Freakonomics

Freakonomics
By Stephen D. Levitt

Very interesting. And thought-provoking, of course. That's what this book is meant to do, make people think. The links that the author makes are extremely interesting and those that you'd never think of, like sumo wrestlers and teachers (who knew they had so much alike!?). Much has been made of one chapter, about how legalizing abortion cut the crime rate. I like that the author presents his findings on this theory, relates the statistics, then turns and gives the other side. He talks about brilliant people who have come out of hard circumstances. He mentions the ridiculousness of killing a child on the chance it will become a criminal. And he realizes that some people (more than half the country, last poll I read) believe killing a child is worse than that child becoming a pick-pocket or a drug dealer. Yes, he says, the crime rate has gone down. But he acknowledges that some people don't like the cost of that downward turn.
9/10

Sister Carrie

Sister Carrie
By Theodore Dreiser

Haunting. Beautiful story of a woman's unfortunate and slow downfall. Even she doesn't realize it's happening until it's already happened. I love the tiny steps, the careful, meticulous outlining of Carrie's slippery slope. You feel sorry for her, of course, but sorry that she's such an innocent, not that she's a "fallen woman." You're sorry that she's so naive that she makes these messes for herself. I wish that we had learned what happened to her sister, though. I realize we probably already know, that she stayed in her hovel of a house forever and she and her husband were like any other couple of the time, perpetually down on their luck. But her sister really did love Carrie and it would have been nice to know what became of her.
7/10