Water for Elephants

This book was more HYPED up than what it was worth for me. Every time I went to amazon.com and searched for a book, they were like "Do you want to order Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen with that?" Well, not really but I had seen it on the internet many times with raving reviews. I get how the story is unique: the setting is behind the scenes at a 1930's Ringling Bros. type circus. But if you are an animal lover like I am, you will grimace and put the book down for a minute at the animal abuse that goes on against the exotic animals in the circus. I understand that's what went on back then, but it is hard to read. That being said, I am glad I read it because it is one of those books where you will always remember the characters and take it with you. Now onto the next book, any suggestions?

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*sidenote: when I was searching for an image I came across this blog, Foreword, a weblog community in the service of book design, books, art, photography and design. Very cool, although it seems to have stopped being updated since December '07.

You can cure anything with Wonton Soup!

Last Wednesday I got sick with a really bad cold (sore throat and fever) and have been taking it easy ever since.  I'm still not 100% better.  Danny got me some wonton soup from a Chinese restaurant and crumbled plain white rice in the broth to help me feel better.  I never tried that before and it was really good as well as soothing!  

Ironically, the same day I'm almost cured by Chinese food, I get an email from the library telling me a book I ordered, The Fortune Cookie Chronicles was in!  I ordered that book 3 months ago after reading a review in The Plain Dealer's Sunday book section.  Once I was well enough to get the book in my possession, I spent the entire weekend reading it and could not put it down!  Each chapter is a little vignette explaining the mysteries of American Chinese food because of the author's extensive research. Jennifer 8. Lee (she added the numeral 8 as her middle name because it is similar to the Chinese symbol for prosperity and good luck) speaks fluent Mandarin and was able to go to the town where General Tso hails from, recalls the history of chinese takeout boxes, and even goes into subjects as deep as human smuggling of Chinese immigrants. Each time I got to a new chapter I was pleasantly surprised by what I learned about how Americanized Chinese food really is.  Also, you gotta love an author with a blog.      

Yeah I read teen books........What?

Teen books have come a long way since I was a teen in the 90's reading Babysitters Club and R.L. Stine. Sick of reading Chick Lit and other adult fiction, I recently discovered teen author E. Lockhart. I read The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book (which are a continuation of each other)in a weekend. The main character, Ruby Oliver, is so awkward and worries about the craziest things. Yet she and all the other characters speak in this dialogue that is very adult and witty. I'm dying for the next book in the series that Lockhart is completing right now. To tide me over, I picked up Fly on the Wall, also by Lockhart, and it was SCARY how similar this book is to my life! Gretchen Yee goes to art school where they take drawing class (me in college, check!), parents dropped the bomb that they were getting divorced (me in 2004, check!), is reading The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka in school (me in Mr. Manley's English class in college, CHECK!). I mean the first two instances could happen to a bunch of people, but I think the Metamorphosis is not fodder for a teen novel and that is one of my all time favorite books! Because of all of the above, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, mostly when Gretchen was a human and less when she was in the fly on the wall of the boy's bathroom sequence looking at naked boys and discovering her hormones. I guess that's the part for the teens.

Look Me in the Eye

It's cold here in Cleveland. 10 degrees. No, that's not the wind shield, that's the real thing. Since all I wanted to do was snuggle up with a blanket, I finished the book I was reading, Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison. I became obsessed with Asperger's, a mild form of autism, after watching my favorite model, Heather, on the last season of America's Next Top Model. Robison explains that as an Aspergian, he has huge problems making conversation and interacting with people, but over the years has learned what is "normal" and is happier now than in his childhood before there was a diagnosis. Another characteristic of Asperger's is that they learn as much as possible about a particular subject that interests them, making them an expert in that area. Robison became an expert at electrical engineering which led him to make special effect guitars for KISS and later work on electronic games in the 80's for Milton Bradley. It's interesting to get into the mind of someone who is mildly autistic; his writing is very logical and complete. And how many people can say they toured with KISS?

For more info, here's his blog, where you can see pictures of his family who are characters in the book. I love that he is so open about his life in the quest to help others with Asperger's.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I finally finished this book! I had renewed it from the library FOUR times because I just couldn't find the time to read. Once I hit the halfway point, I finished it in 3 days. There's been tons of press and reviews on this book, but I do want to add that this a love story for people who don't like love stories. Niffenegger gives you the time and date throughout the book so you can keep up with Henry's time traveling, and once you get used to this system it is very easy to understand that he is 40 in the present and uncontrollably traveling back to the 80's to meet up with his future wife as a child. I actually reread the first two chapters after I was done to see all the events that are alluded to in the beginning that you could never understand without reading the whole book. I want to see what happens to Henry's daughter, Alba in her time travels. Maybe a sequel? In the meantime I am anxiously awaiting the movie version starring Rachael McAdams that is supposed to open in '08.