Bookplates

Somewhere I stumbled across this cool slideshow of bookplates from the Yale Alumni Magazine.  I was thinking - how cool to have personalized bookplates made, I had never thought about it before.  How cool to think that as books wonder through second hand shops and get given to friends, that your bookplate might provide humor or be interesting to other readers. I particularly liked the little poem that came with the one pictured below.

Photo from the Yale Alumni Magazine

What is your take?  In modern times - is it cool or over the top?

Kindle!

My fiance got me a Kindle for my birthday and I love it!  Right now I am reading "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell and enjoying it.  Thanks again!

3 Cups of Tea

Recently I read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson. In 1993, while descending after a failed attempt to climb K2 in Pakistan, Greg got lost and wandered exhausted and sick into a small village called Korphe. Nursed back to health, he promises to build a school for the children of the village who at the time called a barren field their classroom. Fast forward 15 years, Greg is still building schools (131 to date), vocational centers, and infrastructure in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

While at times I wish that the writing style had been more objective (Relin the second author uses quite flowery language to describe Mortenson as a hero), I very much enjoyed the book and felt inspired by Greg's conviction.

The reason that I bring this up now is that parts of the book take place in Waziristan, the area in Pakistan where current military action against the Taliban is underway. Having read this book, this area is not the nameless, faceless place it would otherwise be. I really recommend this book as it provides context, contrast, and depth to the news stories flooding the papers about Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the roots of terrorism.

a good book for a rainy day

Right now it is raining cats and dogs in the bay area - the remnant of Pacific typhoon Melor. What better for a rotten rainy day than snuggling up with a huge down comforter and an engaging mystery novel (well that's my plan when I get home from work). Right now I am reading "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson - a Sweedish author who passed away in 2004 with three completed manuscripts not yet published.

I don't want to give too much away, but the book follows a financial journalist and magazine publisher who has just been recently sentenced to a short stint in prison. He is then hired by a wealthy aging industrialist to ghost write his autobiography. However, the true purpose of his employment is to investigate a cold missing persons case involving the industrialist's brother's granddaugher - who went missing more than 3 decades ago.

It is really suspenseful and the kind of book you want to stay up late at night reading - just one more chapter! I highly recommend it. If you let me know, you can borrow it from me when I am done.