Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell believes exactly what I have always known: that success is a combination of hard work and luck.  There are a lot of hard working people in the world, unfortunately not all of them are lucky enough to be successful.  

It makes me wonder what I've done in my life for ten thousand hours.  Several things come to mind, however I don't think I can apply any to my career (reading would only work if I was intending to be a book editor, which I definitely am not).

In the end, however, my dad is right.  While is was a very interesting read, in five, ten years, it will be dated.  

"Hard work is a prison sentence only if it does not have meaning."

In the Company of Angels

At first, I thought it was alright.  Not great, but alright.  But the plot never really grew.  These characters were stuck in their battles almost.  And then the author throws in a random bit about the Mother Superior's family doing scientific testing on children.  Save yourself and don't read the book.

The Prophet

Pretty good.

Very inspirational for a 100 pager.

I loved the part where he talked about teaching and influencing children, but not controlling them.  Definitely a lesson some people could use.

Here's my favorite quotes:

"Work is love made visible."

"Yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream."

"Beauty is not a need but an ecstasy."

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

For the first time ever, I have successfully re-read a Harry Potter book before seeing the movie.  In fact, I still have yet to see the movie!

But I do love this book.  Its intricate yet subtle.  It answers a lot of questions yet creates more holes to the trilogy.  Easily one of my favorite Harry Potters.  Its also one of the first times that J.K. Rowling emerges as a true(ish) author.

All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

With a title like that, I expect something witty, different and inspiring.

Instead, I found clichés in every sentence and barely anything that really moved me.

Well, except maybe this quote, which I feel is very appropriate for parts of the United States:

"My country was dry, as only a country filled with Baptists could be." p. 25

Overall, not something I'd be recommending any time soon.

Love in the Time of Cholera

I love Gabriel García Márquez.  Easy to read he's not, but he's easily one of the most eloquent writers I've seen.  The man could write about the most grotesque subjects, and they could be beautiful.

I definitely enjoyed this book, even though it took me 2 months to finish.  While there were definitely odd and uncomfortable scenes (a 70 year old bedding a 13 year old is a bit much for me), I couldn't help but be mesmerized.  

"Florentino Arizo stated it another way: 'The world is divided into those who screw and those who do not."  He distrusted those who did not: when they strayed from the straight and narrow, it was something so unusual for them that they bragged about love as if they had just invented it.  Those who did it often, on the other hand, lived for that alone. "  p. 183

"Old people, with other old people, are not so old."  p. 312

Less Speech More Secret

Tom Rob Smith is a very excellent writer.  He writes in a very fluid, detailed style that makes his books impossible to put down.

I absolutely loved "Child 44" and read it in 3 days.  His sequel on the other hand, "The Secret Speech" was a bit harder to get into.

It had much of the same elements and I definitely recommend it to people.  It was more out of personal taste that I just didn't like it as much.  I guess I was missing the gore and suspense the other one had.  And I suppose the personal character battle just wasn't the same.