Kindle Touch 3G

Just in time for my trip to Asia, I picked up the new Kindle Touch 3G from Staples today. I had a bunch of Staples rewards coupons that were about to expire, so it was free to me! I wasn't planning on getting the 3G, just the Kindle Touch, but due to some snafus with the order process, I got upgraded. I've loaded it up with a few books from my library as well as downloaded some free classics from Amazon, should be more than enough for my travels. I'm still getting used to it, I've had some issues turning it off and on, it appears to freeze occasionally and runs a little choppily with flashing screens and it sucks that it has to charge through a computer as no power adapter was provided. Despite the flaws, I'm still happy that I got it and glad that I won't have to lug 10 pounds of books around with me while on vacation.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

It's been a really long time since I've been so captivated by a book as I have been by "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot. Usually non-fiction science / medical reads are not my thing, but this book completely entranced me. I won't reveal too much, but it tells the true story about cancer cells taken from a poor black woman in the 1950's without her knowledge, much less consent, which were the first human cells to be cultivated and reproduced in labs gazillion times over and are still in existence even today. The book deftly weaves many interrelated story lines: Henrietta Lacks' personal story, the tremendous impacts that her cells have had through the years on medical research, the (often similarly heartbreaking) lives of her various relatives and descendants, and overriding socioeconomic historical contexts. Although they are not without their faults, you really find yourself rooting for Henrietta Lacks and her family, as well as for the author, who is the first to tell this complete story with full credit to the Lacks family, after all these years. It's hard to explain without giving away too much, but it's an incredibly touching, fascinating, educational, page-turner of a read.

Delivering Happiness

I haven't bought a book in a few years, thanks to the wonderful Santa Monica library system.  I'm a pretty avid reader and I've been reading a lot lately, more than ever before.  While I've read a quite a few good books, I've never felt the need to go out and buy a book that I borrowed...until now.  I just finished "Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose" by Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos.  It might sound like a boring business book (and I've read lots of those), but I found it funny, insightful and inspiring.  It's a book I actually want to read again, with many sections that I will constantly refer back to.   It's about his successes and failures as an entrepreneur since childhood, culminating with the story of how he built Zappos to be what it is today: a market-leading, uniquely customer-centric online retailer.  It's very different from the usual business book; perhaps it's a generational / cultural thing, but I can really identify with and relate to Tony.   His childhood, brought up by Taiwanese parents in California, is very familiar to me; I remember the dot-com era boom and bust like it was yesterday, and I love entrepreneurial stories.  He shares lots of funny, quirky and interesting anecdotes in a very open and honest way.  He's very inspirational: incredibly smart and entrepreneurial, but still comes off as a normal guy, always remaining true to himself.  You definitely don't have to be a business person to read the book; I think the life lessons in the book are interesting to everyone.

Winter Reading

I've read a lot of books over the last month, particularly over the Christmas holidays with all the airplane travel.  Out of the books that I read, I enjoyed about half of them.  I just couldn't get into the other ones; I found them a little disturbing.

Starting with the positive, the books that I did enjoy:
"One Day" by David Nicholls.  I really got into the book; I found it charming and touching.  I like the unique storytelling method: basically the book is about two people as told through the events of the same day July 15th, every single year.  You got glimpses of the year that went by on annual basis.  It made you want to keep on reading, to see what happened the next year, and the next year.  Good book with intriguing characters.

"Juliet" by Anne Fortier.  This was a fun and quick read.  Romeo and Juliet is my favorite Shakespeare play and one of my all-time favorite books, so I enjoyed reading a little bit about the history of the characters.  Some of the present day events and characters were a little far-fetched, but I don't think this book was meant to be taken seriously, the book was more in the vein of a fun Da Vinci Code-esque mystery tale with a little romance for the female crowd.  The juxtaposition of the present day characters and adventures with the real Romeo and Guilietta of 1340 was a unique way to tell the story, though it did drag things out occasionally.

"When the Game Was Ours" by Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan.  As a Laker fan all my life, I remember the excitement of the Celtics / Lakers rivalry during the Magic Johnson and Larry Bird era.  Magic Johnson was my childhood hero; I still remember so clearly that day that Magic had contracted the HIV virus, one of those days that I'll always remember.  Since I was a little young to remember their college and NBA careers, I learned a lot about these two guys that I never knew before.  I really respect both players and their rivalry.  Maybe I'm idealizing the past, but it seemed like it wasn't all about endorsements and the money; players played hard with heart and passion because they loved the game and they wanted to win championships.  Legacies were defined by championships (ahem Lebron).  The writing was uneven in spots, but still, it was an illuminating read.

Onto the negative, the books that just didn't do it for me:
"Born Round" by Frank Bruni.  I usually love books about food and food writing.  I adore all of Ruth Reichl's books, I've loved reading Michael Ruhlmann, Bill Buford, Julia Child, and I've found Gael Greene and Anthony Bourdain to be entertaining in spots.  I just didn't like this book.  I guess it was uncomfortable because it was about the darker side of eating as opposed to the joy of eating.  It just seemed to drag on and on.  Even the parts about his stint as the New York Times food critic just didn't hold my attention.  I didn't find him to be a particularly good writer, ironically.

The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee.  This was just a really hard book to read.  As I recall, I really liked one of his earlier books, Native Speaker, that I read as part of my Asian American studies classes, but this book was dark and darker.  The characters were really hard to like and there wasn't much hope.  I don't mind tough books like Let The Great World Spin, but a little shimmer of optimism would be nice.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein.  This was another book that I thought I would love.  It's told from a perspective of a dog after all!  I just didn't quite get into the book and the characters.  The story dragged a bit and I just found parts to be unbelievable (and not even the parts relating the almost human dog).  I preferred Marley and Me, sorry.

Jury is still out on March by Geraldine Brooks.  I'm only through the first couple pages but it's hard to really get into it.

Let the Great World Spin

I just finished "Let the Great World Spin" by Colin McCann last night.  I thought it was a great book; I was thoroughly engrossed by all the stories and characters.  I really enjoy reading books written this way: seemingly disparate characters and stories that all come together at the end.  The book slowly unravels and you don't know how it is all going to make sense and come together until the very end, and there is a certain satisfaction in reaching that ending.  It definitely keeps your attention; it makes you want to keep reading.  The book is set in the mid-1970's in NYC and revolves around many different characters in the different boroughs in different socioeconomic classes who are all somehow linked to this one event where a man walks a tightrope across the World Trade Centers.  Of course it brought me back to all the emotions of 9/11, even though it took place in a different time.  The book manages to evoke all sort of intense feelings: sadness, pity, discomfort, hopelessness, and even optimism.  It's not an easy read, given some of the darker themes, but I found it thought-provoking, moving and rewarding when it was all over.

Alice in Wonderland / Valentine's Day: Mixed Reviews

 

K. has been sick all week so we cooked at home and stayed in this weekend, watching two movies that I borrowed from the library: Alice in Wonderland and Valentine's Day.  Starting with the positive: we both really liked Alice in Wonderland.  I was a little surprised; I thought I wasn't going to really like it, but I found it visually stunning; just the right amount of special effects to make it delightfully magical.  I was engrossed by the story as well; I had expected it to be just a remake of the classic Disney cartoon, but it wasn't; it took the story forward from the original cartoon with an appeal to a more adult and sophisticated audience.  The movie was based more on Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, rather than his original Alice in Wonderland.  I thought the relatively new actress playing Alice, Mia Wasikowska, was the perfect lovely Alice (plus I want every single dress that she wore in the movie...her dresses were absolutely aaaaaamazing...)  The movie has made me want to read Lewis Carroll's original books, as well as rewatch the cartoon version and go visit Disneyland again (of course everything makes me want to go to Disneyland).

My favorite dress; dress that I would most likely wear

Closeup of my favorite dress; I love the flower and the armband

My second favorite dress; I love ruffles. Reminds me a bit of Marc Jacobs a few seasons ago, my all-time favorite designer

I like this dress as well; very different from the others

The classic dress, very sweet, although not my style

On the other hand, Valentine's Day was pretty bad.  I wasn't expecting it to be great, but I was at least expecting it to be decent, given its huge star-studded cast, with some of my favorite actresses including Anne Hathaway, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Garner.  Unfortunately it was not believable, cheesy, cliched and predictable.  I downright disliked most of the characters (particularly Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Biel's characters).  I also have to say, not only is Taylor Swift a terrible singer and cheesy repetitive songwriter, but she's a bad actress too! I'm just not a Taylor Swift fan.  My favorite part of the whole movie was in the credits when Julia Roberts responds, "Once. Big mistake...BIG mistake" when her driver asks if she's shopped at Rodeo Drive before.  Now that was a great movie.

Love in Infant Monkeys

 

I finished reading Lydia Millet's "Love in Infant Monkeys" today, a rather charming collection of fictional short stories involving animals and famous people, one of the finalists for this year's Pulitzer Prize.  I quite enjoyed the book; I found it imaginative, funny, eclectic and empathetic, plus I love the title.  Generally speaking, I don't really like short stories (and short films for that matter) as they often have abrupt and unresolved endings, leaving the audience hanging and forcing them to interpret their own conclusions.  These short stories on the other hand, entailed a concise yet complete story, just enough to get you hooked into the story, but also with a definitive ending.  They also made for good bedtime reading; you could read a short story in its entirety in less than half an hour, so that you wouldn't have to try to recall what you last read every time you picked the book up again.  I returned the book to the library today and picked up some DVDs (Precious, Alice in Wonderland and Valentine's Day; how's that for variety) as well as my next batch of books: "Possession," by "A.S. Byatt, "The White Tiger," by Aravind Adiga and "Waiting," by Ha Jin.  I don't know much about any of these books; I browsed some book award lists and picked them out so hopefully they are decent.  I'll be doing a bunch of travel towards the end of the month so I need to collect some books to take with me.  Any recommendations are much appreciated!!