Read More: Nim Chimpsky

Last summer a few of my friends and I instituted a yearly book giving holiday. Josh's gift book for me was Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess. A few years before this, for one reason or another, I made a vow to make Josh cry. I'm assuming he secretly decided to reciprocate the challenge and that's why he sent me this book. We had previously discussed the heart wrenching This American Life episode with chimp island, so he knew exactly what gets this shriveled old heart aching. Although he didn't succeed in making me cry on the outside, my insides were shuddering in paroxysms of anguish.

Nim Chimpsky is the story of a chimp who is raised by humans and taught sign language for research purposes. He continually bonds with his human families, teachers and handlers who all abandon him at some point or another. After a few years the research project ends abruptly and sends poor little Nim back to the chimp farm where he was born. Having grown up in houses with furniture, brushing his teeth in the morning and wearing clothes, he is thrown into a bare, concrete floored cage and forced to figure out how to act like a chimp. At his new home he is again used for ASL research, until they run out of money and Nim is sent to a medical research facility. Eventually he is rescued (he is luckily a famous chimp by now) and sent to a sanctuary where he faces more troubles. His ending is better than I thought it would be, but still a far from desirable life.

Had Jane Goodall not already convinced me that monkeys and apes are not supposed to be pets, this book would have convinced me. Not even a little spider monkey for me, no matter how much I yearn for one.

All of this took place in the 60's and 70's, I believe. I figured biomedical research on apes had been illegal for some time, but I decided to go to the PETA website to check on that. And there on the homepage was a link to a video stating that the US and one other teeny country in Africa are the only countries in the world that still conduct invasive experiments on chimps.  Of course.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: A Voyage Long and Strange

A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz is a random read I picked up months ago at the library. I thought it looked interesting, but I had so many other things to read first... so I kept renewing it again and again. Finally, I got the chance to read it a few weeks ago, and I'm so glad I did!

On a trip to see Plymouth Rock, Horwitz got interested in what happened before the Pilgrims arrived. Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492... but long before he was born, the Vikings were exploring the New Foundland area.  And between 1492 and the time when the Mayflower arrived, more than a century had elapsed. Columbus had planted the seeds for European settlements in Hispaniola. Spanish marauders had traipsed all over South America, and the American South, leaving untold numbers of dead Native Americans in their wake. All of this I knew, I guess. But there was lots I didn't know. Did you know that there was a French settlement in Florida that pre-dated Saint Augustine? Guess what happened to them? They were wiped out by the Spaniards who landed next door and set up their own colony! Did you know there is a big controversy over where the bones of Columbus are? Given all the bickering in the southwestern states about English being the "official" language, isn't it funny that Spanish was spoken there long before English?

Part history, part travelogue, this book was a lot of fun to read. It's full of colorful characters, and it's fun to learn about lots of your country's history that you never knew! It made me want to go and visit a lot of places I previously didn't have much interest in, to see where all these historical events unfolded. It's so hard to imagine Spanish conquistadors struggling through the tropical heat of the south in all of their armor. We had so much fun visiting Roanoke Island a few years ago. When Ben and I are old and driving our RV around the country, I will definitely put early-European-in-American points of interest on our itinerary.

-Kristin

Read More: Death Comes to Pemberley

I read about Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James in the newspaper (where it got a pretty glowing review), and instantly I knew I had to read it. Then I told Megan about it, and she was equally excited.

Here's the deal: It's supposed to be a sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. And, as if that isn't enough, it's also a murder mystery! I guess James is a well-known mystery writer. Let the fun begin!

So I signed up for the library's waitlist, and I was probably #1,037. But eventually my turn came, and I dived into the book with great relish. How could I go wrong with a book like this? But in the end, I'm afraid I was sorely disappointed. I got through it, but it was not a pleasure. First, James writes nothing like Austen. I was expecting an homage that copied Austen's breezy, graceful style. James's words are like leaden weights. Second, the characters seem barely recognizable. The names and situations are taken from the original book, sure. But in this sequel, the characters you love seem to have no internal lives. It's as if between Pride and Prejudice and Death Comes to Pemberley a great plague broke out in the English countryside and killed the spark of life in each resident. If the creators of Thomas the Train were to write a murder mystery, I imagine it would be something akin to this. Finally, the murder mystery itself was not particularly compelling.

Poor PD James. From the ratings on Amazon.com, it looks like pretty much everybody was disappointed in this book. The mystery lovers felt it was a crappy mystery, and the Austen lovers were bitter about how un-Austen-like the prose and characters were. To be fair, I think expectations were so high it was probably really hard to make readers happy. But I bet she sold a lot of books, so that probably makes her happy!

-Kristin

Read More: Look Me in the Eye

Update:

This was a good read, whether you're interested in Asperger's or not. It's amazing that he and his brother were able to have such good senses of humor after their tough childhoods. I liked all of his practical jokes. And I like that he calls his lies 'tricks'. Growing up with him must be a lot like growing up with dad, in that respect. Never knowing whether what you're being told is a truth or a 'trick'.

It made me a little sad that when he got older and acquired better social skills he lost his savant like ability to design circuits and the like. Better for him I guess, but why can't he have both!?

- Megan Leigh

I have been wanting to read Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison for a long time. Megan and I have been on a quest to learn more about Asperger's, but a lot of the books about this disorder are so boring, and I'm not sure a lot of what they say is particularly helpful or true. So it was interesting to read the biography of a person who actually has Asperger's.

Robison talks about how difficult his early life was because of Asperger's. Honestly, given his home life, his life would have been difficult no matter what--as his younger brother Augusten Borroughs described in his memoir, Running with Scissors. But the Asperger's almost certainly made it a lot harder! He grew up with this disorder during a time when it wasn't widely recognized, and it was decades away from being added to the DSM, the bible for psychiatric disorders. In fact, he didn't realize that this disorder described all of the problems he'd been suffering with--as well as his amazing strengths--until he was 40, and a psychiatrist friend pointed it out!

Luckily, Robison was a very smart kid. He was able to figure out most of the social rules people follow on his own. And although he never made it through high school, he was able to make friends, get married and have a son, and figure out how his talents could be put to great use. He ended up making crazy special effects for KISS, designing electronic games for Milton Bradley (like my beloved Speak & Spell), and running a very successful fancy car-repair business. Also, you can tell that Robison has a pretty good sense of humor throughout. This wasn't one of those earnest, difficult to read memoirs about overcoming adversity.

This book was pretty inspiring! I decided to try and expose my little Aspie to engineering fun. I am signing him up for robot summer camp! This book also inspired me to try and buy a Speak & Spell on ebay. But I lost the auction. Booo. It is interesting to note that after reading this book, I am pretty sure that Robison would have told the authors of many of the Asperger's books we've read to go to hell. Hmmm.

-Kristin

Read More: In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote always makes it on the list for must-read books so I thought "Well, I guess I must read this!" It was, what I consider, my first true crime book. Although I love scary movies, I did not enjoy reading about these murders. It felt ethically wrong reading about the horrors the Clutter family experienced. Although I loved books like Devil in the White City and The Monster of Florence, I don't feel like they fit into this sort of sensationalist genre - maybe because the focus was on the mystery? Maybe it affected me differently because these murders were not bizarro, but something that could easily happen to me?

Stylistically, I didn't see what the big ado was about this book. I thought the writing was fairly bland and straightforward. Maybe it was just because it was one of the first true crime books, and therefore shocking at the time, that it won all its acclaim. Which is not to say it wasn't a good book, just not a great book. I did like how for most of the book Capote led me to believe one was the more evil of the two murderers, but you don't find out until they are caught that it's actually the other way around. I didn't see that coming.

For this and that reason, I've decided that some books are not fit to read on the train. This one falls in that category too. Reading a book about murderers surrounded by people, most likely one of whom is having violent thoughts -- very scary.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: The Great Gatsby

I am sorry I have been away for so long! Work has been crazy, so not much time for blogging. Megan berates me every night!

I did find time to re-read the Great Gatsby. Now I know I read this book in high school. I even remember writing a review of it in my high school newspaper. Why I would have written about that book, I have no idea. I don't even think that the newspaper usually had book reviews, and it's not like this is some big favorite among high school kids. I think most of them are forced to read it, aren't they? But anyway, I do remember I read it, because I wrote this review, which I think focused mostly on the fashion. Turns out I remembered very little about the actual plot or characters, possibly because I was too bedazzled by the clothes for anything else to make an impression. So, to sum up, if I had been a character in the book, I would have been one of the shallow morons attending Gatsby's parties.

Anyway, I reread the book, and it is truly great--and about so much more than parties and clothes, of course! It kind of reminds me of a cross between The Lorax and The Sneetches. I wonder if it was a great source of inspiration for Dr. Seuss. The narrator, like the storyteller in the Lorax, recounts a series of events in which he participated--a confused jumble that ended in tragedy in Paradise. But of course, instead of the poor Barbaloots dying at the hands of the mean old factory makers, it was poor Gatsby dying at the hands of a couple of snobs. Those bad old richies, living like the star-bellied sneetches on East Egg, looking down on the new richies of West Egg.

Even without the Dr Seuss parallels, though, this is a beautiful book. It's such an easy read, but at the same time it's so lyrical it's like reading poetry. It's pretty near perfection, I think. I love you, F. Scott Fitzgerald!

Did you hear that a new Baz Luhrmann version of the Great Gatsby is coming out? Starring Leonardo di Caprio! Think it will be any good?

Also, for some reason I think about that P. Diddy quote a lot. "Have I read the Great Gatsby? I am the Great Gatsby!" It's given me all this sympathy for the guy, even though I know he takes pride in being a Gatsby-esque guy. But be careful, man. Don't let those flakes come to your white party! Don't let them play croquet on your lawn and splash around drunkenly in your fountain! They don't care about you. Stick with your real friends! Also, I wonder if he, like Gatsby, has a tragic, all-consuming love. Does he stare across the water at the blinking light on J Lo's dock every night? What a tragic figure he is!

-Kristin

Read More: IQ84

I am finally done with IQ84, the newest novel by Haruki Murakami. This was a monster of a book. It took FOREVER. I felt like I only had fifty pages left for weeks. Usually if it takes me a long time to finish a book it's because I'm just not that interested in doing so, but that wasn't the case with this one. I think it had something more to do with the magical, 'fantastical' if you will, powers that it possesses.

The story is about two main characters, Aomame and Tengo, who find themselves pulled into an alternate reality - from 1984 to IQ84. Q for 'question mark of the big fat variety'. They must find each other and escape before the baddies find them.

First, I'll say that this will be put towards the top on my Murakami list. Although nothing will probably ever beat The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I enjoyed this story. It didn't go too far with the fantasy element, which has been a major put off with some of his other books.

A big downside to the book was that the dialogue was just awful. All of the characters spoke like robots and kept insisting on how logical they are. I get the point - logical beings brought into an illogical world, blah blah blah. 900+ pages of this style of dialogue was overkill. If it were any other author I probably would be tearing him down, but since it's Murakami I was able to overlook it. I don't remember any of his other books having this problem?

And back to another thing I liked so I can leave this review on a good note. Like in Wind-Up Bird, Murakami left a number of things unanswered. Sometimes it's better not to wrap things up too nicely and Murakami is great at this.

- Megan Leigh

Read More: The Telephone Gambit

The Telephone Gambit by Seth Shulman is another book I heard about through NPR (Woo Woo Science Friday!). Basically it's the story of a researcher who starts out with the aim to write a book about Alexander Graham Bell, because he's pretty awesome, right? What would our world be like had he not invented the telephone?? Let us celebrate him! Err....

During his research Shulman stumbles across a bit of evidence that seems to indicate that Bell may have not been the inventor after all. That he perhaps stole a fellow engineer's idea (Elisha Gray's to name names). Shulman digs deeper and uncovers more and more evidence that has been overlooked and covered up for this reason and that over the years.

Does Shulman prove his theory? I think so. Unfortunately it's definitely not unusual for a scientist to be a sneaky, rotten, lying, idea thief - so I didn't need a whole lot of convincing to begin with. The real mystery for me was how in the world someone's mind could come up with how to invent a telephone in the first place. I don't care if it was Gray or Bell -- It's so amazing that people's minds can work like that! Thank goodness there are people like that out there! What if the world depended on someone like me? I think my best invention idea over the years was to replace missing toes with toothpicks and grapes.

As for the quality of writing in this book, I wasn't too impressed. I found it pretty dry and although the subject is interesting I don't believe there was enough pertinent information to base a whole book on. To fill space Shulman continually wrote about his research process, which I found more than a little annoying, especially as it exposed him as a bungling researcher. 

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Room

When Cat came over for St. Patrick's Day dinner she saw a book on our shelves that I had, up until that point, ignored. "Oh, you've read Room?" She asked, having heard tongues wag about it. My attention was drawn to the bookshelf where an evidently well regarded book by Emma Donoghue had been tucked away for months. "I'll read it for my plane book," I decided.

Room is a story about a mother and son who are confined to a room. I won't tell you why since it took me a little bit to figure it out for sure. That was probably the most fun I had with this book.

The story idea didn't come across as a very novel subject, even though I've never read a similar story before. A pretty amazing feat!

What really drove me crazy was all the baby talk. It is written from the viewpoint of Jack, the five year old boy who grew up in the room. It's noted many times that Jack is very good with words, but his sentence construction and general word usage tells me this is a lie. Having spent a lot of time with a five year old who is good with words, it just really peeved me. Although he would (and still does) get some words wrong, I don't think it was ever as bad as this! Even when he was three he probably had this kid beat. It was painful and aggravating. 

Another thing that kind of annoyed me was for a long time I thought the book took place in England or somewhere that definitely wasn't America. A lot of the phrases used were a bit off. Why???

Overall it was a pretty boring, although quick read. I was ready for it to end a quarter of the way through. 

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Mockingjay

Update:

Well, it's over. It was very stressful going towards the end there, so I'm glad to be done with it. Did some of the outcomes make my heart ache a little? A lot? Yes. But unhappy endings make the most memorable books and it kept me guessing to the last! Now that it's through I can definitely recommend you read the trilogy. But be careful, there is a chance you'll ignore work in favor of reading the books and get caught by Kenneth Parcell!

Now back to the other 8 books I'm working on. More heartache awaits in Project Nim, I'm sure. 

- Megan Leigh

Mockingjay, the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy, turned up at the library more quickly than I could have hoped! I was snooping through Megan's room one weekend and found it lying on the floor, in her library pile. So exciting! Maybe I look like a dork, reading tween lit on the subway, but I don't care. The Hunger Games are good stuff.

This book didn't disappoint. All the loose ends in the trilogy got tied up. Who does the heroine end up with? Her taciturn, hawkish childhood friend? Or her sunny, gentle Hunger Game-partner? How does she avoid getting co-opted by power hungry warlords? And what happens when the revolution ends? What will she do to the enemy she hates when she suddenly finds herself in charge? It's a timely book, in light of all the revolutions playing out in the Middle East! So many times it seems like you just end up replacing one tyrannical government with another. If only Katniss were in charge.

A fun, quick read!

-Kristin

Read More: Catching Fire

Update:

Book two is done! Catching Fire wasn't as good as The Hunger Games. There's a bit of repetitiveness, which isn't terrible exactly, just not as exciting anymore. Although Kristin saw a certain twist in this book coming, I was taken by surprise! I thought this book was going in a different direction. I Kindle bought the third book this morning! Another late night awaits.

- Megan Leigh

I put in my request at the library for Catching Fire, the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, what seems like ages ago. Finally, last Friday Megan brought it home. By that point, I'd forgotten I was even waiting for it, so it was a special treat! Saturday morning, the kids woke me up at 7, as usual. I knew I was in for a Backyardigans marathon. So I yawned and cracked open the book, while Poppy got down to the theme song.

Now I'd heard that this book wasn't as good as the first in the series. Or the third. I think Cate told me that nothing much happens in this one. So my expectations were pretty low. I got engrossed right away, though, and I ended up finishing the entire book in one day! I could see where parts of this book were a letdown for fans. I don't want to spill any secrets, but there was a lot that was predictable. Even so, I thought it was a fun read. And it took me away from the Backyardigans for a while!

As with the Hunger Games, and any dystopian future-type book, it made you look at our society in a more jaded than usual way. An elite urban population, living off the misery of most of the world... Said elites sending children off to kill each other for no reason... It's all sadly familiar. And very timely! Although I guess those themes are always timely.

At this point, you may be wondering who these urban elites I am speaking about are. Are they the same as those subway-riding elites who have been in the news of late? No, but speaking of, it you want to see more of them, here is a great video montage of the subway-riding elites of New York City.

-Kristin

Read More: The Hunger Games

Update:

Now I finally gave in and read The Hunger Games. I don't know why I keep trying to avoid Young Adult Fiction. I'm just hurting myself because it seems to be pretty awesome.

Book One did a really great job of pulling me into the story. I enjoyed that the author didn't give a background or summary of what the hunger games were at the beginning of the book, but let details out bit by bit so I had to keep reading to find out more.

Also really great, or terrible, the author ends it so that you have to read the next book. Things aren't wrapped up nicely. I'm so happy that I didn't read these books as they were coming out and had to wait for the next book to be released. I wouldn't be able to take it! I couldn't even take the wait to get it from the library. Position 704 in the queue! I decided to buy it, but it's only out in hardback and I just couldn't justify it. But I did eventually cave a few hours later and got it for the Kindle. I think it's stupid to pay money for a book I'll only read once, but I had no choice! I need this.

- Megan Leigh

So this is actually a young adult book, but I've been seeing a lot of adults reading it on the subway. Then, when we had the book fair, a lot of parents told me it was a must-read. So I decided to give it a try!

I found this book to be really gripping. It took me about a day to finish it, and it was very hard to put down. It's written in a really simple, no-frills style--which is probably because it was meant for young adults, but, given who the narrator is, it works well. This book is so brutal, though, that it's hard for me to imagine young adults reading it. It was hard for me to deal with! Although I think I get more and more sensitive to violence and stuff as I get older.

I guess it is a timely book too. With more of our citizens locked up than any other high-income nation, one of the highest levels of income inequality of all the OECD nations, really high rates of violence, and our obsession with reality tv... maybe the post-apocalyptic North America envisioned in this book isn't all that far off.

The ending was a little anti-climactic, but I guess it was intentionally written to lead up to the sequel... and it also must be hard to wrap up a really good book. I give it a hearty recommendation! I will be reading the next one in the series.

-Kristin

Read More: Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness

Update: Well, I loved Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, so I wasn't surprised to find out that I liked Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness as well. I didn't find it quite as moving as her first book, but it was still definitely worth reading. This book focused on her mother's fascinating life, and the portrait she painted of her mom was a lot more sympathetic. I got the feeling it may have been an attempt to make things right with her mom after the last book came out!

The tragedy in her parents' lives kind of boggles the mind. More children dead than alive. Civil war after civil war. Being surrounded by death and destruction. As young people, they decided to live in the place that they loved, never really knowing what they were signing up for. Even so, I think Fuller describes the places they lived in a way that lets you understand why they never thought of abandoning their way of life. More than anything, this book made me want to see the light in Kenya!

-Kristin


White African memoirs are not my favorite, as I believe I've written a bit about before. So I tried to read Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness pushing this bias aside with all my might. It couldn't be helped, my oppositional thoughts did their best to continually creep in, but I must pat myself on the back for doing a pretty good job at keeping them at bay. This may be the reason that I enjoyed this book much more than Alexandra Fuller's previous memoir Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.

I liked it because throughout the book the mom antagonizes her daughter about her Awful Books. "Be careful what you say, she'll put this in one of her Awful Books." Apparently the mother was not too happy about her previous memoir. However, she groomed Fuller from the time she was small to write a memoir about her and her fantastic deeds. So she finally does, this book focusing mainly on her mom, Nicola Fuller of Central Africa and her amazing exploits. Also written about is her crippling depression, which I assume would be quite a sensitive topic. I wonder what the mother will think about this one.

Her mom led such a harsh life out in the African wilds. You'd think being from a Western country you'd somehow keep managing to live that lifestyle no matter where you go. But moving to Africa they had the same infant mortality rates as any indigenous African. Only two out of her five children made it to adulthood.

At times I wondered why in the world they chose Africa of all places to live. Probably because you can grow up with a chimp as your best friend there. And that makes all the war and illness and deadly animals worth it. 

- Megan Leigh

Read More: Anthropology of An American Girl

I saw Anthropology of An American Girl lying on one of the tables at BookCulture and thought it looked intriguing. One of the reviews said it was like crack! That sounded good. I added it to my list of books to read. Then I saw it for sale for half-price at Goddard's Book Fair. Surely the gods were smiling on me! Or were they?

This book was hideously bad. I so wanted to like it. I made myself finish the whole damn thing, and because it was so bad it dragged on for weeks. I wanted to give the author the benefit of the doubt. I really did.

The book follows Evie, an American Girl. We meet her in high school and stay with her past college graduation. Evie is pretty much the worst protagonist ever. She is a non-person. Totally passive, obsessed with her own thoughts, no interest in anything going on outside her head. She gets buffeted about by the men in her life like a paperdoll on a rainy day. Evie oozes through the book like a spineless, mute blob, but we are given to understand that everybody finds her irresistible. Reading this book is like getting stuck in the head of the most self-absorbed, vacant person you know.

Then there is the title. Unbeknownst to the author, anthropology refers to the study of humans. Plural. Groups of people. So the title "Anthropology of The American Girl" would make sense. "Anthropology of An American Girl" doesn't make sense.

Still, I thought maybe the author had a plan. After all, teenagers are self-absorbed. Maybe the writing was so overwrought because it was supposed to be like a real teenager's thoughts. Maybe she called it Anthropology of An American Girl, because a self-indulgent teenage girl would make the mistake of perceiving her own solitary thoughts as something of grand importance, something representative of an entire group. Maybe all this nonsense was culminating in some big ending that would make sense of everything. So I kept reading.

And then I finished, finally, and knew for sure that it was all not worth it. This book seems like a pretty transparent re-imagining of the author's own girlhood. It's almost embarrassing to read it. It doesn't seem like the passage of years has provided any perspective or wisdom in this case. It's really rare that I dislike books. I'm pretty easy to please. But this book was painful to read. Two thumbs down!

-Kristin

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

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

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