Week Four - Game Change

This behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 U.S. presidential race may seem like ancient history in the midst of a new primary race with it's own fascinating characters, debate gaffes, and sex scandals. But I understand it will soon be released as a major movie, and it was a fun read on a cold, wet day in February.

Many of the juiciest morsels had already been released in news snippets when the book was released, so a current reader will not have the pleasure of gossipy discovery. We have long known about the crass things Harry Reid said, the dark side of Elizabeth Edwards, Sarah Palin's lack of general knowledge, and Rielle Hunter's bizarre ambition.

But even well into the next election cycle, it provides insight into what it is like to run for president and what it is like to run a presidential campaign.

Book Three: Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It, by Gary Taubes

I don't know why I chose this book. I am not fat, but I have always found obesity interesting, and I feel compassion for those who struggle all of their lives with unwanted pounds. I have always wondered why this is such a struggle for some people, and then not for other people. And to tell the truth, I am always afraid that it will become a problem for me. Particularly as I graduate into those solid "middle age" years, I want to fight the "muffin top."

You could just read this book to try to find out why we get fat and what to do about it. And if you do, you will find solid research to answer that question. Not to give away too much, but the answer is "carbs." So there you go. Maybe you don't have to read it at all. That's your take away point.

But after reading it through to find out why people get fat, and how to avoid that condition, I read it again, most of it anyway, as a story about how medical research is conducted and interpreted for the public. Taubes tells a fascinating story about the failure of the medical establishment to look critically at data. He attacks the "calorie in, calorie out" paradigm of weight gain (or loss) but writes a fascinating account of how that paradigm was promoted despite clear weaknesses in the data upon which it was based.

So read it for a story of "bad science" or read it as a self help book. It's a great read. Taubes makes the science very easy to understand, and documents the book well.

Book Two: The Solace of Leaving Early, by Haven Kimmel

I am quite behind in my posting on books, though not behind at all in reading. I suppose I like reading, and one of the challenges of this 52 weeks challenge will be to actually write about those books I read.

For my second week/book, I chose an old favorite. I've read Solace several times now, and I could not embark upon a 52 book party and not invite one of my favorite books along!

I take books personally, and I am personally affronted by people who do not love this novel. It's a mystery to me that everyone does not love this book as much as I do. I love ever single page of this novel. And you should give yourself the opportunity to do so as well, if you haven't already.

Book One

Yesterday was my anniversary (18th!) so I didn't get my first review posted. Better late than never.

For the first week of my "Book a Week" challenge, I read a book that has been on my shelf for several years - Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. You would have to have lived under a rock to not have passing familiarity with this book, one of the best selling of all time. I suspect I am not the only person who owns this book because his or her child was required to buy it as summer reading. In fact, I suspect that a reasonable chunk of those 65 million copies were sold to rising 10th graders as part of a forced summer reading plan. And why not? It is light weight, packs well, has a simple plot, speaks to the concerns of youth, and if you didn't read it, your friend could easily sum it up for you on the bus the first day of school.

Those too young to have a current or past high school student in the house may have bought their copy after reading Madonna's glowing review on the cover. Sigh.

The Alchemist is a classic, "A man went on a journey" story, and on some level, I think that “A man went on a journey” stories are for the young and for men. As a middle aged woman, they have the power to make me anxious. I worry that perhaps I won’t get to go on any more interesting journeys. Perhaps I am too old for new journeys. Why do other people get all the cool journeys? And I feel jealous. This is why I don’t read travel books. They bring out the spoiled brat in me, and I begrudge others their experience. It is unbecoming.

The Alchemist is absorbed with the individual’s search for purpose and meaning by fulfilling a “Personal Legend” and with the risks that fear, comfort, romantic love, and societal expectations can distract one from that search. I lack the imagination to identify with male characters, so I identify with the female characters – primarily, Fatima, who has no apparent Personal Legend of her own to seek, and whose destiny is, I fear, to wait for her man and collect water. Then again, this wasn't her story. Perhaps her own search for her Personal Legend will be the sequel. But I doubt it.

Apart from anxiety about whether my own Personal Legend is totally lame and has (please God, no) something to do with housekeeping, I have anxiety about the Personal Legends of the men in my life. Santiago’s search for his Personal Legend took him on a journey of many months across Africa and into Egypt. One can not help but notice that at no point did he call his mother on this journey. I’m just saying. While the author doesn’t specifically say that your mother will kill your quest for a Personal Legend, I think it is there between the lines. And it’s true, ok? Your Mom doesn’t want you to have a Personal Legend. She wants you to drive safely, study hard, and get a good night’s sleep.

There are apparently millions of people who love this book. They blog about it. They have workshops on finding your Personal Legend. Ironically, the words “personal legend” are actually trademarked. That’s right. But there are also haters. There is an entire Facebook group dedicated to hating The Alchemist. If you google “most over-rated books” it makes all the lists, and the explanations provided several hours entertainment last night. Having read a number of them out loud to my husband, he will never read this book.

And that is sad, because despite my resistance to phrases like “The Soul of the World,” and “The Universal Language,” and despite some pretty heavy eye rolling as Santiago talks to the wind and the sun and the desert, it’s a nice book It speaks to the ancient advice of Proverbs 4:23, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.