Gone Girl (Extra book)

I am now in the mode of reading other people’s favorite books before I jump back to the RA Favorite books.  We just hired RAs for our Global sites and our new NYU campus in Brooklyn, so watch for new books soon.  Imagine being married and then one day, your spouse disappears, and you are suspect #1!  Welcome to Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  This 2012 New York Times best-selling book is a thriller/mystery which reveals the seemingly solid marriage of Amy and Nick Dunne, but when the two “perspectives” of the relationship are shared (in the voice of each character) we learn it is far from the ideal.  Two former journalists, who lose their jobs, move from their posh apartment in NYC to a non-descript Midwestern city in Missouri.  Nick comes home one afternoon, on the day of his honeymoon, to realize that his wife is missing and the house looks like it has been broken into.  After numerous hours of waiting around, thinking Amy will return, he contacts the police and what they find is a “guilty” husband who has forgotten that the day was their anniversary and has no alibi!  Why is he in this predicament?  He has been in an extra-marital affair with one of his former students (he was teaching journalism in a local community college).  The story twists and turns with new revelations about the relationship that has gone sour, even where Amy has set a trap to indict Nick as her assumed murderer.  Whenever you think you understand what is happening, there are more strange twists.  I won’t reveal the conclusion of this mystery, but needless to say it is warped and brings back memories of the great marriage thriller, Fatal Attraction.  But in this one you’ll be surprised as to whom is “boiling the rabbit.”  For those who enjoy unpredictable romances gone astray, you will love this one.  It remains a twisted, well-written story that reads very quickly, though I actually listened to it.  I hear it is coming out in movie version next year with Ben Affleck as Nick.  I’d pick up this one before it comes out in movies.  Saying I enjoyed it would not capture the experience exactly correctly, but was a book worth reading.

Fordlandia (Exra book)

And yet another extra book to read, this time by a former RA whom I met walking down the street. Marc was an RA in Brittany Hall and is the twin of Jack Black!  When I saw him he noted, “hey, you need to read Fordlandia by Greg Grandin.”  The book chronicles the history of the Brazilian industrialized town that Henry Ford built to try and cut costs for building his automobile empire.  The town was a collaborative project between the Brazilian government, who provided the land, and Ford who was eager to work around the unionized labor force of the US.  Ford was intrigued with the idea of exporting rubber, for the creation of tires. The project was criticized as it became the re-making of an American city in South America, with ice cream stands, golf courses, flower gardens, and other “All-American dream” items.  Interwoven throughout the story is the life and times of Henry Ford, who the reader learns was a very eccentric solitary man who was not above pitting his son against key leaders whom Ford appointed throughout his organization.  Additionally, the reader learns a good deal about the billionaire mogul who spends money on himself and eccentric things.  The model T and A and his friendship with Mr. Edsel are extra tidbits worth learning about.  Overall for the history buff of the early twentieth century, it is a no-brainer good read.  I learned a lot and enjoyed having a better understanding of how the man made his money, and led a very eccentric life.   Amazing how fast technology and the industrial age has changed the world as it was.  Good book.

The First Phone Call from Heaven (Extra book)

As you can tell, this is not one of the RA Favorite books (yet – as it could be down the line), but for now it is an “extra read” recommended by others.  I have always enjoyed reading Mitch Albom books, a number of my favorites are actually his non-fiction stories (Tuesdays with Morrie and Have a Little Faith) – which are both RA Favorite books.  So I picked up The First Phone Call from Heaven and started to listen and hear about what happens when two worlds collide, this one and the life after.  The story occurs in a little town in Michigan (Coldwater) where apparently deceased relatives start calling a few of the local residents.  The phone calls are intended to let those on earth learn that life in the “here-after” is wonderful and should not be a source of fear.  When one of the first residents lets it be known at a local Sunday service, a few others note they too have received calls on Friday mornings each week.  As the word gets out, Coldwater turns into a new sanctuary for believers and non-believers to get closer to the higher being!  And the national media is not far behind once they gain wind of the story.  But not everyone is believing the calls are real, Sully Harding who lost his son in the war in Afghanistan doesn’t completely believe the messages his dead son provide in the short lived phone calls.  He decides to seek out whether this is really true or not.  The story climaxes with a rather far-fetched conclusion that brings Sully’s world full-circle to the real death of his son in the helicopter accident at an air strip.  I won’t give up the answer as to whether the calls are real or fake, as the story is really about faith and believing, more so than who really made the calls.  In the end I thought the story was a bit far-fetched and didn’t get the normal “emotional feeling” that is evoked from an Albom book.  Clearly not my favorite of his books.  Did like the fact it was a quick read, otherwise I might really rail on the book.  Not the kind of impact I hoped for, but engaging nonetheless.  Back-burner on your list of books to read for sure.

The Natural History of Nonsense

It is now time for “extra” favorite reads.  This time I allowed an RA to provide me a second favorite book, mainly because he brought a copy and left it with me.  The book is called The Natural History of Nonsense by Bergen Evans.  This is an interesting book as it was written in the 1940s yet it is providing an overview on the history of all living beings on the earth, with some pretty strange “historical thoughts” in which the author provides research data to prove his point, yet disagrees with the literature at every turn.  Bergen presents data that demystifies “urban legends” ranging from: animals not being as smart as humans; why belly buttons are “innies vs. outies”; biblical contractions; why is it colder in parts of NYC than at the North Pole?; why do frogs come out from hiding before major storms?; why do the female birds sit on the eggs?; and questions about chimpanzees snakes.  After addressing many of the myths of animals, he moves on to the human race!  I had no idea that doctors were so short-sided “back in the day,” such as how one would get ill by using a bathtub! WOW!  The author than focuses on ethnic stereotypes, such as why African Americas are more physically agile than other ethnicities (though he uses pretty 20^th century un-pc terms), same for when he presents information on Latinos and Asian-American people.  This is such a “period piece” that illustrates how far we have come as a society.  I’m not sure I got the humor of the book, though it certainly was helpful to be brought back in time.  The book clearly shows the limited view many people had in the 1940s and how computers and knowledge sharing has moved our society to more thoughtful and data driven in our thinking.  For sociologist students, it might be helpful to read how ignorant we were in our thinking.  The author shows the challenges in the “thought leaders” of the day.  Not sure I thought it was so “witty” but was an interesting read nonetheless.  Thanks Luka for a second suggestion.

The Name of the Wind

Yes!  Just finished the last of the RA Favorite Books for this year, although there will be some new RAs in the spring semester, especially since we will be taking over Polytechnic University in January!  So look for some new reads in 2014 (will be interested if the type of favorite books is any different with engineering students, time will tell).  So the last read of this year is Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind, a fantasy story set in the rural town of Newarre.  I always get a bit weary when I see that the book is actually a triology (known as the Kingkiller Chronicles), as I feel I am going to miss much of the “whole” story as I usually only read book 1.  What I learned as the book progressed was, hey I like this!  What a good story, albeit the concept has been used before, (can you say, Harry Potter!).   The story revolves around a young man, Kvothe who becomes a “nomad” of sorts when his parents are killed and on his search he desperately wants to attend the “wizard” University.  Kvothe spends three years on the streets learning how to survive.  In his prior life, he gained much knowledge about the mystery of “the wind” and other mystical things and makes it his daily task to raise enough monies to pay for the education.  The story has some level of repetition with his challenges with schoolmates and the headmasters.  His enemies in class are the “rich kids” who have more than enough monies to have fun in college and do the things he would not be able to do.  Of course any journey story is not complete with the falling in love with the young “damsel” in distress, and this story is similar with Denna.  Kvothe continues to be attracted to her and desiring to help her in any way he can.  There is something really engaging with Kvothe and the reader is automatically drawn to him as a younger version of “everyman” – the kid who has limited tools but you root for at every turn.  Like I noted, there are some on-going reoccurring issues that keep coming up, but aside from that annoyance, it is a fun read, except that there is a second and third book.  This is not a quick read at all, but the characters are easy to keep straight.  You will see this one on the big screen in a short period of time, for sure.