February 2008 Books & Such

For the one person who actually cares, here is what was going on in our house this week, reading and entertainment wise. Note - everything is on a scale of 4 stars.

Books

The Choice, by Nicholas Sparks – 1.5 stars – I like Sparks’ sappy romantic books, but not this one. I thought the story boring and prosaic and the entire idea of his “choice” somewhat unappealing with a fantastical ending.

The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Phillip Zimbardo – 3.75 stars – I really really love this book, but it is a very long nonfiction book. The book spends a great deal of time outlining the Stanford Prison Experiment and then discusses in general the ideas of not only personality but also (and mostly) situation and the “system” causing good apples to go bad – the bad barrel philosophy. I love the perspective this book gives me and find the psychology experiments very very fascinating. I loved it!

The Saturday Wife, by Naomi Ragen – 2.5 stars – For this kind of book (and genre), this book really made me think. The main character is (in my mind) nominally an Orthodox Jew but ends up marrying a rabbi and trying to convince him to follow her’s life dream – basically living a life of leisure in a really really expensive suburb. And the corruption that follows. I just had such a hard time believing that people can be so shallow.

The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss – 1.5 stars – This was our book for book club in February and I just didn’t love it. It follows the story of an old man (a bit crazy, I might add) and a teenage girl and you see all kinds of love. But as I and another reader wondered, “When is the book going to start?”. A very slow story and the “and yet” and “but”s of the novel started to grate on my nerves. But some people really love it – what can I say.

Austenland, by Shannon Hale – 1.5 stars – A quick read on a night when Katsu was at a friends watching movies. An interesting take on what it might have been like to live in a Jane Austen novel (boring, boring, and a few hot guys). But unfortunately boring.

Another day in the frontal lobe: a brain exposes life on the inside, by Katrina Firlik – 2.5 stars – This interesting memoir by a brain surgeon wasn’t quite what I expected … though I did learn some about the brain and got a different impression about what brain surgeons do. I don’t think I’d like this job.

CDs

Putumayo Kids - 1.5-4 stars - Andrew has really really loved these CDs the last month or so. African Playground and Dreamland both get 4 stars each. French Playground is 3.5 stars. Reggae Playground is 2.5 stars, Folk Playground is 1.5 stars. Animal Playground is 2 stars. Asian Dreamland is 2 stars. And yes - we have listened to WAY too many of these in the last month. But the African Playground CD rocks. Andrew dances along to EVERY song and only wants to listen to this CD.