Simplification

To simplify my life, I'm going to only update the books I read at Goodreads from now on. I can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/237604-tanya

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

I didn't expect to like this because it is basically a western, and had I known it was also basically a romance I would never have read it. (Romance + western = um, no.) However, my naivete was good because I gave it a chance and loved it. I laughed, I cried, I rooted for people to get together.

Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams

A lovely collection post-apocalyptic short stories. Some were misses (maybe four?), but most of them were very good. I wished a couple were novels because I really wanted to know more about that world. Definitely an enjoyable read. Terrifying, but enjoyable.

The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

I really liked this book, though I was in the minority in my book club. I expected it to be more snarky than it was, but I found it interesting how the author found more depth to the exercise than he expected. I also enjoyed reading about some of the more obscure laws/rules/traditions and practitioners of the same.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Very, very good. It's a YA novel, so it's an easy read, but I was totally sucked in to the story. It ends annoyingly abruptly, though! Good for making you read the sequels, I guess. Regardless, it's a fabulous tale. If you're into dystopias, this is a highly recommended read.

Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz

Clever, fun read. Hard to follow the characters sometimes, but it was good to read something from another culture.

Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness by Pete Earley

So I kind of abandoned this place again.   Rather than go backward, I'll just start again where I am now, with my two most recent reads.

Crazy was a frustrating read because the U.S. mental health system is so incredibly screwed up and so incredibly immoral in the way those with mental illness are treated. However, it was definitely interesting and I learned a lot (primarily that things are even worse than I realized). Definitely a heartbreaking read. Everyone should read this, and then maybe something would change.

The author has a blog of the same theme. The book is better than that blog, though :-)

Bill Bryson's African Diary

Way too short. It's basically the length of a magazine article, but between a hard-backed cover. Still, it's definitely worth a read. I love Bill Bryson's writing.

Judas and the Gospel of Jesus by N. T. Wright

Not what I thought it would be, and with less content than I'd expected, but not bad.

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

I read this because I really like his TV show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. This book made it clear that I never want to meet him. He has an intense hatred for fat people, and he's enough of an ass that there is a chance he would totally be a jerk to my face (I'm fat), but almost definitely behind my back. I don't need to be brought to tears because someone thinks I am repulsive and shouldn't be on the planet.

So I don't want to meet him. But it was nevertheless an interesting read (though not recommended unless you're already a fan of him or his show; it didn't seem like the sort of book that would interest a random reader) and I still really like his show.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life by Len Fisher

Meh.

SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt

Very interesting. Definitely worth a read.

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan

Interesting. I enjoyed learning all about corn. His anti-vegetarian conclusions were eye-rollingly dumb, but the rest of it was good.

Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End . . . by Philip C. Plait

Very fun read. It's basically a general astronomy book using potential apocalyptic endings to explain things. Loved it.

Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N. T. Wright

This author came highly recommended by a number of people on an email list I'm on, so I decided to try out some of his books, and this one came up first. I quite enjoyed it, and will definitely continue to read more of his books.