false 30 340 201 true 5732105 read 0 true 13168 currently-reading 139 true 13167 to-read 63 false 4661598 fiction 42 false 2495755 children-s 32 false 4661601 biography-autobiography 23 false 4661511 just-for-fun 16 false 4661540 nyc 16 false 4661591 history 14 false 4661653 women 12 false 4661648 travel 10 false 4661506 activism-nonprofits 8 false 4662030 politics-social-issues 5 false 4661604 food 4 false 4661703 cleveland-ohio 4 false 4661679 art-music 4 false 4662032 reference 3 false 4661688 poetry http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78607408 to: Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe (Paperback) by Miguel Algarín
bookshelves: fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/79275698 to: Brooklyn (Hardcover) by Colm Tóibín
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/78605602 to: Patpong Sisters: An American Woman's View of the Bangkok Sex World (Paperback) by Cleo Odzer
bookshelves: women
I've known workers in anti-sex trade organizations from several countries, and not one of them would be happy with this book.

What we have here is proof that money (in this case, a grant) allows people to be "experts" on things they know nothing about. As I once heard a woman from a war-torn African country say, people in poor countries get tired of being research projects for people from the rich global North, opening themselves up but get nothing in return after the book or report gets published.

Odzer seemed almost proud of how the local women's group working on sex trade issues didn't like her. She should have been working closely with them, following their guidance about how to handle her research, cultural sensitivity, and making her book helpful to the women of Patpong. (And boy, she did so little work half the time! Where do I get this kind of grant?) They saw her for what she was, a foreign opportunist engaging in poverty tourism.

Late in the book when she sees women protesting the sailors who come ashore looking for prostitutes, she seems shocked that the women would be so angry about the sex trade. It was only then, late in her three years there, that she realized that maybe women don't want to live this way. Wow.

Anyone who wants real information about the sex trade in Thailand should check out the following organizations (though there are plenty more):
Development and Education Program for Daughters and Communities
http://www.depdc.org/
Foundation for Women http://www.womenthai.org/eng/index.php
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women-International (CATW) http://www.catwinternational.org
UNIFEM.org ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69039343 to: American on Purpose (Hardcover) by Craig Ferguson
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/33857485 to: The Sea (Paperback) by John Banville
bookshelves: fiction
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/76175244 to: My Booky Wook: A Memoir Of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-Up (Hardcover) by Russell Brand
bookshelves: biography-autobiography
I stumbled across Russell Brand on YouTube earlier this year, and despite finding him off-putting at first, I found myself doing a 180 and becoming a big fan. If I'd never seen his act, I probably would have found this book overwritten. He writes as he speaks onstage or in interviews -- with intensity and lightly self-mocking showiness. Brand clearly enjoys mixing his "lad from Essex" style with his expansive vocabulary and cultural references. In American terms, imagine a highly cultured New Yorker with a heavy working class Brooklyn accent.

Brand's childhood was indeed rough, but he has a colorful way of describing the people and places around him. He does his best to explain how he reacted to one painful situation after another, even though it's hard for anyone to make sense of those moments. It's hard not to really feel for him as a kid. And he brings a wry humor to even the worst moments, keeping the story from becoming flat out depressing.

Then we get a frank recounting of Brand's life as an addict and the many selfish decisions that an addict makes. He doesn't make excuses for his appalling behavior, and often pokes fun at his addict's logic, which is key to the book's success. If he'd written from a victim point of view while clearly having hurt many people around him, it would be tough to stick with the book to the end.

Things fall apart a little toward the end, which felt rushed. (Actually, he even says how rushed the final weeks of writing were.) Also, I was left with some questions. What happened with his stepfather later? Maybe I missed it, but is his mother still married to him, is he still alive? And he mentions his bipolar diagnosis, but seemed to reject a mood stabilizer as treatment. Not a few addicts got that way by self medicating their mood disorder, so I was wondering what he did with that diagnosis.

Certainly hope that he stays clean and continues to produce his unique comedy for the stage and screen, I hope, another book someday. ]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/69039377 to: Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin (Hardcover) by Kathy Griffin
bookshelves: biography-autobiography, just-for-fun
LOVE this book! It's told in Kathy's typically irreverent storytelling manner, and much of it is funny, but there are some surprises. What she's been getting asked about in interviews is the revelation that she had a brother, now dead, who was a pedophile. That was certainly a sobering chapter. She also gets asked a lot about her plastic surgery, including the rather gruesome post-op photos of her all bruised up. Glad she included them so people are clearer about what plastic surgery is really like.

But what I found pleasantly surprising were how tenderly she describes her family, particularly her parents. It's wonderful to read about such a loving marriage, and Kathy's memories of her dad were especially touching.

I also enjoyed the chapter of emails between her and Steve Wozniak. While they are certainly edited (mostly for length, it seems), they reveal a good natured man behind all the technology and fame. They are humorous when the differences between their styles are especially apparent, and I kept hearing Kathy's onstage "Woz voice" reading the techy parts of his messages. For a woman who has made a career out of making fun of celebrities, often in strong terms, her book shows a kind and caring side. We've seen it in her dedication to soldiers who've served in Iraq and Afghanistan, particularly those at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but here we see it on a personal level.

But, of course, readers are looking for a good laugh from a Kathy Griffin book, as well as juicy gossip, and there's plenty - plenty! - to satisfy any fan.

One last note: Kathy's been outspoken about the sexism in her industry, and she has some anecdotes in the book that were very recent but read like the 1950s. The troglodytes at NBC and other networks, plus the comedy clubs, etc., need a real kick in the ass. Even watching the funny Emmy nomination clips for comedy talk show writing leaves me frustrated when Daily Show, Letterman, Conan, et al, have nearly all male staff. And nearly all white as well. Hopefully Kathy's tremendous success, and that of other women who fight so hard in that industry, will begin to turn the tide.

As Kathy might say, Holy fuckballs, it's about time!
]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71193464 to: Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult (Hardcover) by Jayanti Tamm
Wonderful book that answers many of the questions I had about cults. I'm about the same age as the author, and as a kid I wondered about children living in the cults that I sometimes saw on TV. The life she describes is really heartbreaking.

The book's descriptions of those on the inside versus the unenlightened outside are similar to what I read in Kyria Abrahams' book I'm Perfect, You're Doomed, which detailed growing up Jehovah's Witness. The outside world is demonized, making followers afraid of anything not officially approved. To some degree, the social pressure and groupthink shown in these books can also be seen in some religions and even political movements. Any group that cuts off dissent and questioning breeds further unhealthy behaviors.

In discussions about this book, some readers say that all organized religions are cults. I disagree. I got anti-cult training in my Catholic high school, which might sound ironic to some, but that training still rings true. As we saw in Ms. Tamm's book, cults exert enormous control over adherents, isolating them from the outside world and insisting on loyalty to a person[s:] with a unique connection to a higher power. There was pressure on me to follow Church teachings, but I never had to fear losing my family or being sanctioned at school for not being a "good Catholic." That's a key difference. And while my parents and grandparents remember tremendous pressure to conform to Church teachings years ago, my Jesuit university's religious studies program taught Freud "The Future of an Illusion" and Tillich's reflections on doubt's important role in faith. I am no longer a practicing Catholic, but I have worked with many religious organizations on social justice campaigns, and there's clearly a spectrum of practice, even within religions. So I hope readers remember the traits of a cult that Ms. Tamm depicts instead of reflexively dismissing all organized faith communities. ]]>