Book report
Aug. 11th, 2010 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormkeeper_lovedorisJust got home today from a business trip. Work is very busy but at least the plane rides allowed me more time to read.
Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls – How is it that some books can be so incredibly absorbing? Some writers can pull you in so completely. This book, written by the author of the best-seller “The Glass Castle” (which was also incredibly good, and which I gave an A to) is a novelization of the life of the author’s grandmother. Walls said that as far as she knows most or all of the events here are true, but she can’t verify all of them so she decided to term this a novelization. Whatever she calls it, it’s wonderful. Her grandmother had a fascinating life. She did things that most women in her era could only dream of (a few examples: as a teenager rode on horseback for weeks through the desert to get to her teaching job, learned to fly airplanes, rode horses, became a rancher, proposed to her second husband and had a relationship of equals, stood up to Mormon bullies who disliked the ‘ideas’ she gave their women, got involved in local politics, and much more). She basically lived the life she wanted. I listened to this on CD and it was read by Walls herself. The author isn’t, as far as I know, a professional actor but somehow her reading of the book was perfect! Her voice just worked. And this one flew by, making me long for my morning commute and practically mourn when the book was over. I can’t wait to see what else Walls writes! Grade: A
The House of Clouds by KI Thompson – Historical fiction taking place during the Civil War and staring two women – one from the North and one the South – who fall in love. I’ve often bemoaned the state of lesbian fiction. It’s hard to find any half-way decent novel that features a lesbian character – harder still to find one that falls into the historical fiction genre, a genre I love. But this one was pretty good. It contains at least two plot moments that definitely felt “too convenient”, but I just looked the other way and enjoyed this story. Grade: B
More books behind the cut!
Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman – The author does the sort of things that I’d never personally want to do, but love reading about. She travels the world, eschewing tourist traps and staying with every-day people, usually in their homes. She becomes part of the community in which she lives, having no permanent home. She might stay in one place for a few weeks or a few years. All of her travels recounted here are fascinating. I personally can’t live with that sort of instability, but she loves it. I also got a positive charge reading this, because Gelman writes often about the acts of kindness she experiences from total strangers. This book was published in 2001, and I just glanced at Amazon where I see she’s got another travel book out this year. It will definitely go on my ‘to read’ list! I also need to update my great travel books post. Grade: A-
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson – A novel taking place in modern Sweden and staring two women who live in a remote town: one is the town’s outcast and the other an elderly author of children’s books. The novel explores the theme of deception, the lies we tell others and we tell ourselves. Expertly written but I can’t say I was enthralled. Grade: C+
Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres by Ruth Brandon – The author, a historian, has definitely done her research with this book. Citing letters and journal entries, she describes what we know of the lives of governesses in 19th century England. It’s a very tough life, with long work hours, exclusion from society, poverty, loneliness, and sometimes abuse. What happened to Jane Eyre – marrying her boss – was rare. I liked this book well-enough but at times, despite what I found to be an intriguing subject matter, the book was too dry. Sometimes I felt like I was just getting bombarded with names and events about so many different people, just strung together. One sure can’t say that the author didn’t do her homework! Grade: B- or C+
On a Dollar a Day by Christoper Greenslate and Kerri Leonard – This was fantastic! The authors, a married couple, describe their experiment to do what millions of people around the world must do: feed themselves on only one dollar per day. After a month of that experiment, they then embark on their next project: feeding themselves by using the guidelines and percentage of income allotted by the food stamps program. Along the way they think about many of the myriad food issues this society has today: nutrition, obesity, millions of Americans having limited food options, marketing of food, etc. Despite the list in the previous sentence, which some might want to yawn at, this book was thrilling. I was glued to the page reading about what they did and how they did it. I liked the authors as people, too. It’s nice to read something by others who eschew animal products. (Here’s what I mean. I thoroughly enjoyed Rita Golden Gelman’s book which I reviewed above. But I feel a sense of distance from her and disappointment when she tells me about enjoying foie gras with some new friends – foie gras being the diseased liver of a tortured animal. Maybe not everyone can be vegan as the authors of “On a Dollar a Day” are, but there’s no excuse for eating something like foie gras, which is derived by such brutal means.) Anyway, I related to Greenslate and Leonard; they try to live their lives simply and ethically. Finally, my resolve to eat in a more healthy manner was redoubled after reading their book, especially because they describe their own efforts to do so once their other experiments were over. Grade: A
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen by Lesley Hazleton – There was absolutely nothing wrong with this book. In fact, it started off really promising – apparently the Old Testament’s Jezebel got a bum rap and she likely was not a harlot, likely not anywhere near as bad as she was made out to be. I didn’t finish reading this book simply because it didn’t hook me. I got to page 80, looked up, and realized that I didn’t have a desire to read 140 more pages of this, not when I have so many other books beckoning. But this book would’ve made an excellent article and we all should realize how so many women throughout the years are made into scapegoats and/or unfairly maligned.
Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls – How is it that some books can be so incredibly absorbing? Some writers can pull you in so completely. This book, written by the author of the best-seller “The Glass Castle” (which was also incredibly good, and which I gave an A to) is a novelization of the life of the author’s grandmother. Walls said that as far as she knows most or all of the events here are true, but she can’t verify all of them so she decided to term this a novelization. Whatever she calls it, it’s wonderful. Her grandmother had a fascinating life. She did things that most women in her era could only dream of (a few examples: as a teenager rode on horseback for weeks through the desert to get to her teaching job, learned to fly airplanes, rode horses, became a rancher, proposed to her second husband and had a relationship of equals, stood up to Mormon bullies who disliked the ‘ideas’ she gave their women, got involved in local politics, and much more). She basically lived the life she wanted. I listened to this on CD and it was read by Walls herself. The author isn’t, as far as I know, a professional actor but somehow her reading of the book was perfect! Her voice just worked. And this one flew by, making me long for my morning commute and practically mourn when the book was over. I can’t wait to see what else Walls writes! Grade: A
The House of Clouds by KI Thompson – Historical fiction taking place during the Civil War and staring two women – one from the North and one the South – who fall in love. I’ve often bemoaned the state of lesbian fiction. It’s hard to find any half-way decent novel that features a lesbian character – harder still to find one that falls into the historical fiction genre, a genre I love. But this one was pretty good. It contains at least two plot moments that definitely felt “too convenient”, but I just looked the other way and enjoyed this story. Grade: B
More books behind the cut!
Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman – The author does the sort of things that I’d never personally want to do, but love reading about. She travels the world, eschewing tourist traps and staying with every-day people, usually in their homes. She becomes part of the community in which she lives, having no permanent home. She might stay in one place for a few weeks or a few years. All of her travels recounted here are fascinating. I personally can’t live with that sort of instability, but she loves it. I also got a positive charge reading this, because Gelman writes often about the acts of kindness she experiences from total strangers. This book was published in 2001, and I just glanced at Amazon where I see she’s got another travel book out this year. It will definitely go on my ‘to read’ list! I also need to update my great travel books post. Grade: A-
The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson – A novel taking place in modern Sweden and staring two women who live in a remote town: one is the town’s outcast and the other an elderly author of children’s books. The novel explores the theme of deception, the lies we tell others and we tell ourselves. Expertly written but I can’t say I was enthralled. Grade: C+
Governess: The Lives and Times of the Real Jane Eyres by Ruth Brandon – The author, a historian, has definitely done her research with this book. Citing letters and journal entries, she describes what we know of the lives of governesses in 19th century England. It’s a very tough life, with long work hours, exclusion from society, poverty, loneliness, and sometimes abuse. What happened to Jane Eyre – marrying her boss – was rare. I liked this book well-enough but at times, despite what I found to be an intriguing subject matter, the book was too dry. Sometimes I felt like I was just getting bombarded with names and events about so many different people, just strung together. One sure can’t say that the author didn’t do her homework! Grade: B- or C+
On a Dollar a Day by Christoper Greenslate and Kerri Leonard – This was fantastic! The authors, a married couple, describe their experiment to do what millions of people around the world must do: feed themselves on only one dollar per day. After a month of that experiment, they then embark on their next project: feeding themselves by using the guidelines and percentage of income allotted by the food stamps program. Along the way they think about many of the myriad food issues this society has today: nutrition, obesity, millions of Americans having limited food options, marketing of food, etc. Despite the list in the previous sentence, which some might want to yawn at, this book was thrilling. I was glued to the page reading about what they did and how they did it. I liked the authors as people, too. It’s nice to read something by others who eschew animal products. (Here’s what I mean. I thoroughly enjoyed Rita Golden Gelman’s book which I reviewed above. But I feel a sense of distance from her and disappointment when she tells me about enjoying foie gras with some new friends – foie gras being the diseased liver of a tortured animal. Maybe not everyone can be vegan as the authors of “On a Dollar a Day” are, but there’s no excuse for eating something like foie gras, which is derived by such brutal means.) Anyway, I related to Greenslate and Leonard; they try to live their lives simply and ethically. Finally, my resolve to eat in a more healthy manner was redoubled after reading their book, especially because they describe their own efforts to do so once their other experiments were over. Grade: A
Started reading, didn’t finish:
Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible’s Harlot Queen by Lesley Hazleton – There was absolutely nothing wrong with this book. In fact, it started off really promising – apparently the Old Testament’s Jezebel got a bum rap and she likely was not a harlot, likely not anywhere near as bad as she was made out to be. I didn’t finish reading this book simply because it didn’t hook me. I got to page 80, looked up, and realized that I didn’t have a desire to read 140 more pages of this, not when I have so many other books beckoning. But this book would’ve made an excellent article and we all should realize how so many women throughout the years are made into scapegoats and/or unfairly maligned.
