Book #25: Origins by Annie Murphy Paul

I read this book a few years ago, before I was even doing this blog and way before I was ready to start thinking about having a baby. I picked it up just because I was interested in it, at the time, and thought it had to have some really fascinating information in it, for anyone, not just for moms and dads. But now that I am a mom and have been pregnant, this book took on a whole new meaning to it. Paul basically has gone through the serious scientific research on fetal origins and the study of fetuses (is that the correct plural? I should know after reading an entire book about them!) and dumbs it down for the average layperson to understand. (Just kidding about the dumbing it down; it doesn't feel dumbed down, really.) She also wrote the book while she was going through her second pregnancy, and organized the book by each chapter being related to each month of her pregnancy (two months along, three months along, etc.) A lot of the research is on how what the mother does or how the mother lives can affect the fetus inside her, from what she eats (as every pregnant woman is overly aware) to what she breathes in (pollution reaches the fetus and shows up in supposedly clean cord blood) to how stressed she is (when pregnant mothers go through a huge stress-inducing event [like the death of a spouse or a terrorist attack] it can cause their babies to have different mental illnesses later). I thought Paul did a really great job of organizing the studies and writing about them in an interesting way. She also did plenty of interviews and talked to many of the scientists whose work she was writing about, so it was interesting to hear about things in their own words and not just summarized by Paul herself. She also interweaved all of her findings with a kind of memoir-like style about her own pregnancy and experiences, which was compelling and personalizing. (But she never says what they named the baby in the end! Come on!)

It was very interesting reading these things from an impersonal point of view, like, oh, that's nice that babies whose mothers eat lots of non-mercury type fish are smarter in the long run. But then when you have to start applying that to yourself it could drive you totally crazy freaked out--because I NEVER eat fish except for tuna fish sandwiches and those have mercury in them so I'm really not supposed to have them at all, so maybe when I'm pregnant I'd better start buying and making more fish and eating it like 2x a week so that my baby can be smarter! And yeah, maybe I should buy and make more fish (and I'm always meaning to) but that's just one of the things I haven't quite figured out yet in the kitchen (as not-hard as it is, I know). So should I really stress out about that? Or should I feel awesome that I don't smoke or drink at all and we live in a relatively less-polluted area so my baby will at least not be negatively affected by those things? I think it's good to try to make some positive changes towards your health for the sake of your baby while you're pregnant, for their sake and for yours, but I also am well-aware of the difficulty of managing to eat anything some days when you're pregnant, much less a nutrient-packed meal with veggies and omega-3s. So I think all of this needs to be taken with a grain of salt and I just need to be happy with whatever I can do (whenever I do get pregnant again, of course).

Book #24: Someone by Alice McDermott

I read about this on a book blog I follow, and the woman reviewing it said something like, "Someone asked what this book was about, and I said that it wasn't really about anything. But it was still amazing." That actually seemed like a stellar enough review (with other words, of course; it wasn't just that one sentence) that I was definitely interested in checking it out. The wait at the library took forever (another sign it will be worthwhile, I feel like) but I finally got it and made it through on our plane flight to Texas yesterday. Literally--started it a few minutes into the air and then finished it while we were taxiing. Perfect timing. The book is not very long but it still feels full of insight and gives you these amazing snapshots into the main character (Marie)'s life, which make you feel like you know everything about her.

The book starts with Marie when she is seven, during the Great Depression, and waiting outside of her Brooklyn apartment for her dad to come home from work. She has several conversations with neighbors and you learn about her Irish-Catholic neighborhood, and you get a look into Marie's head and get a sense of her personality and family. And that's basically how the book goes: you get different snapshots of time in Marie's life--when she's working as an assistant to an undertaker, her first heartbreak, the birth of her first child--and just have to fill in the gaps from the context provided. I thoroughly enjoyed this portrait of Marie (which is what it really seemed like it was)--it was beautiful and definitely got me thinking.

Book #23: Allegiant by Veronica Roth

This is the third book in the Divergent trilogy. I had to wait a few weeks to get this book from the library, and I'm glad that I made my way through it and that I read the entire trilogy. It's hard to regret reading a series that goes by SO fast and yet is so fun at the same time. While I was in the middle of these books, I regretted putting the book down every time I had to, and just kept wanting to go back to it whenever I got the chance. But now that I'm done with them, I don't think I'll feel the need to revisit them (like I do The Hunger Games and Harry Potter). Here's why: although I got really sucked into the books, I never really liked any of the characters. The plot was compelling (although copycat-ish off of HG), but none of the characters. Tris was the Katniss character, but she was not believable to me at all, even after reading all three books. I don't know if we didn't get into her head enough, or if the impression I had of her at the beginning of being just a quiet, boring girl kind of just stuck even as she transformed into being the leader of her group and doing all these dangerous things throughout the series (of course, because this wouldn't be a dystopian trilogy without that), but I never connected with Tris at all. I never got into her relationship with Tobias--they just kind of randomly got together (it felt like) and then had lots of fights and lots of kissing and never actually got to know each other (or let us get to know them or care about them as characters or as a couple).

I liked this book a lot, though, because it totally explained all of the seeming dumb-ness of the plot from the first two books (like, why are they living in this stupid faction society anyways?) and provided a grander context for the whole society. I also thought it was neat to have multiple narrators in this book (not just Tris, but also Tobias) and I was impressed by the plot twist Roth threw in at the end (no spoilers, I won't ruin it for anyone).

Book #22: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

This is one of those books that I've heard about a number of times over the last few years, but I'd never thought to look for it at the library or actually read it myself. So I finally got around to it and it finally came from the library and I just finished it today. This book is one of those that you can see why it is popular--it's a WWII story (which seems like it's part of a formula for success), the main characters hide a Jew in their basement (which makes everyone cheer), and it's alternately heartbreaking and adorable. The book follows Liesel Meminger, who goes to live with foster parents in Munich just before WWII, and her experiences living there. Most notably, she begins stealing books from wherever she can find them, and teaches herself to read through them. She has a wonderful, normal life there, but also one punctuated by terrible things as their country enters into WWII and follows the ever-growing demands of the Fuhrer. This is a super lame summary but I can't think of any other way to describe it without going into too much detail I'd have to describe more here, haha.

The weird thing about this book is that it is narrated by Death. I don't really know how to describe this, but it kind of made me feel like it was a little gimmicky. I wonder why the author did that, other than to make people talk about his book. It was pretty interesting to see the little asides that Death could throw in about collecting souls, though, once I got used to that fact when I was partway through the book. I liked how a theme throughout the book was commenting on the power of words--for bad (like Hitler's use) or good (like Liesel's use, to heal and help those around her).

I really did love this story though. I was very absorbed in it and couldn't stop reading once I got into it. I finished it in just over a day, even though I was hanging out with Dane for most of it--it was one of those days where I kept reading my book while playing with him, haha. My favorite characters in this book are her foster father, Hans, who loves her and teaches her to read and takes care of her, and her best friend Rudy, who is an irrepressible and crazy kid you can't help loving. I felt like those characters themselves made me really attached to the story, although it made the ending more sad. (No more to say--no spoiling it here!) It was definitely worth the read and I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Book #21: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

I picked this book up off our shelves simply because it was a) super short and b) by Tolstoy, and decided I'd take a whack at it. It's a novella, less than 100 pages, which makes it decidedly easier to swallow than War and Peace, for example. I liked that this felt like serious reading but that it only took maybe an hour and a half to finish it, instead of three months' worth of work.

This book is Tolstoy's look at death--Ivan Ilyich Golovin falls ill with an obviously terminal disease and we get to look inside his mind and see what he thinks about as he comes to dealing with his impending doom and slowly coming to terms with it. (Although I wouldn't say he ever really "comes to terms" with death itself.) Ivan Ilyich expresses some probably universal feelings about the impossibility of death for him and wondering why he has to go through this, etc., and it caused some introspection as to how I would feel if I were in his same position.

Here's the part I liked the most, that seemed especially applicable to me (and probably everyone): "The syllogism he had learnt from Kiesewetter's Logic: 'Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal,' had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself. That Caius – man in the abstract – was mortal, was perfectly correct, but he was not Caius, not an abstract man, but a creature quite, quite separate from all others. He had been little Vanya, with a mamma and a papa, with Mitya and Volodya, with the toys, a coachman and a nurse, afterwards with Katenka and will all the joys, griefs, and delights of childhood, boyhood, and youth. What did Caius know of the smell of that striped leather ball Vanya had been so fond of?... 'Caius really was mortal, and it was right for him to die; but for me, little Vanya, Ivan Ilych, with all my thoughts and emotions, it's altogether a different matter. It cannot be that I ought to die. That would be too terrible.' Such was his feeling" (78). Yes--don't we all think that way, until we've had enough experience with loved ones or health scares ourselves to believe otherwise?

For the record, I did think a bit about being in his same position--terminally ill, heading towards death. How would I feel? And I think probably a lot the same, at first, but the difference between Ivan Ilyich and me is that I am not isolated or alienated from my family or loved ones, and I believe in God and in a very happy afterlife. This is a very obvious statement, but that framing makes all the difference. That wouldn't take the bitterness of that experience away, but I think understanding the gospel would lessen it and help you to get past it quicker, and would put you in a place where you would be surrounded by people who really did care and want to help you (unlike Ivan Ilyich). Ivan Ilyich realizes right at the very end of his life that he had been living his life all wrong--there was no life for him to even stay alive for because he had been selfish and self-serving for most of his life. That's something I like about Tolstoy--he seems to come to conclusions through his characters' thoughts and self-seeking (like with Levin in Anna Karenina) that I believe in and agree with wholeheartedly, and he does it in the most sincere way.

Book #20: David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell

First of all--I have to say: I've read 20 books so far this year and it's still February! Um, what? Last year it was MAY before I got to 20 books. Clearly I am on a roll right now. If I keep up this pace I could more than double the books I read last year--but I know I won't because this rate isn't totally sustainable. I've just had a bunch of books I've requested from the library that have been coming in on hold and I'm trying to work through them before I have to return them. So once I make it past that giant pile of books I'll probably slow down again. But it's been really fun reading so much the last few weeks.

I have read all four (?) of Gladwell's other books. I remember reading Blink and The Tipping Point back in 2010--I found them in the BYU bookstore as required textbooks for a class I wasn't even taking and I bought them because I wanted them, haha. And when I read those, I felt like my mind was blown--Gladwell presented these stories and then gave the exact opposite interpretation of what you'd expect but he backs it up so well that you have to believe him. He follows that exact same formula in David and Goliath too. His theory is that we are always pleasantly surprised when underdogs win, but it really shouldn't be a surprise, because it happens pretty regularly and it happens for a reason--because the underdogs know what they are doing and know how to work the system to defeat their giants. He tells these really fascinating stories about people who succeed from really dysfunctional or depressing backgrounds and junior basketball teams who go to the championships without any talent at all and small French towns who stand up to the Nazis and harbor Jews, and uses those stories as evidence to back up his theory. And really, what's not to like? Gladwell's style is just so readable and his stories are thought-provoking and compelling. The thing is, after having read his other books (even a while ago), this pattern just starts to feel gimmicky. He tells you something, and you just wait for the twist--You think that life is THIS way, but actually it's just the opposite... Be amazed! I don't disagree with his main premise here, and I think he does a good job of being moderate enough in his wordings (he doesn't say he's right all the time, just in certain circumstances), but I just don't even know how worthwhile this topic even is as a book. I kind of just skimmed to read the stories and read about the people who he was writing about because those were the most fascinating parts of the book.

Book #19: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

This book has literally been on my list of books to read for YEARS. I really can't believe I never came across it when I was younger! It definitely seems like something I would have enjoyed a lot when I was a tween. And also, I can't believe that I didn't even have a science fiction category here on this blog . . . I guess I don't really read science fiction that much (which I wouldn't have thought if you'd asked me!). But anyways, I FINALLY read Ender's Game, after meaning to forever, and I am proud of myself.

The whole plot of the book is fascinating, let's be honest. Ender and a bunch of other kids taken to this far-away school to teach them battle strategies in a zero-gravity environment for the purposes of training them to be the future leaders of the world space military. I can see why, for kids, this would be a fun read. (Not saying this is just a kids' book, but it's kind of like Harry Potter--you get plucked away to do this prestigious other school.) It was pretty neat to read about how Ender develops into becoming the best at everything and how his brain works faster at figuring out the solutions to all the problems thrown at him.

But okay, here's the thing. I think I would have liked this book better if I hadn't seen the movie first, a few months ago! I feel like it kind of ruined it for me, to know exactly what was coming. After having seen the movie first, I just kind of read haphazardly, looking for something interesting and new, but it seemed like they really followed the plot of the book very closely for the movie. As a result, I honestly can't say I loved this book. And I'm not dying to read any more Ender's books. One thing that kind of bugged me (and Card even addresses this in his introduction to the book) is that all the children in the book (Ender and all the other kids at Battle School) are not children. They don't talk like them or think like them or do anything childlike at all--and the book starts when Ender is six! In the movie, he's 11 or 12 ish the whole time, which is still unbelievable enough for the responsibility they put on him, but plucking him up when he's 6? I'm so confused by why the story has to happen that way. And I was never really convinced as to why they gave all the controls and the future of the world over to a bunch of kids. Sure, he may have been a prodigy, but why would that idea have come up in the first place? I don't think the reasoning there was strong enough to be believable. Additionally, I am pretty disturbed by how Ender killed the two boys who were trying to beat him up. I mean, it was an accident, sure. But why is he allowed to just get away with these things without anyone getting him in trouble? Because he's the universe's last hope, so we can't bust up his peace of mind, so we won't even let him know that those kids died or get him in trouble for it. But that's not really how the world works, and I don't think that's how it should work at all--nobody should be exempt from certain rules, like: don't kill people. But I'm sure these annoyances are pretty common in critiques of Ender's Game so I don't have anything too original to say.