Books Read in 2008

1. White Oleander, Janet Fitch -- this book was seriously screwed up.

2. Cocktails for Three, Madeline Wickham -- By the same author as the Shopaholic series. You can tell this was one of her first books (or at least I'm assuming it was, since it originally came out in 2000). The plot line was kind of thin, and rather predictable. An entertaining read, however.

3. Shopaholic and Baby, Sophie Kinsella -- A light, entertaining read. I've loved the others in the series, and this didn't disappoint. A pleasant change from public health.

4. Choice and Coercion, Johanna Schoen -- Reading for my grad class. Shocking. Forces one to rexamine privilege automatically granted by being a woman growing up in the late 20th century.

5. Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver -- I'm starting to realize that most of her books follow the same plot line. Young woman confronts what she remembers from her past, sees that her recollection may not necessarily be accurate, and deals with it all. Usually in Arizona.

6. Hot Zone, Robert Preston -- Interesting read. Another mandatory book for the grad class. Two words: Contact precautions!

7. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver -- I had started this in 2007, and finally bothered to finish it. See plot description for Animal Dreams.

8. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert -- It was OK, but I was generally underwhelmed. Of course she found true love at the end! I do want to travel to Bali, though.

9. Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner -- Very interesting. I'm not sure if I'd want to own it, or if I would take any of it as the gospel truth, but it certainly presented a new view on the world.

10. Buy, Buy, Baby, Susan Gregory Thomas -- Eh. I think this book had the potential to be very interesting, and it totally didn't live up to its potential. She wrote it like she was writing a thesis. I don't care if it was a thesis; when you're marketing a book as something consumer-oriented, at least make the book read like it could be interesting. Blah.

11. Color Stories, Mary Lisa Gavenas -- I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't have been finished with the book and thinking, "oooh! I want lip gloss!" But I was. It was a very interesting book about the cosmetic industry and how it lures women in, but I really just kept thinking about how long it had been since I bought makeup. I still want lip gloss.

12. The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan -- Very good. Worth the wait on the library reserve list. I probably shouldn't have read about slaughtering chickens while eating chicken and corn chowder, however. I'd consider buying it, and it definitely made me think about the food I eat, and whether organic is really such a good thing, and where to draw the lines between organic from far away, and pesticide ridden from Butler County.

13. The Overspent American, Juliet Schor -- Pretty good. An interesting insight into why people buy so damn much. I was disappointed with the ending, though. It kind of just stopped, and I was confused.

14. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi -- Excellent. I checked it out from Northland Saturday afternoon and finished it that night. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about Iran -- or even the Middle East, in general. I have the movie in my Netflix queue, but wanted to read the book first.

15. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan, Sophie Kinsella -- This was the first Shopaholic book that disappointed me. How could someone have so much going for her (Becky, not Kinsella) and blow it through such stupid, stupid actions? I was happy with the ending, but the book really did frustrate me.

16. Th1rteen R3asons Why, Jay Asher -- I requested this young adult book from the library after my mother read it while I was home for a week's vacation. Asher's use of conversation -- through the tapes from Hannah and Clay's internal thoughts -- makes the book move very quickly. It was mindblowingly awesome, and really illustrated some of the social problems in today's schools.

17. All the Days of Her Life, Lurlene McDaniel -- Go ahead. Laugh. I loved McDaniel when I was in middle school and late elementary school. I mainly had read the Dawn Rochelle series (what girl hadn't), and somehow had never picked up the One Last Wish series. Looking at the publication date, it's 1994, which explains why. The inside cover calls it an "inspiring series" but I was wondering why this poor girl was on such a strict regimen of two shots a day, when there was much better technology available in the late 80s and early 90s.