Non-Fiction

Jesus Land Trigger Trigger TRIGGER

4 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Religion /

Jesusland
I finished Jesus Land last night and put off blogging about it because I wasn’t sure what to say, exactly. I’m still not sure of what to say so let’s go with a list. (Good blogging rule, if in doubt just make a list!)

People who should not read Jesus Land

*If you have a history of abuse or neglect and are triggered by stories of such, do not read this book.
*If you are an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC, do not read this book.


People who should read Jesus Land

*Anyone who is not easily triggered by descriptions of abuse or neglect.
*Anyone who is not an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC or on the verge of becoming an ANTI ORGANIZED RELIGION FANATIC

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Leopard Hat

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

Well, I loved parts of The Leopard Hat and didn’t love other parts. Some chapters felt like they droned on and on and on while others felt too short and just a little empty. It’s interesting to read “memoirs” to see which stories people give the most detai, the most heart,l to. Or maybe it’s just that Steiker had difficulty writing about the years after her mother’s death? It’s the stories about the later years that I didn’t really enjoy.

If you want to read a nice mother/daughter book, read the first 150 pages of The Leopard Hat and then put it down, you won’t be missing anything by skipping the end.

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Money

1 Comment / 2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

I’m not a fan of money. In fact I hate money. Money is the root of all evil, along with gendered bathrooms. And yet, (see there’s that phrase already), money items are on my 101 things to do in 1001 days list. I’ll probably never manage most of them but I should get some credit for having put those things in my list. It indicates I’m at least thinking about money.

Dave Barry’s Money Secrets is about my speed. I much prefer his ideas to the “real thing”. They make about as much sense to me. Someone shoot me if you ever hear me talk about reading a real book about money management, ok? Because that would mean I’m ready to be plasticined and I’d appreciate being helped to the next level. Even Barry’s Money Secrets was too much money talk for me, at points, and I had to put it down and go back to ignoring money completely.

In fact, if I didn’t like Dave Barry, I probably would not have read more than the introduction. But I do like Dave Barry so I read the whole thing. And liked it, in the same way I like a good Dave Barry column. Some chapters (or sections of chapters) were better than others – as is true of all Dave Barry columns. Some chapters (or sections of chapters) were pretty bad in that “Airplane” movie sort of slapstick comedy way. (I hate Airplane and any movie with Leslie Nielson playing some idiotic comedy role)

If you enjoy Dave Barry in the Sunday paper (or on his blog) then you’ll probably enjoy Money Secrets. If you don’t like Dave Barry then try a Suze Orman book instead.

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And Yet….

5 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction, Religion /

And yet… that’s a good phrase, I like it. I think I’ve always liked it but never used it much. After last night it’s likely “And yet…” will become one of those family phrases, like the ones I blogged about last month.

This entry about Elie Wiesel is difficult. I could talk about Oprah. I could talk about Night. I could talk about disinterest. I could talk about hate. I could talk about education. But where to start, how to start? It’s difficult, and yet, it isn’t.

When Oprah announced Night would be her next book club choice and would also be her High School Essay selection I changed Michelle’s reading schedule and I did the thing I always gripe about people doing – I bought the book. Because Oprah said to. And I hated doing it but I really was impressed with the selection, for the essay contest in particular. Even if homeschoolers were not eligible to enter, I felt like it was a good valid selection and important for Michelle to read – because of the book itself and because hundreds of thousands of high schoolers would be reading it. They would have this experience and I think it will be important that Michelle have some of the same types of experiences. So, I bought an Oprah book because Oprah said to do it. Blah.

Michelle started reading it. She got about halfway through it before TW and I had even made it to the German occupation of Sighet, on audio. Michelle’s birthday weekend in Atlanta arrived and we all started over at the beginning and listened to the first 3 hours on audio. iRiver malfunction left us wondering what happens next…. Michelle finished reading, I finished listening and TW has not yet finished (my fault for listening without her).

Oprah is right, everyone should read Night. Actually let me change that. I think everyone should listen to it on audio. The voice was not Elie Wiesel’s voice, but it could have been. I don’t generally feel that way about audio books, I enjoy them but I enjoy reading the actual words myself more. I think in this cause, the audio made the story stronger, maybe stronger isn’t the right word. It’s already a strong book, how could it not be? The voice reading the book, made it harder to detach.

Seeing Elie Wiesel last night at UF did so as well.

He didn’t talk about Night, the writing of it or his experience in the Holocaust in any real detail. But as he spoke about hatred, about politics, about religious history and religious differences it seemed impossible to put Night or the Holocaust away. When I looked at Elie Wiesel or listened to him (because the nonstop flashes from the cameras made it difficult to look at him) his history is there. It’s difficult to describe.

Things that stuck with me after last night’s talk… Disinterest is the opposite of just about everything… Fanaticism could be the biggest issue we face in this century… Education isn’t just in the classroom. Education is reading everything – books, magazines, internet. It’s talking to friends and coworkers and acquaintances and listening to them. It’s sharing of ideas and experiences. It’s watching television and movies and not just the news. Education is sensitizing yourself so you are better able to understand other people, other ideas, other feelings… Elie didn’t tell his publisher he was being interviewed by Oprah 10 years ago and his publisher was mad. He didn’t understand. This year, Oprah told people to read his book and it sold millions, he understands now…

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Haven Kimmel – a blogger?

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction /

We read Haven Kimmel’s A Girl Named Zippy last year and we really liked it. So, when we saw her newest book on the shelves awhile back I reserved it at the library. I picked it up. TW read it and didn’t say much about it. I picked it up and read the intro and realized I couldn’t actually remember much about A Girl Named Zippy. Which led me to wonder why I was reading “She Got Up Off the Couch”. Maybe we didn’t like Zippy as much as we remembered?

As I read, I realized I remembered more about Zippy than I first thought. I also think that the reason I didn’t remember more at first is because Kimmel’s books read like blog entries. They do. They’re short, though most are longer than the average blog post. They read like a blogger who is sharing a family story and jazzing it up to make readers laugh. Simple and funny family stories that any of us could tell (and often do). Not that blog entries are forgettable. That’s not what I mean. It’s just that there are so many. And a story from Zippy or Up Off the Couch could have been written by a zillion bloggers – feels like it has been and those stories sometimes blend together. Bits and pieces come back to you now and again but they’re a little blurry and you have to stop and think… was that Mir’s family? or was it Jenny’s? or maybe my own?

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Devil’s Picnic – No Picnic

2006, Books in Bed, Don't Read This, Non-Fiction /

Unfortunately the Devil’s Picnic was no picnic – it was boring. Too bad because the idea seemed like a good one. Head off to countries all over the world and talk to people about banned substances and buy/acquire said substances. Cool idea, right? Follow through stunk. Ho-hum. Boring. Most interesting part was going into Singapore and taking banned substances in – chewing gum, poppy seed crackers. Funny. The rest, don’t waste your time.

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Breakfast With Michelle

5 Comments / 2006, Books in Bed, Favorites, GLBT, Non-Fiction /

Oops, sorry! That should be Breakfast With Tiffany but Tiffany is a mirror image of our Michelle and it very quickly became difficult to separate the two. Tiffany is very real and very honest. I don’t think Mr Winty exaggerated in the least when sharing her with us. I do wonder if he hasn’t just been spying on us and used Michelle as a model for Tiffany. I mean seriously folks, if you want to know what my almost 16 year old daughter is like and what we have lived with everyday since she hit pre-teenhood then this is the book for you.

This is probably the book for you even if you don’t care one iota about our lives and our Michelle because teen girls are everywhere! They aren’t all like Tiffany and Michelle but you would be surprised by how many ARE very much like this. Knowledge is power, ladies and gentlemen. The more you know about how these fascinating creatures think, the safer you are.

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It felt like church to me…

2006, Books in Bed, Non-Fiction, Religion /

The Peabody Sisters was one heck of a long church sermon! That’s how it felt to me, Unitarian Universalist that I am. Imagine sitting in church nonstop for a week… you non UU people will probably not understand it but the UUs will.

And then, once you UUs have imagined that – imagine not that you’re listening to a really great minister like Reverand Barbara (who is no longer with our congregation, unfortunately) or even Reverand Jack (also no longer with our congregation) but instead some really dry and might I say boring interim minister. That is what The Peabody Sisters felt like, to me.

Of course I did learn that the mighty Elizabeth Peabody is almost solely responsible for Unitarianism and Transcendentalism and all that is right with education. And if folks had only listened to her, folks like Hawthorne and Emerson and Channing and Mann and most especially Bronson Alcott, they would have done far better in their lives. To read this book, Elizabeth Peabody was the founder of it all – at least all that took place in the 1800’s.

That is the only thing that made the book worth sitting for – how often do we hear that a woman was responsible for all the great things (and yes some not so great things too). It got to be a little much, and I kept expecting Elizabeth to have invented the lighbulb and walked on the moon, but I still smiled everytime Elizabeth was the force behind the man or her ideas were used by some man to achieve great things. Oh and Mary and Sophia (the other women that make up the “sisters” weren’t so bad either. Not as great as Elizabeth of course but what can you expect). Woman Power! Go Girl! Hear Me Roar!

OK on to something that I am sure will sound nothing like a church sermon, boring or otherwise. Gosh I miss Reverand Barbara!

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2006 Healthy Wealthy & Wise

1 Comment / Non-Fiction, Reading Lists /

This evening I noticed the Penguin UK list of books to read in 2006. I noticed it first because I saw it on Reading Matters and within minutes saw it on Sassymonkey Reads.



I love the idea of choosing one book a month in each category, “Healthy, Wealthy & Wise” plus one “Must Read” but I’m not thrilled with the Penguin UK list. This has me wondering which books I’d recommend in each category. And it has me wondering, how would an American list differ from the UK list? How would a Canadian list differ from both?



Very interesting. I think I’ll see if I can do four a month in those categories. It will help me with my non-fiction/classics stuff from my 101 Things in 1001 Days list.



What would you choose for each category?



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Marley & Me

1 Comment / 2005, Books in Bed, Favorites, Non-Fiction /

I’m finding it a little weird that my last book in 2005 is a dog book. A really good “bad dog” book but still a dog book. I am sick to death of dogs. I’m sick to death of my “bad dogs” and constantly rant and rave about these dog gone dogs. And yet… I totally, completely, thoroughly enjoyed Marley & Me. I’m not sure I have laughed my way through any book I’ve read this year the way I did with this one.

I’ve had a lab, (mine was black though), and while he was “a bad dog” he wasn’t Marley bad. I’ve got two cockers at the moment who are definitely “bad dogs” but they aren’t Marley bad (well Jake is worse in some ways since he’s actually BIT people). And as much as I rant and rave about all of the bad dogs I’ve had in the past and have right now, I can completely understand why people keep their bad dogs and love them to boot.

Marley & Me – great dog book. Funny and then sad at the end. I’m glad it was my last book of 2005 and hope I find one I enjoy as much in 2006.

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