Book report

I must be reading like a maniac to have another report out already!

 

My rating system:

10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite

5 - average for what I read

1 – terrible; why did I finish it? 

Blankets by Craig Thompson –  A graphic novel, a young man’s coming of age story. Taking place during a freezing Wisconsin winter, the main character falls in love. The art is beautiful and the writing is really evocative and moving – and also innovative, as the author explores well-trodden ground but does it in a way without cliché. Grade: 7

 

In My Hands: Memories of a Holocaust Rescue by Irene Gut Opdyke with Jennifer Armstrong – I read this memoir in just a couple days. It completely gripped me, and left me crying many times. The author was 17 years old and training to be a nurse when her country, Poland, is torn apart by Nazis and Russians, with each group occupying part of Poland. She eventually is put into a place where she can help hide Jews, and she does. I was glued to every page. I shared this quote from the book on my FB page: "We did not know what was going on. Rumors passed with each exchange of ration coupons for bread or cheese. Some said that Hitler was planning to exterminate the Jews, but in our family we thought that was simply too preposterous to believe. Many of our neighbors figured the condition of the Jews was the Jews' problem: we had enough of our own." Grade: 9

Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics by Dan Harris – Harris wrote the excellent “10% Happier”, describing how instituting a daily meditation practice didn’t magically solve all of his life’s woes but it did make him about 10% happier. He continues to explore that theme here. He pairs with an experienced meditation coach, they create apps and all sorts of other tools to help people meditate, they even get a bus and go on a tour of the country. At times the book gets tedious but overall I really like anything that can take meditation and make it understandable and usable to a more Western mindset. Side note: Harris briefly talks about online harassment he experiences, and I have to compare it to Scaachi Koul’s experiences; I reviewed her book in my last report. To the surprise of no one, the harassment that Harris experiences as a white male sounds like a walk in the park compared to the attacks against Koul (a brown female). Grade: 7

Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery – I listened to this on audio; it was a fairly short book of 6 CDs. I love reading accounts of people hiking the Appalachian Trail and other long trails. Emma Gatewood was 67 when she became the first woman to hike the trail, and she later became the first person to hike the trail twice. She also hiked it a third time, and well into her 80’s was heavily involved in trail maintenance. When she first hiked it, she had almost none of the gear that hikers today have; she carried just a 12 lb sack, old tennis shoes on her feet, etc. The book alternates between describing her first hike and flashing back to Gatewood’s life story which included an abusive husband and raising 11 children. Great story! Grade: 8

 

 And look – three books on this report written by males. Three books on my last report were written by males too! What is the galaxy coming to?

 

Periods Gone Public by Jennifer Weiss-Wolf – I loved this book. At first I was worried that we’d be in for a real downer, a book about people in developing countries who have no access to menstrual products and who thus drop out of school, about the medical establishment ignoring women’s needs. But somehow this book is uplifting and inspiring. The author does talk about challenges that menstruating people face (inadequate menstrual supplies in schools and prisons, high taxes on menstrual supplies, few environmentally sound options). But then she covers all sorts of efforts and movements to remedy these problems. She even manages to be inclusive of trans and gender-non conforming people. Seriously, the book was fun and cool! Grade: 8