Book Review Quiet and Bringing up Bebe

Short and Sweet*

Quiet:  The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking:  very interesting I recommend reading it.

Bringing up Bebe:  I agreed with a lot of what she said.  But of course, not everything.  Surely we could do a better job instilling discipline but I think that it is good for mothers to say home to raise their children if they are able to financially and emotionally.

*Because I just like reading them.

Sunday Morning Reading List

I like to read the Boston Globe Sunday mornings; in the Ideas Section I found an interesting article Nothing to Fear:  What if the world is safer than we think? by Thanassis Cambanis.  

Quote from the article.  “More people have died in America since 9/11 crushed by furniture than from terrorism,” Zenko says in an interview. “But that’s not an interesting story to tell. People have a cognitive bias toward threats they can perceive.”

I also found two interesting books to put on my reading list.


The Cause: The fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama by Eric Alterman and Kevin Mattson

I have to after reading the opening paragraph of the review. "One need not subscribe to all of the Left’s grandiose ideas for remaking America to grant that it has been largely responsible for much of what is actually best about the United States of the 21st Century (civil rights laws, universal suffrage, environmental protection, the 40-hour work week, food safety). And despite the rhetoric one hears too often, this has not been the work of “Kenyan socialists” (who would have thought Kenya would replace France as the great bugaboo of the right!)."

And Dosed:  The Medication Generation Grows Up by Kaitlin Bell Barnett because it looks really interesting.

November Books

Young Adult:

Dark of the Moon by Tracy Barrett:  If you want to read a new twist on mythology this is how it is done.  Yes, Rick Roridan I’m talking to you.

Entwined by Heather Dixon:  A new twist on the 12 Dancing Princesses.  I liked it.

Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry:  Female protagonist and unexpected story line.

Crossed  by Allie Condie:  The second of the trilogy.  Darker than Matched (my favorite of the two) sets up the third book.

Unearthly by Cynthia Hand:  I liked this.  Angels who don’t sparkle but have Glory.

What Happened to Goodby by Sarah Dessen:  Not a huge fan of Sarah Dessen (Brianne really likes her) because I’m probably too old.  This one was pretty good.

Adult:

Edge by Jeffery Deaver:  Ironically I had already read this.  I checked it out again and realized that on the first page.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman:  Anything by Gaiman is really good.  This was as expected.  Interesting book, well-written., highly recommended.

Collection of Interesting Articles and Book List

I PLAYED THE NEWS TODAY, OH BOY:  Fascinating concept, and why not have video games that teach you about complex and interesting current events?

TRUSTING YOUR INSTINCTS:  CONSERVATIVES MAY ACTUALLY BE NATURAL LIBERALS AT HEART, OP-ED  I’m interested in reading the study.

Knowledge-based gibberish:  Those in politics, medicine and business who rely on annoying verbal tics often don’t have their facts straight.

Book List:

I’m interested in a few books on the Parade’s recommended reading list.

Book Updates

Recommended and Recently Read in Young Adult Fiction:

Matched by Ally Condie  LOVED. IT. DYING. FOR. THE. NEXT. IN. THE. SERIES.

The Keepers'Tattoo by Gill Arbuthnott

The Unidentified by Rae Mariz

Recommended in Adult Non-Fiction:

Crazy like us: the globalization of the American psyche by Ethan Watters.  This book was very interesting, readable and thought provoking.  I read it in two days and when my husband asked for an interesting book to read on his flight to Las Vegas I didn’t share it with him because I didn’t want to wait to finish it.  Yeah, it’s that good!

Confessions of a prairie bitch: how I survived Nellie Oleson and learned to love being hated by Alison Arngrim.  Very funny; and no, I don’t hate Nellie anymore.

In the middle of but definitely plan to finish:

What the dog saw and other adventure stories by Malcolm Gladwell.  The chapter on breast cancer was fascinating. 

How to teach life skills to kids with autism or Asperger's by Jennifer McIlwee Myers.  Very interesting and pertinent; I can’t finish it until my husband returns because this is the book I sent with him to Vegas (I can only hope it doesn’t stay in Vegas!).

Rawlings vs. Meyers

Anyone who reads children’s and young adult fiction and wastes time on the internet googling things like Stephanie Meyers (and sadly, I must admit that I occasionally fall into that category because oh, the amount of things on the internet that I can waste my time reading about boggles the mind) runs into arguments over who is the better writer.  In the Rawling’s camp there are such luminaries as Stephen King while legions of Team Edward girls defend Meyer with emoticons and misspellings.

I think the whole thing is silly.  While there is some overlap, the audience the authors are writing for is different.  I like them both.  Do I think their books have staying power?  I don’t know.  Maybe both of them will be like the Nancy Drew series or oh, oh, oh the Bobbsey Twins.  Their future barren, doomed to be read only by nerds like me who read absolutely anything I could get their hands on.  I enjoy all their books but they both have strengths and weaknesses.

J.K. Rawlings is responsible for many children discovering a love of reading.  She is responsible for children actually reading.  The first “real” book Jake ever read was a Harry Potter.  Nothing less motivating worked.  And a nephew who hated reading learned to read because of that series.  Parents around the world, including me, praise the name of J. K. Rawlings.  But . . . reading her books aloud is painful.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love her books.  I’ve read them all.  She tells a great story, has a vivid imagination and is wildly creative.  But her editor should be put in a corner and never be allowed to edit another book!  I had the brilliant migraine inducing idea of reading the first book out loud to Brianne.  I am a speed reader, my dad is a speed reader, and sadly, Jake is a speed reader.  It’s genetic.  I hate reading out loud because it takes so long I get bored.  So, while I was reading Harry Potter out loud to Bri I had plenty of time to read ahead.  And unfortunately, I also had time to think about what I was reading.  I noticed Rawlings reused words frequently.  Snippily, I’d think in my head “she’s used that word three times in two pages.  She should have used ­­­­­­­­­____ this instead."  (And no, I can't write as well as she can. Yes, she is better than me.  That’s why she has a lot of money and I am considering moving in with Bri when I’m old.)  I don’t love her word play.  I tried to stop reading the book to Bri, but she was enthralled.  When I finally finished I decided to read Bri one of my favorite books from elementary school.  A book so beautifully written that the words made me ache despite the fact I was far too young to fully understand it.  Bri refused to listen past page 3.  I was dismayed; perhaps I should not have pointed out the language to an eight year old.  Well, regardless, Tuck Everlasting remained unread by her for five years.

I read Twilight a couple of years after it came out.  The benefit of doing so was not having to wait to read the next in the series.  Reading it reminded me of adolescence, boys, the anxiety of relationships and dating.  And as I read it I remembered those feelings.  I had forgotten them.  Stephanie Meyers nailed it.  And that’s why girls and women like her and explains why men are baffled.  She has taken an every girl, or at least someone who feels like an every girl and she is pursued and desired.  And while if I had to pick a team it would be Team Jacob, I like that Edward sparkles and has a cool power.  Then Meyers makes sure it works out for everyone in the end.  And I like that!

One doesn’t have to be a better writer than the other.  What criteria do you judge them by anyway?  Both mothers are wildly successful and have encouraged more people to read and buy books.  Find a better reason to compare them than that.

Addendum to Books

I forgot to mention I also read The Messenger by Lois Lowry.  Naturally, it was wonderful.  I didn’t realize that it was a sequel to Gathering Blue until I started reading it and recognized characters. These books are part of the Giver Trilogy and all are well worth reading!

I’m in the middle of The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.  This has been on my mental list to read since I saw her on Jon Stewart some time ago.  It’s interesting.  It’s different from the history books I usually read.  It’s conversational rather than “just the facts ma’am” history I’m use to.  I think I like it.  I definitely will finish it.  But I put it down for a week while I tried to wrap my head around the idea of a history book this different.  Since I already understand the difference between separating and non-separating Congregationalists and have some background knowledge of this time period; I’m enjoying reading Vowell’s asides and viewpoints juxtaposed with the history.  

(But after reading the NYT's review I'm concerned that it's just because I think I'm cool that I already knew most of the stuff about the Puritans -- Ack!)

Books

Bri and I just read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman.  It was wonderful!  I read it again, right after I finished it the first time.  Coraline scared me but I'm a sucker for Newbury Medal winners so I picked it up.  Good choice.  Hopefully he'll write a sequel.

I read Years of Dust: The story of the Dust Bowl by Albert Marrin.  I thought it was a great pictorial history book for children.  I'm going to make Bri and Jake read it for some background on that period of time.

I also read Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud.  Stroud wrote the Bartimaeus Trilogy and thus would be hard pressed to do wrong in my eyes.  It's a good adventure novel with a less likely protagonist.  Bri will love it.

Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst is a fun modern fairy tale.

The Roar by Emma Clayton was interesting.  I'll read the next book in the series.  It's a younger young adult fiction book, a negative utopia.

For adults I recommend The Big Short : Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis.  It's a great read; infuriating and depressing naturally, as is anything that is written about how financial companies robbed us.  But don't let that stop you from reading it.  I loved reading about Michael Burry, a one-eyed physician turned stock picker who was later diagnosed with Asperger's.  (I always root for people on the spectrum to be successful.)

Team Jeward

Lizzy and I went to a book club on Friday.  One of my friends decided to start a mother daughter book club and I want Lizzy to improve her reading so it seemed like a perfect fit.  Lizzy hasn't found her genre yet so she doesn't read much and it's like pulling teeth to get her to do it.  We decided to read the first book in the Gregor of Overlander series (my recommendation) and The Little Princess (definitely, not my recommendation as I have always disliked that book -- I don't know why because I really like the Secret Garden).  Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers that this will work and Lizzy's reading will improve.

Everything was fine at the book group until I mentioned that my book boyfriend was Hector from the Iliad. As they were not familiar with that term I had to explain it. I choose to do so in the easiest way possible.  Example sentence:  "Edward Cullen is the book boyfriend for many teenage girls."  Brianne and I are not on team Edward as we find him creepy and obsessively possessive.  And as much as I would like to have a sparkly book boyfriend, he is only 17 and I don't think Robert Patterson is attractive.  Taylor/Jacob on the other hand is very attractive but he is even younger and my internal inappropriate-o-meter goes off.  And really -- I'm not interested in having a monster book boyfriend anyway.  Thus Jacob can't be my book boyfriend.  Brianne is not interested in either of them either, though many of her friends are.  So, we started our own team -- Team Jedward.  We get all the benefits we want, with none of the disadvantages.  

Examples:

Sparkly -- check.  

Washed hair -- check.

You get the idea.  But I would never leave Hector for Jedward.  We've been in a long-term relationship since 1988.

Book Nerd

Since I mock Bri for being a math nerd I decided that I need to publicly admit to being a book nerd just to keep her company.  I went back to Barnes & Nobel today to buy her a book.  Jake asked me to pick out a birthday present for her since he didn’t bring enough money yesterday.  I ran into a mom from Lizzy’s class.  We proceeded to talk rave about young adult fiction for an hour.  Her oldest is two years younger than Bri so I was able to recommend some books to her and she told me about some her children enjoyed.  She asked me if I go to any book groups.  I don’t.  I don’t like the typical Oprah picks.  Currently I’m reading a lot of young adult fiction since I want to know what my kids are reading.  She said I should start a young adult book group.

Bri and I are dying to read the third book in the Hunger Games trilogy!  I recently read the new Last Apprentice:  Clash of the Demons, and book 7 in the Ranger Apprentice.  I think it’s time to reread the Bartimaeus Trilogy because I loved it, especially the third book.  It made me cry.  It was about sacrifice, love, friendship, redemption.  Actually if I want to cry Where the Red Fern Grows or Bridge to Terabithia always bring on the waterworks.   Although, honesty compels me to admit that since I’ve had kids even a really touching commercial can cause me to cry.

If you’re more interested in books for adults I love Jhumpa Lahiri.  Unaccustomed Earth was achingly beautiful and The Namesake was wonderful.  And I just finished Game Change which was really good!

Books

I recently read a few books that I enjoyed.  I read Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahir.  I liked the Namesake, so I snatched this book up when I saw it at the library.  It didn’t disappoint.  It was beautifully written, some of the stories achingly so.  My sister-in-law recommended The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society it was pretty good.  She also recommended Recovering Charles.  I haven’t finished it yet but I’ve enjoyed it so far.  Bri bought The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins at her school’s book fair and I LOVED it!  We’re waiting for the next book in the trilogy, Catching Fire, to arrive at our library.  And I just started Nexus Point.

I’m open to other recommendations.

It’s Better Than Christmas

My husband went to the library on Saturday and brought me home a stack of books.  I have admittedly lowbrow tastes and enjoy a daily murder mystery with the occasional decent book thrown in.  I figure, I read enough that even if I don’t count most of what I read, I still read more than the average person.

My husband is pretty much a non-fiction reader and he has a talent for finding interesting books.  I passed on Kant but I’m very interested in A Saint on Death Row, Living in the Age of Entitlement:  The Narcissism Epidemic, Three Generations, No Imbeciles, and Our Lot:  How Real Estate Came To Own Us.  I started reading Born to Run last night and it’s interesting!  Interesting enough that I briefly considered running for pleasure; naturally that idea passed quickly but I give credit to the book that it influenced me to think running could be enjoyable.

My running history is painful.  My dad liked to jog and I remember our family running together.  I would try to keep up with my older sisters and would get horrible side aches.  My dad told me to belly breathe.  (Note: that never worked!)  Well, about five years ago I found out why jogging was so unpleasant for me.  I was trying to keep up with my older sister who was trying to keep up with our dad!  Basically, a nine year old was trying to keep pace with a man in his 30s.  There was no way that was going to end well.  And it gave me a lasting hatred for jogging.

Where Men Win Glory

I just read Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer. Krakauer tells the story of Pat Tillman who gave up a lucrative career as a football player in the NFL to join the army. Krakauer examines who Pat Tillman was, what he cared about and how he thought. Tillman filled notebook with his thoughts. He destroyed my stereotype of a football player. He was thoughtful and patriotic, though by no means perfect.

Pat Tillman and his family were betrayed by the US government, the army and by Tillman’s superiors who conspired together to cover-up the reality that Tillman’s death was due to friendly fire. Pat Tillman had not allowed the Bush Administration to use his service to promote the war when he was alive. Once he was dead, they did under the direction of Jim Wilkinson. Wilkinson had also created the myth of Jessica Lynch.

Only because his family, particularly his mother, was determined to find out the truth did it emerge. Tillman was needlessly killed by members of his own platoon as they engaged themselves after superiors in the army ordered them to split into two groups. The greatest betrayal was of his brother Kevin. His sergeant had been ordered to not tell Kevin the truth about who had killed Pat. So, Kevin continued to serve, eat and live with the soldiers who had shot his brother. He had another year on his army contract. Many soldiers knew the truth and were angry they were ordered to lie. When Kevin was finally told the truth he felt betrayed. “He’d just spent the morning working alongside the soldiers responsible for his brother’s death, and they had all acted like everything was fine.” (p. 306)

The actions of the army and Bush administration were disgraceful! This book is well crafted, interesting and compelling. It is well worth the time it takes to read.

Books

I’ve read some good books lately.

The Ascent of George Washington: The Hidden political genius of an American icon by John Ferling is really interesting. It’s a different look at Washington’s military and political career. It flushes out his character. Luckily for America, his military failures were ignored and congress put him in charge.

My dad insisted that I read The time it never rained by Elmer Kelton; and he hounded me until I finished it. It was a hard book to read –good, but hard. My dad had sheep when he was young and he said it was a true book. Ranching is a hard life.

I read Fatal Journey: the final expedition of Henry Hudson--a tale of mutiny and murder in the Arctic by Peter C. Mancall. It was quick and interesting. As to whether it tells the truth of what actually happened; well, it was based on the account of one of the men who returned. He, of course, didn’t mutiny.

Sick: the untold story of America's health care crisis--and the people who pay the price by Jonathan Cohn. Reading anything like this makes me crazy but that’s no reason not to be informed. Certainly there is a crisis in insurance coverage and its lack.

I read a bunch of books by Thomas Perry. I like the Jane Whitefield novels.

Book Recommendations for Adolescents

My brother asked for some book recommendations. I’m racking my brains for books I liked. I'm a voracious reader but after a while they start to blend together. I started reading books for adolescents a couple of years ago when I wanted to know what Bri was reading. I've really enjoyed it. There are some great series out now for kids that I, too, wait for the next book to come out.

I'll start with these and try to remember more. Add any recommendation you have for me.

The Ranger Apprentice Series: Fabulous adventure series!

Underland Chronicles: Set under Central Park. It has a whole civilization with giant rats, spiders, bats and people. Bri, Jake and I loved it.

Wardstone Chronicles: Spooks defending people against witches, etc. Warning this one is dark and a little scary. Bri and I liked it, but the second book scared me.

The Shamer Series by Lene Kaaberbol. Fun books with a female protagonist.

Shadow Children Series: Anything by Margaret Haddix is good.

Uglies Trilogy:

Spiderwick Chronicles

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Holes and Small Steps

Charlie Bone Series

Books I loved as a child:

Chronicles of Narnia

Tuck Everlasting

Witch of Blackbird Pond

Anne of Green Gables and the rest of L.M. Montgomery’s books

Where the Red Fern Grows

The Unforgiving Minute

In tenth grade I memorized Rudyard Kipling’s poem If; so, when I heard the title of Craig Mullaney’s book The Unforgiving Minute I immediately understood the reference and the feeling he was trying invoke. The Unforgiving Minute is a window into a world that I’ve only seen portrayed in movies. Mullaney covers his life from the time he entered West Point, through his years in Oxford, his deployment to Afghanistan and then his return to the US.

I am impressed by his willingness to serve and his desire to do it well. It is a gripping book and at the end I respect those serving in the military even more as I understand now more about their training and military service. Reading this book is well worth the time!

If
by Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin

This is a really well written book! The outcome was never in doubt and even if it was, the title would have tipped me off; but the book compels you to finish it even as it makes you want to cry.

And it had a conclusion so interesting I had to read parts of it aloud to my husband.

“The memories still burn. They burn all the fiercer because sorrow, sadness, and heartache did indeed follow in the blizzard’s train. . . . These days nearly one million acres of the plains are so sparsely populated that they meet the condition of frontier as defined by the Census Bureau in the nineteen century. . . The white farmers and townspeople who remain would shun you for daring to say it, but in large stretches of prairie it’s beginning to look like European agricultural settlement is a completed chapter of history. ‘It’s time for us to acknowledge one of America’s greatest mistakes,’ wrote Nicholas D. Kristof on the op-ed page of the New York Times, ‘a 140-year-old-scheme that has failed at a cost of trillions of dollars, countless lives and immeasurable heartbreak: the settlement of the great plains.’” (pg. 270)

Plutoed

Today is a very exciting day in New Mexico because it is Pluto Day! You might not be aware that Pluto is still a planet in New Mexico (and California). Yes, really! Neil deGrasse Tyson wrote The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet. It was a interesting book. I am now more interested in outer space.

Another Book

I recently read What a President Should Know . . . but most learn too late by Lawrence B. Lindsey. It was interesting. I didn’t agree with all of his Republican ideas but there were definitely some good ideas in the book. I liked Lindsey's advice for the President to govern as if he wasn’t going to seek a second term.

Bottom Line: interesting, Republican viewpoint.

Book Review

The American Way of War

This book lays out how Bush has trampled on our constitutionally guaranteed rights in a much more coherent manner than I can. Please, please read it!

How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq

This is a great book! Find it and read it! It’s unbelievable. We don’t have to drown people, strip them naked and terrorize them to get information! Who knew?

The only way the terrorists can win is if we allow ourselves to become like them.