Sept Book Review

I read a few books this month, so here we go ...

The most "controversial" for first:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer - so, I didn't expect to really like this. I am not a huge fan of young adult books anymore unless they are really well written. And I expected to like this as much as Harry Potter (i.e. not very much). And it pretty much delivered. At first, the book was nominally interesting. But as soon as the protagonists (Bella and Edward or something like that, I forget and am too lazy to look it up) get together, I could no longer stand the book. It was so sickeningly sweet and sooo boring. I mean, I could see the appeal for a middle schooler, because I think Meyer hit the hopes / dreams of that audience right on par. I mean, the vampire definitely says things I remember myself as a middle/high school girl wishing a guy would say to me. But now, not so much. But I wanted to finish the book and it did get a bit more interesting after the baseball game. But I have to say, overall, I did not like the book. The dialogue KILLED me which was it's number one problem for adults. So, yeah, did not like it. 2.5/5 - maybe lower.

Home Decorating for Dummies by Patricia Hart McMillian - not very useful and I don't feel like I learned all that much actually. Not very recommended. 1/5.

The Scientist in the Crib: Minds, brains, and how children learn by Alison Gopnik. In the beginning I really really liked this book. I loved how they explained the kind of beliefs that children have when they are born and how those change and develop as they use their scientific reasoning to understand the world around them. I totally think this is what parenting books should be like - showing the wonder and mystery of children and how they develop mentally, emotionally, etc. Much more useful information than in most books. But at around the middle of the book, where the authors start positing about how much scientists are like big babies ... well, I feel like the book kind of went downhill from there and became boring and repetitive. I don't know if I even finished it. Oh, well. 3.5 / 5

American wife by Curtis Sittenfield - This book was interesting, although (especially at the beginning - say first section or two) there was a lot of sexual content and I had to skip TONS of pages ... so, I can't recommend it, but ... anyways, I really found this book fascinating. This is "historical" fiction of Laura Bush's life. It never really occured to me that you could do such a thing and I wonder what she feels about it. But it is loosely based on the major events of her life and then concocts a whole story around it. I thought the character development was GREAT until the last section when it all just pettered out. Though the whole time I have to wonder 1) Why did she put up with her husband? What a loser and 2) WOW! How much is this really based on GW Bush because if it is even at all based on his personality we have a really obnoxious, irresponsible person for president. Seriously, very scary!!! Good thing he is not up for reelection, because this book would totally scar me and bias me, regardless of the truth. An interesting idea and pretty well written. 3.5/5

My freshman year: what a professor learned by becoming a student by Rebekah Nathan. Although that is a psuedonym. She actually took a sabbatical as a professor to become a college freshman again. And I admire her audacity. I mean, what 50 year old professor has the nerve to take classes again and actually live in a freshman dorm!!! I mean, WOW!!! I still can't believe it. The book was interesting, but not as interesting as I expected. I could really relate to a lot of what she talked about. And it definitely helped me understand some aspects of college better. The idea that most students only really know a few kids well and they are kind of their "clique" and otherwise, you are just passing ships in classes really rung true to what I observed in undergrad, but I thought I was just missing something. I think this is definitely a must read for anyone interested in higher education or sociology. I especially found the concepts of how choice and community are linked. 4/5

The last lecture by Randy Pausch. I was expecting sort of another "Tuesdays with Morrie", but this was definitely different. Dr. Pausch is a computer science virtual reality professor who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and this is a book about his legacy - basically how he lived his life and achieved all his childhood dreams and was very happy. It is very interesting to read and I think he has a lot of good tidbits on life, especially for a college professor. I think part of the way he accomplished so many of his goals was having a family relatively late in life so he could focus completely single mindedly on his career and really do amazing things with it. But I did find it interesting. I guess I should actually watch the last lecture. 4/5

I'm starting to feel a lot busier with school so we will see what I have time to read this month. Maybe not much.