Reading in Coffeehouses

So, last week, I still had about half of "Every Secret Thing". I tried to renew it, but I couldn't. I guess someone else put it on hold. So, I put "Kafka on the Shore" (Murakami's latest book) on hold. Got an email on Friday that "Kafka on the Shore" was in. So, I buckled down and went to my favorite coffeehouse in the Valley and spent about 2 hours reading. I finished "Every Secret Thing" and was able to return it on the due date. It was a good story. It does seem really messed up how much Patty Hearst was put through. She was kidnapped and spent a couple of years with her kidnappers and did all these things just to survive. So, finally when she gets back to her old life, you'd think that her main ordeal would be over. Unfortunately, it seems like it just began. Of course, about 85% of the book is about her time with the SLA and doesn't focus too much on her being in prison and such afterwards. She does tell about all that stuff. But what I find amazing is that 2 of the people from the SLA are also captured at the same time as her, and it seems that they get more leniency than her. And she was the one kidnapped! Public opinion really seemed to sway this case more than anything. People were so outraged and were so stuck on the fact that because it was Patty Hearst that she'd get special attention from the government and prisons and such, that it went the exact opposite way. So after her huge ordeal, they treated her like she murdered someone and she was only on trial for the Hibernia Bank Robbery.

Well, I guess all the events surrounding the time of the SLA and Patty Hearst really marked a point in history. I think it was the first time that the Stockholm syndrome was used for a kidnappee in the US. I think it proved a lot of things in the psychological sense and how she went through what she did. It's a pretty unbelieveable story. I don't know what I would've done under those circumstances, but it is fairly miraculous that she survived. Sounds like she was damaged mentally and physically, but somehow was able to move past it all.

Well, I'm back into fiction. So far, the 30 pages of "Kafka on the Shore" are good. I'll keep you updated...

Spoken Like a Champion

So, I finished Icy Sparks last week. It was good. I didn't enjoy it as much as some other books I've read, like "Secret Life of Bees", but thought it was a pretty good read. I'm now really into the book I'm reading. Patty Hearst's autobiography of her kidnapping in the SLA. It's called, "Every Secret Thing". I know that I'll never know what actually happened, but it's super interesting to read her account of everything. I'm enjoying it immensely.

Work has been really crazy, so it's been difficult to find time to read lately, but I'm still reading a few pages a day at least. I also passed my belt test and am now an orange belt in my martial arts class. It's been going well, aside from a lot of people there thinking I'm 14 and 16 years of age. I guess it's nice to look young, just never thought I looked that young.

Well, work is still kicking my ass, so I'd better get through it. I have tomorrow to look forward to. I'm going to a work event in San Diego. Sucks that I have to get up super early to be down there, but I figure for a day on a boat with food and alcohol and not having to be at work, but being paid for it just the same, is actually a good thing.

Whistle While You Read

I finished the short stories by Murakami. And, actually, the last one entitled, "Honey Pie" was my favorite. I can't really explain why, it was just a good story. Although, the Super Frog saving Tokyo was a good one too!

My books that I put on hold at the library are still not in. I have no idea what is happening with that. So, in the meantime, I lucked out and found a book that is on my booklist at the library. I'm about 1/4th of the way through it. Just started it over the weekend. It's called "Icy Sparks" by Gwyn Hyman Rubio. It's a sort-of girlie book about this girl growing up in Kentucky. So far, it's okay. It's a sweet story. I'm interested to find out where it goes. I'm just hoping that by the time I'm almost done with it, that one of the books I put on hold will be in. I'm thinking of putting the last fiction book of Murakami's that I haven't read yet on hold too. Out of 3, one should come through soon, right?

So, it is the start of another year. 2006. Grr and I are ready. We're armed with fur! I gues this means I'm going to be 27 soon. Strange, I don't feel like I'm getting that close to age 30. But, I suppose that's how it goes. Weeeeeeeee...

Back to whistling and working.