This was a fun book. I didn’t review Colbert’s picture book, and reviewing a humor book is not easy. Still, I smiled my way through this book.

I adore Stephen Colbert. Sadly, I have not watched “The Colbert Report” on a regular basis for a couple of years now. It use to be part of my morning routine from 2006-8. I think Colbert is very funny and clever. I enjoyed the last book, but I think this was even funnier.

The audiobook would probably be hilarious too. I couldn’t find it near me and I wouldn’t have been able to wear the provided 3-D glasses.

Part of what I like about Colbert is that he and his team are clearly very intelligent. The humour that comes with that is smart, but also sometimes very random. It is sometimes a bit sad when you realize how many people actually believes the things he satirizes, but Colbert finds humor in that sadness. That’s what comedy is for to be honest.

I also feel he writes some of the best Canadian jokes by a non-Canadian comic:

Sourry for my superfluuous Canadian u’s in words like “flavour” and “colour”. Up here you gotta layer the extra vowels to keep the consonants warm.

Colbert also has a way with words as in, he uses puns, vocabulary and diction a lot. My kind of comedian. All of this just reminds me that I need to watch TCR more again.

Even though this is pure satire, I think humor counts as nonfiction especially considering how this book touches on so many current affairs issues. I recommend it for all Colbert-Stewart lovers, but also people who like political satire more broadly.

Read March 24-25th 2013.

Let’s Talk About Love: A Journey to the End of Taste by Carl Wilson

This little book is more than a book about Céline Dion. It is a discourse and meditation on art, aesthetics, taste, and culture generally. It covers much ground in such a small package, and I really would read it again. I recommend it for those of us who question why we like the things we do and why others do the same or not. It’s a book about being open and about being human in culture. It’s about perception, sociology and individuality.

This was another book from Nick Hornby’s column, and I love that we love the same things. Anyway, the premise is that Wilson, a Canadian music critic, wanted to explore the fame of and backlash against Céline Dion. Doing so, he explored how we feel about our art, cultural assumptions and personal taste.

Personally, I am mostly indifferent Céline. I do not really like her English music, and I had one of the worse experiences with restaurant service at her Nickels chain, but I have nothing else against her really. Her existence does not perturb me as a human being so much as war criminals or intolerant people do. I have never really liked how much people have hated her. It seems over the top. As Wilson described, a lot people could not stand her and she became this a symbol of trite and overproduced music. People disliked her without really knowing her and articulating why they disliked her.

As a Canadian like Wilson, I have grown up with Céline in the media, but not being Québécois, I have not been as exposed to her as they are. I do admit my Dad loves the Titanic soundtrack and to my knowledge does play the album at least once a year just for “My Heart Will Go On” which is not fun. I have seen her on Quebec TV singing to Montreal concert goers in French. Her voice and songs are completely different in French. She is much more soulful and that is the

I do think the author understands why Céline is successful. He also how her success is largely attributed to the smart business sense of catering to various cultures: singing their languages, being open, and generally being Canadian abroad. She and Shania Twain seem to share this view of wanting their music to be enjoyed by others, but not putting too much of themselves in it. Still, Céline’s work is full of raw sentimentality and it makes us wonder how that viewed down upon by society . Wilson also conducts interviews with some of her fans which were somewhat interesting, but the core of the novel is the wider discussion of taste.

While writing about Céline’s career, Wilson also discussed musical genres, history, philosophy and more. This part feels a little more dense and serious, but I think he brings up many different perspectives about taste and aesthetics. It was provocative, and I enjoyed this book’s scope.

Read March 2nd-4th 2013.

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman

First off, I am not a parent, but I am a francophile and I am interested in culture and psychology as well. I quite enjoyed this book as it outlines a few key and interesting things about about French parenting such as (but not limited to):

• setting boundaries
• babies sleeping through the night in a few weeks
• treating children with respect and trust
• baking weekly with children
• the idea that being a mother is not an absolute and one is encouraged to have a life separate from one’s children; the woman and the mom are fused rather than the mom is the only thing.
• achieving balance and not feelingly guilt
• encouraging children to be children and letting them be themselves.
• marriage after kids
• encouraging children to eat vegetables and not be picky eaters

The book also reminded me to read Jean Jacques Rousseau’s Emile at some point. Nothing ever surprises me about the French anymore though. A few things addressed in this book such as the creche and the importance of “Bonjour” was addressed in another insightful book on France that I own Sixty Million Frenchmen Can’t Be Wrong.

The book did make me laugh though and make me really think about the role of women in their child’s lives because it addresses authority, guilt, and being a person aside from being a mother. I think it is really important to cultivate a life and identity as a woman that is not just about being a mother. The author is correct in that it is not easy and the French state does make it easier.

Overall, I agree with a lot of the things the author observed and while I am not French, certain tenets of their parenting style were familiar in my own Chinese upbringing: the lack of effusive praise, the emphasis on the woman at work, encouraging kids not to be picky eaters, and having the child be their own person. I was not able to take music lessons or sports growing up, but I had books and an active imagination so this relied heavily one me as a child on self-discovery.

It would be excessive to use this book as a guide or bible to parent children. I did not agree with everything namely the lack violence between children bit and the French view of breast feeding. Though, I was mostly raised on formula so it’s not like it ill equips humans for life.

I do think the book is interesting from a psychological perspective and addresses a lot of issues that many Westerners and anglophone parents have with their children: entitlement, childhood obesity, attachment issues, and guilt. The book also emphasizes the relationships they have with their spouses and partners separate than that of the children. It was an engaging read, but not an ostentatious parenting book. I recommend it to francophiles and people interested in parenting from different cultures.

Read February 23rd to 24th 2013.

Another math book! Now, I’m averaging about one or two a year. That’s a pretty good number to me considering I am so bad at math. I half force myself to read these books. I do want to know more about math, but I do think a lot of the stuff in these books goes over my head or I forget them very easily. I had this book first time months ago and renewed it several times. I am very bad at math and atypical of many East Asians that way. I failed math in high class and almost failed in nearly every year before that from age 8 to when I stopped in high school. It was a real bane to my existence. I do admire people in the maths and sciences. A lot of my friends are in science, but I do not any math people. Still, I read these books in an attempt to learn more about math and overcome the fear of it. I do not think it improves my knowledge of it, but it is somewhat interesting.

What is interesting is that this math book and the last one I read The Number Mysteries by Marcus du Sautoy were both written by Britons. I am wondering if this is because the British are more open to buying a mainstream math book.

Bellos, unlike du Sautoy, is not really a mathematician. While he has studied maths in university, Bellos is primarily a journalist and writes as one. This means that I found this book easier to understand than the other one. The books are similar though and discuss various topis in math in our daily lives, but this one has some interesting things such as:

1. A dyscalculic which is dylexia but for numbers and math
2. In Medieval Lincolnshire, England, shepherds called Five a “pimp”, Ten is a “dik” and Fifteeen is “Bumfit”.
3. A base of 12 (Dozenal) can be more useful than a base of 10 (Decimal). This makes me think I should count stitches in dozen from here on out.
4. Numerology. Numbers as qualities. This is something I have had an interest in as well.
5. Vedic mathemetics.
6. The basis of zero and how in Indian philosophy, it is the basis of everything.
7. 6 is a ‘perfect’ number because it is the sum of all its factors 1,2, and 3.
8. The prevelance of Fibonnaci numbers in nature
9. Math and the fiber arts
10. The Gambler’s Fallacy that people think that things are due to happen because the happened in awhile

I also liked Bellos descriptions of all the people he meets and interviews. The way he describes their faces and hair is rather nice and more observational than some other non-fiction books.

All in all, a nice little read for those interested in math but who don’t know everything about it. I recommend it as a primary for those people who use to like math back in school but have not touched it in awhile. It makes you appreciate many math topics and the history of the subject.

Read February 14-17th 2013.