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6 Adar/20 February, 2010
Feb. 20th, 2010 11:00 pmPapa and I went to Brooklyn this morning and actually got my grandmother out of the house for the first time since she got home from the surgery/rehab stay. We just drove her down to the pharmacy but she did have to walk to the car and the pharmacy (with a cane and my arm for help, but still it involved lengthy moving). I was also privy to some on-the-side trades pharmacists do in that area, which probably abuses our Medicare system. Not that this was shocking in any way. I just don’t like it. But the important thing is, my grandmother actually is making good recovery progress.
I finally finished Sookie Book 6 “Definitely Dead” this morning. I can’t believe it took me two weeks to read. Well, I skimmed it right away but to actually read it, it took me awile. There is a necklace steeling plotline right from “The Three Musketeers” but the author did credit Alexandre Dumas in the acknowledgements. Still, she could be a bit more original there. But overall, as the mythology builds the stories are getting a bit more complicated and better. The author is improving with each book. I still don’t know about Sookie’s new were-tiger boyfriend Quinn. They really don’t talk about much - it is mostly about physical attraction there, but as a relationship it just seems lacking. But I don’t care enough about the book universe. (I just love the TV one and, hopefully, when they get to Quinn, he will be interesting.) I do think, though, that the books improved enough that I will get the rest eventually and read more in the series.
As I returned the Sookie book I had “Superfreakonomics” waiting for me in the library. I really loved “Freakonomics” when that book first came out because it presented fun use of statistics and economic theory to reach some unusual conclusions (like abortion in the 70s lowered crime in the 90s) that sometimes do challenge our way of thinking. This sequel book is good but it is missing something for me. Mostly because I see the conclusions coming, like I can figure out the bias in some altruism trials way before the authors explain it. In the first chapter on the economics of prostitutions (which was very interesting), there is a section that really made me cringe a bit. The authors were using economics to figure out the discrepancy in wages between men and women. They presented gender discrimination as one of the reasons, but they also “figured out” that men love money like women love kids and therefore women would be more likely to take a career break. Like that whole pattern isn’t social determined with internalized gender dynamics and women are penalized for having a family. Men love kids too but they are not socially expected to break their career and that family decision is not just economically or naturally made. That just drove me crazy. Yes, I know, two male authors, an economist and a journalist, are not expected to account for all variable or think of these things (they have kids too which I’m sure their wives are taking care of) but still that section took me out of the chapter that actually did a good job in using economics to show how disadvantaged women are in the world in general. I did like knowing that elephants kill 200 people a year while sharks kill 4, yet media makes up afraid of sharks more. And that working with a pimp is actually more profitable and safer for a prostitute and that pimps work harder than real estate agents.
My eyes got really tired after reading for some reason and yet I still did a bit of cross-stitching, although not for long. The brown color back-stitch is not inspiring me.
“Graveyard Book” Chapter 7 Part 1 – this chapter had the best tension. Knowing who Frost is from the beginning actually increased the tension, especially as Bod met him. This chapter had even more humor and I love hearing it as the author intended it. The audience groaned and yelled “No” as Gaiman finished on the cliffhanger, and I just wanted to listen to the next section right away. But I didn’t, because I want to save it for later and savor it a bit. I think I know where the story will go – it is a bit obvious by now with some scenes but I will enjoy seeing how it will get there. This book is definitely meant to be heard, not read.
I finally finished Sookie Book 6 “Definitely Dead” this morning. I can’t believe it took me two weeks to read. Well, I skimmed it right away but to actually read it, it took me awile. There is a necklace steeling plotline right from “The Three Musketeers” but the author did credit Alexandre Dumas in the acknowledgements. Still, she could be a bit more original there. But overall, as the mythology builds the stories are getting a bit more complicated and better. The author is improving with each book. I still don’t know about Sookie’s new were-tiger boyfriend Quinn. They really don’t talk about much - it is mostly about physical attraction there, but as a relationship it just seems lacking. But I don’t care enough about the book universe. (I just love the TV one and, hopefully, when they get to Quinn, he will be interesting.) I do think, though, that the books improved enough that I will get the rest eventually and read more in the series.
As I returned the Sookie book I had “Superfreakonomics” waiting for me in the library. I really loved “Freakonomics” when that book first came out because it presented fun use of statistics and economic theory to reach some unusual conclusions (like abortion in the 70s lowered crime in the 90s) that sometimes do challenge our way of thinking. This sequel book is good but it is missing something for me. Mostly because I see the conclusions coming, like I can figure out the bias in some altruism trials way before the authors explain it. In the first chapter on the economics of prostitutions (which was very interesting), there is a section that really made me cringe a bit. The authors were using economics to figure out the discrepancy in wages between men and women. They presented gender discrimination as one of the reasons, but they also “figured out” that men love money like women love kids and therefore women would be more likely to take a career break. Like that whole pattern isn’t social determined with internalized gender dynamics and women are penalized for having a family. Men love kids too but they are not socially expected to break their career and that family decision is not just economically or naturally made. That just drove me crazy. Yes, I know, two male authors, an economist and a journalist, are not expected to account for all variable or think of these things (they have kids too which I’m sure their wives are taking care of) but still that section took me out of the chapter that actually did a good job in using economics to show how disadvantaged women are in the world in general. I did like knowing that elephants kill 200 people a year while sharks kill 4, yet media makes up afraid of sharks more. And that working with a pimp is actually more profitable and safer for a prostitute and that pimps work harder than real estate agents.
My eyes got really tired after reading for some reason and yet I still did a bit of cross-stitching, although not for long. The brown color back-stitch is not inspiring me.
“Graveyard Book” Chapter 7 Part 1 – this chapter had the best tension. Knowing who Frost is from the beginning actually increased the tension, especially as Bod met him. This chapter had even more humor and I love hearing it as the author intended it. The audience groaned and yelled “No” as Gaiman finished on the cliffhanger, and I just wanted to listen to the next section right away. But I didn’t, because I want to save it for later and savor it a bit. I think I know where the story will go – it is a bit obvious by now with some scenes but I will enjoy seeing how it will get there. This book is definitely meant to be heard, not read.
