Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Memoir

After Susanna overdosed on drugs trying to kill herself, her parents send her to therapy. She is sent to a therapist on the other side of town and after only 30 minutes, the therapist decides that Susanna should be admitted to the famous psychiatric hospital McLean, where Ray Charles and John Nash have stayed. Just from this decision made in 30 minutes, Susanna loses a year and a half of her life staying in the hospital. They diagnose her with borderline personality syndrome.

Susanna tells of the friends she makes in the hospital and their stories. Some are sad, some are funny. But really the point of this book is to determine what defines us as crazy? And can a single doctor, in 30 minutes, really determine properly if someone belongs in a hospital? Isn't everyone a little crazy?

I found some of Susanna's commentary on her disease to be a bit tiresome, but the last chapter on it was very interesting. Having seen the movie, I was expecting something entirely different. The book is nothing like the movie at all - and in this case I found the movie to be more interesting, even if less realistic, than the book.

First Line: "People ask, How did I get in there?"

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore

Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
Fiction/Literature

Tuck blows it when he takes a prostitute up in the pink Mary Jean jet while drunk and crashes it into SeaTac airport. Mary Jean wants him not only out of her company, but off of the continent immediately so its easier to deal with the media backlash. Tuck gets a letter from an island in Micronesia called Alualu, where they are looking for a pilot to fly their brand new Learjet. Tuck doesn't even think about how missionaries could afford to purchase a brand new jet before he accepts and heads off down to start a new life.

The book follows Tuck's journey where it's hard to tell if he has very bad luck, or very good luck. For example, in trying to get to this island, Tuck misses a boat that is going to take him so he commissions out a boat from a cross dresser, and they get stuck in a typhoon. But Tuck survives. Tuck learns about the island folktales and the local's Gods while trying to figure exactly what is going on and why so much money is being made. Of course, he can't help but get himself into some trouble along the way.

This novel was lots of fun. Tuck was an enjoyable character: a geek in a non-geek body, a little naive, and sometimes a little stupid. I didn't laugh out loud during this book but some parts were quite funny. I found this to be one of Moore's better novels.

First Line: "Tucker Case awoke to find himself hanging from a breadfruit tree by a coconut fiber rope."

Rating:

(4/5)

Apples and Oranges

Apples and Oranges by Marie Brenner
Memoir

Marie Brenner has written a memoir about her confusing and strained relationship with her brother, Carl. He is as conservative as she is liberal. He is a former lawyer turned apple farmer, she is a big city investigative journalist. All their lives they have been 'at each other's throats'. Neither understanding the other. It was just easier to live apart.

When Carl, Marie's brother, is diagnosed with cancer Marie drops everything; her job, her friends and her husband to try to help and bond with her brother. Carl wants nothing to do with this and barks out orders to her. She in turn ignores these and irritates him. Can they ever find common ground? Marie researches everything. She learns all about possible cures and alternative treatments. She learns all she can about apple farming.

Brenner has documented her family's history with sibling rivalry. Her father did not get along with his sister. Could this be a pattern in families? Brenner had hoped by researching the past she would be able to bridge the gap in communication and understanding in the present. Brenner also visited a therapist to try to understand. Not many of us would go to these lengths to re-connect with our brother or sister.

For all of us who experience sibling miscommunication this book hits very close to home. Marie keeps on trying to establish a relationship which Carl alternately accepts and then pushes away. Sometimes sad, sometimes funny, sometimes frustrating this book has every emotion.

First Line: "We fight at the dinner table"

Rating:

(4.0/5)

Nanjing 1937

Nanjing 1937 by Ye Zhaoyan
Historical Fiction

This book takes place in Nanjing the year leading up to the infamous massacre by the Japanese in 1937. The story is about Ding Wenyu, a womanizing professor of foreign languages. He is a immensely popular professor who does not abide by any rule of either etiquette or common sense. He is invited to the wedding of one of his colleague's and falls head over heels in love with the bride, Ren Yuyuan. He starts by sending daily love letters to her. She at first is embarrassed and does not know how to handle the undeserved attention. Ren's marriage to a arrogant philandering pilot has problems from the start.

The urgency of the love because of the environment gets more and more tense at the invasion draws nearer.

There is a tremendous amount of detail in this book. The author describes this year in amazing attention to detail. The amount of research done was phenomenal. The Chinese politics and attitudes are described.

I found this book intriguing but difficult to read. First the romance was a little farcical. This may be the Chinese style. The book read like a history book at times instead of a historical fiction. I do not know whether this is because of the amount of detail in the book or because of the translation

This book was read for the Numbers Challenge

First Line: "January 1, 1937 was a Friday."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic by Howard Norman

In Fond Remembrance of Me: A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic by Howard Norman
Non-Fiction

Howard Norman is employed by a museum to travel to Churchill, Winnipeg, Canada to transcribe Inuit folktales into English. There he meets Helen, who is essentially doing the same thing, except translating into Japanese. Helen has a better command for the language and gets along much better with Mark, the person who they are hearing the folktales from. From the beginning we learn that Helen has stomach cancer and Norman uses the book to explain the impact Helen, Mark, and the folktales have made on his life.

Throughout the book are about 10 Inuit folktales that Norman has translated. Each of them have to do with Noah's ark and what happened when Noah sailed into Hudson's Bay. While I found the first one very interesting, all of them were very similar, making me feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again. Perhaps for the sake of not boring the reader, Norman could have cut down the number of tales he wrote in.

I have no doubt that some people may love this book, but it just didn't do it for me. I was having troubles following Norman because he was delving too deep and getting too philosophical for me. Furthermore, I found some of the exchanges between him and Helen just plain weird.

First Line: "On November 8, 1977, in the Halifax train station a few minutes before boarding a train for Montreal, Helen Tanizaki handed me a letter from the afterlife."

Rating:

(3/5)

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini

Shadow of Power by Steve Martini
Mystery/Courtroom Drama

When a controversial author is found murdered in his hotel room, the police waste no time pointing the finger at Carl Arnsberg, an employee of the hotel that happened into the author's room. Paul Madriani is the defense for the case and quickly delves into the controversy that the author left behind. This includes a potential letter written by Jefferson that has the potential to shock the USA and set the country into a race war.

The book goes through the case laid out by the district attorney and shows how Madriani and his team counter the arguments. At the same time, they are frantically searching behind the scenes to find the letter and determine who the real killer could be. While the arguments that are presented are interesting, I was disappointed that once Madriani had the chance to present the most important evidence to the jury, the author doesn't even put it in the book. He skips over a couple days and goes straight to the jury being locked away making a decision. With all of that build up, I was expecting something more.

I haven't read many courtroom dramas, but overall I enjoyed this one. The dialog was interesting and the counter arguments brought up were ones I would never think of - maybe why I have no interest in being a lawyer!

First Line: "The sugar-white powder was so hot on their feet that they skipped and took long strides across the distance to the darker sand cooled by the surf."

Rating:

(4/5)

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel

Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel
Biography

Despite the name of this book, it is really a biography about Galileo through the adult years of his life. It chronicles the positions that Galileo held, where he held them, and what scientific discoveries he made that have shaped modern science. Behind all the science, however, were Galileo's family and friends. Galileo had two daughters, which were sent at an early age to the convent, and a son. He made friends in the religious community, as well as with the Medici family, becoming an official mathematician of the Florence Medici factor.

Galileo and his eldest daughter were very close and wrote letters to each other on a very regular basis (she was not allowed to leave the convent and in his poor health, he couldn't always visit). Unfortunately, only her letters to him were saved. It is believed that his letters to her were burned or buried. The author uses her letters to her father to guide the biography and indicate how she felt when Galileo was going through some of his more troublesome times: namely, the inquisition against him that essentially put him under house arrest after supporting the idea that the Earth revolves around the Sun.

While parts of this book moved very slowly, overall it was interesting. There's even a surprise at the ending which wraps the book up very nicely. Having just been in Florence, it was neat to get a perspective of what the city was like 400+ years ago.

First Line: "We are terribly saddened by the death of your cherished sister, our dear aunt: but our sorrow at losing her is as nothing compared to our concern for your sake, because your suffering would be all the greater, Sire, as truly you have no one else left in your world, now that she, who could not have been more precious to you, has departed, and therefore we can only imagine how you sustain the severity of such a sudden and completely unexpected blow."

Rating:

(3.5/5)

Hey Nostradamus!

Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland
Literature

Coupland has written a book about a high school shooting. The difference is it is told in four voices; Cheryl, Jason, Heather and Reg. Cheryl is the last person shot and the secret bride of Jason. Jason stops the killings by killing one of the murderers. Jason's father, Reg calls his own son a murderer which leads the police to suspect Jason as the mastermind of the shooting.

It is interesting how each of these people have been affected and even 10 years into the future are still affected deeply. Jason's family dysfunction is explored. His mother is an alcoholic, his father a religious zealot and his brother perfect.

Jason is damaged beyond repair and his trust in other people is non-existent. This damage affects his current girlfriend Heather's life and that of his father, Reg.

I have read other Coupland books and not particularly enjoyed them. I very much enjoyed this one. It was simply written but very effective.

First Line: "I believe that what separates humanity from everything else in this world - spaghetti, binder paper, deep-sea creatures, edelweiss and Mount McKinley - is that humanity alone has the capacity at any given moment to commit all possible sins."

Rating:

(4.5/5)

This Calder Sky

This Calder Sky by Janet Dailey
Romance

This book is #3 in the Calder series. Chase Calder is the latest in the dynasty of Calders. He has grown up knowing he will inherit the ranch and the acres and acres of land. Maggie O'Rourke is a neighbour. She lives on a small ranch and her father and brother are extremely envious of the Calders. Chase takes Maggie's virginity and innocence. Maggie's father loses it and starts rustling Calder cattle. What results is an action that may never be forgiven. Maggie also doesn't want just the ranch life, she wants to make something of herself.

I found Chase to be extremely arrogant, almost to the point of wishing the bad guys would win out. I was very sympathetic to the criminals which I don't think was the desired result of the book. The romance part of the story was a little slow at times but still kept me interested enough to finish the book

First Line: "Beneath a clear sky, the Montana plains rolled to the far horizon in an undulating sea of grass"

Rating:

(3.5/5)

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Non-Fiction

Gladwell points out that in order to have an epidemic there must be a Tipping Point. Something or someone who causes it. Gladwell gives various examples throughout the book from sales of Hush Puppies to the lowering of the crime rate on the NY subway system. The tipping point is always not what is expected. For instance, cleaning the graffiti lowered the crime rate as a cleaner environment fosters better behaviour.

The author names three types of people that contribute to an epidemic. The Connector,a person who knows lots of people, the Maven, someone who loves to gather information and the salesman. There are also other concepts such as stickiness of the idea or product.

I found out that some of the ideas were not what I expected. A very interesting read!

First Line: "For Hush Puppies - the classic American brushed-suede shoes with the lightweight crepe sole - the Tipping Point came somewhere between late 1994 and early 1995."

Rating:

(4.0/5)