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I spend a lot of my time reading.  Some of my favorite authors in the world are Margaret Atwood, JD Salinger, Frank Herbert, Agatha Christie, Douglas Adams, and Piers Anthony. (And speaking of Piers Anthony, he links to my xanth page on his Official Xanth homepage!@!)

My bookcase is usually home to about 300 or more books at any given time.  My husband also keeps about 100 books on hand at all time. So we're pretty much always reading something or other. Probably my favorite genres of literature are Dystopian Stories, Tragic Literature, and in general, end-of-the-world type stuff. I would have to say that some of my all time favorite books are Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood). Then there are the Dune books (Frank Herbert), the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkein), or anything by Douglas Adams or J.D. Salinger.  And speaking of Salinger, If you've never read his other books (besides Catcher in the Rye, which seems to be the only book of his most people have have read), I highly recommend starting with his often overlooked 9 Stories.  As for me, I am currently re-reading some other favorites: The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis), Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes), and also plugging away at yet another monstrous HTML book.  By the time I finish reading it, it will be outdated  =) 

I also recently finished reading The Fountainhead and We the Living (Ayn Rand).  I was left with a very odd feeling when I finished them, which you will definitely understand if you've ever read any of her work.  Ayn Rand is the founder of  Objectivism, which is worth at least reading about, even if it doesn't make much sense for most people and is sometimes not consistent with decent and rational behavior.  It's more interesting on a "Know your enemy" kind of level, or something like that.

I am currently reading a book called Fast Food Nation (Eric Schlosser), which talks about the dark underside of the american fast food culture. It's a really well written book that seeks to show all points of view rather than just the negative aspect, though the author's opinion is very clearly stated as well. I'm also finishing up with How Dogs Think by Stanley Coren. I'll let you know how that turns out. Of course I've been swamped with work, designing websites, and trying to enjoy spring a little bit, so I don't get to read as often as I'd like to lately.  ;)

Now that I've talked your ear off about what I've been reading, scroll down to see a few book reviews I've written. Many more to come when I have some time. Thanks for letting me waste your time, and happy reading!

My Story by Rosa Parks
author: Rosa Parks

We all know Rosa Parks as the black woman who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. But there's so much more to her life that they don't teach us in the history books! This amazing woman has spent the majority of her life fighting for equal rights and equal treatment of African-Americans. She grew up in a time when black people had absolutely no rights, no freedom, and lived in constant fear of being harassed, beat and even killed for no other reason than they were black. Despite all of this, Rosa Parks worked tirelessly with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many others to secure equal rights and equal treatment for not only African Americans, but for all oppressed people. Her vision of equality and brotherhood is timeless. Her family instilled a great sense of pride in her from an early age, as well as a strong sense of right and wrong, and there is no doubt that she must have made them incredibly proud of her by the life she lived and the good works that she performed.

Slavery, Segregation, and the Jim Crow laws were an incredibly shameful period in our country's history, and one that should not be forgotten too easily. Although African Americans today enjoy the same rights and freedoms as the rest of us, there are still people who ignorantly discriminate against them in subtle ways. If we do not learn from the past, then we are doomed to repeat our mistakes. I highly recommend reading My Story by Rosa Parks, not only because of the historical significance, but because of the message of great courage and hope that is contained in Rosa Parks' story. If there was ever a perfect role model for girls the world over, it would be Rosa Parks. She has taught us all that it is better to stand up for what you believe in than it is to be a victim of ignorance and oppression, and we all owe her a great debt.

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King Rat
author: James Clavelle
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First, a brief note. I went into this book with less than total interest. One day I was really bored, and I've already read the 300+ books on my bookcase at least 20 times each, and so I picked a book off my (now ex) boyfriend's bookcase at random. I normally don't like war stories. Actually, let me re-phrase that. I abhor violence and violent people, and I think that "Fighting for Peace" is the equivalent of "Screwing for Virginity". In my version of heaven on earth, everyone would have a strict policy of "I'll do my thing, you do your thing, and we'll mind our own damn business and not bother each other most of the time, unless we want to hang out, or someone needs help". It makes sense, right? War stories usually depress the hell out of me because they're a reminder that, even now, in the midst of the Technology Renaissance we've been living through, we still have such a long, long way to go towards decency and common sense and loving our fellow man. But despite all of that, this book soon had me riveted.

The time is WWII, and the main characters are a motley crue of american, english, and australian POW's being held in Changi, one of the many POW camps run by the Japanese. The men in this story are struggling every minute of every day to stay alive while they hope for the impossible: freedom, and a chance to live a normal life again. Things that we all take for granted every single day.

Graphic and brutal in his descriptions, Clavelle pulls you into the camp with the prisoners and repulses you at the same time. These are ordinary men, driven to extreme measures out of sheer desperation. They are abused, starved, sick and diseased, dying for want of the most basic medicine and nutrition. They all have dysentery, malaria, and fleas. They go blind for lack of protein. A simple cut turns into gangrene because they don't have the medicine or the means to keep their wounds clean, and as a result, limbs are amputated often, with dirty instruments and no anesthetic. They wear rags or run around the camp naked, or, if they're lucky, they have sarongs (skirts of a sort, worn mostly in eastern cultures.) They have no privacy whatsoever.

Despite all of the hardship and suffering they endure, many manage to make a sort of a living through theft, barter, black market trade with the guards, and a very weird sort of symbiosis. Many are simply driven insane. I don't want to give away the actual plot, but I will share with you the part of the book that stuck with me the strongest.

In the end of the book, when the first allied soldier comes to Changi to begin the liberation of the POW's, he finds a very abused, terrified, sickly bunch of men, most of them weighing under 80 lbs and suffering not only from severe malnutrition and disease, but also from psychological problems. Even worse, the men themselves are terrified of their liberators. For years they have lived in the camp, abused and beaten down by the enemy, made to work hard and be submissive. And now on the eve of their freedom, they are terrified. Will they find jobs? Who will hire them when they have no skills? Will their family and friends still still be there for them? How can they fit into society when they've lived like animals for years? And what of they things they had to do to survive, so far outside the moral structure of normal society? Will they be judged by those actions, which kept them alive while so many others died?

While reporters' flash bulbs blind them and they are posed for photographs in their rags, confusion turns to terror and then to rage. People look at them like they are monsters and freaks. Some kill themselves on the eve of freedom. This book is one of the harshest books I have ever read, but does a fine job of illustrating the human spirit and just what measures a human being will go to for survival. I felt sick after reading it, and I'll even admit that I cried. Not for the weak of stomach, this book made me rethink my previous boycott of war stories. It makes me angry, sick, and sad that anyone could do these kinds of things to other people and still consider themselves human. But on the other hand, I'm very glad that I took the time to see things from such a different perspective. I still hate war and violence, now more than ever, but I have a renewed sense of respect and when it comes to our military personnel and the sacrifices they make on behalf of the rest of us. I would definitely recommend reading this book.

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