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July 19
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Judy
gave
 
to:
Brother, I'm Dying (Hardcover)
by Edwidge Danticat
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Judy said:
"Almost ten years ago I read Edwidge Danticat's beautiful, lyrical novel "The Farming of Bones." That book and her other works focus on the turbulent Haitian experience, especially for women. This memoir, which won this year's National Book...more
Almost ten years ago I read Edwidge Danticat's beautiful, lyrical novel "The Farming of Bones." That book and her other works focus on the turbulent Haitian experience, especially for women. This memoir, which won this year's National Book Critics Circle Award, tells the story of her childhood in Haiti and immigration to New York at age twelve, but instead of being centered around the female experience, it is really the story of the relationship of her father, who immigrated to NYC with Edwidge's mother when Edwidge was only five, and his preacher brother, with whom he left Edwidge and her brother for seven years while he made a place for them in the United States. The book begins with Edwidge learning almost simultaneously that she is pregnant with her first child and that her father is dying of lung disease. Through a series of flashbacks we also learn of her uncle's throat cancer, radical laryngectomy, years of muteness, and discovery of an electronic voice box that could translate the vibrations of his remaining vocal cords into sound/speech. After Edwidge immigrates to NYC, life in Haiti becomes more and more violent, and she and her parents watch developments with growing despair as their relatives become more endangered every day. The intertwining of her father's and uncle's deaths is beautifully juxtaposed to the birth of Edwidge's daughter, and the celebration of life and family love highlights a dark description of US and UN involvement in Haiti and a horrifying look at US immigration policies.
NOTE: I listened to the audio version of this book. The reader was wonderful in capturing the nuances of Haitian dialects, which really added to my enjoyment of the story....less
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Judy
gave
to:
Lisey's Story (Hardcover)
by Stephen King
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my rating:
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Judy said:
"There are many in the literary world who consider King to to be a masterful writer whose focus on the horror genre has kept him from being taken seriously. I have read King's "On Writing," which I consider one of the best treatises availab...more
There are many in the literary world who consider King to to be a masterful writer whose focus on the horror genre has kept him from being taken seriously. I have read King's "On Writing," which I consider one of the best treatises available on the craft of writing. At the prodding of a family member, I read "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and enjoyed that, so when this book came out a year or two ago, I thought I would give it a try. It was billed as a a love story and a departure from King's usual style. I got about 75 pages into it, then lost interest for over a year. A few weeks ago I started it again with the goal to finish.
"Lisey's Story" IS a love story, but it has plenty of the supernatural and plenty of gory, creepy scenes. It is the account of Lisey Landon, widow of a very famous writer, and her quest to come to terms with her husband's death. In the process, horrifying details of his past, including terrible abuse by his father, are revealed. Meanwhile, Lisey is also dealing with her sister's mental breakdown and catatonic state AND with a psychopath who wants her dead husband's manuscripts. King does create incredible prose in this book, and his characters are very complex, but I don't think this is his best work. (But then, how would I know?)
I'm not done with King yet; I think I have it in me to read one more of his novels. Any recommendations?...less
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July 16
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New comment on Judy's review of
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant
(see all 2 comments)
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July 14
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Judy
gave
to:
Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant (Hardcover)
by Daniel Tammet
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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read in July, 2008
Judy said:
"The autobiography of a British man who is a high-functioning autistic savant. He has an incredible mind for numbers and languages, has memorized pi to 20,000 places, speaks many languages fluently, and once learned to speak Icelandic in only four da...more
The autobiography of a British man who is a high-functioning autistic savant. He has an incredible mind for numbers and languages, has memorized pi to 20,000 places, speaks many languages fluently, and once learned to speak Icelandic in only four days. Parts of this book were fascinating, especially as I think of two other young men I know with Asperger's Syndrome, but other times I got bored by all the trivial details, such as an in-depth descripton of the death of the author's cat and its subsequent cremation and burial. I was impressed, however, by the support of the author's family and the courage of his parents. I was also touched by Tammet's rather briefly described (especially in light of the aforementioned cat funeral) meeting with another savant living in Salt Lake City. Tammet is homosexual and does include some discussion of meeting and falling in love with his partner, but there is nothing graphic. There is a documentary about Tammet I look forward to seeing called "Brainman" that has aired on the Science Channel....less
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July 08
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Judy
gave
to:
In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made (Paperback)
by Norman F. Cantor
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my rating:
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read in July, 2008
Judy said:
"An interesting look at not just the bubonic plague itself, but at its creation of a whole new society that included more rights for women (whose husbands and son's had died, leaving them to manage property) and the elimination of serfdoms (since labo...more
An interesting look at not just the bubonic plague itself, but at its creation of a whole new society that included more rights for women (whose husbands and son's had died, leaving them to manage property) and the elimination of serfdoms (since laborers were in such demand they, in turn, could demand higher wages). Cantor, a noted medieval historian, focuses on the effects of the disease on England, and illustrates with the stories of individual religious and political leaders that suffered from this terrible disease. ...less
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June 29
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Judy
gave
to:
Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram (Audio CD)
by Thuy Tram
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my rating:
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read in June, 2008
Judy said:
"I feel like I should be giving this book a higher rating based on its subject and overall insights, but I got turned off by what is probably a typical Vietnamese writing style. This is the actual journal of a North Vietnamese woman physician who wor...more
I feel like I should be giving this book a higher rating based on its subject and overall insights, but I got turned off by what is probably a typical Vietnamese writing style. This is the actual journal of a North Vietnamese woman physician who worked in field hospitals during the Vietnam War. A few weeks ago I watched the documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly," the story of an American POW in Vietnam, so being able to hear about the war from the other side was particularly fascinating and a good reminder that there are always firm believers and innocent victims on both sides of a conflict. However, I was hoping for more detail about the people and the battles themselves. Unfortunately, most of the book seems to be the author's inner emotional musings about her circumstances and longings, and is filled with somewhat overdramatic questions directed at herself ("Oh, Thuy! Why do you feel this way?"). I also listened to the audio version, and the narrator had a lisp and an "r" problem that bugged me (for example, "potty" for "party"). On the other hand, what was really interesting about this book was the forward, which details the story of how the journal was saved after Dr. Tram was shot and killed by American soldiers while she walked down a forest trail in 1970. It was kept for 30 years by an American intelligence officer who rescued it from being burned with other military papers in the 1970s, then returned to her family and published in Vietnam in 2005, after which it was published in the U.S. in 2007. Although I did not find this book compelling, I would still recommend it for the view it gives of the Viet Cong mentality....less
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Judy
gave
to:
Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram (Hardcover)
by Dang Thuy Tram
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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June 26
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Judy
took the never-ending book quiz.
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June 23
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Judy
gave
to:
Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal (Hardcover)
by Ben MacIntyre
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my rating:
Added to my books!
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Judy said:
"Eddie Chapman was a small-time crook in pre-World War II England known for his adept use of gelignite to blast open safes and for his womanizing. After being released from prison in England in 1940, he offers to work as a spy for the Germans. They t...more
Eddie Chapman was a small-time crook in pre-World War II England known for his adept use of gelignite to blast open safes and for his womanizing. After being released from prison in England in 1940, he offers to work as a spy for the Germans. They take him up on his offer and give him more than a year of intense spy training in Germany and France before parachuting him into Britain in 1942 with instructions to sabotage an important airplane factory. However,upon landing Chapman immediately turns himself in to MI5, the British agency responsible for counterespionage, and for the next two years he hoodwinks his German handlers while he works for his homeland--at least that's what British intelligence hopes he is doing. No one is ever quite sure exactly where Chapman's loyalties lie, including the reader! This well-written tale could almost be fiction, and in fact MacIntyre does introduce several figures who later serve as models for characters in Ian Fleming's 007 novels. ...less
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New comment on Sarah's review of
Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves
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