Nonfiction Book Reviews

Just Checking: Scenes from the Life of an Obsessive-Compulsive by Emily Colas was just as the subtitle says: A compilation of random scenes from the life of a person afflicted with the obsessive compulsive disorder.  I was expecting more of a chronological story (I was born here, I started having problems with OCD at age 15, blah blah) and so the jumping from one time period to another, and from one story line to another, really threw me for a loop at first.

So here’s the scoop: There were parts of the book that were funny.  I even laughed out loud in several places.  But overall, it was a difficult book for me to read, and I hesitated to review it, because there’s a very good chance that other people will react very, very differently than I did to it (much like what happened with Tweak.  Either you loved it or you really…well, didn’t.)

For me, Just Checking was frustrating to read, because her whole outlook on life was illogical.  She had an obsession with blood tainting her food, people poisoning her by chopping needles into tiny pieces and putting them into her food, with germs of any kind, etc.  (Side note: Not recommended dinner-time material.  She mentions garbage and blood and needles one too many times to read this while eating.)

She comes up with the wildest plots you could ever imagine, and all of them ended with her getting some dread disease in a very bizarre way.  The strange part was, she knew it was illogical.  She freely admitted it.  But she couldn’t control it.  I understand that OCD is a disease, but my logical brain just spent the book saying, “Just calm down, lady!” and “Breathe, you’ll be fine!”

I guess the point to my story is that I definitely do not have a future as a therapist.  I could just see myself looking the person in the eye and saying, “You’re just nuts.  You know that, right?”  But in the nicest way possible, because I hate ever making anyone mad.

More than that, I think this book bothers me because it is so light on actual human emotions.  Her husband leaves her for another woman; they get back together and then split up again multiple times; she cheats on him with an ex-boyfriend - lots of human drama here.  Yet I don’t ever really feel any of it.  A definite lack of character development (or plot development, for that matter).

So I guess I will recommend this book to people who find themselves in all of the following categories: Interested in psychology and OCD in particular; like having their stories thrown together in a random way; want a very quick and light read; and want a dash of humor in that reading.  But seriously, if you have a low tolerance level for crazy people who do things that make absolutely no sense to 97% of the world’s population, you aren’t going to like this book.  Sorry.

In the end, when I look at strictly how much I enjoyed this book, I have to give it 3 stars.  For anyone who fits the above categories, I’d probably nudge that up to a decent 4.25.

Take it for what it’s worth.  Anyone else out there read it?  What did you think?  Just wondering how far off base I am from everyone else…

Havs

So the tie-dye dude came in today (for those of you who missed me being called the mother of a 28-year-old woman, please, by all means, check out my post on the topic.  And no, I still haven’t forgiven him for that.)  I was doing check-in, so I didn’t help him out, but I did see him as he came in and almost had the breath knocked out of me when I caught sight of his outfit:

There was no tie-dye to be found anywhere.

I know, shocking huh?  He almost looked…normal.  If I didn’t know he usually dressed in tie-dye from head to toe, I might have thought he was just another patron coming into the library.

My coworker Tiffy was the one to help him, and after they were done, he turned to walk away and said over his shoulder as he went, “I know you can’t see any tie-dye on me, but don’t worry, it’s there.

“Underneath.”  With that, he saunters off to the computers.

*head thump*

Do patrons honestly think we care about their underwear?  Seriously?  I’m just glad that it was Tiffy who helped him and not me, because I might have screamed, “TMI! TMI!” and covered my ears - not exactly an action smiled upon by the Powers That Be.

So it is official - the patrons of my library are completely nuts.  As if there was ever any doubt.

In a completely and utterly unrelated topic, I just had to post a link to the most awesome article you’ll read this year.  Truly.  Written by none other than Dave Barry (as you guys already know, I’m a fan of ol’ Dave) it’s a look back at the year that we just suffered through enjoyed (I’m trying to think positive here).  It’s rather long, but if you have some time, kick back, relax, and by all means, do NOT grab a cup of coffee.  You’ll spew it all over your screen when you start laughing.

Dave Barry’s Year in Review for 2008.  All I can say is: God bless Dave Barry.  He can even make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hilarious.

Havs

The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin was an incredibly interesting read.  I literally couldn’t put it down.  It all started when Jean-Pierre Houdin (who was not an expert on Egyptian anything but was a well-known and successful architect in France) watched a special on TV about how the Great Pyramid was built.

Except as he watched the show, he realized that the two explanations given (the two that were always given as being the only possible ways it could have happened) didn’t make any logical sense.  His builder’s mind went to work, and he realized that there had to be another way.

A normal person would have said, “Oh, that doesn’t make sense.  I wonder how it really happened?” and then went on with their lives.  Not Houdin.  He quit his job, sold his house, and spent years working on the problem.  The subtitle to the book said “one man’s obsession” but I think that’s putting it lightly.

Houdin put together incredibly detailed computer models and approached the problem from the point of view of an architect, not an Egyptologist.  He had no preconceived notions of what the Egyptians did, and therefore came to a completely new and novel explanation.  Along the way, he met Bob Brier who helped his ideas get into the scholarly world and helped him receive funding to pay for the work.

The great part was how the book was written.  I felt like I was reading a murder mystery novel; that I had to turn the page to find out what happens next!  It was fast-paced, and the ending was surprising.  I learned a ton about Egypt (and the pyramids in particular) in the process, without ever feeling like I was actually learning.  It was all just so interesting.  I found myself wanting to read every third page outloud to my husband because it had something new and exciting on it.

My only complaint was that the author reiterated the two old explanations for how the pyramids were built several times, along with why it was that they couldn’t be true.  He must have explained it three times, at least.  The first time, I said, “Wow, I didn’t know that!”  The second time, I thought, “Didn’t he already cover this?”  The third time I just started skipping paragraphs until I could find something new to read again.

I don’t know if the author forgot that he had explained that earlier in the book, and so had added it again and again, or if he just thought it was so darn important that he needed to explain it multiple times to make sure his audience truly understood, but either way, that was annoying to me.

But honestly, that was my only complaint.  If you have even the slightest interest in the pyramids of Egypt, or of architecture, or if you’d enjoy a clean murder mystery (no blood in sight!) you’d love this book.  Published in October of 2008, it’s the very newest theories on the pyramids, and I for one found it fascinating.  Even National Geographic’s gotten in on the act and has put together a special about it called Unlocking the Great Pyramid that goes on sale on January 20th.  Perhaps I’ll request that the library bring it in…

I give The Secret of the Great Pyramid 4.75 out of 5 stars.  Loved it.

Havs

PS For anyone interested on what exactly Houdin’s great theory was, please check out the comment section. And while you’re there, leave a comment.  I love to hear from my readers!

I know it’s been a bit - I’ve been swamped with school stuff for the last month, but now that is done (all A’s, thankyouverymuch) and Christmas is done, so I can get down to the serious business of blogging.  Or something like that.  As if I’m ever really serious.

Anyway, so the other day, I shushed a patron for the very first time, ever.  It is obviously not something I am in a habit of doing, but these kids deserved it.

First, a bit of explanation: We put security strips into our books, so that if someone tried to walk out of the library without checking out, the security system would go off, and they would be caught.  Which is fine and dandy in theory, but in reality, 99.99% of the time when the security system goes off, it’s because we (meaning the circulation clerks at the front desk) missed desensitizing a book on accident, and so the patron has to come back to the desk so we can fix our mistake.  Yay us.

I always feel bad when this happens, because most patrons look shocked and worried when the security gates beep.  I can always tell when a patron thinks, “Oh no!  I didn’t steal anything, but the circ clerk is going to think that I’m trying to - this is horrible!”  They flush red, and start stammering about how they checked everything out, and they don’t understand why the gates are going off, and in general, are extremely worried.  All because I screwed up.  That sucks.

So the other day, I messed up (yet again) and a patron beeped when going through the front door.  She took it particularly hard - I could tell she was hating all of the eyes that were staring at her (the beeping is noisy, so naturally the whole library looks when it is set off) and she was just very nervous about the whole thing.

I told her to come back to the front desk, and as she walked towards me, three boys up on the balcony of the second floor started cat-calling.

“Ohhh!  She’s a thief!  Got caught stealing, did you?” one of the boys yelled out.

“What did you take?  I hope it was good!” another one chimed in.

It was there, for the first time in my librarian life, that I shushed someone.  And I felt awfully good doing it.

“Be quiet!” I yelled up at them.  “We do not need your input!” and gave them the scary eye for good measure, the thousand yard stare that would leave Napoleon shaking in his boots.   Here was this lady, already nervous and hating the situation she was unwittingly put into, and these 10-year-old boys were feeding her nightmare that everyone in the library was mentally branding her as a thief.  Yeah I was pissed off, can ya tell?

The boys stopped their cat-calling instantly, and stared at me, wide-eyed.  I helped the lady and got her out the door (and no, she hadn’t stolen anything - it was, as usual, just me screwing up) and the kids followed shortly after.  I gave them the stink eye the entire way out, and they started scuttling a little faster than normal by time they got to the door.  I wanted dearly for the door to beep so I could lecture them further, but they were clean, and got out without a problem.

And I got to add an experience to my librarian life.  I guess we’re equal.

Speaking of all this fun stuff, I’ve actually only caught one patron trying to steal something.  In a year and a half of working, that’s not bad, right?  Anyway, it was months ago.  The guy was heading out the front door, and it beeped at him.

“Sir, come back!” I called out to him.  He ignored me, and kept going.  I ran to the front doors and called out for him again.  Again, he kept going.  I went through the lobby and to the outer doors, where I yelled out once again.  It was busy, and I wasn’t sure if he had heard me before.  I thought briefly about calling the police, but what if it was just an honest mistake by someone who didn’t realize what he was doing?

As I stood in the open doorway, debating my options, he abruptly turned around and came back to the library.  He walked in and calmly pulled a CD out of his pocket and put it on the counter.  Now I was the wide-eyed person.  He had tried to steal from us, but had brought the item back and offered it up of his own volition.  I didn’t know quite what to make of the guy.  He had almost made it across the street before he turned around.  Why did he even come back?  And more to the point: Do we still call the police?

Turns out the answer is yes, and it also turns out that the guy has a long history of mental problems, and of petty theft.  He had a restraining order put on him that he can’t come back into the library for a couple of weeks (yes, you read that right - weeks, not months or years) and that was that.

Well, except I also got a talking to not to run out the doors after a patron.  I hadn’t technically even left the library (I stayed inside of the library at all times) but apparently you’re not even supposed to go into the lobby after someone.  My boss told me that they might take the opportunity to attack me and kill me.

Oh, the fun things I deal with at the library…

Havs