Into Thin Air

Title: Into Thin Air

Author: John Krakauer
Published: 1999
Read: July 2010
Number of pages: 333
Non-Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Amazon.com

How I discovered it: already was aware of the story and wanted to read the book
My grade: A

I have always been fascinated about events from the '90s. I think it's because it was the first decade I actually remember certain things that happened. True I was around in the '80s and while I'm familiar with events like the Berlin Wall being torn down, the Challenger explosion, and uh, whatever else happened in the '80s, I don't remember when they actually happened because I was much too young.

"Into Thin Air" is about the incredible and tragic true story of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest on May 10, 1996 when a handful of people were killed due to the harsh conditions. While I don't have a vivid "where I was when this happened" memory, I  vaguely remember hearing about this when it was on the news, (or more likely, it was probably Dateline NBC or one of those news shows who did a piece on it), but it wasn't until a couple years ago when I was reminded of the story when I found the made for TV movie  and found out about this book and thought it would make for a good read, but I couldn't seem to find it at any bookstore or at the two libraries that are near me, so I finally decided to order it from Amazon. It was definitely worth the wait. The book is pretty amazing, although it makes me never want to summit Mount Everest (not that I ever wanted to in the first place!)

Krakauer, a journalist who's also a climber, was sent to Nepal by Outside magazine to write an article about the commercialization of the highest peak in the world. Initially, he was just going to stay at the base camp, but wanting to summit the mountain, he asked them if they could wait a year so he could train and if they could finance the $65,000 it costs for an expedition to Everest. $65,000! I guess even death has a price tag! And this was fifteen years ago! I wonder how much it costs nowadays? 

The climbers who died that day ranged in age from 31 - 57 and included both guides and clients. They had to deal with altitude sickness - Everest is a little over 29,000 feet, apparently that's about the same cruising altitude of an airliner, so just think about that for a second! - even though they had oxygen, they had to make sure to preserve it and the high altitude made them delirious. There were also temperatures that got as low as 100 below and if any body part became exposed it would immediately become frostbitten. The climbers who first reached the summit started at around three in the morning and didn't get to the peak until a little after one in the afternoon - and that's just the halfway point because they had to then descend the mountain. That's when most of the people died. There was a huge storm and many of them were tired, freezing, and lacking oxygen.

It makes you wonder what would ever allure people to do something like that. It just seems like such a waste of life and it made me angry at some of the people in the book for the stupid decisions they made. For instance, one of the guides, saw that one of the clients was very tired and instead of insisting that they turn back, he urged him on to the top. Now this client has been on Everest before with the same guide, but he hadn't reached the top due to fatigue. I suppose the guide wanted to make sure he got to the top this time, which he did, but in the end it cost both of them their lives.

Very fascinating read. HIghly recommended. Climbing Everest? Not so much! 

Shanghai Girls

Title: Shanghai Girls

Author: Lisa See
Published: 2000
Read: February 2011
Number of pages: 309
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from my parents
How I discovered it: I had read one of the author's other books
My grade: B-

I had read Lisa See's "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" in the summer of 2007 and enjoyed it enough to read "Shanghai Girls". While "Snow Flower" takes place entirely in China, this one starts in China, but then takes place in Los Angeles. The narrator is twenty-one year old Pearl Chin and she and her eighteen year old sister, May, are enjoying their privileged lives in Shanghai. They're young, beautiful, and rich and nothing can touch them...until they discover that their father has lost all their earnings and has arranged marriages for them with two brothers who are Chinese-American.

They don't want to move to America, but after Shanghai is attacked by Japan and their father has ran out on the family and their mother has died they don't know what other choice they have. Pearl finds out that May is pregnant but due to specific circumstances she gives the baby to Pearl to raise as her own. 

While the girls miss their home country, they grow to love and accept American traditions even though they know they're not wanted by everyone. And while they're wary of their new husbands and parents-in-law, they also come to accept them as well. I liked that See didn't make them two-dimensional abusive husbands which she could have easily done.

I felt like I was reading part one in a two book series because the ending definitely had a "to be continued vibe to it". I'm not sure if there is a sequel, but it would be nice because it didn't feel like the story has been finished. It's just sort of left hanging there by a thread. 

Twilight

Title: Twilight

Author: Stephenie Meyer
Published: 2005
Read: February 2009
Number of pages: 498
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: are you kidding me?! 
My grade: D-

Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot stand the crappy "Twilight" books, because, let's face it, they are indeed crap. I mean, if this can get published, then anything can. I only bought the first book out of peer pressure. After all, everyone was reading and raving about them. (It was only after I had read the first book that I found all the people who hated them as much as I did). Now I admit I have read three out of the four books in the series (I'll post reviews of those later), but I only read them because it was much too fun snarking about them in my LiveJournal and everyone thought my "reviews" were really funny.

The main character is a teenage girl named Bella wh0  has been sent to live with her dad (who she calls by his first name which is just really weird) in a small town in Washington. Bella is clumsy! She trips a lot! She nearly gets hit by a car! She can't do anything on her own; she's a moron of epic proportions. For some reason, half of the male population at her school keep asking her out. This doesn't make any sense as she never got that much attention at her old school and suddenly all these guys want her? Please. Mary Sue alert! Besides tripping, Bella also cooks a lot and swoons over after some guy. She's even willing to risk her life for him and turn into a vampire. Great role model for young girls there, Meyer.

Edward is a vampire. He doesn't kill people. He doesn't have fangs. He can go out in the sunlight (and he SPARKLES!) He can see his reflection (according to the movie). He doesn't sleep in coffins or turn into a bat and doesn't have an aversion to crosses. What a lame excuse for a vampire. Edward is really, really, really, really, really, really good-looking. He has topaz eyes and bronze-colored hair, a perfect face and a Greek God body. On every page, we are once again reminded about Edward's perfection and beauty. A good author would tell us this once and trust the readers to remember this detail about her character. I don't understand the appeal of Edward. The more perfect he becomes, the less appealing he is to me. He also treats Bella like a child. She even compares herself to one when he picks her up "like a little kid" or he's dancing with her like she's a five year old. It's sick and creepy and disgusting. Not only is he always picking her up (the girl is 17, for God's sake), but he's also always chiding her and condescending to her.

Why do Bella and Edward fall in love? Good question. I'm still scracting my head over this. Bella thinks Edward is HOT!!!111!! Edward thinks Bella smells good. It MUST be tru luv. A good writer would let two characters get to know each other and not just have them become a couple within the first 100 pages

Meyer is a horrible writer. How many times does she need to desribe Edward as "beautiful" and tell us how he smiled "his crooked smile"? Her characters are dull and uninspiring. She doesn't introduce the antagonist until page 400 and he somehow just pops out of nowhere like she just remembered she needed a climax for her book. The dialogue is absoluetly atrochious.

I hate this book with a passion; I really do.

Things I don't understand:

Why is Bella such a moron?

Why does she call her parents by their first names? It's just weird how she calls her dad "Charlie" to her mom and Edward and everyone else. I don't go around asking my mom, "Oh, when is Patrick coming home from work?"

Why are Edward, Mike, Tyler, that other dude, and Jacob all infactuared with Bella? Jacob I can understand because he's younger than her and she did flirt with him to get out information, but she desribes herself as cute, but not stunningly gorgeous and even says "physically, I'd never fit in anywhere." Did Meyer leave out the chapter where Bella gets breat implants? Why are these boys suddenly falling over themselves for her when she never got that much attention at her old school? I never got that and it made Bella quite Mary Sue-ish.

Is it suppose to be romantic that Edward watched Bella while she was sleeping? Because -eeee! CREEEEEPY! NOT romantic at ALL!

If Meyer were smart, she would have waited to get Bella and Edward together until the second or third book, and give them time to get to know each other in the first book. Their relationship just happens too quickly to be belivable. I know Bella is dazzled by his sparkling skin and "perfect face" and "Greek God body", but other than that, she hardly knows the boy. And why does Edward fall for her? Because she smells good? Because he knows she's wrong for him? I just don't get it. And he treats her like a child, always carrying her and chiding her. Edward is an asshole. I would dump his ass in a New York minute, I don't care how hot he is. Bella is too stupid (and IN LUV!!1!) to do that. Now I know the relationship between E/B is the main focus of the books, but I'd like to point out another fantasy series geared toward young adults that does the romantic relationship between the characters much better. If you've ever read Libba Bray's A Sweet and Terrible Beauty trilogy, you'll know that the romance between Gemma and Kartik isn't the main plot, but at least she lets the characters get to know each other and there's an attraction between them and we know they'll evenutally get together (even with another suitor in the mix), but they don't become a couple until the last book. And their interractions are more believable...and sweeter...than Edward's and Bella's. 

This book sucks...haha.

Lost on Planet China

Title: Lost on Planet China

Author: J. Maarten Troost
Published: 2008
Read: January 2011
Number of pages: 382
Non-fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: read and liked one of Troost's other books, The Sex Lives of Cannibals 
My grade: B

This was a very insightful and interesting read about the author's travels to China when he took a few months off and toured the vast country. He went all over: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet, and Manchura. It was the next best thing to actually visiting China myself, actually, it was probably better because this book really didn't make me want to visit China that much...not that I ever did in the first place, but even if I did, this might make me change my mind.

I'll start with the positives first. Troost really liked Tibet and said it didn't feel like the other parts of China he had visited because the people were much more friendlier and the air was a lot cleaner. He and a friend hiked to Tiger Leaping Gorge (so named because apparently a tiger leapt across it) which is supposed to be beautiful, but exhausting to hike. There's also the fact that since they're right by the Himalayans, the air is very thin and it's very easy to get altitude sickness. (Hmm, I'm not making a very convincing case for Tibet, am I?) 

The part of his journey I found the most fascinating was at the very end when he went to Manchura which is in the northeast part of the country, bordered by Russia on the north and east and by Mongolia on the west. Obviously, it's very cold up there. He visited a sanctuary for Siberian tigers, which, according to the author, make lions look like house cats, they're that big. He saw six tigers and the biggest one was ten feet long. They viewed the tigers in their natural habitat in a small bus that had no special protection and he started to get nervous when the tigers got on their hind legs and pawed at the windows. However, when a caged SUV appeared, the tigers ignored the tourists because they know it's lunchtime as live chickens were released for their dining pleasure. The tigers also snack on cows, pigs, and ox. When they left the park, one tiger followed them out and they had to chase it big into the enclosure with the truck. I do think that would be a neat place to visit, though I sure wouldn't want my car to break down...

Troost reiterates the point that China (specifically the big cities like Beijing and Shanghai) is crowded and polluted. It is a country of one and a half billion people, so it's probably not a big surprise it's very polluted. He's someone who's traveled to quite a few places all over the world and said that the pollution was probably the worst he's ever seen it and one city he visited in particular was called "the most polluted city in the world!" (Not the kind of superlative you'd want for your city!) 

Because of the population, China has a one-child policy and because boys are more revered because they can continue the family names, girls are often aborted or put up for adoption for people from North America or Europe looking to adopt. Troost points out the obvious: that boys greatly outnumber girls and they can't continue the family name if they don't have a family to do it with. 

Not surprisingly, if you're a tourist from the West, you will most likely get rip offed. Troost wrote he finally learned how to bargain for things and felt like a smuck in particular when he paid 160 kuai for something that he found out later was actually worth 10 yuan.  10 yaun equals a dollar and a half, but I have no idea what equals a kuai. (Or how to pronounce it).

Troost and a friend met up with a man who offered to show them around the city they were in at the time and he told them that the Chinese will eat anything with four legs except for a table and anything with two legs except humans. Of course this means they eat dogs and cats which is one of the major reasons I would never be able to visit China. If I tell myself that they're just mangy alley or tom cats, then I can handle that instead of cute little kitties who like to curl up and purr in your lap. However, I think it's a little extreme that they skin the cats while they're still alive. (Well, at least in a market the author saw them doing that in). Geeze, I've seen people on competitive cooking shows get chewed out for not properly killing a crustacean in the most humane way possible. I'm guessing there's no Humane Societies in China.

The author touched on politics, the language, the food, the fact that the government keeps a tight reign on their people and you will never read a bad thing about China in the papers, but he didn't talk about the time zones (or zone, I should say). Did you know there is only one time zone in China? And this is a country that's about the same size as the United States. That would be like if the U.S. had one time zone, which is just...weird.  

If you're thinking about or planning a trip to China, I highly recommend this book. (It may change your mind about going, or it may give you some ideas about where you'd like to visit!)

 

The Alchemist

Title: The Alchemist

Author: Paulo Coelho
Published: 1988 (English version published in 1993)
Read: July 2010
Number of pages: 167
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: Barnes and Noble
How I discovered it: always knew about it and decided I should read it one of these days
My grade: C

I was intrigued to read this book because it was an "international bestselling phenomenon" as proclaimed on the front cover and on the back there were quotes from critics calling it "life-changing."  I must not have read the same book as those who called it that because I don't think it lived up to its hype or maybe it was so over-hyped that I didn't see what the big deal was. It wasn't a bad read, but maybe I'm not "spiritual" enough to get it. After I finished it, I was like, "that's it?" It's a short and sweet story for what it is, but I wouldn't call it "life-changing" or a "phenomenon". Also, why give the main character a name (Santiago) to only refer to him as "the boy" throughout the majority of the story 

Forever

Title: Forever

Author: Pete Hamill
Published: 2002
Read: End of August/early September 2005
Number of pages: 640
Fiction
Where I obtained the book: borrowed from my parents
How I discovered it: someone gave it a glowing review on a forum about books 
My grade: B

Forever is a very fascinating book about a young Irish man named Cormac O'Connor who is granted the blessing (or perhaps curse?) of being immortal as long as he never leaves the island of Manhattan. When we first meet Cormac, it's 1740 when he arrives in New York as a sixteen year old and the book takes us all the way to 2001 where he witnesses the terrorist attacks. Now that's a lot of history about New York and the book can tend to get a little dry at parts, but I would definitely recommend this, especially to anyone who loves history 

Corman is sixteen when we first meet him and while he does age with time, I can't remember if he ages more slowly than everyone else or just stops aging when he reaches a certain point. It's not like 2001 comes along and he looks like a 261 year old mummy. Nobody is none the wiser that he was born in the eighteenth century. 

Quite the interesting book; check it out sometime.