All About Those Books

My youngest son, Nicholas, loves "All About That Bass,' that contagiously catchy, retro-inspired pop song. "All About That Bass" has been accused of "skinny shaming"

("I'm bringing booty back; go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that...") 

and encouraging women to feel validated by what a man thinks

("Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase and all the right junk in all the right places...my mama she told me don't worry about your size...
she says boys like a little more booty to hold at night"). 

I'm not too concerned about the "skinny shaming," because there's just no comparison to the fat shaming that overweight people experience. But I don't like the word "bitches." I've clearly explained to my kids that they are never to use that word...I don't like the way it's become so commonly accepted in popular culture (thanks, Breaking Bad).

I'm glad to report that I've found a better alternative to the original song, and it's "All About Those Books," by Mary Ellen and the Readers! It's produced by Mount Desert Island High School in Maine. Enjoy! I'm glad to report that I've found a better alternative to the original song, and it's "All About Those Books," by Mary Ellen and the Readers! It's produced by Mount Desert Island High School in Maine. Enjoy! 

The Book Thief

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

I read this for our May book group selection, and I loved it. I have been aware of this book for many years, and in fact we gave it to our friends' teenage daughter one Christmas. But it wasn't until one of our book group members highly recommended it AND both my sister and my husband read it for their book groups and also loved it, that I finally dug in.

It's the story of Liesel, a German girl living in a small town near Munich during World War II. It's about the Holocaust, of course, but more than anything it's about Liesel and her relationships with others, including a Jewish man who hides in her basement, her foster parents, and her best friend Rudy. This book is unique because it's not directly about the Jewish experience but rather about the Germans. It gives one a different perspective of a German child's experience of the war.

Liesel finds a way to transcend her difficult circumstances (she loses her family of origin) by finding herself in words, through the books she begins stealing. She doesn't steal very many books, but just enough to make her life more interesting.

I loved the way Liesel's foster father teaches her how to read (in the middle of the night), the rough way her foster mother calls everyone a "saumensch" and a "saukerl," the unrequited young love between Liesel and Rudy, the beautiful books Max creates for Liesel and her unconventional friendship with him, the stolen trips to the library of the mayor's wife, and the beautiful way words and music are woven through the book. In the midst of a society full of distrust for books and words, Liesel reads aloud from her books to all of the people gathered in the bomb shelters. My book group friends all liked the narrator being death, and especially found the last page to be beautiful.

This book is undeniably sad, but well written and beautiful at the same time.

What joy to give away free books!

This is a cross-post from Every Day Is a Miracle. Last Monday (a week ago) Mike and I participated in World Book Night 2012.

World Book Night began in the UK in 2011 and spread to the U.S. this year. It's an annual celebration of reading and books. Authors, publishers, distributors, independent booksellers, UPS, printers, and binders collaborate to print and distribute the books, for free, to reluctant readers across the country. This year 25,000 givers distributed 20 copies of a book out of a selection of 30 books (some pictured at left). (We got to make three choices, and if we were lucky, we received one of the books we requested.)

I gave away a book by one of my favorite authors, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. I went to pick up my stack of books at our wonderful local bookstore, Annie Bloom's, where they had a World Book Night Giver Reception complete with sharing of stories, cupcakes, champagne, and door prizes. It was fun, and I met one of my coworkers there. (Kieran was very happy to get my cupcake, while I enjoyed the champagne.) I also picked up an extra (unassigned) box for Mike to distribute: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. (He also helped another friend, laid up, who had signed up to give away The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, by arranging a giveaway at Chris' high school.) 

We decided to distribute the books after school at Kieran's elementary school, along with another parent, Leigh, who was also participating (she was distributing Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, which I recently read for my book group).

Everyone who received a book was very appreciative and grateful. I'm afraid that we were not as successful as we'd hoped at reaching "reluctant" or "light" readers. A couple of self-admitted reluctant readers studied our selection and ended up leaving empty handed, saying that they already had enough books to read. I'm wondering if that was partly because all of our books were serious fiction and perhaps too literary for "light" readers. Now that I look at some of the other possibilities, I realize that our selections probably reflect our high-falutin' fiction preferences--perhaps not as appealing to those light readers. (We chose books that we'd read and loved.) If we'd been distributing The Hunger Games, perhaps even light readers would have been interested. (The Hunger Games was one of the choices, but of course it was the most popular!)

World Book Night is celebrated on April 23 because it's the UNESCO International Day of the Book, chosen in honor of Shakespeare and Cervantes, who both died on April 23, 1616. (It is also the anniversary of Shakespeare's birthday.) In the Catalan region of Spain, the day is celebrated by giving a book and a flower to a loved one.

We had lovely sunny weather for our book giveaway--all of the pale Portlanders were wearing summer clothing!

If you'd like to be a World Book Night giver in 2013, sign up here to stay apprised.

Books come alive in this charming video

Several Facebook friends have posted this, so I had to take a look. Toys aren't the only things that come alive when humans are away! This was filmed in a bookstore in Toronto, Type Books, by a husband and wife who had the idea after organizing their bookshelf. This must have taken HOURS to do!!

House made for books

Check out this house in Japan with walls of bookshelves. So cool! I've always wanted walls of bookshelves...but of course, I try to circulate my books nowadays and I use the library a lot.

This is more my style though...

Or this:

New tiger in town

Sophia Chua-Rubenfeld, elder daughter of the now-famous "tiger mom," whose book I recently read, has become a writer in her own stead. She's started a blog, "New Tiger in Town," and it's fabulous! I love her combination of intelligence, wit, sarcasm, and young spirit. Recently she posted about their recent photo shoot with live tigers for Time magazine. (Amy Chua was recently named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. She's certainly garned a lot of fame and fortune from her recent book, along with the death threats!

I must say I love young Sophie's take on the recent publicity and her defense of her mom and dad...clearly she adores them. I'll be adding it to my blogs to read.

Who knew Trader Joe's had a cookbook?

As I wrote about in my other blog today, on Epiphany the three kings fill our shoes with gifts. These are some of the bookish things they brought today:

Mike's gift--
he loves page-a-day calendars!

Chris' gift--
he loves Uncle John's Bathroom Reader books
and shrieked when he saw this toilet-shaped calendar!

 

Nick's gift--
Brits will know who Noddy is!

Mike's gift--
did you know there was such a thing as a Trader Joe's cookbook?
This is just one of many! Try a search on Amazon.
Now that we know this, I'm determined to search them out!

Kieran's gift--
his recent obsession is Elvis! 



My gift--I loved Three Cups of Tea so I look forward
to reading this one

I already had purchased a calendar for myself, for my office...
I love nuns in unconventional poses!



These are a few of my favorite things...(or books!)

I gave my sister a box of some of my favorite books for Christmas.

Nadine is a busy physician and mom of three active school-aged boys. She rarely has time to read anything beyond her medical journals.

When we were growing up, we both had our noses in books. (I remember a 6-week-long cross-country trip we took with our family...in the days before DVD players!...and we read the entire trip, while my brother just looked out the window.)

Recently she began reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with her sons, and she remarked to me how much she was enjoying it. She said that it made her realize how much she'd missed reading, so she started reading Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth. I've never read Pillars of the Earth, but apparently it's one of my mom's favorite books (which is why my sister was reading it). However, it's 983 pages long (depending on the edition)! I gently suggested that as she tried to get back into reading, she might want to try something a bit shorter and more satisfying than a dense, 983-page book! So I decided to help her along.

I came up with a selection of some of my favorites. They are nearly all by and about women, and many of them about sisters or very close friends (probably why they are my favorites!). This is what she got:

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult: "Gotta love that Jodi Picoult! Another gut-wrenching read that makes you think about what's important to you...and also surprises you at the end. It made me want to spend some quality time with my sister!"

The Glory Cloak by Patricia O'Brien: "I discovered this book because a woman I interviewed for a job in Honolulu brought the book to the interview (to read while she was waiting). I asked her about it, and she recommended it. Then we ended up not hiring her--and she sent me the book with a thank you card--sign of a true book lover. I loved this book! Delicious historical fiction loosely based on the lives of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. A beautiful story of women's friendship in the time of war and trials."

The Girls by Lori Lansens: "Memorable, bittersweet, and beautiful story of a set of conjoined twins. It was a wonderful depiction of sisterhood."

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki: "My new favorite writer! excellent parallel stories of a Japanese-American film maker and a Japanese housewife; explores Japan's fascination with all things American."

Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama: "Beautiful story about silk workers in China. After recently hearing Tsukiyama speak in person, I decided to go back and read her novels in order. This is an excellent first novel, about the lives of women in China working in the silk trade. I loved it! Excellent story of women's friendship."

 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Burrows: "If you enjoy reading letters (the most important criterion, in my mind) and stories about friendship, books, and love winning out over class and creed, you will enjoy The Guernsey Literay and Potato Pie Peel Society." Click the link for a more detailed full review.


Jewel by Bret Lott: I read this before I started writing book reviews...but I remember liking this story of a woman in 1940s Mississippi who gives birth to a child with Down's Syndrome, Brenda Kay, and refuses the suggestions to institutionalize her. I guess Bret Lott is a man, so this is one exception to the all-female authors!

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards: "Very sad, well-written book about a man who makes a split-second bad decision that affects his whole family for a lifetime."

If you were giving a box of books to a returning reader, what would you choose?

Bookworm

I met Lizzi through Goodreads (a social networking site for readers). We have never met in person, but I know I would like her because of the way she views life and the world. A talented photographer and observer of the natural world, Lizzi lives in Arizona, is the mom of an adorable little boy, and writes about her love of books in this post.

I hope someday we can meet in person to share our reflections about books, motherhood, and quality of life.

The Glory Cloak: One of my favorites!

The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton by Patricia O'Brien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I discovered this book because a woman I interviewed for a job in Honolulu brought the book to the interview (to read while she was waiting). I asked her about it, and she recommended it. Then we ended up not hiring her--and she sent me the book with a thank you note--sign of a true book lover!!

I loved this book! Delicious historical fiction loosely based on the lives of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. A beautiful story of women's friendship in the time of war and trials.



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Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey through Bestselling Books

Why We Read What We Read: A Delightfully Opinionated Journey Through Bestselling Books by Lisa Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interesting book about why people are drawn to best-selling fiction and nonfiction. The authors tackle romances, religious and spiritual books (e.g., the Left Behind series and New Age bestsellers), literary fiction, and even The Da Vinci Code! The authors are big fans of The Time Traveler's Wife and Reading Lolita in Tehran, as bestsellers that stand out from the crowd as excellent works.


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The Uncommon Reader: Imagine the queen curling up with a good book!

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A friend lent me this book; otherwise I'm not sure when I would have gotten round to reading it. I'm not generally drawn to short stories or novellas, but this one was worth the effort.

The queen has taken up reading, and her assistants (equerries) are in a panic. She's gone through 10 prime ministers, 6 archbishops of Canterbury, 8 speakers, and 53 Corgis in her 80 years...and up until now, has barely cracked open a book. One day she chases the misbehaved corgis into a traveling library parked on the palace grounds and discovers the wonder of books.

After becoming an avid reader, she realizes how pointless and boring her life is, how boring writers can be in real life, and how she lacks a voice of her own.

I enjoyed this quirky novella and relished the thought of Queen Elizabeth curled up with "A Suitable Boy" or Alice Munro.


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