Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: January 24, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain explores the differences between introverts and extroverts and how the Extrovert Ideal has taken over in America. As an introvert myself, I found a great deal of validation in reading this book. For example, in the first part Cain writes about introverts in the workplace and how teamwork and open office floor plans instead of cubicles usually lead to less productivity and creativity. As someone who always hated group projects in school and the corporate world, that was just what I wanted to hear. Luckily, I left the corporate world a couple of years before open office floor plans came into vogue.
Part two of the book dealt with the biology of being either an introvert or extrovert. Cain makes generalizations about how introverts and extroverts behave and I couldn’t help focusing on the ways in which I don’t conform to her stereotypical introvert. No one does completely I’m sure but generalizations had to be made for the sake of conciseness. It was interesting to learn about how the brain actually responds to various situations differently in introverts versus extroverts.
In part three of the book, Cain discusses Asian Americans which are a theoretically introverted people. While I have no doubt that Cain did a lot of research for the whole book, including this part, I’m uncomfortable when generalizations are made about an entire race or ethnic group. Since I’m not Asian American and I haven’t done any of my own research, I can’t say how accurate Cain’s assumptions about them actually are.
Part four is about how to function in society as an introvert, including how to fake being an extrovert when necessary. Cain also offers advice on how an extroverted parent should deal with an introverted child. I would have also appreciated tips on how an introverted parent should parent an extroverted child. One, possibly two, of my children are extroverts and my husband is also an introvert like me so we could definitely use some help with that.
Overall, I really liked this book and I think other introverts will too. Extroverts should read this book as well to better understand their introverted friends and colleagues. This is a book for everyone.
Buy this book at:
Amazon
Powell’s Books
December 6th, 2012 in
Books |
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The Reluctant Matchmaker by Shobhan Bantwal
Publisher: Kensington Books
Release Date: June 26, 2012
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Meena Shenoy is a 31 year old career woman. One day she literally runs into her boss, Prajay Nayak, for the first time and ends up with a severely sprained ankle. After Prajay shows his tender side in caring for her, she starts to fall for him. Then Prajay makes a surprising request – he wants Meena to help him find a suitable wife. He offers to pay her handsomely for being his “marriage consultant.” Meena accepts his offer even though her heart is breaking.
In the Author’s Note, Shobhan Bantwal writes that she loves “to write stories that entertain and educate my readers, women’s fiction with romantic elements and that reflect my ethnic Indian culture, what I call Bollywood in a Book.” I think Ms. Bantwal has done exactly what she set out to do with The Reluctant Matchmaker. So much of the Indian fiction I read is super serious and tragic. I love it but it was also fun to read Indian chick-lit for a change. Meena reminded me a little of Bridget Jones (in a good way!). Meena’s community is a little more liberal than in some of the other books I’ve read but still way more conservative than mainstream society.
The main obstacle to Meena and Prajay having a relationship is their height difference. Meena is only five feet tall. I don’t think it’s ever stated how tall Prajay is but he’s described as a giant and says that he wants his future wife to be at least six feet tall. He tells Meena that he could never date her because she is too tiny and he would crush her. I found this really funny because my husband is six feet, seven inches tall – a full fifteen inches taller than me. His height has never been an issue! I think height is a big deal in Meena’s culture though because she talked often about how being so tiny was a disadvantage to finding a husband.
The Reluctant Matchmaker was a really fun read – I highly recommend it to fans of women’s fiction.
Buy this book at:
Amazon
Powell’s Books
(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
December 5th, 2012 in
Books |
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And Laughter Fell from the Sky: A Novel by Jyotsna Sreenivasan
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: June 19, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Still living at home despite a good career and financial independence, beautiful and sophisticated Rasika has always been the dutiful daughter. With her twenty-sixth birthday fast approaching, she agrees to an arranged marriage, all while trying to hide from her family her occasional dalliances with other men.
Abhay is everything an Indian-American son shouldn’t be. Having spent his post college years living in a commune, he now hops from one dead-end job to another, brooding over what he really wants to do with his life.
Old family friends, Rasika and Abhay seem to have nothing in common, yet when the two reconnect by chance, sparks immediately fly. Abhay loves Rasika, but he knows her family would never approve. Rasika reluctantly accepts she has feelings for Abhay, but can she turn her back on the family rules she has always tried so hard to live by? The search to find answers takes Abhay and Rasika out of their native Ohio to Oregon and India, where they find that what they have together might just be something worth fighting for.
In the acknowledgments at the end of the book, Ms. Sreenivasan writes that And Laughter Fell from the Sky was inspired by The House of Mirth. While I didn’t clue into that while I was reading the book, I can see what she meant now that I know. One of the reasons I love The House of Mirth is because it’s about a time when society had very clear rules and expectations. And Laughter Fell from the Sky is set in present day but the parents in the Indian community in America also have clear rules and expectations for their children.
Rasika thinks she wants an arranged marriage but always seems to do something to mess it up before it can happen. Her motivation for wanting an arranged marriage was unclear to me. I think part of her wanted it to please her parents but I think also she thought it would be an easy way to ensure that she had a good-looking husband who makes a lot of money. She is more concerned with appearances than with substance.
It was hard for me to understand why Abhay was attracted to Rasika when she is pretty shallow and materialistic and he is almost the complete opposite. I think it was probably due to the fact that he thought he could save her from herself. I didn’t care for Rasika very much but I did like Abhay so I wanted him to be happy. There are also some fun (and not so fun) secondary characters. Abhay’s mother gets roped into a network marketing company that sounds suspiciously like Discovery Toys. That subplot was humorous.
Sometimes books about different cultures will either have explanations about the culture that sound text-book like and take the reader out of the story or no explanation at all, leaving the reader to wonder why characters are behaving in certain ways. The author of this book did a good job of weaving in explanations of the rules of Indian society into the story in a natural way that made them a part of the narrative.
And Laughter Fell From the Sky is a great modern day version of a Victorian romance novel. I’m looking forward to seeing what Ms. Sreenivasan comes out with next.
Buy this book at:
Amazon
Powell’s Books
(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
November 28th, 2012 in
Books |
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Today’s Thankfully Reading Weekend Challenge is “about family memories, specifically those that relate to books. Thanksgiving is all about families and the bonds/traditions we form. Do you have any special family memories/traditions involving books?”
When I was a child, my grandma gave me a lot of books, especially Dr. Seuss books. She usually wrote a short message on the inside of the front cover. She had a debiltating stroke when I was six years old that left her in a nursing home, unable to speak, walk or really do anything for herself. Even though I only had six years with her before the stroke, I have a ton of memories of the things she and I did together – she was the best grandma in the world. I’m so glad I still have most of the books she gave me. I read them to my kids now and I love being reminded of my grandma when I open the cover and see her handwriting:
I’ve tried to carry on this tradition with my children, although I buy them so many books that I don’t always remember to write something. But I usually do if the book is a gift for a special occasion:
Thankfully Reading Weekend Reading Update: I finished And Laughter Fell From the Sky and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking yesterday and now I’m reading River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. If I manage to finish it by tomorrow night I’ll be happy.
November 24th, 2012 in
Uncategorized |
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Yesterday was the first day of Thankfully Reading Weekend, hosted by Jenn’s Bookshelves. I actually managed to stay off the computer all day yesterday so I’m posting my kick-off post today.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful. Because I’m still recovering everyone else pitched in and made all of the dishes I normally make. It was the most relaxing Thanksgiving ever! I even sneaked off for a short nap after dinner and then did a little reading while a very intense Uno game was being played in the other room.
We didn’t have a lot of bookish conversation during dinner but we did talk about Life of Pi. Several people in my family said they had tried to read the book but couldn’t get into it and didn’t finish. However, all agreed that the movies looks like it will be really good. I haven’t read the book and I probably won’t have time to before I see the movie. I will try to read it at some point though.
This weekend I plan to finish my current read, And Laughter Fell from the Sky and then read River Town, which I need to read before my book club meets on Tuesday. I’m not sure what I’ll read next after that.
November 23rd, 2012 in
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From me and my little turkeys:
November 22nd, 2012 in
Cash,
Family,
Neve,
West |
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Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Release Date: August 7, 2007
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Emmy feels like she’s invisible. No one notices her at school and her parents are always traveling, leaving her at home with her crotchety Nanny, Miss Barmy. Emmy tries her hardest to be good but she can never seem to please Miss Barmy. One day the classroom pet, the Rat, not only notices her but starts talking to her! Is he a good rat or a bad rat? And how is it that he can talk and Emmy can understand him?
I liked that this book was dark without being too scary or too suspenseful. Emmy’s parents are absent most of the time, but not dead like parents are in a lot of fantasy books. My first grader is super sensitive and can’t read books or watch movies with dead parents. It was also funny and has some grossness that kids will love. Even though Emmy is a girl, this is not a “girly” book and should appeal to both girls and boys. There is plenty of action, mystery and fantasy.
This middle grade book is geared toward three-six graders. My second grader, who reads at probably a third or fourth grade level, read this book to himself and loved it. He had no problem comprehending the plot. I read this book aloud to my first grader, who also loved the book but a little trouble connecting the dots when Emmy started to solve the mystery of the talking Rat and the evil Miss Barmy. When I sensed he wasn’t getting something, I would stop reading and discuss with him what he thought was happening and then help him to understand it better. With this help, he was also able to comprehend the book and he also loved it. His favorite part was the flipbook on the right margin. As you read the book, there are pictures of the Rat slowly falling out of a tree. It was a fun way to track our progress through the book
My boys and I read this book for the Intergenerational Book Club at our church. The facilitator of the book club came up with some really fun activities to go along with our discussion. We always have food that relates to the book so she brought miniature peanut butter cups, which are the Rat’s favorite snack. Also mentioned in the book are jam tarts. She found some cookies with jam in the middle and brought those. In the book, Emmy makes a chinchilla foot out of clay so the facilitator brought some modeling clay and a picture of a chinchilla. The kids had a blast making their own chinchilla feet. And the piece de resistance (for the kids anyway!) was the whoopee cushion she brought for them to take turns playing with. Farting plays a significant part in one part of the book, much to my disgust and all the children’s delight.
This book is the first in a series that includes at least three books so far. My boys were delighted to know that there were more books about Emmy waiting for them to read – a ringing endorsement for sure!
Buy this book at:
Amazon
Powell’s Books
For more reviews of books for children and teens, check out Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection, posted on Saturdays. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, you can go to her site to leave a comment and your link .
November 21st, 2012 in
Books |
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Old MacDonald Had a Dragon by Ken Baker
Publisher: Amazon Children’s Publishing
Release Date: October 9, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In Old MacDonald Had a Dragon, the farmer has a dragon who systematically swallows up the other farm animals when they complain that a dragon has no place on a farm.
The illustrations in this book are bright and colorful. The story was silly and I personally didn’t find it terribly original. However, my six and eight year old boys both gave it a thumbs up and said they thought it was funny. It also taught them some new expressions, which may or may not be a good thing: dog-gone, two-bit and having a “beef” with someone.
And don’t worry (SPOILER ALERT) – everyone gets burped out of the dragon in the end and avoids permanent injury.
Buy this book at:
Amazon
(I received this book courtesy of the Amazon Vine program.)
For more reviews of books for children and teens, check out Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection, posted on Saturdays. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, you can go to her site to leave a comment and your link .
November 20th, 2012 in
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Breaking Dawn – Part 2 was a great ending to the Twilight series. The screenwriter did a great job of trimming down the last half of the book into a concise and action packed movie. Thankfully, there are no cheesy wolf talking scenes like in the first Breaking Dawn. However, I was not a fan of baby Renesmee. The director digitally imposed actress Mackenzie Foy’s face onto all the younger versions of Renesmee. The result was unrealistic and creepy, especially when Renesmee is still the size of an infant. I think just using a real baby’s face would have been fine.
This movie introduces several new vampires that come to help the Cullens confront the Volturi. The casting of these new vampires was superb. They all looked just like I would have expected from their descriptions in the book. Seeing how beautiful the female Denali vampires are just underscored in my mind how miscast Nikki Reed is as Rosalie. Since Rosalie is supposed to be one of the most beautiful vampires ever, she should look like these women. Something is especially wrong about Rosalie’s hair in this movie – I’m pretty sure it’s a wig and it’s really bad. I think a natural blonde should have been cast as Rosalie from the beginning.
You may have heard there is a twist in the movie that is not in the book. It’s true and it took my breath away. I’ve heard that purists who are not happy with the twist have been walking out before the movie ends. STAY! You must stay – that is all I will say about that.
I’ve heard rumors that there might be more Twilight movies even though there aren’t any more books. What do you think – would you want another movie?
November 19th, 2012 in
Books,
Movie Reviews |
1 Comment
I still have not been able to get my head back into reading here in the hospital. I didn’t sleep very well the night before last so I was too exhausted to read yesterday. My sweet husband borrowed a fan from the hotel he’s staying at and snuck it over to my hospital room so I had white noise to help me sleep last night.
I do have some bookish news to report. My good friend from college who lives in Minneapolis made the drive down to visit 
me yesterday and she brought me a copy of Nothing Special by Geoff Herbach. It’s the sequel to his debut novel Stupid Fast, which I read last year (based on her recommendation) and loved. It was so nice to catch up with an old friend, even though it probably would have been more fun over a glass of wine or two than in my hospital room!
November 12th, 2012 in
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