Well, my depression seems to have been better. That plus having a really nasty illness (a bad cold or something) and I've actually been reading! Plus, a few books here and there over the last couple months. Time to share.
The Associate by John Grisham I usually like Grisham's books and the nice easiness of reading them. I read this in like a day or two (half of in the early hours of the morning with insomnia). Basic premise - Yale Law Review editor ends up taking big-law job out of black mail. I found the descriptions of big law quite harrowing and appalling. I really do not understand why anyone works that much. Yuck! The poor families.
The secret of play : how to raise smart, healthy, caring kids from birth to age 12 by Ann Pleshette Murphy Good title, but relatively worthless book, IMO. The descriptions of what to do with your kids where absolutely nothing new.
The fortune cookie chronicles : adventures in the world of Chinese food by Jennifer 8 Lee I really loved this book. And I have to admit, I am not a huge fan of American Chinese food. But I found the story interesting, as she tries to track where fortune cookies came from (hint: not from China or even Chinese immigrants), and learns all about everything - the soy sauce that comes with it, the take-out boxes, where all the immigrants come from, why the food tastes virtually the same everything, where General Tso's chicken come from, where the fortunes come from, etc. I even wouldn't mind a Chinese buffet right now.
Trading dreams at midnight by Dianne Mckinney-Whetstone I couldn't finish this book about a either bipolar or schizophrenic or both mother, her own mother, and her daughter and the ties around them. But it was just a little too crazy and had a little too much sexuality for me. Not recommended.
The day I ate whatever I wanted : and other small acts of liberation by Elizabeth Berg This is a collection of short stories which usually is hit-or-miss. Some of the stories I just found kind of boring. Some of them were okay. Nothing really stellar and of course, a lot of them focused on food. An okay read.
The story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta Trapp I admit, I did not finish this book as I felt like I read it before (albeit, back when I lived in OK in my pre-16 year old days) and I just wasn't riveted. Of course, that had a lot to do with my depression at the time, too. But basically Maria of the Sound of Music (the real story) writes about her life. I find her up-beat look on what could have been a very hard life refreshing. Recommended.
A natural history of seeing : the art and science of vision by Simon Ings I loved this book, though I have to say that it is at times quite technical and not an "easy" read which might dissuade people from picking it up. But I learned SO much about how we see and how the eyes work. I was fascinated the entire way through. He approaches sight from many different angles - studying the evolution of eyes (fascinating stuff ... especially illuminating in understand how/why our eyes work the way they do), how eyes work, how our vision works, how vision varies among people, etc. Vision is WAY more complicated than I thought, and not really a simple picture appears on the eye and gets transmitted to our brain, but with a lot of interpretation inbetween. Learning the effects of a Vitamin A deficiency actually inspired me to pick up Katsu's Nutrition textbook and peruse it again. And I learned that humans actually have really good night vision - we just don't smell very well. Interesting. Definitely recommended if you can tolerate reading about science in a nice, meandering way.
Grace by Richard Paul Evans While the story itself was okay, I find (like many of his books) that this would be better told as a short story instead of a short novel, because there just wasn't that much story there. That said, a typical book by Mr. Evans.
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