August 2019 Challenge

[Koren]

I'll give you a few days to think about what you want to read for this challenge. Our August challenge will be to read a non-people biography or memoir. Use your imagination! The most common would probably be animals, but I'll bet you can come up with some other ideas.

[Fishface]

The biography of a building, The Pentagon: A History, is staring me right in the face on my TBR shelf. It's so huge, though...

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "The biography of a building, The Pentagon: A History, is staring me right in the face on my TBR shelf. It's so huge, though..."

Better get started!

[Fishface]

I did. I discovered that the last 100 or so pages of the book are endnotes so that gave me courage. It's moving right along. I never knew anything about the Pentagon before so every scrap is new to me.

EDIT: Wait, how can there be any such thing as a non-people memoir?

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "I did. I discovered that the last 100 or so pages of the book are endnotes so that gave me courage. It's moving right along. I never knew anything about the Pentagon before so every scrap is new to..."

My thinking was that sometimes authors write animal stories in the voice of the animal.

[Koren]

My first book is about Beanie Babies: The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute. Maybe not technically a bio but for this challenge I will accept something like this. It probably could be considered more a bio of Ty Warner, the founder of the Ty corporation but, as I said, you can use your imagination for this challenge and I'm not going to be too picky about it. I'm also considering a book about wine. I dont remember the name. Just thinking of ideas that are not animal, but of course animals would be an obvious choice and would be acceptable.

[Diane in Australia]

This looks cute. Memoirs of a Cat Memoirs of a Cat is a whimsical cat-narrated auto-biography. An interpretation is also told through the eyes of the humans. It is a funny story about a cat who believes she is queen of the home and learns to find companionship with a kitten when the people decide to add to their family. This story is enjoyed by young and old; even if you don't have cats.

[Koren]

Diane wrote: "This looks cute. Memoirs of a Cat Memoirs of a Cat is a whimsical cat-narrated auto-biography. An interpretation is also told through the eyes ..."

Sounds purr-fect for the challenge!!!

[Koren]

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette
5 stars

Ok. I admit it. I was one of the adults that collected beanie babies. I still have most of them, except for the ones I have given to my grandkids. I have been wanting to read this book for a while and after trying to find it at the library or the swap sites I finally broke down and bought it and I'm glad I did. I'm not surprised that the beanies aren't worth anything now. My dad was an antique dealer and he told me anything massed produced will not be worth anything in the future. I'm ok with that. It was a lot of fun while it lasted. This book tells the history of the founder, Ty Warner, takes in in-depth look how Beanie Babies were created, how the boom started and how it fell apart. I'm impressed with the research the author did. I do have to say, if I knew what a jerk Ty Warner was, I might not have been so enthused to enrich his coffers.

[Selina]

? Don't they still sell those things?
Sounds like the Teletubbies mass hysteria a decade ago, people were fighting over them.

[Selina]

I'd already read and recommend A Street Cat Named Bob: How One Man and His Cat Found Hope on the Streets
also Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

so I don't know about reading any more cat memoirs...

I think this one about trees would be kinda interesting though
Understory: a life with trees

[Koren]

Selina wrote: "? Don't they still sell those things?
Sounds like the Teletubbies mass hysteria a decade ago, people were fighting over them."

The Ty company is still in business but they dont have beanie babies anymore. As we know, fads have a short life but this book explains how the fad was founded on genius but poor management and decisions ended it sooner than it should have.

[Selina]

Im sure Ive seen ty bean filled toys in the shops animals with giant heads. Like rows and rows of them. I was given one or two by an american penpal I used to write to who seemed to collect everything. I dont know what I did with them, must have given them away.

I dont as a rule collect anything now, but thats probably how I became a librarian cos my dad is a collector. What you do is you either become a librarian or museum curator to legitimise your hoarding tendencies and share your huge collection. Or a shopkeeper...or antiques dealer.

[Julie]

Koren wrote: "The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette
5 stars
[bookcover:The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute|208..."

This book has been on my list for years. My daughter and I succumbed to Beanie Baby fever and I still have three of my favorite ones but we got rid of the others to a charity though my daughter still may have some . I do have a friend who I believe collected one or two of each ever made and I believe still has them. I also remember chasing around to get the miniature ones given out by MacDonalds.

[Fishface]

The Pentagon: A History is proving to be a fit for this challenge. So far, 1/5 of the way into the book, we are still in the Pentagon's prenatal life history. There are many sub-biographies of the people who opposed the creation of the Pentagon and the ones who made it happen.

Do I ever remember the Beanie Baby craze. It was every bit as extreme as the Cabbage Patch Dolls craze.

[Selina]

I just saw a big bin of Ty toys at the supermarket. They are everywhere. I don't know how many different ones there are.

[Koren]

Selina wrote: "I just saw a big bin of Ty toys at the supermarket. They are everywhere. I don't know how many different ones there are."

Yes. Today they are not limited in production like they were in the 90's but they are not the same ones that people collected back then.

[Koren]

A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz

5 stars

Dean Ray Koontz is an American author. His novels are billed as suspense thrillers, but frequently incorporate elements of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and satire. He and his wife adopted a golden retriever that was a service dog and was retired due to an injury. The Koontz's have no children so this dog was like a child to them and sometimes seemed almost human. I'm sure it is not a spoiler that from the title the dog dies at the end, and of course I cried buckets, as the wounds are still fresh from having to put my dog down almost a year ago. If you like sweet, sappy dog stories you will love this.

[Selina]

Have you read Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog Koren?

[Koren]

Selina wrote: "Have you read Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog Koren?"

Yes. Saw the movie too. When I read the book my first dog had just passed away. Maybe not a good idea to read books that have dogs dying right after losing a pet.

[Diane in Australia]

Koren wrote: "A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz"

I loved this book, 5 stars from me, too.

[Selina]

Understory: a life with trees by Inga Simpson

This is a memoir by an Australian writer who decides to leave the city and lives in amongst some trees in the Brisbane hinterland. At first it is her and her partner (they are same sex) and their children, but she doesnt say if they are her children or her partners, because she only gives letters for their names, which is a bit annoying. So she lives with N and R and B.

She describes a lot of trees on her property, mostly eucalyptus types and the birds and wildlife that live in them. She and her partner then buy the property next door and set about turning it into a writers retreat, but then the GFC hits and they lose everything. Then her partner N just up and leaves.

Her children grow up and leave too so she ends up all by herself, fantasising about ents in Lord of the Rings, and mentioning Thoreau Waldens Pond a lot. I have never read Walden so have no idea what shes going on about.

I learn a lot about australian trees, and colonisation, and living in the bush (sounds like living in the wops here, like Titirangi, just as damp but hotter and humid) and writers who cant earn a living until they publish their novels. But its abit annoying to read a memoir always written in the present tense. You think its happened in the past but its all related in the present and its hard to read cos everything is happening in the now?! I know some writers write this way to seem more literary but I just find it a bit pretentious.

I dont quite understand the same-sex thing, she doesnt get into detail about that, but It doesnt come across as loving as when her partner leaves she doesnt seem to have any regrets or talk about what she meant to her it just seems like a business partnership rather than an actual relationship.

So anyway the focus is on trees, but I find it a bit of a disjointed memoir cos she cant just pick one tree and tell its life story. So if you expecting something like Enid Blyton adventures and Folk of the faraway tree you not going to find it here. But you will learn a lot about Australian flora and fauna.

[Fishface]

The Pentagon: A History, Steve Vogel
4 enthusiastic stars

For a book about a really big building project, this was incredibly gripping, even suspenseful. Full of towering historical figures debating whether and how the Pentagon was going to be built, making it happen despite (and in part because of) the attack on Pearl Harbor, and -- in a country where it can take 5 years to put together a 2-bedroom house -- getting it all done excellently within a tight deadline. This book also includes the story of rebuilding the Pentagon after the September 11th attack. I think my knowledge of that part of al Qaeda's attack on America increased 95% after reading this book. Don't miss this one.

[Koren]

Angel on a Leash: Therapy Dogs and the Lives They Touch by David Frei
3 stars


Not exactly what I thought it was going to be. The author talks a lot about an organization called Angels on A Leash, which takes therapy dogs into hospitals, elder care facilities, rehab facilities, etc. but doesn't get into the lives of the people the organization has helped due to confidentiality issues that he is not privy to that information. Instead he talks a lot about what awards he and his dogs have won and what tv shows they have been on. But it was a touching book and I learned the difference between therapy dogs and service dogs.

[Selina]

Koren what's the challenge for September...?

[Koren]

Selina wrote: "Koren what's the challenge for September...?"

**thinking**thinking***

Ok. I've got it. See new discussion thread.

[Koren]

The Midcentury Kitchen: America's Favorite Room, from Workspace to Dreamscape, 1940s-1970s by Sarah Archer

5 stars

I suppose this is not actually a biography of kitchens, but for the purpose of the challenge that's what I am going to call it. The book shows the evolution of kitchens in America from the 1940's to the 1970's. Lots of pictures and I even found a picture of a Pyrex casserole dish like the one I have had since the 1970's. Just a fun book to look at and I read most of it in a day.