gatheringwater's profile

73 ratings | 63 reviews
avg rating: 3.47
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gatheringwater is currently reading

	08/11 gatheringwater is currently reading: The Execution Channel (Hardcover) by Ken MacLeod bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	07/31 gatheringwater is currently reading: The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show (Hardcover) by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Sally Swift bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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	07/31 gatheringwater is currently reading: The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam (Hardcover) by Ayaan Hirsi Ali bookshelves: currently-reading	my rating:
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gatheringwater's recent updates (rss)

August 12

gatheringwater took the never-ending book quiz.

questions answered:	570
correct:	521 (91.4%)
skipped:	121
best streak:	43
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August 11

gatheringwater gave

to:
Infidel (Hardcover)
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
bookshelves: biography

my rating:

read in August, 2008

gatheringwater said: "Ayann Hirsi Ali appears to value truth and individual liberty above all else. A belief in these values led her out of a childhood of shocking brutality made possible by tribal and religious authority. It gave her the courage to take the chance given ...more Ayann Hirsi Ali appears to value truth and individual liberty above all else. A belief in these values led her out of a childhood of shocking brutality made possible by tribal and religious authority. It gave her the courage to take the chance given her to flee from an arranged marriage and to make a new life for herself in the Netherlands. Many people, it seems, would be much happier if her story stopped there.

An insistence on the value of truth and liberty kept Ali questioning in her new home. Specifically, she wanted to know why European governments created multicultural policies for a kind of Islam so different from that she had experienced first hand? How could the Netherlands, a liberal country that supports the equality of women in law and culture, turn a blind eye to practices like female genital mutilation or honor killings among its immigrant citizens and refugee communities? She tries to share her experience as a Muslim woman and an immigrant by getting involved in politics and by making a film about what the Koran says about the treatment of women. Soon, her collaborator on the film is dead, and she too is under constant threat of death.

Ali couldn't ask the kinds of questions she needed to ask in the liberal political party with which she first identified and she became a one-issue candidate for parliament through, what in the Netherlands, at least, is a more right-wing party. Because she is a critic of the role of violence and authority in Islam, she has been praised by neo-conservatives who have egged on the so-called war on terror. This has made her an ambiguous and perhaps untrustworthy figure to many liberals.

I loved this book, but I am looking forward even more eagerly to the next one, that describes what happens after she leaves the Netherlands and is adopted as a cause celeb by neo-conservatives. Will truth-telling continue to be her central value? If so, I expect she will once again find her life in upheaval. Critical examination is rarely welcome when it is directed at a host, so Ali has a kind of tragedy built-in to her character.

The tragedy is evident in some of the unanswered questions in this book. For example, Ali may believe that Western mores on sexual ethics and the role of women are superior to those of Islam and the tribal community in which she was raised, but her story also reveals that some of the things about which Muslim leaders criticize the West--the breakdown of supportive family structures, the isolation and anomie that results from an emphasis on individual freedom rather than communal responsibility, and moral confusion that results from moral relativism--have had an negative impact on her own life. She recounts the break-down of her long-term relationship and the loss of friends as she pursues what is most important to her. When her sister is ill and needs her help, Ali chooses to work for her education rather than go to her sister, who soon dies. I don't know if Ali could have done things differently or would choose to do them differently in hindsight. She is certainly not to blame for her sister's death. I imagine that she would say that the tragedies of life in the West are indeed sad, but not as bad as the kind of life from which she escaped--I'd just like to read her explanation rather than having to imagine it. And that's why I'm looking forward to her next memoir......less "

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gatheringwater is currently reading:
The Execution Channel (Hardcover)
by Ken MacLeod
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

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gatheringwater gave

to:
Time At The Top (Hardcover)
by Edward Ormondroyd
bookshelves: childrens-literature

my rating:

read in July, 2008

gatheringwater said: "Oddly enough, I've read far more children's books as an adult than I have as a child. As a young person, I was offended by the very idea of a children's book or a special part of the library for children. I was a Reader and I didn't want any babyish ...more "

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August 09

New comment on Ginny's review of Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father

gatheringwater wrote: "For a fictional take on many of the same settings and characters, you might enjoy The Blithedale Rom...more "

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gatheringwater marked as to-read:
The Theory of the Leisure Class (Modern Library Classics)
by Thorstein Veblen
bookshelves: to-read

my rating:

gatheringwater said: "Robert Reich's suggestion for summer reading... "

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New comment on gatheringwater's review of Life of Johnson (Oxford World's Classics)

gatheringwater wrote: "The service I'm using is found at dailylit.com and I'm happy with it so far. I can adjust the rate a...more "

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July 31

gatheringwater is currently reading:
The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show (Hardcover)
by Lynne Rossetto Kasper, Sally Swift
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

add a comment

gatheringwater is currently reading:
The Caged Virgin: An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam (Hardcover)
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

add a comment

July 29

gatheringwater is currently reading:
Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (Paperback)
by John Kessel
bookshelves: currently-reading

my rating:

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see all 92 of gatheringwater's books »

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Goodreads Librarians — 1553 members — last activity 2 hours, 38 min ago
A place where people can work together to correct book issues on Goodreads. Examples include combining editions, contacting librarians, fixing book an...more

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Can't remember the title of a book you read a while back? Come post a description on our message board and we can try to help each other out.

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What are you knitting? What are you reading? Do you have a favorite knitting book? Put down your needles and let's talk about it here!

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Readers prescribe a book for what ails you. Feeling blue? Bored? Plauged by an excess of animal spirits? Ask a bibliognost.

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