his own bones and then cut it off. I don't imagine he would have said he could endure that sort of pain, until he did. We seem capable of doing things beyond our imagination. I guess the reason I wanted to note this was to remind myself that I am capable of putting up with a lot. That during weak moments of despair and sorrow, I'm still far away from what I can endure if I had to. And that things really are quite good, all things considered. Reading Frey's story is helping me keep things in perspective and also realize that humans have extraordinary strength and resilience. 100 Page Limit There's something special that happens a hundred pages into a good novel. I find myself seriously attached to the characters and thinking about their lives, as if they were real. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between conversations I might have overheard and ones I read about. A little loony, you say? That's the falling in I mentioned previously. When I was younger, I used to read every book, no matter how much I liked or hated it. I refused to put it down. A few years ago, I decided life was too short and started a limit of 100 pages. If I was still not into the book by page 100, I was putting it down, no matter who sang its praises. The 100-page limit worked well for me. It relieved me of having to read books that I truly detested and gave me room to get into the books I may not have otherwise enjoyed. I haven't read a really thick book since the summer of my Freshman year. That summer, I read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged back to back. 1,800 pages of Ayn Rand is more than any sane person should ever have to endure. But I was on a roll. I devoured the books. Since that summer, I might have read a 400 or 500-page book but nothing in the vicinity the Rand novels. After both my friends Tera and Jenn, who have literary choices that I respect, told me I had to (had to) read I Know This Much is True, Wally Lamb's second book, I finally stopped fighting myself and bought the book. I had read his first, She's Come Undone, on a plane ride to London and finished it in my room in London where I cried for way longer that I'd like to admit. I was reluctant to read anything else by Lamb, I wasn't prepared for the amount of crying 890 pages could bring. My friend Jenn said to force my way through the beginning if I needed to because it was worth it. I reset my 100-page limit to 500. If by page 500, I still wasn't into it, I would put it down, no matter what Jenn or Tera said. What I wasn't prepared for was how hard it had become to read a 900-page book since the last time I tried it. Days passed and I read in all my free time but I wasn't making progress fast enough. My bookmark showed that I wasn't even a third way through. Was the book simply not captivating enough or had my ability to read dwindled? Well, I fell into the book around page 480. At that point, I barely functioned outside reading the book. I woke up, worked and then read at lunch. I worked some more and then, as soon as my day was over, I read and read until my eyes hurt. After a long week of reading, I have finally finished the novel. I didn't shed one tear and it was fantastic. Maybe my 100-page rule should vary with the size of the book after all. 50 Books The Reality Fuel Challenge has been mentioned in a million places. |