Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson and David Relin (4 of 5 Hiking Excursions)

Three Cups of Tea is the story of one man's quest to end poverty in Pakistan and the surrounding areas, one school at a time.  In 1993, Greg Mortenson, an outdoors enthusiast, set out to climb K2.  In his journey to the top, he became lost, nearly dying on the mountain.  Disoriented, he ended up in the small town of Korphe.  As he recovered there he became very concerned for the well-being of the village's children.  In return for their hospitality he vowed to return to build them a school.

Upon returning to his life in the United States, Greg began writing letters to wealthy people asking for money to build his school.  Several months passed before he was offered a single check for $12,000 from software developer named Jean Hoerni.  It was just enough to build his school.  Greg soon discovered that he was going to have to build a bridge first to get the necessary supplies up to the town.  He built the bridge and asked Hoerni for additional funds.  Impressed with Greg's efforts, Hoerni sent another check.

Within a few years of his K2 attempt, Greg Mortensen had built his first school.  Other nearby villages asked for a school of their own.  Over the next ten years, Greg was able to establish the Central Asia Institute which constructed over 50 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Greg continues to build schools in spite of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.  He does so because he feels that education is the only way to effectively combat terrorism and poverty.

The story of Greg Mortenson is truly inspiring.  The book itself however didn't live up to my expectations.  I wish each chapter would have started with a date and a location.  The book is somewhat disorienting at times because Greg is constantly jumping back and forth between Pakistan and the United States.  I'm also not a big fan of the writing style.  It floats somewhere between a news report and a journal entry.

I really enjoyed the in depth look at life in rural Pakistan, but I think the pacing and direction of the book could have been refined a bit more.  It didn't seem like the plot was going anywhere.  It was just a collection of stories organized chronologically.  Granted, I realize that the "plot" of every life tends to wander here and there.  Nevertheless, when documented in a book, I believe the writer should leave out distracting details in order to hold the attention of the reader.

For those interested in contributing to Greg Mortenson's admirable cause, visit his website https://www.ikat.org/.

A Long Way Down (3 of 5 Suicides)

The first thing that I have to say in this review is that A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby doesn't quite reach the heights of his other books; High Fidelity and About A Boy. However, I still found it worth reading. I also must clarify before continuing and say that no, I am not suicidal, however I did read this book at a very very very low point in my existence, and yes I did relate to certain characters. That said, I will now get to the review segment of this review and stop blathering on about my own mental state.

In Faulkneresque style Hornby has multiple narrators throughout the book whose basic premise (without giving too much away) is that four people decide to leap from a great height sans parachute, not that a parachute would do them a lot of good if their leap was from the tippy-top of a twenty story building in the middle of London on New Years Eve. I am certain it wouldn't open properly, but regardless of that ... these four, named Martin, Maureen, Jess, and JJ, coincidentally meet on the top of the previously mentioned building on the previously mentioned evening.

The drama ensues, and so does the language, that is my only gripe with Mr. Hornby, my mental cussing level spikes whenever I read one of his books, and as I was having a hard time when I read this, so did my actual four-letter word usage, but I have it under control now. If you find vocabulary of that variety objectionable in the extreme I recommend staying away from this author, that said, if you can handle verboseness of the bathroom variety and you like to read about characters who are extremely flawed but somehow likable then this guy is for you.

And now for a character breakdown (awesome segue huh?). Lets start with Martin; oh, Martin, what a moron, this guy thought with his male anatomy, and now all he thinks about is how badly he screwed up, his life is down the tube and returning from his stint in prison has been a bit demoralizing. He lends quite a bit to the chemistry of the group as an instigator/moderator. Probably the one of the group that you could characterize most as a horrible person, and as a result he is probably the best developed, typical Hornby.

Next; Maureen, poor Maureen, I found myself laughing out loud every time she takes a turn as narrator, the intentional unintentional comedy really got me. Accepted as the person with the most valid reason to want to die by the rest of the team she is actually the least down on herself, Her interactions with Jess kill me, so funny.

Lets discuss Jess, the wayward girl, dense to the greatest degree, amazingly messed up, directionless and ultimately the strange glue holding the group together. Very funny, extremely vulgar.

Last, JJ. JJ is the audiophile of the group (a necessary character in any of Hornby's books). JJ is unsatisfied, he wants to be part of something greater, he and Jess trade off being the soul of the book. That may have just been me, but they were the ones I felt for.

The interactions between these people run the gamut of emotion, they hate, love, lift, denigrate, and curse at each other, except for Maureen, she censors them, which is pretty funny in itself. That leads me to an explanation of the manner in which the book is written. The four voices of the book are distinct in their grammar, vocabulary, and thought process, its kind of genius really, occasionally one narrator says something I thought another should have been saying, and Martin and JJ are similar in style, but its not off-putting or difficult to follow. I think as an author it would be fun to write a book this way, in fact, if I wrote a book, I would borrow the idea.

If you dare try and tell me that this is the way Twilight is written, I may unleash a torrent of exasperated rage on you, needless to say Hornby pulls off this particular writing technique (and every other one) way better than Meyer, whose writing is comic in an entirely different way which I will allow you to derive from my previous statement.

So I am not going to tell you how this book ends, that would spoil it. But i can tell you its not exactly a happy ending, it won't be what you expect either, its kind of typical of Hornby. Anyway, I did enjoy this read, I needed a break from the 19th century literature, vapid vampires (and their idiotic love interests), boy wizards (and their homosexual mentors), self-help books (Oh, Jake what have you got me reading), x-wings, dragons, and rogue adventurers in far off seas. It was nice to just read something with a modern dramatic voice and an adequate amount of depth.

Men Are from Mars, Women are From Venus - John Gray (3 of 5 Mismatched Planets)

I suppose that if you're going to do some research on relationships, it's required that you read the so-called Bible on men vs. women.  Well...I wasn't too impressed.  Yes, women and men are different, but those distinctions are not so exaggerated as Gray makes them out to be.

According to Gray, the planet Mars is full of machines looking for attention.  When men have problems, they run off to their "caves" to think.  Women on the other hand are social butterflies who go looking for other people to talk to in order to feel better.  They have different motivations, different communication styles, and so on.  

Gray stresses the importance of communicating feelings between the genders through love letters.  Through these letters, men and women can carefully express what they are feeling and avoid the misunderstandings that take place in heated arguments.

And so on.  There is some good practical information here, but a lot of fluff too.

Date...or Soul Mate? - Neil Warren (4 of 5 Must Haves)

This is the third book I've read by Warren.  The first was Felicity's Finding the Love of Your Life.  The second was Falling in Love for All the Right Reasons.  Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book was watching the evolution of the theories espoused by Warren.  Finding was published in 1992, Date in 2002, and Falling in 2005.  In 1992 he was already talking about how successful relationships were based on a wide variety of similarities.  His second book was published just as eharmony.com was taking off.  The 29 dimensions were included in the book, but only in an appendix at the end.  By 2005, the website had over 6 million members.  His third book examined the 29 qualities in detail.

As you might expect, there wasn't a lot of original material in the second book.  It felt like a rehash of the other two.  However, there were a few tidbits of wisdom.  

Warren stresses the importance of creating a list of ten "must haves" and ten "can't haves."  He provides a list of fifty general things on both sides and then asks you pick your top ten.  Once they are ingrained in your mind, you will be able to make your dates more effective.  If you see one of the can't haves, you should avoid further dates.  If you encounter over five or so must haves, you should consider establishing a relationship.  You shouldn't however get married unless you find all ten.  Essentially effective dating is the product of consciously working out exactly who you are and what you're looking for.

The Christmas Box - Richard Paul Evans (4 of 5 Stone Angels)

Each year in December the stake presidency from my student ward gives Christmas gifts to everyone.  Last year it was a sand dollar. This year it was a copy of The Christmas Box.  They passed them out in early December but I didn't get to it until now.  Yes...Christmas is over, but I still felt obligated to read the book.

And I'm glad I did.  I saw it as a pleasant epilogue to this Christmas season.  It's simple and straightfoward.  Evans doesn't try to write the next Christmas epic.  He merely tells a story that is designed to remind us about the things that really matter.

So it goes.  An older woman who lives in the Salt Lake City Avenues puts an ad in the paper requesting help taking care of her and her house.  A young family takes her up on the offer.  They soon find out that her primary reason for the invitation was not cooking and cleaning.  She's just looking for a little companionship in the sunset of her life...

Anyway...if you also received a copy of the book from President Plumb, and still haven't read it, it's probably a little late.  But don't worry, you're probably not the only one that didn't get through it.  Just put it on the list for Christmas 2009.  

Merry Belated Christmas!

Joseph Smith - The Man and the Seer - Hyrum Andrus (3.5 of 5 Personal Stories)

This book is a collection of personal accounts about the Prophet Joseph Smith.  The book details portions of Joseph's ife from his childhood up through Carthage Jail.  While I do feel like I've come to know Joseph a little better, I wish the book would have had more depth.  Most of the quotes only reconfirm the common knowledge possessed by most primary graduates.

Does anyone have suggestions for more comprehensive biograhpical accounts of Joseph's life? 

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin

Its a rare occasion for a nonfiction book to grab my attention so intensely that I ignore everything else going on in order to finish it. That alone should convince you that Toobin's in-depth look at the the Supreme Court of today is nearly a must-read. "Fascinating" doesn't begin to describe it.

The Supreme Court was established by our Constitution, but it was the Justices themselves who really created the court and what the court's job would be in the grand scheme that is America. Starting slightly before the nomination of the late William Rehnquist as Chief Justice, The Nine offers a highly engaging history of the court in modern times and the way each individual Justice plays a role in shaping our laws and history.

The writing style is awesome--the author artfully weaves the personal stories of all nine justices with the historical events themselves (thus keeping the narrative from getting bogged down with mind-numbing legal explanations or long-winded personal stories)--and the amount of important, contemporary history you get out of one book is amazing.

I have always loved the law and this book has only added to that passion.

Incredible. Can't say it enough.

A++