"Tipping Point" Doesn't Tip My Way

Reading Malcolm Gladwell's "Tipping Point" is like reading a philosophy and statistics text book in one. He points out the obvious as formulated theoretics....in other words, he has way too much time on his hands to be sitting around pondering how Hushpuppies became popular in the mid 90's.

I can't completely dis this read. After I pass the mind-numbing statistical study of each subject, I find it quite interesting to read his point of view and how he came up with it.

If you're bored of mysteries or love stories and would like to know why Paul Revere's ride was such a success or how Sesame Street became the most successful children's television program (before Blues Clues of course), then you may want to pick it up and give the first couple of chapters a whirl.

Be aware it has taken me a good few months to get through it....and I'm not quite finished!

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit

-by Lucette Lagnado

Yes, it's another book with Arabic undertones! In this memoir, the author (also a reporter for Wall Street Journal) recounts her and her family's transition as an upper middle class Jewish family in Cairo during WWII to being refugees struggling to re-establish themselves in New York in the 1960-70's. It was fascinating to read about Cairo in those times, to see that it was an incredibly cosmopolitan and almost glamorous city marked by apparent European and British influences. Perhaps more intriguing was to learn how harmoniously muslims, Jews and Christians seemed to have lived in Cairo before the Nasser regime forced most of the Jewish population to leave unwillingly.

The story is driven by the patriarch, the author's father. Through him you can feel the family's downfall after fleeing Cairo in the 60's. In his beloved Cairo he was that guy that women wanted and men wanted to be. He was intelligent, speaking Arabic, Hebrew, French and English, and just as street smart. His nights were spent hopping from bar to cafe to night club to lounge, all the while consorting with British officers and whatever beautiful woman walked in his path. Yet he was as deeply religious as he was social. His faith was the only constant in his life, and was the only thing he truly knew and owned in the years after leaving Cairo.

What is most striking is the family's struggle as refugees. It was heartbreaking to see their lives unravel, and eye-opening to see a different perspective of a refugee situation. It's quite different than an immigrant coming to this country to start a new life; these people left their home out of fear and hopelessness with no desire to start their lives all over again. You can argue that they didn't make much effort to assimilate. But how can you ask a person to give up his identity and culture when he has just been chased out of his own country?

The writing is quite elementary which was annoying, to be honest. Regardless, I did enjoy it and it's inspired me to want to help Iraqi refugees both here and abroad. If you'd like to borrow it, let me know! -->just kidding. It's packed away somewhere deep in my storage unit. Sorry!

NYT Says: Away - Amy Bloom

While browsing the Barnes & Noble site for book pics to add to posts, I came across the review for the #1 book on the NYT Best Sellers list - looks like it's worth a read; has anyone picked it up yet?

Janet Maslin - The New York Times
Away is a modest name for a book as gloriously transporting as Amy Bloom's new novel. Alive with incident and unforgettable characters, it sparkles and illuminates as brilliantly as it entertains. The accomplishment is even more remarkable given the seeming drabness of the story Ms. Bloom tells. She offers a ridiculously beautiful account of a 1926 transcontinental schlep by an immigrant Jewish seamstress from New York toward Siberia in search of her young daughter…To the extent that a work of fiction can be all things to all people, this one is remarkably versatile. Away is a literary triumph, a book-club must and a popular novel destined for wide readership. It is accessible to the point of pure enthrallment without compromising its eloquence or thematic strength. Yet it is also a classic page-turner, one that delivers a relentlessly good read.

Eat, Pray, Love...or not so much?

I eagerly picked up Eat, Pray, Love after it was recommended to me and I also saw it every where I went, girls all over the city were reading it! I needed to get my hands on it. I bought it at the airport and immediately dove in. Before I could even get to cruising altitude she was knee deep in self pity. Man, that girl needed to get out. We've all read the books, overcoming a personal struggle and read how a woman gets her life back (essentially). She had me at Italy. 4 months of eating amazing food and describing every morsel and architectural wonder - but staying celebit? That should have been my first clue. I might as well have grabbed my own yoga mat to take a nap through her stint in India. I am ALL about finding faith, but don't jam it down my throat already. Its incredibly impressive the time she spent there and the things that she hated and dreaded about her stay there she had the strength to see them through, it was about the experience and making the most of it after all.

For the first time since college I actually skipped pages. Seriously, I looked over my shoulder on the train to see if anyone was watching me. SKIP...that felt good...skimming...skimming, GOD GOD GOD, skim...skip. Luckily the chapters were short. It's not that I didn't "like" it, it was just that the spiritual part was really...well, spiritual. But all about HER relationship with God. Fine, but I'd personally rather read about 'relationships' not a specific persons' relationship with God. Needless to say I was glad when she jammed outta the ashram and popped over for Indonesia for a break.

This chapter too was slow at first, minor skipping and to save you all from what happened she finally hooked me again. I needed that. I have a hard time recommending this book without a disclaimer; "it was good, but..." The writing was well done but what was even more impressive is that her friends that stood by and supported her through the sanskrit and all.