Book club

OK, so I'm not Oprah, but because I'm bored, I'll put up my appraisals of the non-medical books (not that I've read much in that department) that I've read on deployment thusfar:

1) Generation Kill, by Evan Wright. The story of a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with the 1st Marine Reconnaissance Battalion during the initial invasion of Iraq. Pretty ridiculous. Don't read it if you can't handle some serious Marine-type language ("I want the language"..."You can't handle the language"...get it?) and some fairly gruesome actual war stories. Interesting, though, and, even with my limited knowledge, it seems to be very accurate. Thinking about the big, well-protected vehicles we ride around in now, it's remarkable that these guys were basically in humvees that didn't even have windows. Grade: B+

2) The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert Caro. This is a remarkable book by a remarkable author. I never thought I would get into something like this. My father initially read the trilogy by Moses about Lyndon Johnson. I eventually read those, which I think (almost impossibly) are even better than this book. The amount of research he did is staggering. It is 1100+ pages, but I believe I read somewhere that he edited it down from 3000+! Now, just a word of forewarning: you need to be a nerd to enjoy this book. You can be a cool, attractive, fun nerd like myself, but you need to be a nerd nonetheless. Also, reading this will take a lot of time (something my bank account is full of right now). I highly recommend any books by Moses, though. Grade: A

3) Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, by Daniel Wallace. The book that the 2003 Tim Burton movie was based on. A short, light read, with kind of a neat concept. Short stories based on what seem to be tall tales told by the narrator's father during his childhood, interspersed with the reality of his present-day father, who is sickly and nearing death. Grade: C+

4) One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A crazy story of a Mexican family as it progresses through years and generations. It remarkably tells this story while reminding us (I think) of how certain things tend to stay the same, even though most everything else changes. Most astounding to me was the sheer descriptiveness. To think that Marquez could just pull all of this out of his mind is amazing. It goes on a little long for me, but is still a very good book. Grade: A-

5) How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else, by Michael Gate Gill. A story of how an elderly man who lost his job and is down on his luck in many ways starts working at a Starbucks in New York City. His coworkers are pretty much polar opposites of himself, yet he finds enjoyment in working with them and in serving others that he though he'd never have. He had pretty much had everything handed to him his whole life, but by losing it all, he found this job that gave him more fulfillment than he ever imagined. (That was pretty good, if I do say so myself. I think that should be the synopsis on the back of the book.) It's simply written, but the story is definitely what pulls it through. Grade: B-

6) The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink. The book that the 2008 movie (for which Kate Winslet won an Oscar for Best Actress and which was included in a humorous story on a recent "Tinjblog" post about old people in Palm Springs) was based on. It's an interesting concept for a story that is nicely developed. The most striking thing about it, I believe, is it's philosophical nature. The main character's father is a philosopher in the story, and the author gives a lot of space for the main character to explore his feelings, but, more importantly, WHY he might be feeling that way. It is simple in many ways, complex in others, elegant, and well thought out. I haven't seen the movie yet, but will definitely have to watch it now. Grade: A-

Greetings

Well, I see the old wifers hasn't bothered to put any new posts up here, so I guess it's up to me. Things are (thankfully) going fine here. Fairly monotonous and repetitive, but that's fine. I have been out briefly a few times into some of the local communities, so that has been interesting.

I have taken some pictures of where I am at, but I think I'll have to save those until after the deployment is over. However, I will have to work on putting some other pictures up here. Like, for example, of the sodas that they have over here with Arabic writing. Interesting, and not too bad (at least, the Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi aren't). However, I implore you, never, ever drink diet Sprite out of an Arabic can, should you ever find yourself in this part of the world. That's all I ask. You'll thank me.

It hasn't gotten too hot yet (but buckle up, I'm told). I guess you really get to hate your life in the summer over here. We'll see. Blowing sand hasn't been too big of a deal yet, either, but I've also been forewarned that this will get much worse. The food hasn't been bad, there's a gym here, and a nice area to run, so I can't complain and have gotten a lot of exercise, which is good to pass the time. I think that's about it for now, but will try to periodically put up some more posts.