18 - The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, 384 pages, Scholastic Press, 2010
WHY I PICKED IT: My Toronto Book Club selected it.
ELAPSED TIME: 3 days
RATING: Good
I must admit, despite a few friends who loved the series, I am surprised that I got as into this book as I did.
Telling the story of Katniss who is born to a community (Sector 12) that has been colonized. She hunts to survive and feed her family. When her sister (Perm) is randomly selected to fight in "The Hunger Games," a game organized by the colonizers to entertain themselves and keep the colonies off balance, Katniss volunteers to take Perm's place. The game is a future-day Roman Colosseum where 24 contestants must fight to the death to earn their freedom.
This is an entertaining read.
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!
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
2012-17 - A Season in Hell, by Robert R. Fowler
17 - A Season in Hell, by Robert R. Fowler, 317 pages, Harper Collins, 2011
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Chris Houston
ELAPSED TIME: 2 weeks
RATING: Very Good
Robert R. Fowler is a long time bureaucrat with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the United Nations (at one time serving as Canada's representative on the UN Security Council). In 2009 he was sent to Niger as a UN envoy to negotiate peace between the government and rebel forces... instead he (along with a colleague) was kidnapped by Al Qaeda and held for 130 days.
The story is gripping - The act of being kidnapped, being transported at high speeds through the Sahara, the food, the health problems, the worries and the stresses, and ultimately their release. Every page and section of the book draws you in and tells the story in vivid detail. Alone, this would have been a good book.
What moves this book into Very Good status is his Epilogue. From pages 291 to 317 , he describes what was going on in the background. He pieces together the negotiations, the power struggles between the DFAIT, the RCMP, and the UN. He calls out nations who say that they "never negotiate with terrorists," and who called out Canada for doing so... and shows their hypocrisy as they clearly have done so. He calls out weaknesses within the DFAIT and the obnoxiousness by members of the RCMP towards his wife. That chapter is truly fantastic. I want to read an entire book of that type of detail and scathing analysis... That book would be Required Reading.
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Chris Houston
ELAPSED TIME: 2 weeks
RATING: Very Good
Robert R. Fowler is a long time bureaucrat with the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) and the United Nations (at one time serving as Canada's representative on the UN Security Council). In 2009 he was sent to Niger as a UN envoy to negotiate peace between the government and rebel forces... instead he (along with a colleague) was kidnapped by Al Qaeda and held for 130 days.
The story is gripping - The act of being kidnapped, being transported at high speeds through the Sahara, the food, the health problems, the worries and the stresses, and ultimately their release. Every page and section of the book draws you in and tells the story in vivid detail. Alone, this would have been a good book.
What moves this book into Very Good status is his Epilogue. From pages 291 to 317 , he describes what was going on in the background. He pieces together the negotiations, the power struggles between the DFAIT, the RCMP, and the UN. He calls out nations who say that they "never negotiate with terrorists," and who called out Canada for doing so... and shows their hypocrisy as they clearly have done so. He calls out weaknesses within the DFAIT and the obnoxiousness by members of the RCMP towards his wife. That chapter is truly fantastic. I want to read an entire book of that type of detail and scathing analysis... That book would be Required Reading.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
2012-16 - Tinderbox, by Daniel Halperin and Craig Timberg
16 - Tinderbox, by Daniel Halperin and Craig Timberg, 432 pages, Penguin Press, 2012
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Stephen Lewis
ELAPSED TIME: 3 weeks
RATING: Very Good
If you're interested in public health, AIDS, or just want a good bit of knowledge, this book was a really good read. Halperin and Timberg share the history of how AIDS was spread through the world, and offer nuanced strategies to tackle it.
Nuggets from the book:
- AIDS is not a pandemic, but rather multiple epidemics (in that it is spread differently in different contexts).
- It never was as bad as UNAIDS made it out to be... that 25% of Botswanans have HIV doesn't mean that it will spread the world at that pace. And in fact, will hardly travel through Africa at that pace.
- That it is not as bad as it could have been doesn't mean that it isn't a deadly disease that must be tackled with the best the world has to offer.
- A single solution isn't going to work in every context. Circumcision is an effective tool to stop the transmission between heterosexual partners, but will do little to reduce the spread between homosexual males who will have tearing causing increased exchange of fluids during anal sex.
- In contexts where potable water is in short supply, a mother with HIV is better off offering her child breast-milk (and the risk of HIV spread) rather than the much higher risk of losing her child to diarrhea caused by dirty water.
A worthwhile read!
WHY I PICKED IT: Recommended by Stephen Lewis
ELAPSED TIME: 3 weeks
RATING: Very Good
If you're interested in public health, AIDS, or just want a good bit of knowledge, this book was a really good read. Halperin and Timberg share the history of how AIDS was spread through the world, and offer nuanced strategies to tackle it.
Nuggets from the book:
- AIDS is not a pandemic, but rather multiple epidemics (in that it is spread differently in different contexts).
- It never was as bad as UNAIDS made it out to be... that 25% of Botswanans have HIV doesn't mean that it will spread the world at that pace. And in fact, will hardly travel through Africa at that pace.
- That it is not as bad as it could have been doesn't mean that it isn't a deadly disease that must be tackled with the best the world has to offer.
- A single solution isn't going to work in every context. Circumcision is an effective tool to stop the transmission between heterosexual partners, but will do little to reduce the spread between homosexual males who will have tearing causing increased exchange of fluids during anal sex.
- In contexts where potable water is in short supply, a mother with HIV is better off offering her child breast-milk (and the risk of HIV spread) rather than the much higher risk of losing her child to diarrhea caused by dirty water.
A worthwhile read!
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