Book report
Feb. 23rd, 2010 07:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisBook Report
House Arrest by Mary Morris – This intriguing novel takes place in modern times, in an unnamed Latin American country which is ruled by a dictatorial style of government. Our narrator, Maggie, is an American who writes for travel guides specializing in off-the-beaten-track. Maggie has returned to this country a few years after befriending one of its mysterious and troubled citizens, and after possibility committing an illegal act to assist her. Maggie now finds that she might be in serious trouble. The book was complex but approachable, gripping, and really well-written. I happened upon this book at a resale shop that benefits a battered women’s shelter, and I look forward to reading more by the same author. Grade: B+
29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life by Cami Walker – Diagnosed with MS just days after returning from her honeymoon, Walker is sick, panicked, depressed…and eventually she and her husband are nearly broke from medical bills. A wise woman tells her that she is focusing too much on her woes and that she will feel better if she does something generous for other people. So she advises her to give 29 gifts, one each day to a different person. They don’t need to be expensive or large. They can be a hug or a sincere compliment. It works wonders for Walker, and she gives us her true account of the 29 days - day by day - here. Grade: A
More behind the cut.
The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simply Your Life and Build Community by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow – I absolutely loved this book. It’s basically a practical and easy-to-read guide on how to share – everything. Houses, cars, child care arrangements, work spaces, meals, tools, etc. It contains all sorts of solid advice on legality, forms and written agreements, the communication skills you’ll need to make your arrangement work, and a lot more. The book is written from the perspective of those wanting to share for financial, environmental, and community-building reasons. It made this introvert want to knock on her neighbors’ doors and ask them what they want to start sharing. Grade: B+
The Italians Before Italy by Professor Kenneth Bartlett - This was an audio book of a professor sharing several of his lectures on Italian history between the fall of the Roman empire and Italy’s unification in the 19th century. I didn’t care too much for our professor’s voice. He’s got this affected tone, with lots of exhalations of breath, as if it’s a burden to impart his great knowledge to us. I can’t imagine anyone other than a history buff like myself enjoying this. I can also see why some people experience History like this and find it boring, since the lectures were fairly dry. And finally – but no less importantly – I was reminded why I tend to read books written by women instead of those written by men. I don’t get how you can purport to be recounting centuries of history while ignoring half the population. (Best example of sexism: He talks about elections in one of Italy’s republics and said that its citizens voted for a leader. He needed to specify that only male citizens could vote. Sheesh, it’s like half the population doesn’t exist!) But for some reason – probably because it was an audio book and I don’t have a lot to do while I drive - this held my interest enough for me to finish it. Grade: C- or D+
Transforming Stress by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman – This was a good one! In fact, this book was only about 140 pages but I still took several days to read it because I learned a lot from it and wanted to give its lessons time to sink in. In short, the authors provide several great strategies for dealing with stress. I’ve started to use one of them – my work is just out of control lately – and found it truly helped. I will definitely keep this book and use it. Grade: B+
365 Days to Change the World by Michael Norton – I’m guessing that this is not the kind of book that most people would read cover to cover. But I did. Each page in the book represents one day, and for each day there the book covers a problem and then has suggested actions you can undertake to combat the problem. There are plenty of duds in here. A lot of the actions run basically along the lines of: gather your friends together, talk about this issue, raise money. But then again, social change is never easy and, if nothing else, this book is inspiring and covers a wide range of problems. Even if not every action is really feasible or creative, flipping through here you are bound to find something you’d like to work on. I appreciate that the author includes a lot that pertains to improving women’s lives as well as animal welfare. My favorite suggested action: supporting India’s “Barefoot College” which trains impoverished women on how to install and maintain solar systems. They have provided electricity to hundreds of schools and homes, and have improved women’s status and reduced their poverty. I love groups that work on multiple fronts like that. Grade: B
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Several book reports went by without anything in this category, and now I have a couple.
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Maslund – I have lower standards for audio books than for actual books, given that my library doesn’t have a wide selection of audio books and I do spend plenty of time in the car. But I couldn’t get beyond the first CD of this frothy novel. (Frothy? And exactly what did I expect given its subject matter, hmm?)
One Square Inch of Silence by Gordon Hempton and John Grossmann – The subject of this book was intriguing. Hempton is an acoustic ecologist whose mission is to record and preserve the sounds of nature without human-made noise. The fact that human-made noise is everywhere bothers the heck out of him. The problem I had here was that I only wanted to go, say, 100 feet deep into this topic but this long book takes us more like 2,000 feet deep and I couldn’t muster up enough interest to read nearly 400 pages on the topic. I do love nature and forest preserves though. I admire Hempton’s passion for and activism on behalf of the subject; I also get the idea he’s kind of a grouch.
House Arrest by Mary Morris – This intriguing novel takes place in modern times, in an unnamed Latin American country which is ruled by a dictatorial style of government. Our narrator, Maggie, is an American who writes for travel guides specializing in off-the-beaten-track. Maggie has returned to this country a few years after befriending one of its mysterious and troubled citizens, and after possibility committing an illegal act to assist her. Maggie now finds that she might be in serious trouble. The book was complex but approachable, gripping, and really well-written. I happened upon this book at a resale shop that benefits a battered women’s shelter, and I look forward to reading more by the same author. Grade: B+
29 Gifts: How a Month of Giving Can Change Your Life by Cami Walker – Diagnosed with MS just days after returning from her honeymoon, Walker is sick, panicked, depressed…and eventually she and her husband are nearly broke from medical bills. A wise woman tells her that she is focusing too much on her woes and that she will feel better if she does something generous for other people. So she advises her to give 29 gifts, one each day to a different person. They don’t need to be expensive or large. They can be a hug or a sincere compliment. It works wonders for Walker, and she gives us her true account of the 29 days - day by day - here. Grade: A
More behind the cut.
The Sharing Solution: How to Save Money, Simply Your Life and Build Community by Janelle Orsi and Emily Doskow – I absolutely loved this book. It’s basically a practical and easy-to-read guide on how to share – everything. Houses, cars, child care arrangements, work spaces, meals, tools, etc. It contains all sorts of solid advice on legality, forms and written agreements, the communication skills you’ll need to make your arrangement work, and a lot more. The book is written from the perspective of those wanting to share for financial, environmental, and community-building reasons. It made this introvert want to knock on her neighbors’ doors and ask them what they want to start sharing. Grade: B+
The Italians Before Italy by Professor Kenneth Bartlett - This was an audio book of a professor sharing several of his lectures on Italian history between the fall of the Roman empire and Italy’s unification in the 19th century. I didn’t care too much for our professor’s voice. He’s got this affected tone, with lots of exhalations of breath, as if it’s a burden to impart his great knowledge to us. I can’t imagine anyone other than a history buff like myself enjoying this. I can also see why some people experience History like this and find it boring, since the lectures were fairly dry. And finally – but no less importantly – I was reminded why I tend to read books written by women instead of those written by men. I don’t get how you can purport to be recounting centuries of history while ignoring half the population. (Best example of sexism: He talks about elections in one of Italy’s republics and said that its citizens voted for a leader. He needed to specify that only male citizens could vote. Sheesh, it’s like half the population doesn’t exist!) But for some reason – probably because it was an audio book and I don’t have a lot to do while I drive - this held my interest enough for me to finish it. Grade: C- or D+
Transforming Stress by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman – This was a good one! In fact, this book was only about 140 pages but I still took several days to read it because I learned a lot from it and wanted to give its lessons time to sink in. In short, the authors provide several great strategies for dealing with stress. I’ve started to use one of them – my work is just out of control lately – and found it truly helped. I will definitely keep this book and use it. Grade: B+
365 Days to Change the World by Michael Norton – I’m guessing that this is not the kind of book that most people would read cover to cover. But I did. Each page in the book represents one day, and for each day there the book covers a problem and then has suggested actions you can undertake to combat the problem. There are plenty of duds in here. A lot of the actions run basically along the lines of: gather your friends together, talk about this issue, raise money. But then again, social change is never easy and, if nothing else, this book is inspiring and covers a wide range of problems. Even if not every action is really feasible or creative, flipping through here you are bound to find something you’d like to work on. I appreciate that the author includes a lot that pertains to improving women’s lives as well as animal welfare. My favorite suggested action: supporting India’s “Barefoot College” which trains impoverished women on how to install and maintain solar systems. They have provided electricity to hundreds of schools and homes, and have improved women’s status and reduced their poverty. I love groups that work on multiple fronts like that. Grade: B
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Several book reports went by without anything in this category, and now I have a couple.
Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Maslund – I have lower standards for audio books than for actual books, given that my library doesn’t have a wide selection of audio books and I do spend plenty of time in the car. But I couldn’t get beyond the first CD of this frothy novel. (Frothy? And exactly what did I expect given its subject matter, hmm?)
One Square Inch of Silence by Gordon Hempton and John Grossmann – The subject of this book was intriguing. Hempton is an acoustic ecologist whose mission is to record and preserve the sounds of nature without human-made noise. The fact that human-made noise is everywhere bothers the heck out of him. The problem I had here was that I only wanted to go, say, 100 feet deep into this topic but this long book takes us more like 2,000 feet deep and I couldn’t muster up enough interest to read nearly 400 pages on the topic. I do love nature and forest preserves though. I admire Hempton’s passion for and activism on behalf of the subject; I also get the idea he’s kind of a grouch.
