The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke

By Suze Orman

This is a pretty awesome book for folks in the 20-35 range looking to get a handle on their finances. Suze lays everything out in her classic, no-bullshit style. I don't agree with everything she says (she insists couples who live together have a joint checking account but never says why, and her system for dividing expenses between couples sort of assumes that neither person is ever going to be unemployed), but most of her stuff is really good. She has a bunch of info online too, though you need a code from the book to get access.

She lays out plans of attack, talks budgeting (though without simple, pat answers to everything), explains complex stuff in straightforward terms, and generally gives young folks everything we need to get ourselves on our financial feet. I was very pleased to note that I was already doing most of the stuff she recommended (like focusing on paying off debt before trying to start saving). Woo!

Book 15 in 2009.

Pornology

By Ayn Carillo-Gailey

This is one of those books where I can't tell if it's a true story or not. It's funny and entertaining (and has a lot of good info on porn and the sex industry along the way), but it's also got a lot of the standard, predictable chick-lit stuff that annoys me. So, I'm glad I read it, and I enjoyed it, but I did a nonzero amount of eyerolling along the way.

Book 14 in 2009.

Break Through Pain

By Shinzen Young

I got this book because of a coincidence -- I was in Mountain View for lunch with my Dad and stopped in front of East/West Books to look at their sale rack. I happened to have been dealing with a lot of pain lately, and so this title jumped out at me. It was on massive markdown, so I got it. I'm so glad I did, it's really interesting.

The basic premise of the book, as I understand it, is this: suffering is the result of struggling against pain. If you don't struggle, the pain stays but it's transformed. The book explains a straightforward, deceptively simple method of learning to stop resisting pain. It's based around Zen mindfulness meditation, and comes with a CD to guide you through the exercises described in the book. Shinzen shares his own experiences transforming pain, and those of some of his students as well.

I haven't done a ton of work with the process yet, but I will say that when my knee acted up this week I tried to observe the pain without resisting it, and I could feel the muscles around my knee relax as I did so -- which lessened the pain. Interesting stuff.

Book 13 in 2009. (yeah, I know, I'm behind on updating my booklog. This is book 13, I just haven't posted the other books I've read recently. I'm working on it.)

The Dark Knight Returns

By Frank Miller

This was a really interesting book. I'd heard a lot about it in Batman fandom, and so was psyched when I got it for my birthday. The art is a bit peculiar, but I dug the story and was immensely pleased that Robin is female in this story. Good times.

Book 12 in 2009.

Fool Moon (re-read)

By Jim Butcher

Yep, another re-read. I liked this one just as much the second time around as the first, maybe even more. For one thing, I like that you can really see the seductiveness of being a werewolf even though it's a potentially dangerous, corrupting path to take. Harry's great as ever, so yay. Good times.

Book 10 in 2009.

Storm Front (re-read)

By Jim Butcher

I was talking with my Mom about the Harry Dresden books and decided to re-read 'em. I've read 'em all before (starting here) and quite like 'em. They're not great literature or anything, but they are a lot of fun. I like Harry. I like the secondary characters, too. I like the way magic works in this world, and the way Harry isn't invincible just because he's a wizard. Good stuff.

Book 9 in 2009.

Agyar

By Steven Brust

This is a really interesting book. For one thing, the protagonist, who narrates the tale, is not a very good person. He's not a totally over-the-top scenery chewing vampire or anything, he's just ... not a good person. In a creepily realistic way, too. This is not your standard vampire novel, but it's utterly fascinating and I found it engrossing as hell. I hope Brust does more along these lines -- I really like his version of vampirism.

Book 8 in 2009.

Coraline

By Neil Gaiman

I reread this after seeing the film, and loved it at least as much a second time. SUCH A GREAT BOOK. If you haven't read it, do so. I know it's young adult lit, but it's great, and actually one of the more creepily scary books I've read in a long time. It reaches right into the lizard brain and flips the creepiness switch.

Book 7 in 2009.

Emily's Book of Strange

By Rob Reger

This is a charming little tome. I have enjoyed the various items in the Emily Strange line for some time, and it's fun to have a whole little book about her and her companion cats. This is more a small collection of art than it is a book, but I like it a great deal.

Book 6 in 2009.

Smart Packing for Today's Traveler

By Susan Foster

I borrowed this from a friend and quite enjoyed it! It's not exactly brand new, but the advice is pretty much all spot-on. There are several clever packing tips I would never have thought of, like layering clothes with those plastic bags you get from the dry cleaner -- it helps prevent wrinkling! Some very good stuff here, and I'm going to pick up my own copy one of these days, I think.

Book 5 in 2009.