Reading List

Here are the books I've read since the last book post in September. Sorry to those of you who don't like these reading updates. They aren't meant to be braggy or anything, I just enjoy talking about books and I mainly decide what to read based on book recommendations from others, so I feel I ought to offer my own in return.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
This was a very interesting book about introverts: what is an introvert, how are introverts discriminated against, why is being an introvert awesome, difficult, etc. It takes a good look at human interaction and expectations, and as an introvert I often found myself feeling that finally I had an explanation for why some things are the way they are for me. And why that isn't necessarily bad. I could probably talk about this for a long time but I won't here. This is a good book to make you think about people and personalities. 4 stars.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson
Another great Sanderson book. This is in the mistborn series, well after the first three books. I didn't like it quite as well as the other mistborn books, but it was still interesting and entertaining. 4 stars.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
This is a juvenile fiction book, which I have found essentially means that it is going to be clean, not super intensive, and usually pretty funny in a giggly, witty way. This book is about a magical alternate world in London where the magicians are the upper class and the political leadership. Their magic lies in the knowledge and training in how to summon magical creatures to do their bidding. Nathaniel is a newly apprenticed magician-in-training who summons the demon Bartemaeous. Their adventure to solve a mystery of political intrigue dominates the plot, while their interaction and Bartemaeous's witty commentary bring it to life. 4.5 stars.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Maybe I'm not much of one for great American novels, but I thoughts this was mediocre. Much of the writing was really lovely, but I didn't like the characters or plot. 3 stars.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

It took me a long time to finish this book. I didn't allow myself to start many other actual books while I was reading this, except for a few audiobooks that I listened to while working out, so this book makes this list much shorter than it normally would be. I really liked the book, but I doubt we'd be missing much to read the abridged version. One thing I didn't like so much about the book is that my opinion of Javert dropped. I really like Javert's songs and melancholy character in the musical, both in melody and content, but I think the songs paint a much rosier picture of Javert's character than the book does. 4.5 stars.

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

The magic of Warbreaker affects colors and it allows the magician to imbue an inanimate object with life. Two princesses fall into the last places they expected, and surprise themselves as they discover what they are really made of. An interesting premise, a bit more adult than Sanderson's other books. 4 stars.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

This is the remarkable and amazing true story of Olympian Louie Zamperini and his time in WWII. He is a bombardier whose plane gets shot down over the Pacific. Sharks, ocean, Japanese POW camps, disease, and the psychology of war all work together to shape his destiny. 5 stars.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
Another juvenile fiction book, this one seems quite popular right now. Four orphans are plucked up for their talent and goodness by a mysterious Mr. Benedict, who enlists them to go undercover at a secretive academy run by a genius madman. Their specific skills: logic, memory, resourcefulness, and attitude/independence are showcased throughout their adventures, illustrating that we all have different talents, and that if we aren't that good at something, there will be other tasks at which we can excel. 4.5 stars.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
One more juvenile fiction that is again a bit different. Percy Jackson is a normal kid, to whom un-normal things happen, leading to a quest to retrieve his mother from the underworld and stop World War III. The plot and tone of this book is understandably dealt with in quite a casual light, way. It's for juveniles, after all. I'm not sure how I feel about all the references to how his ADHD and dyslexia were actually symptoms of something totally unexpected, and that before he was just having to apply himself to the wrong type of activities that triggered them. It was an interesting way to discuss something that a lot of kids and parents deal with. I'll probably read at least the next one or two of this series and see if I'm still engaged in it. 3.5 stars.

Wherein we are in Utah for Alyna's Wedding

We went to Utah last month for my sister's wedding. The wedding was fabulous, and there was a lot more going on besides!

All the sons and sons-in-law grew mustaches to match my dad's mustache to take a fun family picture together. Luckily, Jeran (and all the others, too) grew a full beard and just shaved down to a mustache at the last minute. Then they all shaved down to their normal, clean-shaven selves. Except Dad, because that wouldn't have been normal at all. :)

All the guys and their mustaches!

Alyna and Kevin had a nice reception in Logan. Surprisingly I think it was the first time I've been in the Skyroom at USU. There was a candy buffet, which was awesome. I got to talk to a lot of family and friends there. Then the next day, the wedding was performed in the Mt Timpanogos temple. It was lovely. Then we had pie in the cafeteria. I had some amazing creamy peanut butter pie.

 The beautiful couple!

 Alyna's dress was so gorgeous. I love it. Unfortunately it was so cold and windy outside for pictures - I hope they turn out all right.

I can hardly believe it; all of my siblings are married! It's so strange! Congratulations Alyna and Kevin! You guys are amazingly awesome!

We also celebrated my birthday with my family and Jeran's family while we were in Utah. Everyone was so nice and wonderful. We had awesome Chinese food and played fun games with Jeran's family. It was a really fun evening. With my family, we also had dinner and played a game: Family Chronology.

At the beginning of the year I was in Utah for business and stayed with my parents. Lisa and Cameron and kids were also there completing their Christmas visit. We all played a fun game of Lisa and Cameron's called Chronology. I thought it would be fun to make a family version of the game so I harassed all my family members through the next few months to send me important or interesting events that had happened in their life and their spouse's and kids' lives. I also added some stories from our ancestors (thank you, new familysearch.org features!) and some historical events that are significant to my family, like Church, state, national, or world events of particular interest, releases of favorite family movies, etc. We got stories and events from our grandparents lives and anything else relevant we could think of. I compiled these all together and we printed them on cards. We played this game of Family Chronology on my birthday and it was such fun! It was great to relive funny stories, learn new things about our in-laws, and be surprised about when things actually happened. I think it is a fun way to do some family history too. I hope we can keep adding to this game and replay it over the years. I love love love our personalized family version.

(Mom, I borrowed your pictures. Thanks.)

Jeran and I were a bit too familiar with all the cards to fairly compete so we read the cards and led the game. It is quite a bit easier to play the family version than the real version, so we had to up the winning card quantity, and then play single elimination, and then speed version.

There were so many people that we had to play in teams and push the table up against the island counter. Sooooo awesome. Thanks everyone who contributed or played!

A bunch of other stuff happened too:

• I had some important work meetings and goings on, and they went well.
• We got to spend the night at Raymond and Molly's new house and spend more time with their family than we have in the past. It was really nice to get to know our cute niece and nephews better!
• We went snowboarding at Snowbasin with family and friends. It was super warm and sunny, but the snow was pretty good. We got really sunburned but luckily it peeled or faded before most of our family pictures and the wedding pictures.
• We got to spend the night with our good friends Dan and Carrie and be entertained by their kids - it was especially entertaining to watch Frozen and see Elizabeth dance and the guys fall asleep. We went to a restaurant in Ogden and got the most interesting chicken pot pie I've ever seen. It was essentially a really tasty soup/sauce with a gigantic (like size of a ream of paper) crispy, flaky, airy croissant thing that you break into the bowl. I should have taken a picture!
• "Baby Tannow" (Tanner) was blessed. I'm glad we got to be there for that.

It was such a wonderful, action-packed trip that I'm sure I've forgotten to write about some other things we did. Thank you everybody who let us stay at your house and for being our family and friends! We love you!

We really needed a break from work too, so the timing of this trip was great. Now we're back home, focusing on getting Jeran done with graduate school, and figuring out what to do next!