Books
-
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
When my mom died back in June, our friends Jeff and Leah sent me a book full of stories of death, full of stories of people’s experiences when their loved ones died, full of stories of compassion and hope. That book was Will the Circle Be Unbroken, by Studs Terkel. I had never heard of Mr.. Terkel before, but he’s a very well known interviewer and used to have a famous radio show in Chicago. He is well known for his interviewing skills, for the honesty and candor he is able to elicit. Perhaps what is most remarkable about Mr. Terkel’s interviews is that the subjects are mainly average people,…
-
Book Awards Reading Challenge
I’m already a month late for this challenge, as it started August 1st. Dang. Last year, the rules were to read 12 award winning books in 12 months. This year, the rules are to read 10 award winning books in 10 months. Here are the rules, from the awards website: Read 10 award winners from August 1, 2008 through June 1, 2009. You must have at least FIVE different awards in your ten titles. Overlaps with other challenges are permitted. You don’t have to post your choices right away, and your list can change at any time. ‘Award winners’ is loosely defined; make the challenge fit your needs, keeping in…
-
The Thirteenth Tale
I knew how it was for him. It was easier now that I was grown up than when I was a child. How much harder birthdays had been in the house. Presents hidden overnight in the shed, not from me, but from my mother, who could not bear the sight of them. The inevitable headache was her jealously guarded rite of remembrance, one that made it impossible to invite other children to the house, impossible, too, to leave her for the treat of a visit to the zoo or the park. My birthday toys were always quiet ones. Cakes were never homemade, and the leftovers had to be divested of…
-
Sightseeing
“…I held my breath because it seemed the only sound left in the world and all around me then was an extraordinary silence. It made me feel light, that silence, as if I might float to the ceiling, as if I might be able to open my arms, flap them, and fly with the sparrows. I don’t know how long I sat there holding my breath in the dark, but I thought then of how loud the world could be, so much clatter and noise, and of how lovely and rare was a moment like this when one need not listen to anything at all.” I read about Sightseeing on…
-
In Defense of Food
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto is Michael Pollan’s follow up to The Omnivore’s Dilemma. His goal this time out is to answer the question of how to eat in an increasingly hostile landscape, one in which food is becoming more and more processed, and thus less and less healthy, all while nutritionists and food scientists try to make it more healthful. You don’t need to read the entire book to figure out the answer of how to eat. Look at the cover. It says, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The rest of the book goes on to describe why this is the best way to go,…
-
The Abstinence Teacher
“I’ve made a few mistakes in my life,” Ruth began. “Some of them have involved sex, and at least a couple have been pretty big. “It would be all too easy to pick one of these errors and tell you what I should have done differently, and how much better my life would be if I’d been mature and responsible enough not to have made it. But I’m not sure I believe that. I think it would be more accurate to say that we are our mistakes, or at least they’re an essential part of our identities. When we disavow our mistakes, aren’t we also disavowing ourselves, saying that we…
-
Purple Hibiscus
Kambili is a 15 year old girl, growing up in Nigeria with her older brother, Jaja, and their parents, Eugene and Beatrice. Eugene is a very wealthy, influential man, one of the few who dares to stand up and tell the truth about the local government by means of the newspaper he owns. Theirs is a charmed life, with Eugene donating richly to the poorer neighbors, to the church, and to the many charities he supports. They live in a compound surrounded by high walls, and they have servants to cook and clean and drive for them. They have cable television and luxurious cars, plenty of meat to eat, and…
-
The Great Divorce
The Great Divorce is the story of a man, a man dreaming of an exploratory trip to Heaven. He arrives on a bus with many other riders, all of whom are approached by angels, who are trying to help the people to overcome their issues and fears, so that they can enter the kingdom of Heaven. They are all pretty much given the options of Heaven or Hell, Hell being not so much the fiery pit described by Dante, but more a matter of Not Heaven. The title refers to William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which C.S. Lewis refutes, saying “If we insist on keeping Hell (or…
-
The Westing Game
I first heard of The Westing Game, I think, in a comment left by my old bloggy friend, Wendy. (She’s not old, just quit blogging, so she’s not a current bloggy friend, right? I miss her writing, actually.) Based on her loving the book as a kid, I bought it for Maya and put it on her bookshelf. It has thus far failed to capture her interest, so it’s just been sitting there, waiting. When I signed up for the Herding Cats reading challenge, I saw this book on the list, and thought it was a good chance to read it. The Westing Game is the story surrounding the…
-
Reading in Grief
V-Grrrl mentioned in her comment that when her parents died (within 6 weeks of each other! God, Dad, be careful!), she had to put all photos of them away, couldn’t drive past their house, couldn’t bear to be reminded. Not that doing these things helped her to forget, I don’t think anything could do that…but she was too raw to cope otherwise. Which made me think of the different ways that people grieve. My uncle made me a lovely collage of photos of my mom, and I find comfort in looking at it. None of the pictures are of her when she was sick, they’re all of her in her…
-
Belong to Me
We think our parents are in charge, right? Like they know what they’re doing? But the truth is, they’re making it up as they go along, just like we are. Just like everyone. If we judge them by their worst mistakes, they’re all, like, gargantuan failures. Maybe you should try judging your mom by her intentions, by whether she, like, loves you and is doing her best. Such is the young teen wisdom of a minor character in Marisa de los Santos’ new book, Belong to Me. It is wisdom that spoke to me in my particular moment of grief, and made me think that perhaps my mother might want…
-
My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes
So, I’ve been talking about this book off and on since I first heard of it on NPR’s To the Best of Our Knowledge. I had it in mind for awhile, and then decided to wait to read it until I was ready to take on the Non Fiction Five reading challenge. Since Non-Fiction and I don’t get along that well, I thought this would be a good one to keep until I was ready for it. My Sister, Guard Your Veil; My Brother, Guard Your Eyes is a collection of essays by contemporary Iranian writers, discussing everything from feminism to photography, from film-making to reading Exodus. Collectively, these essays…
-
Doublememe Palace*
Awhile ago, I signed up to be a ‘weekly geek‘, and take on the challenges put forth on Dewey’s blog. Alas, thus far I have sucked at it. I find that given a subject to write on, I kinda freeze and succumb to writer’s block, which is why I quit my brief stint at a mommy blog that I briefly contributed to quite awhile ago. Anyway, the prompt this week was pictures, and since it’s mostly book folks participating, it seemed like a good idea to post a picture of a book. However, I’ve already posted pictures of the books around here, twice actually. So I’ve been mulling it over.…
-
Why Do I Love These People?
Back in February, my dad sent my sisters and me copies of this book, Why Do I Love These People, by Po Bronson. He had read it, and thought it was a valuable collection of stories that we might all enjoy, and perhaps gain something from. The stories are those of families, and how they overcome difficulties in their lives, and come out of hard times closer together than they were before. Some of the stories related to dealing with parents, others to spouses, and still others, children or siblings. Some to all of the above. What struck me the most about the stories in this book was a theme…
-
Driving Sideways
I decided to take a break from my Reading Challenge books, and pick up a copy of Driving Sideways, the first published novel of my bloggy friend, Jess Riley. I bought the book on Tuesday, and finished it on Saturday night. It was the kind of story that sucked me right in, and had me thinking about how I wished I were reading it while I was doing other things, like working, or being at a boring party on Saturday, that kind of thing. This is a relief, because I have to say, I was a little bit worried…what if I hated it? I’ve never reviewed a book by someone…