Book report
Jul. 17th, 2010 08:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisThe latest crop of books I read:
Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods by Dan Chiras and Dave Wann – Just as the subtitle says, this book is chock full of ways to make your suburb – or wherever you live – more friendly and more sustainable. Whether it be hosting community potlucks and book discussion groups, or taking on more ambitious projects like banding together to get good prices on solar panels or finding ways to reduce car pollution, the ideas are in here. The book’s main strength was its wealth of innovative ideas. I really wish they had included more regarding pitfalls and how to surmount them – how do you make this stuff actually happen? What roadblocks have people encountered and what did they do about them? There are some pieces of that in here but they didn’t exactly hand it to you. Still, the book was inspiring and I would like to try out some of their ideas. Grade: B
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Okay, this was a best seller like 8 years ago but I only read it recently because of a book discussion group at work. Gladwell shares some fascinating research and insights into what causes social movements or TV shows or fashion preferences to “tip” and become popular/relevant. I was glad that I didn’t find the same problem in this book that I had with Gladwell’s later work, “Blink”. I liked “Blink” but had trouble seeing it as anything more than interesting examples of things strung together without an overall point. I had so much trouble finding a take-away in “Blink”. But “The Tipping Point” was really good about tying it all together and helping you apply what he shares. I read this book through the lens of someone who would like to make social change, and I got plenty of useful ideas from it. Grade: B
Hey look, books by male authors twice in a row. More books (including more books by dudes) behind the cut!
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo – A very compelling novel about a young woman from the Chinese countryside who goes to England to study English. The writing style was so unique and Guo knows how to pull you in to her narrative. Grade: B
Some Girls by Jillian Lauren – Trash can be so much fun. I mean, it’s so bad for you but sometimes it feels so good. The author of this memoir is an American woman who joined a modern-day harem in the tiny but oil-rich country of Brunei. Lauren had graduated from stripping to escort work, and she eventually hears about a gig in a far-off land where a wealthy man would like some American women to join him in attendance at his parties – for which they would be paid. I was so, so enthralled at her tales of life inside the harem. The nitty-gritty details of how it works really were gripping. I liked hearing about the schedule she kept in Brunei, what her days were like, how the wealthy man (who turns out to be a prince in Brunei) treats her. I also enjoyed hearing about the other women and what their lives were like, though I didn’t care for our writer at all (and most of the other women were equally hard to warm up to). I feel some empathy for Lauren – she suffers from depression and occasionally from anorexia – she’s also very shallow and materialistic. (Well, duh. The Mother Teresas of the world generally don’t join harems.) My stomach churned at hearing how much she was given to spend – and spent – on designer clothes one day. And what was with her nasty comment about meeting some “starving vegans” (an odd dig in the ribs from someone who has an eating disorder, especially considering that the vegans she mentions appeared to be in much better mental and physical health than she)? I read the book in like 3 days and despite its many faults, I have to give it a grade of B.
Barack and Michelle by Christopher Andersen – Published soon after Obama took office, this book (which I listened to on CD) tells about the First Couple’s marriage, how they met, their history together. It then chronicles Barack’s rise to political power. At first I was a bit bored since I knew a lot about Barack’s early years from “Dreams from my Father”. But I knew little about Michelle’s history, and it was nice to fill that gap with this book. Despite the fact that this book is about the President of the US and his wife, it doesn’t have much to do with politics or ideology or issues. Mostly it’s about two very intelligent and determined people and the family and career choices they made. I could quibble with a point here and a point there, but the book kept me good company during my commute. Grade: B
Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler – We had a development day at work, and they brought in this great speaker – one of the authors of this book. He talked about skills you can use when you have high-stakes conversations. How to make the conversation go better on both sides. He taught really practical skills that you can use in work and in your personal life. Then we each got a copy of the book. Seriously I can’t wait to begin using the tools in this book. I love useful stuff and I learned a ton, both from Mr. McMillan and this book that he co-authored. Grade: B
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Gringa by Melissa Hart - I understand that there’s a popular strand of memoirs by diverse young women which frequently contain – along with the narrative - recipes. It looks like this memoir was attempting to hop that bandwagon. But there’s nothing too remarkable about Hart’s story. She has a jerk of a dad, her mom leaves her dad for a Mexican woman, they relocate to a heavily Latino area. There are lots of ho-hum and basic recipes for Mexican food in here, and I can’t fathom a reason why they were included. The problem with this book is that there are just an overwhelming number of boring details about Hart’s girlhood, which was fairly unremarkable. I didn’t feel that she had that much to say and am surprised that she got a publisher for this.
This Is Not How I Thought It Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood by Kristin Maschka – Oh my god – PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF! Do not market your book as something that would be helpful to any parent other than yourself when all you’re doing is talking about yourself. That is all I have to say about this book, on which I wasted one book credit at paperbackswap.com.
Superbia! 31 Ways to Create Sustainable Neighborhoods by Dan Chiras and Dave Wann – Just as the subtitle says, this book is chock full of ways to make your suburb – or wherever you live – more friendly and more sustainable. Whether it be hosting community potlucks and book discussion groups, or taking on more ambitious projects like banding together to get good prices on solar panels or finding ways to reduce car pollution, the ideas are in here. The book’s main strength was its wealth of innovative ideas. I really wish they had included more regarding pitfalls and how to surmount them – how do you make this stuff actually happen? What roadblocks have people encountered and what did they do about them? There are some pieces of that in here but they didn’t exactly hand it to you. Still, the book was inspiring and I would like to try out some of their ideas. Grade: B
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell – Okay, this was a best seller like 8 years ago but I only read it recently because of a book discussion group at work. Gladwell shares some fascinating research and insights into what causes social movements or TV shows or fashion preferences to “tip” and become popular/relevant. I was glad that I didn’t find the same problem in this book that I had with Gladwell’s later work, “Blink”. I liked “Blink” but had trouble seeing it as anything more than interesting examples of things strung together without an overall point. I had so much trouble finding a take-away in “Blink”. But “The Tipping Point” was really good about tying it all together and helping you apply what he shares. I read this book through the lens of someone who would like to make social change, and I got plenty of useful ideas from it. Grade: B
Hey look, books by male authors twice in a row. More books (including more books by dudes) behind the cut!
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo – A very compelling novel about a young woman from the Chinese countryside who goes to England to study English. The writing style was so unique and Guo knows how to pull you in to her narrative. Grade: B
Some Girls by Jillian Lauren – Trash can be so much fun. I mean, it’s so bad for you but sometimes it feels so good. The author of this memoir is an American woman who joined a modern-day harem in the tiny but oil-rich country of Brunei. Lauren had graduated from stripping to escort work, and she eventually hears about a gig in a far-off land where a wealthy man would like some American women to join him in attendance at his parties – for which they would be paid. I was so, so enthralled at her tales of life inside the harem. The nitty-gritty details of how it works really were gripping. I liked hearing about the schedule she kept in Brunei, what her days were like, how the wealthy man (who turns out to be a prince in Brunei) treats her. I also enjoyed hearing about the other women and what their lives were like, though I didn’t care for our writer at all (and most of the other women were equally hard to warm up to). I feel some empathy for Lauren – she suffers from depression and occasionally from anorexia – she’s also very shallow and materialistic. (Well, duh. The Mother Teresas of the world generally don’t join harems.) My stomach churned at hearing how much she was given to spend – and spent – on designer clothes one day. And what was with her nasty comment about meeting some “starving vegans” (an odd dig in the ribs from someone who has an eating disorder, especially considering that the vegans she mentions appeared to be in much better mental and physical health than she)? I read the book in like 3 days and despite its many faults, I have to give it a grade of B.
Barack and Michelle by Christopher Andersen – Published soon after Obama took office, this book (which I listened to on CD) tells about the First Couple’s marriage, how they met, their history together. It then chronicles Barack’s rise to political power. At first I was a bit bored since I knew a lot about Barack’s early years from “Dreams from my Father”. But I knew little about Michelle’s history, and it was nice to fill that gap with this book. Despite the fact that this book is about the President of the US and his wife, it doesn’t have much to do with politics or ideology or issues. Mostly it’s about two very intelligent and determined people and the family and career choices they made. I could quibble with a point here and a point there, but the book kept me good company during my commute. Grade: B
Crucial Conversations by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler – We had a development day at work, and they brought in this great speaker – one of the authors of this book. He talked about skills you can use when you have high-stakes conversations. How to make the conversation go better on both sides. He taught really practical skills that you can use in work and in your personal life. Then we each got a copy of the book. Seriously I can’t wait to begin using the tools in this book. I love useful stuff and I learned a ton, both from Mr. McMillan and this book that he co-authored. Grade: B
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Gringa by Melissa Hart - I understand that there’s a popular strand of memoirs by diverse young women which frequently contain – along with the narrative - recipes. It looks like this memoir was attempting to hop that bandwagon. But there’s nothing too remarkable about Hart’s story. She has a jerk of a dad, her mom leaves her dad for a Mexican woman, they relocate to a heavily Latino area. There are lots of ho-hum and basic recipes for Mexican food in here, and I can’t fathom a reason why they were included. The problem with this book is that there are just an overwhelming number of boring details about Hart’s girlhood, which was fairly unremarkable. I didn’t feel that she had that much to say and am surprised that she got a publisher for this.
This Is Not How I Thought It Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood by Kristin Maschka – Oh my god – PLEASE STOP TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF! Do not market your book as something that would be helpful to any parent other than yourself when all you’re doing is talking about yourself. That is all I have to say about this book, on which I wasted one book credit at paperbackswap.com.
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 03:52 am (UTC)i was thinking about reading some girls for the trash factor too :) i hoped it would have some redeeming parts to it. ;) i'm glad to hear it was engaging :)
a friend of mine at work is listening to a book about barack that sounded like something you would like. i'll get the name and let you know.
thats really awesome they brought in a speaker at your work! i wish they would bring people in to our work. well i mean besides donor families and recipients. that's good for our mission but i would like something that maybe won't inspire tears during the workday. :)
i LOL'd at your didn't finish books... sorry you wasted the time on them but thanks for making the review entertaining :)
no subject
Date: 2010-07-20 10:09 am (UTC)I'd say give "Some Girls" a spin. I couldn't put it down. It was fascinating to read about a modern-day harem.
Do let me know the name of the Barack book. Right now I'm a bit Obama-ed out, but I'm sure I'll feel differently after time.
We are very lucky that the company takes time and spends money to develop us. Very lucky.
Glad you got a chuckle out of the unfinished ones. :)
And - as always - thanks for commenting! Will you do a review post soon too?
no subject
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Date: 2010-07-21 11:40 pm (UTC)