A Tree Grows In.....

I've always loved coming-of-age books, especially those told from a female perspective. When I was younger, my favorites included classics such as Anne of Green Gables and To Kill A Mockingbird. I was fascinated by the protagonist in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and on my first visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art last year, I kept looking for the hiding spots I vividly remembered from the book. I read books relating to growing up in different cultures, from Shizuko's Daughter regarding a young girl who is forced to grow up after her mother commits suicide in Japan to more recently Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake chronicling the pivotal turning points in the life of a Bengali boy on the East Coast.

Recently, I read the classic A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I know most people have probably read this one, but I enjoyed it. Not only was it a quick and easy read, but it dealt with potentially controversial topics in an upfront manner - sex, alcoholism, poverty, war, women having children without being married, etc. These may not seem that jaw-dropping today, but considering the book was set in the early 1900s, the author's willingness to not overlook the details of everyday life are commendable.

So, if you like any of the books that fall into this genre, definitely check out this one.....

Diddy Riese Cookies

I miss college. I miss it so much that when I step onto a college campus, I can feel my soul aching for the good ol' student days. It helps to I know I'll be back on a campus this fall as I begin law school, but graduate school just isn't the same as undergrad. For one, you never see grad students lounging around on the main campus plaza in between classes. You never see grad students hiking off to the dorms or dining commons. And you certainly never see grad students milling around on campus all the time - they are too busy in their office/lab/corner of campus to really socialize with their friends on campus. Ahh, undergrad....

All these memories came back to me the past couple of days as I took my brother to visit UCLA. He's deciding where he wants to go for his undergrad and had never been down to Westwood, so we decided to make a family trip out of it. Eleven hours of driving in two days, a "vacation" with my family and staying at a hotel with a bathroom made for someone the height of my seven-year old niece was definitely interesting. But we managed to not kill each other before the main event started. All in all, he seemed to like UCLA. It's a gorgeous campus, but it's just a little too perfect, a little too Hollywood. All the girls seemed so coordinated! No offense against anyone, but where were all the scrubs - the kids who just threw some clothes on and ran to class? Even at 9 or 10am, everyone had the perfect outfit on. I don't know, too much pressure for me....I liked going to class in my hooded sweatshirt and sweats. I'm definitely not an LA person - having to maintain the perfect image all the time would drive me crazy :)

But my favorite part of the trip (outside of the beautiful weather of course) was this little place in Westwood Village called Diddy Riese and served these amazing cookie ice cream sandwich concotions for all of $1.00.....Maybe my brother should pick UCLA just so I can visit and get these yummy cookie sandwiches.....

Three More

I've read three more books since my last "book review" posting. They are all from different genres so it was pretty easy to read them concurrently.

I've also been working on some posts regarding applying and visiting law schools (what I've been doing for the past few months) - I hope to have those up shortly.

The first book I've read has been very popular in my region for the past few months. Written by a former New York Times writer, The World Is Flat has had a profound impact on the business community around me. I've heard stories about managers giving this book to their direct reports to read in order to help them understand the changing environment in which we live and I think it fits that bill very well. I was given this book by one of my colleagues and thoroughly enjoyed it. Freidman writes with ease and the book flows together very well. He employs a lot of buzz words and phrases, ie the "triple convergence" and ties his observations with personal stories that made me stop and think. While I think this book is simplistic and I didn't know as much as I would have liked to in terms of the ten factors that he believes have shaped our world, I would still recommend this book to anyone interested in how the last fifteen years have drastically changed the field in which we live, work and play. My dad is reading this book next, let's see how he likes it.....

Continuing with my theme of reading books about the law or law school, I picked up a book I saw on many different school's summer reading lists: Gideon's Trumpet. It's a relatively short piece of work but surprisingly dense. It retells the story of Clarence Gideon, the Florida prisoner, whose case on whether the state had to appoint counsel to all prisoners made it all the way to the Supreme Court in the 1960's. I particularly liked how this book would alternate chapter formats; one chapter would describe the case and participants, while the next would explain the legal theory and reasoning including famous related cases and the legal environment of the time. I found myself taking notes while reading this book and trying to keep track of the terminology and concepts presented in the book - it's a valuable quick read for anyone interested in these issues.....

Lastly, I finished the novel Prep in less than a week. The debut work of Curtis Sittenfield, it tells the story of a girl who finds herself to be an outsider at a ritzy boarding school in New England. It was an easy read and there were many instances where I found myself relating with the protagonist, but I couldn't find myself really liking the book. The situations were high school cliches, in my opinion, and after speaking with a friend of mine who did attend boarding school in the Northeast, I found it too general. Also, the whole focus on the poor student vs. rich student has been seen so many times before - so I can't really say that I enjoyed this one.....

Will have more soon!

Crazy

Deciding to move back home after graduating from college was NOT easy. There were a lot of adjustments that had to be made - having to tell my parents where I was at all times, having to relinquish control over little decisions that I made, etc. But the biggest fights my parents and I get into is when I want to go out with my friends on weekends.

My parents are reasonable people for the most part, but they don't like the whole concept of "clubbing". They think all sane people should be in bed by midnight and that it's ludicrous to get dressed up in little tank tops, drive up to the city (we live in suburbia) and go party at bars till 3 in the morning and come home somewhere between 4 and 5. There have been lots of arguments about this, with the resolution being I go out and they don't like it, I go out and crash at a friend's place or that I don't go out and stay home. I try to compromise with them, but it's a tough call sometimes.

Last week, there was a big party in the city and a lot of people were expected to be there. I explained the situation to my parents and they agreed to let me go. They promised not to worry and I went off to the city. However, when I came home at 4 that morning and managed to set off the alarm and wake up the whole household (by mistake!) they were less than pleased with me......

I think this weekend, I'll just crash at a friend's place. It's much safer this way for all involved.

Happy St. Patty's day all! Have fun and stay safe :)

I Owe You

Wow am I behind. So, it's a Friday night, the first in a long time where I haven't left the house, and I figure I really need to catch up on my book reviews. This blog was never intended to be a repository of reviews of every book I read, but I really want to keep some kind of list somewhere so that one or two years from now, I can come back and find a particular book and just maybe get a feeling reminding me of how I thought about the book when it was relatively fresh in my mind.

I do have other thoughts though, and I promise to get them up here ASAP. With my job putting me on a plane every week and some super-short-deadline projects, it may take a while. But bear with me (for the few of you that may actually read this) and in the meanwhile, go check out one of the books that I've written about!

First up is Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair. Sounds exciting huh? I was expecting a book that would keep me on the edge of my seat, that would serve as the literary equivalent of The Practice or Law & Order or something like that. And it's not quite at that level. Not to say that this is a bad book, which it isn't. But it's very superficial. It skims over the protagonist's first year at a prestigious law firm and is the male equivalent of The Devil Wears Prada or The Nanny Diaries. The premise could be based on the truth, but beyond that, it is quite sensationalized and catered to sell to a mass audience. I don't know how exactly accurate the depiction of legal work described is, you would have to ask a real lawyer but if you want a quick read that doesn't require too much thought, this could be your book.

Considering that I studied biology and that law and economics often go hand in hand, I decided to step into a popular book regarding economics before I delved into something deeper. This led me to pick up Freakonomics and take it with me on the plane a couple weeks ago. While it doesn't really go into economics concepts (supply, demand, efficiency, utility, etc) in much detail, it is an interesting read that could potentially shape the way you think about the world you live in. Much like Blink, this is a book about phenomenon but it goes a step further in actually trying to explain why they occur. Some of the topics covered include the correlations between real estate agents and the KKK and sumo wrestlers and public school teachers. They seem far-fetched, but the authors do a good job of bringing the topics together in a concise format that is easy to read and comprehend. My problem with some of the arguments however, is that they are too simplistic. My Econ 1 professor in college once said that the trademarks of economists is that when they need something, all they do is simply assume that they have it. But the world is too complicated to be fully explained by these assumptions and when dealing with such specific issues as done so in this book, some of these simplistic explanations seem to be built from assumptions that just fit too perfectly. Not being an economist however, I could be wrong but it just seems to easy to explain a social problem that has been plaguing us for years with a right-before-your-eyes-the-whole-time answer. But check it out - you might learn a thing or two.

Lastly, for fun I picked up Me Talk Pretty One Day from the library. I needed something easy to read and something amusing and light to transport me away from the world of work and school admissions. This was a book that I had seen many people list as one of their favorites so I decided it would be my nightstand book. It was perfect for that purpose since it is a compilation of essays by David Sedaris and I could easily read one or two before drifting off to sleep. While I enjoyed Sedaris's sharp wit in the retelling of humorous incidents from his life, this book is not one of my all-time favorites. He has interesting opinions about almost everything - his family, living abroad, being gay, etc - but I just didn't find it all that funny. I appreciated it's refreshing honesty, but I don't think this a book I would go back and want to read again and again.

So there you go - three short reviews all in one post. Hopefully, I'll have time to do some real writing (I've got a couple of saved drafts I want to post soon) on the plane this week and I hope to have some more substance to this blog. I'll try to be funnier too, I know some of my writing has been extremely dry......

Blink

I am amazed at the ability of some other fellow bloggers to write daily, or at least on a very consistent basis. I try, really I do. But somehow, the minute I sit down to write something, either the phone rings, an important email pops up or I just find myself being pulled away from the computer. By the time I get home from work, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of my computer so my motivation to think, write or create anything of value has sharply declined. So what do I do instead? I turn to a book or the TV. I go in the kitchen and start munching. I go for a run at the gym. That pretty much sums up my past week and should explain for my lack of entries. In fact, as I am writing this right now, I am sitting on a plane (so no Internet distractions) flying halfway across the country for work. It’s relatively quiet up here and since I was tired of reading and didn’t really care to watch the in-flight movie on the 11” screen, I decided to catch up on my book reviews.

Up until recently, I belonged to the school of thought that dictated that one should only read one book at a time. Coupled with my daily share of magazines and newspapers, how could I possibly keep all the story lines and complicated plots straight in my head if I dared to venture out and read more than book at the same time? For example, if I decided to read The Da Vinci Code at the same time as I Am Charlotte Simmons, wouldn’t I transplant poor Charlotte to Europe instead of Dupont University and have her traverse the continent on a wild goose chase for certain pale-faced members of the Opus Dei organization? And how would I ever keep all the clues leading up to Professor Langdon’s and Sophie’s marvelous discoveries straight? These concerns kept me up late at night and convinced me to not stray away from my current literary tome of choice for many, many years. I was devoted to that book, carrying it around faithfully on long car drives, doctor’s offices waiting rooms and through airports. (Side caveat: I still have not finished Crime and Punishment even though I lugged it on a trek halfway around the world. Somehow, Raskolnikov couldn’t hold my attention on twelve-hour plane journeys. But never fear, dear reader. I will prevail and make it through Dostoevsky eventually and discover the genius behind this book that I have heard so much about). I was almost always successful in my quest to finish the book – whether I liked it or not. I’m not generally the type of person to read fifty pages and decide to give up. No, that is for weaklings and I am definitely not one of those.

I feel like I’m straying here. Ok back to the main point – I have now converted and *gasp* have learned to juggle two, or even three, books at the same time. I do feel like I’m cheating by reading the fluffier ones quicker and leaving the demanding books to collect dust on my windowsill. I guess it could be compared to leaving your serious, long-term relationship for a nice, short fling. But I have a good reason for this. And it can be summed up in two words: LEGAL WORKS. Yes, I will be going to law school in a few months and I do find the law fascinating and all but I can’t read so many dense books at the same time. My brain needs a break – it needs to read something funny and unique and refreshing so that it can maintain some semblance of sanity. (I feel like a bad pre-law student for admitting to this, but seriously, all I will be doing for the next three years and a good part of my career is reading about the law. Is it so wrong to desire a change?) Currently, I’m reading Freakanomics, The World is Flat, Gideon’s Trumpet, and Me Talk Pretty One Day. And I’m working really, really hard to keep all the stories straight and prevent any co-mingling in my poor, overworked mind.

So if those last two paragraphs threw you for a loop, I’m sorry! Back to the MAIN point: my book review! About ten days ago (probably around the time of my last posting) I finished the much-acclaimed Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. For those of you who are wondering, I have not read The Tipping Point but I do plan to. Eventually. It’s on one of my lists out there somewhere. So back to Blink. (Gosh, I’m having a hard time keeping on point today. I promise to stop rambling now). I actually thought this book was very interesting and unique. It’s a short and easy read and written in a very user-friendly manner. Gladwell’s main premise is that a lot of the decisions that we make are not as long, prolonged and drawn-out as we would initially assume but that they happen in the blink of an eye. He goes on to say that we should trust these first instincts and let them guide us through our lives. He demonstrates this capacity through different case studies and stories he came across while researching the topic. These range quite drastically: from the counselor who can predict the ability for a couple to stay together for years and years to come based upon a fifteen minute consultation, to why people prefer Pepsi in taste tests but when they want to have an entire soft drink, they would probably prefer Coke, and finally how these snap judgments cause us to harbor deeper prejudices than we would ever fathom. It’s a very eye-opening (no pun intended) way of re-evaluating the method in which we view the world and make instantaneous decisions without even realizing it. Even our bodies react to these initial impressions, such as our immediate autonomous facial expressions or the innate urge to act upon these judgments (i.e. “flight or fight”), before the “rational” part of our brain can process and/or comprehend them. For anyone interested in neurology and its intersections with psychology and cognitive science, I would strongly recommend this book. Gladwell’s writing is easy enough to understand for any amateur and I bet most readers will have many “no way!” or “I don’t believe that” moments while reading Blink.

I have heard rumors that they are planning on making a movie based on this book. I’m not quite sure how feasible this would be, considering the book is composed of vignettes evaluating different studies asserting Gladwell’s premises and there is no real overarching story or plot. I’m very curious and intrigued to see how this will be done. So if you are reading this book as a way to know the story before you go check out the movie (whenever it releases), I don’t really anticipate it being much help to you. But it’s still a thought-provoking book. So go check it out!
So yeah, another book I liked. Look out for my next review on Double Billing: A Young Lawyer's Tale Of Greed, Sex, Lies, And The Pursuit Of A Swivel Chair soon. A book about young attorneys and their antics concerning sex, lies, and greed. I bet y’all can’t wait! :)

COLDPLAY!!!

Coldplay was awesome!!! I hadn't been to a concert in years, so going last night and seeing them play live was amazing. They were extremely energetic and sounded great. In addition to that, the lights and visuals complemented the music extremely well and it was an extremely enjoyable show.

Fiona Apple opened the show. I really wasn't all that impressed with her and she wasn't a very good stage performer in my opinion. It might help to add that I'm not very familiar with her music either. The arena was empty during her set, so she didn't have a lot of crowd energy to feed off either. She sang her first few songs while playing the piano and then sang the last few from the microphone. I only recognized one song of hers - "Criminal" because of the controversy the video had caused a few years ago. She struck me as strange - bending over in weird positions and jumping around while singing, but hey, whatever works for you.

Coldplay was great to watch. I've been a fan of their music for a couple years, but have never seen them before so I was really excited and they did not disappoint. They had a big screen on the back of the stage that showed different visuals (clock ticking down, space etc.) and a well-coordinated light show that went along with the tempo of the show. Chris Martin used the stage well - moving around to all sides and facing different parts of the crowd. At one point, he even ran to the back of the stage and sang the second half of "In My Place" from the back of the arena, facing the crowd seated in the back. Needless to say, the crowd loved that. He also invited the crowd to sing along on a lot of the songs.

He was also good at interacting with the audience, often making quips between and during songs. One of my favorites was when he claimed that he learned choreography from Britney Spears and that the "English can't be expected to dance around" and that "anything more than 12 steps to the side was too much to ask for". He followed this with one of my favorite songs, "Don't Panic" (some of you might recognize it from the Garden State soundtrack) and during the song he faux-moonwalked, much to the crowd's delight.

Another great comment from Chris Martin was when he introduced the band as being from England. He went on to say "England is located across the Atlantic Ocean. Wait, I don't have to tell you that. You know where England is. You guys live in the most intelligent state in the world!". Score for California!

Here is the set list from last night (as much as I could remember). The order could be a little off - I tried my best.

Square One
Politik
Yellow (big yellow balloons fell from the sky and popped open revealing yellow glitter)
God Put A Smile Upon Your Face
Speed Of Sound
Low
Trouble
X&Y
White Shadows
The Scientist
'Til Kingdom Come (acoustic) (part of the Johnny Cash tribute)
Ring Of Fire (acoustic) (part of the Johnny Cash tribute)
Don't Panic
Clocks
Talk
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Swallowed In The Sea
In My Place
Fix You

All in all, a great concert and highly recommended for anyone who is a fan. I personally cannot wait for the next album to come out so they will come back on tour.