Read: A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Stars: Five
Drinking: Irish Breakfast Tea, Twinings
A Memory of Light is the final installment of The Wheel of Time. I've been reading the series for 15 years, and it's hard to believe it's over. The book is a long wrap-up of the series - we learn the fates of major and minor characters, a few characters come into their potential, and a few lingering mysteries are solved. The final battle between the Dragon and the Dark One played out quite differently than I expected, but it was fantastic. The whole book was a heartwarming (and heartbreaking) farewell to characters that had become close friends.
I'm in the process of going back and re-reading the series, now that I've finished the whole thing. Jordan's brilliance is coming out in each book - events in the final installment are foreshadowed as far back as the first book! Every time I re-read, I get more out of the series, and now that it is complete, I am noticing even more than ever. Things that seemed strange or out of charcter are becoming suddenly clear (i.e. that character was evil all along! The evil plot is so clear now!). I love a well written book or series that can be so new every time it is read. Maybe I can never have the magical experience of reading it for the first time again, but I am enjoying the magic of uncovering secrets I never saw before.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Review: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Read: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Stars: Five
Drinking: English Afternoon Tea, Twinings
In this collection of short stories, published by Oxford University Press, the famous detective is outsmarted by The Woman, Irene Adler, discovers the secret of the five orange pips, and investigates the Red-Haired League. Each adventure is narrated by Dr. Watson, Holmes' former flatmate and friend.
If you haven't read any of Conan Doyle, you are missing out! Even stories I had read before surprised me with Holmes' reasoning and deductions. I like this Oxford edition because it includes detailed notes that really enhanced my understanding of the stories by explaining references to current events and terms that are no longer used.
Comparing the stories to the BBC's Sherlock TV show was also quite fun. They manage to slip in a lot of details that I only realized while reading the stories. I am also amused that the short story involving Adler, "A Scandal in Bohemia," has been taken by fans to imply some sort of romantic attachment between her and Holmes. While he admired her for outwitting him, there is no hint that Holmes was romantically attached to her, especially given the ending of the story.
I've always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, so rereading the stories was very fun - I picked up some new nuances I hadn't noticed before. I highly recommend any of Conan Doyle's Holmes stories (and BBC's Sherlock needs to get back on air. Seriously.)
Stars: Five
Drinking: English Afternoon Tea, Twinings
In this collection of short stories, published by Oxford University Press, the famous detective is outsmarted by The Woman, Irene Adler, discovers the secret of the five orange pips, and investigates the Red-Haired League. Each adventure is narrated by Dr. Watson, Holmes' former flatmate and friend.
If you haven't read any of Conan Doyle, you are missing out! Even stories I had read before surprised me with Holmes' reasoning and deductions. I like this Oxford edition because it includes detailed notes that really enhanced my understanding of the stories by explaining references to current events and terms that are no longer used.
Comparing the stories to the BBC's Sherlock TV show was also quite fun. They manage to slip in a lot of details that I only realized while reading the stories. I am also amused that the short story involving Adler, "A Scandal in Bohemia," has been taken by fans to imply some sort of romantic attachment between her and Holmes. While he admired her for outwitting him, there is no hint that Holmes was romantically attached to her, especially given the ending of the story.
I've always enjoyed Sherlock Holmes, so rereading the stories was very fun - I picked up some new nuances I hadn't noticed before. I highly recommend any of Conan Doyle's Holmes stories (and BBC's Sherlock needs to get back on air. Seriously.)
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Review: Fortress Europe
Read: Fortress Europe: Dispatches from a Gated Continent by Matthew Carr
Stars: Five
Drinking: Pinot Noir
Fortress Europe gives readers something they may never see: a view of Europe from the perspective of undocumented migrants trying to enter the continent. Carr looks at different entry points to Europe and between European countries. He looks at how the Shengen agreement changed Europe's borders, and how it made some border countries into migrant traps.
Although Carr does his best to present his tale in an unbiased, journalistic nature, it is clear he feels sympathy for the migrants and see the border guards and European governments as antagonistic. Many of the policies and officials quoted in the book are unguardedly racist and worried about the "darkening" of Europe by African, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants. The stories Carr collected from migrants attempting to enter Europe, attempting to stay in Europe, or who had been deported from Europe, but were willing to try again, are haunting.
Fortress Europe was published in 2012, and it's message that Europe is becoming more racist, insular, and discriminatory against immigrants has only been highlighted by the recent murders in Athens. The book is timely and important for anyone interested in international affairs.
Stars: Five
Drinking: Pinot Noir
Fortress Europe gives readers something they may never see: a view of Europe from the perspective of undocumented migrants trying to enter the continent. Carr looks at different entry points to Europe and between European countries. He looks at how the Shengen agreement changed Europe's borders, and how it made some border countries into migrant traps.
Although Carr does his best to present his tale in an unbiased, journalistic nature, it is clear he feels sympathy for the migrants and see the border guards and European governments as antagonistic. Many of the policies and officials quoted in the book are unguardedly racist and worried about the "darkening" of Europe by African, Asian, and Middle Eastern immigrants. The stories Carr collected from migrants attempting to enter Europe, attempting to stay in Europe, or who had been deported from Europe, but were willing to try again, are haunting.
Fortress Europe was published in 2012, and it's message that Europe is becoming more racist, insular, and discriminatory against immigrants has only been highlighted by the recent murders in Athens. The book is timely and important for anyone interested in international affairs.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Review: So Good They Can't Ignore You
Read: So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love by Cal Newport
Stars: Five
Drinking: Cranberry Blood Orange Rooibus, Bentley
I absolutely loved Newport's take on career advice. This is not your ordinary book on how to find a job or how to break into an industry: this is about having a different mindset about careers. Our generation - Generation Y - has been told all our lives to "follow your passion" or "do what you love." We are floundering, however, in figuring out how to succeed with our passions. Newport argues that it is skills, not passion, that create an atmosphere conducive to a great career that one loves. It is a simple, but seems like a revolutionary concept: become skilled in something rare and valuable, then use those skills to leverage the life you want.
What I love most about the book is that Newport started from the same place most of us start - finishing a degree and wondering where to go with his career. He decided to find out what it is that makes a compelling career - is it the conventional wisdom that we do something we are passionate about, or is there something else? He interviewed people who have great careers - start ups, Harvard genetics research, Hollywood writing - and came up with a toolkit that anyone can use to build the career of their dreams.
The best part about the book is the end, when Newport takes his toolkit and applies it to himself. He acknowledges that he has not yet reached his full potential, and in fact has somewhat backed away from it. He lays out his plan for becoming even more skilled - developing rare and valuable talents in his field (computer science) and how his new job as a professor will allow him to do so.
I highly recommend this book to anyone - whether you feel adrift in your career, are unemployed, or have been in a satisfying career for years, there is something for everyone.
Stars: Five
Drinking: Cranberry Blood Orange Rooibus, Bentley
I absolutely loved Newport's take on career advice. This is not your ordinary book on how to find a job or how to break into an industry: this is about having a different mindset about careers. Our generation - Generation Y - has been told all our lives to "follow your passion" or "do what you love." We are floundering, however, in figuring out how to succeed with our passions. Newport argues that it is skills, not passion, that create an atmosphere conducive to a great career that one loves. It is a simple, but seems like a revolutionary concept: become skilled in something rare and valuable, then use those skills to leverage the life you want.
What I love most about the book is that Newport started from the same place most of us start - finishing a degree and wondering where to go with his career. He decided to find out what it is that makes a compelling career - is it the conventional wisdom that we do something we are passionate about, or is there something else? He interviewed people who have great careers - start ups, Harvard genetics research, Hollywood writing - and came up with a toolkit that anyone can use to build the career of their dreams.
The best part about the book is the end, when Newport takes his toolkit and applies it to himself. He acknowledges that he has not yet reached his full potential, and in fact has somewhat backed away from it. He lays out his plan for becoming even more skilled - developing rare and valuable talents in his field (computer science) and how his new job as a professor will allow him to do so.
I highly recommend this book to anyone - whether you feel adrift in your career, are unemployed, or have been in a satisfying career for years, there is something for everyone.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
2012 Reading Challenge Wrap- Up & 2013 Challenges
For 2012, I entered 3 challenges for which I would read a minimum of 28 books. I read far more than 28 books this year, but I fell far short of the challenges! For challenges this year, I read:
2012 TBR Challenge:
What Is The What by Dave Eggers
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Sci-Fi Challenge:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Agatha H & the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
War Through the Generations WWI Challenge:
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing
For 2013, I'm setting an equally ambitious goal, with 3 more challenges. This time, however, I'm going to try to be a bit more strategic about it!
I'm going to retry War Through the Generations' challenge, this time with Revolutionary War books at the Dip level:
2012 TBR Challenge:
What Is The What by Dave Eggers
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
Sci-Fi Challenge:
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Agatha H & the Airship City by Phil & Kaja Foglio
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
War Through the Generations WWI Challenge:
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing
For 2013, I'm setting an equally ambitious goal, with 3 more challenges. This time, however, I'm going to try to be a bit more strategic about it!
Since my boyfriend is in love with Jane Austin, I'm hoping to read at least one of her books - I'm leaning towards Sense & Sensibility. I'm also hoping to finish Northanger Abbey, which I think I've been working on for at least a year. Also on my British challenge list:
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (since BBC is making us wait for Series 3)
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (since BBC is making us wait for Series 3)
The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The Casual Vacancy by Joanne Rowling
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (a re-read in anticipation of the miniseries!)
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
The Professor & the Madman by Simon Winchester
Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
I'm going to retry War Through the Generations' challenge, this time with Revolutionary War books at the Dip level:
1776 by David McCullough
Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
Finally, I'll be doing the 2013 Woman Challenge at Peek A Book at the Girls Power level -6-10 books. Ideally, I will read books for this challenge that aren't overlapping with the above two! Authors I'm planning to hit up:
Margaret Atwood
Octavia Butler
Doris Lessing
Phillipa Gregory
Are you doing any challenges for 2013? Care to join me in any of these?
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Review: Alfred & Emily
Read: Alfred & Emily by Doris Lessing
Stars: Three
Drinking: Pumpkin Spice Chai, Twinings
Alfred & Emily reminded me a lot of Atonement. In the first half, Lessing creates an alternate history for her parents in which World War I never occurs. Instead, England slips into a long period of peace, in which Alfred and Emily never marry, although they are friends. Alfred is a farmer with a kind wife and two sons. Emily is a successful nurse, then hostess, and finally supporter of education. The strange alternate world that Lessing creates is almost more interesting than their lives - a Serbian rebellion and a longing for the young men of England to "have a good war" are just two of the details that appear. It is an interested, but not necessarily satisfying, story.
The second half is a series of essays about Lessing's real parents, damaged by the first world war and jaded by the realities of living in Southern Africa. Emily, the socialite nurse, becomes a clingy, desperate mother. Alfred is a farmer, but not the idyllic British farmer. Farming in Rhodesia is difficult, they have no training, and Alfred's wounds from the war have made him very ill. Both spend most of their lives wishing for the time before the war. Alfred wishes he could have died with his comrades at Passchendale.
The best essay is not about Lessing's parents, but about her brother, Harry. Harry was on a ship in the Pacific that was sunk by the Japanese, but he survived to be an old man living in South Africa. The entire second half of the book - their parent's lives since World War I - can be summed up by Harry's comment about his life after the ship sank" You see, Tigs, it's most of my life: I simply haven't been here at all." Alfred and Emily hadn't been those people who survived Passchendale or had a lover shot down over the Channel. Those people were gone. Lessing comes to terms with the absence of the people her parents really were through the alternate history she created for them, where ultimately, they are perhaps happier.
I enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure it really achieved Lessing's goal. I think that perhaps if she had used a different format - a short introduction to her parent's lives, followed by the alternate history - it would have been more effective. The essay format does highlight the regrets of her parents and how the war affected them, but it is piecemeal.
Stars: Three
Drinking: Pumpkin Spice Chai, Twinings
Alfred & Emily reminded me a lot of Atonement. In the first half, Lessing creates an alternate history for her parents in which World War I never occurs. Instead, England slips into a long period of peace, in which Alfred and Emily never marry, although they are friends. Alfred is a farmer with a kind wife and two sons. Emily is a successful nurse, then hostess, and finally supporter of education. The strange alternate world that Lessing creates is almost more interesting than their lives - a Serbian rebellion and a longing for the young men of England to "have a good war" are just two of the details that appear. It is an interested, but not necessarily satisfying, story.
The second half is a series of essays about Lessing's real parents, damaged by the first world war and jaded by the realities of living in Southern Africa. Emily, the socialite nurse, becomes a clingy, desperate mother. Alfred is a farmer, but not the idyllic British farmer. Farming in Rhodesia is difficult, they have no training, and Alfred's wounds from the war have made him very ill. Both spend most of their lives wishing for the time before the war. Alfred wishes he could have died with his comrades at Passchendale.
The best essay is not about Lessing's parents, but about her brother, Harry. Harry was on a ship in the Pacific that was sunk by the Japanese, but he survived to be an old man living in South Africa. The entire second half of the book - their parent's lives since World War I - can be summed up by Harry's comment about his life after the ship sank" You see, Tigs, it's most of my life: I simply haven't been here at all." Alfred and Emily hadn't been those people who survived Passchendale or had a lover shot down over the Channel. Those people were gone. Lessing comes to terms with the absence of the people her parents really were through the alternate history she created for them, where ultimately, they are perhaps happier.
I enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure it really achieved Lessing's goal. I think that perhaps if she had used a different format - a short introduction to her parent's lives, followed by the alternate history - it would have been more effective. The essay format does highlight the regrets of her parents and how the war affected them, but it is piecemeal.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Review: The Defining Decade
Read: The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter-And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay
Stars: Five
Drinking: Earl Grey Classic, Fortnum & Mason
The Defining Decade is one of those very interesting books that could only be popular because culture has made it necessary. Our culture has, in Jay's opinion, made the 20s into an extension of adolescence - not children anymore, but not really adults either. She uses case studies of 20something and 30something clients to remind the reader that the 20s are actually an important time in our culture to set up for career, relationships, and health. Yes, we need to find ourselves - but we need to do so in a structured way, so we don't wake up in 10 or 20 years and wonder where our lives went.
The book is divided into three parts. Career, the first, is also the largest. Jay notes that most of her clients are career-focused in their 20s, and may not even think about relationships in a serious way. In the second section, she explains why that is not necessarily a good thing, as people end up in toxic or just non-functional relationships that can turn into failed marriages or regretful attempts at conceiving in late 30s and early 40s. In the final section, she discusses how the brain is still growing well into the 20s, which is why it's such an ideal time to start a career and learn how to function in "the real world."
I enjoyed The Defining Decade, but as a woman rapidly approaching her late 20s, it also made me more stressed out and depressed. There are many things that she recommends, particularly in the career section, that I have heard before. Yet the advice remains untaken. reading that section made me feel both guilty and defensive - how can I find a career if I am stuck making as much money as possible to pay off the amazing amounts of student loan debt accrued while getting a degree I now don't even use? Ultimately, these questions remain unanswered. I feel that her book is for those who are truly lost - the 20somethings living at home, working retail or in coffee shops, or living with the boyfriend or girlfriend they are just "meh" about. I feel that, despite my career issues, overall, I'm on the right track with my 20s, and Jay's book helped me to remember that.
If you are a 20something, I highly recommend you read this book. It will help put things in perspective, if nothing else.
Stars: Five
Drinking: Earl Grey Classic, Fortnum & Mason
The Defining Decade is one of those very interesting books that could only be popular because culture has made it necessary. Our culture has, in Jay's opinion, made the 20s into an extension of adolescence - not children anymore, but not really adults either. She uses case studies of 20something and 30something clients to remind the reader that the 20s are actually an important time in our culture to set up for career, relationships, and health. Yes, we need to find ourselves - but we need to do so in a structured way, so we don't wake up in 10 or 20 years and wonder where our lives went.
The book is divided into three parts. Career, the first, is also the largest. Jay notes that most of her clients are career-focused in their 20s, and may not even think about relationships in a serious way. In the second section, she explains why that is not necessarily a good thing, as people end up in toxic or just non-functional relationships that can turn into failed marriages or regretful attempts at conceiving in late 30s and early 40s. In the final section, she discusses how the brain is still growing well into the 20s, which is why it's such an ideal time to start a career and learn how to function in "the real world."
I enjoyed The Defining Decade, but as a woman rapidly approaching her late 20s, it also made me more stressed out and depressed. There are many things that she recommends, particularly in the career section, that I have heard before. Yet the advice remains untaken. reading that section made me feel both guilty and defensive - how can I find a career if I am stuck making as much money as possible to pay off the amazing amounts of student loan debt accrued while getting a degree I now don't even use? Ultimately, these questions remain unanswered. I feel that her book is for those who are truly lost - the 20somethings living at home, working retail or in coffee shops, or living with the boyfriend or girlfriend they are just "meh" about. I feel that, despite my career issues, overall, I'm on the right track with my 20s, and Jay's book helped me to remember that.
If you are a 20something, I highly recommend you read this book. It will help put things in perspective, if nothing else.
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