Okay… I’m kind of embarrassed to be listing this one. But…

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding

Okay. So I was in an airport a while back about to board a two hour flight and I had not brought a book. I rushed into one of those kiosky news stands that have about 7 books available. This was the only book that looked palatable, and hey, I liked the movie okay. It was that or some Jackie Collins rubbish.

I read a little bit of it on the flight, then took a nap.

It sat in my Unread Books pile for a long time. A year? Maybe more?

A couple weeks ago, I was looking for something mindless to read. Voila!

It’s a silly little book. The diary format is enjoyable. Every few days I would put it down and say “forget it, why am I bothering to read about this hopeless woman with self-help book addictions?” But I have a compulsion to finish any story I start, no matter how bad. I have very seldom been able to walk out in the middle of a movie or not finish a book without some severe mental reprecussions. One of the few exceptions is The Lord of the Rings, because for some reason, I just don’t care about those fat hobbits and their silly ring. I know I should, to be a geek worth a geek’s salt, but I don’t.

Six or seven months ago, I watched half of School of Rock with Jack Black, and it’s been nagging me ever since. I know it’s a mediocre movie with a predictable ending, but I still need to see it.

Anyway, I finished it. It’s done. If you like reading fairly witty books about pathetically neurotic women, then this is the book for you.

The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

This book is based upon a series of pamphlets originally published in 1926. Each pamphlet was a parable set in ancient Babylonia, and taught a lesson about the way to riches.

It’s a short book, and even so somewhat repetitive, as it was originally separately published essays.

Basically, the key lessons can be summed up as presented in the title essay, The Richest Man in Babylon:

Seven Cures for a Lean Purse
1. Start thy purse to fattening. (Put aside no less than 10% of your earnings as yours to keep, and, in theory, never spend.)
2. Control thy expenditures. (Live below your means)
3. Make thy gold multiply. (Invest!)
4. Guard thy treasures from loss. (Don’t make stupid investments! Don’t take on too much risk!)
5. Make of thy dwelling a profitable investment. (Buy your home, don’t rent! And grow vegetables in your yard!)
6. Insure a future income. (Make sure you’ve got money to retire on)
7. Increase thy ability to earn. (learn, grow, be good)

Nothing terribly surprising here, but it was told in an entertaining way. I would classify it as an inspirational book, if you need that extra kick to get your money stuff in order.

I sort of wish I had bought and read this book instead of any of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad series, because although the lessons are basically the same, Robert Kiyosaki is a guy who got rich telling people how to get rich.

Running With Scissors: a memoir by Augusten Burroughs

Well, that was an odd childhood.

My favorite scene in this book is when teenagers Augusten and his “sister” (it’s complicated) decide the ceiling in the kitchen is too low, so they rip it out. Then they decide it’s too dark, so they cut out a skylight in the roof, and use one of the side house windows to fill it, only it’s 12 inches too short. When the “father” comes into the kitchen in the morning, he steps over the rubble, makes coffee and says, “that’s quite a project you’ve got going.” They hit him up for a couple hundred dollars to finish the project, which they spend on beer. Nice.

I’d heard that this story was disturbing, but I wasn’t particularly disturbed. It was an odd childhood, though.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser.

Well, if it’s at all possible, I’m never eating at a fast food restaurant again.

But what about Moe’s, Chipotle, and other sort-of fast food restaurants like that? Where do they get their beef and chicken, and how are their workers paid?

Maybe there’s a restaurant rating somewhere on the web.

Fluke Or, I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore.

Christopher Moore writes silly little mind-candy books, and this is an okay one. It’s not his best. I preferred The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove and Practical Demonkeeping.

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.

Awesome. Simply awesome. However, too short. As all of his stuff is. I got this book this morning, and I’m done. hour and a half at the DMV, an hour at lunch, and 15 minutes at the end of the day and poof! no more book to read.

Thank goodness I have The Confusion at home waiting for me which, if it’s anything like the first volume Quicksilver, will take me 3 months to read.

And I forgot, my mom got me The Well of Lost Plots, Jasper Fforde’s latest Thursday Next book. The first two were good mind candy reading. Nothing really brilliant, but an interesting universe where they have time-travel but not Jet airplanes.

How to Buy & Manage Rental Properties by Irene and Mike Milin.

Some good info, but a lot of it is out of date. Written in the 80’s when interest rates were 10-12%, and you could do things like assumable mortgages. And people couldn’t afford to buy houses on their own.

They advocate finding meek tenants who won’t assert their rights. Gives me a bit of the heebie-jeebies.

Just finished

Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced look at the Right. – Al Franken

More interesting-funny than funny-funny, but I liked it. It almost makes up for “Oh! The things I know!”, that piece of crap little nothing book he wrote.

I was going to wait until it came out on paperback, but I got stuck without a book to read at lunch, and the only bookstore I was near didn’t have anything good in paperback.

Shadow Puppets – Orson Scott Card

Review: eh. So-so. My least favorite of the Ender series.

What I’m in the midst of reading:

Quicksilver: Volume One of the Baroque Cycle – Neal Stephenson

Because I’m a little joiner who does everything glenn5 does, I’m going to start keeping track of books read this year.

Starting January 2004, we have:

The Cartoon History of the Universe Book 1 – Larry Gonick
The Cartoon History of the Universe Book 3 – Larry Gonick

Very good. A nice synopsis, and funny. Can’t wait to get Book 2.

The Mismeasure of Man – Stephen Jay Gould

Excellent. A great refutation of all the folks throughout the ages who have a) tried to measure intelligence in a concrete way and b) tried to use it to prove superiority of one race/sex over another. Especially a smack-down of The Bell Curve, which I haven’t read. I’ve read several of Mr. Gould’s books, and I enjoy his writing style a lot. But the sections on the Bell Curve were the angriest I’ve ever seen him get. Interesting. The mathematics in the middle section lost me a bit though.

Business Lessons for Entrepreneurs: 35 Things I learned before the Age of Thirty – Mark D. Csordos

Not a great book. Would have made a fine article, or a chapter of another book, but mostly he didn’t have much to say, and had to stretch it quite a bit.

The Fun Of It: Stories from the Talk of the Town – New Yorker – Edited by Lillian Ross

I’m not a reader of the New Yorker, although I think I should be. I’m a huge fan of non-fiction essays (I love the Best American Essays books), and this was a fun read.