Books
By NONOBADKITTY! 3:16 pm Wednesday April 2nd, 2008
Update: I’m just going to post what few reviews I write over on my Library Thing profile, since I have to post them there anyway when I review those numerous free books they send me.
This is a page where I’ll put a brief synopsis of books I’ve read. I used to keep a list on my main website where I’d do little stars and whatnot but I’m not even gonna bother with that, I’ll just add comments as I read new books. Below are listed the books I’ve read the last few years. I noticed on my site I didn’t seem to read any books in 2007 … I know I read the last Harry Potter book so I plopped it in there. Some of them had mini-reviews with them, so I linked to the page on my main site if there were any, in case you care.
Starting this year, I’ll just add in comments with my “reviews”, and maybe I’ll update the list, maybe not, it depends how lazy I am. I’m trying to make the process easier for me than having to manually update my website, and leaving comments is the easiest way to do that other than starting a whole new blog for books, which I am definitely too lazy to do. 
Books I Read in 2002:
- Behind the Smile Marie Osmond
Chronoliths Robert Charles Wilson
God’s Debris Scott Adams
The Fellowship of the Ring J. R. R. Tolkien
Pale Blue Dot Carl Sagan
Secret Ceremonies Debra Laake
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan
The Camino Shirley MacLaine
The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers
Books I Read in 2003:
- Magick, Mayhem and Mavericks – A Spirited History of Physical Chemistry Cathy Cobb
The Four Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz
The Golden Compass Philip Pullman
The Subtle Knife Philip Pullman
More Than a Carpenter Josh McDowell
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the The Goblet of Fire J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J. K. Rowling
Do What You Are Tieger & Tieger
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler E. L. Konigsburg
Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser
Beacham’s Sourcebooks: Exploring Harry Potter E. Schafer
The Giver Lois Lowry
Life Everywhere: The Maverick Science of Astrobiology David Darling
Books I Read in 2004:
- The Elegant Universe Brian Greene
How to Survive Without a Salary Charles Long
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
Books I Read in 2005:
- Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Sleepaway Eric Simonoff
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince J. K. Rowling
Books I Read in 2006:
- Angels & Demons Dan Brown
Idlewild Nick Sagan
Books I Read in 2007:
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K Rowling
Books I read in 2008:
- Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich
Ghost Light Frank Rich
God is Not Great Christopher Hitchens
Yoga the Iyengar Way Silva, Mira & Shyam Mehta
Walter the Farting Dog William Kotzwinkle
Broadway Barks Bernadette Peters
Born Standing Up Steve Martin
Authenticity: Clearing the Junk: A Buddhist Perspective Yifa
Ultra-Metabolism Mark Hyman, M.D.
Posted in | 5 Comments »
April 14th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
First off, this is a kid’s picture book, that I found out about because it was on the best seller list on Amazon in children’s fiction about dogs, which I found when looking at the page for another children’s book Broadway Barks.
I thought this book was kind of stupid, except I do have to give it credit for the fact it contained the phrase “anal flatulence.” That, however, was the only highlight to this book, I didn’t care for the illustrations, and the story was not very interesting, and was very crude. But, I guess kids like farts, so the book is doing quite well on the bestseller list. I think that’s kind of sad, I think it would be nice if books that encourage and celebrate nice behavior and values were the popular ones, but alas, we live interesting times.
April 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Read my review here.
April 20th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
I first heard about this book years ago on Oprah, and thought it sounded interesting given how I spent a good 15 years of my life slaving away on near-minimum wage jobs and trying to survive. The book chronicles the author’s experiment in trying to live on low income wages. Unfortunately, it’s just an experiment, the author “cheats” by going home to her real house now and again, and always has the option of quitting the experiment (or job) any time it gets too hard. For the people who really live this life, they don’t usually have that option.
I did find the book interesting from the standpoint of being an entertaining look into the characters that inhabit this segment of society, however. But as an educational treatise, I found it lacking, except for the footnotes scattered throughout the book that contained various depressing statistics about this segment of society.
I also found her budgets unreasonable, she allocated herself $500/month for rent while working a job that paid only $6/hr. There is no possible way anyone could even come close to that for long, there are too many other expenses one just can’t do without forever. Fortunately, the author mentions time and time again her rules are unreasonable. But she never really seems to actually try to live on her wages, she just shrugs it off as impossible, quits the job, and moves on to the next “assignment.”
The truly sad part of this book, though, is that there are millions of people in the U.S. who try to get by on very little. Some of them are stuck, never able to get enough money together to move on to something better, and some of them probably just settle and make do with what they have. But there are a few who “get out” thanks to the kindness of strangers or friends, or just finally getting fed up with it all and taking the risk needed to “move on.” But fear of something worse is sometimes worse than the fear of taking a chance at a better life, and that is the real lesson I think from this book.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I posted this review on Library Thing as well.
I really enjoyed this book, it covered Buddhist principles in a practical way, and the cheerful, easy-going style of the author was a pleasant change from some of the more didactic Buddhist books I’ve read.
She discusses various ways we allow “junk” into our lives, from the foods we eat to the people we choose to associate with, to the thoughts that poison our behavior. And after pointing out how all of us have junk, she offers advice on how to lessen its effect in our lives, and how by combining meditation and mindfulness, we can ultimately eliminate it and live truly authentic lives.
One uplifting thing about reading the book for me, was I found out I’m not too far off track, I do have things I still need to work on, but compared to some of the examples in the book, I seem to be on the right track to eliminating the junk from my life. Sometimes books on Buddhism can seem overwhelming in the requirements of practice, but this book made me realize that even small, easy to manage changes can, over a lifetime, have a major impact on our happiness and connection to others. So, I recommend this book to everyone, even those not normally interested in Buddhism, as it is practical, non-preachy advice on how to live a happier, more authentic life.
June 7th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I’m even too lazy to post book reviews on this site, so just link to my Library Thing profile page instead.