in my own little world of books

This week's Booking through Thursday...

There was a widely bruited-about statistic reported last week, stating that 1 in 4 Americans did not read a single book last year. Clearly, we don’t fall into that category, but . . . how many of our friends do? Do you have friends/family who read as much as you do? Or are you the only person you know who has a serious reading habit?

I was one of the people who found this statistic surprising. Almost everyone I know is a fairly avid reader. (Of course, I should probably admit that I don't actually know that many people!)

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I'm a wee bit behind in my reviews...well, because I hate writing them so much. Because, well, I'm simply not good at it. But I guess I've procrastinated long enough, as tomorrow is the last day to get up this month's Non-Fiction Five.



I finished up And The Band Played On, by Randy Shilts, last week. I'm having a hard time putting into words how I felt about this book. It's not the kind of book that you feel you can say you "enjoyed"...if you know what I mean. But it was a wonderful, powerful story, and I'm definitely glad that I read it.

The subtitle, "Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic," gives one a feel for what the book is about. Randy Shilts tells the story of the early years of the AIDS epidemic in fascinating detail. In fact, as Rich said to me as I was just starting the book, "He probably could have adequately told the story in half the pages." And I would have to agree with that...the story might have adequately been told in less than the 600+ pages of this book. But I don't believe "adequate" was Shilts' goal. He told the complete, uncut version of this real-life drama.

It was a heart-breaking book. At times, I was brought to tears by the overwhelming sadness of it all, and at times, I found myself feeling so angry that I was brought to tears of another form. Somehow AIDS managed to bring out the worst of humankind's failings...indifference, greed, callousness, bigotry, egomania. And sometimes even more damage was done "with good intentions". That's not to say that there were no heroes in the fight to identify and battle this new disease. This book also told their stories.

I can't say that I would recommend this book to everyone. Don't get me wrong...I think it's a wonderful book. For one thing, as I mentioned earlier, it is a long, exhaustive telling of the story. And for another, there are parts that are probably a bit too graphic for some people. (It is not graphic for purposes of sensationalism, but simply for truth's sake.) I would, however, definitely recommend the movie to everyone. The movie obviously leaves much out, but it is very well-done.

One last note, it goes without saying, that I wish Randy Shilts was still alive today. But, on a selfish note, I have to say that I wish he were here to write the sequel to And The Band Played On. The book ends in 1988, but we all know the story of AIDS does not.




I also finished Lethal Practice, by Peter Clement last week. Another one down for the Medical Mystery Madness Reading Challenge. This is the best one I've read for this challenge so far. Still not among the best of this genre that I've read in my lifetime, but really not a bad book at all.

The general story follows the chief of emergency medicine in a Buffalo, NY hospital. He has a true sociopath working for him...he just doesn't know it. But said sociopath fears disclosure, and all kinds of nastiness follow.

A fairly quick read. Was a nice change a pace from the heaviness of my non-fiction choice.




On a final note for the day, I guess it's time for me to concede defeat in Southern Reading Challenge. Tomorrow night it will come to its official end. And I am only half-way through my final selection, A Time to Kill, by John Grisham. (A book I am enjoying immensely, by the way.) I feel bad that I won't finish "in time"...but I will finish. And I have to say a big "Thank You" to Maggie for hosting this challenge. It not only gave me an "excuse" to read To Kill A Mockingbird again, it introduced me to The Secret Life of Bees, which touched my heart (and I doubt I ever would have read if not for this challenge).

this and that and the other thing

This:

Here it is Monday...and no Menu Plan Monday for me. What's the point as we're only going to be here Monday and Tuesday, right? And we're pretty much looking to eat up a bunch of leftovers on those two days anyway.

That:




Now, one would think that as long as I was off-line, I would have finished up a pile of books. Sorry to say that just isn't so. I did finish To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I'm glad it counts for two of my challenges, as I actually just read it twice. It's the first literature selection for the upcoming school year. And what I do is read a few chapters straight through. And then I reread those chapters, stopping to write down discussion questions and whatnot. So it seems fitting that I should get to cross it off on two challenges, right?

I won't really bother with a review or anything, as I'm fairly certain most everyone has read it. I will just say that To Kill A Mockingbird has been one of my favorite books since I first read it nearly 30 years ago in high school. (Ewww...did I really just say "nearly 30 years ago"?!!) And it continues to be one of my favorites to this day. I'm really happy I chose to use it for homeschooling this year, because it is both straight-forward and full of layers all at the same time. To Kill A Mockingbird is also rich in both the realities of life and wonderful lessons in moral courage.

And the other thing:

Well, I really have no idea what the other thing is. So I guess we'll call this a wrap.

one down

Finished up my first selection, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, from Southern Reading Challenge. I feel somewhat silly even writing about it, because I'm fairly certain there's probably only 2 or 3 people left out there who haven't already read it. I can say that I sure wish someone had given me a swift kick in the behind and told me to read it sooner! A enormously huge "THANK YOU" goes out to Maggie for hosting this challenge, because I fear without it I might never have gotten around to reading this gem of a book.

I probably should go back and quote Maggie directly, because she stated it far more eloquently than I'm about to paraphrase it...but in general, one of the things she wanted us to get out of this challenge was a sense of place and time and way of living in the South. You simply could not miss the "Southern-ness" of The Secret Life of Bees. Sue Monk Kidd had a way of dropping you right into South Carolina in the 1960s. As goes with any time in history or any place in the world, not everything about South Carolina in this turbulent time was enviable or admirable. Yet the charm of the wonderful Southern ladies is immense. It seems silly to fall in love with fictional characters, but it was impossible not to! I was blessed to grow up with a truly wonderful mother, and yet I couldn't help but wish that August was a part of my life.

I stuck little markers in the book as I read to help me recall some of the wonderful passages...

***"Where do you come from?" he asked me. This is the number one most-asked question in all of South Carolina. We want to know if you are one of us, if your cousin knows our cousin, if your little sister went to school with our big brother, if you go to the same Baptist church as our ex-boss. We are looking for ways our stories fit together. It was rare, though, for Negroes to ask white people where they're from, because there was nothing much to gained from it, as their stories weren't likely to link up.***
(This passage got me to wondering if this is true of all of the South. When we lived in TN for 11 years, I didn't find it to be true. But I suspect that might be because we were so obviously Yankees, that no one wasted their time with that question. Instead, overwhelmingly the most common question we got upon first meeting someone, was "What church do you go to?")

There were countless passages that allowed me to daydream that I was right there in beautiful South Carolina with Lily and Rosaleen...

***We waded through Queen Anne's lace and thick-stalked purple flowers, into dragonflies and the smell of Carolina jasmine so thick I could almost see it circling in the air like golden smoke.***

***Sunset is the saddest light there is. We rode a long time in the glow of it, everything silent except for the crickets and the frogs who were revving up for twilight. I stared through the windshield as the burned lights took over the sky.***

***We drifted by gray barns, cornfields in need of irrigation, and clumps of Hereford cows, chewing in slow motion, looking very content with their lives. Squinting into the distance, I could see farmhouses with wide porches and tractor-tire swings suspended from ropes on nearby tree branches; windmills sprouted up beside them, their giant silver petals creaking a little when the breezes rose. The sun had baked everything to perfection; even the gooseberries on the fence had fried to raisins.***

I could literally go on for hours quoting beautiful passages from this extraordinary book. This was not a book that made me laugh out loud, yet I couldn't begin to count the number of times I found myself with a smile on my face. And yes, there were a few tears as well. It's not often that I stumble upon a book that I fall so deeply in love with...

utterly hopeless

That's me. What has gotten into me?!! I'm joining yet ANOTHER book challenge! Hosted by Maggie Reads, this one is the Southern Reading Challenge. Who am I kidding here? I guess I'm going to have to send Annie back to school, hire a maid (yeah, don't I wish?!!), and order take-out for the next several months so I can actually complete these challenges, huh? Oh well, what is it they say...nothing ventured, nothing gained.

So anyway, here is my list:
1. A Time to Kill by John Grisham
(because it's been sitting in the bookcase for ages)
2. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
(because I think I'm the only person who hasn't read it)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
(because I love this book, and it's been far too long since I last read it, and Annie and I are going to discuss this one for home-school next fall anyway)