Beam Reach / Books

Gilead

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Rating: 5 - Love to own

This is a wonderful book, not exciting but wonderful.  The book is about a dying priest leaving his wisdom to his 7-year old son in a long letter.  There are lots of discussions about theology that make this a great book.  I guess sooner of later, everyone comes to the same understanding of life.  I use the word understanding, not conclusion, because language is too limited.  People try different ways to explain the same understanding, and this book does a pretty good job.  Not that I claim to know what life is about...

Buddha Baby

Buddha Baby by Kim Wong Keltner

Rating: 2 - Not regret reading

As an Asian living in the bay area, of course I was interested in this book about Asian in the bay area.  The book described very well how an ABC (American-born Chinese)'s conflicting feelings about racial identity, which is why I don't regret reading the book.  However, I wonder how big the audience of this book is.  I for one was not too impressed by the book.  Plus, my inner voice says: "You speak perfect English, have good education, able to choose to have a low paid job (being an artist), so why are you still complaining?  I'd love to trade places with you."  Having said that, I think some part of the book is quite funny.  The book also highlighted some not very well known facts, like sometimes a white person can be a lot more Chinese in every way expect the look.  LOL.

Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade

Never hit a Jellyfish with a Spade by Guy Browning

Rating: 4 - Worth Keeping

Funny.  A good coffee table book.

Time Off for Good Behavior

Time Off for Good Behavior by Mary Lou Quinlan

Rating: 3 - Will recommend

Of course I was intrigued by the title.  As I'm in the midst of taking time off, I was very interested in what other people think about this idea.  In that sense, this is a good book.  It covers the pre-break, break and post break and provides guidance to people in the different stage via examples.  The only thing I did not like was that the author only took 5 weeks off in total and really did not go into the spiritual growth too much in the book.  On the other hand, the description of Type A personality was quite good.  I guess it is that Type A personality made the author write a book about taking time off after 5 weeks of time off, uh?

Body for Life

Body for Life for Women by Dr. Pamela Peeke

Rating: 2 - Not regret reading.

Pretty good book, for example, the daily progress report is quite good.

Drawing for dummies

Drawing for dummies

Rating: 2 - Not regret reading

Not a bad book, for may not be the best as the first drawing book (IMHO).

The Queen's Fool

The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory

Rating: 3 - Will recommend

Fantastic book.  I definitely would recommend it.

Virgin's Lover

The Virgin's Lover by Philippa Gregory

Rating: 3 - Will recommend

I really like Philippa's historical novels.  I can't believe I finished this one in 2 days.  It was hard to put the book down!

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Rating: 3 - Will recommend

An easy read.  Very entertaining.  Well done.

The Wrinkle Cure

The Wrinkle Cure by Nicholas Perricone

Rating: 4 - Worth keeping

This is a good book.  It goes into the skin ageing process and explains why certain topical treatments, supplements and meal plans are good for the skin.  However, the style of writing is a bit irritating - it's like an infomercial except it's in a book format instead of TV.

Overall though, there was a few good advice.  Of course, although the resources page indicated that you could get products with the important ingredients in places other than Dr. Perricons' own website, you would soon realize that the easiest way is to pay the astronomical amount of money and buy his product.  What a surprise.