Walden Two by B.F. Skinner

Walden Two is an experimental Utopian 

community located in a rural area of the United States. Everyone get’s along, everyone is happy, productive and creative. The community works smoothly with plenty to eat, the people get plenty of rest and there is no stress at all. When there is a problem in the community, they design tests and experiments until they find a possible solution.

Skinner explains that he was very dissatisfied with the way America turned out and was trying to think of a solution that would spare us a miserable and catastrophic future.

The novel is very controversial and challenges the American way of life including democracy, capitalism and the nuclear family.

I enjoyed reading the book even though it was a bit difficult making sense of the science of Behavioral Psychology.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

I really enjoyed the story because it was fun, interesting and I learned a lot about the connection between the two civilizations. This is a mixture of Roman and Greek mythology.

Aphrodite –Roman Form: Venus

Hephaestus –Roman Form: Vulcan

Zeus –Roman Form: Jupiter

Jason wakes up on a bus, sitting next to Piper and Leo, claiming to be his girlfriend and best friend. Jason is upset because he does not know who he is, or how he got on the bus. We are introduced to three new demigods; the son of Jupiter, the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of Hephaestus. The adventure is nonstop and I like the fact that he always includes strong female characters. Young audiences can enjoy the story and learn lessons of courage, friendship and perseverance.

Reading level ages 9-12

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

One of my favorite lines in the book come from Hema as she is having a near death experience:

“As she bent over the child she realized that the tragedy of death had to do entirely with what was left unfulfilled. She was ashamed that such a simple insight should have eluded her all these years. Make something beautiful of your life.”p64

Sister Mary Joseph Praise dies giving birth to twin boys Marion and Shiva in Ethiopia at Missing, a hospital for the poor. The boys are raised by Hema and Gosh because the boys father Dr. Stone leaves and never returns. Cutting for Stone is a story of love and betrayal, political turmoil and the human will to live. The story takes place in India, Ethiopia and America (the Bronx) over many decades.

There are too many medical references sometimes it feels like the book was written for medical students. I liked the story but I did not love it.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

I kept thinking nothing about this book is inspiring. Half way through the book and all I wanted to do was slit my wrist, but I thought maybe it will get better towards the end, instead all I wanted to do was slit both wrists. 

I hate all the characters and wanted to stab them all, especially the protagonist Patty Berglund. I hate her husband Walter, their kids Jessica and Joey and Joey’s girlfriend Connie and Walter’s best friend Richard Katz. 

Towards the end, I was afraid to read the book because I knew it would put a damper on my day. I wanted to read something inspiring for my last blog of 2010: You know “Hang in there”; “Life is worth it”; “There is a light at the end of the tunnel”, nope not this book. I do not understand why this is one of the best novels Oprah has ever read. 

Frazen is a master of the English Language. The book is wonderfully written, witty, and funny. The story has a wealth of information but is so damn heavy and depressing. The book club members enjoyed the book. They saw it as a journey of life and people through the Berglund Family. It is very interesting how he presents “Freedom” and how he takes an in-depth look at people’s lives throughout the story.

Patty, Walter, Jessica and Joey Berglund are a Midwestern family from St. Paul. Patty is a basketball player turned housewife and Walter is a lawyer. Through their journey we see them slowly lose track of each other, themselves and their dreams. The story spans over 35 years and coincide with many important political issues. Frazen takes you through a detail look at how people live and become who they are.

Don't Blink by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

I read this book in 2 days, well actually 12 hours. It’s a fun fast paced easy to read detective story. Typical who done it action and suspense thriller.

Nick Daniels is conducting a once in a life time interview at a famous busy Steak House in NYC. Before he can begin an assassin walks in during the busy lunch hour and commits a gruesome murder at the table next to him. This is only the beginning of things to come for Nick Daniels.

Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge

Captivating tries to touch women at their core. It illustrates all the difficulties women have and tries to show them how God is always there to listen and get them through their problems. The author Stasi and her husband John advise women not to be afraid of their desire to be loved and appreciated the way God wanted them to be. This is a self help book for Christian woman struggling with issues that are common to most women. The book teaches that you can always find solace and love if you turn to God. The Stasi and John give plenty of advice, encouragements and prayers to help you find the woman that God meant for you to be.

The book refers so much to the fall of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and I am not sure I see “The Fall” in the same way. I did not like women portrayed as victims, broken, empty, and looking for someone to fill in the holes in their lives and always need to be rescued. Women were not represented as capable of taking care of themselves; but I think that is the point of the book, “you cannot take care of yourself, you need God with you all the time in order to make it”.

The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche

My head is still swimming after reading this book. 

Antichrist can also be translated as Anti-Christian.

Nietzsche asks if Pity is a Virtue. He denounces Christianity completely. As far as he was concerned Christianity was the greatest evil out to destroy man of his true form and identity. He was furious that Jesus’ practice and words were taken out of context.

Here are 2 sections I wanted to share.

Section 9

Upon this theological instinct I make war: I find the tracks of it everywhere. Whoever has theological blood in his veins is shifty and dishonourable in all things. The pathetic thing that grows out of this condition is called faith: in other words, closing one's eyes upon one's self once for all, to avoid suffering the sight of incurable falsehood. People erect a concept of morality, of virtue, of holiness upon this false view of all things; they ground good conscience upon faulty vision; they argue that no other sort of vision has value any more, once they have made theirs sacrosanct with the names of "God," "salvation" and "eternity."

Section 62

With this I come to a conclusion and pronounce my judgment. I condemn Christianity; I bring against the Christian church the most terrible of all the accusations that an accuser has ever had in his mouth. It is, to me, the greatest of all imaginable corruptions; it seeks to work the ultimate corruption, the worst possible corruption. The Christian church has left nothing untouched by its depravity; it has turned every value into worthlessness, and every truth into a lie, and every integrity into baseness of soul. Let any one dare to speak to me of its "humanitarian" blessings! Its deepest necessities range it against any effort to abolish distress; it lives by distress; it creates distress to make itself immortal. . . . For example, the worm of sin: it was the church that first enriched mankind with this misery!--The "equality of souls before God"--this fraud, this pretext for the rancunes of all the base-minded--this explosive concept, ending in revolution, the modern idea, and the notion of overthrowing the whole social order--this is Christian dynamite. . . . The "humanitarian" blessings of Christianity forsooth! To breed out of humanitas a self-contradiction, an art of self-pollution, a will to lie at any price, an aversion and contempt for all good and honest instincts! All this, to me, is the "humanitarianism" of Christianity!--Parasitism as the only practice of the church; with its anaemic and "holy" ideals, sucking all the blood, all the love, all the hope out of life; the beyond as the will to deny all reality; the cross as the distinguishing mark of the most subterranean conspiracy ever heard of,--against health, beauty, well-being, intellect, kindness of soul--against life itself. . . .

Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire

Son of a Witch, Maguire’s sequel to Wicked, focuses on Liir, the boy who saw Dorothy kill the witch with a pail of water at then end of Wicked. Liir thinks that The Wicked Witch of the West Elphaba and Fiyero are his parents, but no one seems to know for sure. He struggles with this and tries to find an answer throughout the story.

The story begins with Liir found on the road after being attacked by dragons. He is taken to a convent (the Cloister of Saint Glinda Mauntery) where he is cared for by Candle, a girl that was dropped off at the Mauntery by her uncle a few weeks before.

Liir’s tasks: to find Nor, help the Princess Nostoya, help the birds regain their freedom and to figure out who the hell he is.

The book, written for adults, received mostly positive reviews but I did not like it. There were a few parts that caught my attention but for the most part I found it wordy, it did not make sense and the story was all over the place.

A Confession by Leo Tolstoy

At the age of 51, on the brink of suicide, Tolstoy went from the pursuit of fame and money towards religion and the meaning of life. A Confession details his search for God and what is truly important in life. Tolstoy says it is important to ask yourself “What am I doing and Why”, “How can I make my life worth living”. You should not live your life afraid of asking these questions and searching for an answer. This is an in-depth search for the meaning of his life.

As one gets closer to the end it is usually common to look back and ask “What have I done with my life”, “Is this all there is”. For Tolstoy faith in what Jesus said (not the religion) saved him.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a fairy tale where the characters always learn a moral lesson from their journey.  Albus Dumbledore tells you the meaning at the end of each story.  It gets a little boring but it's still fun and worth it in the end. There are five stories in the whole book.  


Beedle the Bard appears in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh novel of the series. The book is a popular collection of Wizarding children's fairy tales that Albus Dumbledore left to Hermione Granger in his will.

Introducing the Deathly Hallows. There is a symbol above the story "The Tale of the Three Brothers", which is the symbol of the Hallows. The Triangle represents the Invisibility Cloak, The Circle represents the Resurrection Stone, and The Vertical line represents the Elder Wand.