Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Reading: Sea of Poppies

I transition over to this book for the World History book club this week and have read about 15 pages. It is fairly interesting, I just didn't have that long to read it and feel horrible that I was unable to.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Reading: On the road


My friend Todd gave me this book, as he said it was one of his favorites. In fact, Jack Kerouac is a hero of sorts to him. So far I am a big fan of its lyricism, stream of consciousness travel writing. Essentially he, with a bunch of his buddies defined this era, that has alot of romance for me. It is called the Beatnik generation, and essentially includes people who have a high intellect, but reject materialism and status, who believed in living in the moment and focused on Eastern religion and experimentation with everything from drugs to sex. I mean come on what's not to like?

So I've gotten to the bit where he leaves San Francisco. I'm especially enjoying reading it as I go to and from the city on the Bart. It feels like thats the proper setting for the book.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Reading: The Queen of Sublities FINISHED

Not an amazingly different book. However, I like reading these books every once in a while to remind me of some of my favorite things. I shall not read these kind of books too much in the future as I want to really start expanding my horizons more.

I am now reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Reading: The Queen of Sublities

So I have gone through two books kinda quickly and am trying to read all the books I have before I put in time and space to buying new ones! So even though I've read/researched/watched so much on Anne Boleyn, I figured that would be a good and easy book to get me back into reading.

As expected its a typical historical fiction book, with typical female protagonists who justify their places in history.

But its cute, and it really accompanied me when it took me an additional four hours to fall asleep Monday night!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Reading: The Nightingales of Troy COMPLETE

I finished it. As I've said it definitely was not a page turner. It actually got me mad, because the author did such a good job of vesting you within the characters and then offering no closure. The whole book had no closure! I still don't know what really happened! Some parts were funny, most were a mix of historical and social I guess?

I think Miquila will like it, as it seems to be really good writing. Speaking of Miquila, she bought me this book The Untethered Soul, which she has read for the better part of a year, and I'm super excited to start!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Reading: Nightingales of Troy

This book is starting to get more interesting as its getting more modern and the author is having the narrator get younger. It's still not a super page turner and taking me a while to get through, for the fact that its not that long.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Reading: The Nightingales of Troy

One nice thing about visiting mom is getting new books! She's part of a book club, with her New York friends, and they video chat once a month with mom. It's actually really nice. While mom is not much of a reader, the rest of the ladies are and pick out some good books. Over the break i finished Devil in the White City and read the girl with the dragon tattoo. BOth of which of course ended with serial killers, which has been coloring my opinion of suave men as of late.

I'm now reading this book, called Nightingales of Troy, which is intriguing, although not a real page turner.

It focuses on the lives of women in this family, in Troy, New York(15 minutes from my hometown) over a century and does a bunch of vignettes, I guess. It's beautifully written, and the history of both the area, and the women's arena in the early 20th century I have found quite interesting so far.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Reading: Devil in the White City-part 2

Ok, so in four hours I was able to read about 50 pages, but this book is dense. I am really intrigued at the knowledge of architecture and landscaping that the author had to obtain in order to write this book effectively. Yet, he writes it in a way that I can actually understand and appreciate and don't want to merely gloss over. Overall, I'm still into the book, which is pretty impressive, as I usually tend to like books that have a love story, a female protagonist or espouses some philosophy. This book does none of those! Perhaps, I am maturing a bit?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Reading: Devil in the White City-part 1

I finished part 1. This book is not exactly a page turner. It is also really tricky as it uses alot of primary sources making you think that it is super historical, but he also adds alot of his own anecdotes, which quickly gets lumped up as the same information.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Reading: Devil in the White City


I bought this book for a class in grad school. It was a survey class in American History, yet obscure history. Like, instead of reading a book about the progressives during that era in history, we read a dissertation of the Know-Nothing party. Instead of reading a book about the Explorers, we read a book about the Salem Witch trials. Needless to say it was actually really enjoyable and really filled in gaps for me that I didn't even know I had!

I did a pretty good job reading the books, even though dense reading(dissertation/academic style) is my LEAST favorite. Of course, the one book that I didn't even pick up, is one of the most captivating books I've ever touched(and I'm only on page 25).

Devil in the White City, by Eric Larson, is a quasi-history of the World's fair in Chicago. It tells the story of one of its architects and a story of its most famous serial killer. It so far, even though its just telling an account of what happened, is one of the most page turning stories I've read. Even books I really like, I don't enjoy right away. So perhaps it will be short lived.

I also remember the one thing that my professor said about this, is how dangerous it is, or something like that, to read a book like this and consider it history. Other then that I don't remember much about the discussion! At least the book is engaging so far!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Reading: Veronika Decides to Die-COMPLETE

I finished the book, in my friends bed this morning, while he read the newspaper on his IPAD. If only he were straight, it would have been a happy little 21st century couple moment.

Anyways, while the first half of the book was a huge critique on society, the second half of the book seemed more just telling stories of the other characters, for no particular reason! The moral of the story is that in order to live fullest, you need to be free. It also had major undertones that you don't appreciate your life until you realize the fleetingness of it!

I didn't love this book, but it did have a good message to it! It also seemed to be a lot more personal, as he had spent many years of his life in insane assylum's and felt that people aren't truly crazy, but that they just don't want to conform to the masses.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Reading: Veronika Decides To Die


I have been very hesitant, if I want to read this book or not. I tend to get influenced by ideas pretty easily because of my openmindedness and I was worried that it might be a sensitive topic. Yet, this is surprisingly not a depressing book. Within the first few pages, the reader is already witnessing her first suicide attempt. In her explanation, she is clear that she is not depressed, or sad, but she feels like the world is vapid, or repetitive. She thought there was no reason for living, because she thought she had done it all. She had friends, boyfriends, a good job, good family, etc and didn't know what else would change, so she might as well leave on her own terms.

So her attempt doesn't work, and instead has her wind up in an insane assylum. Through her own processing, and conversations with others, the reader gets to understand a critique on society. At this point, this is my favorite quotation. "Once in a mental hospital, a person grows used to the freedom that exists in the world of insanity and becomes addicted to it. You no longer have to take on responsibilities, struggle to earn your daily bread, be bothered with repeitive, mundane tasks. You could spend hours looking at a picture or making absurd doodles. Everything is tolerated because after all the person is mentally ill...They no longer had to hide their symptoms and the "family" atmosphere helped them to accept their own neuroses and psychoses." It continues on this line of reasonings, offering that society is created to keep people in order, beginning with Adam and Eve. The premise that people cannot handle chaos, and are afraid to be crazy. It's an interesting perspective!

One neurosis that the main character has, that I to have is the constant feeling that I am bothering others. An ancillary character comments on this thought, "Stop thinking all the time that you're in the way, that you're bothering the person next to you. If people don't like it, they can complain. And if they dont' have the courage to complain, that's their problem."

So far, the book has not been depressing in the least, and instead has been very thought provoking as many of Paulo Coehlo books are! About half way through now, looking forward to the end!
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Monday, September 27, 2010

Reading: Prep complete

It is incredible how much this character is like my own. I read the commentary in the back and they talk about how she is not a likeable character, however, and I completely disagree. She was real and she was honest. She was doing all she could, or at least how she thought she could.

This book really makes me realize how important good friends are. I felt similar to her through much of highschool, because I didn't really give myself a support system. I had some good friends, but no real circle. It wasn't until senior year that I had my own little group!

Then I reverted back in college, to my old mindset, which is similar to Lee's in the story. I had super low self esteem, questioned everything and everyone, and was not fun, for lack of a better way to say it. It wasn't until the last two years, where I pretty much existed through the eyes of my boyfriend, who did genuinly like me for me. The problem was, I didn't know how to be like that in front of others. I was constantly on alert, waiting for people to do I'm not even sure what. Unfortunately, he wasn't enough, and I was depending on him way too much.

Then in grad school I finally started to feel right again, and had a great group of friends. That continued in South East Asia and minus a rough first year, that continues now in Oakland. It is incredible how healing it is for people to see you and appreciate you for who you are.

I don't know where I went wrong in college exactly. I know, I still have many of the gut reactions to people and situations, especially with people taking advantage or disrespecting me, that I did back then. However, I also have these friends and family that will and have supported me through so much. I am so lucky to have found them, and from the looks of it, over and over and over again.

So what it really looks like, is that the 12 year old that still lurking inside there needs to grow up. The 18 year old who let her father choose her college, she needs to grow up too. She needs to realize how good she has it, how much she has grown, and her internal monologue, needs to quiet down to a whisper, or to nothing.

It's crazy how much you can learn from a book. It's also fun to talk about yourself in third person!

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Reading: Prep

I'm nearly done with the book. As my 9th grade teacher said, we read to learn about ourselves. And man, am I ashamed to admit that this 14 year old protagonist is pretty much the same person as me!! She doesn't trust anyone, yet is constantly trying to impress everyone. She won't go to things, unless everyone makes it clear how much she is wanted there. She worries constantly about everything. She even had her first kiss with the most popular guy in school.

It is crazy how similar we are. The problem is she feels like an outsider, which is the main theme, because she is a scholarship student at a prep school. What is my excuse? Why do I in new situations feel like an outsider? Why do I still react to new situations the way a 14 year old does? Why don't I trust people? Why do I allow the unspoken social ladder bother me. Even in her story, she randomly speaks as her adult self and remarks how silly alot of her behavior is. From a rational perspective I totally get how silly my behavior is. That doesn't mean it changes it....

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Reading: Prep


The book Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld centers around a freshman in highschool from Indiana heading to a prep school an hour away from Boston.

As my 9th grade teacher once said "You read to learn about yourself," and I find myself feeling very similar, even now, to the issues that she is going through in this book. She doesn't know who to befriend, feels like she can't disrupt the social ladder, always over annalyzing etc. I am about 100 pages in, and am intrigued to see how she develops as a characte

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Reading: Siddartha



In the textbook room at school, I noticed a class set of Siddartha by Hermann Hesse. Curious as to why a Buddhist text would be found in a middle school, I wanted to check it out. So I borrowed one! I read it while up at Harbin, I thought it would be appropriate.

The main message of the book according to Hesse, was that the whole world is one. That unity prevails, and we are all different manifestations of the same thing. Minus the chosen-one-ness, I'd say Judiasm has a similar premise("We are all made in G-d's image"). I'd assume other religions have similar premises as well. His other premise is that time doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how long something happens, as long as it eventually happens!

What I liked about this book is that the main character had it all, but was still not happy. His predecessors, had done all the work for him, all he had to do was go through the motions, but it wasn't enough for him! He left home, even though he would grow to be a revered priest in the faith and tried other lives on for size. He first becomes a thinker living with a tribe of others in the forest, without any possessions but who does need to beg for food everyday. After three years, he finds that the possessions he has are his ability to think, to fast and to wait(patience).

He then decides he needs to experience the pleasures, and leaves his life of poverty and enters a life of riches and women. For a while, his ability to think, fast and wait keep him separate from the "regular people" but soon he falls victim to many of the same pettiness as the rest of the people.

Finally, he up and leaves that life, and becomes a ferryman, living to the end of his days ferrying people across a river. The last 8 pages or so, he espouses his message to his former childhood friend. He finds peace and happiness by listening to the river.

Other themes of the book include:
  • you can't have a teacher, you need to live life on your own!
  • Theory will not help you attain happiness/peace
  • your goal should not be overcome your self, but to know your self truly
I still think the book is inappropriate for 6th graders as there minds aren't experienced enough to understand all that he says. In truth, this was his premise in the book, that all the holy books in the world, if given to someone to young, cannot stop you from living your life!!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Reading: Happiness complete!

Yep, that's right. I'm happy now, 100%. Just kidding.

I finally finished reading the Happiness Hypothesis! The end of the book concluded a few things.

First, it concluded that balance is needed. Living in pure liberalism or pure conservatism for example would be absolutely detrimental to any person or society. Instead look for wisdom, he suggests, in your opposites. By not assuming evil on your counterpart, you can learn quite a lot and understand that balance is always needed from both sides. All yings, need a yang!

Second, he discusses the meaning of life, and essentially splits the question into two: why are we here, and how should I live? He then of course, doesn't answer them, but reverts back to his Happiness equation H=S + C + V. Using an example of the plant, he contextually explains that C, conditions, is like water, food, and sunlight for a plant. Unless you kill a plant completely, it can revive from almost anything, just as a human can. However, the conditions need to be set, right for someone to be happy. He suggests these conditions are strong relationships, meaningful work, love, and a connection to something larger(a community, G-d, the universe etc).

Throughout the book he talks about how the ancients don't have it quite right, as people need to feel emotionally attached to things. However, contemporaries don't have it right either, as money and fame are not going to make you happy either. He stresses that Happiness comes from Between those two. It's the journey not the destination would be something he would say!

Overall I enjoyed the book! It took a while to get through as it wasn't really a story, persay. However, I really enjoy this pseudo psychology, or armchair psychology, if you will. He really made scientific studies understandable to those not in the science field! His book, inadvertenly actually gave me the idea for this blog, and for the chart, so I'm thankful for reading it! Thanks Peter!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Reading: Happiness!


The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom-Why the meaningful life is closer then you think.

By Jonathon Haidt

When I returned from my travels, I was pretty bummed. Although in reality I was already pretty bummed before I left. Anyways, Peter, Miquila and I were hanging out one day and Miquila and I were being super grumpy. Peter, knowing that we are normally very chipper while he always remains a pretty even keel suggested that I read this book, so I did.

While I probably won't get to read a whole book in a week, and it has totally taken me wayyyy too long to read this book, but I will attempt to summarize with a light review at the end.

The book starts out with him explaining his premise for writing the book. He is a Jewish athiest Psychologist professor(notice which descriptor had top priority) who has recently become interested in Positive Psychology. Claiming that many ancient societies had found happiness within the tenets of their philosophies or religions, he uses them, as well as research studies to argue his point that the ancients had a lot of this right, and that happiness can be found by following these ten principles, or ideas. I will go into teach of them with a little detail.

1-The Divided Self-His essential point is similar to Freud's idea, that we have a conscience and a baser, more animal instinct(he cuts out the Superego), that he calls the rider and the elephant, respectively. Unlike with Freud, Haidt claims that the conscience cannot totally control the instinct, just like the rider of an elephant cannot really stop it, if it really wants to go somewhere.

2-Changing your mind-So in the second section he continues with the elephant/rider metaphor and explains that the elephant operates on very simple decisions. It decides whether it likes/dislikes something, whether it should approach/withdraw something, etc, based on how much fear or how much pleasure one can derive from the activity. It makes these decisions in a snap, and one "bad" situation can leave the elephant fearful of a similar situation forever, even if the rider can rationalize its safety. He then takes a bit to explain that essentially peoples happiness are set to some extent from the beginning of your life. Therefore, there are only three ways to change it: Mediation-quieting your mind, Cognitive behavioral therapy-retrain the "elephant", or druge-change the chemicals in the brain.

3-Reciprocity with a Vegence-This section asserts that language was created in humans simply to gossip, and regulate the social society. He says, without gossip, people would literally be able to get away with murder. Yet, because people always fear what someone else will say, the average persons behavior will stay relatively in check. He also asserts that the elephant responds to reciprocity and will often mimick, copy or give back what it got, whether it be good or bad.

4-The Faults of Others-He essentially states that people notice other peoples flaws, more then they would their own. This is because, the rider, realizing that it really has no say over the direction of the elephant, instead becomes a "lawyer" of sorts rationalizing the elephants actions to itself and others. He then showcases that alot of current religions use this myth of Pure Evil, to standardize faults in others, and he nudges us to look at Buddhism and other stoic religions to have us not judge quite so much!

5-The Pursuit of Happiness-He first explains that common perceptions of happiness such as achieving and winning do not account for long term happiness. He goes as far to say that both a lottery winner and an accident victim, whose lives have both changed completely, will fairly quickly become accustom to their new lives, whether very wealthy or broken, and happiness levels will come back down(or up) to the levels they are at before the event. He comes up with a happiness formula H=S + C= V. Your happiness is determined by your natural set point(from chapter 2), plus the conditions of your life(sex, race, age etc) and your voluntary activities. However, this can't truly be true however, if The Buddha is consulted. He would stress meditation, mindfulness and emotional unattachment, to ensure that no conditions, or circumstances will affect your happiness level. He looks at these opposing ideals of happiness, achievement vs. emotional non acctachment, and decides that passion and attachment is ok, as long as its balanced by staying in the present!

6-Love and Attachments-This section explains using case studies of babies and their mothers, that there are three types of people; those who are fairly well adjusted in relationships, those who are loners, and those who are too clingy. He obviously doesn't use these words, but that's the essential point. He is skeptical that this is caused all by nurture, as he thinks nature has a big part in it. He then essentially busts true passionate love, with a few charts showing that companion ate love, which may start low, will maintain through time, whereas passionate love will start off pretty strong but peter off, or get hot and cold.

7-The Uses of Adversity-Adversity according to him is not only good, but necessary to the growth of children. Those who experience little, or whose life circumstances don't allow for much adversity will not gain the wisdom needed to succeed later in life. However, he adds that adversity is relative and should occur based on how socially/physically ready one is, and at the right timing.

8-The Felicity of Virtue-Starting with an example by Benjamin Franklin, who charted his virtues, trying to be mindful of his transgressions, he asserts in this section that those who have morality or hold high to their virtues tend to be happier.

9.-Divinity With or Without G-d-In his last explanatory section, he maintains that a higher power, whether it be within or without, institution or drug induced, are essentially those moments that bring you to a higher place and make you feel like you are part of a grand design. He states that religious people often rate themselves as happier.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Work hard, Play hard.

I started off the summer pretty rough. I heard some upsetting news, and I went through a lot of change, which is something I suck at.

Yet, I overcame, and for over a month I had an absolutely excellent summer. For the first time in my life I completely enjoyed free time.

But the school year is starting again, and I tend to get super wrapped up in it and super emotional so I am trying to give myself an outlet, actually 8 outlets.

I have created a chart for myself, and this blog to keep myself accountable. Each week, in addition to all the things I need to do in order to keep myself alive(laundry, sleep etc), and the money flowing(work), I am committing myself to complete activities in eight categories.

Drum roll please....

Dress up-I tend to ignore my body and my looks. An entire day can go by where I don't look in a mirror. While I am not intending to be superficial, I would like to spend at least one day each week getting ready and taking care of myself. It could be for work, for a date, or for an evening out on the town.

Reading-This one is pretty obvious, but I am actually an avid reader, who can sometimes go for weeks without reading, since I ignore my need to learn.

Nature-Being outside, and breathing in the air, centers me and calms me in a way that little else can. I am committing to do this at LEAST once a week. It can be as little as sitting in my backyard for an hour or more, or as much as, hiking, paddle boating etc.

Physical-Except for getting physical. I mean Elle said it perfectly when she said "Exersize produces endorphins, endorphins make you happy and happy people just don't shoot their husbands." I mean I need to protect my fictitious husband right?

Cooking-While I am not an awful cook, I tend to stay towards the stuff that I know how to cook, which sucks really, because I have all these great cookbooks, so I need to cook at least one new meal a week!

Movie-So my house, the apartment I live in, is HOOKED up! They have, or can have nearly every movie I could ever want just by a click of a mouse!! Since I tend to stick to VERY girly movies, I intend to watch one new movie each week. This does not necessarily mean a brand new movie, it just means a new movie to me, one that I have not seen. This can be anything from the Godfather, to Inception. Please suggest movies that you think I should see!!

Cultural-This one is a late arrival, and might be a little difficult to always complete, yet I want to do something each week that is touristy in some way. This can be going to a new restaurant, heading to a museum, or hitting up an outdoor market! Since I do intend to go away, I will also count sleeping at a house not at my own(but not like just crashing somewhere else), to give myself a little wiggle room here. This category was initially going to be social, but since I do that pretty naturally, I wanted to expand it a bit. It should include others!

Creative-It is this category however, that I want to bolster the most. It is also the one I am most worried about succeeding at. I am by nature a very crafty person and even have an artistic bone or two in my body. Yet, I have gotten so lazy, or forgetful of my talents, that I had to buy a book entitled "Get a Hobby", just to remind myself of my own interests. I have rested on my interests being education and travel for so long, that I feel as though I am one dimensional. I am depending on this category to add some more dimensions, and passions to myself!

So tune in every few days, as I reflect on the different categories. I am publishing this, so I keep myself honest, but the benefit to you is you could learn about a new book, a new/old movie, a new hiking spot, something cultural in the area, a new recipe, a new outdoor spot etc. So please hold me to this!

I need to be a well rounded individual, and not a traveling, teaching robot!