2012 Reading List and Stats

While I'd like to complain that my life is nothing but work, work, work, my reading list for 2012 suggests otherwise. I managed to squeeze in 46 books (most of which I finished). Here's the overall list followed by some stats, commentary, and Erin Book Awards: 2012.

Fiction: Sci Fi / Fantasy

The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4), by Brandon Sanderson

The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle #1), by Patrick Rothfuss

The Way of Kings (The Stormlight Archive #1), by Brandon Sanderson

Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson

Enchantment, by Orson Scott Card

The Awakened (The Awakened #1), by Jason Tesar

Fiction: General

A Girl Named Zippy, by Haven Kimmel

Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger

A Very Private Gentleman, by Martin Booth

Master and Commander (Aubrey/Maturin #1), by Patrick O'Brian

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium #1), by Stieg Larsson

Unaccustomed Earth, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Falling Uphill, by Wendy Tokunaga

Hostile Witness (Witness Series #1), by Rebecca Forster

Transfer of Power, by Vince Flynn

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #6), by Alexander McCall Smith

The Kalahari Typing School for Men (No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency #4), by Alexander McCall Smith

Whose Body?  (Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries #1), by Dorothy L. Sayers

The Mysterious Affair At Styles (Hercule Poirot #1), by Agatha Christie

Her Royal Spyness (Her Royal Spyness Mysteries #1), by Rhys Bowen

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine

Fiction: Classics

Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne

Cranford, by Elizabeth Gaskell

Anne of Avonlea (Anne of Green Gables #2), by L.M. Montgomery

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne

The Three Musketeers (The D'Artagnan Romances #1), by Alexandre Dumas

The Phantom of the Opera, by Gaston Leroux

Les Misarables, by Victor Hugo

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens

Persuasion, by Jane Austen

Non-Fiction: General

South, by Ernest Shackleton

Beethoven - His Life and Music, by Robert Greenberg

Beyond Band of Brothers: The war memoirs of Major Dick Winters, by Dick Winters

The Civil War (American Heritage), by Bruce Catton

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain

Non-Fiction: Parenting & Kids

Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, by Pamela Druckerman

Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book, by Pete Seeger

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, by Peggy Orenstein

Between Parent and Child: The Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication, by Haim G. Ginott

Toilet Training in Less Than a Day, by Nathan H. Azrin

The New Strong-Willed Child, by James C. Dobson

Setting Limits with Your Strong-Willed Child: Eliminating Conflict by Establishing Clear, by Firm, by and Respectful Boundaries, by Robert J. MacKenzie

1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12, by Thomas W. Phelan

Stats

• 39% (18) of books read on Kindle, compared with 0% in 2011
• 24% (11) of books audio (on Kindle)
• 17% (8) of books were re-reads
• According to Goodreads, I read 11,382 pages this year. That's 32 pages a day. 
• A full 13% of those pages came from Les Misarables
• 9% came from The Way of Kings by Branson Sanderson (sheepish look)
• The mean (average) original publication date of my reading list was 1967. Median (middle) was 2000. Mode (most frequent) was 2011.

Commentary

• I read a lot of random books this year (particularly in the fiction category) because they were available for free (or immediately at my library) on the Kindle.
• For the same reason, I read more classics than I normally would.
• I would like to branch out my non-fiction reading to include more non-parenting books. Kids get easier after 2 1/2 anyway, right? Right??
• I like sci-fi and fantasy. Not the really crazy into it kind, but the crowd-pleasers.
• I do not like chick lit. I knew this in my soul, but re-committed this year.

Erin Book Awards: 2012

• Most hilarious: A Girl Named Zippy
• Great find: Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book
• Weirdest reading experience: A Very Private Gentleman (book about a man who makes custom guns for assassins, which I listened to at 3am every night while nursing newborn Xena).
• Most proud of: Les Misarables
• Most well-written: Peace Like a River
• Most forgettable: Whose Body?
• Most controversial: Bringing Up Bebe or Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
• Likely candidate for a re-read: A Girl Named Zippy or The Civil War

need non-fiction now

I'm picking the book for our book club next month, and I need suggestions!

When I got home from our meeting tonight and I immediately went to our bookshelves and pulled approximately half the books off as possible selections. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - always a classic book group read. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - a dark and fictional look into India's economy. Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros - Chicana lit full of beautiful and brutal prose. In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez - inspiring and tragic (need I say also Latina).

Luckily, I decided I'd chose something from the "topical non-fiction" genre. I think I made that term up, and define it as non-fiction that is based around a topic of interest rather than biography or general history (e.g. math, physics, medicine). I don't read as much there, so my choices are more limited. A good thing. I have a few ideas, but would love more suggestions.

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. Pros: An accessible book about math, which I find different and interesting. Some of the puzzles he presents would be fun to talk through together. Cons: While the book was fascinating, it was a little slow in parts. The math topic may turn some people off.

Outliers or What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Pros: Very engaging writing, easy to get through. May be able to pair "Outliers" with a chapter of "The Drunkard's Walk" for an interesting contrast/comparison for people. Cons: I haven't actually read either of these. But maybe that's a pro because I love to read new things.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Pros: brings up really interesting history of both culture and medicine. Cons: drags a little, not sure how much discussion it will lead to.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. Pros: quick read on a relevant topic for everyone. Cons: a little preachy. Bonus: I could play this awesome clip from NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me", from 2:45-6:45 in particular. (It's really worth clicking on the link, I promise.)

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Pros: Really engaging historical fiction. Cons: Not "topical" and not "non-fiction". How did this one get on the list?

What book should we read? And please, suggest more.

to prove that i can write a blog post without photos

I feel mounting pressure to post something insightful and thought-provoking, lest Genghis's cute photos dominate this blog too much. After all, indelible edibles is about me not him.

Inspiration is slow, however, so short of insightful and thought-provoking, here's a rambler.

1. How can I not post something about the Superbowl? Okay, there are a lot of reasons, among them that I can't remember the last time I watched a football game, or even said the word "football". But, if you're from Green Bay you either have to be a Packers' fan or feel guilty for not caring. To assuage my conscience, I'd like to share a quote from an email from my dad regarding Game Day in G.B.:

"I read in the paper yesterday that there will be a downtown party for the game today. They will close off a street and have various activities. If the Packers won they would reopen one hour after the game. If the packers lost reopening would be determined by the police. I thought that was interesting."

Turns out, Mystery Science Theater 3000 is not too far off in their portrayal of humanity's quirks.



2. Do you ever pick the wrong New Year's Resolutions? I did this year. One of my goals is to wake up between 7 and 7:15 and study scriptures, 200 times total during the year. So far, I have done it 9 times - 191 times to go. To put it another way, to date I have met my goal 24% of the time; in order to get to the magic 200, I'll have to meet my goal 58% of the time for the remainder of the year. That's a 142% increase. If my bank account could do that, I might retire at age 35.

But I'm doing really well at reading all kinds of other books at all hours of the day. I've read 9 books so far. Which books, you say? Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

Life is So Good, George Dawson
The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga
The Princess Bride, William Goldman
Super Baby Food, Ruth Yaron
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume
The Candymakers, Wendy Mass
The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary E. Pearson
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules our Lives, Leonard Mlodinow
Split, Avashti Swati

Unfortunately, prolific reading is not my goal, it's just a hobby.

3. I enjoy buying things that will help me organize my house, but I don't enjoy returning them. The past few weeks we have been trying to make more of our space, given the exponential influx of baby things that have taken over, not just our entire second bedroom but also the living room, dining room, bathroom and kitchen. We've made 2 trips to Ikea and 1 trip to Target, successfully spending more than we intended each time, and always having 1 or 2 things to take back.

My 2 favorite purchases have been a hanging shoe rack for the entryway closet that can also double to hold our winter hats and gloves and a rod & hook system we installed in our laundry room (basically in our kitchen) to hang all of our pots and pans. It frees up tons of cupboard space, and no one will ever be able to sneak into our house and cook for us because they'll never find the cookware so cleverly hidden.

musings on time and super powers after a long day

Over Thanksgiving, we discussed with our friends if "Going Back In Time" would be a useful super power. Since then, I read Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman, a series of short vignettes about what the world would be like under different laws of time.

An example:

24 April, 1905

In this world, there are two times. There is mechanical time and there is body time. The first is as rigid and metallic as a massive pendulum of iron that swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. The second squirms and wriggles like a bluefish in a bay. ...

Many are convinced that mechanical time does not exist. ... They wear watches on their wrists, but only as ornaments or as courtesies to those who would give timepieces as gifts. They do not keep clocks in their houss. Instead, they listen to their heartbeats. They feel the rhythms of their moods and desires. Such people eat when they are hungry, go to their jobs at the millinery or the chemist's whenever they wake from their sleep, make love all hours of the day. Such people laugh at the thought of mechanical time. ... They know that time struggles forward with a weight on its back when they are rushing an injured child to the hospital or bearing the gaze of a neighbor wronged. And they know too that time darts across the field of vision when they are eating well with friends. ...

Then there are those who think their bodies don't exist. They live by mechanical time. They rise at seven o'clock in the morning. ... When their stomach growls, they look at their watch to see if it is time to eat. When they begin to lose themselves in a concert, they look at the clock above the stage to see when it will be time to go home.

Anyway. Aside from being a nice alternative to an actual biography of Einstein that I've been reading (er, or letting sit on the bookshelf) for 2 months, this book got me thinking back to the conversation about "Going Back in Time" powers.

I am against having this power. Yes, you could go back in time to relive fun moments or to erase past mistakes. But I think I would end up in a continuous loop of going back to make better choices than I did the last time I went back to make better choices. I'd be stuck in 7th grade forever!

Plus, all super powers need limits. Probably the "Going Back in Time" limit would be that you had a rewind button but no fast forward. So you couldn't just skip from happy memory to happy memory. You'd have to live all the boring and uncomfortable parts in between.

And this brings things back to the age-old question: If you could have any super power, what would it be? Guests on a recent "This American Life" episode posited that when given the choice between the powers of Flight or Invisibility, people tend to choose flight as the more noble power but would rather be invisible so they could sneak into movies and shoplift.

I prefer to think better of humanity.

But if I could have a super power, I think it would be a third hand. It would come in so (I can't resist) handy!

How to succeed in standardized tests without really trying

Inspired by my friend's blog post, I decided to take an online test of my reading speed. The test includes reading speed and comprehension. I scored 305 words per minute, just above the 200 wpm average. My comprehension, on the other hand, was at an astounding 91%.

I credit this, not to my awesome powers of recall, but rather to my carefully honed multiple-choice test taking skills. After all, about 2 months after reading most books (and watching most movies) I have close to zero memory of the main plot line, characters, and surprise reveals of who the bad guy really was. It's a new experience each time. In fact, I just finished re-reading the Harry Potter series, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I tried to train myself to remember important details, though. Each night I went through a recitation of the Defense Against Dark Arts teachers in each volume (Quirrell, Lockheart, Lupin, Moody - I remembered that it wasn't actually Moody but I couldn't remember who had taken his place, Umbridge, Snape, Carrow).

Back to the carefully honed test-taking skills. I do pretty well on multiple choice tests, even if I don't know anything about the content. Here are a few rules that brought me through this latest test.

Rule 1: Always eliminate the odd man out.
If you run across a set of answers and one definitely doesn't belong, that's because it doesn't. Most likely the test writer couldn't think of a second good alternative to the correct answer, so they just filled it in to meet deadline. An example from the speed reading test:

Q7. The average speaking speed of a race driver is around?
A. 120 mph
B. 150 wpm
C. 200 wpm

It's okay. I had no idea what this question was asking when I read it, either. However, look carefully at the units of measurement. See the one that isn't like the others? Eliminate answer A.

Rule 2: In the "wow you" tests, always go for the extremes.
These are the tests that ask a series of questions to try to surprise you into really believing in the necessity of their cause. They want you to say that left-handedness isn't all that uncommon - 30 or 40%? - so they can spring it on you that only 7-10% of our population has a south paw. An example from our test:

Q5. A sprinter running as the average reader reads, runs 100m in?
A. 10 seconds (near record time)
B. 35 seconds (jogging)
C. 70 seconds (walking speed)

The most stunning comparison is a sprinter only at only the speed of walking. Ding, ding, ding! C is correct.

Rule 3: Know your audience.
The test maker has inherent biases that are difficult to completely remove from the test:

Q11. What is probably the best way to reach top level reading efficiency?
A. a speed reading book
B. a speed reading seminar
C. a speed reading software

If you viewed this speed reading website carefully, you would have noticed that it advertises ReadingSoft - a speed reading software. Answer? C.

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape ... Dumbledore!

This afternoon at lunch, someone commented on my co-worker's name (Nandini). She wondered if that was also the name of the snake in Harry Potter.

My inward dialogue went something like this:

"Huh? That's not even close to Voldemort's snake. Her name is Nagini - clearly not the same. ...oooh, I can't wait for Abe to leave town soon so I can finish reading the next 2 books in the series. I've been waiting so I can obsessively re-read them in preparation for the 6th movie coming out on DVD, without worrying about also being an attentive wife. ...Wait, why is no one else at the table commenting on the fact that Nagini is not Nandini? Am I the only person who thinks this is quite obvious? Yes. Yes, I am. Perhaps I should feel embarrassed."

I then mentioned that the snake's name was, in fact, Nagini. To my relief, Nandini piped up and said that Nagini means something like cobra. A fellow Harry Potter fan*? Possibly.

Tonight I decided to put myself to the test, literally, with Scholastic's Harry Potter trivia quiz.

Sample questions I got right:

- In what forest did Harry and Ron find the sword of Gryfinndor? Although the forest near Godric's Hollow is a tempting choice, it is actually Forest of Dean.
- From what book did Harry get Hedwig's name? History of Magic.
- What was Hagrid's giantess mother's name? Fridwulfa.

I lost the quiz at 20 points (you could only get 3 wrong answers) on this question: What is Mrs. Weasley's favorite nickname? I re-took the quiz and stalled on the first question: What was Professor Slughorn's favorite candy?

So my random book fact knowledge was somewhat high, but not off the charts.

I sorted through other Google searches to a promising "How Obsessed Are You With Harry Potter" quiz. Turns out, I'm only 18% obsessed with Harry Potter. A "Part time fan". I was also a little creeped out by many of the questions:

- Do you call your least favorite teacher Snape?
- Did you learn about time travel theory just so you could understand the complications that would arise from Hermione's use of the time turner in Prisoner of Azkaban?
- Have you ever visited the Harry Potter Lexicon?
- Are you one of the posting members of the Leaky Cauldron (B. K. DeLong, Heidi Tandy, Melissa A. etc)? Did you donate money to The Leaky Cauldron, hoping to find out what was on that mysterious auction card?

Clearly, there is an entire Harry Potter sub-world that I am blissfully unaware of. I will confine my fantasy to a hardcover and cozy living room chair.

And, perhaps, humming this catchy little tune.



*A little known fact is that my father read the entire Harry Potter series in the bathroom. Funny on oh so many levels.

May need to check out the Carol Burnett Show from the library

While reading Gone With the Wind the other night (now on pg 798), I had a sudden impulse to watch a few scenes from the movie. The first YouTube hit for "Gone With the Wind Part 1" starred, not Vivien Leigh but Carol Burnett.

Just to give you an idea, this is a still from the scene where she comes down in her new green dress made of the drapes.



Parts 1 and 2, for your enjoyment.