Space Station Mir

19. Belinda by Maria Edgeworth I can't decide if Belinda is subversive for its time or not. It was left over from my eighteenth century class reading, my professor had us buy it and then decided not to cover it. It was the last book in my room that I hadn't read. So I am now free to buy a book from an indie bookstore on May 1st! Belinda is, of course, the main character, and the book follows very typical patterns for an eighteenth or nineteenth century novel. The style was very similar to Jane Austen's novels, although distinct in some ways as well. The characters were less interesting, but also, I think, more realistic than Miss Austen's. Belinda is a young lady in society under the care of the dissipated Lady Delacour. And what must ladies in society do but marry for money? Only Belinda learns, quite early, that she wishes to marry for domestic happiness. Edgeworth drags the reader through some contemporary London society, introduces her love interest, Clarence Herve...

18. The Theory of Everything by Stephen Hawking First off, don't ask me to explain Stephen Hawking's theories. I did learn what he thinks is going to happen to the universe (though even he admits he doesn't fully understand), but I did not comprehend his simple but oh so baffling explanations. The book is comprised of seven lectures. The language is concise, with simplistic examples to illustrate what is happening to the universe. Hawking provides a brief history of research into the origins of the universe, black holes, the time line, and the fate of the universe. His research, and all the modern research up to the time the lectures were published (2002), are included. At the time, Hawking believed that he and others were working toward a unified theory that would explain the origins and fate of the universe, and would combine quantum mechanics, general relativity, string theory etc. Some of Hawkling's theories (I can't say conclusions, because science, especially ...

17. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier From the author of Rebecca, there's another unresolved Gothic "mystery" novel. I'd never heard of My Cousin Rachel until I found it in a bargain pile at Barnes & Noble. I was a fan of Rebecca, so I bought it for roughly $5. I would say du Maurier's books are actually not mysteries in the conventional sense. To anyone with a sense of intuition, it's clear from the first chapter who did it. The question is why. du Maurier is a queen of eerie setting and grey characters. In My Cousin Rachel, there are two contrasting Great Houses. One is the hereditary Ashley home, which Philip Ashley will inherit after the death of his beloved cousin Ambrose. This home is in du Maurier's native Cornwall, a family home turned well-cared-for bachelor pad. The other home is the Italian villa of Ambrose's wife Rachel, where he dies. That home was once the scene of luxury, but was depleted to satisfy debts. Both homes are suffused...

16. The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay Being suddenly immersed in a fantasy world, it's often difficult to get your bearings. Guy Gavriel Kay doesn't make it easy. He plunges the reader immediately into the action, complete with strange names, geographic and cultural references. However, there is something familiar about this tale of Northern lands and raiders, an emerging seacoast kingdom, and inland agricultural tribes. In his Acknowledgments, Kay explains that his three peoples are based on the Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, and Celtics respectively. This is something I discovered for myself before too long, but I think I would have liked to have known it going in. It would have made the book immediately more accessible. Strands of the tale are indeed reminiscent of Beowulf and the legends of King Arthur, but it has a cohesive spirit all its own. The stories seem disconnected at first, but eventually the three peoples come into contact, and the world changes. A worthy, tim...

15. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks I wanted to like this book. And I did, to a certain extent. Geraldine Brooks imagines the people that owned and protected the legendary Sarajevo Haggadah. A good book to read during Passover. The Sarajevo Haggadah is a real artifact that originated in Spain and found its way to Sarajevo in Bosnia, part of the former Yugoslavia. It is known for its daring illustrations, made in a time when Jews were as wary of likenesses as many Muslims are still today. The book follows the story of Hanna Heath, the book conservator assigned to the Sarajevo Haggadah (Hanna, like all of Brooks' characters, is fictional), interspersed with the tales of the people who, as I mentioned, owned or protected the Haggadah. I liked Hanna as a narrator, she had definite character. I also feel like I learned a lot about the art and field of book conservation, which interests me. The story centered a lot on her relationship with her mother, which is fine, but the mother...

I got this from the Porter Square Books blog. Looks like I may have to break my no-book-buying vow. Or finish all my books by May 1st...

14. The Trophy Kids Grow Up by Ron Alsop Never say 'permanent setback' I guess. I gobbled this one up last night. My mom handed it to me, "Oh I got this book, you might be interested..." It's about the generation Alsop calls the millenials, born between 1980 and 2001. MY generation. And it was pure characteristic narcissism that spurred me to read it, and so quickly. Besides, I'm curious what THEY'RE saying about us! Alsop neatly sums up our generation, our parents, and how the workplace will, or already is, adapting to us. He of course points out that he can't pigeonhole every one of us, we're all individual, but certain traits that tend to illustrate us are as follows; entitled, civic minded, technologically advanced, team oriented, narcissistic, impatient, value work-life balance, and multi-tasking. He includes a chapter devoted to each of these traits, and their impact, as well as two chapters devoted to the helicopter parent phenomenon. I thin...

13. A History of God by Karen Armstrong I feel so successful, having just finished this tome. It's taken me far longer than anything else I've read this year so far, and it may have permanently set me back on my goal, but I am proud to have contemplated my way through it. Armstrong starts off with a personal note, but for the most part, her book is impressively objective. She begins with the murky origins of monotheism and follows the developing paths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Her history is comprehensive, albeit necessarily condensed. Especially in the beginning, she uses Hindu and Buddhist ideas to illustrate concepts, but narrows her focus once she is past the wider breadth of ancient history. Her book takes shape as a dialogue between successive philosophers of all three faiths. The thread from the chapters "The God of the Philosophers" and "The God of the Mystics" forms the central argument of the book. Theologians have believed in one or the...