Book Report

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 

It's Friday night! So of course I'm reading books.

My rating system:

10 – life-changing, an all-time favorite

5 - average for what I read

1 – terrible; why did I finish it?

 

In Beauty May She Walk by Leslie Mass – I love reading books about women hiking the Appalachian Trail (or the Pacific Crest Trail), and here’s another that I found. The author was 60 when she hiked it solo. I truly loved reading this book. There’s just something I enjoy about reading about what the hiker did during her day, how she kept up physically and mentally, the kindness of other hikers, what the shelter for the evening looked like, etc, etc. I hear that many who do these hikes are introverts, so maybe that’s why I like reading their accounts? I have one small complaint about this book, and it’s a spoiler so if you might at all want to read this book, stop here. The author, Leslie Mass, hikes part of the trail with this guy who she refers to as Jed, who is dating her daughter (and it seems will possibly marry her). Jed is apparently rude and mean towards Mass, on many different occasions. At some point, as planned, Mass and Jed go their separate ways and we never are told what happened with the situation in the long run. (Did Mass ever confront him? Did he marry her daughter? Or did he just fade away which is why Mass includes a candid recount of his behavior?) It would’ve been nice to get some closure on this. Grade: 8

 

The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun – The short synopsis is that the author was born into a well-to-do family in which excellence is expected. He travels, becomes very interested in helping those less fortunate, and while working long hours as an investment banker or something like that, he founds a non-profit to further education in the developing world. I am fascinated by the topic of people using their time and money to better the lives of others; it’s something I’ve tried to do for almost my whole life. A few thoughts I had while reading this book:

-               - Some might say, “Here goes the white savior narrative again. White guy goes to developing world and saves it.” I acknowledge there is a bit of that, but I truly wish we could commend people like this since they certainly present a better alternative than people who DO NOTHING.

-           -   One of my reactions was, “People in the non-profit world often wish that others would stop creating new organizations and instead work with existing ones. I just read a book about Room to Read which sounds like they do almost exactly what Braun’s organization does. Why not bring that energy and passion to help an existing non-profit?” Of course, I imagine the response might be “Okay, but Braun and most of his volunteers and funders were 20-somethings who might not want to work in the confines of an existing group and follow others’ rules and structures. Let them spread their wings instead of forcing them to work with older people and groups.”

Like I said, just as I’m fascinated by the topic of people of people who hike the ATC, I am intrigued by people who want to make a difference so I had to love this book. Grade: 8

 

I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons by Kevin Hart – I listened to this book on audio; it’s just a basic, funny memoir by the famous comedian. It held my interest but was nothing special. Grade: 4

 

American Heart by Laura Moriarty – A novel taking place in an America where Muslims are being rounded up and sent to camps. The main character is a teenage girl with her own problems and she has no objections to the rounding up, until her brother asks her to help out a stranger. The novel is Young Adult and I can’t say that the writing is particularly stunning or deft, but I was very engaged with the plot. Grade: 6 

Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living edited by Manjula Martin - An anthology on the topic of being a writer and money. Each writer takes the subject in a different direction, but all the essays are really readable and intriguing. Just a very interesting topic if you've ever wondered how writers make ends meet (or how they don't). Grade: 8

Comments

[nytshd3]

There will always be people who will complain about what people are doing to help others. If you're donating goods, they'll say you should be donating time and money instead. If you're doing your own thing, they'll say you should work with an existing organization. If you're working with an existing organization, they'll say that the particular one you're working for is not the best one to be working for. Or they'll say you shouldn't be focused on X, you should be focused on Y. Some people are just too focused on how you should be doing things the way THEY think you should be doing them. I say you do you.

I remember reading a long time ago that people sincerely think that all writers are ridiculously rich, when the vast majority of them have to keep a day job because only a tiny percentage of writers earn enough to make a living. I bet the stories were interesting.

Thanks as always for sharing!

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Exactly.

Yeah, the writing thing was interesting. In Cheryl Strayed's piece, she said she got $100K advance for "Wild" - but they gave it in 4 installments. You take taxes out of the first installment and it's not much, and she said she and her husband were scraping by when that first check arrived. It helped but you're not exactly rich when you get $25,000 minus taxes.

Thanks for reading.

[nytshd3]

Forgot to add, it would drive me CRAZY to not know what happened with Jed (in In Beauty May She Walk). I would hope her daughter didn't marry him, it would have been so awkward to read that later if you were her daughter 'omg why were you such a jerk to my mom??'

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Right! The author made such a big deal out of it; it was a major theme of several chapters. She had plenty of time since the events happened to mention in an epilogue what happened.