september 2014

norman doidge - the brain that changes itself [1-]

anthony bourdain - medium raw [2-16]
philip gourevitch - we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with out family: stories from rwanda [17-]
lois lowry - the giver [16-17] (again)

the giver [13]

books

when book shopping, i have a few "requirements":
non-fiction
in reasonable condition
not ugly cover (i know...)
paperback

that's about it really. i read most genres, anything from psych to history, adventure to religion, science to travel, self-help to food. this is a major reason why i try to always purchase from used bookstores, to limit myself. there's simply too much to read otherwise!!

a couple of my favorite genres are travel memoir and pop science (i don't have a science background, after all, so i need to keep it relatively simple). i don't love history as much, since i get easily confused with names, places, and dates. it's one of the reasons i don't like fiction anymore, actually. there are too many characters to keep track of. i forget them since i never really take the time to learn their names. hermione would've been impossible. i would've remembered it as "h name with lots of vowels ends in e".

i also don't read fiction anymore because at some point it all seems to be the same. that thing about how there are only 7 basic literary plots? i think it's true. however, my absolute favorite books are all fiction, lol!

august 2014

jennet conant - tuxedo park  [16-2]
jerri nielsen - ice bound [28-4] 
steve pond - the big show: high times and dirty dealings backstage at the academy awards [3-13]
peter hessler - strange stones [6-13]
leslie chang - factory girls: from village to city in a changing china [14-30]
susan casey - the devil's teeth: a True Story of Obsession and Survival Among America's Great White Sharks [16-31]

(turns out that authors peter hessler and leslie chang are actually married to each other!!

pacific rim (2013), divergent (2014), the grand budapest hotel (2014)

bookstores

i get the majority of my books from used bookstores. i love em! if i were to ever open a store it would be a used bookstore. i can spend hours and hours in them and have been to every one within a 10 mile radius. even when travelling i try to visit them (when in ny i of course went to the strand, in portland went to powell's, and in vancouver went to macleod's, etc), and i always try to buy something. a good book is the best souvenir ever!

i like the independently owned bookstores as much as the corporate ones. independent ones generally have a smaller selection of books, but they're nearly always better better organized. a lot of them also have trading policies (in our area it's usually trade three for one). also, it's great to be able to support small businesses.

why used bookstores tho, as opposed to new? well, when you read a lot, books can be damn expensive. and since i don't keep most of the books i read, it's also better for the environment. that each book is cheap also makes it a lot easier to give each book away! and since i don't stick to any one author, genre, subject it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to browse online. i'm not looking for anything specific, after all.

july 2014

jared diamond - collapse [6/1-14]
anthony bourdain -the nasty bits [2-15]
jennet conant - tuxedo park: a wall street tycoon and the secret palace of science that changed the course of wwII [16-]
jerri nielsen - ice bound: a doctor's incredible battle for survival at the south pole [28-]

battleship (2012)

june 2014

jared diamond - collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed [1-]
the best american travel writing 2006 [10-16]

don jon (2013) [1], bachelorette (2012) [1], friends with kids (2011) [2], butter (2011) [2], zack and miri make a porno (2008) [3], edge of tomorrow [7]