29 - Charlie Johnson in the Flames, by Michael Ignatieff, 179 pages, Grove Press, 2003
WHY I PICKED IT: I wanted to try something by Ignatieff
ELAPSED TIME: <1 day.
RATING: Very Good.
Medecins Sans Frontieres has a secondary purpose beyond humanitarian medical relief, to bear witness. This story, of a reporter who has spent a career in conflict zones, tells of the awful impact of that objective. Bearing witness requires an engagement of that outsider, to see what is happening and take that story to the world... despite the fact that most of the world won't truly feel it.
In this story, Charlie Johnson is an American reporter who watches a Serbian Colonel set a woman on fire, who jumps on her to put out the flames, and gets her to a hospital. It's the story of how this seasoned reporter's "innocent" view of the world is shattered when he witnesses something so cold and brutal, he simply could not cope, and so seeks out vengeance.
Although this book was very well written and engaging, but I don't think I could ever actually recommend it to anybody.
This blog is a simple review of every book that I read... For all books I’ll tell you why I picked it, how long it took me to read it, and give it a rating (burn it, not good, meh, good, very good, and required reading). I ask (encourage?) all readers of my blog to post their thoughts of any of the books in my comments :). Thanks!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
2011-28 - Up Up Up, by Julie Booker
28 - Up Up Up, by Julie Booker, 219 pages, Anansi Press, 2011
WHY I PICKED IT: It looked interesting on the Anansi webiste
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days.
RATING: BURN IT
Wow, this book sucked. 20 short stories... and not a single one of them had characters that were satisfying or even endings that make you happy. And yet, I kept going. I guess that's the problem with short stories, you figure the next one could be better... over and over and over.
Do not buy this book. Do not spend time reading this book.
WHY I PICKED IT: It looked interesting on the Anansi webiste
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days.
RATING: BURN IT
Wow, this book sucked. 20 short stories... and not a single one of them had characters that were satisfying or even endings that make you happy. And yet, I kept going. I guess that's the problem with short stories, you figure the next one could be better... over and over and over.
Do not buy this book. Do not spend time reading this book.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
2011-27 - Salt Fish Girl, by Larissa Lai
27 - Salt Fish Girl, by Larissa Lai, 269 pages, Thomas Allen Publishers, 2002
WHY I PICKED IT: I met the author at a party a couple weeks ago
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days.
RATING: Good.
I don't think I fully understand this story, but nonetheless quite enjoyed it.
This is the story of a being who created mankind, and then chose to join it. Lai takes us through two incarnations of this female being: Nu Wa, in 1800s China, and Miranda in the mid 21st Century Pacific Northwest. Both tales are engaging. Nu Wa fights to avoid an arranged marriage, and struggles to survive in the city. Miranda lives in an age where government has collapsed and the corporate world has stepped in to create their own walled cities with their own rules.
Had this story simply been that, a play between historical fiction and science fiction, it would have been very good possibly even required reading (as Lai's voice as an author is engaging and keeps the story moving at a great pace). Unfortunately, throughout is this hard-to-follow ... fantasy (?) with subtext that I simply did not follow.
I will seek out more writing by Larissa Lai.
WHY I PICKED IT: I met the author at a party a couple weeks ago
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days.
RATING: Good.
I don't think I fully understand this story, but nonetheless quite enjoyed it.
This is the story of a being who created mankind, and then chose to join it. Lai takes us through two incarnations of this female being: Nu Wa, in 1800s China, and Miranda in the mid 21st Century Pacific Northwest. Both tales are engaging. Nu Wa fights to avoid an arranged marriage, and struggles to survive in the city. Miranda lives in an age where government has collapsed and the corporate world has stepped in to create their own walled cities with their own rules.
Had this story simply been that, a play between historical fiction and science fiction, it would have been very good possibly even required reading (as Lai's voice as an author is engaging and keeps the story moving at a great pace). Unfortunately, throughout is this hard-to-follow ... fantasy (?) with subtext that I simply did not follow.
I will seek out more writing by Larissa Lai.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
2011-26 - Help us to Divorce, by Amos Oz
26 - Help us to Divorce, by Amos Oz, 81 pages, Random House, 2004
WHY I PICKED IT: Nick Hornby recommended it in one of his essays on books.
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days.
RATING: Good.
This book of two essays was quite interesting. The first, Between Right and Right, was very good. He acknowledges that the path to peace is not sitting down to coffee together and becoming friends; that negotiated peace is more than just holding hands and singing Kumbaya. He believes that the divorce will be hard and will require loss from both sides, but ultimately worth it.
In this essay, Oz made a clear argument for a path to a two state solution between Israel and Palestine. It acknowledged wrongs on both sides, and that no solution will be complete until the refugees still living in camps are addressed. I am not an advocate for borders, so a two state solution is not one I agree with... but if that is the quickest path to peace, I understand his perspective.
There are two flaws in this essay:
a) Oz draws a parallel in the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Palestinians in 1947 to the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Israelis in 1967... In 1947, the Palestinians were having another state thrust upon them; a colonial invasion. In 1967 the Israelis were unwilling to negotiate because of the war they just won... These are very different starting positions so the parallel is somewhat flawed. He is only correct insofar as they are both missed opportunities for peace.
b) He does not mention the ongoing Israeli expansion into the West Bank, and how that must be pulled back before any lasting peace can be negotiated.
His second essay, How to Cure a Fanatic, was less engaging. His treatise on what is a fanatic was vague, directionless, and not worthy of more commentary (and so I shall stop here...
WHY I PICKED IT: Nick Hornby recommended it in one of his essays on books.
ELAPSED TIME: 4 days.
RATING: Good.
This book of two essays was quite interesting. The first, Between Right and Right, was very good. He acknowledges that the path to peace is not sitting down to coffee together and becoming friends; that negotiated peace is more than just holding hands and singing Kumbaya. He believes that the divorce will be hard and will require loss from both sides, but ultimately worth it.
In this essay, Oz made a clear argument for a path to a two state solution between Israel and Palestine. It acknowledged wrongs on both sides, and that no solution will be complete until the refugees still living in camps are addressed. I am not an advocate for borders, so a two state solution is not one I agree with... but if that is the quickest path to peace, I understand his perspective.
There are two flaws in this essay:
a) Oz draws a parallel in the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Palestinians in 1947 to the lack of willingness to negotiate by the Israelis in 1967... In 1947, the Palestinians were having another state thrust upon them; a colonial invasion. In 1967 the Israelis were unwilling to negotiate because of the war they just won... These are very different starting positions so the parallel is somewhat flawed. He is only correct insofar as they are both missed opportunities for peace.
b) He does not mention the ongoing Israeli expansion into the West Bank, and how that must be pulled back before any lasting peace can be negotiated.
His second essay, How to Cure a Fanatic, was less engaging. His treatise on what is a fanatic was vague, directionless, and not worthy of more commentary (and so I shall stop here...
Sunday, April 10, 2011
2011-25 - A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit
25 - A Paradise Built in Hell, by Rebecca Solnit, 313 Pages, 2009.
WHY I PICKED IT: Johan Hari recommended it in an article he wrote for The Independent
ELAPSED TIME: 7 days.
RATING: Meh.
The basic premise of this book is fairly simple: In disasters people are more likely to help their neighbor, than take advantage of them. She goes on to postulate that the rich and the establishment are likely to fail to see that, and treat citizens like potential risks.
Solnit shares well researched examples from the 1906 earthquake in San Fransisco, the 1917 explosion in Halifax, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans... in all of these cases, a majority of the citizenry stepped up and shared what they had to all that needed it... and in several of these cases, the rich where unused to the egalitarian utopia and used the government to exercise control where none was necessary.
- From San Fransisco, the story of the family that started a soup kitchen because their stove worked (and the butcher that gave them free food to keep it open).
- From Halifax, the radio operators who stayed at their station, to save the lives of the passengers of trains coming into town. Also the sailor who lay on top of a mother and baby to take the blast himself, and save their lives.
- From Katrina, the fact that when the white people broke into shops they were "securing provisions," but the black people doing the same thing were "looting." In a disaster, there usually isn't someone available to give your money to, and you may not have any... but it's a disaster, and the goods are needed. In fact, in many cases, the police were breaking in and requisitioning the goods themselves (as was required!).
Unfortunately, between most of these great anecdotes are many more (somewhat superfluous ones), and this makes the book drag on and on (and on and on). Had this book been 125 pages shorter, I would have rated it Very Good. As it stands, it's worth a skim read, but not much more.
WHY I PICKED IT: Johan Hari recommended it in an article he wrote for The Independent
ELAPSED TIME: 7 days.
RATING: Meh.
The basic premise of this book is fairly simple: In disasters people are more likely to help their neighbor, than take advantage of them. She goes on to postulate that the rich and the establishment are likely to fail to see that, and treat citizens like potential risks.
Solnit shares well researched examples from the 1906 earthquake in San Fransisco, the 1917 explosion in Halifax, the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans... in all of these cases, a majority of the citizenry stepped up and shared what they had to all that needed it... and in several of these cases, the rich where unused to the egalitarian utopia and used the government to exercise control where none was necessary.
- From San Fransisco, the story of the family that started a soup kitchen because their stove worked (and the butcher that gave them free food to keep it open).
- From Halifax, the radio operators who stayed at their station, to save the lives of the passengers of trains coming into town. Also the sailor who lay on top of a mother and baby to take the blast himself, and save their lives.
- From Katrina, the fact that when the white people broke into shops they were "securing provisions," but the black people doing the same thing were "looting." In a disaster, there usually isn't someone available to give your money to, and you may not have any... but it's a disaster, and the goods are needed. In fact, in many cases, the police were breaking in and requisitioning the goods themselves (as was required!).
Unfortunately, between most of these great anecdotes are many more (somewhat superfluous ones), and this makes the book drag on and on (and on and on). Had this book been 125 pages shorter, I would have rated it Very Good. As it stands, it's worth a skim read, but not much more.
Monday, April 4, 2011
2011-24 - Joothan, An Untouchable's Life, by Omprakash Valmiki
24 - Joothan, An Untouchable's Life, by Omprakash Valmiki, 154 Pages, Columbia University Press, 2003
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my Mom's friend Fauzia
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days.
RATING: Very Good.
This autobiography by Omprakash Valmiki is an eye opener. When people talk about "The Untouchables," we outsiders simply cannot comprehend what that actually means. To struggle to be allowed into school, to be denigrated by the establishment at every turn, to be refused water when you're thirsty (or to be made to catch it in your hands rather than drink out of a cup.
Valmiki has striven to lead his life in an open manner... to be open about his caste status, despite that it will make him an outsider and ostracized, even when he was in a position to cover it up. That he was able to fight to get educated, and to succeed in that education... he's a much stronger man than I.
Where this book fails, is in the style... the writing is captivating only in it's contents, not at all in the language... it that the fault of Valmiki or the translator (Arun Prabha Mukherjee), I will never know.
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by my Mom's friend Fauzia
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days.
RATING: Very Good.
This autobiography by Omprakash Valmiki is an eye opener. When people talk about "The Untouchables," we outsiders simply cannot comprehend what that actually means. To struggle to be allowed into school, to be denigrated by the establishment at every turn, to be refused water when you're thirsty (or to be made to catch it in your hands rather than drink out of a cup.
Valmiki has striven to lead his life in an open manner... to be open about his caste status, despite that it will make him an outsider and ostracized, even when he was in a position to cover it up. That he was able to fight to get educated, and to succeed in that education... he's a much stronger man than I.
Where this book fails, is in the style... the writing is captivating only in it's contents, not at all in the language... it that the fault of Valmiki or the translator (Arun Prabha Mukherjee), I will never know.
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