What I'm Reading Now:

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

The Street Lawyer

Title: The Street Lawyer

Author: John Grisham

Pages: 10 CDs

Genre: Legal Thriller

Grade: A

Synopsis: Michael Brock is lawyer at a big DC law firm, Drake and Sweeney. He is on the fast track to being a partner and will soon be making a million bucks a year. One day a homeless gunman shows up at the firm and takes a group of lawyers hostage. He seems to have no real motive but keeps asking his hostages how much money they give to feed the poor each year. Their answers don't please him but eventually a police sniper is able to put a bullet into his skull. Michael Brock tries to find more out about the man he only knows as Mister and ends up finding that there is a whole additional world of homeless people and problems living just beyond the steps of Capitol Hill in Washington.

My Review: I don't think that my synopsis does this book justice. From the various reviews I've read online, most people seem to either really like this book or really dislike it. Personally, I found it fascinating and very engaging. This is possibly due to the fact that this was really the first book that I have listened to on cd in my car since high school. I really enjoyed zoning out while I was driving and just thinking about the story. I found myself wishing that my commute was a little longer than the 15 minutes that it is - but I have since decided that it is long enough. This book got me thinking about my charitable contributions, and how I treat the less fortunate around me. I can always do better, we can always do more. This book has motivated me to try and be more generous and caring.

Crossing to Safety

Title: Crossing to Safety

Author: Wallace Stegner

Pages: 335

Genre: Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: Sally and Larry Morgan are excited for Larry's first job in the Writing department at a university in Wisconsin. During their first days there they meet an enchanting, rich couple Sid and Charity Lang. The Lang's take the Morgan's under their wings and introduce them to society and many good times in Madison. The book follows the two couples and their relationship throughout the next 4 or 5 decades.

My Review: I really, really liked the first two-thirds of this book. After that, a long time has passed and I never felt like I could relate to the book like I had been able to during the first part. It was refreshing to read an honest account of what appears to be two fairly typical couples in the prime of their lives.

From the Book: "(p. 50) Pleasant things to hear, though hearing them from him embarrasses me. I soak up the praise but feel obliged to disparage the gift. I believe that most people have some degree of talent for something--forms, colors, words, sounds. Talent lies around in us like kindling waiting for a match, but some people, just as gifted as others, are less lucky. Fate never drops a match on them. The times are wrong, or their health is poor, or their energy low, or their obligations too many. Something."

"(p. 130) Actually I am pretty pregnant with the news Sid brought me, but glad we have not spread it. The girls look very happy. With their heads bound up in babushkas they might be out of the peasant chorus of a Russian opera. Any minute now we will sing and dance to the balalaika. Charity is tall and striking; Sally smaller, darker, quieter. One dazzles, the other warms. In a couple of hours I will need sympathy, but for now I like being washed by the wind."

"(p. 171) A western buckaroo, I share his scorn for people who go camping by the book, relying on the authority of some half-assed assistant scoutmaster whose total experience outdoors probably consists of two overnight hikes and a weekend in the Catskills. But we have just had that confrontation. The one who goes by Pritchard's book is Sid's wife, and I am wary. It is not my expedition. I am a guest here."

"(p. 191) You can plan all you want to. You can lie in your morning bed and fill whole notebooks with schemes and intentions. But within a single afternoon, within hours or minutes, everything you plan and everything you have fought to make yourself can be undone as a slug is undone when salt is poured on him. And right up to the moment when you find yourself dissolving into foam you can still believe you are doing fine."

Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Little Prince

Title: The Little Prince

Author: Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Pages: 180

Genre: Fable, Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: The author tells a story about when his plane crashed in the Sahara Desert and he met a small man from another planet. The extraordinary little man shares the stories of his travels to other planets and eventually earth.

My Review: This is the first "long" book that I ever read. I remember really liking the story then, but what really stands out is that this was the first time that I was ever exposed to the word naive (but in the book, I was fascinated with the word because there are two dots over the i). I think that this is the type of book that allows every reader to draw something different from it. Each person's opinion and impressions will be unique. It's a quick read (around an hour), but quite enjoyable.

From the Book: "(p. 48) "I don't believe you! Flowers are weak creatures. They are naive (imagine two dots over the i). They reassure themselves as best they can. They believe that their thorns are terrible weapons...""

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Never Shower in a Thunderstorm

Title: Never Shower in a Thunderstorm: Surprising Facts and Misleading Myths about our Health and the World We Live In

Author: Anahad O'Connor

Pages: 226

Genre: Non-fiction, Health

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Anahad O'Connor is an investigative health columnist for the New York Times. Over time he has kept track of the strange questions that he is asked and put the answers here in this book. He investigates questions about human nature, germs, sex, sleep and other topics.

My Review: As many people know, I enjoy books like this that explore the truth of old wives tales and other random facts. This book had a lot of useful information and questions that I had wondered about myself. My favorite topic was probably the questions about sleep. There are a lot of questions and misconceptions about sleep. There have been numerous studies that show that the people who live the longest lives sleep 7 hours a night. If you are averaging 8 hours of sleep a night, your chance of death increases by around 12%. If you are sleeping less than 7 hours of sleep per night, your chance of death also increases, but not as steeply as for the oversleepers.

From the Book: "(p. 15, Do right-handed people live longer than lefties?) Then again, there are some things about lefties that can't be explained so easily. For whatever reason, whether it's the pressures of living in a world designed for righties, or all the talk of having shorter life spans, lefties have higher rates of depression, drug abuse, allergies, and schizophrenia. But lefties also have an advantage in sports like fencing, tennis and baseball, not to mention greater academic success and higher IQs. Five of America's last eleven presidents were lefties, even though they make up only 10 percent of the American population." (I believe Obama is a leftie as well, making that 6 of the last 12 presidents).

"(p. 23, Are oysters aphrodisiacs?) For men, the smell of baked cinnamon buns had such a powerful impact on libido that it trumped the scents of a slew of various perfumes combined. Men were also strongly aroused by the scent of pumpkin pie, lavender, doughnuts, cheese pizza, buttered popcorn, vanilla and strawberries. The foods and smells that got women going more than anything else were licorice, banana nut bread, cucumbers, and candy."

"(p. 77, Chapter heading, Toxic Planet) Most of us buy pricey antibacterial soaps and use them religiously, but how many of us look at the ingredients in our air fresheners before we dust them around the house? There are people who won't drink water from a tap, but will speed on the highway, eat at McDonald's, bake in a tanning booth, or pay someone for the chance to parachute out of a moving plane--all activities that can carry greater risks. And how many smokers would complain about pollution if they lived next to a smokestack?"

"(p. 202, Which has more caffeine--tea or coffee?) Maybe it is a reflection of our constant struggle to ward off sleep, or simply the desire for that scintillating buzz that comes from a good cup of Joe. In the United States, more than 80 percent of people consume caffeine in one form or another every day. Worldwide it is the most popular drug, far ahead of nicotine and alcohol. Some anthropologists speculate that its use may date as far back as the Stone Age."