Looking for Alaska, by John Green

Summary: Miles Halter decides to go to Culver Creek boarding school in search of adventure, and after meeting Alaska Young, he finds it. This is the story of those adventures.

Comments: First, I want to call out that the book is divided into two sections, entitled "before" and "after", and that each section within those is introduced by the number of days before or after this pivotal event that I'm not going to reveal because that would spoil the suspense. That helped draw me in because I wanted to know what we were counting down towards. But also, I was drawn in by how interesting the characters were. Which I guess is kind of what drew Miles to Alaska also.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. And it was a pretty quick read too. Now I need to find something else to occupy me for the last three hours of this flight...

The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling

Summary: Following the death of one of the members of the Pagford Parish Council, things start coming to light that people would prefer stayed hidden.

Comments: Let's get the obvious one out of the way first - while the main reason I read this book is because of the author, it bears very little resemblance to the works that made her famous, both because this one is set firmly in the world as we know it and because of all the references to breasts, shagging, and related concepts. This one is definitely aimed at a more mature audience.

Probably my favorite part of the book is that each section is from the point of view of a different character - the reader is allowed into the heads and the secret thoughts of what seems like half the population of Pagford. Then again, I'm not sure one could make this storyline as engaging without it.

And this is where I admit that I read 500 pages about these characters without being able to concretely articulate why. I guess I cared about them and wanted to see what kind of resolution to the quagmires of their lives might arise?

Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, by Robert L. Glass

Summary: A collection of facts related to software engineering, from management to maintenance to a variety of other topics, that are either often overlooked it controversial.

Thoughts: While I found this book interesting, I'm not sure if I actually got anything out of it. Many of the facts relate to areas of software I'm not really involved in (management, for instance), and many of the references that I might trawl to find more items for my to read list are instead journal articles.

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood by James Gleick

Summary: The subtitle might say it all - in this book, Gleick summarizes the history of communication and knowledge and how people think about both.

Comments: A fascinating read. Gleick takes us through history, from talking drums to dictionaries to information theory to the internet. Masterfully arranged, and incredibly informative.

The Totally Useless History of Science, by Ian Crofton

Summary: This book is a chronologically-organized series of blurbs about ridiculous scientific ideas, ideas that were ahead of their time, the research that might or might not have been in the running for an Ignoble Award, and other randomness from science through the ages.

Comments: I didn't have to get too far into this book before concluding that someone knows me too well (this was a Christmas present a few years back). I rather enjoyed all the useless facts this book has to share, and the chronological order seems like a rather good way to organize all of them.

The Master Algorithm, by Pedro Domingos

Summary: An overview of the different tribes within machine learning, with a focus on trying to unify them.

Comments: First, I have to say that I was looking for Machine Learning, A How-To For Dummies, and instead got Machine Learning, A Brief History. Which is really my fault for not paying more attention to what I was actually getting. But anyway. This book somehow manages to both be fairly technical and not require much, if any, background knowledge. So if that's something that interests you, I'd definitely recommend this book. On the other hand, I could definitely see most people who are interested in the gritty details also wanting some how-to info, which you're not going to find.

Redwall, by Brian Jacques

Summary: When the Abbey of Redwall and its peace-loving inhabitants come under attack by the army of Cluny the Scourge, they find themselves fighting for their lives.

Comments: I probably should have included in the summary that the Abbey is inhabited by an order of mice, as well as assorted other woodland creatures while Cluny's army is comprised of rats, stoats, ferrets, and weasels. Jacques does a good job of balancing the anthropomorphicness of the animals tending crops and wielding swords with allowing the animals to act in keeping with their species. For example, when they need someone to scale the side of the Abbey, they naturally turn to Jess Squirrel, who is an excellent climber.

As far as the battle side of things, the various twists and turns and narrow escapes make for a book that's hard to put down. And being able to get inside the heads of a variety of characters on both sides, and on no side, both helps one to get a full picture of what's going on as well as to increase the suspense.

I would highly recommend this book.

How to Make People Think You're Normal, by Ben Goode

I originally went into this book thinking it was a self-help book, but very quickly realized I was mistaken. After reading half of it and then starting over and reading the entire thing several months later, I can honestly say that knowing that is a humor book doesn't make it any better.

In the book's defense, it presents a kind of lowest-common-denominator, often mean-spirited humor that I rarely find funny in any context, so the fact that I don't have anything more positive to say about this book than that it's short would not have been a surprise if I had known anything about the book other than the title before I began reading.

In short, I can't recommend this book to anyone, but if you happen to have a sense of humor that I'm struggling to find non-pejoritive adjectives to describe, I might encourage you to ignore what I've said.

Sometimes when you feel a need to read ALL the books people give you, you end up with flops like this. I have to wonder if the book was purchased mostly for the penguin on the cover.

You are Not so Smart, by David McRaney

Summary: a description of some of the many ways our brains delude us or work against us.

Comments: This is a really fascinating, accessible read. Many of these are things I'd already learned, but it's still worthwhile it have everything laid out like this. And while the book is written at a level anyone can understand, there's a bibliography at the end if you want to delve deeper. Definitely worth reading and a good read.

The Dragons of Dorcastle and The Hidden Masters of Marandur, by Jack Campbell

Summary: Master Mechanic Mari of Caer Lyn and Mage Alain of Ihris are the youngest people to reach that rank in a long time, if not ever. As a Mechanic, she is one of the few who knows how to build and fix things. As a Mage, he knows how to cause things to happen by changing the world illusion. The two are brought together by chance after their caravan is destroyed. Otherwise, there's almost no chance they would have met as their Guilds are deeply suspicious of each other. There's danger lurking at every turn as they try to save the world.

Comments: These are the first two books in a six book set. I'm thinking I won't post about the subsequent books as they're really one long story, and describing later books in too much detail might spoil earlier ones. These books are awesome. A riveting story line, a strong female lead (and also a strong male lead), plenty of sarcasm... what's not to like? Oh, and good morals too.

Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson

Summary: a series of essays about Jenny's adventures, strange thoughts, and struggles with depression and other mental illnesses.

Thoughts: a lot of the book is incredibly amusing. It's hard not to laugh about attempts to get a taxidermied raccoon to ride cats, for example. But the subtheme about the value of being open and honest about mental illness because it affects a lot more people than you realize is also very important. The two parts tie together well to make a book everyone should read and most people would enjoy.

The Quotable Cyclist, by Bill Strickland

Summary: As the title might imply, this is a collection of quotes from a wide assortment of people about various topics related to biking.

Comments: This was a really interesting book. The parts related to racing aren't necessarily things I can relate to, but it was kind of a glimpse into a part of the world I know little about. And there was plenty besides that. Quite possibly the most interesting part is that the quotes don't just come from people in the cycling world but also people such as Albert Einstein and Shaquille O'Neal. This book has the advantage of being something you can put down, pick back up, and skip ahead without losing track of what's going on since each chapter is fairly self-contained and only sort of has a thread going (though there does seem to be a decent amount of organization to the quotes).

How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere, by Larry King

This is another of those books about how to talk to people in a variety of situations, this one written by a talk show host and, to use his words, professional talker. Much of what he says is sort of common sense, but common sense is easy to lose sight of in stressful situations. Some of the big tips are be prepared and be yourself. I'm not sure how much I actually learned, but the reminders of things I ought to already know were helpful, and the anecdotes made the book interesting and kept me hooked.

The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce

Summary: In a nutshell, this book is a collection of snarky definitions interspersed with some poetry relevant to those words.

Comments: A number of the definitions are incredibly amusing, some aren't, and some probably made more sense a hundred years ago before some of the context was lost to the mists of time. I marked some of my favorites so that in the future I can skim the book looking for the amusing parts as opposed to read it cover to cover as I did over the last couple months. I'm not sure what the hit to miss ratio is for how many of the definitions I actually found amusing, but I think it was worth getting for the good ones.

Night Signals, by Cynthia Wall

Summary: After Marc falls and breaks his leg while hiking in the mountains, his chances of survival are grim unless Kim and the search and rescue operation manage to find him.

Comments: This is very much an emotional rollercoaster of a story, particularly the heartache of the people trying to find Marc. A few more things that it shares with Hostage in the Woods, besides the multiple viewpoints, are the author's love of adjectives, and the fact that rescue comes at basically the last possible second - any later, and it would have been more of a cleanup mission. I rather enjoyed reading this book again, but damn does it mess with my head.

The technology changes over the last 20-some years are less noticeable than in Hostage in the Woods, since cell phones and so forth probably wouldn't have helped much - I would guess that the area where Marc was doesn't have very good cell coverage even now, so it wouldn't have helped him any. And I can't really picture him saying much about the hike on twitter or facebook, so it's hard to say if the search and rescue operation would have had any additional clues as to where to start looking.

The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley

Summary: Alec is captivated by the untamed black stallion as soon as he sets eyes on him, on the ship home from India. After a shipwreck leaves them stranded for several weeks, the stallion comes home with him, where Alec longs to race him against other horses.

Comments: This is another book that I decided to reread for some reason. Or maybe I was more interested in one of the other books in the saga. Regardless, it's been long enough that I had forgotten most of the details of the book, so it was almost like reading it for the first time.

I don't think this will ever be counted as among the great works of literature - it lacks the complexity and layers that you seem to find there - but as an enthralling story, it certainly qualifies as worthy of the time it takes to read it. And now I want to find the next book so I can find out what happens after.

Reading the forward of this book, I learned that the author started working on this book during high school and that it was his first published work. That may be somewhat evident from the book itself. One thing that really caught my attention about his writing style is his love of adjectives and exclamation marks. That might be to follow throughout the books - how Farley's skill as a writer develops over the years.

Hostage in the Woods, by Cynthia Wall

Summary: When Kim is kidnapped by bank robbers and forced to help an injured member of their group, she must rely on her wits, and her ham radio, to rescue her from her predicament.

Comments: This is another young adult book that I reread, but that doesn't disqualify it from being enjoyable once again. Though admittedly, I may have kinda skimmed over the mushy romantic parts.

One thing that I like about the book is that it's from the perspective of a variety of different people - the protagonists, bank robbers, various law enforcement officers, and some random people who only show up briefly. And the various random people seem to have a whole history and be very well fleshed out. The bank robbers also have distinct personalities that a reader can come to recognize.

One thing that struck me this time around is how much technology has changed since the book came out (1990). That was before the internet, cell phones, and email became a thing (I'm not sure if they existed back then, but they sure as heck weren't widely available). And some of their ham radio tools fill basically the same needs. For example, when Marc and Kim almost get run off the road by the bank robbers, they're able to call the police and report it because someone they know who happened to be on his radio at the time has a radio that's connected to the phone system, so they with their radio were able to communicate with the police's phone. I have to wonder how this story would be different if it were set today. For starters, Kim likely would have had a much harder time keeping hold of a way to communicate with the outside world as the bank robbers would have assumed that she had a cell phone and would have taken it away from her almost immediately.

One other thing that I have to mention is that, for better or for worse, this is kind of an emotional roller coaster of a book. Then again, you probably could have inferred that from the fact that the protagonist gets kidnapped and that we get to see the perspectives of other people. For example, her boyfriend.

The Fine Art of Small Talk, by Debra Fine

Summary: This book describes various techniques for how to improve your conversation skills, better connect with people, etc.

Comments: I think the other book I read with that description was better. The tone of this one rubbed me the wrong way. The focus of the seems to be "Since I figured out how to quit being horrible at the social thing, it's really easy and you can do it too". While believing in yourself is good, some more (or maybe more organized) tips on what to do would be more helpful. Maybe what not to do also, but what to do instead is more valuable.

Also, am I the only one who hates gratuitous use of your conversation partner's name? Or avoids friendly sounding/seeming stores (or at least judges them differently than she does)? Your examples of how to act aren't helpful when I disagree with how they make people feel!

How to Start a Conversation and Make Friends (Revised and Updated), by Don Gabor

Summary: I think the title is a pretty good summary of the book - it's focused on how to have effective conversations and how to make friends.

Thoughts: While I'm inclined to be skeptical about whether self-help books actually have anything helpful to say, I feel like this one actually does. Most of its suggestions are probably obvious in hindsight, but it's helpful to have them in written in one convenient place where it's harder to ignore that that's probably what I should be doing. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who thinks their ability to interact with people could use a pick-me-up. It's probably helpful for other kinds of people also, but I don't have experience to speak from there. Now the next question is whether I'll actually apply what I learned...

A Caribbean Mystery, by Agatha Christie

Summary: After Major Palgrave's unexpected death, Miss Marple can't help but wonder if it was something more sinister than merely a combination of high blood pressure and alcohol as people originally thought.

Thoughts: A riveting tale of mystery and intrigue in a sunny Caribbean island, through the eyes of a nice old lady. It's interesting how the speculation gets horribly messy for a while and then comes together nicely in the end. I don't want to say too much for fear of spoiling the surprise, but suffice it to say, I enjoyed reading this book.