I’m a fan of biographies to begin with, so I knew I’d really enjoy this book. And enjoy I did. This crazy roller-coaster tale of the life of Steve Jobs grabbed me from the first chapter and the only thing that prevented me from finishing this faster was the sheer size of the book. It was too large for me to lug around when I left the house.

(I’d have purchased the Nook version, but I was appalled that the actual hardcover only cost me $5 more than buying the pixels.)

Steve Jobs’s accomplishments are well-known. He was the creative mind (genius? maybe…) behind all of Apple’s successful products and a few of the not-so-great ones. He was one of the men who gave us Pixar’s beautiful and touching movies.

I knew he was impossible to please and a viscous taskmaster of a boss. What I didn’t know was how much of an ass he was.

Stubborn, spoiled and sometimes stinky, Jobs screamed, sulked and cried until he got what he wanted. He screwed over his friends, berated his employees, and blatantly favored his son over his daughters. He even purposely parked in the handicap spot at Apple rather than have his own CEO spot. As he whirled like a manic-depressive Tasmanian devil through Silicon Valley, Hollywood and beyond, Jobs was surrounded by the most indulgent and enabling supporting cast ever assembled. But he possessed some kind of Svengali-type power that kept these people on his side and fully participating in his distorted reality.

The author, Walter Isaacson, kept me reading and more surprisingly, CARING about this gigantic diva, even when he did things like use his wealth and connections to get a new liver sooner in Tennessee rather than wait longer on the California transplant list. Isaacson did a great job explaining what made Apple products so innovative without bogging the text down with tech talk. He also gave a nice peek into the world of the super-wealthy, a world where sitting President Bill Clinton stays in one of Jobs’s houses while he visits Chelsea at Stanford.

The appearances by another Bill, Bill Gates, were my favorite parts of the book. I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow and mellow through the years.

You already know Steve’s rise began in his parent’s garage, and you know it ended prematurely in October of 2011. This book will fill you in on all of the juicy stuff in the middle.

PS: I’m a PC.

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Oh this book…this amazing book. Not only is it completely TRUE, but I think I ran through every emotion possible.

I was sad for Henrietta’s death. I was amazed at all of the progress that came as a result of her (legally taken without consent) cells. I was angry at the culture of abuse, poverty and philandering that surrounded the Lacks family. I cried like a baby when Deborah and Zakariyya looked through that microscope. I was proud of Deborah’s determination to learn about what happened to her mother and her sister. I was puzzled by the ethical questions surrounding the HeLa cells.

And then I donated money to the Henrietta Lacks Foundation because I am one of the biggest bleeding hearts you’ll ever meet.

When does research based on tissues taken without consent cross the line from noble to questionable? Is it when people and/or institutions profit from it? What if the profit is only increased prominence? I have no answers, but I’m glad that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks offered me these questions to think about.

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This is the story of how Howard Schultz, once he became CEO (sorry, Howard, but I capitalize it) of Starbucks again, managed to turn around the company’s finances during the recent recession by modernizing it while remaining true to its mission. “Onward” is how he signs his memos, in case you’re curious.

I enjoy going to Starbucks, so I was predisposed to enjoy the R&D and marketing stories of the various products (Pike Place Roast, VIA, Vivanno) that I’m familiar with. One thing this book proves is that Schultz knows and loves coffee! When he writes about coffee, his words seem to leap off of the pages and take on a life of their own. Make no mistake — this is a CEO book. Victories are loudly and frequently trumpeted and defeats are quickly glossed over. There is frequent name dropping and back-patting.

Oftentimes, the narrative jumped back and forth through time. While I understand that it was to demonstrate how different projects and events came to pass, it was a bit jarring to go from Schultz being 4 months into his CEO post back in time to the meetings he had two months before he decided to take the post. Reading the transcripts from memos, meetings & earning calls grew tiresome. I work for a national corporation and once you’ve read one memo (especially the “shared sacrifice” type) you’ve read them all.

If you don’t like Starbucks, I think this book will annoy you to no end. But if you like real-life stories of corporate derring-do, pick up this grande sized read.

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I finally finished this book after putting it down twice because I never expected to be bored by the furious love story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Once you make it through to the point of their first marriage the book loops over and over. New movie. New gaudy jewel. New place to live. New fights. New movie. She’s always the most beautiful and intelligent woman to ever walk the earth. He’s always wracked with guilt for abandoning family/stage/roots. They were both alcoholics and pill poppers. Shampoo, rinse, repeat.

The most interesting part for me was not their crazy opulent lifestyle, but how much Hollywood changed from their hey-day to the end of their careers.

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Wait..what!??? Who??? No. Just…no.

It’s not even a good quote.
Team Tipper ftw!

I’m back to REALLY REALLY.

One of the unfairities of life is that just because you enjoy something doesn’t mean you’re great with them. And because I’m bad at geography and movies, I am not very good at crossword puzzles.

Which means that in the world of the New York Times, where the puzzles become more difficult throughout the week, my progress peters out mid-week.

Not cool. Someday I’ll finish a Sunday puzzle. Then I’ll frame it and have it cremated with me when I die.

‘Til then, I’m sticking with this lovely book I found at the bookstore!

Nothing but Wednesday puzzles! Meaning I can challenge my brain and still have a great shot of finishing the darn puzzles!! Plus the coffee theme is pretty cute.

I’m back to a puzzle a day, baby.

Next up: Thirsty Thursdays!

Remember Mad Libs? You ask your partner for a list of words (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, etc) and fill their answers into the blanks in the story. Then you read the story back and the nonsensical words your partner provided without knowing their context makes for a strange and funny story!

Except…not.

This girl was just reading through the story sentence by sentence, and prompting her mother for the words in context.

Girl: “The baker said, ‘I can make an adjective cake for you.’”
Mother: “tasty”
Girl: Okay. “The baker said, ‘I can make a tasty cake for you.’”

I could have cried for this poor [noun] who is going to think that Mad Libs is total [adjective] waste of time and wished she could have had her mother [verb] a Twilight book instead. Team [boy's name] FTW!

Then I was struck with [noun] as I [adverb] realized that the [adjective] mother most likely knew how to [verb] a Mad Libs story. Why didn’t that [noun] correct her daughter? Or at least read the very [adjective] directions that appear on every Mad Libs [noun]?

Although the company was [adjective] at least my [noun] was tasty!

The Cherry Hill Libary (to which I pay $25 every 2 years for membership) has a used book sale twice a year. Tonight was the first “open to the public” evening, so WM and I went after work.

He adores used book sales. He’s partial to history and religion books – you should see our bookcases! While he dove into the stacks and boxes, I took note of the titles available.

Most of the books are donated by the community so these were cast-off books. Some of the books were very old, so I assumed they were donated after the original owner passed on. Others were “trendy” books like the DaVinci Code and the Harry Potter series. Books that EVERYONE read once, but while some attached themselves to the books, most moved on and the books ended up donated.

There were heaps of self-help books, which is pretty telling about us as a society. I saw 3 copies of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” 5 copies of “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” 4 copies of “Passages,” and 4 copies of “Simple Abundance.”

There was also an old family Bible with the names of a couple and a date of 1947 engraved on the front. A wedding gift, perhaps? I believe there is a special place in hell for people who’d dump the family Bible in the library donation box, and my belief has nothing to do with religion.

The saddest boxes of all are what I call the “dream deferred” boxes, like the one above which mostly holds books bought by and for aspiring writers. There were three of them like this, replete with Style Manuals, Market Guides, and freelancing tips. Did these writers succeed and decide they didn’t need the books anymore? Or did they put away their pens and notebooks permanently? We’ll never know. I prefer to think of the aspiring writer who’ll find these books in their boxes and follow their own dream.

WM and I came away with 12 books. His were, as I predicted, all history and religion. I picked up “Good in Bed,” “Atonement,” “The Jane Austin Book Club” and a book of daily devotionals.

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, at least Meyer wrapped up the loose ends. And that we got to meet other, less-neurotic vampires. And Bella finally, FINALLY jumped off of the “I’m not worthy to be with Edward because he’s so DAZZLING and I’m so plain!” train. Of course, it took a huge change in her for that to happen.

Read the rest of my “review.” WARNING! It has spoilers.

Visit my Goodreads page.

Yeah, it’s a real stereotype-a-rama. Featuring lines like:

…as if there was this voice whispering at me most of the time we were together saying, She’s 35—don’t stay with this girl unless you’re serious about settling down with her. I know that sounds crazy, but I assumed, given the biological facts of life, that she didn’t have time to waste on a casual relationship.

And maybe I’m hypersensitive about it (I’m 35, WM’s 29) but while I do want a child and feel sad that my window for that is closing sooner rather than later, my getting into this relationship did not hinge on whether WM wanted kids sooner, later, or at all.

The “How much does age matter when dating?” story actually talks about dating younger people when you’re over 50.

In less-vitriolic news, I bought a bunch of fresh basil today from Wegmans. I want to freeze it, but many of the freezing “recipes” feature chopping it with olive oil and freezing it in ice cube trays. I wonder if the olive oil will cause future uses to become too fatty.

I bought “Twilight” yesterday, primarily because a lot of the bloggers I read have been loving it. I tore through 295 pages in one sitting. I love vampire stories – used to adore Anne Rice’s stuff until it got religious and weird. The best part is I’m so late to this bandwagon that there are two (and soon to be three) books AFTER this one! And a movie coming out in December!

This afternoon I’m off to Michael’s with Mom to look at beads (I have a coupon!), then maybe look for a cute pair of black kitten heel slides.

Prior experiences with MSN:
June 6, 2008: Screw you (again) MSN
May 1, 2008: Writer, activist, Cougar
April 5, 2008: April 5, 2008 (creative post title, there)
February 13, 2008: Still loving my MSN homepage
October 14, 2007: Thanks MSN. Have some Cheetos.