The Lucky One

The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Lucky One satisfied the romantic in me. There's the handsome ex-Marine searching for a beautiful woman. The beautiful lonely woman is fits into the damsel in distress mold pretty well. All in all, it a fun fluffy book that I can easily read and finish in couple of sittings.
And as with other Nicholas Sparks books, it's sappy and a potential tear-jerker. The Lucky One is no exception. So, if you are not expecting a literary masterpiece, but just an entertaining escape, this will be perfect.



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Bribery not working

My little girl is just couple of months away from her 3rd birthday. She has achieved many of her developmental milestones. However, we still can't check off one thing on the list. Potty Training. She knows what the potty is. She has done #1 and #2 in the potty in the past. But she just doesn't seem to be interested to use it since going there would just interrupt her exciting activities.

So, as any amateur economist would do with incentive problem, is to create a new incentive that can elicit the desired result.  Or, in another word, bribe.   I was determine to bribe my little girl to start using the potty regularly.  The bride I chose is Hershey Kisses.  Desired result is to go to the potty and stop using the diaper.

After 2 days, failure.  I gave her an entire Hershey Kiss early in the morning after she went to the potty.  She can do that one pretty good.  I told her, every time she go pee pee in the potty she gets a chocolate.  As the hours ticked by, I watched her.  She looked like she needs to go.  I told her to go to the potty and if she pees, she gets chocolate.  She just looked at me and said, "no potty, no chocolate."

She would rather give up an entire Hershey Kiss instead of going to the potty.  Well, that was a failure.

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The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Hunger Games definitely lived up to its hype. I finished the book in a couple of days and I wanted to read books #2 and #3. It's has all the right hooks, plot lines, and characters. I enjoyed it because it's just so much fun to read. I was able to turn off my mind and just enjoy the book.
I wouldn't say Ms. Collins took the trouble to really create something entirely new. The idea of end of a civilization, game to the death, love triangle, etc. have been done before in previous books and movies. Granted, these concepts were woven nicely in the Hunger Games.



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Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom

Across Many Mountains: A Tibetan Family's Epic Journey from Oppression to Freedom by Yangzom Brauen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Across Many Mountains is enlightening. I was educated about part of the world that was so close to where I came from yet I had no clue about the people and their tragedies. My caricatures of a Tibetan monk, a Tibetan nun, a Tibetan family were shattered after reading this book. The strong female characters were awe-inspiring. Just the thought of taking my little girl across the world's highest mountain range makes my heart ache. And it makes me think if I'm even strong enough of a woman or mother to do it. But, Kunsang, the grandmother, the matriarch, did just that.
This is a book that people in the West should read to learn about the country on top of the world. It is definitely a book for people of the East to learn about how dictatorship and propaganda can destroy a culture and a people.



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