Smith summer reading

I finally finished my summer reading for Smith

It is a great book if you are interested in how to fix both the economy and the environment.

Van Jones does a great job combining statistics with great ideas Some of the chapters were quite an eye-opener.

The book

 

The movie “The Notebook” is one of my favorite and I finally finished the book (on my trip to Baltimore, actually ). As with the movie, I loved it. Some people would say it’s a little bit too romantic and such love stories don’t exist, but oh well…it’s nice to read such a story from time to time

Another book from Orwell

George Orwell – “Animal farm”

Quite short, but full with meaning book. The main story is about a rebellion in a farm against the human exploitation of the animals and how the animals ruled a farm by themselves. However, at some point the leader of the group started diverting from the initial goals and in the end he and his closest followers partnered with the humans and started resembling them and exploited the animals even more than before.

The book came out in 1945 and initially it was thought to be a satiric fable about the Soviet Union, but if one looks closer in the meaning of the book, one would discover that Orwell described the course of any revolution. A revolution usually starts with the unrest of the lowest class which is exploited. There is a leader who organizes the unrest and who proclaims himself as the one who will save the masses. But in the end, this same leader forgets his initial ideas and get caught in the strive for power and starts controlling the masses who follow him unquestionably just because it all started with the deep belief that he is the one who will bring wealth and better life.

Letters to a young therapist

Mary Pipher – “Letters to a young therapist”

Another book from my favorite author. If you are majoring in counseling psychology this is a must-read book! It answered a lot of the questions I had and it is fun to read because it is written in the form of letters to one of the graduate students of Dr. Pipher

Eating disorders

I just finished “Hunger Pains” my Mary Pipher.

The author of “Reviving Ophelia” did a great job once again only this time she explored the cases of bolimic, anorexic and obese women. Even though her book is from ‘95 it pretty much describes what is happening right now with women.

So many women are obsessed with their weight and so many women die every year from eating disorders that it is just hard to put all this into words. Who came up with this “ideal” for women? Who said women who look like skeletons have to be the model for all women?

I almost started crying while reading part of the book because I wish I knew all these facts and good advices earlier so I could help some of my friends. I wrote in a previous post about one of my best friends who has been struggling with her weight for years. Though I sent her a super long email with various ideas and encouragements I doubt it will be enough for her to deal with this problem on her own. It breaks my heart to see how her weight controls every aspect of her life and I can’t do much

1984

George Orwell – “1984″

The first time I heard about this book was during one of Lyd’s courses and I always wanted to read to, so I decided now was the time. And actually I finished it for 4 days

It was a good book, with a lot to think about.

In short it is about man’s struggle against a political system which controls people’s minds, the past, the present, and the future, and the whole idea of Big Brother, etc.

The meaning in one’s life

Viktor Frankl – “Man’s search for meaning”

The only thing I could say is that this is a GREAT BOOK!

Frankl is a famous psychiatrist who is a concentration camp survivor and talks about both his experience in the camps as well as he introduces his theory of logotherapy. The book definitely gave me answers to some of the questions I have been asking myself lately

Thanks Lyd for recommending it!

3 weeks and 2 books

One of my major projects for the summer is reading for fun. I brought 3 books with me plus I got a card at the local library. My first 2 books for the first 3 weeks of the summer are:

Virginia Woolf – “Mrs. Dalloway”

It was a little hard to read because that’s how Virginia Woolf is, but I liked the book. It is filled with so much detail and so many characters are mixed together that sometimes it was hard to follow, but I still enjoyed it

The second book I bought before I left Cottey inspired by the presentation of one of the women in my Intro to Women’s Studies class.

Mary Pipher – “Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls”

An AMAZING book! Even though Mary Pipher talks about teenage girls in the 1990s I was surprised how much most of the topics were close to my own experience.  She covers everything from devorce, to religion, to peer pressure, to self-harm, sex and drugs abuse. This book is definitely a must-read for every teenage girl and her parents, friends, relatives, etc. It is very sad how several years in girl’s life could change her forever.

Impulse

I started “Impulse” right after finals and finished it pretty much as quick as the other books and loved it as much as the others or even a little bit more. I think putting the stories of Vanessa, Conner and Tony together made the book engaging from the first to the last page and typical for Ellen Hopkins the end touched something directly in my heart.

I specifically marked page 596 while reading because I really like this:

“Love means holding on to

someone just as hard as

you can because if you

don’t, one blink and

they might disappear

forever.”

Burned

I finished “Burned” (another book by Ellen Hopkins; I wrote about Crank here) some time in November and I felt like burned at the end. Great book! Actually I needed some time before I start another book. I can’t exactly explain it, but it was a very strong emotion I felt  mainly on page 523:

But He Was

And so was the baby.

Dead.

Even that precious piece of Ethan.

Dead.

All because of Trevor.

Dead.

Trevor, who called my mom.

Dead.

Mom, who called Dad.

Dead.

Dad, who called his buddy

the highway patrolman.

Dead.

Everything I loved.

Dead.

Everything I had to live for.

Dead.

Why couldn’t I be

dead

too? It was the least

God could have done.

Crank

Two weeks ago Ellen Hopkins, the author of Crank and four other books, was a guest speaker on campus. It was a shuttering speech about her books, how she got the ideas for them, but mainly it was very personal speech. I have been dealing with a drug addict (YES, alcohol is a drug and could ruin one’s life) all my life and I know very well the answers of the questions Ellen was asking – How could a mother leave her child/ren? (She just leaves and never turns back) Is the drug more powerful than everything else? (YES) Is there a way out? (Maybe).

I started Crank last night. The book is about Ellen’s daughter and her addiction to crank meth and it is written from the perspective of the daughter. On one side, it is easy to read because it is in a poem style, but at the same time I choke on every word…but I want to know, I want to get into an addict mind and see what happens there..I will probably read the other four, too.

Here is an exerpt from Crank:

Just Before The DropYou know how you
stand and stand and stand
in line for the most
gigantic incredible roller
coaster
you’ve ever dared attempt.

Anticipation swelling,
minute by minute by minute,
you choose to wait even
longer, to ride in the front
car
and finally it’s your turn.

They buckle you in, lock the
safety bar with a jolting clunk!
Hook engaged, the chain jerks
you forward. You start to
climb
Crank-crank-crank.

Cresting the top, time
moves into overtime
as you wait for that scant
hesitation, just before you
drop

You know how you feel
at that instant? Well, that’s
exactly how it feels when you
shake hands with the
monster.