Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - Amy Chua

Recently, I began a memoir called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. I was encouraged to read this book after I saw some of my friends read it while my class was studying memoirs.
The author, Amy Chua, is a Chinese mother, who is married to a Jewish American. The book is mainly about the story of her raising her two children. Amy Chua has a unique voice in her writing, offering a perspective of a strict mother that is not commonly seen in other novels.

The best quality of Amy is that, no matter what, she is always trying to think for her kids. She raised them with the morals she grew up with, with nearly no room for anything else. Due to her strictness, she has multiple battles with her children throughout the book. When Louisa, her second daughter was born, the first story Amy tells us is a huge fight, "Dodging her blows, I dragged the screeching demon to our back porch door, and threw it open. The wind chill was twenty degrees, and my own face hurt from just a few seconds' exposure to the icy air." She was "determined to raise an obedient Chinese child" but also fell back when she knew anymore fighting would cause severe ruptures in the family. On a vacation to Russia, Lulu causes a scene when she gets into an argument with Amy. She screamed "I hate the violin. I HATE my life. I HATE you, and I HATE this family!" After such a loud, public scene, Amy knows it is time for her to allow Lulu to pursue her own interest of tennis.

However, a bad quality of Amy, is that she is very stubborn, and most of the time, gets what she wants. She will never settle for other than perfect. Once on her birthday, both of her daughters gave her birthday cards, but flat out refuses them by saying, "I want a better one--one that you've put some thought and effort into. I have a special box, where I keep all my cards from you and Sophia, and this one can't go in there." These actions that would be considered "mean" all lead up to huge fights like the one above. As she realizes in the end of the book, she should change her actions to reflect both her and her daughter's dreams.

Freakonomics - Stephen Dubner

I just finished the book Freakonomics, and was very pleased with what I learned. The author, an economist, writes about intriguing ideas. He says that many times, asking weird or random questions  will produce no results, but sometimes, you may be surprised at what you find. That is what he does throughout the entire book, but also teaching the reader many different ideas throughout. He always supports his conclusions with evidence, and his logic is very tightly-knit.

An example that I clearly remember was his chapter about how sumo wrestlers and teachers were similar, in that they both cheat. In this chapter, he also taught the reader about incentives. The incentive for the teacher to cheat is very simple. Teachers are often giving a raise if they have students with high test scores. Some teachers will go at great lengths to help there students test scores, giving answers right before tests, extra credit, but a few even change the answers AFTER the students have turned them in. As usual, Dubner makes the chapter very interesting. He also explains common ways teachers try to cheat, and how regulators catch them. One such example of how teachers cheat is that they only take a few questions, let's say 25 -30, and makes nearly all of these students get them right, then changing some to be wrong on purpose to hide her work. Dubner clearly explains how teachers will exposed, but you will have to read the book to find out!

So what about sumo-wrestlers? As Dubner explained it, sumo-wrestling is an extremely popular sport in Japan. The top 66 in the nation is what most people aim for, the elite. These 66 wrestlers earn much more money than any others. Four times a year, a national tournament takes place, over the span of 15 days, with one match a person each day. If a wrestler was able to come out with a winning record, their rank would increase, as well as their salary. In order to get an 8-7 record was much easier than you could think. Using an example from the book, let's say two wrestlers face off on the last day of the tournament. One is 7 - 7, and the other on is 10 - 4. You would expect the person with the better record to win a greater percentage of games right? Wrong. Because the person with the 7 - 7 record needs one more win to gain, often the 10 - 4 wrestler lost on purpose. He would essentially be making an investment. When the tournament comes around again and the situations are flipped, the other wrestler will return the favor, losing on purpose. If everyone in the top 66 helps each other, then every one will benefit.

I found these two examples extremely interesting. If you do to, be sure to read it!

A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah (Text-Society)

The second memoir I have chosen for this class is A Long Way Gone. It revolves around the childhood of a young boy in Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah's life is torn apart when the civil war starts. He is separated from his family and friends, with no home, and no food.

A realization I came upon while reading this novel was the fact that the environment can highly impact a person's mood. Throughout much of the beginning portion of this memoir, Ishmael spends his time traveling with a group of other boys around his age. They stay together because as a group, they have a much better chance for survival. However, this group goes through much emotional hardship together, and this is all caused by the environment.
The country of Sierra Leone, is a war ravaged place. Often there is no food to eat, only unripe, sour oranges picked right from the bushes. They walk tens of miles a day, with ripped crapes, they shiver uncontrollably when it rains all night, with no shelter but the leaves of the trees above. When they find themselves lucky enough to spend the night in the hospitality of a village, rebels could come at any time, with no mercy for anyone. However, they also find an abundance of joy and prosperity along their journey. The boys are overcome with joy when they find themselves in the middle of a village ceremony. After helping the village get ready for the celebration, they eat and dance late into the night. As you can see, this book especially shows how the environment can affect mood.

http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us

After doing some research, I found an article about how the environment affects the mood. It supports my realization and suggests that people try to find places that psychologically comfort them. The three most important attributes are comfort, safety and entertainment. These key points can help explain why Ishmael was constantly on the run with his pack of boys. At villages, they found food and hospitality from locals, but didn't feel comfortable staying and living off of others. When Ishmael lived in the forest, he was comfortable and extremely safe from rebels, but it was really boring. The only thing he could do was think about his family and mourn. Thus, always being on the run caused an environmental stress. As the source suggests, when a person feels an environmental stress, their mood is impacted. A learned a lot more about this idea and am glad that I can apply this to my book.

Color of Water - James McBride

          I am currently reading the Color of Water by James McBride with the rest of my class. We have read up to chapter 14, and so far, it has been a great book. The book is a memoir, on the front cover it also says "A black man's tribute to his white mother". The memoir offers a unique perspective I am not very familiar with.
          The best thing about the book so far is definitely the varying ways McBride makes his book so unique, I have never anything close to this before Yet his experiences are so real, that you can easily make connections.
          First, the story is instantly set apart when in the beginning chapters a reader will realize the whole book is written in two perspectives, with neither taking control of the book. The two sides are set in time periods half a century apart, but still coalesce to make a complete story.  A reader will have no trouble following both  James McBride's own point of view, and his mother's. However at the end of each chapter, the book always leaves you wanting more, but instead switches to the next perspective, which immediately engrosses you back into the novel.
          McBride also makes his story easy to connect to, even with its extreme details. Much of the beginning chapters talk about his life as a child. He had 11 other brother's and sisters, so even though not many people can directly connect to that, his details of his household allowed many people, with maybe only 1 sibling be able to connect. A prime example is the fighting for food between him and his siblings. Any pair of kids in the household can relate to the bickering that goes on when food is at stake. Other examples are personal experiences of McBride's. James McBride tells stories of his hardships on his first days of kindergarten, and his struggles through high school. Common experiences that most people go through.
          The other side of the book is just as relatable and unique. Ruth describes her journey from childhood to young adult with interesting details. The effects Ruth's mother having polio, and the work that her father made her do in the family store, all played out to mean something in the book. Each experience is meaningful, in that Ruth always learns something that helps her later in life. An example is her first boyfriend. Having been betrayed, she is reluctant to give up love so easily when she meets Rocky. But when she meets Dennis, she realized what love was, and what trust was, which eventually led to her step-husband.


          In conclusion, I highly suggest anyone even slightly interested to read this book. You will learn a lot!

Exposure-Kathy Reichs

I just am near the end Exposure by Kathy Reichs. So far, it has been a really suspenseful fast-paced novel. It is the fourth book in the Virals series. This series is about the adventures of 4 kids, who contract a strain of a dog disease called parvovirus that was manipulated to infect humans too, all because they tried to rescue an injured puppy. After their "incident" with the disease, the strain starts changing their DNA, giving the group superhuman canine abilities such as supervision (a bit sketchy I know). After the four teens discover their profound skills, they start to call themselves Virals or sometimes a "pack" when in the presence of Cooper, the dog they saved.

The author of this book, Kathy Reichs is a pretty renowned, and prominent writer. She is a professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina. She has also been certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, which has only ever certified 83 members. She wrote a technical book herself regarding forensics, and also edited another one, both in the 1980's.

However, she is more well known as the writer her crime stories, the first one being Déjà Dead, starring Temperance Brennan. When this novel hit the New York Times bestselling, 15 more quickly followed. Her novels are so good because Riechs uses knowledge from real forensic anthropology experience. Recently she has been writing the Virals series, which stars Tory Brennen, the niece of Temperance, in her first novels.So far there are four installment, with the fifth coming early next year.

Finally, she is a producer of the TV series Bones, which is also about the female figure created in her first books, Temperance Brennan. The show started in 2005, with a new season every year.

I'm glad I stumbled upon such a great author, and hope to read some of her original crime novels soon.