a medium kind of girl
Wow, it's been a while. So happy holidays and best wishes for the new year to everyone. I'm very excited for 2007. 2006 was a great year for me: worked a job I loved, had a triumphant end to high school, a fantastic summer, read some great books, discovered new music, and oh yeah, started university and made some ridiculously amazing new friends. And discovered philosophy. So yeah, a good year, je pense.
It's been soooooo unbelievably nice to be at home. My parents are driving me a bit crazy, but I'm sad to leave tomorrow. Back to Montreal already. I can't believe I have to learn again. So soon. I didn't have much of a break, as my entire time at home in Toronto I was running around trying to catch up with family and friends galore. But it was a perfect break, exactly what I needed.
I almost made it to 50 books but not quite. Below the cut is the last three books I managed to squeak in - I finished them all pre-2007, promise - as well as some movies I've recently seen. And my year end wrap up. Woot.
Book 39
Title: The Truth (With Jokes)
Author: Al Franken
Genre: Political science/commentary
Rating: B-
Summary: Franken debunks some of the Bush administration’s most frequent claims about the Iraq War, Social Security, and more.
My Thoughts: More restrained than the only other Franken I’ve read (Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them), and the new, more grown-up tone works very well. If you don’t like Franken’s politics you won’t like this book, plain and simple. This is a book written for the left, so we can all pat ourselves on the back and feel superior. Which is a nice diversion, but ultimately gets nothing done.
Book 40
Title: The Bookseller of Kabul
Author: Asne Seierstad
Genre: Memoir of sorts/social commentary
Rating: A-
Summary: Seierstad chronicles her time living with Sultan Khan, an Afghani bookseller, and his family in Kabul.
My Thoughts: I really liked how Seierstad takes herself out of the narrative and presents it in third person. It made everything feel very intimate. Her portrait of Sultan Khan is extremely nuanced as well - on the one hand, he loves literature and defies authorities in order to make banned books available in his stores. On the other hand, he rules his home with an iron fist and bows to Afghanistan’s sexist culture. He’s a complicated individual and it comes across in Seierstad’s writing. She also delves into the lives of other family members, and what you read, especially about Leila, Sultan’s young sister, will break your heart.
Book 41
Title: The Painted Veil
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Summary: Kitty is the bored, shallow wife of bacteriologist Walter Fane. Living in Hong Kong, she has an affair with one of her husband’s married co-workers and when Walter finds out, he takes her to a remote area of China to help fight a cholera epidemic.
My Thoughts: My summary really doesn’t do this book justice. Maugham’s writing is precise, empathetic, nuanced and addictive. The book doesn’t seem like much at first, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I’d finished. I only wish that Walter and Kitty could have learned to understand each other before certain events that I don’t want to give away took place. (I now desperately want to see the movie. I'm having visions of Edward Norton pulling off a stellar Walter.)
Dreamgirls - so I saw this today and meh. It was well acted and the costumes/setting/makeup/details were incredible, but the story is just a bit blah. Plus the music... aside from Jennifer Hudson's one amazing solo and one of Beyonce's songs, it's not very exciting. I don't really like movie musicals, though. So maybe it's me. Once again, John Krasinski has a movie cameo which makes me chuckle. I so love him.
Here's one other thing I've been thinking about - the execution of Saddam Hussein. As a staunch anti-death-penalty type, I've been trying to figure out where I should stand on the issue. His public execution - by hanging, no less, which is completely inhumane - has been making me uneasy for a while now. I've concluded that for me, no matter the crime or the offender, the death penalty is always wrong. It's hypocritical, and I don't believe anyone has the power to take someone else's life away, no matter what awful crimes they have committed. And I will stand by that argument.
And now for some resolutions: I resolve to...
Read more and expand into new genres.
Get more exercise.
Stop worrying about being single and trust that everything will work out okay.
Finish class readings on time!
Spend more time on papers.
Be smarter about money.
Get a great summer job.
Be happier. :)
I have a good feeling about 2007.
It's been soooooo unbelievably nice to be at home. My parents are driving me a bit crazy, but I'm sad to leave tomorrow. Back to Montreal already. I can't believe I have to learn again. So soon. I didn't have much of a break, as my entire time at home in Toronto I was running around trying to catch up with family and friends galore. But it was a perfect break, exactly what I needed.
I almost made it to 50 books but not quite. Below the cut is the last three books I managed to squeak in - I finished them all pre-2007, promise - as well as some movies I've recently seen. And my year end wrap up. Woot.
Book 39
Title: The Truth (With Jokes)
Author: Al Franken
Genre: Political science/commentary
Rating: B-
Summary: Franken debunks some of the Bush administration’s most frequent claims about the Iraq War, Social Security, and more.
My Thoughts: More restrained than the only other Franken I’ve read (Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them), and the new, more grown-up tone works very well. If you don’t like Franken’s politics you won’t like this book, plain and simple. This is a book written for the left, so we can all pat ourselves on the back and feel superior. Which is a nice diversion, but ultimately gets nothing done.
Book 40
Title: The Bookseller of Kabul
Author: Asne Seierstad
Genre: Memoir of sorts/social commentary
Rating: A-
Summary: Seierstad chronicles her time living with Sultan Khan, an Afghani bookseller, and his family in Kabul.
My Thoughts: I really liked how Seierstad takes herself out of the narrative and presents it in third person. It made everything feel very intimate. Her portrait of Sultan Khan is extremely nuanced as well - on the one hand, he loves literature and defies authorities in order to make banned books available in his stores. On the other hand, he rules his home with an iron fist and bows to Afghanistan’s sexist culture. He’s a complicated individual and it comes across in Seierstad’s writing. She also delves into the lives of other family members, and what you read, especially about Leila, Sultan’s young sister, will break your heart.
Book 41
Title: The Painted Veil
Author: W. Somerset Maugham
Genre: Fiction
Rating: A
Summary: Kitty is the bored, shallow wife of bacteriologist Walter Fane. Living in Hong Kong, she has an affair with one of her husband’s married co-workers and when Walter finds out, he takes her to a remote area of China to help fight a cholera epidemic.
My Thoughts: My summary really doesn’t do this book justice. Maugham’s writing is precise, empathetic, nuanced and addictive. The book doesn’t seem like much at first, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it once I’d finished. I only wish that Walter and Kitty could have learned to understand each other before certain events that I don’t want to give away took place. (I now desperately want to see the movie. I'm having visions of Edward Norton pulling off a stellar Walter.)
Dreamgirls - so I saw this today and meh. It was well acted and the costumes/setting/makeup/details were incredible, but the story is just a bit blah. Plus the music... aside from Jennifer Hudson's one amazing solo and one of Beyonce's songs, it's not very exciting. I don't really like movie musicals, though. So maybe it's me. Once again, John Krasinski has a movie cameo which makes me chuckle. I so love him.
Here's one other thing I've been thinking about - the execution of Saddam Hussein. As a staunch anti-death-penalty type, I've been trying to figure out where I should stand on the issue. His public execution - by hanging, no less, which is completely inhumane - has been making me uneasy for a while now. I've concluded that for me, no matter the crime or the offender, the death penalty is always wrong. It's hypocritical, and I don't believe anyone has the power to take someone else's life away, no matter what awful crimes they have committed. And I will stand by that argument.
And now for some resolutions: I resolve to...
Read more and expand into new genres.
Get more exercise.
Stop worrying about being single and trust that everything will work out okay.
Finish class readings on time!
Spend more time on papers.
Be smarter about money.
Get a great summer job.
Be happier. :)
I have a good feeling about 2007.