June Books

The House by the Dvina: A Russian Childhood by Eugenie Fraser -- an interesting account of life in Archangel through the eyes of a girl growing up there with her Scottish mother, Russian father and extended family.  Bridget recommended this book and I got it for my birthday off my Amazon Wishlist. 

Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper  -- I've seen this one at my local library and finally decided to read it.  I enjoyed reading more about his personal life as he told stories from various troubled spots around the globe. 

The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions by Marcus J. Borg and N.T. Wright  -- as the cover states, "the leading liberal and conservative Jesus scholars present the heart of the historical Jesus debate." I got this one for my birthday, and enjoyed reading both men's perspectives. A very respectful book. These two may not agree on Jesus, but they are friends!

I shared this bit on Facebook one day:

I often find it interesting how people talk about the Biblical stories and creeds within their own cultural context. For instance I was reading this morning ...

"The cultural relativity of biblical and creedal language struck me with considerable force when I was in South Africa on a lecture trip a few years ago, soon after the official end of apartheid, My schedule including lecturing at a black theological seminary, an interesting learning experience.  On the drive back to Pretoria with my white host, I was told that the black church was being encouraged to develop its own creed. The reason?  Because the status of "only son" was not a very high status in that particular black culture. One has no access to an "only son"; he is socially isolated.  A much higher status was that of "oldest brother." Thus, if one were to speak of Jesus with the highest status known in that culture, one would speak of him as "our oldest brother" and not as an "only son."  (p. 154)

The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling by Quinn Cummings -- I know a lot of people who homeschool their children including my sister. I saw this book on the new books shelf at my library and it was an entertaining and informative read.  Although the author's version of homeschooling seems quite different from what I'm used to here in North Carolina, I really appreciated seeing how "we" looked through her Los Angeles eyes.  My sister said she read this book awhile back and enjoyed it as well.

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Josh Hanagarne -- I stopped by the library the other day and saw this on the new books shelf. I glanced at it and decided to check it out.  Apparently this guy has a blog, but I've never heard of him before. Still, it was a good way to learn more about Tourette's (I have an online friend whose daughter has this) and how this syndrome affected this guy's life. Also, he grew up Mormon so I appreciated that aspect as his faith was mentioned often in this book. I enjoyed the anecdotes from the library as he works at the Salt Lake City Public Library which sounds massive compared to the small branches in my own county. 

A Comrade Lost and Found: A Beijing Story by Jan Wong -- The author, a Chinese-Canadian journalist travels with her husband and teenaged boys for a month-long stay in China.   The author has a special reason for the trip: she wants to find a young woman she betrayed three decades prior.  I enjoyed this book - a great way to learn tidbits about China through the eyes of a former Maoist.  It's interesting to see how drastically this country has changed, and what shocked the author about this country's changes.  How former dedicated Maoists, for instance, lived such luxurious lives.  Lots of interesting tips about life in Beijing as well.

The Unwanted by Kien Nguyen  -- A memoir of an Amerasian man who grew up as a despised "half breed" in Vietnam, but later was able to come to America.  The author tells of his growing up years - the privileged life he lead until the fall of Saigon and how drastically things changed for them as the years went by.  I read books like this wondering why I ever complain about anything because, truly, some people in this world have horrible lives. He closes the book saying, "as dark as my memoir may be, it is not unique by any means. It's estimated that more than fifty thousand Amerasian children shared my fate, or worse.  Their stories were all too common ones of terror and repression, abuse and neglect, strength, and ultimately - for the lucky ones - survival. I kept writing in hopes that these innocent victims' lost childhoods might finally be mourned, and their buried secrets at last revealed."  (pg. 343)

To See You Again: A True Story of Love in a Time of War by Betty Schimmel -- I seem to be a sucker for these memoirs from people who were persecuted by the Nazis.  This story takes place mostly in Hungary although later the family was marched to concentration camps in Austria and later moved to Germany (by the US liberators). The last part of the book tells of the author's married life in the United States as well as her visit back to Hungary after the Communists took over.   Once again I am amazed at how cruel people are to each other, and am disgusted by Germany and  likeminded people who treated fellow humans worse than animals.  I enjoyed this book for the most part though the latter fourth I thought the author was stupid for having married a man she didn't love. Maybe I figured she could have made a better effort since she was foolish enough to marry him.  But then who am I to judge why people marry? 

A Blogger Friend Dies & May Books

Have any of you ever lost a blogger or other online friend?  To death?  Sadly, this Monday Carol aka American Bedu lost her battle with cancer.  Her blog was one of the first I ever started reading.  I believe January marked five years that I have "known" her through her blog.  Interestingly enough, she was in Saudi Arabia married to a Saudi man when we "met."  But she died a widow in North Carolina with her son and grandchildren and numerous friends loving and supporting her.  Here are a couple articles about her.

Arab News reports her death

Curious how her husband died and how she ended up in North Carolina?  Such a SAD story!!

Carol wrote about Abdullah often. He seemed like a wonderful man.  It's hard to believe we'll never read any more posts from her.  I was reading Susie's post last evening, looking at Carol and Abdullah's picture together and got teary-eyed thinking the two of them were no longer with us.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I'm dividing my reading between two books I received for my birthday and it's not likely I'll finish them in May. One is religious so I have to read it in digestible segments or my brain gets overwhelmed.  The other is rather interesting (in a childhood-in-Russia way), but I've just not read it quickly.  But these, I've finished so I'll post them now. 

The Return: A Family Revisits Their Eastern European Roots by Petru Popescu -- I read one of his books last month (about how his Czech inlaws met each other in a Nazi concentration camp) and found this one about his own family's story.  He talks about his life growing up in Communist Romania, and his defection to the United States. The last part is about his and his wife's trip back to Eastern Europe first visiting her family's roots in Czechoslovakia and then his return after fifteen years. Very good read. I love the story he shares about when he first came to America and almost bought catfood for himself thinking they were cans of tuna.  Thankfully the ladies in the store steered him into buying people tuna, and he informed them that Romanian cats eat table scraps and mice.  They seemed shocked (or so he reports.) 

Teaching in a Distant Classroom by Michael H. Romanowski and Teri McCarthy -- I was hoping this book was more like one I read earlier this year which I loved!  But it was more about choosing the correct curriculum yet tweaking it if need be.  It had some good stuff, but since I'm not teaching overseas I didn't feel it was extremely helpful for me. I did enjoy some of the examples.

Evolving in Monkey Town: How a Girl Who Knew All the Answers Learned to Ask the Questions by Rachel Held Evans -- If you think a twenty seven year old should never write a memoir, you'd probably not enjoy this, but I read Rachel's other book last year and loved it. This book tells her spiritual journey of how she went from being a fundamentalist-type evangelical (one who knew all the answers) to someone who questioned her faith, and came to different conclusions.  I really enjoyed this book especially when she talked about pond-scum theology. I could relate to many of her thoughts.

Daily Life in the Time of Jesus by Henri Daniel-Rops -- I found this at the local Goodwill store one Sunday afternoon. It's over 500 pages, but quite an interesting book covering a variety of topics about life during Jesus' time. I like cultural stuff so this was pretty good to read this month.

Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood by Barbara Demick -- I read a book by her a couple years ago on North Korea and it was so good, that I wanted to read another.  This one was interesting as well, though I preferred the one on North Korea. 

Here is something from it that I shared on Facebook.
More from this book on Sarajevo during the war:  Check out these prices:  One can of Coke - $7.50; one box of chocolate chip cookies - $11; one banana - $6; coffee - 1lb. for $50; one gallon of gas - $100!  Also I mentioned yesterday that Ping-Pong balls were often given for small change.  Cigarettes were often given for salaries.  For instance, one man received 5 packs per month for his work with the police department.

Sally and Alastair

This may only be funny to me - and Andrew, but I figured I'd post it in case I ever wanted to reread something that made us laugh.  

On Sunday Andrew and I were out together and talk of his upcoming birthday came up. He said, "I'm getting so old I can't remember anything, Sally*."

I replied: "Yeah, I know what you mean, Alastair."

An incredulous pause by Andrew.

"Alastair?! Who thinks of *Alastair* when they are losing their memory?"

Hahahahaa...OK, maybe you had to be there. :)

(*This is the name he calls me whenever he pretends his memory is failing).

Waiting

To be honest, I struggle with waiting on God.  There is one issue in my life that reallllllllllllllllllly makes me angry, and I want God to fix it.  Like five years ago.  I've prayed about it. I've cried about it. I've railed about it. I've about given up on God about it.

And there are other areas where I no longer wait. I gave up on God ever doing anything in those areas.

So, I saw this in a church newsletter the other evening and have reread it a few times because it speaks to me concerning how I handle waiting.

When God asks you to wait, what happens to your spiritual muscles?  While you wait, do your spiritual muscles grow bigger and stronger or do they grow flaccid and atrophied?  Waiting for the Lord isn't about God forgetting you, forsaking you, or being unfaithful to his promises. It's actually God giving you time to consider his glory and to grow stronger in faith. Remember, waiting isn't just about what you are hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you will become while you wait.

Waiting always presents me with a spiritual choice-point. Will I allow myself to question God's goodness and progressively grow weaker in faith, or will I embrace the opportunity of faith that God is giving me and build my spiritual muscles?

It's so easy to question your belief system when you are not sure what God is doing. It's so easy to give way to doubt when you are being called to wait.  It's so easy to forsake good habits and to take up habits of unfaith that weaken the muscles of the heart.

                                                                              -- Paul David Tripp, A Shelter in the Time of Storm

April Books

A Year in the World by Frances Mayes  -- pleasant enough book, but not my favorite; I did think often "oooh, I'd like to go there!"  Too bad I don't travel more

Posted on Facebook: 

"How glamorous Ed looks in his Italian tuxedo, his 'smoking' as it's called by Italians who frequently leave off the second word of an imported term: basket, instead of basketball, night instead of nightclub."  -- Reading this just now in A Year in the World by Frances Mayes made me remember my conversation the other night about why some of us call knit hats "toboggans."  It must be our Italian ancestry!  Toboggan hat becomes plain old toboggan.

Ten Green Bottles by Vivian Jeanette Kaplan -- "The true story of one family's journey from war-torn Austria to the ghettos of Shanghai"  -- really interesting book especially when the family finally moves to Shanghai thrives, then the Japanese take over and they have to move to the ghetto where they adapt and thrive (somewhat) and THEN the Americans bomb their area while trying to win the war - ah!!

The Oasis: A Memoir of Love and Survival in a Concentration Camp by Petru Popescu --  I really enjoyed this tale of a couple who met in a work concentration camp towards the end of World War II and how they experienced life there and beforehand; it was interesting to read some Jewish rituals as Blanka thought back on her growing-up years; now I want to read the story of this author as he escaped Communism in Romania  (got it at the library 4/25, and will read soon)

MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea by Otto F. Apel, Jr, MD and Pat Apel -- really interesting book about the MASH units in Korea. I enjoyed reading about life in Korea from a doctor's perspective. He shared funny parts, and many amazing parts about how they worked to keep people alive. I was brought to tears thinking of how hard they worked on soldiers who, quite frankly, seemed lost causes or too far gone to save.  But they did!

One time he was talking about their need for blood, and how "the occupation army in Japan appealed to the Japanese people to give blood for Americans fighting in Korea.  Long lines of Japanese stood outside the blood bank in Tokyo....The blood was flown from the U.S. Medical Laboratory in Tokyo to the blood bank in Korea and helicoptered to the MASH units.  An interesting quirk arose at this point. Japanese blood contains less of the Rh-negative factor than the blood of people of European origin. Therefore, Japanese blood could not be used to treat Americans. Japanese blood was used only for Koreans or other Asians. But it did allow doctors or nurses to use other blood for Americans and thus maintain adequate levels of blood in the medical facilities."  (pg. 140)

They learned the importance of patients getting up and walking as an aid to healing. Also, the importance of antibiotics - and more widespread use of them was "tested" on these ailing soldiers.

Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 by Madeleine Albright  -- If you are interested in Czech history especially during World War II, you may like this book.  It also talks a bit about Bohemia, Czech and Slovak breaks and the rise of Communism in this section of the world.  Of course Ms. Albright talks about her family's experiences during these years which makes it even better.

War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters Who Covered Vietnam  -- this book is a collection of accounts by 9 women; I enjoyed the variety of experiences, and especially enjoyed the account of the lady who adopted two daughters from Vietnam and went back years later with one of them

Outwitting the Gestapo by Lucie Aubrac -- this book tells the story of a group of French resisters during the time Germany occupied France during WII; it's told from the point of view of Lucie - and covers 9 months of her life; pretty interesting book

March Books

The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community by Mary Pipher -- I saw this book while I was with Michael at Barnes & Noble, and found it available at my local library. The author discusses her experiences with various refugees who moved to her home in Lincoln, Nebraska.  In this book you will be introduced to Kurdish sisters who fled Iraq, school settings - one with elementary-aged refugees, another with high school students, also you will meet people from Kenya and Sierra Leone. The author also gives tips and other observations about cultures. Of course I enjoyed this one although halfway through the book I felt inviting refugees here was a mistake as America is too difficult to understand, too cruel in many ways. Then I recalled what these people left, and was heartened with stories of refugees who seemed happy and more adjusted to life here. The book made me want to be more cognizant of foreigners among us, to be open to helping them, to offering friendship...and for the hundredth time it made me wish my city were more international! Why am I stuck here??

The author noted how an Ethiopian man caught many fish, and she, thinking he'd want to save them for himself and his family, offered storage space in her freezer. He looked at her quizzically and said he had no need to store them as he was giving them away to friends.  Also she told how Afghan women were very upset with the artwork their children brought home from school because they used dried beans and macaroni.  People in our country are starving and they use food in art here!

A couple quotes from the section on "Home" towards the end of the book that I liked:


"The love of your own country hasn't to do with foreign politics, burning flags, or the Maginot Line against immigrants at the border. It has to do with a light on a hillside, the fat belly of a local trout, and the smell of new-mown hay."  Bill Holm (pg. 320)


"American restlessness is overstated. We all come from immigrants, but if we look far enough back in our family trees, we will find a farmer.  In Grass Roots, Gruchow makes the point that the average settler wasn't in search of a new world to conquer, but of a refuge, 'a place with a few cows, a garden, a house of one's own, as far away from trouble as possible.'"  (pg. 324)



Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love and the Search for Home by Kim Sunée  -- This is a memoir by a Korean-born woman adopted by a couple from New Orleans who ended up moving to Europe for many years as a young adult.  Her story is so unlike my own, and I was sad that she had such a hard time fitting in and felt so adrift.  I kept hoping I could introduce her to Someone who could fill this void in her life.  This book made me appreciate food that I'm familiar with. I am sure her food is superb (she includes recipes at the end of nearly every chapter), but, eh, I just like my normal Southern-American food.  This book was in my local library biography section.



Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman -- curious what it's like to be incarcerated in a women's prison? Read this book. 

Hide: A Child's View of the Holocaust by Naomi Samson - a Polish Jew recounts her life in hiding from the German soldiers and the Polish "friends" and neighbors who tried to kill them;  She, her mother, brother and sister hid for a year and a half in a hayloft or under the house of a couple Polish women who fed them reluctantly -- when the children were finally free, two of them had to crawl as their muscles had attached to their legs wrongly during their growing while curled in a fetal position all that time --- so sad! And again I wonder HOW can people be so cruel to other people?!



Law Man: My Story of Robbing Banks, Winning Supreme Court Cases, and Finding Redemption by Shon Hopwood -- found this in the new books at the library; it's the story of a Nebraskan man who committed bank robbery and served more than a decade in a federal prison. During that time he finds he has a knack for legal things and his story is quite a testimony to the power of grace and redemption - and it helps you better understand the people in prisons (somewhat...)  and what's with my reading two prison memoirs in recent days?


Stolen Years: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi -- Wow, what a book!  It seems jail is a theme this month.  Malika's jail experience isn't like the others however. Her family (mother and siblings) were imprisoned - banished to a place where they only had themselves and their jailers as company.  Quite a story out of Morocco.  Don't mess with the king!


Freedom: The Story of My Second Life by Malika Oufkir -- the sequel to the above book; the author tells how she readjusts to life. Can you imagine being locked away for twenty years and how much things changed in that time? Like automatic sinks...how does the water come out?  She also tells of her first experiences with love (or lust) after her escape.


Dalai Lama, My Son: A Mother's Story by Diki Tsering -- I enjoyed hearing some of the customs and expectations of the people in Tibet.  The wedding preparations and the way people consulted their astrologers and the way ghosts killed their children - fascinating!


Things I've Been Silent About by Azar Nafisi -- a book of memories of growing up in Iran; I enjoyed reading about events in Iran through the eyes of this lady and her family

Look Me In the Eye: My Life with Asperger's by John Elder Robison  -- I saw this at Barnes & Noble and found it at the local library; I enjoyed learning more about Asperger's as it affected this person's life. I have friends with this condition (not a disease) and some of what the author wrote seems true of them.


The Poet of Baghdad: A True Story of Love and Defiance by Jo Tatchell -- this story is about Nabeel Yasin's early years in Iraq and how he escaped his home country and lived in exile until the Iraq War.  I enjoyed reading about the life of a family during these years in Iraq as the story spans many decades.

February Books

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung  -- sad story about a family torn apart by the Khmer Rouge regime as told by one of the youngest children; this book made me cry as I (kind of, sort of, not really) experienced her hardships through her words and thought of others who have endured such horrible times at the hands of evil people


The Life of Objects by Susanna Moore -- a novel I found at the library; probably attracted to it by the author's name and it was in the new book section; an Irish lady goes to Germany and lives with a family during World War II; interesting to hear of this family and her time in Germany through her eyes


The Silenced Cry by Ana Tortajada -- a Spanish lady and two friends travel to Pakistan to meet Afghan refugees and are able to take a short trip to visit Kabul; each chapter is a day from their travel


Istanbul: Memories and the City by Orhan Pamuk -- a look at Istanbul through the eyes of a secular man who grew up there; he focused quite a bit on the melancholy of the city, its attempts at westernizing and how it appeared through western eyes; some of it was interesting, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped I would (library book)


Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa -- I really enjoy these types of books.  A Canadian lady decided to teach two years in Bhutan instead of going for her doctorate. So this book tells of her experiences - trying to fit in, meeting people, seeing the place through her eyes. I especially enjoyed her days of teaching the younger children and what they taught her about survival (lighting her stove and cooking for one thing).   Here is an interview with her.


The Gate by Francois Bizot -- A French man tells about his time in Cambodia. The part about his being a prisoner was my favorite.


After the Wall: Germany, the Germans, and the Burdens of History by Marc Fisher -- An American journalist lives in Germany for four years telling about people he interviewed and interesting things in the news. I enjoy cultural books so this was an interesting read for me.  Germany interests me as well since I've been there,my uncle lives there and Samer lives there presently.  I was surprised to learn how traditional western Germany was compared to East Germany as it relates to women and children.  I liked reading some of this to Samer and would love to hear how things have changed in Germany if this same author/journalist lived there now and wrote about it.  Oooh, here is a CSPAN interview with him that I'll have to watch one day.



Prejudice Across America by James Waller -- a professor takes about twenty students to various cities in the country in order to learn more about prejudice against American Indians, blacks, Jewish Americans and so forth. I enjoyed the brief history of each place, its significance in race relations, and feeling as if I were on the trip as I read what they did and how they reflected on what they experienced each day.

One quote from the book that I put on Facebook

"What will not make headlines are the ironic facts that the founder of the original Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest, is buried in a Memphis park that is now used mostly by blacks; that the Klan members who planned the rally had to ask a black mayor for permission to assemble and a black chief of police for protection; that most of the Klan members who actually participated in the rally came from Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Maryland; that the Klan only has about five thousand members nationwide and the South no longer stands as its membership stronghold; that the city of Memphis now has more blacks than whites and that, generally, substantial and tangible process has been made in the arena of race relations."  (pg. 159)


Price of Honor: Muslim Women Lift the Veil of Silence on the Islamic World by Jan Goodwin -- although this book is about twenty years old, I enjoyed reading about the author's reflections as she traveled the Islamic world and listened to women in various countries.  She talked to some about polygyny, others about their lives under US sanctions in Iraq, some about their conversions to Islam and other interesting topics.


"The first and last person who suffers under sanctions is always a child. These are not economic sanctions, but sanctions against life."

"Raskia Mansi, heavily pregnant, was asleep in the sweltering afternoon heat next to her six-year-old daughter, Zara, who had been hospitalized with late-stage malnutrition. Raskia awakened as we drew level with the bed. The wife of a factory worker, she was expecting her thirteenth child the following week.  'I didn't want to get pregnant again,' she said, 'but I can't afford or find the birth-control pills I used to take.' She also cannot afford to feed the children she already has. Twenty-five days before, her eighteen-month-old daughter, Marwa, had died in this same hospital from the same problems as Zara has. Her husband...receives a pension of D. 220 a month.

'To buy food, medicines, we have sold everything - my wedding jewelry, our furniture, our heater, our blankets, even our clothes. This is the only dress I have left,' she said pointing to the one she was wearing. What was a typical family meal? I asked her.  'A soup made with water and rice. One of my children was so hungry, she ate a candle,' she said, as her eyes filled with tears.  Raskia is anemic herself, and doctors expect her new baby to have a low birth weight. Six-year-old Zara is expected to die, and doctors believe the new baby also will not survive."  (pg. 257-8)



Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology by Eric Brende -- Ten days after marrying Mary, this couple moved to a minimalist community for eighteen months of living with little technology. Through this experiment, they learned the value of physical labor, a sense of community and reliance on neighbors.  Eric concludes that we shouldn't exclude technology, but its role should be supplemental. "Technology serves us, not we technology." 



As Far As You Can Go Without a Passport: The View from the End of the Road by Tom Bodett  -- A cute, short book with "comments and comic pieces by Tom Bodett of National Public Radio's 'All Things Considered.'"  -- mostly little stories reflecting on life from Alaska