The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food

In 2005, more than 100 people won some sort of money through the Powerball lottery. This was an unprecedented amount of winners, sucking up a majority of the Powerball's reserves. How did this happen? Nearly every winner found their numbers from a fortune cookie. This led Jennifer Lee on a search for the history of the fortune cookie and the story behind Chinese food in America.

I've found this book pretty interesting throughout. Lee travels all over the world in search of the origins of the fortune cookie (hint: not China), and she travels all over the world looking for the best Chinese food. Chinese people pay tens of thousands of dollars to be smuggled into America just to work in Chinese restaurants - the only place they can work and not have to learn English. Chinese restaurants have exploded in this country, and they change hands between families often. Not only do you learn about the food, but you learn a little bit about Chinese history as well. If you're interested in that, I recommend the book. Just be warned: it'll make you hungry. And even more so, it'll make you look at your favorite Chinese place differently.

Tomorrow I'll post some fun facts that I learned throughout the book. I won't give anything major away, but some of the facts are just too amazing or cool not to share.

The Monster of Florence

I’m in the middle of The Monster of Florence, a retelling of a gruesome string of murders between 1968 and 1985 in Florence, Italy. In the first half of the book, co-author Doug Preston gets us up to speed on the serial killer (or killers) that ripped Florence of its innocence. The killer would target young lovers on moonless nights as they had sex in their cars in different secluded areas. He would kill both by gunshot, and mutilate the female. Eight of these murders (16 people) happened in 17 years time. Due to the fact that all the bullets were from the same gun, and the MO was nearly the same in all cases, the police could only believe they were all connected. The man was named The Monster.

Preston’s co-author Mario Spezi was the journalist during a majority of this time. Because he was so close to the cases, he was seen as an authority figure. He even wrote a book about the murders in the ‘80s. Preston moved to Florence with his family in 2000, learned of the still-unsolved serial murders and partnered up with Spezi to write about it (and try to nab the killer). (If you ever read Thomas Harris’ sequel Hannibal - when Hannibal Lector lives in Florence after escaping at the end of Silence of the Lambs – many of his storylines, themes and characters are based on people from the time of The Monster of Florence. Harris even stayed at the home of the lead investigator.)

I’m almost finished with Part I of the book, which recounts the murders and the coinciding investigation. The police had several different leads, arrested many men, but could never find enough proof to pin the murders on any one person. The retelling of the murders are pretty awful, and it’s very easy to get confused when there are so many players with very similar-sounding Italian names. But, the book is good. Not awesome, but good. It’s painful to read about all the mistakes the police made; this kind of thing didn’t happen in Florence, so I feel they were pretty out of their league, especially at first. But the story is also very interesting. In 2007 it was a Dateline episode, so I’m thinking of trying to find that online and watching it after I read the book.

The second half of the book is Preston’s story – after he moves to Florence and begins his research into the murders. The cover flap even alludes to Preston and Spezi getting so close to the investigation they become suspects themselves. I’m anxious to get to that part.

This Land is Their Land

I’m currently reading This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation by Barbara Ehrenreich. I first came across Ehrenreich when in college I read Nickel and Dimed, an immersion journalistic experiment of Ehrenreich’s when she took several minimum wage jobs over the course of a year to see if it was even possible to live on our country’s minimum wage. (From her perspective, you may be able to get by, but just barely.) I enjoyed Nickel and Dimed. It may have been a touch one-sided, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t bring up very valuable lessons and points of interest. Plus, she had her real-life experiences to back it up.

This Land is Their Land, Ehrenreich’s attempt at studying the first decade of the 21st century, is comprised of about 60 essays she wrote for other publications, such as The New York Times and The Progressive. Most often they’re personal rants with very few stats or actual research thrown in. She takes to the mat all the super-rich out there who she believes are the main reason we’re in the mess we’re in right now.

When it comes to the ways of the world, I tend to lean toward Ehrenreich’s side. As she’s chastising Walmart, big-box electronic store CEOs, etc., it’s very easy to cheer her along. It really does seem that these big wigs couldn’t care less about their employees, or the fact that the middle class is failing while they’re only getting richer.

So, I’m on the fence about this book. If you lean blue and like books that preach to the choir, this is definitely it. She’s humorous, sarcastic and can make you laugh out loud. But, if you prefer your emotional rants to come with a little beef in the statistics and proof department, it may be frustrating for you. As a journalist, I take her words with a grain of salt; as a middle-class citizen, her words put some fight in me.

Into Thin Air

I received Into Thin Air about five years ago from one of my bffs. For some reason I lost track of the book for awhile and had yet to read it. The other day, when I was out of books to read and I didn't want to buy more because Christmas - the book-receiving season in my world - is right around the corner, I searched my bookcase for a book I had yet to read. I found Into Thin Air. I've read Jon Krakauer's other books, Under the Banner of Heaven (utterly amazing) and Into the Wild (depressing but worth the read), so I knew I would like this book. And I did. A lot.

In 1996, Outside magazine sent Krakauer to climb Everest and report back in a feature story. But this trip up Everest was a deadly one, and Krakauer had several teammates perish on the side of the mountain. Afterward, he wrote his article for Outside, but then within 6 months extended it into a book - I think mostly for thearpy, but also to provide his version of the truth.

The book reminded me of how talented Krakauer is as a writer. His books are engaging, while at the same time teaching you about something real. It was very interesting to learn about the art of climbing, and the commercialization of Everest. The fact that people with very little climbing experience can pay enough money to have a guide take them to the top is just amazing to me. It sounds unbelievably dangerous. Krakauer even admitted that the "point" of climbing Everest might not even be to reach the summit - it's to endure the utter pain that comes with reaching the summit. The headaches, the stomach bugs, the coughs, the lack of oxygen to the brain, the freakin' cold. Because, a majority of people, once they get to the top, stay for only several minutes, snap a photo and then turn right back around, because they're too tired or they're hallucinating from the hypoxia.

And more often than not, people make it back down. But not in this case, and the tradegy that follows is scary and heartbreaking. You feel for those who died, and you feel for those who survived, who must now live with the guilt that they couldn't help their fellow climbers. A very interesting read. A true adventure story.

The World Without Us, Part II

I’ve read a few more chapters in The World Without Us. This book is dense! But definitely interesting. One chapter talks exclusively about New York City (“The City Without Us”) and it’s just amazing all the things that would happen without humans to run things (and I don’t mean for the better; we could be running things into the ground for all we know). Once upon a time, the land that is New York City was hilly and green, but it was flattened to make room for skyscrapers and such. Because of the lack of vegetation to absorb it, rainwater has nowhere to go but down. And what’s down? The subway.

NYC has an organization called the Hydraulics Emergency Response whose job it is to keep 13 million gallons of water each day from encroaching on the subway system. And that’s on a day when it doesn’t rain. In a world without pumps, people and electricity, the experts think the NYC underground would fill completely in two days. TWO DAYS. Within 20 years, the streets become rivers.

In an interest of looking at the world without humans, Weisman studies the world before us. He delves into the ice ages and eras before humans. He talks about how humans evolved from apes and started moving from Africa to Australia and America (continents were much more connected than they are now) and came face to face with such huge creatures such as the wooly mammoth, the cow-sized giant sloth and the black bear-sized beaver. Creatures that are no longer here. Why?

A well-respected theory that Weisman seems to believe is that humans hunted these beasts into extinction. We hunted them for food, for sport, just because we could, not realizing what we were doing. The places we didn’t get to right away (some islands in the Caribbean, farther into South America), well, those species lasted a bit longer. Interesting. When these creatures were gone, we learned to farm. Many people of varying levels of intelligence don’t want to believe this theory. But it makes sense to me. I mean, we seem to care about extinction nowadays, but if our lives depended on it or we just didn’t know any better, there’s no doubt in my mind we’d go after the endangered species. (Weisman even mentions in the book how Teddy Roosevelt killed 600 animals on one safari in 1909. One safari. For sport.)

More recently humans had an effect on nature as well. We brought over new plants and organisms that changed our landscape outright. Writes Weisman, “The European starling—now a ubiquitous avian pest from Alaska to Mexico—was introduced because someone thought [NYC] would be more cultured if Central Park were home to each bird mentioned in Shakespeare. Next came a Central Park garden with every plant in the Bard’s plays, sown with the lyrical likes of primrose, wormwood, larks’ heel, eglantine, and cowslip.” We are so dumb.

Whether you believe in evolution or not, it’s very interesting to think about where we came from and how, quite possibly, we’ve been ruining things for thousands of years. Or, is it all just part of the natural cycle? Extinction is a part of life, many scientists say. That’s probably true.

But who’s next?

The World Without Us

Now I've started reading The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, a journalist and documentary maker who, in this book, studies what would happen to the planet and all that's on it, if humans left. Have you ever seen I Am Legend? Will Smith plays a man who is alone in New York City and has been for three years. Weeds grow up from the sidewalks, corn fields grow in the middle of the city, animals wander much more freely. And that's only after three years. Weisman discusses what will happen after many more years than that:

Look around you, at today's world. Your house, your city. The surrounding land, the pavement underneath, and the soil hidden below that. Leave it all in place, but extract the human beings. Wipe us out, and see what's left. How would the rest of nature respond if it were suddenly relieved of the relentless pressures we heap on it and our fellow organisms? How soon would, or could, the climate return to where it was before we fired up all our engines?

...Might we have left some faint, enduring mark on the universe; some lasting glow, or echo, of Earthly humanity; some interplanetary sign that once we were here?

...Is it possible that, instead of heaving a huge biological sigh of relief, the world without us would miss us?

The first chapter I read was about what happens to our homes (suburban homes) if we're not here to keep the elements out. If we're not here to fix the roof, seal the basement, etc. It may take 50 to 100 years, but they all will eventually collapse. It starts with mold. Which rots the sheetrock and the wood. Rotten walls let in water, which produces more mold. Holes in the foundation let in critters. Soon it collapses upon itself. Weisman also looks at our past to determine a future without us. While some of the book is a tad on the slow side for me, Weisman does have a beautiful way of stringing words together - as you can read above. And, it's all very interesting to think about, sad and depressing, too, but interesting.

The Female Brain, Finale

I finished this book last night. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. After she talks about the teen brain, Brizendine goes into talking about women's brains and love and sex, pregnancy and motherhood, perimenopause and menopause, as well as sexual orientation and postpartum depression.

It's amazing all the changes our brains go through in our lifetime. Our brain is completely different in structure after we have a baby. It's then again different - due to decreasing estrogen - after menopause. While I was reading this book, I found myself nodding my head so many times, because she was talking about the exact feelings I feel. Or the exact behaviors I've seen in mothers I know or more mature women.

You know, I seriously believe, more than ever, that we're pretty amazing people considering what all goes on inside our heads. I look forward to reading The Male Brain, which Sarah said Brizendine is currently writing, and learning whether or not men have any brain changes as drastic as ours.

The Female Brain, Part II

This book is so full of information. Here are a few more things I found interesting. It looks like a lot, but I'm hardly scratching the surface.

- Girls understand tone of voice right away, boys don't. This is why boys don’t respond when you tell them no sternly, and why girls realize when you’re sad and show empathy at such young ages (this is due to the high levels of estrogen that flow throughout girls for 24 months during infancy, while boys only have that for nine months).
- Baby girls need eye contact right away, while boys like to look at everything else. This stays with girls throughout life, so if parents/boyfriends/spouses don’t look us in the eye or don’t 'hear' us, we feel we’re doing something wrong and we try everything we can to make them see us.
- Baby girls in the womb and those just born can feel their mom’s stress and this affects the kind of child they become. If one daughter is born when mom is happy and carefree and another is born during a period of stress and depression, the two girls will take on those corresponding demeanors.
- The author also talks about why females tend to shy away from confrontation (we’re lovers, not fighters – seriously, hormones in our brains make us this way). She doesn’t leave out our bad traits either - how we can be bossy and manipulate others to get what we want. This starts at a very young age for girls, and whether we learn to curb it or not probably depends on our parents and ourselves.

- The next chapter dives in to the teenage years. Whoa. I now understand why I was the way I was when I was a teenager – and I wasn’t even as bad as some other girls. Our estrogen surges take a back seat between ages 3 and 13, and then it goes out of control again. These monthly fluctuations of estrogen are what makes us desire to be liked by the opposite sex and feel the need to have a close circle of girlfriends.
- I thought it was very interesting when the author talked about how teenage girls NEED to gossip and talk with their friends for hours each day because it gives off a major happiness in our brain. If our friends are taken away from us (either by moving, grounding, fighting, etc.) we’ll become impossible to deal with – moody, depressed and angry. She stresses that this doesn’t mean teenage daughters should have the run of the house, but that it’ll take a little understanding and compromise to keep them healthy and happy.
- She also talked about cliques. In the days of cavemen and women (and currently with primates as well), females banded together to protect their young from any sort of predators. Because we’re lacking in the confrontation department (we don’t want to risk ruining our relationships), these cliques are our way of protecting ourselves. We know our girlfriends will stand up with us against any bullies.

This all makes perfect sense to me. I’m so glad I’m learning this now because when my niece reaches this age (or if I were ever to have a daughter myself), I feel I’d be better prepared for the nightmare that can be teenage girls. But at the same time it also gives insight into boys, and I feel I understand my little nephews better, too.

The Female Brain

I've switched gears now, and I'm reading The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, M.D. I was walking around B&N yesterday and there was a table of books just about the human brain. This one caught my eye; I've always been interested in the differences between the female and male brain. In this book, Brizendine talks about the physical differences between our brains, as well as the hormonal differences. I've only just begun, but here are a few things I've learned so far:

- Some parts of the female brain change up to 25 percent every month. This is why sometimes we can feel jerked around easily - near tears one moment, happy the next.

- The hormones in our brain are so strong, they can dictate what we find important and hold value to.

- Men and women use different brain circuits to solve problems, process language and store emotion.

- In the brains centers for language and hearing, women have 11 percent more neurons than men. We also have a larger hippocampus - the part of the brain that helps with memory (why you remember more details than he does) and observing emotion in others. Men, on the other hand, have larger processors in the amygdala, which triggers aggression.

- While boys and girls are equally intelligent, throughout life females may choose more social careers over those in the maths and sciences because their brain/hormones want them to find a career where they can interact with others and one that will allow them to raise a family and take care of others.

The Zookeeper's Wife, Part II

Just a few thoughts:

1. The bravery: In this book, Jan risks his life every day, sneaking into the Warsaw Ghetto (a space no larger than 15 blocks, filled with disease, that holds thousands of Jews) and sneaking out with one prisoner at a time. I want to think if faced with a situation like this, I would be one to be brave, but it's hard to know for sure. Anyone who survived this time (or any forms of genocide that exist today) are true heroes.

2. The number of Germans who also risked their lives by looking the other way. Jan couldn't have sneaked into the Ghetto if it weren't for a very powerful Nazi covering for him. It's a least a bit hopeful knowing they weren't all bad.

There was a marathon of Band of Brothers on the History Channel this weekend. An excellent series about Easy Company's fight throughout WWII. In one of the final episodes, the company comes across a concentration camp. It's 1945. The troops have never heard of these camps. They didn't know this was going on, even when they landed in Normandy, even when they fought in the dead of winter at Bastonge. If any of those soldiers had any doubt about why they were fighting, I think those doubts must have vanished when they saw all the dead bodies and the hundreds of starving people. It made me think of this book. At least people like Jan and Antonina saved a small percentage.

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

This true story takes place before and throughout WWII when the Germans invaded Poland. Married couple Jan and Antonina love animals and own Warsaw's zoo. When the animals are lost because of the war, the couple starts hiding Jews within the walls, caves and cages of the zoo - saving hundreds from a dreadful fate.

Author Diane Ackerman takes notes from history, scenes from Antonina's diary and snippets of interviews with the survivors. She discusses the family's love for animals - they had some amazing ones on display for the 1930s, I think. She also teaches the reader more about the war, and how Hitler felt this ethnic cleansing was necessary. At the same time, there are other zoologists in Germany who are trying to do the same with animals - recreate extinct species by killing off the weak herds and mating only the most dominant, the most pure.

Jan was a solider in his younger days, so as a leader of the Resistance's Underground, not only does he help hide and transport Jews to safety, he hides weapons under the Germans' noses, derails trains with bombs and poisons Nazis with worm-infested meats. And he gets a real kick out of it. :)

This book is a fast read - and I'm loving it.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Finale

I finished! How I feel (not in totality, just a few points):

1. If our medical system had a better interpreter policy in place, things may have turned out better for the Lees (and many others in similar situations).

2. Perhaps we truly are over-medicated as a population? While I would want doctors to work their hardest to cure me, maybe all the meds they pump into us hinder our health, too?

3. There is a high population of Hmong in Pennsylvania. They sew products for the Amish, so they can still be labeled "made locally." I thought this was hilarious, and hubby made a comment about how sad it is when even the Amish "outsource."

4. We all need to be more tolerant. A huge discussion in the book was about the thought that because a majority of Hmong are on welfare, they're lazy freeloaders. In actuality, we're the ones who forced them out of their mountain homes in Laos. We're the ones who brought them here. We're the ones who put them on welfare. The Hmong families Fadiman talked to in the book just want to work - they want to grow their own food, work in their own fields, build their own homes. We definitely don't make this easy for them.

5. However, in terms of No. 4, we can only be more tolerant if we're fed all the information. Our leaders keep these sorts of things pretty hush hush. So, we need more books like this one - and they need to be read.

It was an eye-opening book. I was pulled in many different directions - still am. It's definitely worth a read. Once you do, come back and tell me what you think about it. I'm dying to hear other people's opinions.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Part III

This book is very dense, so it's taking me awhile to get through it. But it's a good kind of dense. Not boring at all. In between the story of Lia's family's fight with her doctors, Fadiman tells the backstory of the family and how they arrived in the U.S.

I've learned about the U.S. secret war, or "Quiet War" or Laotian Civil War, in Laos during Vietnam. A war that was so secretive people still don't know all that much about it. Hundreds of thousands of Hmong people fought on our side during this Quiet War, and thousands and thousands died. The war was led by General Vang Pao. (If the name sounds familiar, he was in the news last summer for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government of Laos.) When Vang Pao had to surrender after many years of fighting, the remaining Hmong were displaced from their homes and had to migrate to Thai refugee camps, and then many eventually came here and were spattered about the country. Lia's parents made this journey, losing children and other family members along the way.

Fadiman then talks about what happens when Hmong arrive here: how they're treated, how they act, how they survive. The facts are not uplifting. But I'm enjoying this book for the fact that I'm learning a lot about a culture and a time in history that they don't teach you about in school.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Part II

I’m so torn with this book! I try to be culturally sensitive and respect the way Lia’s parents want to medically treat her. Also, the communication barrier is impossible to break. These parents don’t understand how to administer the medicine, which only frustrates the doctors more. I can see the difficulties from both sides. On one hand, these doctors really just want what’s best for their patient, but they can’t communicate this to her parents. On the other hand, the Lees are very wary of Western medicine as it is, and when the meds don’t show instant improvement, they stop administering them to Lia. Fadiman writes about how residents and pediatricians at this hospital are physically sick because of this family – they’re depressed, stressed, nervous, confused. Their ability to make this patient better is hindered by the cultural barriers. One doctor, knowing what a trial it is to work with the Lees, would vomit before each meeting. How awful. But, I also know if I lived in another country and I got sick (or a family member did) and I couldn’t communicate with the doctor or read the prescription information, well, I’m not sure I would take the medicine either – or I would probably administer it wrong.

I know every doctor can’t be expected to know the ins and outs of every culture that may walk through his/her door. When is it OK to talk to an English-speaking relative? When must you address an elder? Do they have certain beliefs that deter them from following certain instructions? It seems wrong to me that the best option of communication they may be able to find is a Hmong janitor who speaks a bit of English. How is either side supposed to trust a stranger to communicate the most personal of problems?

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

I’m barely into this book, but I’ve already learned so much. This is why I love to read nonfiction and literary journalism, such as this, The Overachievers, Postville, etc. I leave the book with so much more knowledge then when I began. This book looks at a Hmong family living in California and how they disagree with the doctors on how to treat their epileptic daughter. So far I’ve learned the history of the Hmong people, which I have to say, I knew nothing about. They’re a fierce people and definitely don’t like to be pushed around. When it comes to your children, I think that’s a good quality to have.

One thought that stuck with me so far was in the author’s, Anne Fadiman, preface, when she talks about how when she set out to tell this story, she figured she could remain neutral and the facts would tell her who was right and who was in the wrong. In the end, she ended up liking both sides and learned to think differently about the situations at hand. I thought immediately of my sentiments regarding Postville. Here again, it’s not about right or wrong. It’s about finding common ground – respecting the other’s culture/way of thinking. I’m anxious to learn how it all turns out.

Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled and More Miserable Than Ever Before

I’m working on a column for one of the publications for which I write/edit. I decided to take a look at the generation gap in the workforce (since the magazine is a business one). Right now Gen X (depending on who you ask, those born 1965-77) and Gen Y (1978-1990) make up a majority of the workforce. Soon the Baby Boomers will retire and Gen Y will actually be the majority of the workplace workers. As all of these newbies are entering the workplace, Boomers are having a little trouble relating. I felt this was an interesting topic to explore.

There have been many books and articles written about this new generation – Y or Millennials or whatever you want to call them (us). “Adults” can’t seem to figure us out. I first got fired up about this topic in November when I saw a 60 minutes segment, “The Millennials Are Coming.” Some of the things these experts claimed: we’re spoiled, selfish, self-absorbed and don’t know what it’s like to punch a time clock. I know there are exceptions to every rule, but if I look at my entire circle of friends, I can actually find many exceptions staring back at me. So, something has to be wrong with this theory, right?

I picked up Generation Me by Jean M. Twenge to read up on her insights. She lumps some of X, Y and Millennials into one group: GenMe (1970-2000-ish). So, at 33, she’s considered a member. I haven’t read to book in its entirety, just the introduction and all the parts relating to the workplace, but I find her insights interesting. While we may be more forward and feel more entitled – after all our parents (those same Boomers) told us we could do whatever we want – we do have more acceptance of diversity, more knowledge of new technology, the ability to think outside the box and the willingness to learn new things.

Twenge also covers sex, equality and depression in her book. At the end, she offers suggestions to older generations on how to relate better to the puzzling beast that is GenMe. I didn’t agree with everything she had to say, because she is forced to generalize, but I did learn more about myself and more about how older generations think as well.

Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America

In honor of the Iowa caucuses today, I thought I'd make mention of an Iowan story.

Part memoir, part literary journalism, Postville: A Clash of Cultures in Heartland America is written by Stephen Bloom, a college professor from San Francisco who takes a teaching position at the University of Iowa, his wife and young son in tow. As a Jewish family amongst the strong Norwegian (and Lutheran) population, the Blooms immediately feel like outsiders. Bloom, a secular Jew, yearns for some sort of connection with other Jews in Iowa. That’s when he decides to travel to Postville, Iowa, home to a large, successful glatt kosher processing plant, and 150 Lubavitcher Jews. Perhaps he’ll feel more at home here?

Bloom learns how hard it is to get in contact with the owner of the plant – there’s a certain cultural way to do these things. [Not that this really compares, but if you've ever seen the Sex and the City episode when Charlotte decides to convert to Judaism so she can marry Harry, the way the rabbi treats her at first is similar.] However, the non-Jewish people of Postville are more than willing to talk to Bloom. In their eyes, the Hasidim are taking over the town, yet aren’t willing to integrate into the population – buying up all the real estate, yet refusing to let their children play with other resident children, swim in the same pool, come to ice cream socials, etc. They don’t say hello, they barter for their goods – actions the residents just don’t understand.

When Bloom does integrate into the plant and finally into the Hasidim circle, he learns they have their own opinions about the citizens of Postville. All they’re doing is making a living, living their religion and keeping to themselves. What’s the harm in that? Plus, if they were to leave, the town would flounder. Postville needs the Jews and the processing plant, more than the Jews need Postville.

I found this book extremely interesting. With each chapter, Bloom has you on the side of the Postville citizens, then after reading the next chapter, you’ve switched your loyalty. So, who’s right? Bloom takes his own journey to answer that question, and brings the reader along for the ride. He’s so honest about his thoughts and beliefs, you can understand why his book caused some tensions when it was published in 2001. He discovers a new aspect of his religion and heritage, yet he sympathizes with the Postville citizens. I was aching for a hard conclusion, for Bloom to tell me who was right, but as with all issues of religion and culture, sometimes there is no right or wrong. We just have to find common ground.

Top 5 Books I Read in 2007, No. 5: The Overachievers

Note: Throughout the month of December, I’m going to post my Top 5 books of 2007. This does not mean these books were published in 2007, though some were. I just read them this year. Unless I just have to read a book ASAP, it’s cheaper to wait for the paperbacks.

You can read my three previous posts about The Overachievers here, here and here. But in the end, I found this book extremely interesting. Armed with the knowledge it gave me on the subjects of school schedules, college admission processes, homework amounts and child development - along with the typical characteristics these overachievers possess - I see more and more cases in the people I meet in my everyday life, and a bit within myself. Anyone who is interested in this culture of students will enjoy this book. Robbins writes her books in a novel-like style making them very easy to consume.

The Things They Carried

While I'm a couple days late, I'd like to make mention of a book in honor of Veteran's Day. I read Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried in 11th grade English, I believe. If you're unfamiliar with O'Brien, many of his books - novels, memoir, etc. - are about the Vietnam War. The Things They Carried is a compilation - memoir with bits of fiction, in my opinion, though it says "novel" on the cover - of short stories about Vietnam. However, the stories follow the same men of Alpha Company, so the book feels very connected throughout. Some stories are told in present-day Vietnam, while some are flashbacks from 20 years later.

O'Brien's storytelling is mesmerizing. The short story that stuck with me the most, and that I still think of to this day, is "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong." Located in a "safe" place in Vietnam, one medic decides to bring his girl over from the States to stay awhile. Picture this prim and proper teacher in her sweater set arriving in Vietnam. She takes to the daily routine, joining in the fray and even becoming friendly with the neighboring Green Berets. Crazy things unravel - she chops off her hair, goes on secret missions, kills animals - and let's just say she's never the same again.

The other stories tell about the pressures, boredom, anger and angst that these soldiers faced during the war. While these stories are fictionalized, I'm sure their feelings and experiences are wrapped in truth. I think it would be really hard to make that stuff up completely.

What books would you recommend for Veteran's Day?

The Year of Magical Thinking

I'm ashamed to say, as a journalist who loves literary journalism, I haven't read much Joan Didion. But, when her book The Year of Magical Thinking came out, I felt drawn to it. The reviews were over-the-top good for this book, and I was going through a particularly difficult time with an illness in the family, too.

In this book, Didion describes a year in her life when her daughter fell into a coma unexpectedly and for unknown reasons, and just days later, after visiting her at the hospital, Didion's husband died instantly at the dinner table from a heart attack. The book starts there. It describes the moments right after he fell out of his chair, the medics arriving, the trip to the hospital, the days that followed. It describes her visiting her unconscious daughter, who eventually does wake up, and having to tell her that her father passed away months earlier. They waited to have the funeral until her daughter was well enough to go. Which, in a way, postponed Didion's own grieving.

The feelings Didion describes - expecting him to be there when she gets home, coming across something of his months later, cleaning out his closet - are heart breaking. She has such random thoughts about him, that to some, she may seem off her rocker. However, if you've ever lost someone close to you - even if it's a pet or just an awful break up of a relationship - you completely understand her. I choked up with every chapter - every chapter. Being newly married at the time, it made me realize even more how heartbroken I will be if hubby should be the one to go first.

This book made me unbelievably sad - not in a depressing way that I wouldn't recommend it to others - but what made my heart break even more was to learn that after the book was published, Didion's daughter fell ill again and passed away, too.

What books have made you feel an emotion - sadness, happiness, anger - so completely?