FLH Annual Booksale

The spring semester is almost over, and I can’t wait the summer vacation.  I am going to Japan to see my family and very excited about it.  Although I am in the middle of study for my final exams and paper, I can’t resist checking what’s going on in Japan, planing where to go and what to do, sending emails to my friends I haven’t seen long time, and of course thinking about what books to buy.  I am planning to go to some big bookstores, like a whole building with many stories is a bookstore.  I can spend a whole day in this kind of bookstore.  I will spend many days in bookstores.  Oh, I am daydreaming.

On the other hand, I am kind of sad that I will miss out the FLH Annual Booksale at Mckinley high school this year, which takes place from June 21 to 29, because I will be still in Japan.   I love this book sale and go every year.  There will be lots of books from many kinds of genres in a high school cafeteria.  The first 2 days are weekend, so there will be lots of people, but also lots of good books, which mean popular books, books lately published, rare books, etc.  The last 2 days are also weekend, and they will give you a big discount, but there will not be much good selection anymore.  I usually go on Monday morning because there are still many books left but not many people.  I can look around, pick up some, and read a couple of pages.  It is hard to do in a crowded space. 

This year, I am going to ask my husband to look for some books for me, so I was making a list today.  I checked my bookshelf to see what I already have so that I can avoid any duplication.  I also checked literature-map to try some authors who I might like but have never tried.  I spent the whole day checking books today and was happy.  Now, I got to go back to the reality and study for the tomorrow’s exam…

Quiet

A package of books has just arrived yesterday.  I ordered books from Amazon.com because I have wanted them but not been able to find them at Goodwill or Book Off.  Books are cheaper when buying on line than buying at a books store.  I just wish I had upgraded my MacBook and got iBooks app. before I ordered these books so that I could have bought eBooks version of them instead, which are much cheaper.  For example, one of the books I bought this time is Quiet by Susan Cain.  Its regular price is $16.00, Amazon price is $9.07, and Kindle price is $2.99.  It sounds ridiculous to buy a brand new boos at a bookstore anymore.  No wonder bookstores have been closing one after another lately.

Anyway, I decided that I don't care how I got the book or how much it was because I have it now with me and am excited.  I have wanted to read Quiet for a long time since I watched Susan Cain’s TED Talks.  I am a typical introvert like she is, and I always thought being introvert is such a disadvantage in the society.  At school and work, extraverts always speak up instantly without hesitation and let everybody know what their opinions are.  On the other hand, I as an introvert usually have to think about the subject before speaking up, and once extraverts around me start speaking up, I want to listen to them and think about their opinions.  Eventually, I kind of tend to lose a chance to speak up.  Susan Cain’s speech cheers up introverts like me.

Here is the video of her TED Talks.  This book will be my first book to read during this summer vacation.  I can’t wait!!

iBooks

Many people nowadays use a kindle or iPad to read a book, but I have always preferred paper books.  I know eBooks are cheaper than brand new paper books, but I usually use a library or buy books at Goodwill.  Plus I've preferred flipping pages rather than scrolling the screen... well, until today.

Today, I needed to upgrade my MacBook to install IBM SPSS software for my statistics class.  My MacBook was OS 10.6 but it needed to be at least 10.7 to install the software.  Luckily, I could upgrade my MacBook to 10.9, Mac OS Marvericks, for free, which I was glad about because I did not want to spend any more money after spending almost $100 for the software.  Additionally, I got several new cool features that made me happier, and the upgrade also gave me a new application, iBooks that made me a little puzzled, but did not make me unhappy. 

Surprisingly, it rather made me curious, and once I opened it, I became into it.  I have no idea why I disliked eBooks without knowing what it is like very well.  I surfed the apple store because I really wanted to buy a book to try.  There are so many books I want to buy, but my budget is so tight this month.  I finally chose one of my favorite classic novels, The Old Man and the Sea for $0.99.  I love it because it is like a long poem.  The story is very simple, but the expression is so beautiful and eloquent.  When I read The Old Man and the Sea in Japanese long time ago, it sounded really boring because of, I guess, the poor translation.  I was so glad when I tried the same story in original language, English, because I found it is wonderful.

After I downloaded this wonderful book as my first book on my iBooks, I opened the book.  I can highlight sentences I like, bookmark pages I like, and change the font and background color.  I of course can carry it in my iPod touch.  It is so dangerous considering about my tight budget but I am already looking for my second one.  I am so dangerously excited.

Ashtanga Yoga for Women

People used to buy books when they want to know how to do things, such as cooking, sports, craft arts, and any kind of hobbies.  Nowadays, they use Internet.  I admit that Internet is more convenient, and I am a frequent user of it too.  My laptop doesn’t occupy a lot of space in my room like my books do, and videos such as Youtube teach me things so well for free. 

On the other hand, I still want to buy books because I like books.  I just feel happy seeing books of my interests in my bookshelf.  Honestly, there are many cooking books and yoga books I have never opened yet since I bought them.  This sounds really ridiculous, but I just believe that I maybe use them someday.

However, among my many brand new looking books, I have one yoga book, which looks really old because I used many times.  Although I usually check new postures on Youtube, I always go back to this book, Ashtanga Yoga for Women.  This book is the only yoga book I have known, which is written based on women’s mental and physical concerns.  You can find many useful directions about practice during pregnancy and period.  There are many postures that are physically difficult for women, and this book teaches some modified postures.  It of course teaches basic knowledge of Yoga in a simply way so that even beginners can easily understand. 

I found this book about 10 years ago, when I started yoga practice.  This is like the bible of my practice, and I read every single word in this book repeatedly.  I bought many other yoga books, and only Ashtanga Yoga for Women looks old.  I am sure I will keep this book forever and use it more, then it will eventually fall apart.  Now I am thinking that I should buy the same book brand new again for a spare….

She's Come Undone

She’s Come Undone is the book that I bought a couple of years ago, read only a couple pages, and quit.  The first a couple of pages are very important for me to guess if it would be interesting to read.  I usually do this process at a bookstore.  However, when I bought this book at the annual book sale at Mckinley High School, I didn’t try.  I had already several books in my both hands surrounded by many people there, and kind of pushed aside by those people.  I just picked the book because the author, Wally Lamb, somehow sounded familiar to me.  I had never read her book before though, I thought I had heard a good review about her before.

Unfortunately, the first a couple of pages of this book did not give me any good impression at first, and it was pushed aside and left in a pile of books for a while until I tried Literature map.  The Literature map showed I would like Wally Lamb because I like Amy Tan.  I was a little suspicious about the result of this website, but I picked up the book again and started reading it.

Fortunately, She’s Come Undone of my second try turned out pretty good.  It has lots of psychic crazy events and reminds me of the movie, Girls, Interrupted, which I like.  I am not fund of a story with psychiatric situations like this book, but the story is not really depressing or heavy.  After reading the first a couple of chapters, this book caught my interest.  I don’t think that Amy Tan and Wally Lamb have similar writhing style, but I think that they both write a quite crazy and depressing situation in an amusing way.

I sometimes think that judging a book from just reading a couple of pages is not right, but that is what I usually do.  But this time, I really thought I should at least try a couple of chapters.  

Literature-map

I wonder how people look for a book they would like.  Some people might have friends who also like reading.  Some people might find information on the Internet.  I am lucky to have family members, especially my husband side, who love reading, and they are the main source of my information.  What I noticed recently was that they sometimes talk about a specific book that they really got into, but usually they talk about authors they like.  They say, “I could read what ever he or she writes” or “ I read all books he or she wrote”.  Then, I thought about if I have an author who I love that much.  Yes, I do.  It is Amy Tan, but only Amy Tan.  I thought I want more authors that I would like.

When I was thinking about it and surfing the Internet, I happened to find Literature-map, http://www.literature-map.com.  I went to this site, put Amy Tan in a box and hit “continue”, then it showed bunch of authors’ names I could like.  The center of the circle is Amy Tan, and I assume the author that is closest to Amy Tan is the one I would like the best.  However, it is Wally Lamb!  I bought Wally Lamb’s book a couple of years ago but only read several pages and quit.  The book has been somewhere in a very bottom of a pile.  I checked other authors and found Pearl S. Buck.  Her “The Good Earth” is amazing.  But her name is far from the center.  I also found Dr. Seuss, also far from the center, but I thought it’s interesting his name was there.

Has anyone tried Literature-map before?  If not, try it!  I am curious if you find out this site is useful or not.  I’d appreciate if you’d leave a comment about your result.

Amy Tan

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American and my favorite author.  Whenever I find her work, I want to read.  Her books were usually about China, such as Chinese in China, Chinese immigrants in America, or Chinese-American in America.  The reason I like Amy Tan is not only I like Chinese history, but also her writing style and the way of her expression.  I have never met Amy Tan herself, but I kind of can imagine her uniqueness and sense of humor from her works.  For me, her works are not a type of story I want to read nonstop in a day.  I’d rather enjoy each page and each sentence at a time reading slowly.

My very first Amy Tan’s book is Joy Luck Club.  I still regret I failed to get a chance to see the musical of Joy Luck Club at Diamondhead Theater several years ago.  I was really curious how they would show this story in a musical.  I love this heartwarming story with humor and oddness.  Joy Luck Club had been my favorite of her works until I read The Kitchen God’s Wife, which is incredible, and I love it. The scenes in her books sometimes sound very strange or unfamiliar to me, but somehow her writing skill enables me to imagine each scene vividly.  Although the story is incredible, it also describes normal family relationship that sounds familiar to me.  The balance between familiar and unfamiliar aspects, I think, attracts many readers including me. 

Last year, her new book, The Valley of Amazement, was published.  I’ve heard lots of good reviews and been very interested in it.  It is one of books in my to-read list.

Holes

My friend recently asked me what book I would recommend for her 4th grade son.  I even didn’t have to think about it to answer her question because I knew what I recommend.  It was definitely Holes although I was not sure if it's too difficult for 4th graders or not, but I love it and he can read it anytime in the future anyway.   

Holes written by Louis Sachar is one of Newbery Award Winners.  When I happened to find Holes in a library several years ago, I even didn’t know what Newbery Award is.  I just happened to take it out of a bookshelf and started reading a couple of pages.  I just wanted to see what kind of story it is and did not mean to read it long standing by the bookshelf but could not stop reading it either.  I ended up sitting in a chair, kept reading, and brought it home to finish it. 

When I read a children’s book, I often get bored.  It might be because the plot tends to be too ordinal and boring.  Sometimes the setting is too unrealistic and fantasied.  Holes is one of unrealistic side of stories, but quite imaginable.  When I was reading it, I was totally into it.  It was sometimes mysterious and made me nervous.  It was sometimes adventurous and made me feel excited. 

If you are looking for a book for children, especially who do not like onions, Holes might be a good one.  The scene with onions is my favorite part of this book.  I am not crazy about onions, but I wanted to eat onions after reading this book.  Pick up the book and find out how your appetite changes!

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind

Right after I moved in America from Japan, my English was not good enough to be able to read most of the books written in English, but I went to the library quite frequently because the library in my neighborhood had lots of mangas (cartoons).  When I found Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in a book shelf, I was thrilled.  It has been my favorite manga I have read in my life.  Although it is all written in English, my motivation level jumped up, I read the whole story taking for a couple of weeks.

A manga or cartoon sounds like a fun and sometimes silly story with pictures, but Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind has a pretty serious theme in it.  It will make you think about many important issues of your life such as friendship, environment, and nature.  The author is Hayao Miyazaki, who is a famous Japanese manga writer and film director.  He made lots of animation films, which also became popular in U.S., so you might have heard of or seen some of his works already.  Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind is one of his early works.  Like many of Miyazaki works, the main character is a girl, who has a strong but gentle mind.  The story has 7 volumes, and the film was made mainly from the 1^st and 2^nd volumes.  I highly recommend to read the manga version rather than the film.  The story of 7 volumes sounds very long but goes really deeply into Miyazaki’s world.  If you like Miyazaki works, you will love it.  Some day I want to buy all 7 volumes and have them in my book shelf forever. 

The Help

We can never choose where, when, and how we are born.  We could be born during a war, in a country with dictatorship government, or with multiple handicaps.  All we have to do is accept the situation we are given and live hard.  I am sure it is easier to say, and that’s why I always admire people who overcome their difficult circumstances.  As a book reader, books like Wild Swans and The Help, which deeply inspired me, are very important for me.  I keep these books in a bookshelf forever so that they always encourage me whenever I see them. 

I read The Help recently because my friend recommended its film.  Like many other book readers, I believe books are often, I do not say always, better than films.  So, I started reading The Help.  It is about the black women’s lives in 1960’s, when many black women worked as maids for white family under the severe discrimination.  I really appreciate that I can experience the compassion and courage of the characters in this book while reading it.  It is not a real experience of course, but my feeling really moved at each events.  This is my favorite part of reading.  Especially when the story is about women based on their daily life, I tend to immerse myself in the story.  There is also a white character who stands up for black ladies.  It is really difficult to do the right thing under the circumstances like in this story. 

If you want to read a book about women’s history that could move your heart, this might be the one you are looking for.

Wild Swans

When I read Wild Swans written by Jung Chang, I was a college student who was not interested in reading any kind of books at all.  I was almost graduating college but had no future plan and even no motivation for doing anything.  One day, my friend recommended me to read Wild Swans.  She didn’t tell me any detail but said, “Just read it because it would change your life.”  Although I was not a book reader, I knew I needed to change my life and went to a bookstore.  It had been already several years since Wild Swans was published first time, but it was still one of bestsellers and books were in a pile in the bookstore.  I bought one, started reading before going to bed, and ended up reading it overnight.  For two days, I just read the book and slept in between without going college because I got so into it.  I never knew I could keep reading like this for days. 

I do not want to write the detail in case you might want to read it in the future, but I can give some general information.  Wild Swans is the story of Jung Chang her self, her mother, and her ground mother.   These women went through China’s big historical changes including Japanese Invasion, World War II, and Cultural Revolution.  You can imagine people had to be very strong to go through these rough times.  I was shocked by the story but also impressed with these tough women.  I felt like I can do anything I want to do if I try, but nothing will change if I do not try.  This book not only made me become a book reader but also made me a positive person. 

This is one of books I always recommend to anybody, especially to women.  If you need some encouragement or want to study about Chinese modern history, this is the book you should read.  Hope you enjoy it too!

What Reading Gives Me

Hi, I am Keiko, and this is my first post of my blog.  I like reading somebody's blogs because I love reading but have never thought I would create my own blog account until today.  Well, I hope it will be as fun as reading.

When I was deciding a title of my blog, I wondered what reading gives me and googled it.  Surprisingly, I found that some links say "reading gives me a headache", and this is exactly how I felt when I was a teenager.  Reading was the last thing I wanted to do in my spare time at that time; however, now I read whenever I have a chance to do.  So, what made me change?  It was a book my friend recommended to me.  "Wild Swan" by Jung Chang was a very popular book when I was about 20 years old, when I was moving into a little bigger society after high school and also feeling a little weak about myself compared with many other matured people.  After I read "Wild Swans", I was so encouraged like I could do anything.  I do not want to write the detail of the story because I've already decided to write about "Wild Swan" on my next post.  But what I want to say here is that I was so surprised that in the book people's lives were described in such an amazing and powerful way.

A book does not have any sound or visualized pictures like a movie.  In a book, an author describes a whole situation, emotion, background, and everything only by words.  I was instantly intrigued by the power of expression that books have and the joy of my imagination when reading.  What I can imagine from reading is all up to me such as the background scenery, voice of a character, and even smell and taste of the meal.  I even can experience the emotion I hardly have in my real life and feel like expanding my inner world.  It is sometimes like escaping from my real life, reflecting to myself, peeping at somebody's life, and traveling in a quite different unbelievable world.  Reading brings me such joy.

I hope I can share my feeling as a book reader and introduce some books I like to you.  You might be a type of person who tends to get a headache from reading, but if I could share the joy of reading like my friend did to me long time ago, I would be very happy.