Book Report

Since I'm not working many hours yet, and since I'm living in apartment with quite a few books I've never read before (and close to a bunch of awesome libraries)... I've been reading a bunch.

I'm sure that you're all shocked.

So here's what I've read in the past month.

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The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.

Since Mom reads the Happiness Project blog and sends me random things from it sometimes and talks about it, when I saw her book sitting on the shelf, I decided I may as well read it.  It was fun -- she writes very conversationally and has some good and motivating ideas.  I wouldn't say it was life-changing, but there you go.  It's worth reading, or skimming at least... but probably not buying.

Lulu in the Sky by Loung Ung

After being in Asia, I find that I'm way more interested in reading other books about... Asian things.  Duh.  Anyway, my friend Dominic's passion for Cambodia made me really curious to learn more about the country, culture, and people.  This book was heart-breaking because there is so much pain in the recent past of the Khmer people, but I really enjoyed getting to read a personal story.

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

See the note on the above about reading books about/set in Asia.  However... not my favorite book.  Kay is a decent author, but he often uses far more words than I think necessary or beneficial.  So while it was an okay read, it wasn't something I'm likely to pick up and read again.

Maze Runner/Scorch Trials/Death Cure by James Dashner

No.  Not worth it.  This is a sort of dystopia/sci-fi trilogy, and while the first book had some good ideas, the story and characters got increasingly flat and the ending was disappointing.  I finished it because I was curious and all three of them were sitting on the shelf, but my recommendation is just don't bother starting.

Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw

What would you do if you woke up one morning to your city being flooded with man-eating strawberry jam?  This is a fun story (if you like things in the zombie apocalypse vein, minus the zombies, plus a lot of sticky cannibalistic jam).

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Okay, so I had never heard of this book or this author and had no idea what genre it was in, but this was a really good read.  Warning: it's definitely sad, a little suspenseful, and a little creepy.  But I enjoyed his style of writing and story telling a lot.

And I want a dog.

Also, I miss sign language.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Jonathan recommended this book with something close to a blissful ecstasy in a time when I was in dire need of books.  Knowing how he was sometimes inclined to be, uh, more rapturous than I would be about certain experiences (such as eating food), I took his recommendation with a grain of salt.  We do have fairly similar tastes in stories though, so I kept it in mind.

He did not exaggerate.

This is probably the best book I've read in the past year.  The author's use of language was masterful and the story was solid.  Usually I am content with reading books quickly, but this one I was torn between not wanting to set it down and wanting it to last forever.

~~~

So, that's what I've been reading... there are a couple more that I haven't finished yet, so they'll have to wait for another day.

Any new recommendations?

All the Things!

Most days, there is no shortage of things that I want to do and things that I need to do and things that I ought to do.  Being bored really is not usually a problem.  (I mean... there are more books to read... there are more languages to work on...foods to cook...)

I think that chaotic combination of way too many things is a huge part of what I love about story writing.  It's probably true of any kind of creative crafting -- everything sort of layers together and one thing leads to another and before you know it, you're in over your head.

Recent example:  I decided that characters should have some sort of tattoo indicating what religion they follow.  This led to quite a lot of obvious questions (such as how did I want to divide up the religions and what do the tattoos look like and is there a standard placement for them?) and then some connected questions (what does modesty look like? what is the climate like?) and then some google searches like exercise clothing in Thailand and how is silicone made.

In between those steps there were conversations about psychrometrics (between storywriting and living with an engineer, I get to learn all sorts of things) and design and... you get the picture.

Writing is great because it's an excuse to talk about and research pretty much anything.

(And the picture really is not connected.  It's from a walk I went on.)

Waiting to Cross

I was on the corner of the sidewalk, waiting for the signal to cross the street.  Next to me was a man who had been there when I crossed the first time; his job was to bounce around a sign advertising $5 pizza at Little Caesar's.  I was not especially inclined to talk to him for at least these two reasons:

1. There are a lot of sketchy people.  (I could have a blog of bus "friend" stories.) I don't live in Detroit, but the area here isn't the most, uh, friendly and reputable either.
2. I was kind of in a hurry to get across the street and to my interview at Panera.

Am I wasting my time just standing here?

Shouldn't I be talking to him?

The questions came into my mind suddenly.  But I'm in America now, I don't have status as a "foreign expert" that I do in China -- why would he listen to me?

And what would I say, anyway?  "Hello, sir, you look kind of sketchy and I look like a high school student (or maybe college, if you're feeling generous) but I wanted to say Hi and How's your day going? and How's your relationship with God?"

So I stood there, waiting for the walk signal to light up, and kind of ignoring him beyond whatever initial quick eye contact/smile/nod/acknowledgement that there's another human we had done.  (It was a long light.)

"Hello!" he said cheerfully.

"Hi," I said, thinking about how much I didn't want a pizza right then.

He said something else, I don't remember what.

"It's a beautiful day," I remarked, because clearly the decision had been made for me and we were talking to each other.  Which was okay.  (Did I mention this was a long light?)

"It is.  Jesus loves you!" he told me.

I grinned.  "Yep, He does," I agreed.

Apparently heartened by this response, he continued with growing enthusiasm.  "God is good!"

"God is good, all the time," I said, at this point probably grinning like a maniac.

We talked about where we go to church and how long we've been Christians and had gotten to introducing ourselves.  "Hannah," I told him, and when he said he didn't know what it meant, I said, "Gracious, because God is gracious to us."

He thought about this for a moment.  "God is gracious to us."

His name was Richard.  I asked if he knew what it meant.

(Did I mention -- this is a long light?)

"It means a mighty warrior," Richard said.  "And I'm an intercessory prayer warrior --"

The light changed, and I crossed the road after a hurried, "Bye Richard, nice meeting you," and "Goodbye sister, God bless you!"

He did.