bits of babble

Perpetually behind. I have no plans of being buried and having a headstone, but if I were, I think those might be the words I'd choose for it. ;) Anyway, I figured that I ought to try to catch up a little bit on my babbling before the read-a-thon. You know, because after the read-a-thon, I'll have an enormous new pile of books to babble about. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Yeah, two does not qualify as an enormous pile, does it? This does make a nice diversion from cleaning the bathroom though.

Fax From Sarajevo: A Story of Survival by Joe Kubert.

While very different in so many ways, it is hard not be think of Art Speigelman's Maus when reading this book. For both chronicle the story of a family struggling to survive in the midst of atrocity. Both families the target of genocidal monsters, not because of anything they've done but simply because they exist. The books are actually quite different though. Both visually, and in the manner the stories are told.

Joe Kubert had long been friends with Ervin Rustemagic and his family, having first met decades ago at a European Cartoonists' Convention. During the 18-months his family is trapped in Sarajevo, Ervin finds his lifeline to the world outside through a fax machine. Joe and a few of Ervin's other friends from around the world read Ervin's story as it unfolds through these faxes. And they fight desperately through any means they can think of to rescue the Rustemagic family from the hell in which they are imprisoned.

The book tells their story through a variety of ways, through the faxes, through the art and words of the graphic novel story, through photos taken both before and during the siege, and through a chapter by chapter narrative included at the end of the book. This is both a personal family story, and the story of a city, a nation, a people caught in a web of human cruelty. Victims of ethnic cleansing. Are there any two uglier words in the English language than "ethnic cleansing"? I don't know, but perhaps "apathy" ranks right up there.

The Dead & the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

For a while, I wasn't actually sure if I wanted to read this book. Not because I didn't like the companion novel, Life As We Knew It, but because I liked it so much. I guess I was sort of leery about how Pfeffer could tell another story about 'the same event' and make it equally compelling. Well, she did! While the catalyst for devastation (an asteroid striking the moon and knocking it into a closer orbit to Earth) and the devastating events happening around the world are the same in each novel, the stories told in the books are most definitely not. And when I now stop and think about it, I realize there could be millions of stories written and none would be the same. Pfeffer did a wonderful job in both of these novels at making the stories feel real, feel authentic. In Life As We Knew It, we witnessed the survival of Miranda, a teenage girl in small town America; in The Dead & the Gone, we witness an entirely new set of struggles through the eyes of Alex, a teenage boy in New York City. Alex's parents are lost on the first night, and he is left to keep his two younger sisters safe. It's a story of family. A story of survival. A story of faith. A story of growth. It's terrifying, horrifying, emotional, and definitely hard to put down. And yes, not surprisingly, it had me blubbering like an idiot.

The Sandman: Season of Mists by Neil Gaiman.

We begin with a family reunion of sorts. Destiny calls the Endless together so that events might take their proper course. Said events include Dream's return to hell to release his former love Nada, Lucifer's abandonment of hell, gods and demons visiting the Heart of the Dreaming to beg, threaten, and bribe...and so much more. All of this is told with such depth and intelligence that I again found myself in awe of Mr. Gaiman. I also found myself wishing that I had a little more of that depth and intelligence, because I'm sure there was even more to be gleaned from the book if I had had the insight.

I will be saddened when I reach the end of this series. And yet I'll be ever-so-happy as well, because I can then start it all over again. (And I somehow have this feeling that I may just enjoy it even more on the second time around. Though at the same time that seems impossible...how could I possibly enjoy it more?)

George & Sam: Two Boys, One Family, and Autism by Charlotte Moore.

This is one of those books I read because of Nick Hornby and those wonderful columns he wrote for The Believer. In his foreword to this book, Mr. Hornby guesses that the majority of people reading it have been in some way been touched by autism. That would be true of me; there is autism in our family, but I won't go into that for reasons of privacy. I'm not sure if that's the reason why I picked up this book. But I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would recommend it to anyone whether personally touched by autism or not.

Charlotte Moore is the mother of three sons, George, Sam, and Jake. George and Sam are autistic; Jake is not. Charlotte Moore is wonderfully engaging and intelligent. She's amazing. And I think part of why she's so amazing is that she probably doesn't see herself as so. It's hard not to try to imagine myself in her shoes...but when I did, I found myself horribly lacking. I think what I admired most, marveled at most, was her adaptability. She's forthright, honest even when it might be easier not to be. Most of all, she not only loves her children for who they are, she accepts and respects them for who they are. Maybe that sounds obviously simple. But face it, there are many parents who can't seem to manage that even without the challenges of autism in a family.

And while Moore definitely talks about the sometimes nearly overwhelming challenges, she also speaks of the joys. Moore discusses the scientific theories and whatnot, but she focuses very much on her own personal family story. And she speaks a great deal about the conclusions she's reached about various pieces of this vast autism puzzle. What she has to say is very illuminating. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed "getting to know" her wonderful sons. And I truly learned a great deal from this book.

There is just one small thing I want to mention, however. And it's not a criticism of the book. In fact, it doesn't have much to do with the book, except for the fact that it at one point raised these concerns in my head, concerns that I've dealt with many times. Moore is telling her story. She never says "this is exactly how it is for every person with autism." And I think it's important to remember that. In fact, she shares how very different George and Sam are from one another. But she does often compare their behavior to that of Jake, using Jake as the example of a neurotypical child who reaches all the milestones at the correct times, etc. And it was here that I wanted to say, "But just because your baby/child doesn't fit all these so-called "normal" standards, it doesn't mean that he has autism." And you know, I know that Moore knows that...as I said it's her family's story. The reason it even struck me was because as an infant, Gray was much more like her son George than he was like her son Jake. And Gray is not autistic. However, he has had other neurological problems, with seizures. And definite sensory issues. Maybe that's why there's this overlap. I don't know. My point being, that yes, I do understand why in watching a child's development it can be important to notice how and when they reach these milestones. It's just that I worry that sometimes people have too narrow a definition of "normal." It can be frustrating and heartbreaking to watch people try to apply a "label" to Gray, simply because he is different. From teachers to friends to relatives, most of whom I am confident were well-intentioned, we've gotten diagnoses ranging from ADHD to Asperger's to bipolar disorder. Our diagnosis, and the one that is supported by his doctors, is that he's Gray.

Oh crap...you know, in a way, I feel tempted to just delete that entire last paragraph. Because I in NO WAY want anyone to think I am minimizing the benefits of diagnosing autism early. Truly I'm not! Okay, how about I just shut up now, and tell you to just go read this book. :)


*****

Other opinions:

Becky at Becky's Book Reviews (The Dead & the Gone)
Chris at Stuff As Dreams Are Made On (The Dead & the Gone)
Jimmy and J.Kaye at J.Kaye's Book Blog (The Dead & the Gone)
Jia at Dear Author (The Dead & the Gone)
NathanKP at Inkweaver Reviews (The Dead & the Gone)
The Reading Zone (The Dead & the Gone)
The Sleepy Reader (The Dead & the Gone)
Fantasy and Sci-Fi Lovin' Book Reviews (The Dead & the Gone)
Heather at Book Addiction (The Dead & the Gone)
Sharon at Shermeree's Musings (The Dead & the Gone)
Book Dweeb (The Dead & the Gone)
Bookshelves of Doom (The Dead & the Gone)
Fyrefly's Book Blog (The Absolute Sandman Vol. 2)
Jenny's Books (Season of Mists)

If you've reviewed one of the above books, and I've missed your review, please feel free to leave my a link in the comments, and I will happily add it to the list. Thanks!

House of Stone...random thoughts

House of Stone: The True Story of a Family Divided in War-Torn Zimbabwe by Christina Lamb.

What a wonderful book. Not a happy book. Easy to read, because it was very well-written. Difficult to read, because it hurt. It hurt in the way that so much of human history and human politics hurts to read about. House of Stone was written by Christina Lamb, a journalist who spent many years reporting on Zimbabwe, a woman who risked her life on many occasions because British journalists were banned from even entering the country. While I believe she was quite objective in her telling of this story, I also believe that she loves the people of this country.

The book tells the story of this southern African nation in a unique way. In alternating chapters, we hear the story of two Zimbabwean's lives. Aqui, a Shona who was born and grew up in a mud hut. Nigel, a privileged white who attended private school and spent carefree summers playing in the beautiful African landscape. We hear their stories as they grow from childhood into adulthood. Their personal stories through the times of brutal civil war, through the change from a white supremacist government to black majority rule, through the descent into tyranny by Robert Mugabe. And we eventually see their lives intersect.

I recently read a book titled Dictatorships: Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe by James R. Arnold and Roberta Wiener, so I had a background in the history and politics of this nation. But you don't need any prior knowledge, as Lamb's book brought a real richness to that background. The personal stories of Aqui and Nigel are put in the setting of fuller history of the nation.

Truly, I loved this book, and I highly recommend it. But be forewarned...your heart will break as read about Robert Mugabe's destruction of this beautiful African country. Your heart will break for the people of this country.

*****

Other opinions:

Eva of A Striped Armchair

If you've reviewed this book, feel free to leave a link in the comments and I'll add it here. Thanks.

just some odds 'n' ends

I didn't forget to draw a winner for 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade. Well, actually I did forget. But I'm not really that late, am I? Anyway, Chris, you're the lucky winner...and I shall get it out to you soon. Hope you enjoy it!

*****

If you happen to be doing Annie's challenge, you might want to pop over as she finally announced her first contest. (She was going to do it on the first month, but seems we're running behind on everything here, huh?)

*****

And now for this week's Library Loot. Many thanks to our lovely hostesses, Eva and Alessandra. Now as much as I love, love, love the library, I told myself that I was NOT going to get any books this week...because I really, really, really need to get some of the books off my own shelves! Well, this is what "NOT going to get any books this week" looks like:






















I am so damn pathetic. But, hey, it does mean I have points to award.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I've been tempted by this book for a long time, and yet reluctant. Mostly afraid that I'd have a hard time with the dialect. But Trish's and Eva's reviews pushed me over the edge. Point for each of them!

Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang. I was delighted to read that Eva enjoyed this one, because I'd actually been looking for a good book on the subject. Another point for Eva!

City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in the Jaffa by Adam LeBor. Oh yes, you guessed it...Eva strikes again. I'd actually asked her for a recommendation on the subject earlier and she'd told me about this one. But her review is really wonderful, too, of course! Point number three for Eva!

The Dead & The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Impulse grab. Loved Life as We Knew It so much that I knew I'd eventually get to this one.

Streets of Babel by Carol Blum-Ucci. Just looked so good, I couldn't bring myself to put it down once I'd picked it up.

The Mystery of Mary Rogers by Rick Geary. Yay...our library just bought this one! I've wanted to read more of this series ever since reading The Borden Tragedy. And Joy's review had my craving it even more. Point for Joy!

The Sandman: Dream Country by Neil Gaiman. Seriously, I really don't need to explain this one, do I? ;) I was sooooo excited to see it there though...it's been checked out for ages.

The Last Temptation by Neil Gaiman. Probably shouldn't admit this, but I'd never heard of this one before. But does one say "no" to a Neil Gaiman graphic novel when one sees it? I think not.

*****

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg.

Yes, and finally a mini dose of book babble. This book first entered my radar screen with Carl's and Dewey's reviews. Sounded like a book that both Annie and I would very much enjoy.

The book starts with Jane being hurt when a bomb explodes in a terrorist attack in the city where she and her parents live. Her parents react to their fear by moving the family to the suburbs. Not a choice Jane is happy about.

Prior to the attack, Jane had been a popular girl in her school in the city. But on her first day at her new school, Jane makes a conscious decision to avoid the "in" crowd, despite their overtures to her. The attack has Jane questioning a lot of things. Instead, Jane tries to befriend "the misfits" of the school. Each fills a stereotypical niche in your average high school. And I have to say it was here where I was at first feeling a bit let down with the book. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because the story and the characters really grew on me. I hate to tell too much more about the story, but I will say that it's got a lot more going on than a "new kid in school" story. It's about learning to deal with fear, about trying to figure out what really matters in life, about acceptance and stretching one wings.

One small complaint...to me, it seemed to end too abruptly. But really, all in all, I ended up enjoying the book a great deal. And I am definitely glad that I finally got around to reading it. And yes, I'm definitely hoping Annie will read it before we have to return it to the library.

In the Land of Invisible Women...random thoughts

In The Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed, MD.

I first heard of this book while listening to the Diane Rehm Show one day. Dr. Qanta Ahmed was Diane's guest, and her story fascinated me. She had completed her residency and further studies in medicine in New York. And though she had hoped remain in the U.S. after her training, she was unexpectedly denied renewal of her visa. Oh a whim, she accepts a position at the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Naively perhaps, she expects to feel at home there. She is after all a British-born Muslim doctor. But the world she lands in is unlike anything she's ever experienced. This book tells the story of her two years working in Saudi Arabia.

Let me say right off the top that I really loved this book. But I have to admit that I had problems with the writing. It was a bit too flowery for my tastes. Maybe flowery isn't the correct word, but each sentence seemed to contain eight adjectives and four adverbs all wrapped in a metaphor. Obviously that's an exaggeration, but I swear at first I just wanted to keep yelling, "Stop. You're trying too hard." That said, the book was never hard to understand in any way, and honestly I sort of found the writing more amusing than annoying.

So what did I love about this book? It transported me to a land that is so utterly different from anything I have ever experienced. I knew very little about Saudi Arabia before reading this book, and while I can't claim to truly understand the land now, I learned so much. A bit about the history, but much, much more about the culture. Or should I say cultures. For Saudi Arabia is a land of contradictions. And it was interesting to discover the Kingdom through the eyes of someone who was just discovering it firsthand for herself.

I would learn that Saudi Arabia was many things to many people: to the rich, a land of boundless wealth; to the poor, a prison of abject poverty; to the expatriate worker, a land of contrasts and inconsistencies, an ever moving labyrinth of contradiction, not wholly one nor wholly the other.

Abbayahs, Hajj, Mutawaeen. Dangerous, high-speed highways. Gender-segregation. Forbidden dating. Hymenoplasty. Arranged marriage. Polygamy. Divorce. Domestic violence and child abuse. And many, many strong women.

While in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Ahmed develops feelings for a colleague. And I have to admit, at first it seemed rather annoying the way she spoke about it. Here she was an extremely well-educated doctor, acting like a preteen girl in throes of a crush. But there truly was a point to her including all of this, as it showed the realities of a society where mixing of the sexes is prohibited, where dating isn't permitted at all. She didn't even realize how she was acting until she was attending a party for a friend who was about to enter an arranged marriage. The grown women at this party were all acting like schoolgirls.

They giggled coquettishly and girlishly. The atmosphere was at once innocent and deeply saddening. The women, starved for meaningful contact with the opposite sex, fell into two camps before marriage; panicked promiscuity on threat of dishonor or even worse, and adolescent, girlish fantasies that would never lead to a real relationship. I failed to see my own fantasy weaving in my daydreams about Imad. I was no more immune to the artificial climate of Riyadh myself, no matter how Westernized I thought myself to be.

Dr. Ahmed's time in the Kingdom was coming to an end at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. She doesn't sugarcoat the reactions of some to horrendous events of that day. She is dazed and confused and dismayed and saddened beyond words. The chapter she devotes to this is a very difficult one to read, and yet had she not included it, the book would not have portrayed the whole of her experiences there.

Today, Dr. Ahmed is a quadrupled boarded physician practicing in South Carolina.

*****

Other viewpoints:

Sarah at Behold, The Thing That Reads A Lot

I'd love to include your two cents if you've read this book, so please feel free to leave me a link and I'll add it here. Thanks.

*****

I plan to give this book away eventually. Unfortunately I can't do it right now...I'm afraid I talked so much about it while I was reading it, that Rich now wants to read it. :) But I do have another book to give away, if anyone is interested. 50 Reasons to Buy Fair Trade by Miles Litvinoff and John Madeley, which I babble about here. (I think Annie and I have pretty much indoctrinated Rich on the whole Fair Trade issue, so he doesn't really need to read the book anymore.) It is a used book, of course. If interested, just say so and I'll draw a name in a few days (if there's more than one person interested, that is).

And speaking of giveaways, I actually remembered to draw the winners of That's Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday. Yep, I said winners, plural. It dawned on me after I wrote that post that I really don't need to keep either copy, so I drew two names instead. Wish I had a copy for everyone! Anyway, Trish and Bookworm are the winners. If you could just send your snail mail addresses to rdagmstevens at frontiernet dot net, I'll try to get the books in the mail sometime this coming week.

babbling about graphic novels

Amulet: Book One The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi.

This was one of those total impulse grabs from the library. Had never heard of it before, but it looked fun. And it was fun, but certainly won't make my top ten reads of the year or anything.

The story begins with a terrible accident in which Emily's father is killed. A couple of years later, Emily's mother moves the family (herself, Emily, and Emily's brother, Navin) to an old family home. She claims that she's just still trying to give them a fresh start. But we come to wonder if, unbeknownst even to her, there's something more going on with this move. The family arrives at the home, and on the very first night, events spiral out of control. The children find an amulet, their mother is kidnapped by a strange tentacled creature, and they all find themselves in a world completely foreign to them.

The downside: The story just doesn't have a lot of depth. But I would like to hope that maybe that will come as the series continues. (And there are hints that this may well be the case.) I realize that this is a series aimed at younger children, but I don't believe that means it needs to be overly simplistic. (I'm actually hoping that I can convince Gray to read this, so I can get him opinion.)

On the positive side: I love the art! I found the "creatures," both the good ones and the bad ones, to be utterly adorable. And I don't quite know how to explain it, but I love the coloring of this novel. I hesitate to use the word "pretty," but I honestly can't think of a better word. It is both subtle and vibrant all at the same time. Oh crap...I'm making no sense at all here. Suffice it to say that I really enjoyed looking at this book.


Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess.

I've actually had this on my wish list ever since I read my first graphic novel, Alice in Sunderland. (Talbot spoke of a number of books in Alice in Sunderland that got added to my wish list.) Anyway, when Rose was finally available at the library, I of course, snatched it right up.

It's a beautiful little fantasy story. Just read it's beginning words:

When the world was very, very new, and dreams had not yet receded from the waking day...

The first dragon was a queen named Mim. And Mim was the keeper of all who dreamed.

She cared for the dreaming by encircling the world and holding her tail in her mouth...

As long as Mim held her tail in this way, balance was maintained.

And balance is most important, for the dreaming is a thing of great delicacy.

I don't want to give any of the story away, but I'm sure you can easily guess that something happens to this balance. A balance is regained, but again disrupted. And it eventually falls upon Princess Rose to right things. I love Princess Rose...she's young, a bit naive, a bit impulsive...and who wants a princess that is too perfect, right? It's a story about dreams, and growing up, and hard choices. I really, really enjoyed it.

And hey, it doesn't hurt that Charles Vess created the artwork, huh? It is stunningly beautiful.

I didn't realize until after I'd finished the book that is a prequel to BONE. From the little I know about BONE, I believe this prequel is a bit darker in nature. But I plan to find out for sure...after finishing this book, I had to immediately go and order BONE: One Volume Edition.

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley.

Oh my, what can I say? This is easily my favorite of the three. I absotively, posolutely adored this book! Delightful. Beguiling. Captivating. Enchanting. (O.K., O.K., I'll stop now before I feel the need to dig out the thesaurus.) This was a book that just made me happy. The only other recent book I've read that I can remember making me feel this way is The Goose Girl. Not that the two books are alike, they just made me feel the same. I wish I was better with words so I could explain what I mean. It's just sort of a happy innocence. A being fully transported away into a land of pure magic. Of course, that's not to say that either book is all lightness and fluff. Anyway as I said, the two books really aren't all that similar, other than the fact that a review of each would likely contain the words "fairy tale" at some point. Castle Waiting has much more depth. There are layers upon layers, stories within stories. And OMGosh, is this book funny! And bottom line, it's about how anyone can come together and become a family.

Ahhh, I seriously want to read it again already!

*****

Other viewpoints:
*Nymeth at Things Mean A Lot (Castle Waiting)
*Eva at A Striped Armchair (Castle Waiting)
*Susan at You Can Never Have Too Many Books
*Kailana at The Written World (Rose)

I'd love to add your two-cents, so if you'd reviewed any of the above, please feel free to leave me a link in the comments. Thanks.