Reflections on Taipei: Expat Residents Look at their Second Home was a fantastic read. I’m mightly impressed with the Taipei City Government for publishing such an informative and interesting look at a collection of ex-pats standard of living and way of life in Taipei. Changing city landscapes are endlessly fascinating, and I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to live in Taipei in the 70’s and 80’s, when it was in it’s formative years.

Mmmm….hun dun….let me count the ways. I just found a fantastic hun dun restaurant and enjoyed a fabulous bowl of won ton soup. Yum!

“Her body moved with the frankness that comes from solitary habits.”

Kingsolver had me hooked with this opening sentence and I was hardly able to tear myself away from this book after starting it. “Prodogal Summer” is beautifully written. What a wealth of knowledge this book is! It’s truly a treasure to read. Her words literally soaked into my skin, and I was once again reminded of the natural world that I inhabited when I was young and how much I miss being able to connect with it.

It left me wanting the simplicity of life. No fuss. No muss. Just good old honest living with all the simple pleasures that life holds and a true desire to learn from all that life has to offer.

One of the ultimate books I’ve read on adventure travel. Lonely Planet always delivers the goods.

This is a great book. It was full of interesting stories, facts and research about the differences between men and women, based on findings from research on the brain, pyschology and evolutionary biology. It’s clearly written and easy to understand and at times, had me laughing out loud.

As usual, John Irving continues to astound me with his wacky and weird stories. I found myself somewhat disgusted and fascinated with this novel at the same time. I really like John Irving and he never fails to impress me. This novel had me marveling at how much I can like and dislike a character at the same time. “Until I Find You,” has been one of the most interesting books I’ve read this year.

ACK! I was surprised and dismayed by the ending to season 3. I’m not even a huge OC fan, and I can’t believe that they ended it this way. I’m dying to tell you but I don’t want to spoil it for the rest of you who haven’t seen it. I’m not sure where they’re going to take the show after this season but I’m sure it will be interesting.

Richard Preston scared the heck out of me with, “The Hot Zone,” and coincidentally, introduced me to the fascinating world of microbiology and the the world of viruses. Naturally, I was quite enthusiastic to read his new latest non-fiction book titled, “Demon in the Freezer.” It was completely enthralling and again, he scared me to death and really made me think about the threat of biological warfare.

Although a few scenes made me laugh, this movie was still quite possibly one of the dumbest movies I have ever seen.

Depeche Mode is one of my favorite all time bands and this is one of my favorite albums! It came out when I was 15 years old and I still listen to it 16 years later! It reminds me of track and field season in high school. I’ve seen them live three times and they are awesome.