My Book Review of 2006

Hello, everyone~!!

It really is getting closer to the end of the year, and I finally made it to this holiday! Yaaay! At the same time, the fact that 2006 will come to an end very soon surprises me... I guess the way I feel time passing has been changing little by little as I get older. It's too fast!!

Well, today I would like to talk about books I read this year. I've enjoyed reading in Japanese for several years, and making a list of the Japanese books which I read this year would take a long time. So I'm going to make my reading list of books written in English. ^^ (You can go to details of each book just by clicking on links. These links will lead you to the website "amazon.co.jp". You can read details about the books in Japanese♪)

01. The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Talking about this really reminds me of the day I bought this. I was in Maryland when I bought this book! I even remember that I went the book store with Yuki! Well, the only thing I knew about this book at that time was that this novel would be made into a movie. (I saw the movie, but I liked the novel better.) I wondered if I could finish this at first, but I found it interesting to read this book as the story went on. I sometimes had a hard time reading it because I came across the words I didn't know. However, I finally finished reading it and it was an enjoyable reading!

02. Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper
This book is also one of the books I bought in Maryland. I was surprised at the fact that he published a book! When I'm in Japan, I occasionally tune in to CNN because it's helpful for my listening skill of English. So I happened to know him when I watched his show at home. He gradually became my favorite anchor of CNN for some reason... (I guess it's because his English is easy to understand.) Anyway, I enjoyed reading this because I sort of understood what it's like to be a journalist, and his background. I also thought about the importance of communication infrastructure because I learned that making people's voices heard was crucial by reading this book.

03. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Reading books written in English sounds a bit difficult at first, but this book made me want to change that thought. I came to realize that the story which is interesting can be interesting regardless of languages after I read this novel. I enjoyed this book so much that I almost forgot getting off the train! (Hahaha...)

04. A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks
I already had this book before I bought "The Notebook", and I once read it when I was a high school student. At that time, all I thought about was the length of the book and I didn't remember much about the story. So I decided to read it again. The story made me remember the old saying "You can't tell a book by its cover. "

05. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
After I read this, I never see McDonald's (or other fast food restaurants) without thinking of what this book talked about. The author gave me a lot of insightful details about the fast food industry. Some of them horrified me, but at the same time I thought that it is my own decision whether or not I would eat fast food. So I'm going to try to live with it wisely. Also, this book made me want to rethink about what I eat on a daily basis.

06. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
I was interested in reading this book after I read several reviews on MEI students' blogs. Moreover, a friend of mine once told me that the movie version of "Tuesday with Morrie"(This book was written by Mitch Albom as well.) was moving and beautiful, and in her opinion the script in the movie was striking. So I began reading this book with great expectation. At first, it took a while to get used to his style of writing. After that, I started to enjoy reading it! Also, the fact that every little thing in everyone's life has a meaning will remain in my heart.

07. The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman
At first, I was drawn to the title of this book when I saw the Japanese edition at my university's bookstore. However, I have never been interested in reading books that were translated into Japanese because, in my opinion, translation would somehow change a story. So I didn't feel like trying to read it at that time. Some time later, I saw Nina talked about this book and the author's lecture meeting at UM on her blog. I suddenly felt close to the book, and that was when I decided to read it. I started reading this in early December, and I set up a goal to finish it by the end of December. And... I finished reading it on Dec 26th!! I doubted if I could read through the book at the beginning, but I actually enjoyed it. The author gave me a new way to look at the world with readable English.

Well, do you find some books that you're interested? Each of them has a different, and fascinating aspect. I will write about books again when I find something interesting!

Anyway....
I hope all of you enjoy the rest of the winter holiday and happy new year!