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Book report
Sep. 26th, 2010 03:06 pmHere's the latest bunch of books I read:
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella – A coworker lent me this audio book. I looked at the cover. A white background, the title written in cursive, a drawing of a slim young woman – oh no, chick lit! Up to this point, I’ve never been able to finish a chick lit book. I tried twice, with “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Good in Bed”, but neither book interested me. However my partner Doris listened to this audio book first and she told me it wasn’t bad and is worth a listen given that there’s not much else to do in the car – turns out, she was right. It tells the story of Lara Linton who is obsessing over a guy who dumped her, and is losing all her money in a failed business that she co-founded with a friend when the ghost of her Great Aunt comes to her. The voice actor who read this CD was fantastic. She handled a bunch of different accents and voices perfectly. The male lead in this novel was a bit too good to be true; I wonder if you see that a lot in chick lit. So hey – kudos to me for finishing a type of book that normally I wouldn’t pick up! Grade: C+
Witnessing History by Jennifer Zeng -- Zeng was born in China in the 60’s, and as an adult she discovered a religion called Falun Gong. She felt that the religion changed her life and even helped her with numerous medical issues. But the Chinese government soon began a crackdown on all practitioners of this religion (despite the fact that, as Zeng describes it, it’s a peaceful religion that never attacked the Chinese government or anyone else for that matter). Zeng tells us that she – and thousands of other believers – were placed in Chinese “re-education” camps. I’ve read a lot about China. The way they treat their citizens is horrifying. I thought I was kind of numb to it by now. But the conditions that Zeng describes pretty much shocked and nauseated me all over again. I won’t go into a lot detail here except to say that they experienced torture: beatings, electric shocks, being forced to remain squatting for sixteen hours at a time (sixteen!), sleep deprivation, bathroom deprivation, constant manual labor, mental torture, and every other horror you can imagine. I must add that these prison sentences occurred recently – within the last 10 years. I wish someday China would experience sanctions on the international scene for how it treats its people but I guess greed has won out (why exactly was China allowed to host an Olympics?) This book nudged me back over to Amnesty International’s site to write a few letters. Grade: B
More books behind the cut!
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Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella – A coworker lent me this audio book. I looked at the cover. A white background, the title written in cursive, a drawing of a slim young woman – oh no, chick lit! Up to this point, I’ve never been able to finish a chick lit book. I tried twice, with “Bridget Jones’ Diary” and “Good in Bed”, but neither book interested me. However my partner Doris listened to this audio book first and she told me it wasn’t bad and is worth a listen given that there’s not much else to do in the car – turns out, she was right. It tells the story of Lara Linton who is obsessing over a guy who dumped her, and is losing all her money in a failed business that she co-founded with a friend when the ghost of her Great Aunt comes to her. The voice actor who read this CD was fantastic. She handled a bunch of different accents and voices perfectly. The male lead in this novel was a bit too good to be true; I wonder if you see that a lot in chick lit. So hey – kudos to me for finishing a type of book that normally I wouldn’t pick up! Grade: C+
Witnessing History by Jennifer Zeng -- Zeng was born in China in the 60’s, and as an adult she discovered a religion called Falun Gong. She felt that the religion changed her life and even helped her with numerous medical issues. But the Chinese government soon began a crackdown on all practitioners of this religion (despite the fact that, as Zeng describes it, it’s a peaceful religion that never attacked the Chinese government or anyone else for that matter). Zeng tells us that she – and thousands of other believers – were placed in Chinese “re-education” camps. I’ve read a lot about China. The way they treat their citizens is horrifying. I thought I was kind of numb to it by now. But the conditions that Zeng describes pretty much shocked and nauseated me all over again. I won’t go into a lot detail here except to say that they experienced torture: beatings, electric shocks, being forced to remain squatting for sixteen hours at a time (sixteen!), sleep deprivation, bathroom deprivation, constant manual labor, mental torture, and every other horror you can imagine. I must add that these prison sentences occurred recently – within the last 10 years. I wish someday China would experience sanctions on the international scene for how it treats its people but I guess greed has won out (why exactly was China allowed to host an Olympics?) This book nudged me back over to Amnesty International’s site to write a few letters. Grade: B
More books behind the cut!
( Read more... )
