erikatchow

I have always like gothic novels, or psychological novels. I think they give great insight into the darker sides of humanity, and the key to knowing yourself is to accept and understand everything about yourself.... even the bad parts. In reading through this book of The Sandman... it went beyond the darkness I am accustomed to. I reacted in a way that I've never reacted to anything before. My skin crawled from how bleak and terrible humans can be, and yet the comic manages to be somewhat hopeful and uplifting.... It was the strangest combination I have ever encountered.

This book is highly recommendable for anyone who has an open mind, the ability to accept humanity's flaws, and the strength not to despair. If you're not someone like that, don't read this.

I think there are only four reactions that one can have to this book. The first is indifference, because that blank response is always a possibility. The second is that if you do not believe in global warming, you will love this book and not really understand Crichton's real message. The third and fourth are that if you do believe in global warming, you will either hate this book and not really understand Crichton's real message, or like the book and find it disrupts what you believe in, forcing you to question a lot of what you thought you knew about global warming over the years. I continue to hold out hope that most people will fall into the fourth category, although I can see from some of the reviews I glanced through that we are graced with some from the third category on this site. It's a very interesting novel, and I would highly recommend it to anyone open-minded.

At the insistence of several of my friends, I finally decided to delve into American comics this year. Searching around on the internet for what are considered some of the best, along with Goodread's very handy best graphic novels list.

I think the general public is for the most part enamoured of the Batman series because of Christopher Nolan's remakes. I particularly liked the interaction between the Joker and Batman in the Dark Knight and the darkness that the Joker brought out in Batman. This comic, however, blows all of that away. The insanity of the Joker is really highlighted and rationalized, and his reasoning reflects what I believe most people have thought about occasionally. We always face the fact that life is random and unfair, sometimes you get the good end, but mostly you get the bad. It was overwhelming to me how well the Joker captured the darker side of life.

As a general rule, I don't like nonfiction. Which is strange if you know me, because I've always been a history lover, a facts seeker. But somehow nonfiction books manage to be incredibly boring to me. It's dry, it's filled with facts, which is 100% the point of the book, but where's the story? I firmly believe that everybody's life, any event has a story that needs to be told. And every story doesn't only have facts -- it has people's motivations and feelings. You can tell me how many millions of people died in WWII and the numbers of death camps and Hitler's words, but what were his motivations? What where the motivations of the soldiers who ran the camps?

But I digress. I should also add that I was given an iPad a year ago and bought the iPhone primarily because of its camera capabilities. Other than that, I have always been strongly against the Apple brand because of its lack of consumer customizability and closed system. While the biography isn't a commentary on Apple, Steve Jobs did make all the primary decisions in the path of the company while he was alive, so I believe it's important to know where I came from when starting the book.

Walter Isaacson does an incredible job with portraying Steve Jobs the tech giant, Steve Jobs the family man, and Steve Jobs the friends. He spoke to Jobs' allies and enemies in order to get a more rounded and unbiased view of the mistakes and successes of Jobs' life. Isaacson gave the general public a truly great insight into the life and mind of a man that those not directly in contact with him didn't have. He provided the motivation and psychology behind Jobs' actions as well, painting the story of Jobs' life. There were times in the book you hated the person that you were getting to know, and times you admired him. But by the end of the book, I didn't dislike the Apple brand as much as I did, and I came to understand and respect Steve Jobs for what he tried to accomplish in his life. I have not enjoyed a biography as much as I did this one in many many years.

I was given this book to read knowing absolutely nothing about the subject or the author. The books opened with a strange passage about memories and dreams... and confused me more than anything. I thought to myself: oh no, I'm not going to like this. I was incredibly wrong. The books is composed of snapshots of life in Korea, mostly from a female perspective. The narrator is the youngest daughter in a family that constantly struggled to make ends meet, and she relates her memories mostly through the eyes of an innocent child. The language is not the smoothest, nor the most eloquent, but it is incredibly beautiful in capturing the look, feel, sound, smell, and touch of Korea and the young girl's childhood. The book has no overarching message nor teaching, but it will show you the beauty and tragedy of Korea.

I have to admit, up until the last chapter of the book, I would've given the book two stars. For a majority of it, Jane Christmas complains about how Italy doesn't live up to her expectations and the difficulties of managing a disabled mother in accessible-unfriendly Italy. Her constant allusions of mother-daughter pairs she sees on the road or town attitudes or statues to her own relationship with her mother were at best awkwardly paced and reflected upon. But the last chapter makes much of the whining worth it. The book also touches upon the soul and history of many of Italy's touristic gems, so if you want a rough and tumble look at what it is like to travel in Italy, plus a little bit of familial reflection on the side, this is the book for you.