Believe in belief

"Belief in something is the first step away from believing in nothing, the first step away from a world which only recognised what it could count, measure, sell or buy."
Paul Torday , Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Books read in 2011

I read 26 books in 2011, not counting the b-school books. Not quite 52 but almost halfway.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (January)
Liar's Poke by Michael Lewis (January)
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore (February)
The Paris Wife by Paula McLain (March)
Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination by Hugh Macleod (March)
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (April)
A Favorite of the Gods by Sybille Bedford (April)
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (April)
The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch and Lee Chadeayne (May)
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks (May)
The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy (June)
Blameless by Gail Carriger (July)
Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (July)
Delirium by Lauren Oliver (August)
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (August)
Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto (August)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (September)
Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (September)
The Strange Case of Finley Jayne by Kady Cross (September)
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (October)
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (October)
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (November)
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman (November)
The Novice by Trudi Canavan (December)
Wife by Wednesday by Catherine Bybee (December)
The High Lord by Trudi Canavan (December)

Books I remember reading in 2010:
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (December)
One Day by David Nicholls (December)
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (December)
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh (November)
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cakes by Aimee Bender (November)
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (August)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (July)
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (July)
Blackbringer by Laini Taylor (June)
The Passage by Justin Cronin (June)
Changeless by Gail Carriger (June)
The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt (May)
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (April)
La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith (March)
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (February)
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (February)
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (February)
Anathem by Neal Stephenson (January)

Cutting For Stone by Abraham Verghese

"We are all fixing what is broken. It is the task of a lifetime. We'll leave much unfinished for the next generation."
"What treatment in an emergency is administered by ear?"
The story of Mary Joseph Praise, Thomas Stone, Hema, Ghosh, Genet, Shiva and Marion weaves intricate threads of medicine, surgery, India, Ethiopa, America, family (the ones we're born into and the ones we encounter in our lives), love, and life. The greatest thing about the novel is that it gives us a view into how people can live their lives without the things people think are absolute requirements and still be happy. Live life, don't just suffer it. Help fix things, don't resign to the mess. It's a beautiful story, full of lessons and antedotes. It touches the part of me that wanted to be a doctor when I grow up. It touches the part of me that want to help others. It touches the part of me that learned how to live and be happy with just enough.

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl's advice:
1. Sit at the table
2. Make your partner a real partner
3. Don't leave before you leave

Ted: http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html

We begin with cake; we end with pie

“That year my brother disappeared, I knew very clearly what I could not do. I could not bear college, the ache packed in the assembly line of trays. I could not yet make the move out of the house. I could not buy a plane ticket to go see George and walk by his side hand in hand against a backdrop of brilliant yellow bursting sugar maples. Could not.
But there were things I could manage, smaller things, and so, on my own, I decided it was time to..”

- The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cakes by Aimee Bender

This book touched me, just lightly enough for me to find comfort in its truths but not so hard that I feel crushed by its piercing observations. Rose Edelstein discovers on her twelfth birthday that she can taste the emotions in foods, from the people who prepare them. We follow Rose as she grows up with her unwanted ability, follow through the years of navigating her family’s troubles and emotions, of the conflict of eating foods prepared by emotional people and not eating, and discover her own way to cope with her life and the world around her. The book, true to its title, hints at a deeper sadness but only lightly touching upon it to show its potential but not its full force. It is not an angry book, it could have been. Rather, it is a book of yearning, of difference, of coping, and of discovering self. It is a book of discovering how to live with one’s abilities and dysfunctions.

Window of possibilities

Every morning, for about 8 months now, I walk by a local bookstore called Daunt Books. I've just turned the corner onto Marylebone High Street, thinking thoughts of emails, meetings, coffee, breakfast, and being late to work, when the window display of Daunt Books comes into view. I pause in my step, glance over at the window display. I slow my step but not quit stopping, to see if it has changed since last night or if I had missed something in the window. In such a small space, inevitably, something delights me. It may be a book I've previously read and enjoyed. It may be a book that I've been meaning to read but need reminding. It could be a new book entirely and even more wonderful in its newness. Delightful in almost every way. I stop in front of the window. My eyes scan over the colours and textures of the book covers. My heart warms and my mind slows its buzzing to let my mind soak in what my eyes are already enjoying...possibilities of new reading material.

Cheating a little...

It feels like cheating but I augmenting my book reading with book listening. So far, I've listened to a lot of fantasy and scifi books.

The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
- The Final Empire (Book 1)
- The Well of Ascension (Book 2)
- The Hero of Ages (Book 3)
Under Heaven by Guy Gavrial Kay
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Yes, I did a run of Brandon Sanderson books. They are extremely addicting in their straightforward plot lines but with a twist in character or world.