Books I'm Currently Reading (January 2011 Edition)

I've been plowing through books lately, so I really should do these lists more frequently than I have been!

Anyway, I've knocked off the following since my last update:

Room by Emma Donoghue - Julie whipped through this one back in November, reading most of it in one sitting. At first she didn't want me to read it because she feared I'd "ruin it" for her somehow (?), but eventually she changed her mind and handed me her copy. I found its fictional tale of a young boy growing up in a one-room environment with his kidnapped mother absolutely heart-wrenching, veering as close as it does to some high-profile, real-life tragedies like what happened to Jaycee Dugard. It's extremely well-written, and it managed to avoid the two pitfalls that I worried through much of the early pages that it'd fall into. It was hard to put down, and like Julie, I ended up reading it over the course of a very short time (about 36 hours, in my case). Wonderful and terrible, its twists and turns moved me to tears on more than one occasion.

Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy by Carlos Eire - Continuing the Julie theme, this is the book she lent me when I asked for something good to tide me over for the last few weeks until Christmas (when I knew my reading pile would be replenished, as it was!). Not for nothing, she mentioned to me that this was possibly her favourite book... ever. No pressure! I thoroughly enjoyed it, although it's unlikely it'll ever end up on any short list of my own personal favourites. Eire does a remarkable job recreating the Havana of his childhood in the days and months leading up to Castro's assumption of power. I learned more about Cuba in those 400+ pages than I probably had in my life leading up to last December. I could've done without some of the over-the-top Catholic imagery, but otherwise loved it. I can definitely see what Julie adores about it.

The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein - The worst days of my January cold this year were made significantly more bearable by this wonderful book. Klein lays out her thesis in great detail over 560 pages, but I was never bored or felt that she was repeating herself. So much of what's happened on the world stage relating to privatization and de-regulation now makes much more sense to me, thanks to Ms Klein. I don't know that I'll ever be able to look at the International Monetary Fund the same way again, nor will I ever be confused as to why it garners such furious opposition whenever it meets. If I had to point to one book today that every coming-of-age young mind should have to read, this is it. Huge shout-out to daughter Tammy for introducing me to this excellent tome.

Books in progress right now:

Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov - I've made it all the way to the 4th Foundation book, which I'm actually enjoying more than any of the (classic) first three. I don't think I'll venture past this one, but it's been fun to reacquaint myself with work from my younger years. This series is an excellent example of a far-ranging story told in broad strokes, where events are less important in and of themselves than they are in terms of what they represent as part of a Master Plan (the Seldon Plan, in this case). Fun, simple Sci Fi.

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking - I've heard a few people describe this as "inpenetrable", and yet I'm finding it anything but. Sure, some of the science is a bit beyond me, but Hawking clearly recognizes that fact and does an impressive job putting some of the more brain-busting concepts into simpler terms. I loved the chapter on black holes, and am just now reading about the origin of the universe. What's cooler than that, I ask you (actually, it was pretty hot... infinitely so to begin with, and then dropping all the way down to 1,000,000,000 degrees one second after the Big Bang!)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - Almost a year ago, I blogged about Henrietta Lacks and opined that her story was possibly the greatest one ever told. That naturally sounds like hyperbole, but now that I'm actually reading Ms. Skloot's account of both Mrs Lacks' life and what became of the cells taken from her before she died, I stand by my earlier assessment. I think you'd be hard pressed to find another individual in the history of our species who so perfectly combines anonymity in the general public's minds (at least, until now) with the magnitude of his or her impact on society. In this case, it was Henrietta Lacks' cells that've changed all of our lives in a staggering array of ways, all while even her own impoverished family remained largely ignorant of her incalculable contribution to medicine and science. As this book gets more and more press, though, maybe Henrietta Lacks' name and descendants will gain the fame and fortune, respectively, that they're owed.