One book down. I have to admit to some hesitancy about this book after all these years. I was afraid of missing out on the magic that I felt so many times as a kid reading it. But it didn’t let me down, it really is a fantastic little story. The author, Margaret Anderson, is a biologist who got the idea to write this book in 1972 while staying at a cottage in England called “Random.” Random plays an important role in this book as the starting point to the main character’s, Elizabeth, ability to travel back in time and become one with a little girl her same age.
There is so much more to this book than I recognized when I was elementary school. One of the main themes of the book is Elizabeth’s realization that her life is actually quite wonderful and privileged after spending time as Ann and being denied the right to go to school. She also works at ten years old as a kitchen maid in her uncle’s inn.
There is a point where she has a change of heart about her life, and really starts to understands Ann’s time and troubles.
“But there was a drudgery and the poverty and the cold and the hunger. And there was ignorance. Ignorance went beyond not knowing how to read and write. It meant knowing nothing outside your own life. It meant not having the doctor come when you were sick. It caused fear – an evil kind of fear.”
An idea that never seems to become irrelevant no matter how advanced the world becomes.
The copy I have now is stamped as being added to the library collection in 1978, the year before I was born. It’s the same edition I used to read as a kid – the kind where the cover photo is printed right on the hardcover instead of having a jacket. I think that used to be common for library editions of books. Anyway, it was a pleasure old friend.
Pages read: 141
Charity: Child Upliftment Center
If this were a party, I’m sure I would dis-invited. As my book-blogging turned real life friend Bybee has pointed out, I am of an age, and hence decided to spend last night with some engaging, intelligent, beautiful, and handsome friends rather than do another read-a-thon. But as it is 2pm on a Sunday, and there is a little bit more time to go. I’m going to join in and read a little to at least add to the overall page count.
I’m going to start with a copy of a book that I had been wanting to get my hands on for years. It was my favorite book when I was in elementary school. The school library copy has the succession of my hand-writing from first to sixth grade, as back then you still signed the little paper card that got stamped with the due date. The copy I have now is a withdrawn library copy from Centennial elementary school in Winnipeg.
I recently found an affordable copy (as I’ve seen this book listed for as high as $120), and had it delivered to Korea, where it has hence sat on my bookshelf. Considering my early obsession with the book, and that the fact that I had been wanting to re-read it for a decade, I’m not sure where my ambivalence to this copy came from when it arrived. Today is as good a day as any to reconnect with the YA classic.
To Nowhere and Back by Margaret Anderson
I love books with maps at the beginning. Even if they are fake.
Filed under: Books
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
The Mapmaker’s Opera
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
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.
Filed under: Books
“This thing called “music,” they would have to concede, is in some way efficacious to humans, central to human life. Yet is has no concepts, makes no propositions; it lacks images, symbols, the stuff of language.”
– Musicophilia, preface, Oliver Sachs
Meme hosted by Should be Reading.
In the Land of Invisible Women by Quanta Ahmed.
Kindle Version
Once I started this book, everything else went on hold until it was finished. I didn’t even glance longingly at another title, or consider another subway companion until I had read the entire story of this American-trained Muslim doctor’s foray into the Saudi Kingdom. Although Quanta is a Pakastani women, born and raised Muslim, and considers herself to be a follower, her previous trips to other parts of the middle east did nothing to prepare her for two years of living as “an invisible woman.” In “The Kingdom” women are required to wear full head to toe coverings, including a face veil (not quite a burqa, but not far off), are not allowed to drive, and are frequently dismissed by their male co-workers no matter what their level of education. Quanta describes a rage of frustration that I can only imagine.
Gem Squash Tokoloshe by Rachel Zadok
This is a South African novel that I never would have come across if not for bookobsessed. I thought it was great. Part landscape, part family dynamics, and a surprising suspenseful mystery ending. Told from the point of view of a young girl living in a remote farm whose family starts to fall apart after her dad leaves for work one Monday and never comes back.
by Rick Riordan
Kindle Version
Book three in the Percy Jackson series.
by Sandra Welchel
Kindle Version
A British novel told from a retired woman’s point of view after her husband leaves to have his “Walden Pond” year in a remote cabin in the states. What she discovers is that all the time she’s been blaming him for not being able to finish her book has really been her own lack of discipline and way of letting life get in the way.
by Kenchen Pal Sherab
Read on the bus on the way to the temple stay. One of those books I carry around with me. It’s a good, basic introduction to Buddhist thought on the body and meditation. Kenchen Palden is one of the monks who is the teacher of the Buddhist temple I attend when I’m in Nashville. This is him doing a “lama dance” outside Nashville at the retreat center.
by Barbara Gowdy
(Hey Bybee, it’s a Canadian author). Travel tale told from the point of view of elephants. Although it wasn’t an outstanding book, it was a great companion to the last book I finished in Feb.:
by Rick Ridgeway.
This was less of a travel narrative, and more of a history of the anti-elephant-poaching effort in the Tsavo, and a lesson on some of the political dynamics of the long-standing tribes in the area. Solid writing, and interesting stuff.
I’m not into that many memes online, but I haven’t been participating lately in the few that I did use. A day late, but not a quote short.
Hosted by Should Be Reading
Here is my random two sentence quote from page 31:
In the Land of Invisible Women by Quanta Ahmed
“As I spent time in the Kingdom, I was to see just how far removed the state-enforced theocracy was from the truth which is Islam and also how conflicted the Saudis around me, both men and women, had themselves become. Their state no longer represented their personal beliefs.”
Filed under: Books, Buddhism | Tags: Adeline Yeh Mah, Amanda Ward, Amy Bloom, Coetzee, Ian Baker, Joey Comeau, Miriam Toews, Peter Matthiessen
I’ve come full circle, for a year of blogging, reading, and moving half-way around the world. This month may have been a little too eventful, but it was a robust reading month.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
I was surprised to see this on NPR’s 100 best beach books list. To me a beach book is something you could recommend to anyone – non-offensive, delightful, and easy to read. This is none of those. The only reason I can think of that it would be on a beach books list is because it is relatively short. Although I thought this was an extremely well written book, and I will seek out more Coetzee just for his prose, this is one of those books that I would only recommend to people who I know to have some fortitude in digesting harsh subject matter, and who are “true” readers.
Now this could be a beach read. Even though it does have some interesting moments, I think you could read it with your toes in the sand without it ruining your day. It was decent, but not great, a Russian immigrant to the US in NYC decides to travel across the country by foot when she hears that her daughter may still be alive and living in Russia.
by Amanda Eyre Ward
Kindle Version
Another book about a family member searching for someone who is lost. A girl goes missing, and years later her sister thinks she finds her in Montana. Another light but decent read.
by Ian Baker
Kindle Version
A travel narrative of Baker’s slog through the heart of Tibet to the rarely seen Tsangpo river, which is believed to be a sacred place where people can achieve enlightenment on earth. I enjoyed the book, although due to the nature of his journey, it is quite repetitive. His knowledge of Tibetan folk lore and history is extensive and added interest, for me, to the book. Overall, I think he does fall into the trap of writers such as Micheal Palin where he is a western man out to “acquire” the piece of the world his heart and mind desires.
This video is unrelated to the book, but it gives you a good idea of the area:
by Miriam Toews
I picked up this book in Beijing at the Emperor Guest House for my friend Bybee who is collecting Canadian authors. I enjoyed this story of a sweet neurotic mayor of the “smallest town in Canada” as he tries to convince the Prime Minister (who he believes is his illegitimate father) to come for a visit. The book is full of great, quirky characters – like the four year old named Summer Feeling, and reminded me a little bit of the writing of Fanny Flagg.
by Pietra Rivoli
Kindle Version
What a book of this type should be – informative, yet conversational and engaging. Rivoli travels around the world from cotton farms in Texas, to T-Shirt factories in China, to second hand clothes shops of discarded American clothes in Africa.
by Adeline Yeh Mah
Kindle Version
When Adeline’s mother dies after having her, her father marries a Chinese-French woman who abuses her stepchildren and turns the family away from the unwanted girls. What was most surprising about this book is what an amazing sense of humor Yeh Mah has. Even though this was a tragic story, she found many places to add absurdity and humor.
Lockpick Pornography by Joey Comeau
This is a free PDF version of this short fiction by a Canadian author depicting a young man’s anger at feeling dejected by the heterosexual majority. He gets back at the mainstream by stealing from middle class houses that appear to have “typical” families in them. A group of young friends devises a way to make a big public statement challenging the gender paradigm.
by Peter Matthiessen
I like Matthiessen, but I often find him to be quite male-centric and arrogant. In this book he lays aside his usual macho-ness to describe the death of his wife and his transition (because of her interest) into Zen Buddhism. I’m not surprised that he is attracted to this particular branch of Buddhism since I’ve found it to be also very male-centered, hierarchical, and controlling. Unfortunately after the initial personal aspects of the book are finished, I think it was rather dry and uninteresting.
December was a highly discontent month. Holidays celebrated in drunken Korean fashion, and a stunted, disappointing selection of reading.
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex
Interview with Mary Roach on Fora TV.
Dork Whore: My Travels Through Asia as a Twenty-Year-Old Pseudo-Virgin
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales
Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for the New Millennium
My year in reading:
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November
I was going back over the months because I’m trying to pick the best book I read in the past year for a game I play on bookobsessed. The year definitely started out fantastic when I was unemployed, reading constantly, and waiting to ship out to Korea, since being here my reading time has dwindled, as has my selection. But overall, not so bad.
Filed under: Books
Long plane rides, and a stunted work schedule allowed for some more good reading this month. I am back to the grind in Korea for anyone who is confused.
In reverse order:
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
I first heard about this book from an NPR story on Mysteries You Might Have Missed Along the Way. I really enjoyed reading the uppity eleven-year-old protagonist as she tries to clear her father’s name of a murder over a rare stamp.
Free Food for Millionaires
Casey Han is an first generation Korean-American. Although fully a New York City girl, her parents are Korean immigrants that eventually kick her out of the house for not following their wishes. As her parents struggle with their unfulfilled desires, Casey develops an addiction to shopping, men, and marveling at the differences between Korean and white cultures in the Big Apple. Although it took me a while to get into this book, I ended up really enjoying it. I felt like I knew Casey as a real person, she could be any of the women I see everyday here in Seoul, addicted to shopping, status, and the pursuit of a good (or at least rich) man. Although this may sound like a premise of a chi-lit book, it was far from it. More of a sweeping look at culture, relationships, and money.
The Fifth Book of Peace
I really wanted to like this book, but it really just wasn’t that good. It was divided into five different sections, some fiction, some non-fiction. The first section was fantastic. A recount of Kingston’s return from helping her dying father to find her house, and her latest manuscript, in flames. She tries to recreate the manuscript, but the story falls exceptionally flat. I agree with, and really wanted to rally for this book’s anti-war stance, but it’s not the kind of book you could pass around to friends hoping to win converts.
Skin: Talking About Sex, Class And Literature
by Dorothy Allison
I think for someone who isn’t already a Dorothy Allison convert, this might be a tough read. I’ve read both of her major works of fiction, and I thought I had read all of her non-fiction until this came up as last months pick for the Seoul Women’s Bookclub. I really enjoyed it, but I think it is meant more for a women’s studies class on sexuality than it is for light weekend reading. I read it on the plane back to the states and had to put it down when I got paranoid that the men sitting on either side of me might be looking over my shoulder at the chapter regarding the proper use of dildos.
When My Name Was Keoko
This was an amazing book recommended by my friend Susan at Naked Without Books. It outlines Japanese occupation of Korea during WWII from a young brother and sister’s perspective. The title of the book refers to the fact that all Koreans were forced to change their names to Japanese names and learn Japanese language exclusively in the schools. Part of the book talks about secretly learning to read Hangul at home after hours, and an elderly neighbor who refused to learn Japanese after the words for 1-5, so they had to rush her outside for the daily line-ups to make sure she was a low enough number that she could speak. I’d say this is my top recommendation for the month.
Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America
I’ve been a fan of a couple of Ehrenreich’s books in the past, but this one was not at all convincing. Her interview with John Stewart was way more entertaining than the book. The beginning chapters where she chronicles her battle with breast cancer and the relentless barrage of “positive thinkers” in the cancer community was relevant and interesting. After that she goes into a history of positive thinking in America and the book looses a lot of momentum when she takes it from the personal to the research angle. It was a good read overall, but not nearly as convincing as the work she’s done on poverty and job inequity in America.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Barbara Ehrenreich | ||||
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Buried Deep (Retrieval Artist Novels, No. 4)
I started the month with my occasional delve into the sci-fi realm. This was a fantastic read. Everything good sci-fi should be: lyrical, anthropological, and convincing. I didn’t even realize that it was the fourth in a series until I had finished it, but really it made no difference.
Eco Libris, in a random act of generosity, offered 100 free books to 100 bloggers who were willing to review them. The idea is to get the word out about publishers that are environmentally friendly with their printing/paper services.
“Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website”.
Published by the Green Press Initiative and Heyday Books.
This is a very conversational, thoughtful, and engaging look at the history of various civil rights movements in California. Being a huge, and hugely diverse state, I think it serves as an example, and interesting reading for anyone just about anywhere. The first thing that struck me about the book, is that we really do need reminders that a short time ago in history, discrimination and violence were not only legal, but encouraged by majority groups.
Although this book could be used as a college level textbook, it is not at all dry, and has so many other uses for anyone interested in American rights movements, history, and globalization.
The book is largely split into chapters that follow a time period, but although each chapter ends a little later in time, they all go back in history to roughly the mid-1880s looking at the chain of events that lead to the breakthrough in rights. Chapters one through three look at early California history including immigrant rights and workers’ rights. The next set of chapters look at racial equality, the rights of women, and political dissent. Moving further in time the authors examine free press, religious freedom, GLBT rights, people with disabilities, and criminal justice.
The first chapter Staking our Claim was a horrific look at some the early practices of violence against, in particular, Chinese laborers and Mexican people. One story was of a Mexican woman whose house had been broken into. She defended herself, wounding her assailant, and was then dragged into the streets, beaten and hanged for doing so. This chapter references some of CA early women’s rights laws, such as a woman being able to keep her property after a divorce, which wasn’t so much for the concern of women, but to attract wealthy, single women to California as potential wives.
Under Color of Law looks thoroughly, but not only, at African American rights, times of indentured servatude after slavery was ended, and also Mexican anti-segregation movements, the Filipino movement to end anti-miscegenation laws, and the Native American take-over and protest at Alcatraz.
The only chapter not in the time line is the final chapter, and is the one that is probably most personal to the co-author Stan Yogi. It is entitled Behind Barbed Wire and addresses the removal and incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII. Stan’s dedication in the beginning of the book reads, “Stan Yogi dedicates this book to his parents…who were incarcerated during WWII and still had faith in the promise of American freedom and justice.”
Although this book is very readable in its entirety, there is no need to read each chapter followed by the other. They stand alone as well researched pieces that could be used as references to each particular issue.
Book Giveaway I would be happy to pass on this book. If you are interested in reading it, leave a comment and I will pick someone at random.
“We elected to print this title on 30% post consumer recycled paper, processed chlorine free. As a result, for this printing we have saved:
22 trees (40′ tall and 6″ diameter)
9,884 gallons of wastewater
7 million BTUs of Total Energy
600 pounds of Solid Waste
2,052 pounds of greenhouse gases”
Ruby Ramblings 