Mary’s Comments (group member since Jan 06, 2017)

Mary’s comments from the Challenges from Exploding Steamboats group.

There is more to the story, she tells you more about her life, being Kurdish, living in Syria before the war, then how things developed so they felt they had to leave. You can tell she is still young and still learning a lot about life, having been very sheltered because of her disability and being the youngest. However, it is an amazing story. If you would like to read it, I can probably mail it to you from Indiana in August.

I have just finished "The Girl from Aleppo" by Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb. I am counting it primarily towards the book about a road trip challenge, but it fits this one, too. The cover is a photo of Nujeen's older sister, Nasrine, pushing Nujeen in her wheelchair. Nujeen was 16 at the time, so still a minor, but Nasrine was an adult.

I have just finished "The Girl from Aleppo" by Nujeen Mustafa and Christina Lamb. I am counting it primarily towards the book about a road trip challenge, but it fits this one, too.

My book for this is "The Girl From Aleppo: Nujeen's Escape from War to Freedom". Nujeen is a Kurdish girl from Syria who was born with cerebral palsy. She and her sister together fled Syria in 2015. As Nujeen can not walk any distance at all, her sister pushed her the entire way in an old wheelchair, with the belongings they carried, and Nujeen's walker (for times they couldn't use the wheelchair). They left on 22 August, 2015 and arrived in Germany on 15 October. It was a journey of 3,593 miles and cost 5045 Euros.

Today I finished Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. Paul was a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who discovered that his body was riddled with cancer just months before he was to finish his residency, just as he thought life would become easier. Before studying medicine, he had studied English and achieved several degrees, so this is very well written. The book was brought to an abrupt end before he was able to write all he wanted to, as his illness took a sudden turn for the worse. I wish I knew what else he wanted to say. It is lost forever. The book has been fluffed up to 228 pages by adding large borders and large spaces between lines. I'm sure the publisher was wanting a larger book, but it couldn't be helped. This is a thoughtful, thought provoking book by a compassionate, intelligent, educated man who realized that despite being in the process of dying, he was still living until he took his last breath.

I have just finished reading "Jennie" by Paul Gallico. The main story is about a little boy, Peter, being knocked down by a car in London, and waking up to find he has been turned into a large, white tomcat. Not realizing Peter is the cat, his nanny throws him out, and he has to come to grips with being a stray cat in a large city, and losing all contact with the people he loves. He is taken under the wing of Jennie Baldrin (a beautiful tabby), and taught how to be a cat. However, as the story unfolds, Peter and Jennie learn about each other, and about friendship, loyalty, honesty, compassion, love. Highly recommend.

I have just read Shirley Jackson's "We Have Always Lived in the Castle". It isn't a haunted house in the traditional sense, but three family members continue to live hidden away in the house where the rest of their family was poisoned to death - by one of the people still living there. They live constantly with the murders as a part of their lives. Later, a cousin arrives uninvited and unannounced, and the narrator (the youngest of the survivors) sees him as a devil and a demon, and she uses some magic in the hopes that the house will expel him.

Stina wrote: "Mary wrote: "I have just read "Wild Flowers" by Sarah Kahn and Kirsteen Rogers. It is an illustrated book meant to teach children all about British wild flowers, from the various parts of a flower ..."

It is charming and the illustrations are lovely. Unfortunately, the cover on GoodReads is wrong, and I can't find the right one. Never mind, I enjoyed the book.

I have just read "Wild Flowers" by Sarah Kahn and Kirsteen Rogers. It is an illustrated book meant to teach children all about British wild flowers, from the various parts of a flower and plant, to what the purpose of flowers is, the life span of a plant, to where and when different plants grow and flower. It also includes how beneficial wild flowers and plants are to other wildlife. It shows how to make leaf rubbings, start a flower-spotting journal, and how to dry flowers. It concludes with a brief guide to wild flowers and gives tips in what to look for in a more encompassing guide book. I found it very informative as I didn't grow up in the UK and have wondered what some of these plants are called. My husband pays no notice to these things, so is of no help! Thanks to this challenge, I have now moved this from Mt. TBR. I will keep it on the bookshelf for a while, though. I may need to refer back to it!

I have just read "What We Love Most About Life: Answers from 150 Children Across the Autism Spectrum" compiled and self-published by Chris Bonnello. I wouldn't call it a favorite, but it should make anyone smile.

I have just completed "Running Like a Girl" by Alexandra Heminsley. It is written by a woman telling her experiences with getting running (focussing on marathons), rather as a motivator for other women thinking of starting running.

I just finished Animal Farm by George Orwell.