books

After it took me such a long time to finally finish the previous book in the Inheritance cycle, I decided to indulge in a bit more of the fantasy brain candy and devour the third book - Brisingr.

I really do have to had it to Paolini - after all, I could hardly construct my first “novel” (calling the 50,000 mashed up garble of words a ‘novel’ is being overly generous, like calling my tofu creations fine cuisine…anyway, I digress) let alone a full three with actual characters and a story line. A story line with a PLOT and a CLIMAX, oh my.

Overall, the Inheritance series has been a pretty okay series to read. I don’t devour them as quickly as I did the Harry Potter series (insert forlorn sigh of longing for old friends) nor did I think it was nearly as richly constructed as The Lord of the Rings. But…all grousing aside, it has its moments. Much like my thoughts on Eldest, it wasn’t so poorly written that it made me want to gouge my eyes out and sterilize them in saline water … like the Twilight series.

The third book had a bit of a muddled and slow start, trudges a bit in the middle, has a really fantastic “ah-ha!” moment where things tie together near the end, and then of course a rather “meh” wrap up. It felt as though he was trying to run a marathon, and realized that he ought to hurry and finish near the end before people packed up their things and went home because they were bored. There were a few scenes where I mentally just wanted him to hurry things up, and as usual I skimmed over some of the intricacies in his storytelling that really don’t matter in the long run.

I’m not quite sure how children 12 years (give or take a few) could sit through it. Then again, maybe I’m just not as dedicated as children these days.

Recommended? Eh, I guess. The only major downside is that I have to WAIT for the NEXT AND FINAL BOOK. At least waiting without bated breath is a lot easier to handle than it was when I nearly tore down the doors of the local Barnes and Noble for the final installment of Harry Potter.

Wow, sooooo…it’s been quite awhile since I’ve had a book update. And it looks like I need to read about 38 books in the next 6 months in order to even reach HALF of my initial goal of 100 books. Haha. Ummm.

Right, anyway…I finally picked up the second to the Eragon series, Eldest, after more than a year from reading the first one. As an avid fantasy fiction reader, I have to say that I greatly admire Christopher Paolini for having the endurance, patience and imagination to sit down and write all of these books. A lot of people I know have mentioned that they think his books are “okay” and “not that well written.” But, compared to the Twilight series (shudder) I have to say that I didn’t cringe at his writing style.

Sure, there were some parts where I thought he was struggling a bit…and I did skim over some pages here and there, but overall I was very taken in with the story. Much like most series go, the second book had a lot of really good development. [SPOILER ALERT] One gripe I do have is how Eragon overcomes his hardship with a magical dragon miracle. Really, Christopher? C’mon. Couldn’t you have thought of some other way he could have overcome that obstacle?

Anyway, the last twist at the end was rather riveting, and it does make me want to pick up the next book, Brisinger, to see how he’ll resolve the conflict. Like the Two Towers in The Lord of the Rings, the book by itself isn’t the BEST but it does a good job of setting up the pieces for the next installment.

Would I recommend it? Well, obviously yes IN CONJUNCTION with the first book, especially for readers who are fans of fantasy fiction.

We’ll see how the third book goes.

So far in my fruitless quest to read as close to 100 books as possible in 2010, I’ve been pretty pleased with the variety in my choices.  Fiction, fantasy, nonfiction, science fiction…and now, a memoir.  Truthfully, the only reason this book stuck out to me was because of the title: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. C’mon, you have to admit it’s catchy.

I’ve always liked the television-ized version of the curmudgeon (i.e. House, Frank Barone, Perry Cox…the list goes on) and sometimes I fantasize about being a wise-cracking smart-ass in real life. Unfortunately, much like the title, I would quickly lose friends and alienate people. At least…a lot more than I naturally do now.

Anyway, the book follows the times of Toby Young, a journalist from England who decided to try to strike it big with riches, fame and fortune - not to mention hot women - in the bustling city of New York. It’s the cultural mecca of fashion, finance, food and other finds (see what I did there?)…the modern Rome, if you will. Who says he can’t conquer it and be a part of the ruling class?

As you may have already guessed from the title and the snippet that I discussed earlier about curmudgeons, Toby ends up screwing up. A LOT. Spectacularly, I might add. I thought that his writing style was pretty easy to follow, although he does tend to go on tangents quite a few times. Although he admits multiple times in his memoir that his is a celebrity-gawking whore, I can’t help but…well, just dislike him quite a bit through a few parts of the book. I find it sort of ironic how he complains that he is going nowhere when everything he did was just plain stupid. In fact, even the “funny” stories in the book weren’t even that funny. Some of them were just a bit cringeworthy.

In the end, I found it interesting that he was able to neatly tie it up in a rather…well, conclusive ending. It’s almost as though this memoir was made to be a movie: unlikely protagonist, hijinks, fall from grace, and salvation. Did he deserve the ending that he got? Eh.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that he just comes across a bit like a self-entitled brat…and yet he was able to get a book deal which was then turned into a movie. It’s like being okay with that stupid book by Tucker Max. Moral of the story with these books? Be a complete idiotic, self-indulgent jerk and write a book and make $$$. Almost makes me re-think my strategy when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Almost.

Would I recommend it?  Mmmm….not really.  You wouldn’t really be missing out on much if you decided to pass this over. Of course, if someone out there loves this book, I’d sure like to know why.

First of all, I know nothing about education. Other than attending school and finding a way to worm a few A’s out of my ever patient and understanding teachers, I really had no other knowledge about the whole system. Sure, I knew about the inequities that went on, and the vast differences in the quality of classroom equipment and teachers.

I also do believe that teachers ought to be paid a LOT more than what they are paid now. If there was some way to justify skimming off the top of some of the most egregiously overpaid people in the entertainment and sports industry, I would. And I’d give it to the teachers…not just because one of my closest friends is a third grade teacher (and a saint of a person in my book).

In Work Hard. Be Nice. the author Jay Mathews follows the story of two young teachers named Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin and the founding of the KIPP, short for Knowledge Is Power Program. In addition to focusing on Feinberg and Levin, the author interlaces stories from people who were profoundly influenced by the program, and the mentors who were there from the start and along the way. I can only describe the book with one word: Inspiring.

It’s amazing to me how two guys from such…well…pretty well-off backgrounds could take on such a tough and noble calling. I was really touched by the anecdotes of individual student successes, and also the amusing re-telling of some personal moments in their lives and their friendship. It really comforts me to know that there are people out there working hard to make the future a little brighter. And, it makes me want to do more as well.

After all, don’t we all benefit if more children receive proper education? Instead of writing them off to a bleak future, they have the opportunity to do something great. Maybe it’s also teaching, or nursing, or engineering, who knows? This well-written book gave me a greater appreciation for what many good teachers strive to do each day…INSPIRE!

I need to hug a teacher now.

Wow, I really do tend to do a lot of my writing late at night. I guess that’s really what happens when you end up getting sucked into daily things like making a living, eating, and on the occasion exercising so you can continue to live and eat more. At any rate, I noticed my blunder earlier today and I was mildly mortified at my miscalculation of the number of books I’ve read…but good news (well, good news probably only to me - self-high-five!) is that I really DID finish reading book 10. I’ll be working on my write-up tomorrow.

Today, there is a more important thing I would like to discuss: books turned to movies. Yes, for those bibliophiles such as myself, that concept often makes us cringe. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say “the book was better than the movie/show/webisode” I’d be doing backstrokes in a vault full of nickels Scrooge McDuck style. Though, most likely I’d be lying on top of the pile of nickels bemoaning the fact that swimming through currency is but another romanticized notion from Saturday morning cartoons.

Anyway, I was surfing the netosphere (cough Facebook cough) when I came across an NPR blog (oh how I adore thee, NPR) called Monkey See. A friend of mine had shared a link with the author, Linda Holmes and guest Marc Hirsh discussing the writing style of Twilight.

Oh, and did it make me giggle. Lots. For another giggle-worthy session of Twilight bashing, check out the latest post musing on Bella’s “weird marble fetish”…(”‘I touched his cheek, and it was like a big bathroom counter.’ Yeah, SEXY.”)…which only gets better.

Back to my REAL reason for bringing up the post…I realized that there is a new movie coming out featuring RAMONA. As in, Ramona and Beezus. As in, if you are a child of the 70s-80s and hopefully beyond…these books were just splendidly fun to read. And now….this:

Ramona, the ever-quirky and imaginative protagonist that wrote her Qs with whiskers…or couldn’t resist the temptation of pulling on those perfect curly locks of a classmate. Oh, Beverly Cleary…how you made me feel so alive inside and feel so well behaved.

Unfortunately, I might have to disagree with Linda’s opinion about the potential of this upcoming movie. I always imagined Ramona to be rambunctious, with unkempt hair, freckles and a toothy grin. Beezus isn’t supposed to look like a Disney-fied teeny-bopper princess, either. She was an adolescent…and adolescents in the REAL WORLD are gangly, awkward, and just all over the place.

I guess that’s what normally happens when Hollywood decides to sprinkle in their dashes (well…more like gobs) of glitz and glamor. I just really, REALLY hope this isn’t as cringe-worthy as I fear it to be. And don’t get me started on Matilda, one of my favorite books OF ALL TIME crammed into a laughable (not in a good way) piece of movie vomit.

Fingers crossed that I won’t need to bring in my own bucket when I go see Ramona and Beezus.

Update: Okay. So I got ahead of myself and I thought I was on book 10 already…bah. Well, I technically AM on book 10, but as I hammered out this entry last night, I failed to realize that Barganing for Advantage was not it. Oh well. Carry on, folks.

Finally! Book 10! I actually had already started book 11 quite awhile ago, and I’m almost through with that one. Book 10 did take me a lot longer to finish, unfortunately, which set me back quite a bit from my pie in the sky goal. Of course, the more I thought about it the more impossible it seemed to finish close to 100 books in 2010. No matter, at least I’m able to make myself really think about the books I read instead of shuffling them to the side only to be forgotten.

Anyway, I picked up Bargaining for Advantage mostly because it was in the possession of my friend, who is currently an attorney. She had a class in law school that discussed negotiation styles, and I thought it was rather interesting. Negotiation, after all, is a pretty useful skill to have in life. When you think about it, you pretty much negotiate almost everything. You negotiate with your friends on where to eat, with your partner on who does which chores, on your car payments and also your job offer.

I thought this book was well written and organized…but did it really hold my attention? Well, yes and no. I was curious at the very beginning to find out what sort of bargaining style fit me the best. And, yes, it was also interesting to learn about the different scenarios in which certain bargaining skills may be the strongest. Oh…and the chapters about leverage were interesting, mostly because I have never stopped to think about leverage before. But interesting? Eh. It was okay. Do I feel like a better bargainer? Not really…but then again, I haven’t really had an opportunity to put in place some of the author’s tips on becoming a better bargainer.

One thing that it did teach me, however, was to do my research. After all, it seems pretty common sense that the person with the most arsenal of knowledge and information would have the better advantage. Unfortunately, I don’t really have much else to say about this book. Neither incredibly good nor incredibly bad, I would place it in my book purgatory. No negotiations. Ha, sorry. Couldn’t help it.

As a kid, I read about the Japanese Internment camps during World War II.  Although I knew about them, it always felt as though textbooks tended to gloss over that segment of American history. It felt like the books tended to note it as an afterthought, something like “during World War II there was a lot of anger after Pearl Harbor and Japanese citizens were rounded up and sent to camps where they lived in squalor…terrible, terrible thing…moving on!”

As a result, I didn’t really get a feeling of how…well…REALLY SAD and difficult it must have been for people back then until I read the short novel When The Emperor Was Divine.  It’s written in a very simple prose from the perspective of a family, and it provides very rich details.  I really appreciated the book and the subtle conveyance of how the events unfolded. The author helped me better understand the feelings of shame, confusion, loneliness and sadness that the Japanese American citizens felt.

What made it even more interesting to me was the fact that the family lived in the Bay Area.  I walk up and down the streets each day not thinking that less than 100 years ago, people lived very different lives.  It’s hard to imagine how to deal with the rampant racism that went on back then.  Although there are times where I roll my eyes at ignorance, it’s a very different thing to be surrounded by it every day. I think it is even more difficult to imagine being punished for something you did not do…but merely because of who other people THINK and perceive you to be: a monster. Something to put away, out of sight. A mere scapegoat.

Is it one of my favorite books so far?  Well, no. But it’s a simple read and I’m glad I read it.  I think this would be a very good book for teachers to put on the classroom reading list in middle school or high school.  More than anything, it gives a new, deeper perspective on events that happened in our own backyard…thing that Americans felt were “righteous” but were clearly wrong.

I feel like this is the type of book I would usually write about in a book report and analyze all the nuances and imagery.  But, luckily I’m in the real world now…so I won’t. If anybody else has read this book, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Do you think people know when they witness something that will change history forever? I would like to think that we all do. In those moments, it is as though an invisible thread is suddenly pulled through each of our heartstrings, connecting us in the most profound way that is indescribable. We may be from different backgrounds and grow up with differing perspectives on life, but I think that different generations are able to point to an event that radically shifted the way things were.

A librarian at my old junior high school once told me how she remembered with absolute clarity the moment JFK died. They were doing something at a pep rally, she said, and they did a mock-up of the other school’s “mascot” being carried to the grave (the things people did back then, sheesh) and suddenly it was announced over the PA system.

Without a doubt, I think that people in my generation (and of course those older, and maybe slightly younger) will always remember 9/11. I can still remember the classroom where I was sitting. It was senior year, and I was in the computer lab with my English class. I remember staring at the computer screen, inwardly groaning at the paper I had to write dissecting the subtle nuances of Shakespeare’s MacBeth. Another teacher knocked on the door. My English teacher stood up to greet her, and they conversed quickly in whispers. Then my teacher turned back to the class, grabbed the remote and said simply, “I was told we should turn on the news…a plane went into the World Trade Center.”

A few murmurs of astonishment rippled through the room. What a tragedy - how could that happen? A plane into the tower? It must have been a horrible accident.

And then, to our horror, we saw the second plane crash.

I don’t know if someone actually yelled, or maybe that was just what I felt inside. Suddenly, in those few minutes, the world went topsy-turvy.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in my latest book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I remember reading the back and musing to myself, “huh, a fictional book about 9/11.” It’s hard to believe it, but somehow after nine years the numbing horror of the event had somehow buried itself deep inside me. After all those tearful montages were shown and realizing that (thank God) none of my close family and friends were hurt, it was all too easy to push the memory of that event away.

Sure, there were moments when it would pop up in television shows, or a reference in one way or another. But all in all, it seemed to disappear in my personal life.

With this book, it all came back to me and so much more. First of all, though 9/11 is a major aspect of the book, the whole book isn’t centered around the event. It is centered around a precocious boy and his quest for answers in a world that seemed to offer none. This book is art. From the way the words were strung together, spaced out, and even the pictures intermittently laid throughout, it was a mosaic of emotions.

It made me realize how writers could be artists. It was a beautiful story, it made me think of relationships, humans, love and hope. Now, I’m not really an emotional reader. I don’t really cry at movies, and I don’t tear up over books. However, for some reason, this book made me choke up a few times. I had to put it down, close my eyes, sigh, and then continue. It made me realize how human 9/11 really was through the voices of his fictional characters

Do I recommend it? Yes, wholeheartedly. I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I rooted for Oskar in his quest for answers. My heart ached at the losses that the characters felt, and it was a very uniquely constructed tale. I wanted to tell people in my life that I love them. I hope that people who read this feel the depth of the journey with Oskar and his family as much as I did.

I’ll be honest: I’m a wuss. Really. As I tell most of my friends and people who have just met me, I tend to have a fairly solid memory and after watching a particularly horrific show or movie, I end up re-creating the scene in gruesome detail in my own room. In short, I end up scaring myself all over again even after said program.

The Ring? Yeah, couldn’t stand being near a TV, especially a TV in my ROOM for the longest time. Could hardly stomach The Blair Witch Project (not just because of the crazy camerawork) and yes, when I read ghost stories sometimes my overactive imagination gets pumped on fictional steroids and then I can’t sleep.

The point of my rambling? I avoided Stephen King like plague for the longest time. After all, given my penchant for scaring the bejesus out of myself, it only makes sense that I would stay away from a guy who has carved a hefty niche in the horror fiction world.

Of course, despite my own misgivings, I do have to say that my curiosity bested my own sense of self-preservation (at least when it comes to sleep). I figured I’d give his fantasy series a try. So I went to the library and picked up The Gunslinger.

Now, I think Stephen King is a great writer. A prolific author, and a pretty masterful storyteller…my first book by him was actually ABOUT writing and I greatly enjoyed it. But with The Gunslinger? Mmmm…not so much. I had a brief chat with a colleague of mine about this, actually - it’s not that his work is too densely populated with obscure vocabulary words. It’s not even that he writes in a boring, pedantic way (quite the opposite). But for some reason, I really just didn’t like the first book in his dark tower series.

I thought it would have promise. After all, in his foreward he mentioned how he was inspired by J.R.R. Tolkein’s intricate world of Middle Earth. I like Lord of the Rings. Heck, I read all of them and thought they were, you know, nifty. And I’m pretty cool with cowboys too, not just because I’m from Texas. I enjoy the mashup genres like Firefly, with a little bit of sci-fi and a little bit of good ‘ol fashioned Western flair.

With The Gunslinger…it felt like there were too many things unexplained and things that were meant to be symbolic…but just ended up boring me. There was talk about KA, and katet, and High Speech and … I don’t even know. It reminded me of this chart from xkcd:

There were brutal, violent scenes and background that just didn’t connect for me. In fact, while I was reading this book I started to drift off quite a few times and ended up skimming most of it. Would I recommend this book? Erm, no. I really wouldn’t. In fact, it almost dissuades me from reading another Stephen King book…almost. We’ll see how the next one goes.

The current book I’m working on now has taken on a completely different direction than any of the other books I’ve read. It’s even (dare I say it?) NONFICTION. Dun dun DUN….

Book five!  Finished!  Finally!  Well, okay.  I didn’t mean to write it that way, as if it were a chore to finish the last book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.  But I certainly did slow down the momentum a bit.  In any case, I had no idea what to expect from this book when I first picked it up.  I read the back, which simply said that Oscar was an obese super-nerd who has a rough love life.

But that’s just scratching the surface.

I wasn’t too keen on the beginning at first, mostly because I didn’t understand what the author’s point was.  As I continued on, I came to appreciate the different character voices and the way he unravels the story through the eyes of Lola, Oscar, and Yunior.  The three of them tell the tale of the unspoken hidden curse of the family, and it ties together historical events that occurred in the Dominican Republic.  Quite honestly, before this book I really never gave the Dominican Republic another thought.  Afterward, it really opened my eyes to some things, not all.  The horror of the regime, the way people lived, the harsh brutality and violence.

This book does a great job of taking you through the emotional wringer.  I felt, so many times throughout, absolutely sad and horrified at what occurred.  Likewise, I cheered for the small victories and mourned the losses, and grimaced at some depictions and scenes.  In the end, I felt hopeful. Why? I can’t explain without giving it away.

One complaint is that he goes into great detail in his footnotes, sometimes to where I don’t even have the patience to sift through it.  His footnotes are quite anecdotal as well.  Truth be told, I ended up skipping big chunks of them to move on with the story.  Another small issue of mine is that … well, despite taking AP Spanish, I could not understand most of the Spanish interlaced throughout the book.

So is this book recommended?  Um, yes and no.  It’s recommended if you’re curious, have an open mind, and all around just like to read interesting prose.  Probably not if you’re a die-hard “I only read Tom Clancy or Dan Brown” type.  Yup.

Next on the list?  The first book in The Dark Tower series by Stephen King.  This is horrendous to admit but…I’ve never read anything by Stephen King.  Other than his book On Writing, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Except for the part where he hates on adverbs…but that’s another rant entirely.