Read More: Sybil Exposed

Update: Well, what a horrifying book. This poor kid has pernicious anemia, she gets dizzy and woozy and acts strange, and instead of getting treated she falls into the hands of a mad psychiatrist and ends up drug addled with a multiple personality disorder diagnosis!

I can totally picture Elliot making up lies about me after I die, just like Sybil did about her mom. So I hope all of you are ready to stand up for me! You'd better defend my reputation, so people don't think I sneak around the town at night doing witchcraft and defecating in people's yards.

As I read this, especially the descriptions of the insane professional meetings where psychiatrists reported on their patients, describing things that no sane adult could believe, it reminded me of similar things going on today. Like child bipolar diagnoses... maybe even scarier, because it's defenseless kids who are getting drugged into oblivion, and mostly poor kids with no adults to stick up for them at that. I wonder if we ever learn!

-Kristin


Kristin always finds the best books in the new section at the library. Whenever I browse the shelf there's never anything good. She found Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan on the shelf the other day. I was surprised. I thought for sure when I got around to requesting it there would still be a wait list a mile long. But thankfully, lucky hands Kristin has no need for wait lists. La-Ti-Da.

I'm sure everyone knows the story of Sybil, but if you need your memory refreshed she's that girl with all the multiple personalities. When you think about the story with a rational mind it's pretty obvious that it is bogus. But it was so sensational and interesting you couldn't help but want to believe such crazy things are possible.

This book investigates Sybil (Shirley Mason) and her upbringing. I learned some about Seventh Day Adventists. For instance, they developed special foods to keep sex temptations at bay. One of these foods was the graham cracker, invented by a minister by the name of Sylvester Graham. I wonder how this Graham would feel if he were to read my match.com profile where I list S'Mores as a major turn on? (Just kidding. Sort of. Potential wooers take note: S'Mores and mashed potatoes are two keys to this girl's heart.) They also invented more food that are staples in this girl's diet: peanut butter, soy milk, fake meat! Yay for the Adventists! As you can imagine, living in a uber religious household was not the most fun childhood you could imagine, but far from the horrors that Sybil told of. So what's the deal?

Enter Shirley's psychiatrist, Dr. Wilbur. She injected Shirley with a drug called Pentothal, that puts patients into a trance state where they are highly sensitive to suggestion and for some reason Dr. Wilbur hates mothers. And out come Shirley's personalities. Many of them. Dr. Wilbur doesn't suspect / want to suspect that any of these personalities and claims could possibly be fake. Poor Shirley becomes addicted to Pentothal and the myriad of other drugs the doctor prescribes for her. It's a wonder that Shirley was even able to function at all on so many things.

Then comes in Flora Schreiber, the journalist who wrote Sybil. Unlike Wilbur, she does fact check and finds that things are not adding up. But what is she to do? She's already spent the advance the publishing company has given her and signed a contract to have the story ready in six months.

The book delves deeper into the relationships between these three women as well as some interesting tidbits about their personal lives to help understand them a bit more. It goes into what became of all them in the end, which was interesting and pretty sad. And updates us on the status of Multiple Personality Disorder in psychiatry today. Although the revelations in this book weren't surprising or shocking, it was still an interesting read.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: The Science of Yoga

I've been looking forward to reading The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards by William J Broad ever since I read a review in Yoga Journal. And then there was a piece in the Times about gruesome yoga injuries, excerpted from the book, that made me want to read it even more. Finally, it was my turn to pick up my copy from the library. Hallelujah!

It didn't disappoint, for the most part. The premise of the book is that the author takes all these claims about yoga and subjects them to scientific scrutiny. He looks at the studies out there and separates the true from the false from the nobody really knows. Most yoga claims probably fall in that last category, which is hard for a writer to deal with. I mean, how many times can you say "We really don't have the faintest idea" without irritating your reader beyond the point of no return? This was clearly something the poor author struggled with.

The beginning of the book was the strongest. Broad starts by giving a rundown of the history of yoga and health claims and how we came to be in the state we are now. Interesting stuff! Then he moves on to evaluating the physical fitness claims yoga makes. This was by far the best part of the book. Those claims that yoga makes you lose weight? Nope, not true. Provides a good cardio workout? Nope, it's a really poor choice. While yoga can do a lot of nice things, making you slim and developing your aerobic fitness are two things that it ain't going to do. Which is way different than the story that many of us have been sold by all of the yoga chains/dvds/etc. There is also a pretty good chapter on what yoga does for moods, and that is where yoga seems to really shine. Honestly, if yoga can improve mood as dramatically as some studies suggest, then maybe it's not fair to expect it to do a ton of other things, like make you model-like svelte! I mean, we don't expect Prozac to make us drop the pounds do we? Elevating mood alone is a big deal. That yoga can also build strength and flexibility is a big plus, in my view.

As you get farther into the book, however, the author moves into topics that there is way less research about. And at that point, there really is no "science of yoga." The chapters on sex and creativity for example... I'm not really sure they should have been included. It's interesting to think about how yoga might impact these things, for sure. But basically, since there is no real research in these areas, the chapters on them were just full of wild speculation, which is the opposite of what this book is supposed to be about! All of the bits about kundalini-linked transformations... to be honest, I didn't even really understand what the heck we were talking about at that point in the book. I would have liked a little more skepticism in these chapters from the author.

I guess this book has been really controversial because of the way that Broad highlights terrible yoga injuries, as well as the woeful lack of training that many yoga instructors have. I think it's good for people to know that "certified yoga therapist" is not a real thing. Or to be aware of how bad yoga poses can go, so they approach their classes very carefully. I feel really lucky that most of the yoga teachers I've had seem really great, and never try to force people into poses that aren't for them... and are really careful to explain how to set up poses to avoid injuries. Even so, after reading this I approach my practice with a new level of caution, as well as greater enthusiasm, and I think that's a good thing. In my view, this guy is shedding some light on a subject that was kind of shrouded in darkness for most people, and that's a great thing! I think it would be hard for anyone to really argue that he paints yoga in a bad light, though. He practices it daily himself, and he is very positive about it on the whole.

- Kristin

One New Thing: Krik Krak

I've been wanting to experience some Haitian culture for a while now since one of my heroes, Dr. Paul Farmer, is all about Haiti. (Please don't take this to mean that I want to taste some chimp since one of my heroes, Dr. Jane Goodall, is all about chimps.) So for our weekly Funday Kristin and I finally made our way over to Krik Krak, the Haitian restaurant that Poppy, with her wails of protest, kept us from dining at before.

We started off by ordering Cola Lackay to drink. When we asked what it was the waitress told us it was "soda, but very sweet". I could tell by the look on her face that we were in for something terrible, but we wanted to be adventurous so we plunged ahead. It was the color of Jolt and it tasted like Bubbleyum Bubblegum, which is swell for bubblegum, but not for a drink. We had a few sips and then retreated to our waters. Lesson of the day: Be Cowardly and Ye Shall Reap Rewards Aplenty. Like the reward of not making cat butt mouth in public.

For an appetizer we ordered Akra de Malanga. I really have no idea what this was, but it wasn't great. I should note now that I had a cold (yes, another cold) and couldn't taste a whole lot. What I tasted when I dipped the dumpling in the sauce was burning. When I didn't dip the dumpling in the sauce I tasted nothing.

Then to the main entrees. Kristin ordered Poulet Maison. I ordered Filet de Poisson, which was tilapia in a buttery, garlic sauce. Although you can't go wrong with butter and garlic, it wasn't anything super special like I was hoping for.

All in all it was not exactly a disappointing dining experience, but my expectations were so high that it was destined to fail. I thought Haitian food would be a culinary adventure, but it was just the same ol' same ol'.

- Megan Leigh

I concur with Megan. I thought the food was reasonably tasty, but it wasn't the culinary explosion I had hoped for. You've got to understand that our visit to this place has been months in the making! Our expectations were probably way too high. I think most of the stuff we could have made ourselves--and if we had, I would have been pleased about how they turned out. But when you go to a restaurant, you want something you couldn't recreate at home! At least I do. Also, it was pretty darn expensive for what it was. Still, it was fun to finally get to go!

-Kristin

Read More: How We Are Hungry

I didn't love How We Are Hungry like I usually love Dave Eggers' books. I think it was because this was a collection of short stories, rather than a novel. Each chapter is a story about a different character and something they hunger for, primarily relationships and human companionship. With the exception of just a few stories, I would have loved to have had most of these story lines expanded into a book. I would have especially liked the story with Hand, who I bonded with in You Shall Know Our Velocity, to be expanded. When I began reading that chapter (towards the beginning of the book) I was excited, thinking this was a sequel. Alas! There were a few stories that didn't fit in stylistically and I could have lived without them. All in all it was an entertaining read, but it just doesn't get the super rating I am used to giving Eggers' works.

On a bit of a tangential note, the other night Marty and I were discussing A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. He tidbitted that in the first edition it was revealed that his niece and nephew were imaginary. I'm pretty sure I didn't have the first edition because this was quite the surprise. As I tried to think back about it, I realized that I remember nothing about this book, except one scene: He is driving on a winding California cliff highway like in a Hitchcock movie, imagining what would happen if he drove off the side. He formulated a plan where he would stay with the car, then just before it hits the ground he jumps up and off the roof of the car, missing the impact and hopping to safety. I filed this away in my brain because it was the perfect solution, and I figured it could easily come in handy in the future. (I read this book before I developed my California aversion). So anyway, after I read The Wild Things, I will have pretty much read all that I care to at the moment by Eggers, and then it will be time to do some repeats!

- Megan Leigh

In the Theater: Beauty and the Beast 3D

Last night me and Cat traveled down to Times Square to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D - my favorite Disney movie in 2D. I've only seen one 3D movie before, Despicable Me, and didn't feel that 3D added much to the experience. With Beauty and the Beast it actually took away from the experience. Maybe because this time I had something else to compare it to. Maybe because I am an old fogey and stuck in my ways. In 3D, there were some interesting parts - coming into the town at the beginning was like looking in a pop up book. However, for most of the time it was just overwhelming. It also made the animation look poorly done in parts.

After the movie Cat felt there were too many holes in the story. For starters, the witch gave the Beast only until he was 21 to change his ways. That's a very young age to learn lessons by! And the castle had been enchanted for 10 years, meaning the poor Beast was cursed when he was only 11 years old! Who isn't a big brat at 11? Who was the real beast in this story? And why was the boy beast all alone in this giant castle when he was so little? She had more holes she noted during the movie, but couldn't remember afterwards. Another issue I had was that they never explained the magic mirror in his possession.

Even in 3D the movie was still beautiful and the songs were still great and I just have no idea why Disney has gone in the opposite direction with their movies.

Now I will start watching the Beauty and the Beast TV show that is streaming on Netflix. It came out when I was little and I enjoyed it. I expect it is really horrible (in a wonderful way) now. 

After the movie, since we were in the area, we decided to give Steak 'n Shake another chance. This time we skipped the burgers and just went for chili and fries. The chili was just fine, but the fries were still not quite right. At least this time we got to sit down, which was pretty miraculous because it was quite busy. I'll probably return again for chili. Such good chili...

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Vitamin Discoveries and Disasters

I really enjoyed The Emperor of All Maladies--I wrote about that book sort of recently on this very blog. As I was reading it, I thought "wouldn't it be fun if there was a similar book about the history of vitamins? Something fun to read, easy to understand? That would be so useful at work!" I don't know if you've ever tried to delve into the science of vitamins, but it can get deathly boring fast.

So I started looking around. I found this book: Vitamin Discoveries and Disasters, by Frances Rachel Frankennurg. It's not quite the compelling read that Emperor of All Maladies was. But it's written in a charming way. The author uses plain and matter-of-fact writing, but she has uncovered lots of amusing anecdotes about the discovery of vitamins--and an understated sense of humor lurks behind the stories throughout. It's sort of written in the style of a bed-time story for dorky children, à la Microbe Hunters by Paul de Krief. Anyway, if you're interested in what vitamins do and how we figured that out, then this is a decent choice!

-Kristin

Read More: The Neverending Story

Continuing my reading of young adult and children's literature, I decided to read The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. I had no idea until fairly recently that it was a book first. Would the book be even better than the movie? It was hard to believe that this would be the case, since it is one of the greatest movies ever, but I was excited to find out. At least until Elliot saw what I was reading on the bus and asked loudly, "You're reading that?" As if only a mentally disabled adult would be reading such drivel. After that I could feel the eye's of other passengers on the buses and trains reading the cover and staring at me with their awful judging eyes.

The first half of the book was the old, familiar story we all know and love with two minor, but oh-so-major differences. First, the world was Fantastica, rather than Fantasia. Fantastica is a much less appealing name. Whoever thought to change it, kudos to you sir or ma'am. Second, my heartbreak was not mended in the book. Artax did not come back to life. Normally I like a bit of death in my novels,  but only of people, not horses and other animals. In addition, there were a few scenes left out of the movie, but to no ill affect. If anything, the movie was better than the book, which is highly unusual. They did a great job figuring out what the different creatures would look like and they made them much more endearing, scary, etc. than the book did.

In the second half of the book Bastian gets stuck in Fantastica and must find his way back. He is given the power to make his wishes come true and reconstruct Fantastica, but there is a cost and he may get stuck there forever. Maybe this is what the Neverending Story 2 is about. I saw it once and don't remember a thing about it, except that it wasn't very good. The same goes for the second half of the book. I cared not a whit for this Bastian and whether he found his way back to his papa or not.

To sum this review up: skip the book, watch the movie.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Death in the City of Light

Update: My opinion on this book differs a bit from Kristin's. I decided to read the book, despite her advice not to bother with it, and was happy that I did. The first 3/4ths of the book were definitely more interesting, but I didn't find the trial section as tedious as she did. It was written in a way that I couldn't guess if he would be convicted or acquitted. I do think it could have been written in a more concise fashion, but it didn't bother me much. There were many questions that remained unanswered, but speculation is half the fun!

- Megan Leigh

This was a random read. I picked up Death in the City of Light on a trip to the library to get some other books--it was in the new releases section.

It is about a serial killer who haunted Nazi-occupied Paris. You know how I love my Eric Larson books, so I figured this historical crime book might be fun too. Also, the critics apparently loved this book, so that was a good sign. Perhaps it was time to give another true-crime author a chance. But was this a fun read, you ask? It was just so-so.

The story is a compelling one. An elegant Parisian townhouse hides grisly secrets. A sadistic doctor is accused of a staggering number of murders, hiding within the chaos of war-time Paris. It sounds like the plot of a promising horror movie, right? All of the elements are there, and the book starts out with a lot of promise. But it starts to really drag midway through, and by the end it gets really bogged down in descriptions of the court case. Over all, this book was easy and mostly enjoyable to read. But I'm not sure I would recommend it. It's so long, and in the end very little is resolved.

One plus is that I learned a lot about Nazi-occupied France. Did you know that France was occupied for four years? Four years! I had no idea. And that Hitler ordered Paris destroyed, with explosives ready to blow up the Eiffel Tower and all of the other prominent buildings in Paris? The Nazi general in charge of Paris refused to follow orders though, and luckily the Allied Forces came to the rescue before the whole city was in absolute ruins. These are the kinds of things we should all learn in history class!

-Kristin

In the Theater: Norwegian Wood

Since yesterday's theater outing wasn't the best (this does not refer to the company I was keeping at the time, but to the choice of movie) I decided to give it another go tonight. I met up with Cat at the International Film Center downtown to see the film adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood.

I hate to say it, because I so wanted to love it, but this moving was Boring. Yup, that's right, with a capital b. I'm sure it didn't help that I saw this movie at my bedtime with Cat dozing off and yawning next to me, but wide awake I'm sure it would have at least got a boring with a little b. Now let me tell you why!


It started off really disjointed, showing scenes that added nothing to the story and this continued somewhat throughout the whole movie. Someone, somewhere, has an editing problem. Beware the 2+ hour movie.

You never really got to know or care for any of the characters. A lot of the characters, although important in the book, are superfluous in the movie, just thrown in here and there and you wonder why bother? Although the two relationships are the focus of the movie, you don't get to see their evolution, which is probably why it was hard to sympathize with any of them. I would have liked to have seen a difference in the scenes between the two girls to help visualize the choice he had to make. Keep the time with Naoko slow, boring, with little dialogue and the time with Midori exciting and entertaining. At first this is what I thought the intention was, but both relationships just turned dull. If I were Watanabe I would have said 'so long' to both.

There were many over the top dramatic scenes. It was so hard for me not to laugh. My favorite was when it showed Watanabe wailing into the air atop a rock, a long string of drool hanging from his mouth and flying in the wind. It went on for five minutes and that drool string never broke. Was I really supposed to be moved by that?? I did note a line I would like to scream-sob at a future boyfriend or sister or even family dog: "Your presence is painful to me!"

For all its faults, it was a really pretty movie though! The winter scenes alone would have made me want to die inside. But in addition to having to see snow and wind, we were sitting next to some sort of air vent that was blowing cold air on to us. It was what those interactive movies from 5th grade should have been. Another plus, if you could call it that, was that I coveted all their apartments filled with 60's decor and their cute clothes. But that's not enough to give this movie my approval. I hope that this movie hasn't convinced Cat to never read a Murakami book!

Finally the movie ended and I could head home to my nice, warm bed. This is when the drama finally began for the night. When I got back to my stop to catch the 1, the clock struck 12 and the subway systems underwent their transformations from a model for national transportation to out of order, out of order, out of order. Suffice it to say there was walking to different stations and many transfers. One train I got on smelled like shit, literally. I was only going up one stop so I decided to tough it out, out of sheer laziness. There were only two other people on the train who either had colds, fake noses, are suffered from extreme laziness as well, so I had a pretty unobstructed view of the benches and underneath. I looked around for the poo, but couldn't see anything. I know it was there somewhere. I hope the reason I didn't see it was not because I was sitting in it. I should check the back of my coat in the morning.

- Megan Leigh

In The Theater: Woman In Black

Our newly added happiness goal is to start seeing adult (no, not that kind of adult) movies in the theater at least once a month. I see on average one movie a year, which is pretty depressing, because I really enjoy seeing movies on the big screen! "But who doesn't?" You may ask. The lady who wrote The Happiness Project, for one. There are a lot of loonies out there. One of the best times of my life was when my friend Jay was working at a movie theater and we saw all sorts of movies for free. I don't know why he had to quit and get a better paying job, with no benefit to me (except for that little benefit of getting me a job...).

Today was our first movie day. We went down to our local theater at 86th and were ignored by the ticket seller, which confused us. Was the theater not open yet? We went to Barnes & Noble to waste some time and came back, but the ticket man was still ignoring us! Finally he caved and sold us our tickets, which were only $6 before 12:00. What a deal!

Then on to the concession stand. We got kid's packs, which have the perfect size popcorn, soda and chocolate treat. These were priced about a dollar cheaper than normal too. We paid the price in another way: Shame. The ladies standing in line behind us asked what these special packs were. "They're the kid packs," Kristin told her. "They're the perfect size popcorn for us!"

"Those are for you!" They tittered. Our cheeks reddened. We hung our heads and scurried away.

As you might expect for a movie in the morning, the theater was just about empty. And as you also might expect, because it's our luck, someone decided to sit right behind us in the empty theater. And, of course, he was a loud breather. The scariest part of the movie was when he made some really loud snorting noise.

Now let's get to the movie. It was The Woman in Black with Danielle Radcliffe. A horror flick. The story line was just the same old, played out story line: Woman separated from dead baby. Now she haunts and kills other babies until she is reconnected with her own. Or perhaps she'll never stop. I don't know. I'm pretty confused about the ending. I'm not going to waste my time thinking about it too hard, since the rest of the movie was so mediocre. The woman in the bathroom afterwards (not a ghost) thought the same. Loud does not equal scary, we decided as we washed out hands.

- Megan Leigh

Recipe in Progress: Braised Tempeh with Veggies

This was a recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book. So far, this book has been the less-accomplished younger brother who coasts on the success of his older sister (How to Cook Everything). Nothing has wowed me yet.

The braised tempeh turned out pretty bland. Basically, you stir fry some crumbled tempeh with ginger, garlic, and spices (it smells really good). Then you throw in coconut milk, veggies of your choice (I used chopped cabbage, peas, and okra--I was getting rid of what was in my freezer), and rice noodles. Everything was supposed to be bathed in a fragrant yellow curry sauce, and it looked like it would be tasty. But it was disappointingly tasteless. Boo.

All I would like is to recreate the yummy, soothing yellow curry that you find at a place like Thanh Thao. I have been trying to get there forever, and I haven't gotten any closer. Does anybody have any secrets?

-Kristin

Read More: The Best Stories of Fyodor Dostoevsky

I've previously read The Brothers Karamazov and Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky and enjoyed them both (except for that ending of Crime and Punishment!), so I was excited to read his short stories. I figure if you can do well with a huge novel you can definitely write an awesome short story. But I must say he is a much better novel writer if these were his best stories. Most were pretty boring. There were one or two that I did enjoy, though. So it wasn't all for naught. I guess.

Most of the stories had the same reoccurring theme: sad, reclusive man. Some of the sad, reclusive men had good souls, but were destined to a life of loneliness. Most of the sad, reclusive men were little cowardly bastards, looking down their noses at the rest of society, longing to show everyone just how much better they were than the rest. Maybe I felt a bit of an aversion towards these stories because they hit a little too close to home. I could see where my life is headed all too clearly. Watch out world. This bitter woman is coming for you.

- Megan Leigh