Versus

 Mayo Clinic vs What to Expect?

Mayo Clinic.

Both are good resources, and knowing nothing about pregnancy, I'm glad I had both.  But only one is really needed, and Mayo Clinic is the better of the two.

There isn't strange, unnecessary commentary; and the medical stuff is still understandable.  It covers everything I needed to know.  I probably read it all through twice over the course of 8 1/2 months.

Empires Fall

This is a topic I'd love to read more about, so it worked out great that Ben had the book from his old college days (which I'm beginning to think USU must have been a little liberal leaning . . . trying to balance out the "Utah" part perhaps?).

I've always known I didn't like US involvement in the Mid-East, even before I realized how much Western and Muslim cultures clash (just by sheer living standards, religion aside).  Reading this is like having someone intellectually explaining why I had a bad gut feeling about the Wars.  Since it has been so long since I read the book, I think I'll just copy my goodreads review and let that suffice.

"It wasn't so much an "ah-ha!" book as a "well of course, I just didn't think of it that way till you said it" book. 

Does America really want democracy in Iraq? No. That would mean a stronger relationship with Iran, kicking US bases out, and favoring Palestine independence. Those three things are the opposite of our goal in Iraq/the entire Middle East.

As history constantly tells us . . . America really only wants democracy in foreign lands if the people are willing to vote in a way that is most beneficial to us. And not even our closest allies are willing to do that! So why do we think someone on the long list of our enemies ever will? Oh, cause we live on their soil, occupy their land, and keep repeating broken promises.

Sounds like a pretty well run Empire to me."


-- 3 stars -- decent, but I'd like to find something else like it . . . but better.

I love good reads!

I already miss my friendship with Francie Nolan, and she just left Brooklyn for a better neighborhood two days ago.
7/18/2010



Ha ha, I just found this.  I guess I really was speechless after reading it.  Still, I think this one sentence deserves posting.  I truly felt like Francie was a dear friend after reading Smith's classic novel.  For the past year, I've recommended this to EVERYONE who asks what they might read.  It will enlighten your soul and filll your heart.

Read it.  Now.

Grab you into your nightmares

The title alone is gripping "First They Killed My Father."  This book made it's way on to our student's summer reading list.  After I read it I was surprised we would do such a thing.  But my middle schoolers never cease to amaze me.  They talked about this book throughout the whole school year.  Ung's tale clearly registered with them.

My favorite part in reading the book wasn't really the book at all.  I brought the book home with me to UT while I was reading it and my dad and I had a great conversation about the story.  He quietly went into his bedroom and returned with his journal.  He then read me an entry from the very early 80s.  The entry summarized and quoted the letter my parents were given when they took in their foster child, Rhy Mam.  I never knew the boy in my early family pictures lived Ung's story.  As I sat on my parents sofa I couldn't help but think Rhy could have been Loung's little sister . . . only Rhy lived.  He escaped.  Fled up a hillside while the Khmer Rouge gunned down his mother.  And then he landed in the bedroom next to mine, half way around the world.

Ung's story is definitely one worth reading.  She captures the thought process of a child well.  I can't imagine having hers as a childhood to relive.  It would be a haunting nightmare.  Yet somehow she has managed to do so much good with what she was left.  I think the moment of "revenge" on the Khmer Rouge soldier was a big moment for her.  She shows us that even after all their suffering, turning the other cheek may truly be the best remedy.  

A Hiccup

It's time I revive this blog.  In order to do so I may have to re-read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.  I love love love this book.  I love it so much I was never able to find the right words for a post.  I just felt there was so much about the book that I needed to explore.  So much I needed to sit back and take in before I could properly explain how deeply it touched my heart and soul.  It's been nine months since I finished the book, and I still ponder it's brilliance.

Of course, now it is a too distant memory.  I feel/fear a review this late in the game can not serve any sort of justice to it's beauty.  So now I'm stuck with no review to give this great book the credit it deserves.

Sigh.

My lack of review soon after the closing of the last page just means the book will continue to become an even more distant memory.

Sad Sad.

Must.  Read.  Again.  

A set of six for JB

I read this because it'd been a while since I joined in on a goodreads Constant Reader book club discussion. I always enjoy those discussions so much. So much intellect flowing over the wires. I don't regret having read the novel, but it wasn't worth interrupting my read of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

Jean Brodie is a captivating teacher who cares a little too much about herself. I couldn't help but love her "liberal" attitude for the time period. Very much a feminist in "her prime." The only other adult female characters are the spinster school mistress who is about as unhappy as an elephant who is being attacked by a pride of lions, and a Catholic mother who has a billion children with a man who sleeps with his students after he paints them nude. So, despite all Miss Brodie's flaws (she's obviously lonely, fooled by the romanticism of the fascists, and a pretty terrible teacher) she definitely feels like the winner.

The story is mostly told from the perspective of one of her students. Who I personally think has a VERY unhealthy infatuation with Miss Brodie. Others in the constant reader group don't see it that way. They think poor Sandy was a victim . . . they obviously don't work with teens all day. Sure, they are impressionable, but her obsession (which I almost view as lust) for Miss Brodie is not so innocent.

I didn't really like the writing. It's humorous at times, and I did enjoy that the narrator was anonymous and omniscient. I just don't think the read is something I'd deem classic, and I'm not sure how it's stuck around so long. I'll have to rent the movie.

Batu Kawa, I love you

This is a book I couldn't have understood without my time spent in Batu Kawa, East Malaysia. Even still, much of the statistical math calculations turned me off to the reading (and I still have no idea what a hedge fund is). And ironically, I recognize that by the world standards many living in the Batu Kawa neighborhood would actually be considered "well-off."

What struck me most, was the idea that as long as people want to be rich -- millions of others will have to be poor. Not just poor; destitute.

It's inevitable, and that made this book very depressing. Yet the globalization gap is so fascinating I just couldn't stop reading (even the chapters about hedge funds which I so clearly did not understand). Economically, the impact we all have on each other is much more pressing than our impact environmentally, even though the two co-exist.

In short, I disapprove of the free market and capitalism more than I did when I set out reading this book. By comparison, before I felt disapproval, after I feel disdain. And still, I feel deflated. The realization that there is no conceivable way to ever educate my fellow country men on the matter to point of real change is overwhelming. Even if that were possible, convincing rulers of developing countries to follow suit is even more unfeasible. A solution is unworkable.

The only hope is to make sure that every human being have healthy drinking water, basic health care, and mere literacy. How can such simple things be so hard for the world to achieve?

Wealth.