The deadliest read.
19 Sep 2008 1 Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
A while ago a friend of mine hooked me up with LibraryThing, a site for avid readers and bibliophiles. Aside from great book reviews, and being able to list your collection of books, the site hosts an Early Reviewers feature. Each month LibraryThing receives a few hundred early review advance copies of books, and you can request books. A lottery system determines if you win or not. So far I have been requesting books for a little under a year, and I’ve won twice.
Which brings me to today’s book review, Time Bandit. This is the story of brothers Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand and their Bering sea crabbing boat the Time Bandit. You may think these names sound familiar – that’s because they’re one of five crews who are also part of the Discovery Channel’s The Deadliest Catch.
Crabbing, according to the brothers, is like the most extreme of extreme sports. This may explain why I’m not always tuned in to the series, and why I didn’t have super high expectations for the book. (Those of you who know me know that I’m not into anything with the word extreme in it, unless it relates to knitting!)
I was, however, pleasantly surprised. The book is really gripping and chilling, and was an enjoyable read the way Into Thin Air was; if you put aside your horror at what these people are doing, they are truly amazing individuals, much, much different from you and I. I learned a lot about fishing and crabbing, as well as a lot about Alaska (although I don’t think it improved my diplomatic relations with Russia, unlike some people….).
I would heartily recommend this book!
Late to the party.
09 Sep 2008 5 Comments
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
Back when the Harry Potter books first came out, everyone was all atwitter and engrossed in the adventures. I saw the movies and thought they were entertaining. I even picked up books 1-4 on sale and sat down to try and read them. But I got stuck in the juvenalia of books 1 and 2, and just couldn’t get into them enough to enjoy them.
Fast forward to the last month or two. I decided that since they were on my shelf, I either needed to read them or ditch them. (What’s the point of keeping books if you don’t think you’ll ever read them?) In my current temp job, I’m allowed to read during the day, so I packed up the Harry Potter volumes and brought them with me.
And lo and behold, I was sucked in. In the last week and a half I’ve devoured all 4 books and now I’m looking at the remaining stack of unread books on my shelf (the one’s I should also be reading), and wistfully thinking about buying books 5-7 instead so I can keep going. I actually think I’m going to be sorry when I finish book 7 and there just isn’t any more!
So yeah, I’m a little late to the party, but apparently I have arrived.
P.S. I tried the House Sorter apps online and apparently I’d be a Ravenclaw. I guess I need a scarf… with a patch!
Positively HILARIOUS
18 Jul 2008 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
I decided to take a short break from the heavier non-fiction I’ve been delving into last week, and picked up a copy of Tony Hawks’ Playing the Moldovans at Tennis.
I first learned about Tony Hawks some years ago during an NPR interview he did during the launch of his book Traveling ‘Round Ireland With a Fridge, which if you haven’t read yet, you MUST read. The premise of his first book is simple. One night, while both men are exceedingly drunk, a friend bets Tony that he can’t hitchhike around Ireland with a dorm-size refrigerator as a traveling companion. The rest of the book you can imagine – I have never laughed so hard in my life.
In this book, Tony seems to fall prey to the same problem. While exceedingly drunk, the same friend bets him that he can’t beat the entire Moldovan Football (Soccer) team at tennis. And so, with 11 names on his list, Tony sets off to Moldovia, a small country in the former-USSR area of the world, to win 11 games of tennis or sing the Moldovan Anthem in front of a crowd while buck naked for failing. I have to say that the second book isn’t quite as inane as the first, but was a truly funny and quick read.
Food for thought, or thoughts about food?
03 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Weekend Update
The last two days I’ve been sucked into some of my library check-outs. Yesterday I went down and returned Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. After trying for a week to read the book on my lunch hour, I found that I just couldn’t get into it. It may very well be a brilliant book with fabulous insights, but I was sort of “eh” on the whole thing. So I made the very grownup decision that if I can’t get into it, I should just move on. I happily returned the book yesterday and checked out two more books on my reading wish-list.
Yesterday at lunch time I began reading Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics and I can already tell that I’m going to love it. What do you get when you take a young Chicago PhD economic genius and let him start to answer life’s tough questions? Questions like: What’s more deadly – a swimming pool or a gun? Well you get some really interesting answers. I’ve only read the first chapter so far, but Levitt pretty much takes all our preconceived notions about just about everything and spins them on their heads. It’s a fascinating book so far and I’m sure this will be one of my favorite reads!
The second book that I checked out was Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I might add that I actually didn’t check out the BOOK per se, but instead I got the audio version. I’m not usually a huge fan of audiobooks (depending on the reader they can be supremely boring) and I LOVE the experience of reading a book, holding it in my hands and turning the pages. However, the library’s copies of the book were checked out and I have a 45-60 minute commute twice a day every day now, so I decided to give this a try. The reader of this book isn’t the best – I find him a little monotone, but the material is excellent. I’m only one disc in (of 13) but I’m already sucked into his exploration of the fundamental question, “What should we eat?” Especially since this question always arises in my own home! Again, so far I’m really sucked in and I can’t wait to get back in the car and listen to more!
Today I’m working a short day, and then this evening we’re heading down to my in-laws for some kayaking, watching of fireworks, and hopefully some knitting and R&R. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I’ll be back soon with knitting photos! (Yes between reading and working and PackRatting [Rattin' as we in the know call it], I have been managing to get some knitting done too!) (By the way, can you tell I like parentheticals?)
Oops I did it again.
21 Jun 2008 2 Comments
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Knitting Content Ahead, The Boob Tube, Weekend Update
That is, forget to post for a week. I know, just 6 months ago I was posting multiple times a day and now I’m lucky if I post a few times a week! I attribute part of it to my not working in an office environment every day; half my stories used to be weird antics or things that were circulated at work. Lately I’ve just been spending a lot of time doing things that I love, but these aren’t necessarily post-worthy.
This week in particular, I’ve spent most of my time sleeping late, and knitting. I’ve also been taking advantage of Fancast. Fancast is a beta project that my friend Knitmeister S’s dad had been working on, and I have to say it’s fabulous. It’s a great LEGAL way to watch episodes of television for free. It’s not great if you’re looking for the newest stuff, but if you’re looking for something a few seasons back… or even a LONG time ago you can score here. This week I have been watching an eclectic mix: Twin Peaks (that David Lynch is a VERY bizarre man but the show has it’s hysterical moments!), a few episodes of season 3 of Bones (waiting for them all on Netflix is KILLING me!) and I’ve also watched several episodes of Hill Street Blues (Steven Bochco’s early police comedy featuring a YOUNG David Caruso – pre-scenery chewing CSI!). All have been enjoyable and have helped combat midday tv and rerun boredom.
In the past few weeks I’ve also been able to polish off a few books. The first is Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. This is a great read about architecture, the church and political intrigue in the time of (and immediate preceding) King Henry’s ascension to the throne in England. The story focuses on a church prior and a master stone mason and how their lives intertwine. While the architectural detail in the book can get a little tedious to read at times, the plot itself is full of intrigue and kept me turning the pages rapidly in this 800+ page novel. I’d definitely recommend it!
The second book I’ve read in the past few weeks is Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone. Yes I know I’m behind the times. I originally bought books one through four after seeing the movies and wanting to know more. But the first time I tried to read the first book, I just got stuck. I already knew most of the plot and it just didn’t capture my interest. This time around, I read the book in a day and a half, mostly while I was stuck in the airport. It did hold my interest, and I even managed to glean a few of the literary details that movies so often leave out. I still haven’t managed to pick up the next book since I’ve been back, but it’s now on my list.
Finally I’ve been knitting up a storm. When I went home to LA a week or two ago, I brought a lacy shawl with me that has been relegated to the corner of the couch for some months now. For whatever reason, I just couldn’t seem to get the hang of it and that made it more like a chore than fun knitting. I don’t know what was wrong before because coming back to it has been so much fun! I ripped through a few repeats while I was in LA and now I’m halfway through the 3rd repeat (1 more full one after this and then edging). At this point it’s going slowly because I have almost 300 stitches on the needles, but I’m loving it. I can’t wait to finish and post pics!
I’ve also managed to pick up a few more samples, one for a local store and a few for A Mano. Add that to the baby blankets I’m trying to finish for the fall, several pairs of socks for gifts and all that yarn sitting in wait for things for me and I’ve been super busy. However, with Wes out of town and this week dedicated to knitting, I’ve gotten a fair amount done. By the weekend’s end I hope to have at least one finished knit to show you. We’ll see how I do!
I guess that’s all for now. I’m off to pick up my sweetie at the airport and then tomorrow it’s off to the Sunflower Knitters Guild Yarn Crawl.
The Reads
26 Apr 2008 1 Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
I confess I haven’t been reading too much lately because I’m swimming in things I want to knit, and unfortunately, the more complicated the pattern, the less able I am to read while I knit. Reading is also a solitary activity, and while I love it, I also enjoy spending time with Wes, so I prefer to knit and spend time talking with him than sitting with a book. That said, I LOVE READING and I’m so excited to have finished two books on my “want to read” list.
The first is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I admit that the first time I picked this book up it was on the recommendation of friends and I just couldn’t get into it. Indeed the first section is told in somewhat of a dialect and I really had to forge through the first 40 pages. However, after I did that, I was hooked. The first half of this book is told in chronological order, and the second half in reverse chronological order. The stories are seemingly unconnected and yet in some small way the characters in each briefly touch each other. Although certain sections were harder reading than others, overall I’d say the construction of the book was really masterfully done and I enjoyed reading this one quite a bit.
The second book is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I stole this one from my mother’s shelf when I was home, and in the course of an 8 hour day of plane rides and layovers I tore right through it. The story narrated by an old man, recalling his days spent literally running away with the circus. It’s an interesting read and the author notes that she spent quite a bit of time researching the history of the circus – many of the seemingly unbelievable tales are loosely based on actual events! This was quite an entertaining way to spend a day!
The Partly Cloudy Patriot
12 Jan 2008 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
After I enjoyed Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation so much, I passed it on to my friend Knitmeister S who also enjoyed it greatly. This afternoon I walked into his office and he told me that he had just received another of Sarah Vowell’s books, The Partly Cloudy Patriot. I ooohed and aaahed until he let me borrow it, and then proceeded to commit the embarrassingly nerdy act of reading it all in one afternoon while I was supposed to be working. In deference to him, I’m not going to post spoilers, but just say that it was an excellent read. If you enjoy Sarah’s sarcastic look at American history, you’ll enjoy this! I do believe my favorite line of the book is this:
“American history is a quagmire, and the more one knows, the quaggier the mire gets.”
Giggling through history.
20 Dec 2007 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Political Statements
For Chanukah/Christmas, the l’il sis’ boyfriend gave me a book, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell. I hadn’t heard of the book, nor the author so I had no idea what I was in for. All I knew was that she had recently received quite a bit of acclaim on NPR, and that was enough.
I was in for a treat though! Ms. Vowell has written a book about taking a vacation to retrace the steps of America’s most famous assassins. What she weaves together is a humorous retelling of some of the darkest moments in U.S. history. Aside from her impeccable historical research, she spends a lot of time exploring the nuances of who knew who, who was present where and when, and all the interesting footnoted trivia about our presidents and the men that chose to kill them. I profess I’m no historical buff, but this was a truly enjoyable read and I spent most of it giggling through history. If you’re a liberal at heart, you’ll enjoy Ms. Vowell’s explorations and how she relates them to current political quagmires.
Three Cups of Tea
04 Dec 2007 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
I just finished a wonderful book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The book begins as a tale of a mountain climber trying desperately to summit K2. After a few failed attempts, half-frozen, hungry and half-dead with exhaustion, he loses his way down the mountain and ends up in a tiny Pakistani mountain village. Out of this visit comes his desire to give something back to the people who have saved his life, and thus starts a life’s journey. Greg Mortenson begins with just $12,000 and a dream to build a school for girls in the tiny Pakistani village of Korphe. Set amidst 9/11 and other world events, Mortenson’s journey into the Arab world is terrifying and courageous and beautiful. Mortenson, as one lone American, achieves what an entire war is being fought for, and is failing to achieve. I can’t say enough about how wonderful this book is, it truly is a must read.
Into the Wild
27 Nov 2007 Leave a Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend
Well things are back to normal at work, and the daily humdrum tasks leave plenty of time for reading. Today I finished up a great book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I have read one of Krakauer’s other works (Into Thin Air) and I have to say that I highly recommend both.
This book, now a major motion picture, is a reflective look at the life of Christopher McCandless, an educated young man who walked into the Alaskan wilderness to live off the land and never returned. There have been many arguments over the years as to whether McCandless was mentally disturbed, suicidal, naive or just simply stupid, and Krakauer explores all of these possibilities. The story is intense, much like I would expect McCandless himself was, and it was a consuming read.
Krakauer’s books are not for the faint of heart – he describes in non-fiction autobiographical form the most harrowing adventures, the deepest darkest side of man and the harshest beauty of nature, but they are excellent reads and I would highly recommend them.
