It's the best - easily in my top 5

Everyone should read this book. EVERYONE. Not only because it's a gripping story told in a way that you can't stop turning pages but also because it's true - not just a true story but everything is painfully real. You hear stories about WWII and you know the basics and you've seen Hollywood portrayals. But Unbroken tells the experience as it applies to real people. You see their fear, their weaknesses, their strength and their wins in a very real and relatable way. It made me understand the war, this country and the sacrifices and profound challenges that WWII veterans went through, especially those who fought in the Pacific. Their triumphs are so real you cry, their pain is so real you ache and you come out of it with such a fierce appreciation for those who went through WWII, both at home and in combat, that it's hard to contain.

If this glowing review isn't enough to convince you to give it a read, well they are making a movie. It's set to come out in 2013 and there is noWAY you are going to get everything out of it that you can by just the film alone.

It's all they say it is..

I am still yet to see the movie and when I read it I really didn't know much about it. It really is a kick in the head - not sure what that means but it was a pretty powerful book. I found myself crying a few times in parts that weren't even overtly sad and the ending definitely threw me for a loop. It's one of the most unique perspectives I have ever read. I suggest you give it a go.

The Mark of the Lion series

Eh. It was ok. I didn't end up reading the last book in the series. But it was intriguing enough for me to read the first two. It's set in about 40 A.D. right after the fall of Jerusalem. It's got some gladiators, some Roman rich people, an awkward love story and a whole lot of Christiany stuff. Being a Christian it was nice at first - especially since it was about the earliest Christians in history, but then it got a little drawn out. And the second book, which was much less interesting, in its entirety was what life partner calls "holy roller jive talk." I probably wouldn't recommend unless you don't have anything else on your list.

It's pretty good.....

It may not number among my all time favorites books, but then again I couldn't stop talking about it for two weeks. The Red Tent is REALLY interesting, thought provoking and an awesome story. The Old Testament and I are not exactly close acquaintances but when you put a magnifying glass on a single bible story (this one in particular) and then throw in some provocative fiction it can make for quite a tale. Plus, where there are very few women mentioned in the bible it's interesting having a female perspective, fiction or not. If you choose to take the book on just push through part one, it's kind of slow but it gets way better. Oh, and there is quite a bit of wonky period/becoming a woman talk. So brace yourself for that weirdness.

I freaking can't with this......

Oh my hell. Let me first say I do not own this book. I apparently had a copy of my friend's at my house a while ago and lost it. So I ordered a new one for her and decided to give it a skim to see what the fuss was about. I had my nose in it all afternoon and it has left me with a solid case of nausea. This lady is so off the mark and her rambling seems to come from straight from a women's magazine from the 1930s. I know this because my friends and I used to look up articles like this just to laugh at them. But this book was written in 2004, not 1935. It makes some staggeringly unfair and archaic assumptions about the characters of women i.e silly, demanding, weak, oppressive, stupid, lazy, and demonizes females with expectations, interests and ambitions outside the worlds of their husbands. Moreover it fails to recognize the reality that these days it's often a necessity to have both parents working to support the family - that's a big game changer right there, lady. She oversimplifies men and paints them as helpless, needy dimwits who too often get trapped in destructive marriages solely due to the intrinsic evil and maniacal selfishness of the modern day woman.

Example: Some lady wanted to get a new cat. But her husband said no. She just wanted to know why her husband didn't want a cat so she could understand where he was coming from. In a nutshell Dr. Laura told the woman that she really only wanted to know why he didn't want the cat so she could "manipulate him" into giving her what she wanted. And as a wife she shouldn't demand reasons from him because he probably just didn't want to engage in arguments about it and get beat down from her nagging. Then she went on to say that those who disagree with that were "never going to be happily married."

That chapter pretty much did it for me and I had to resist from throwing it off the balcony. But then again it has sold more than a million copies. So who are the readers subscribing to this crap? Rick Santorum, is that you? Well I decided to read reviews on it and found one good review to every 8-10 poor ones who share the same opinion about the book as me. This one was my favorite.

This book operates on two basic premises:
Men want a mommy/maid/prostitute who raises their children, cleans up after them, and puts out whenever he snaps his fingers. No relationship is necessary or even wanted.
Women only want to spend money. So in order to achieve that goal, they should actively pursue the mommy/maid/prostitute role without complaint and they will get presents.

The caveat here I guess is that if you are actually a lazy, frumpy, selfish, contemptuous and dumb housewife that refuses to put out or do anything at home and expects your husband to take sole responsibility of EVERYTHING, including your happiness, well then sure, this book could be for you.

But for my part, I am lucky to be surrounded by women, who are apparent rarities according to the book, that are great examples good wives and mothers. They stay beautiful not just for their husbands but because they have self worth. They question their husbands and vice versa because they want to increase their understanding of the person they love, as well as be understood. They balance their relationship in healthy shared responsibilities with their husbands and setting expectations for their lives and nudging their families, including their husbands in directions of improvement - be it health and fitness, time management or finances - has proven to be positive.

Ugh I have to just stop here because ridiculousness comes in all forms and raging about it won't change that it exists. Besides, there are too many reasonable, fair and progressive people out there for this book to do too much damage.

Even so if you want to read the most well-put review on this book go here. It's the 6th one down.

I don't.....I can't.....

Imagine you talking to a friend. You don't know them very well but the more you talk to them the more you realize they get you, get life, get how it is. They are so down to earth, and so painfully real that it's staggering. You still don't know much about them but you sit there listening and talking because even though you don't know where this is going, you feel like there is a chance that you will come out of it enlightened and inspired because of how profound they are. Things go great and as they stand up to say goodbye, walking to the door the friend takes their fist and puts it through the wall. You stand their horrified, trying to figure out what happened, what went wrong. Why?? But then the friend looks at you, apologizes, takes out a drywall kit, messily patches the wall, apologizes again and walks out the door. You are left standing there thinking 'what the hell' and you wonder how you just sat there for hours with the same person that just destroyed your entry way. That's how I felt when reading One Day. Even so, I'm gonna see the movie, whenever it comes back to the dollar seats.

Love it

I am going to excuse myself from really saying a lot about this book and movie pairing, simply because so much has already been said. But yes, the rumors are true. The Help is brilliant, touching and takes you from laughing to crying to wanting to rip heads off. Per usual, the 400 page book gives quite a bit more but the movie is good enough to stand alone if you haven't already read it. It's good. Really good. In fact, I am going to go ahead and place it in my top 10. Get it. Read it. See it.

Mah Stories...

Hunger games series: Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. Great story. Easy read. Action-packed. Unpredictable.
I would say more about it but there really is no frame of reference here. It's set in a different world as we now know it (the present time is "ancient times" in the books) everything about it is unique, and the storyline draws from nothing but the authors twisted yet brilliant mind. To be honest I expected to be a little underwhelmed due to all the hype around the series before I read it - plus it's young adult lit so I didn't know how bubblegum it was going to be. Not so. It's actually pretty dark but with enough triumphs to keep you hopeful and you don't want to kill yourself at the end. (I am looking at you Kite Runner.) I couldn't put it down and I loved Suzanne Collin's knock-you-off-your-feet-without-a-warning style. Downside - the protagonist is not always the most likeable, but then again she is a 17-year old brooding girl so it's true to form. Unlike Bella though, in the Twighlight Series, she is not a brat for free so you don't hate her like you do Bella. Because of her background you can at least empathize with her behavior and what she is going through. I would definitely recommend these books.

And then there is this Swedish mystery novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(I was told by a good friend, who's literary taste I completely trust, that this was a must-read, only to find out later she hadn't actually read it.)

I mean, I make fun of my mom all the time for not liking books or movies that address issues that are sad, unpleasant or scary. Mama wants gleeful endings with lambs, flowers and singing all the way. I, however appreciate something that builds perspective, even if its painful or messy or tough - as long as its not gratuitous. The disclaimer here is that I don't like to watch Law and Order: SVU because it's a little grizzly for me sometimes, so that is where I am coming from.
But this book was almost too much for me. It's really good. Like can't-put-it-down good. But there things that go down that are pretty gruesome. It may take you a day to shake the violence, murders, attacks etc. that happen, or that they are investigating in the book - at least it did for me anyway. I am not sure if I will read the other two books in that series, and plus from what I can tell they are pretty much stand-alone anyway. On the flip-side they are coming out with a movie this winter, with Daniel Craig. The Swedes already made one but I would rather wait for an American one than do the whole caption thing during a butt-clencher as intense as I am sure this one will be. All in all, read at your own risk, but you won't be bored.

Nerd alert

I love reading books and then seeing the movies. I don't know why but it really gets me going. Of late I have read/watched a couple that I have some opinions about....

Water for Elephants. It made me look at circuses differently....should I ever look at a circus....err. The book was better than the movie but I still liked both. It was a good story, fast paced and it made you think. Part of it is told from a 93 year-old man's perspective and it is so real as he talks about getting old and how people treat him and who he is now compared to how he used to be.
It has kind of changed how I interact with older folks and has given me pause about how I will be if I get old. (I say if because sometimes I text while I am on the road and if I don't stop it could do me in early - I'm working on it ok?) Would I recommend? Yes for sure. Unless you are my mom. Mom, that's a no for you. (She doesn't like when things get really intense in books and movies).

Winter's Bone. Eh. To be honest the only reason I read it was because I saw there was a movie about it. It was a rough read. It's kind of a slice of life from this girl that has had every hardship thrown at her and is just trying to track down proof that her dad is dead so she can save their land. It's set in present time but in the Ozarks, where people still marry their cousins, have family feuds (not the game show but rather death matches sometimes) and instead of moonshine they cook meth for their livelihood. It wasn't the worst thing I've read but at the end of it all I really couldn't say much about it. I didn't really walk away with anything other than maybe a better understanding of the present day Ozarks, something I could have probably done without, thanks. Sooo.... I am giving it an "eh."

Back to Mockingjay.

Team Jakeward - My Twi Confession

So I read a Twilight book... Ok, so I read all of them. It was a journey rife with emotions spanning from self-loathing to addiction to delight. Initially, I wouldn't have touched the books with a 10-foot pole. Then I lost my job and had significantly more time on my hands. Still, committing to 3,000 pages of a brooding teenager with a death wish and a vampire wanting to eat her face was hard to commit to. But finally the peer pressure got to me and I succumbed.

I liken reading the first book to a stereotypical rough first year of a struggling marriage. There was regret. There were thoughts of quitting and in some moments the commitment I made to read it was really the only thing keeping me going. First of all it was beyond redundant. Reading the same things over and over again: how insecure, clumsy and awkward Bella is, her physiologic reactions - i.e. heart pounds, palms sweat, cheeks blush - every time Edward touches her or looks at her blah blah blah.....enough already. We got it the first 37 times. Moreover I was a tad taken aback by the fact that there seemed to be support for the idea that a moody, somewhat controlling stalker for a boyfriend is acceptable. Even if it was all out of love...I've seen that same scenario on Lifetime and on a few after-school specials and it never ends well. And overall, Bella bugged. For me, she was an unlikeable, whiny and brooding protagonist, and frankly the commentary on the plight of the melancholy high school adolescent that feels she doesn't fit in bored me. It's a tired scenario that's been done. About half-way through it I tried to break up with the book all together. But something always pulled me back in (plus I was kind of hoping Bella would die or something in the end so that contributed to me coming back to it) but before long it was over. All in all, it wasn't a bad experience, the writing wasn't anything stellar - easy to see why 5th graders are in love with it. I didn't pull out any profound meaning or literary nuggets to reflect on. But it was an engaging story, even though it was a bit of a slow start.

On to New Moon? Well sure, since my friend had established months before that he planned on dragging me to the New Moon movie opening night, I figured I may as well read it. It wasn't half bad. Not as dull as the first book, though still a little gag me on the lovey crap. Plus I kind of wanted to finally see a little more strength from Bella, but it was more of the whiny, I-can't-breath-without-my-first-love-and-my-life-is-over-and-will-never-be-the-same-again. Ugh. However it was a little more fast-paced and in the end I actually wanted to read the third book, and didn't think twice about the fourth. The third one delivered because there was so much going on that there wasn't time or room for all the annoying crap. The story was fast paced, intricate and a good time. By the end of the fourth book, well I had a change of heart and actually wasn't hoping for her death like in the first book. All in all, would I recommend the read?............yes

HOLD ON!!!
Now before you go rolling your eyes and judging my mental state, may I remind you that I am a lit major as well and have been known to have discriminating tastes in books. But sometimes Steinbeck, Coelho, Morrison and Hosseini need to take a back seat. Plus it was nice to finish a book without being completely wrecked or feeling you have stare at a blank wall for a few days to process all the deep meaning. Trust me. It's ok to have some cake with sprinkles once in a while.

The Movie - New Moon
Yes, I saw it. Yes, it was on opening night, and yes, I was pretty much surrounded by 14 year-old girls and a handful of their moms. Yes, I was embarrassed when I found myself seriously lusting over the 17-year old actor who plays a morphing werewolf and yes, I tried to be one of the first out of the theater so I wouldn't be seen. And finally yes, I could be persuaded to go again with you should you want to see it, providing you are a friend or lover. Call me.

Eh..

So I get it. Everyone just LOVES this book. And I can see why. But not because it's a great book, rather the true story it conveys is admirable. I really commend Greg Mortenson for building all those schools for girls in Afghanistan. I think it's great how he got so many people to come together and work for greater good. But I just really couldn't get past his lack of logistical prowess. Ummm how do you not see that you are going to need a way to get building materials to one of the most rural communities on Earth located on the top of the world.... like maybe....a bridge? I was baffled by the fact that it wasn't until he got there, with building materials all loaded up, that it dawned on him that there could be a problem. And what about the fact that he used a typewriter to pen hundreds of sponsorship letters because a computer was completely foreign to him. Ummm, computers were alive and well, even in the early 90s. I remember, I was there. Also, I may not be a relationship expert but when you have a girlfriend and you leave for 3+ months, how can you a) just forget to call her and at least let her know you are alive, and b) be surprised that she is done with you when you get back. Just a few head-scratchers that bugged me. Nonetheless, you're a great guy Greg. Go ahead with your bad self.

Hilarious....

"I was in Washington State, at a small-town YMCA, when a boy wandered into the lap lane and popped his head, seal-like, out of the water. I would later learn that he was nine, but at the time he was just this kid, slightly pudgy, with a stern haircut. It's like he went to a barbershop with a picture of Hitler, that's how severe it was. We got to talking, and when I told him I wasn't a very good swimmer, he challenged me to a race. I think he assumed that, like most adults, I'd slow down and intentionally let him win, but he didn't know who he was dealing with. I need all the confidence I can get, and one victory is just as good as any other. Thus I swam for my very life and beat the pants off him. I thought this was it - he'd accept his defeat and move on with his life - but five minutes later he stopped me again and asked me if I believed in God. "No," I told him. "Why?" I thought for a second. Because I have hair on my back, and a lot of other people, people who kill and rob and make life miserable, don't. A real God wouldn't let that happen."
— David Sedaris

Bugger!

Read it. Hated it. So maybe you wonder why I was reading science fiction. Well I don't do it often, but back in college I was told that it was an "amazing" must read. Since then it has always been a back burner book and I decided to start it on the plane back from Tonga. Really dumb. I only kept reading because I wanted to make sure there wasn't a point in the book where it got good. It was totally bland all the way through and when I was finished I was pissed because I should have dug into a Twilight book - if anything I could have at least learned what caused all the hype. Then, after thinking about it, I remembered who it was that recommended Ender's Game to me in the first place. It was my ahem..unique and socially awkward neighbor who was also a fan of swords, fantasy video games and awkward hugs.
I would get into why it was so dumb, but that would mean I would have to reference parts of the book. And prepubescent children fighting giant, faceless alien ants, called buggers, in galactic warfare is something I feel silly devoting time too. Moreover why "bugger" was the name of choice, when it means something entirely different and rather explicit to those across the pond, is beyond me.
Similarly, on the way out to Tonga I read Angels and Demons. I, like the rest of western civilization, was a fan of the Da Vinci Code. But Angels and Demons? Not so much. It was pretty much a lazy form of Da Vinci Code. It started off well enough and pretty intense. But in the end, Dan just asked too much from me, expecting me to buy into characters jumping out of a helicopter flying at over a thousand feet, without a chute, and living to tell about it. Errr, not only living to tell about it, but getting up and running back in for more cardinal/Pope action with, yes, another dead man's daughter that just happens to be hot and a scientific/historical genius. It was like a poor man's Da Vinic Code that took a tour to Indiana Jones Land without a passport. Nonetheless I think I am sufficiently set up to read the Twilight book, even if it ends up sucking, because when you are coming from bad you can't be too disappointed.

Why EVERYONE should read this book.....

I recently gave it a read for the second time, well half reading and half listening to it via audio-book on my iPod. Though I had read the book a couple years back, I thought I would do it again given that he could be the next president. It's no secret. I have a love and admiration for Barack Obama that borders on an inappropriate crush. I like his politics, his positive outlook, his wife, his fairness and his courage. But that is not the reason I think everyone should read it. During election campaigns candidate issues and platforms get muddied by irrelevant nonsense blown up in the media i.e. he's old, he's young, he swore, he didn't wear a pin, he's black, his wife looks plastic, her husband did it with an intern, and his reverend is racist. But "The Audacity of Hope" is a straight-forward look at Obama's ideals, values and insights and provides explanations on where he is coming from and why. Among many other things, he talks about health care, immigration, education, welfare, race, religion and family. You don't have to agree with him, in fact he fairly acknowledges those who don't and why. But it helps you get to know him as not just as a rock-starish political figure but as the normal guy, the father, the husband, and the American citizen. And more importantly, for those critics, his views may not differ from your own as much as you originally thought. Give it a read, or come over and I will let you put the audio book on your iPod. If anything you will come away a little more prepared to cast your vote.

The verdict's in....

It was rough. It was beautiful. It was gut-wrenching. It was amazing. Those of you who have read The Kite Runner, by the same author, know what I mean. Aside from being beautifully written, it was punctuated with historical events in Afghanistan through Afghani eyes. I learned a lot about what that big mess over there has been all about and it was hard to put down. But if you like reading about lambs, flowers and rainbows this book is not for you. Its raw, it’s real and it gives you a dose of what people over there have gone through – especially the women – and it is not pretty. There were times I was incensed, and there may or may not have been some tears shed. But there is light at the end - I tell you that because knowing that helped me get through it. I finished reading it yesterday afternoon and I went to the store that night and ran into a woman in a black burka (the thing women wear that cover their whole body and their faces). It was all I could do to not stare because I wanted so badly to hear about her life. I don’t want to make judgment calls on what her level of happiness is or quality of life might have been, but my heart certainly went out for her. After reading the book I have a new found gratitude for being raised in this country, in this culture. I can read, work, laugh, sing, wear shorts, speak to whomever I want and most of all put a man in his place when the occasion calls for it. Give it a read. And when you are done, give me a call and we’ll do lunch.