Ruby Ramblings

I feel this month is a little deflated, since I couldn’t help starting too many things and am currently half way through four different books. I guess that means that April will be a more substantial month.

From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet Besides just being an awesome read, the cool thing about this book was that it has been passed around between over a half dozen teachers that have come and gone at my school. It is a well-worn, taped-up copy of one of the best travel narratives I’ve ever read. Seth is attending college in China when he, on a whim, decides to hitchhike across the country and go home through Nepal instead of flying. With really clear writing, a great sense of humor, and more than a touch of the unknown, you get to travel with him on foot, and without the proper papers.

The Mapmaker’s Opera Gorgeous cover. Not a whole lot going on in between.

Jantsen’s Gift: A True Story of Grief, Rescue, and Grace
Kindle Version
I loved this book. A woman falls into a serious depression after her son dies of an undiagnosed heart disease. She pulls herself up and goes with a friend on a mission trip to Vietnam. While there, she and her husband decide to adopt a boy that no one else will take care of, against everyone else’s better judgement.. That starts a chain reaction where they start a non-profit to rescue orphans and children sold into slavery. Just read it. It’s good.

Say You’re One of Them
Kindle Version
We read this for bookleaves Seoul bookclub this month. The part that makes it so hard to read is that you are brought along with the children’s innocence. You see through their eyes what the things about to happen to them look like, and yet everyone is powerless to stop the motion, most of all the kids. It is a really sad collection of short stories.

Take It Personally: How to Make Conscious Choices to Change the World This was really, really interesting. Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop, edited a great set of essays from people all over the world talking about globalization and the homogenization of the planet. It lays out some examples of places where globalization is really hurting people more than helping, and some practical places to to take action.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
Kindle Version
Yet another fine collection of case studies from Oliver Sacks.

Only six books. That’s pathetic. I must remedy this next month. I thought maybe I would hit two hundred this year, but not like this.

Six is a little low for you, but you had some really intelligent, heavy reading in March. I had a picture book!

Comment by bybee April 1, 2010 @ 4:38 pm

the mapmaker’s opera does have a gorgeous cover. just wanted to wish you a happy read-a-thon-ing today.

Comment by velvet April 10, 2010 @ 4:24 pm

Looks like you are making great headway
Keep up the reading, don’t let that head sway
Eyes on the page and coffee in hand
You’ll be entering a new land.

GO READER!

Comment by SavvyVerse&Wit April 10, 2010 @ 9:35 pm

[…] year in recap January February March April May Leave a Comment Leave a Comment so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on […]

Pingback by June Reads « Ruby Ramblings July 3, 2010 @ 7:47 am

Leave a Reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Δ