Look Me in the Eye

For those of you who are following along, this is the second book in a row about Asperger's/Autism. This one is a memoir by a man who worked for KISS, designed famous games, and owns his own high end car repair shop. He is the brother of Augusten Borroughs, who wrote the book Running with Scissors (which was adapted into a movie). They had very dysfunctional childhoods, at the hands of their mentally ill, substance addicted parents. John's Asperger's was undiagnosed until he was 40 years old, so he never understood why he had so many problems related to his social interactions. Learning about Asperger's, meeting supportive people, and working to change his habits resulted in John learning to get along with people much better. John's story is inspirational for anyone who felt like an outcast, and it especially speaks volumes about what people with Asperger's can do.

I recommend this book to everyone and especially to those who know people with Asperger's.

The Way I See It

Temple Grandin is famous for two reasons: she has designed state of the art cattle facilities, and she has High Functioning Autism. This book is about the latter. The book is informative and interesting at times, but I actually didn't like it that much because it is a compilation of short articles. These articles are redundant and repetitive at times, which I did not like. The book could have probably been 25 pages shorter if all of the repetitive information was deleted. I am interested in reading some other materials of hers though because I think she has a great perspective. Her Ted Talk is really good too, and I would encourage anyone to look it up.

Cutting for Stone

I really enjoyed this book, with the exception of a few parts that were overly medical/gory. The protagonist is a boy/young man/middle aged man who is half-British and half-Indian, born as a conjoined twin to a nun and a brilliant surgeon in Ethiopia, and raised by an Indian couple. This book involves a political coup, female circumcision, and several ground-breaking surgeries. The story makes me think about the meaning of family, of nationality, and of ethnicity. This is an engaging story spanning about six decades and four continents.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

This book is translated from the original French, and I do believe a little is lost in translation (due more to the cultural gap between France and the US than the actual language, I believe). The book alternates between the point of view of two very different characters who live in the same building--an aging servant and a brilliant suicidal adolescent girl. I had a hard time getting into the book at first. I didn't like slogging through the dense philosophical content at the beginning, but I found it to be worth it. I was getting really invested in the characters when the book suddenly and tragically ended. I was displeased about that part, but I liked the book overall.

Nothing to be Frightened Of

Honestly, I finished this book about two weeks ago, and I didn't like it. I felt like I was reading rambling free association roughly focusing around the author's views of religion and death. It was tangential and often irrelevant. I don't remember a lot of the details, beyond being happy when I finally finished the book.

Oryx and Crake

Consistent with some other books I've read recently (think: The Hunger Games series) most of this book takes place after life as people knew it ceased and an alternate form of civilization developed. Oryx and Crake jumps back and forth between the current time, when Jimmy/Thickney/Snowman is the caretake for a new breed of mostly-humans, and the events leading up to this time. Although it's hard to understand in the beginning, I became immersed in the book and had trouble putting it down. Misty would be dissatisfied by the lack of closure at the end, but I think it's still a quality read!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

This book was weird, on a number of levels, not the least of which is the unusual abilities of the title characters. It appears that the author began writing by finding some unusual old photos and then developing a story that integrates each of the pictures. The pictures are included throughout the book. The fact that there are pictures in the book, combined with the fact that it is narrated by a teenage boy, makes this book a little childish for my taste. However, it grew on me as I continued reading it. I'm also a little creeped out by the part of the story that involves the protagonist Jacob and his grandfather being romantically involved with the same girl (who did not age between these liaisons). Jacob appears to be disturbed by this initially but becomes so swept up in his lust for her that he ultimately had no qualms about this. I'm surprised that Misty likes it so much because it is somewhat of a cliffhanger, which she typically does not enjoy, but there is some trauma, which is a redeeming quality for her.

Son of a Witch

This book is the second in the Wicked trilogy. (For those of you who are keeping count, this is the third trilogy to make an appearance this year.) I read Wicked when I was a senior in college, which means that I read it 9 years ago. During the last nine years I have seen the musical Wicked 3 or 4 times and listened to the soundtrack countless times. I have no memory at this point about how the book differs from the musical. Reading this book made it clear that either the book is very different from the musical or a lot happens between the first and second books. I'm not sure which is true. This made it hard for me to get into this book. It took about a third of the book to get hooked, I think, but I did eventually get hooked. In this book, Liir, the probable son of Elphaba (Wicked Witch of the West), finds his own path, which involves furthering Elphaba's work. The end of the book leaves the reader in extreme suspense (MISTY), so I am excited to read the last book in the trilogy.

Room

I read Room after my mom recommended it. I remember her talking about it when she visited us in Ithaca. This book is narrated by 5 year old Jack, who has lived in Room for his entire life and believes everything outside of Room is fictional and exists only in TV. This extremely bright little boy explains his world as he understands it, and the fierce love between Jack and Ma is palpable. I really do not want to spoil this book because I think you should read it.

The Help

I might be one of the last people in America to read The Help, but I finally got to it. Unfortunately, I already saw the movie, so that ruined some of the emotional impact of the book for me. The movie was a close adaptation of the book, although one aspect that is lost is the narrative style of the book. The book is alternately narrated by Skeeter, Aibileen, and Minny, which I enjoyed. Having Aibileen and Minny's voices included in the book saved it from the "White lady saves poor minorities" flavor that appeared at times during the movie. Overall, I found that this book does live up to the hype, and I'd definitely recommend it...as long as you don't mind having chocolate custard pie ruined for you.