Non-Fiction

My Father’s Daughter

2011, Adoption Reading Challenge, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

I think I reserved My Father’s Daughter because I saw someone talking about in the Adoption Books Challenge. It sounded interesting and I didn’t have any other adoption themed books on my list – so I grabbed it.

It was… interesting.

Told from the perspective of the adopted child as adult – most of the adoption books I read are about young children or about the birth parent or the adoptive parent, so this was something slightly different.

When I read books about children from war-torn or third world countries being adopted by Americans or Euorpeans, there’s almost always a tone of… privilege. By adopting this poor child, we’re giving her a better life. Which is true… except when it isn’t.

Hannah Pool is a good example of this. White American mother and English father adopt African orphan. Mother dies, father does a nice job (once he gets his bearings), Hannah grows up in England – gets a good University education. Has traveled all over the world. And yet… what child, no matter what the situation, wants to be adopted. What child, no matter the situation, wouldn’t wish for her birth family – the experience of growing up with that culture and heritage?   When she learns she wasn’t an orphan, her birth father was not dead, and that she has siblings and finally visits… she sees their poverty, hears about a sister lost in the war, understands that if she had not been taken to that orphanage, she’d have grown up there – been like her sister(s) – and part of her, a big part of her, wishes that had happened.

I get it.

No matter how wonderful an adopted child’s life and family are, there’s always something that makes them different from others. I understand.

I don’t even know if having a completely open adoption can completely resolve these kinds of feelings and issues for adopted children. But I also know that adoption can be a good thing and the alternatives – children growing up in homes where adults can’t properly care for them or in orphanages or multiple foster homes, those are situations where it’s obvious adoption is a good alternative. But still.

Lesson learned: Adoption isn’t the ultimate solution. It brings problems all its own.

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Swallow: Foreign Bodies, Their Ingestion, Inspiration, and the Curious Doctor Who Extracted Them

2011, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

I think my hopes were too high for Swallow. I like books about weird topics – I’m a big fan of Mary Roach, I loved The History of Milk, that book I read last year about the snake oil salesman… the weirder, the better. And Swallow was weird but it was also… difficult to read. Within about ten pages, I just wanted to put it down and that’s about the time when TW told me that she had not been able to finish it.

Well. Gee. I wonder why.

I don’t want my foreign body swallowing book to be full of prose. I want it to be full of quirky, interesting facts and stories. The author is a fabulous writer but I wish I’d read something else she wrote and I wish someone else would write a less pretty book about the swallowing of foreign bodies and the really interesting Dr Jackson Chevalier.

Also… I’m glad I didn’t read this before Elly swallowed the penny 10 years ago – I’d have been a total wreck. She’s lucky she didn’t die! Good grief.

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The Dark Game

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Non-Fiction, Young Adult /

The Dark Game: True Spy Stories is on the Cybils Shortlist for YA/Middle Grade non-fiction. I had high hopes for it but… it was a little too dry. I can’t imagine a kid getting excited about this book. Maybe if she was doing a report about spies and wanted something besides Wikipedia and text books. But a kid who was really into spies? I don’t know.

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Four Cybils from the Children’s Shelves + a Bonus Cybil from Last Year’s Shortlist

2011, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Fiction, Non-Fiction /

National Geographic Readers: Ants – pretty pictures but kind of boring. I imagined my brother, the ant fanatic, reading this when he was little. I think he’d have been bored though he probably would have been amused by the jokes at the top right corner of some of the pages. If you have a kid who hasn’t yet taken an interest in ants, this would be a good beginner ant book.  For those who’ve already dug into the ant pile, skip this one.

Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl – Ahhhhh, so much potential, such a let down. OK it’s not as bad as all that. I just wished for more. Just a little more personality from the flies. Or something. I’m not saying don’t read it, I’m just hoping the other books in the series go a little deeper, make me laugh a little more. So much potential.

Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa. Well. It is what it is. A little girl with a horse. The horse talks to her (and she to it) but the other animals do not seem to speak. This is what I’ve never really understood about some of these talking pet books. I’m also confused because Cocoa always starts out kind of grumpy and maybe not very smart but within a few sentences, turns around completely. It seems like if Cocoa is going to be a grump she should grumpily admit that the dog is nice, or the baby owls are cute – not to jump wholeheartedly into love when three seconds ago she was grouchy. I know, I’m an adult over-thinking a picture book. I can’t help it. I want perfection in my children’s lit. Heh.

Last, but never least, the man (and pig and elephant) who never disappear  — no matter how much I might wish they all would. I say it every year, I like Mo Willems (or I used to) but people. Please. Does he have to be on the Cybils short list every year? And is he really only writing Elephant and Piggie books? Because GAH! I’m so done with them. Or I was… until We Are In a Book. I can’t believe I’m saying this but…. Awesome. Brilliant. Willems, Piggie and Elephant (and the Cybils selection committee) have redeemed themselves this year. But please. That does not mean this series should be on the list next year.  Enough already. Except “Banana!” hahahahahaha.

One last book from the Cybils shortlist – except it is a book from last year’s shortlist. The book I reserved last July, the book that never came. The book the library website said was ON THE SHELF for six months. The book that was NOT on the shelf where it was supposed to be. (Parents in Glenview who take their kids to the library, a little clean up would be appreciated. Restack those books in the right place, please.)  I had given up hope for The Day-Glo Brothers. I also couldn’t quite bring myself to buy it. And then suddenly, there it was, on my pick up list. Yippeee! And thank goodness, it was interesting! I’ve never wondered how Day-Glo paint was invented. Have you? The guys behind the Day-Glo, great story.  It’s written for a pretty young set, and I wish it was written a little “older” – it’s missing just a little bit of depth that would have been nice.

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Four Non-fiction Books in January and February

2011, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I’m playing catch up on my book blogging. First, because I simply fell behind. Second because three of these books I don’t really want to blog – yet. I’ll be blogging those over on BlogHer later this month. But I do want to keep a record of them here so…

1)      The Art of American Book Covers is a beautiful book. I think I need to own this one. Just so I can flip through the pages and imagine holding those old, beautiful books. LOVE.

2)      Shop Smart, Save More – interesting look at what led to The Grocery Game.

3)      Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America’s Cheapest Family – hah, I’m a sucker for these kinds of books. This one was extra fascinating (also extra frustrating for me since I kept growling “Patriarchy”…)

4)      Supershop Like the Coupon Queen – interesting, slightly updated, look at the original coupon queen (who I do remember from day time tv in the 70’s and 80’.)

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Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

2 Comments / 2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

Last year I thought about reading the Little House actors’ memoirs and then put it off when our library closed. Thankfully, Zandria posted her yearly reading list and nudged me into reserving them.

The first one,Confessions of a Prairie Bitch, came to us last week – TW read it first and laughed loud and hard all the way through it. I mean she really really laughed. And she wanted to talk about what she was laughing and I had to shush her strongly so she would not give it away.

When  I read it, I chuckled in a lot of places but I did not roll around on the bed laughing the way TW did. TW is weird. I would, however, love to see Alison Arngrim’s stand up show. That would be awesome.

If you loved Nellie or hated Nellie, you should read this. Heck, if you enjoyed watching Little House on the Prairie, you should read this. I’m worried that Melissa Gilbert’s book won’t stand up to Alison’s… I’ll let ya know next month.

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Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who’s Determined to Kill Me

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, From the Stacks Challenge, Non-Fiction, Women /

Several months ago, I went to BlogHer Belmont to have some fun get some work done with my co-workers. When I arrived, Lisa Stone handed me a mailing envelope with a book inside that she thought I should read. I laughed and made sure it made it into my suitcase home. When I got home, I opened it up and as soon as I saw the cover… I laughed too.

Lyra aka Gaknar (The Fear Demon) is famous at BlogHer Belmont for her shrieks during my phone calls. She has always particularly appreciated the voice of Lisa Stone. She’s also famous because I so often rant about her and publicly wish her dead. Which is obviously an exaggeration. If I really wanted her dead, she would be dead.

I finally found some time to read Winging It and it was funny and familiar and frightening, all at the same time.

What in the hell was Jenny Gardiner thinking? What was her family thinking? Why wasn’t someone there who could step in and say ENOUGH – this is not healthy for your, your family or the animals you keep bringing into your lives.

Because it wasn’t just Graycie the African Grey who was a troubled pet, it was more than half of the other pets they brought into their home as well. Not to mention one family disaster after another. Not to mention Pierre the French Exchange Student.

Does Jenny Gardiner have a blog because, dude, hers would be one of those trainwrecky types where you cannot really believe that so much can happen to one family, the type where you’re in the background saying NO, DO NOT DO THAT and judging the blogger for making such horrendous decisions, the type where in the end you keep reading because you recognize yourself and your own bad choices and your own ability to get through it, stick with it, and come out the otherside willing to give a parrot who wants to kill you hydrotherapy three times a day for what seems like the rest of your life while taking care of three children under 5, a dog who is allergic to everything (literally) and your own Lyme disease.

I can’t decide if I wish I’d read this book during the first week Lyra aka Gaknar came to live with us. It certainly would have made us less freaked out the day we found the big feather in the bottom of the cage and SOMEONE was sure it was a blood feather and she would bleed to death. Hah. It also would have been easier when Lyra aka Gaknar lost a bunch of weight and we were sure she was going to die any second.

Then again, if I’d have thought I would wind up with a bird who needed anywhere near as much care as Graycie – or was as messy – or as evil… I think I would have had to move out. Or make the bird move out.

After my family finishes reading this, I’ll be sending it back to BlogHer Belmont for Superwoman aka Miriam – it’s sad just how many of the BlogHer Belmont staff have wished a bird dead….

This is also my first book in this year’s From the Stacks challenge – it’s red (with the jacket on.)

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Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen Carpenter

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Women /

I’m a Carpenters fan. How can I not be? Even if Richard wasn’t a genius and Karen wasn’t an amazing singer and drummer, I’d still have to be a fan. I grew up with the Carpenters. I liked nothing better than to sit at the kitchen table with my mom playing Kings on the Corners or Canasta while listening to her Carpenters albums. She sometimes made us listen to Barry Manilow which is why I am also a Barry Manilow fan. But mostly, it was the Carpenters. The best part of taking piano lessons was playing Carpenters songs – I think I can still play Close to You (badly.)

I saw Little Girl Blue reviewed somewhere on the internets and decided I’d give it a try. I knew it would be bad, in the not really a good biography way, because I’d seen articles about how close-mouthed people were about Karen. I knew it would be bad, in the really horrible and depressing way, because how could it not?

It was bad. In both ways.

It’s hard to write a really good biography when those involved won’t – or can’t – talk about the person being written about. Still, I think Schmidt did a reasonably well job. As a Carpenters fan it was nice to see the timeline and a little look at what was happening in the background as the years passed. I’d have liked it to have been better – to have answered more questions, but I also know it’s likely that there aren’t any good answers.

They never should have made her step out from behind the drums. And of course there’s some patriarchy-blaming to do, too. None of that changes the fact that it was horrible and still is horrible if you let yourself think about it.

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Girl Wide Web

2011, Books in Bed, Feminism, Non-Fiction, Women, Young Adult /

The new version of Girl Wide Web is on Michelle’s syllabus so I thought I’d try and reserve it from my library- no luck, they only had the original version. I thought what the hell and reserved it. It was interesting but in a dated sort of way.

Remember when BlueJeanOnline started, and how cool it was to have a magazine written for and BY girls. Yea. The essay focusing on BlueJeanOnline was interesting, in a historical kind of way. BlueJean has been gone for quite some time now. I remember when Gurl was new and interesting – look at it today, not so much new or interesting. And when AboutFace.org started, thankfully it’s still going strong.

The internet moves quickly and these essays are good reflections of how girls were using the internet and are good jumping off points for anyone who wants to dig into how girls use the internet today.

I’ll be interested in hearing what Michelle thinks about Girl Wide Web 2.0. I wonder if she’ll let me borrow it once she finishes with her class.

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A Skating Life

1 Comment / 2011, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Women /

It’s been one heck of a non-fictiony year so far, what’s up with that? I’m feeling all non-fictioned out, which is bad since most of what is on my library cart is non-fiction! Oops, time to reserve some Cybils!

TW snagged A Skating Life from the shelf at the library, I think from one of those themed displays – this one touting “winter” or something like that. A display I would never have voluntarily looked at. So I’m glad she did. She might have had the Hamill hair cut but she’s not the only one who loved Dorothy Hamill way back when. Her book is frustrating. Full of angst and depression and dirtbags. That made it a little hard to focus on her talent as a skater sometimes. Which is too bad because… look at her skate.

It’s extra interesting to watch this after just having read the book. To know what she was thinking as the crowd booed the judges as she came out. To see her squint at the scores after she was done.  Now I just want to wander around and watch Dorothy Hamill skate videos all day.

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