I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith


2012 Book 1: I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (1/2/2012)

I Capture the Castle has been sitting on my to-read pile for years…ever since my aunt gave me a copy and told me I’d love it. She was right! It is a sweet (and a little silly) coming-of-age story about a girl, Cassandra, who lives in poverty in a dilapidated castle with her eccentric family. She wants to live in a 50/50 mix of a Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte novel, so you can guess how the story progresses when a rich family moves in nearby! I’m happy that I took time to read this gem. I gave it 4/5 stars.

Devil in the Details

In this bittersweet memoir, Jennifer Traig laughs about her puzzling problems growing up with obsessive compulsive disorder in an era before OCD was a recognized disorder. With a witty humor, she describes trials that would have permanently scarred a less resilient youth. In a world where OCD is stereotyped in pop culture, TV shows, and movies it is a relief to find someone willing to provide a more realistic, though upbeat, view of this very debilitating disorder. I imagine many people will be able to find a little of themselves in Jennifer Traig, and teens now facing such issues will find the upbeat happy ending comforting. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

The Day After Tomorrw, by Alan Folsom


  • In “The Day After Tomorrow,” Alan Folsom weaves together a wide array of well-developed, interesting characters in an international murder mystery. It begins when Paul Osborne accidentally spies the man who murdered his father more than a decade earlier. Obsessed, he initiates a man-hunt which propels him into a powerful political intrigue as well as setting himself up as the prime suspect for an international serial killer. Despite the promising beginning, Folsom fails to deliver the anticipated suspense. Folsom’s attempts at tantalizing foreshadows belly-flop when, by page 300 of this 600 paged book, he feeds enough information that an experienced reader will easily guess the “shocking” end. The final 300 pages of the book tediously develop a new (scientifically and historically impossible) twist on a plot which has been regurgitated since the mid-1900’s.

  • Although Folsom’s writing style is generally fast-paced and entertaining, unfortunately the suspense is repeatedly interrupted by over-ambitious development of the characters’ sexual identities. Some of this development is necessary, but most of it is superfluous.

  • I would recommend this book for people who read quickly and do not try to interpret foreshawdows. I give this book 2 out of 5 stars.

Guns, Germs, and Steel

I have been watching the National Geographic Documentary “Guns, Germs, and Steel,” based on the best-selling book by Jared Diamond. This was excellently filmed and very interesting. I recommend it to anyone interested in anthropology or history. The main question addressed is—“Why do white men have more cargo?” In other words, why were Europeans successful in conquering and colonizing most of the world? For risk of simplification, I will summarize Diamond’s idea:

The Fertile Crescent in the Middle East was the geographically lucky origin of not only wheat and barley (VERY important staple crops) but also of most of the domesticated animals. This herding and farming culture provided enough agricultural excess to support non-herders and non-farmers, who were able to develop technology and skills (like writing). Their closeness to animals also exposed these people to germs, which over hundreds of years they developed a genetic immunity to. The ideas, animals, and crops easily spread along an East-West axis (where people were attracted to similar climates and lengths of days) into Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. So in the end, Europeans had guns, germs, and steel on their side.

The Americas, unlike Eurasia, are narrowly shaped along the East-West axis and broadly shaped along the North-South axis. Therefore, although there were some crops, one domesticated animal (the llama), and one written language (that of the Mayans in Central America), technology and food was not easily interchanged in the Americas. When Europeans came with their guns, germs, and steel, the native population was decimated.

Although I find this idea very fascinating and fairly convincing, I have a few qualms. First of all, I understand that the area around Panama is very narrowly shaped along the East-West axis, making exchange of ideas and goods difficult. However, North America, at least, is not too VERY long and narrow. Not narrow enough for this to be the main factor which slowed the progress of civilization. The documentary also does not address the reason why the Europeans apparently won this war. After all, if it is merely geographical closeness along an East-West axis to the Fertile Crescent, then wouldn’t Asia be just as likely to succeed as Europe? And, in fact, the moors were quite successful for quite a long while. So why didn’t they colonize the Americas, India, Africa, and Australia?

My answer to that is “just wait.” The war isn’t over yet.