Book Picks

I have been mentioning various books for a couple posts now. And so I thought it may be high time for me to make out a list of picks. As a disclaimer: many of the books are chick lit, but last I checked, I am a chick. So, if you're not, you can either consider it counterintelligence, or disregard. It's your call :}.

Easy, Emma Gold.
I highly recommend this book for singletons everywhere. It's like revved up literary Sex and the City. I'll say, it's what Carrie Bradshaw's column would be, if Samantha Jones had written it. Look for snappy lines, hysterical nicknames for exes, and all around debauchery London style.

Are Men Necessary?, Maureen Dowd.
As I said before, this is NOT a feminazi manifesto. Instead, it's merely an observation of the differences between men and women. It's part sociological, part rant, part scientific. All enjoyable. I particularly enjoyed the scientific explanation of why the Y chromosone may disappear altogether. I sort of like the idea of women having sperm slaves. (I didn't coin that, it came from the book, honest).

He's Just Not That Into You, Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo.
This is a short, comical, self-help book. I think the actual self-help parts are skip-worthy. But, the "Dear Greg" letters and his responses are pure comedy. There are even some handy-dandy worksheets in the book to go with. Including coloring! The advice Greg and Liz give is mostly obvious, assuming you have male friends who are honest. But the funny parts make up for the obviousness of the advice.

Girl Meets God, Lauren F. Winner.
This book was instrumental in my refortification of my spiritual relationship. I highly recommend, both as an interesting journey of a woman's religious awakening and as a nice comparison of Judaism and Christianity. It's also useful for some questions agnostics may have. There is an element of chick-ism here, but that's because the author is a woman. I really can't determine for my male readers whether that would hinder your experience of the book. But that's not really for me to decide, is it?

Sarah, Zipporah, and Lilah. The Canaan Trilogy, all by Marek Halter.
While I'm on the subject of religion, allow me to put forth three Biblical/historical novels. Halter takes 3 women of the Old Testament, and weaves their background story. He gives a portrayal of their point of view, which is usually lacking from the Bible. These are the women connected with Abraham, Moses and Ezra, respectively. Moreover, the writing is nothing short of beautiful. I especially recommend the book for those that find the Bible difficult to read outside of short spurts. These books made me want to read the actual scripture. I find it was much easier to picture what was happening this way.

Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini
Ok, a word of caution first. There is some graphic violence in this book. But it's minimal, and it's necessary. This book will also transcend gender lines because there are so many important aspects to the story -- love, friendship, loyalty, bravery. It's a moving story out of Afghanistan. I certainly can't do it justice by describing it here. Just take my word for it, and go read it.

The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
This is a great book on finding one's identity. It is the story of the son of immigrants. It's interesting to see the identity challenges that a first-generation American faces. The writing here is also very impressive, because it describes the emotion and feeling of a man that you feel them yourself. Prepare your heart strings ahead of time. His emotions become yours.

My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult
I found this book to be surprisingly dark. And it deals with a very modern issue of science versus humanity. Also, it is interesting to see how the law can play with all of this. Grant it, that may be a personal bias, but it's an interesting book I promise.

Some movie books:
In Her Shoes
The Devil Wears Prada
Memoirs of a Geisha
These films were all originally books. And I'd like to point out that the books were fabulous first, and the movies were terrific adaptations. If you've already seen the movie, it may be dificult to read the books because the films were very close. But if you're a bookworm like me, read them anyway. You won't be disappointed.

The Harry Potter series.
I finally got around to reading these books. My reason for not reading the books to begin with is that they seemed a little Lord of the Rings/Dungeons and Dragons for me. However, Harry Potter has nothing to do with all that creepiness. This is more like the way Disney would do magic. And, it was also true that J.K. Rowling is a wonderful writer in general. I do have one beef with her though, and it comes at the end of book 6. I can't believe she did it! Oh, and as a word of caution, book 5 was interminably slow-moving. I'd tell you to skip it, but they really do build on each other, and something unbelievable does happen at the end. So, while you're reading it, just keep the faith, it's worth it.

Ok, that's it for now. Mostly because these entries are getting longer and longer. And you should be working, not reading blog entries on the internet :).