The Unthinkable - Amanda Ripley

The subtitle is "Who Survives when Disaster Strikes and Why." I loved this - devoured it over the weekend, in fact. My minor was sociology, and my major was psychology, so I am always fascinated to figure out why people do the things they do. This researcher interviewed hundreds of disaster survivors, trying to figure out why we react the way we do in emergencies, and why some people survive when others just freeze. The style is not at all dry and academic, and she makes the people she interviewed very vivid. I am one of those who reads the emergency information card on the plane, and I often think what I might do in a particular situation. As a bailiff, we get some training in emergency response in the courtroom, but you still don't know what you would do if something really happened. Highly recommended.

Daughters of the North - Sarah Hall

The description from Amazon.com says it is set in a "dystopian, near-future UK." So you know why I had to buy it! I enjoyed this a lot. I liked watching the main character evolve and change over the course of the book. The book is written as if it were reconstructed from tapes, so parts of it are "missing" - forcing us to fill in the blanks. I liked that. It makes you think about what you might do in a similar situation - what does it take to become a freedom fighter?

Movie: Ever Since the World Ended

I love post-apocalyptic stories, and I love fake documentaries, so I enjoyed this movie. It was one Netflix put on my list of recommendations, and it was worth the time. It is set in San Francisco, after a plague has wiped out almost everyone. There are 186 survivors in the Bay Area, and two filmmakers decide to try to tell the story of the survivors. I would have liked it better if it had told more about the other people; some of the characters are not well-defined. It was good for a Sunday afternoon, and it's only an hour and 15 minutes long, so not much of a commitment.

Broken English - movie

So our cable is back. Turns out, when they were "upgrading" the service in our neighborhood on Thursday, they didn't so much "upgrade" us as "disconnect" us. Took the tech all of five minutes to fix. Why they couldn't have sent someone out on Friday, I don't know. Anyway, I took advantage of the outage and read and watched DVDs, including "Broken English." This one hit a little too close to home: single thirty-something who is beginning to despair of ever getting married. I don't think I'm as desperate as she was, but I could relate to the loneliness. Of course, she meets a handsome young Frenchman, and ends up going to Paris, so it all turns out okay for her. I wouldn't mind meeting a handsome young Frenchman! The movie was well done - good script, believable characters.

I also rewatched the new BBC version of Sense and Sensibility, which stands up to rewatching quite well.

the dead and the gone - Susan Beth Pfeffer

Since our cable was out, I had nothing better to do than read! I got this in the mail yesterday, and finished it already. This is the sequel/companion to Life As We Knew It, and I was not disappointed. This recounts the same events as they unfolded in New York City: an asteroid has knocked the moon out of its normal orbit, with disastrous consequences. This one again made me hungry, because of the fixation on food, and it made me want to go out and start stockpiling in case of emergency. The characters were just as interesting, and I thought even more realistic. There's a rumor that a third book is in the works, and I do hope that is true!

Our cable is still out, and they won't send a technician until Sunday, so I'll be scheduling a few posts (I came in early to post from work today.)

Hammered- Elizabeth Bear

I don't remember where I read about this series (there are two more books following this one, and one can only hope for more after that), but I'm very glad I picked it up. The first book is really a set-up for what will come next, but it was an enjoyable read. The character of Jenny Casey is one of the most interesting I've encountered lately, so I look forward to reading more of her adventures. This is set in the near future Earth, where things have gone pretty wrong. Canada is a superpower, racing with China to build the first starship. Jenny Casey is just a soldier, but one who has already been "enhanced" with implants. This makes her special, and entangles her in the Canadian government plans. There are a few side plots that all converge at the end, and a few other interesting characters. I'm planning to take the next two in the series along on my trip. (They are mass market paperbacks, so fit my traveling criteria!)

Flat Broke with Children - Sharon Hays

The subtitle is: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform.

I enjoyed this, because I haven't been reading as much non-fiction as I would like. I found this very thought-provoking. Those who advocate welfare reform say they are doing it to promote the family, but the reality is that the work requirements force single mothers to put their children in daycare. One thing the author also points out is that it creates a pool of desperate workers: they must get a job, and the employers know they can get away with paying minimum wage because there are always more workers. And the workers don't dare complain or they'll get fired.

This is definitely a sociology book, which I liked. The author really got to know both the welfare workers and the welfare recipients, to try to understand how the reforms were really working or not. I though it was well-researched, yet quite easy to read.

Recovery Man - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

This took me forever to finish, because it bogs down a bit in the middle. I think it suffers the usual problem of a book that is later in a series: too little editing. Still, it was a worthwhile read, and I still look forward to more in the series. Her descriptions of the domes on the Moon and Callisto are so vivid that I can picture people actually living there. It actually makes me a little sad to think we might not ever get our act together enough to do that, or at least not in my lifetime. This one focuses less on her usual protagonist Miles Flint, and more on his ex-wife and her/their daughter, but I found all of the characters interesting enough. I wouldn't recommend starting her series with this book, however.

Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer

This is shelved in the "teen" section, but I heard about it on another blog and thought it sounded interesting. I was not disappointed! This is told as a diary of a teenage girl as she describes her experiences after an asteroid knocks the moon out of its usual orbit. The result is floods, volcanoes, and a kind of nuclear winter from all of the ash from the volcanoes. The style is very clean and the characters are interesting. I was happy to read on Amazon that there is a sequel of sorts coming out in June - not really a sequel, but a sort of parallel story about what happened in New York City during the same period. I think that is an interesting idea; one of the few flaws in this book is that the family is totally cut off from outside news, so we know very little of what is happening elsewhere.

Also, they spend a lot of the time hungry - food supplies are cut off. This made me hungry reading it, so be prepared with snacks. (I had the same problem with We the Living by Ayn Rand.)

Paloma - Kristine Kathryn Rusch

This is the fourth in her "Retrieval Artist" series, and the quality has held up throughout the series. There is one more book that follows this one. They are best read in order, because the later ones generally assume you've read the earlier ones.

The series is set in the future, when we've colonized the moon and have encountered many other species, and are trying to maintain a relationship with all of the different alien cultures. The setting is the Moon, and her descriptions of the domes that make up the city of Armstrong on the Moon are so vivid I think I could step into that world. I love the details about the food, the buildings, and the government. Her characters are also pretty well rounded.

These are a quick, light read, and quite enjoyable.

TBR updates

Currently reading:
Intern - by Sandeep Jauhaur
The Winter Rose - Jennifer Donnelly
Hammered - Elizabeth Bear

TBR (in no particular order):
My Year of Meats - Ruth Ozeki
Nekropolis - Maureen McHugh
The City, Not Long After - Pat Murphy
Scardown - Elizabeth Bear
After This - Alice McDermott
Firefly Lane - Kristin Hannah
Dust - Charles Pellegrino

Abandoned:
One Month to Live - Kerry & Chris Shook (This reminded me a lot of The Purpose Driven Life, which is not necessarily a good thing. I had to read Purpose Driven life in my prior life as a church secretary, and I did not enjoy it. I'm not a particularly religious person, and I especially don't care for the super-simplified version Rick Warren propounds. Christianity is complex, and I prefer my religion to be more private.)

My Soul to Keep - Melanie Wells (Mostly I disliked it because I don't care for mysteries in general. This one has a Christian slant, which on its own isn't enough to make me set it aside. However, this is also the second in a series, and I have not read the first one.)

The Break-Up Diet - Annette Fix

I received an advance copy of this through Library Thing, and I really enjoyed it. This is a memoir of a woman who survives a break-up and comes out the other side a better person, with a better relationship. The "twist" of the story is that she is a single mom who is making ends meet by topless dancing while trying to establish herself as a writer. I'm so glad she was able to persevere in the writing, because she has a very fresh, easy style that is fun to read and quite entertaining. The "recipes" for things such as "doubt cake" and "guilt stew" are very clever.

The author's website has some pretty entertaining break-up stories, and a quiz, as well as some other fun stuff.

Overall, one of the more entertaining things I've read lately.

Suze Orman

In keeping with my wish to become more financially aware, I read four Suze Orman books over the weekend. Well, skimmed really, but that's all I was planning to do. I read:
Women and Money
Ask Suze
The 9 Steps to Financial Success
The Courage to be Rich

I have seen her show on CNBC, so I was familiar with her style. I thought the books were fairly informative and straightforward, although it was mostly information I already knew. She advocates keeping your records in order and paying off credit card debt, both of which I think are valuable. She's more aggressive with the investments than I am right now, but I think I'll get to a point where I'm more comfortable with that. I have an employer paid retirement right now, but I want to open a Roth IRA this year. I think her advice to become knowledgable and take control of your finances is good, and she seems intent on empowering women to do this especially. In terms of basic knowledge, I think these are good books. They are repetitive, so one probably only needs to read one of them to get the idea.

Punching In - Alex Frankel

The subtitle of this is: "The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee."

The author spent a year working at various retail-type jobs, and recorded his experiences. He worked at UPS, Starbucks, Gap, the Apple Store, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The behind-the-scenes aspect of this was interesting, but I was expecting more of a "Nickel and Dimed" approach. This is a journalistic account, rather than a sociological approach, but it was still interesting.

Go Your Own Way - ed. by Faith Conlon et al

The full title is "Go Your Own Way: Women Travel the World Solo" and the editors are Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick and Christina Henry de Tessan.

I have been contemplating the value of traveling alone, and I found this collection of essays while browsing around Amazon. Some of the essays are better than others, but overall this is a very inspiring collection of personal accounts of women's experiences while traveling alone. My grandmother was an adventurous traveler, and I want to follow in her footsteps. She had a good friend who traveled with her - they were both widows, both interested in history and archeology, and were a good match. The only person in my circle of friends and family that is a good match for me is my sister, and she has a husband and child she doesn't want to leave behind while traveling. I'm not willing to wait, so I guess I'll have to strike out on my own! I found these essays to be inspiring, as I said, and I recommend the collection to anyone who likes travel, whether alone or in a group.

Empire - Orson Scott Card

I picked this up from the "new paperbacks" rack at the bookstore, and I really wish I had tried to get it at the library instead. I only made it through the first 75 pages, and I am not going to finish it. I thought Card would be a safe bet, despite the decreasing quality of his "Ender" series, but this by far is his worst. The premise from the back of the book sounds very interesting, unfortunately he doesn't execute it. It is pedantic, with cardboard characters and a preposterous yet confusing plot.

The Nine - Jeffrey Toobin

Subtitle: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court

The author managed to get a great behind-the-scenes look at the current Supreme Court. He has great insight into the philosophy and worldview of each justice, and how this was and is reflected in their decisionmaking. I love books about the Court, and this one was very readable and brought many of the recent cases to life.

The Memory of Running - Ron McLarty

My hairdresser gave me this book because she enjoyed it, and I'm very glad she did. This is an unusual story about a man who loses his parents in a car accident, then goes on a journey by bicycle across the country to find his sister, who disappeared years ago. Naturally, this is a story of his self-discovery along the way, and about shedding the past to step into the future. It's told mostly through flashbacks, as we learn about his family and what led up to this point. This was fairly easy read, and the prose seemed very natural. Ron McLarty is an actor, but he is also a gifted writer.

World Without End - Ken Follett

This is the sequel to "Pillars of the Earth" that we didn't know we were waiting for. At 1000+ pages, it seemed quite long, and did drag a bit in places, but overall it was enjoyable. His characters were interesting, but as usual the good guys were very good, and the bad guys were very bad - no shades of grey, no doubt about motives, no chance at redemption. One reason I did pick it up was that it covers the time of the Black Death in England, although we don't get to that until very far into the book, and I don't think he conveyed the scope of it very well. Still, it was an entertaining read. He clearly did a lot of research to prepare for it; I learned how they dyed wool at the time, for example. There are some things that seemed to strain my credulity a bit - contrived situations just because he wanted to use the research he had done, for example - and more complicated characters would have been more realistic. Still, it was a pretty fast and entertaining read.

"Next" and "The Invisible"

These are the most recent movies I got from Netflix, and they've been sitting on my shelf for a couple of weeks so I finally decided to watch them just so I could get two more movies to sit on my shelf. Although if the writer's strike lasts much longer, I think it will be all DVDs for all of us for a while.

Anyway, of the two, "Next" was the better movie. It stars Nicholas Cage, and is based on a Philip K. Dick short story, both of which were what made me put the movie in the queue. It starts a little slow, but the twist at the end makes it all worthwhile. Don't worry, I won't spoil it. The premise is that the main character, (Cage) can see two minutes into his own future. And of course, there are people who want to use that talent for their own purposes. I thought it was pretty well done, although slow at first, and I did like the "sliding" effect they used for showing it was only a possible future.

"The Invisible" was touted as being like "The Sixth Sense" - and it is, except for the fact that it isn't at all. The main character is a teenager who becomes invisible to everyone except for one troubled girl. This one also bogs down in the middle, and doesn't really recover. There were a lot of things that didn't really make sense, and there were no surprises at all.