Book 40: Ragtime

It's week 26 of the year, so half way! This was a challenge from the 52 Books Blog to read a book from the New York Times Bestseller list from the month of one's birth.



This cover sure looks like it's from 1975!

There was a definite rhythm to the writing, like ragtime music. Toward the end, the choppiness gradually changed to a smoother rhythm, as the ragtime era described in the book passed. The writing was wonderful; the story was sometimes a bit disturbing. For a while, I considered giving up on it, but I'm ultimately glad I finished.

Book 39: Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness

I heard an interview with Pete Earley on NPR when this book was first published in 2006 and it has been on my mind since then. It was definitely worth reading, all these years later.



If you have any interest in mental illness, the chronically homeless, or caring for a loved one who shows self-destructive behaviors, this is an enlightening book. I have a new compassion for those with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia; what might you and I do, after all, if we couldn't tell what was real and what was a hallucination?

Any of us, or any of our loved ones, could be the chronically homeless person panhandling in the grocery store parking lot or sleeping in a doorway.

Book 38: The Hoarder in You

I promise, I am not a hoarder. But I did "pass" the test in this book for having what we shall call "hoarding tendencies". Nothing like being called a hoarder to get you to get rid of some junk!




I've browsed through clutter management books in the past and never gotten much out of them, but this was honestly helpful. The author is a psychologist and applies concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy to clutter and hoarding.

Book 37: French Kids Eat Everything

There seems to be some Francophilia going around these days. French parenting is better, French women don't get fat, and French kids happily eat beet salad.



I haven't read about French women avoiding weight gain, and I found the French parenting book a bit annoying, but I'm sold on this one.

I picked up some new phrases from it that I've been putting to use:

• To discourage snacking and help kids (and adults!) live with a bit of hunger between meals: "It's ok to be hungry. Our next meal is in ____ hours. You will really enjoy it!"
• To encourage trying new things: "You don't have to like it; you just have to taste it."

The book includes tips for making the French rules of family eating work even if you're not living in France, and also has the cutest little cartoon drawings of the author and her family.

Book 36: Overtreated: How Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer

Ever have a pile of stuff fall on you slowly? This book was a bit like that. Each new chapter was another brick falling on the pile. Oh, that's another thing that's wrong with the system. Oh, I hadn't even thought of that mess that hurts doctors and patients. Oh, there's more. And something else.



The book described the many, many reasons that our medical system doesn't work too well: for instance, pharmaceutical marketing to both individuals and physicians, the fee-for-service system, the decline of primary care, and on and on. And there are so many financial incentives for many of the players in the system to keep things as they are now, rather than change them.

Book 35: Factory Girls

I stumbled upon this audio book on the library's website and I'm so glad I did. It was fantastic.



This was just fascinating. I was a bit confused at first when the author started weaving her own family's story in with those of the factory workers, but it really did add to the depth of the story. I became acquainted with a few shop girls in my time in China and they were migrant workers. These insights into their lives were enlightening and I wish I had known these things when I was there.

The voice talent for the audio book was great to listen to, except when it came to Chinese words. Once, she had to read a list of 20 Chinese words and I could hear the terror in her voice as she plowed through them. She could have used a little bit more coaching on her pronunciation.

Book 34: I'm a Stranger Here Myself

I had a false start this week and my first abandoned book of 2012: Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. Yaaaaaaaaaaawn. If you want pickle and ham recipes from every major recorded civilization, this is the book for you.



But I am not a lover of pickles or ham. After abandoning Salt, I started reading Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself.



It was a little outdated (published in 1999), but parts were hilarious. Definitely better than the pickle recipes.

Book 33: Blue Nights

What greater grief can there be for mortals than to see their children dead. ~Euripedes



Sometimes I wondered why I was torturing myself by reading this book. It hurt, with a heaviness in the chest, to read. Oh, the thought of losing one's children. I kept reading because Didion expressed thoughts about parenting that I have not read elsewhere but can often relate to: that we never feel like we are successfully parenting, that sometimes we put barriers up between ourselves and our children to keep them at a bit of a distance.

Book 32: The Lacuna

My, my, that Barbara Kingsolver does have a way with words, doesn't she?



This book was a delight. Kingsolver's writing is just wonderful. It's like the best meal you ever had, when crummy writing is like eating packaged ramen noodles. When I was about halfway through the book, I wasn't sure where it was going, but I was glad to be along for the ride.