First Bite: How We Learn to Eat by Bee Wilson

First Bite: How We Learn to Eat by Bee Wilson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is great. It should be part of the human body owners manual. This book wold be especially useful to parents and educators.

A lot of the information at the beginning was repetitive for me, but it got into really interesting information about food-tasting experiments, how culture affects our eating historically (in the US and Japan), how family affects our tastes, and how genetics affects our tastes and eating habits. There's a particular emphasis on getting picky eaters to be less picky- especially children- but also as adults. That said, I'm not a picky eater and my kids aren't very picky either and I still thought this book was fascinating and very useful.

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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, I love it. I can't help it. Even better than Sense and Sensibility. Tortured love!! Yes, please.

I love the characters especially the main heroine Lizzie. I love the relationships that develop. Also I love Lizzie's father's speech about respecting your partner in marriage.

What this novel does so much better than the other Jane Austen novels is make you feel Lizzie's feelings completely, her shame as much as her longing. I want to read this book a million times.

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Cold Feet by Amy FitzHenry

Cold Feet by Amy FitzHenry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was a well-written and really touching story about family, and about what family means when you don't have a lot of biological relatives. I'm very much in that position myself, and it's true that close friends are your family, but it 's rarely on an equal basis because they have their own families. I found the ending particularly touching and insightful regarding good relationships, friendships, and marriage.

A lot of the others commented that the character is too cold at the beginning but I really don't think she is. She's supposed to be a little removed from all the emotions she's feeling at the beginning. That's part of the point of what the character is going through.

Also, I really liked the little legal explanations. They were brief and very accurate, and I like the idea of the character seeing things in terms of her own profession and interests.

Kind of have a crush on the Dusty character now. Haha.

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Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved this book almost as much as Ender's Game, but I did miss the battle/ battle-game scenes.

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The Real Purpose of Parenting by Philip B. Dembo

The Real Purpose of Parenting: The Book You Wish Your Parents Read by Philip B. Dembo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a good book, and parents should follow the advice given to raise independent children that do not resent their parents. No small task. I gave the book only three stars because I think there's a lot of interesting research out there now and this didn't really include any new scientific findings.

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A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I give up. I almost never give up on books and it was unimaginable that I would give up on a book in a series I was enjoying, but I feel like the editors must have done their jobs well on the first four books and then were handcuffed on this one. It was fun while it lasted.

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Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. This is one of those books that when you finally read you're mad that you waited so long to read it. I'm even trying to get my husband to read it- even though he's usually not a fan of "genre" books. But this book is about so much more than science fiction. It's about war but also about platonic love, sibling love, and rivalries. It's about the failure of moral responsibility.

It's also a frighteningly accurate prediction of current day technologies and the resulting moral quandaries -- such as drones.

Looking forward to reading many more Orson Scott Card novels.

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Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sisters Elinor and Marianne debate their views on love and then experience them in real life. It's not the deepest book I've read, but it has some truthful observations about people who believe themselves to be superior (hint: you're not) and true love springing from respect. Elinor's love story is charming.

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Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan

Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness by Chade-Meng Tan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was a little better than my rating suggests, but I've recently read a lot of books on the topics addressed in this book- happiness, mindfulness, meditation, and motivation, and this is the least impressive book on these topics. (Also assome other reviewers have commented, repeatedly bringing up google and name-dropping is distracting and annoying.)

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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip Heath
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Each chapter covers a different concept to employ while attempting to bring about change. Some of the concepts are not very distinct though so there aren't many things you can directly use. It's a nice follow-up to Happiness Hypothesis.

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