catching up with more mini-babble

What I read the past few weeks:

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

*As I just read and reviewed this a couple years ago, there's really no need to say much now. But it might be worth mentioning that I loved this book even more this time around. Not sure I would have thought that possible.






Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham.

*Damn. This series just keeps getting better and better!
*These books are making me want to delve deeper into the world of fairy tales and folktales. Occasionally I come across a character that I have no idea who it is. While this doesn't detract from the story, I know that I would likely get even more from the books if I had more background knowledge. And not only that, these characters are just so dang interesting that I want read more, more, more. (And many thanks, Nymeth, for continually answering my questions, and never making me feel like a pest.)
*Misc. thoughts: I would occasionally like to smack Prince Charming across his smug pretty face. I hope we get to see a lot more of Rose Red in the future; I've missed her since she's been more in the periphery. The wooden soldier "assembly line" cracked me up. Frau Totenkinder can kick ass, huh?

The History of Us: Reconstruction and Reform, 1865-1896 (Book 7) by Joy Hakim.

*I know I don't usually talk about the books we use for homeschooling. (Well, with the exception of the ones we read for "literature" units, that is.) But I just felt the need to mention this series, because it is just so awesome! And I was confident they would be as it was Dewey who recommended them to me. I don't know that anyone who reads this will be in the market for middle grade U.S. history books, but if so, you just can't go wrong with these.
*A few of the things I love: They cover more obscure pieces of history, along with the more well-known events. They look at things from various points of view. They don't try to cover up or put a pretty face on the uglier parts of this country's past.

Javatrekker: Dispatches from the World of Fair Trade Coffee by Dean Cycon.

*To be honest, when I read the introduction, I worried. Despite the fact that I already fully support Fair Trade, I worried that Dean Cycon was going to come across as "holier than thou." Happily, I was wrong! Is he passionate about making sure farmers get fair prices for their labor? Yes! Is he passionate about preserving indigenous cultures around the world? Yes! Is he passionate about taking care of the Earth? Yes! But he is not in any way condescending or arrogant. In fact, he's really quite a goofball. (And I have a very soft spot for goofballs.)
*This book is full of the stories of unfairness. I won't lie, some of these stories break the heart. But it doesn't stop there...from these heartbreaking stories come stories of hope. Beautiful, touching stories of hope. Does he claim that Fair Trade can solve all the problems of the world? Of course not. But in countries around the globe, we hear stories of creative solutions and of differences made.
*Yes, I did just say that this book is full of heartbreak and hope. But it's also full of humor. Often at the author's expense...he's definitely not afraid to laugh at himself. I found myself smiling often, and one time laughing heartily aloud.
*And on top of all that, this book provides a fascinating look at several cultures around the world. We visit countries as diverse as Guatemala, Ethiopia, Sumatra, and Papua New Guinea (and others, too).
*Though the copy I read was from the library, I'm hoping to have a giveaway later when things settle down around here (please, please, please let that be soon). In the meantime, if you'd like to see what this fellow Dean Cycon and his company Dean's Beans are all about, visit here.

No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa, interviews by Tim McKee, photographs by Anne Blackshaw.

*One thing I love about homeschooling is the amount of wonderful books I read that I otherwise probably wouldn't. (Of course, in a way, it's one of the things I hate, too...as I'm left with so little time for spur of the moment fun reading.) Anyway, this is one of those books that I probably wouldn't have read on my own, and well, that would have been my loss.
*This book features interviews of twelve teenage South Africans, each with a very distinct background. Among others, we meet a teen born in exile as her mother worked for the ANC, a Afrikaner teen living the rural life, a teen living in a small village that is still ruled by a chief.
*These interviews were done just a few years after Nelson Mandela was elected president. The varying viewpoints were fascinating. The one thread that seemed to run through them all was hope. Not naivety. But hope. I would so very much love to see a follow up to this book, to hear what each of these teens thinks now that another decade has passed. How their lives and views have changed since then.
*Oh, and I also wanted to mention that this book is filled with truly lovely black and white photos.

Legend of Chun Hyang by CLAMP.

*To be perfectly honest, the reason I read this book right now was because I still needed a book for the folklore category of the Once Upon a Time challenge, and the cover of the book said, "The Legend of Chun Hyang is one of Korea's most enduring folktales..." I'm not at all familiar with Korean folklore, and I have no idea how much this book reflects the original folktale. But now I am really interested to find out, because I fell in love with the spitfire heroine, Chun Hyang.
*This is the first manga by CLAMP, of whom I've heard such good things. And I did enjoy this book, but I didn't out-and-out love it. Honestly, it could be that I still need more exposure to manga in general, as it at times felt a little disjointed to me.
*The art in this book is beautiful.



The Sandman: A Game of You by Neil Gaiman.

*I've finally figured out which, The Sandman or Fables, is my favorite. Whichever I'm reading at the time. ;)
*I have really, really loved this series from the beginning, even Preludes and Nocturnes, which I know some people aren't overly fond of. But I think this may be my favorite book so far. I so adored these characters! I liked Barbie far more sans Ken (not that I disliked her previously, but I didn't feel like I knew her all that well before). And Wanda, and Hazel, and Foxglove...how could one not love them?!! And Thessaly...well, she's definitely left me wanting to know more about her, that's for sure.
*It may take some effort not to have nightmares of George's face on the wall...shudder.
*I really wish I could say something about the end, but I don't want to give any spoilers. Let's just say that Death allowed me to end the book with a smile, when I had been seething over ignorance and intolerance.

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.

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.