Category: NonFiction

Oct ’10 is…

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For the first time in a long time I am taking an October vacation. Wait. I don’t think I’ve ever really taken an October V A C A T I O N before. Maybe a long weekend around Columbus Day, yes. A real, honest to goodness, week off in October? No, I don’t think so. Finally, something good to look forward to… Here is the month in books:

  • Bonobo by Frans de Waal ~ in honor of de Waal being born in October and in honor of Animal Month
  • Poison Oracle by Peter Dickinson ~ in honor of special child month
  • Ways of Seeing by John Berger ~ in honor of National Art Appreciation month
  • Messiah by Gore Vidal ~ in honor of Vidal’s birth month
  • Woman: an intimate geography by Natalie Angier ~ in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month
  • The Ear, The Eye, The Arm by Nancy Farmer ~ in honor of National Fantasy Month

In addition I am still reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. The magic of this read is that I am savoring each and every word like it is the most expensive, the richest, most divine piece of chocolate I have ever tasted – simply because I don’t want it to end!

Where Bigfoot Walks

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Pyle, Robert Michael. Where Bigfoot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995.

Where Bigfoot Walks is much more than a search for Bigfoot. It’s more than a need to discover the existence of a legend. Robert Michael Pyle was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to investigate the mesmerizing myths that bring Sasquatch to life in the minds of millions. The grant basically allowed Pyle to take a leave of absence from ordinary bill-paying work (other writing) to pursue Bigfoot’s legacy across the Dark Divide and beyond. In that time Pyle met a variety of individuals most of whom fervently believe. If you are looking for a recount of all the Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti sightings in glorious detail, Where Bigfoot Walks is not the book for you. Pyle traverses the landscapes that hold the myths but his attention is more on what he can see rather than what he cannot. His lovingly vivid descriptions of birds, plants, flowers, rivers, mountains, animals, trees and grasses are tantalizing as is his equally scornful descriptions of bike tracks, logging scars, and other man-made abuses against nature. Only a couple of times were his attention to detail distracting – I didn’t need to know how many times he remarried nor did I care about his bodily functions along the trek(s).

But, there is no doubt Pyle is a skilled and entertaining author. Here are a few quotes that had my attention: “My tent was a hammock suspended between the sun and the moon, guarded by three volcanoes” (p 27), ” But unless I caught an arrow in the ass from some wannabe Robin Hood who mistook it for an elk’s rump, I was at little risk” (p 80), and “Anyone who sneers and never embraces a tree is missing out on one of the finer sensual compensations for life in a mortal body” (p 116).

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Companion Reads” (p 63). I read this with Wild Life by Molly Gloss.

Between Parent and Child

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Ginott, Dr. Haim G. Between Parent and Child: the Bestselling Classic That Revolutionized Parent-Child Communication. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1965.

This book starts off with the best introduction, “No parent wakes up in the morning planning to make a child’s life miserable” (p 1). As soon as I read that I knew I was in for a good read. Between Parent and Child is all about psychological perception and what you say (as a parent), how you say it, and even what you don’t say, can influence a child both at that moment and years down the road. What Dr. Ginott offers up is common sense advice about how to communicate with small children and even teenagers. His advice is no-nonsense and extremely practical. It is so straightforward it seems simple, a no-brainer, if you will. The ah-ha moment is not in what to say, it’s how to say it to avoid conveying a message you do not intend. Choosing tone as well as the right words are crucial to emotionally intelligent communication with a child. My one naysayer comment? Many, many times Dr. Ginott suggests mirroring the child’s emotion to illustrate understanding. The go-to catch phrases are “You wish you could play with Sam,” “You wish you could have ice cream for dinner,” and, “You’re angry about losing the game.” Here’s where I would get annoyed. I dislike anyone telling me how I feel. As a small child I probably would have connected with someone “understanding” me… but as a teenager I wouldn’t appreciate dad calmly regurgitated what I just angrily spit out.

I would recommend Between Parent and Child to anyone – parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers. In short, I would recommend this book to anyone who is around children of all ages. If I were planning to have a child I would also plan on reading Between Parent and Child several times over. Once while pregnant and definitely more often during my child’s formative years. Maybe even during labor just for good measure.

Favorite quote, “Often after getting angry at their parents for not listening to their argument, children will present their case in writing” (p 56). Yes, but what Dr. Ginott doesn’t mention is that after getting said missive parents often ignore it.

BookLust Twist: From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Babies: a Reader’s Guide” (p 30).

Play Their Hearts Out

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Dohrmann, George. Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine. New York: Ballentine Books, 2010.

Play Their Hearts Out was a roller coaster of a read. Not because it had nonstop heart pounding excitement but more because some chapters moved faster than others. Like being pulled up to the crest of the ride, some moments in the book were bogged down with unnecessary detail making it long winded and rambling. Other moments, once released from over-worded detail, moved at a much faster pace and were quite enjoyable. Play Their Hearts Out is  everything you need to know (the good, the bad, and the ugliest of ugly) about AAU basketball. It is gritty and uncensored. Dohrmann had an all-access pass to the sidelines of Coach Joe Keller’s world for eight years. In that time he follows Coach Keller and his star recruit, Demetrius Walker, from middle school to major success. Orbiting the story are other key players who influence Keller like competing coaches, opposing teams, and ever present parents.

On a personal note, I found myself asking if the attitudes and actions of Coach Joe Keller seemed exaggerated because if they weren’t Dohrmann’s depiction of Mr. Keller irritated me. From Dohrmann’s writing Keller’s philosophy on recruitment and coaching seemed cutthroat and conniving – more appropriate for professional basketball than for anything considered “grassroots.” The portrayal of Joe Keller is the quintessential shark, hungry for the kill, unconventional and caustic to everyone around him. I guess greed can do that to a person, especially when there’s a big Nike or Adidas contract involved.

Nutrition for Life

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Hark, Lisa. Nutrition for Life: the no-fad, no-nonsense approach to eating well and reaching your healthy weight. London: DK Publishing, 2005.

I would have preferred this book title have one small change – instead of “reaching your healthy weight” why not “maintaining your healthy weight.” Why does it have to be all about being fat? Why can’t it be about being healthy? But, aside from that small gripe this is a great book.

Nutrition for Life is overflowing with information. Even though the emphasis is on nutrition there is a whole chapter dedicated to weight management. It is more than an “eat this and not that” book.  The attempt is to make the reader more aware of the benefits of eating better by supplying information about the medicinal value of food, the difference between store-bought and farm-fresh, and the right foods for different age groups. Nutrition for Life also includes a diet directory. Every well-known diet (including famed Scarsdale, South Beach, and grapefruit diets) is explained with a section on how it works, how you do it, whether it is healthy or not and example of a day on the diet.

I appreciated the case studies of people with examples of special dietary needs. Putting a face to different health issues helped put the importance of food into perspective. The other thing that was great about Nutrition for Life was the photography. The pictures are extremely glossy and gorgeous.

fit + female

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coopersmith, geralyn, b. fit +female: the perfect fitness and nutrition game plan for your unique body type. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2006.

Here’s what I liked best about the book:

Sense of humor: joking about having to get rid of her hydrostatic tank because it clashed with the couch.

Names for exercises are goofy: the Looky Looky for turning your head and looking to the right and left.

Informative: exercises are well illustrated; nutrition is carefully spelled out.

Unfortunately, the key to this whole book is figuring out your body type. Through a series of 32 questions you are supposed to figure out if you are:

  1. endo, eco or meso
  2. an apple or a pear
  3. advanced or beginner

In the end the key was, “if you answered mostly 4s you are endo,” “if you answered mostly Bs you are a pear” (as examples). After taking the test I knew only two out of the three categories. I am meso and advanced but I answered right down the middle for apple and pear qualifications so I’m either both or neither. I didn’t answer more one way than another. Frustrating. In all honesty I look like the chick on the cover, just 20 years older and with slightly smaller boobs. All in all, because I couldn’t definitively figure out my body type I couldn’t use the rest of the book.

September ’10 is…

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September is the storm before the calm – literally since Earl is raging up the coast! School is back in session. A new hire is on the premises. Things are a little crazy right now. Here are how things look for books at the moment:

  • Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre ~ in honor of the Cold War starting in September
  • Between Parent and Child by Haim G. Ginott ~ in honor of National Family Month
  • Where Big Foot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide by Robert Pyle ~ in honor of Bigfoot being spotted on September 16, 2007 in Pennsylvania (yay for the Northeast Sasquatch!)
  • Wild Life by Molly Gloss ~ a companion read to Where Big Foot Walks: Crossing the Dark Divide.
  • Moo by Jane Smiley ~ in honor of school being back in session

I’m also in the process of reading a few food books and an Early Review book. More on all of that later.

August ’10 was…

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August. The last gasp of summer before everyone starts thinking about back-to-school clothes, back-to-school school supplies and back-to-school attitudes. I know my college has already adopted the attitude now that the athletes and international students have started arriving on campus. August was quiet compared to July’s crazy traveling. But, for books it was:

  • The All-Girl Football Team by Lewis Nordan ~ Nordan is my emotional train wreck.
  • Zarafa: a Giraffes’s True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris by Michael Allin ~ in honor of Napoleon’s birth month even though Napoleon is a teeny part of the story
  • Zel by Donna Jo Napoli ~ the clever, psychological retelling of Rapunzel.
  • The Meaning of Everything: the Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester ~ in honor of National Language Month, but I didn’t finish it. Not even close.
  • Undaunted Courage by Simon Winchester ~ a really interesting account of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.
  • A Separate Peace by John Knowles ~ probably one of my all-time favorite books.

For LibraryThing and the Early Review Program: I started reading Play Their Hearts Out by George Dohrmann. Review coming in September.

For fun I read:

  • fit = female: the perfect fitness and nutrition game plan for your unique body type by geralyn b. coopersmith ~ the cover of the book didn’t use capital letters so neither did i.
  • Nutrition for Life: The no-fad, no-nonsense approach to eating well and researching your healthy weight by Lisa Hark, Phd, RD & Darwin Deen, MD ~ this is a really, really informative book.

Undaunted Courage

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Ambrose, Stephen E. Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

This is not your ordinary retelling of the Lewis and Clark expedition. This is not the regular, run of the mill, same old story. Undaunted Courage is a different perspective of the story often told in the history books. While elements of the expedition are rehashed like interactions with the Native Americans, obstacles relating to weather, terrain and health, and supply management (how could they not?) Ambrose focuses mostly on the collaboration between Commander in Chief Jefferson and Captain Lewis. He tries to get inside the head of Meriwether Lewis to portray thoughts and feelings beyond what was written in the surviving journals and notes, thus making the text more conversational in tone. Because President Jefferson considered the expedition to be Lewis’s gig Clark is mentioned where necessary and never becomes a focal point of the story. To make sure the reader is completely aware this is a Lewis story Ambrose continues it beyond the famous expedition and details Lewis’s devastating suicide.

Favorite lines, “Lewis took his advice and became a great hiker, with feet as tough ass his butt” (p 30), “It was always cold, often brutally cold, sometimes so cold a man’s penis would freeze if he wasn’t quick about it” (p 191), and a startling observation about Lewis, “My guess is that he was manic-depressive” (p 312).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Lewis and Clark: Adventurers Extraordinaire” (p 137).

Meaning of Everything

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Winchester, Simon. The Meaning of Everything: the Story of the Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.

I suppose since Winchester’s The Meaning of Everything serves as a follow-up to The Professor and the Madman: a Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary I should link to the review of The Professor…here.

I hate to admit this, but I didn’t care for The Meaning of Everything. Okay, while I’m being honest I’ll go for broke – I didn’t get beyond page 19. There. I said it. I was bored. As a person deeply connected to reading you would think I would be intimate with words, especially the origin of words. I mean, words form sentences and sentences form paragraphs and paragraphs form pages and pages fill books, right? And books are what it’s all about, right? No. I guess the bottom line is I don’t care about where the word came from. The word, when it stands alone, is boring. How sad is that? I need words strung together into sentences. Those sentences need to be woven together to ultimately make a story interesting. This, however, was not.

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Dewey Deconstructed: 400s” (p 68).

Zarafa

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Allin, Michael. Zarafa: A Giraffe’s True Story, from Deep in Africa to the Heart of Paris. New York: Walker and Company, 1998.

I read this in honor of Napoleon being born in the month of August and even though Zarafa wasn’t exactly about Napoleon I was delighted by the tidbits of information that involved him: did you know the camel Napoleon rode while in Cairo was stuffed and put on display in a museum? (p 27) and Napoleon was such a big fan of books that he arranged for every guest at a banquet to receive translated copies of the Koran and Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man (p 31)? Interesting. But probably the best story was about Napoleon’s reading habits while on the march. He would tear out the pages of a book, one by one, after he had read them – tossing them back to the soldiers behind him. The soldiers in turn would read the torn-out pages and the pass them back until the entire company had read the same book (p 32).

Zarafa is the story of a giraffe’s remarkable journey from Egypt to Paris. Charles X of France was presented with a young female giraffe as a gift (and political strategy) from the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt, Muhammad Ali. I can only imagine what the people of 1845 France thought of this unusual gift. Michael Allin not only sets out to describe this giraffe’s amazing two and a half year journey but provide the political, economic and historical backdrop for the trip. What makes Allin’s account so enjoyable is his ability to make the supporting subject matter interesting. He gives Zarafa a personality, allowing for the humanization of her traits with such descriptors as “aloof dignity” and “orphaned.” This humanizing made it difficult to read the details of how Zarafa’s mother was murdered and how her pelt, teeth, tail, meat, etc became commodities.

Favorite lines, “Under Muhammad Ali, Egypt went from the Stone Age to the Enlightenment in a single personality” (p 37), “the traveler from the south is reluctant to proceed, homesick for immortal things” (p 86).

BookLust Twist: In both Book Lust and More Book Lust. From Book Lust in the chapter called, “Wild Life” (p 245). From More Book Lust in the chapter called “The Complex Napoleon” (p 53).

August ’10 is…

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August is another trip homehome, this time for something happy – a wedding! Actually Kisa and I have two weddings to go to this month. We haven’t planned much of anything else because July was such a crazy busy month. Here’s the lowdown on the books:

  • Zarafa: a giraffe’s true story by Michael Allin ~ in honor of Napoleon being born in August
  • All-Girl Football Team: Stories by Lewis Nordan ~ in honor of Nordan being born in August
  • Zel by Donna Jo Napoli ~ in honor of August being fairy tale month
  • The Meaning of Everything: the story of the Oxford English dictionary by Simon Winchester
  • Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose in honor of the Lewis & Clark expedition

I don’t know if I actually got an Early Review book from LibraryThing this month…

July ’10 was…

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July was the great escape. I was able to go home twice. Each trip was for a very different purpose and as a result each was a very different experience, but I was homehome just the same. Got the tan I didn’t need. July was also a double shot of Natalie music. Again, two very different experience, but amazing nonetheless. Blogs about both shows coming soon. An absolutely fantastic Rebecca Correia show rounded out the month, musically. She performed with Jypsi at the Bennett Farm. A really great night.
All in all, July was so many different things and unfortunately, reading wasn’t a big part of it. I stole time where I could (often in cars driven by other people):

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald ~ something small and short to read on the cliffs of Monhegan
  • Firewall by Henning Mankell ~ a murder/police procedural mystery set in Sweden; something to read in the tent!
  • The Eyes of the Amaryllis by Natalie Babbitt ~ a great book for kids about living by the ocean. Another great book to read on the cliffs of Monhegan.
  • Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. by Judy Blume ~ a blast from the past! Read this on the couch…
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference ~ read in honor of job fair month & added because I gave up on the Richard Rhodes book (see below)
  • Love of a Good Woman: Stories by Alice Munro ~ read in honor of Munro’s birth month
  • In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country by Kim Barnes ~ in honor of July being the month Idaho became a state

If you notice I focused on stuff for young adults – kind of like easy listening for the brain.

Attempted, but did not finish:

  • The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes ~ see, I told you so! I added it back on the list for another time…

For LibraryThing and the Early Review Program:

  • My Formerly Hot Life by Stephanie Dolgoff ~ a really fun book.
  • What is a Mother (in-law) To Do by Jane Angelich ~ unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this very much.

I guess nine books is a decent “read quota” for the month. At least five of them were extremely easy to read, though…

My Formerly Hot Life

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Dolgoff, Stephanie. My Formerly Hot Life: Dispatches From Just the Other Side of Young. New York: Ballantine Books, 2010.

Funny, funny, funny. I loved My Formerly Hot Life and not because I am over 40 and formerly had a hot life. I am over 40 but I would call my past “fireside cozy” and leave it at that. Dolgoff, however, claims to have had a hot life. Her book is all about how “formerly” her life has become now that she is over 40 and married with children. She dishes out how reality bites when gravity takes over. Sexy clothes don’t fit anymore, bars are too loud and it takes forever to plan a girls night out. Yet, all that doesn’t matter because you’re too tired to go out anyway.
My Formerly Hot Life is not just all fun and games. There is a serious side to Dolgoff as well, especially when she delves into subjects such as aging parents, the question of having kids at a Formerly age, health issues, and ultimately recognizing your own mortality. These are sections of the book I hope she keeps because as fun as it is to poke fun at sagging breasts and lumpy butts, there is this not-so-fun side to aging that shouldn’t be ignored.

In the Wilderness

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Barnes, Kim. In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country. New York: Anchor Books, 1996.

In the Wilderness is Kim Barnes’s ode to her childhood. Within its pages she gives reason to what made her experiences growing up so different from yours or mine. Deep in the logging camps of Idaho Barnes is confronted with parents who sign on to a religion movement with such fervor that it feels like an overnight shift in ideals. Indeed, Barnes can remember her mother’s pierced ears – here today, gone tomorrow.
Kim Barnes writes with the fluidity of water. Her words flow and paint a seamless picture. Part of the reason why I liked In the Wilderness so much was because Barnes was able to portray her family and home life without compromise. She didn’t shy away from revealing short-comings and failures. She didn’t try to gloss over the hardness of her upbringing or surroundings. At the same time, despite the difficulties, the love and respect she has for her childhood is abundantly clear. Another aspect of the memoir that struck a chord with me was the naked truth about sex and the realities of coming of age. Barnes addresses her first preteen crush as openly as discussing what she wore to school. It is stark and unflinching. In some places I am reminded of  Ariel Moore (do you remember her? She was a Reverend’s daughter from the movie ‘Footloose’ in 1984), and in others I am reminded of myself. I too had a shaving incident very reminiscent of Barnes’s experience and I also hid under the covers later at night listening to rock and roll until the batteries dropped dead.

Favorite lines, “I felt around for grief or sadness to match my mother’s but all that I came to was the sense of something gone from the world” (p 60), and “Guilt had been replaced by a simple and practical aversion to consequences” (p 179).

BookLust Twist: From More Book Lust in the chapter called, “Idaho: And Nary a Potato to be Seen” (p 122).