Currently reading
Pok Pok: Recipes and Stories from the Pok Pok Restaurants, Thailand, and Elsewhere
Darwin Slept Here: Discovery, Adventure, and Swimming Iguanas in Charles Darwin's South America
Madame Bovary
Brooklyn Brew Shop's Beer Making Book: 52 Seasonal Recipes for Small Batches
The Way of the Wizard: Twenty Spiritual Lessons for Creating the Life You Want
A Brief History of Time
The Collected John Carter of Mars: A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars (Barsoom, #1-3)
Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam
The Lovelace Medical Center: Pioneer in American health care
California's Napa Valley: One Hundred Sixty Years of Wine Making
Iron and Silk
Recommended to me by a friend who speaks Mandarin and worked in China for a few years. The book is a little dated now but offers an interesting glimpse into the Chinese people and what it would be like to live there as a foreigner.
Bridge to Terabithia
This is the Everybody Reads book for this area. I was very disappointed as I had heard so many good reviews. The book is terribly dated and very predicable. The inner life of the characters is flat and plays on every child's wish to surpass the bullying of childhood. It may have been quite daring in its time and this may be why it received the Newbery Medal. I will no longer use that as a standard to judge a possible book I might like to read. Wish I had not wasted my time. I would not recommend it to children now as it has very dated stereotypes about girls and how they are treated in a men/boy dominated society. Maybe some historical relevance but that is pushing it.
The Dance of Anger: A Woman's Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships
An interesting book but a little dated. It has a new introduction and epilogue but the contact is really stuck in time. A woman’s place in society has moved forward and the content while useful would benefit from a more contemporary slant. Useful concepts are presented and the repetition with different scenarios is helpful. A new tool to use.
21 Dog Years : Doing Time @ Amazon.com
I first saw Mike Daisey in 2005 at the Portland Center Stage performing 21 Dog Years, or Doing Time @ Amazon.com as a one man show. The performance was excellent and I still remember him using the analogy of a three legged dog. (a dog with its leg in a trap chews it off and lives to escape but it still loved because who doesn't like dogs even if they have only three legs). He made me realize that I too could escape a job that I truly hated and I also did a geographic cure. I have a photo of a one legged dog in my wallet to remind me of my escape. The book elaborates on his skit and provided a look into the run up of the 90s and dot com's behaving badly and the greed of the time on both sides of the employment desk (door ala deck top). Living in Portland at the time we heard about the travails up in Seattle at Amazon all the time but did not really know what was going on inside. This spells it out with all the warts. The writing is a bit juvenile but I gather that Mike Daisey is a bit juvenile as well. The one man show was much better but I highly recommend the book even though it is getting a little out of date as the years go by.
The Kite Runner
The first 3/4 of the book were outstanding. I was totally transported to a different place and time. The final 1/4 was not as good and it seemed that the author had a problem deciding how to wrap up all his plot lines. I will not say more as it would give away some details.
The Big Enchilada
Very interesting personable writing style. However the content is not a surprisingly one sided and highly bias account of the 2000 election. I might consider reading his non-political books.
The Work of Wolves
A smart book about horses and how they bring three different cultures together. (Rural white, Native American, and European). A horse whisperer, a German "Lakota Sioux want to be" and a troubled and melancholy Indian are the main characters. The weakest character is the flatly written female protagonist. The author falls back on the "woman in peril" theme and could have done more. The characters are multi faceted and we hear their inner thoughts and are compelled to feel deeply about them. Emotionally intense, the narrative drew me into the multi-generational conflict set on the Rez. in South Dakota. The characters are presented with depth, empathy and charity. The story takes off on unexpected tangents, which mostly work except for the trip to Germany. The ending was disturbing and did not settle for a neatly wrapped up cliché. The book shows how everyone in a small town is linked to one another whether they want to be or even know it. I recommend the book but am not sure I will read the author's other books.Oryx and Crake
Overrated, started out with an interesting premise and veered off into drivel. The ending was just painful.
Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats
A huge reference, great for its time but it needs updating.
The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea
I watched the movie so knew the end yet the book was still gripping. Written with an insiders eye for detail. I felt I understood what these people were thinking and feeling. I now have a greater appreciation for the dangers of the sea and the people who go forth so seemingly without a thought for the risks they are taking. I will have to consider this every time I order sushi.
The Blue Last
Interesting mystery set in England. Did not like the cliff hanger ending as I really did not want to read another of her books. It was really only interesting because of the foreign flavor and dragged quite a bit of the time.
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
Catnip for a political junkie. Political sausage making in all it unglory with a fly on the wall perspective. Could not put it down. The movie should be great. The last comparable book I read was What It Takes: The Way To The White House by Richard Ben Cramer.
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex
An entertaining snarky take on Darwin et all.
