Reading for you

Eating pain

The Pain Eater by Beth Goobie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Maddy is raped. That is not a spoiler. It happens in the first page of the book. She is raped by people she knows.

And rather than reach out to anyone, or tell anyone, she buries it inside her.

This is a heart wrenching story.

I would like to say that this book is contemporary and meaningful now, because of the Stanford rape case that is being talked about in the news, but unfortunately, if that rape case had not happened, there would have been another. It is the sad fact that this book will probably be contemporary and m in the new news for a long time to come.

Boys and men should be taught that rape is not sex. Rape is power. And in this case, it was power over Maddy.

The name of the book is the name of the group story that the class writes, about a pain eater, one who eats the pain of others so they don’t have to carry it around with them any more. This second part of the story appears to be unrelated to Maddy’s story, (view spoiler)

Very moving story. The author got us deep, so deep that we could feel Maddy’s pain. I burst into tears I don’t know how many times. The voices are all so real, all so well written. Maddy’s, her friends, her parents, her older sister, everyone. Well done. Really well done.

This should be standard reading for kids in school, as a book to discuss in class, or read on their own. Not sure if it would change their thinking, but it would get them to think a little at least.

Thanks to Netgalley and Second Story Press for making this book available for an honest review. And, let me say, Second Story Press is bringing out some great books lately.

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Life as a refugee

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I was in college, I took an oral history class. I was able to interview people that I thought I knew well, as those that I did not, and I found out quite a lot. One of those was my French teacher who told me how she escaped the Nazi’s during the war, when she was a young girl. She had been my teacher for all four years of French, but she had never mentioned that in class.

I am reminded about this, becasue Thi Bui became the work on this memoir when she was interviewing her parents for an oral history project. But, from there, she was able to get even more of the story, both through research, and continuing to hear the stories.

What strikes me about her story, is how similar it is to other memoirs I have read, about getting displaced, and how you learn to live with it. Not as horrific as Maus, but still with that sense of something missing, and always being ready to flee, because you never know when you have to again. I am currently, at the time of this reading, reading about book about a woman interred in World War II because she was Japanese. She took keeps everything she needs to flee on her at all times. I heave heard stories of those who have had to flee, and how it never leaves you. You are always prepared because you can’t trust the government to protect you.

Well, written, I hope others read it, and it becomes a standard in schools and libraires, because not only does it tell the story of one family, it tells the story of the Vietnam War, which is too recent for older people to know, because they lived through it.

And the last thing, that I thought was profound, was how much starvation there was. Thi’s grandfather defects to the the Viet Kong because they had food, and he was starving.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Civil War and a woman’s life

Tale of a Boon’s Wife by Fartumo Kusow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The author, who also escaped Somalia during the civil war, writes about a woman who marries for love, and outside her tribe. Similar to how the Indian’s had/have a cast system, where you were supposed to marry at your level or above, and never marry an untouchable, so too in Somalia, apparently, to marry a Boon was the worst offense, as they had once been slaves of the upper tribes.

Idil wants to marry for love, despite it meaning that she will lose everything. Not quite a Romeo and Juliet story, but one that shows how rank, especially during a civil war, can mean the matter of life and death.

Very realistic story. Very sad, but I love how determined Idil is. Although when she is fighting with her parents about wanting to marry for love, in the beginning, I thought she was a broken record. Later, that broken record was her loyalty.

Learned a lot, by reading this book. I had to keep looking up information on the civil war in Somalia, and the history.

Plus I stayed up late to finish this book. Truly amazing story. Yes, there were bits that lagged, but not enough to move my rating down

Thanks to Netgalley and Second Story books for making this book available for an honest review.

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The humor in Apartied

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m sure we all miss Jon Stewart, when he left the Daily Show. And I, for one, had never heard of Trevor Noah, when he took over. He has a slightly different sense of humor than Jon did, and it took getting used to.

So when I saw that he had a memoir out, I thought, cool, I can find out more about this man.

And find out I did. This is an amazing memoir, espcially for Americans who have heard of Aprtaid, knew it exisited, knew there was a country called South Afirca, but that was about as much as they knew. Trevor explains it all paitently while laying out his early life before us all.

The title of the book refers to his birth. It was illegal to have mixed race babies, before Apartaid ended, but his mother didn’t give a damn. In fact, he wasn’t a mistake, but a planned child. However, because he was illegal, it was hard for him to be near his mother.

Considered to light to be black and not light enough to be white, he would fit in with what South Africa called “colored” but he wasn’t that either. He was an outsider on all counts. And he explains it all, while pouring out his life to us.

He has some great lines.

People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.” That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.

Great book if youwant to find out more about Trevor. Great book if you want an intersting read that explains Aprataid from someone who lived through it. Great book in general.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review

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Banning books, and burning books

The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When I studied journalism, in college, this was before personal computers became common. There were computers in the work room, where we could enter our stories, but these were before the mouse, and you had to code bolds, and italics, and fun stuff like that. This was before what became known as Desktop Publishing, so all the text were printed out and pasted onto the sheet, and then sent off to the print shop to put together.

I bring this up, because, kids-these-days™ probably think all the discussions about layout and printing and such might seem out of date, and since this book was written in the 90s, it does feel a bit out of date. It was before the Internet had become so big, before Wikipedia, before most of the websites that are out there today. That is why the kids, in this book, have to go to the library to research newspapers. It seems like another world, and yet, it was less then a quarter century ago.

But, while the technology might be old fashioned, the message of this book, is, unfortunately still around, that there is a group of conservatives who feel they have to impose their brand of morality on the rest of the world.

And their version of morality says that teens should not have sex, should not be gay, and should not even know about either sex, or homosexuality, because that will protect them.

I wish I could say the fight is old, and doesn’t happen any more, but it does.

There is a great line in the book, after the majority of parents vote to not offer sex education or “certain” books in the library.

“The opinion of the majority is important,” Mr. Just said. “But the majority must never be allowed to tyrannize the minority–nor must the minority be allowed to tyrannize the majority.”

Great book, though it started a little slow. By the time I got half way through my heart was breaking for the closeted teens, and their fight with the family-values parents.

If you want to read other books with teens, censorship, and “morality” minded parents, I would suggest Americus.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Amazing adoption of time travel in slave times

Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good books make you cry. Great books make you think. Fantastic books stay with you long after you read them, and haunt you with their story. This book, this book has all those factors. If the story is this good in graphic novel form, it makes me feels I should run right out and read the original.

I thought, when I got it, I would flip through a few pages, and then go back to work. Well, 200 something pages later, I had not gone back to work.

Very moving story of a young, black woman from 1976, going back in time to save an ancestor. This happens several time, each time, returning seconds, or hours after she left. She only knows it is happening when she gets dizzy. And the time she is send back to has to be one of the worse times to be black, as she finds herself on a plantation in pre-civil war Maryland. And the ancestor she has to save, is the son of the plantation owner.

Worse, then having to keep saving the white man, is that the woman who would be her great-great-great-something grandmother is black, and wants nothing to do with the son.

And in between, we see a non-whitewashed, so to speak, story of life as a slave. This graphic novel makes this book available to many more people, people who should read it. This should be offered in schools, in libraries, and anywhere people need to read this, and understand the history of the black people in the US. Very sad, very moving, and very compelling.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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Historical novel, done well

Freedom’s Just Another Word by Caroline Stellings
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was a little too young in 1970 when this book takes place, so I don’t remember too well the things that were going on then and I certainly was not a young black woman living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. And yet this novel felt so real so true to the time that once I got past the introduction I was hocked on her voice and her dream of becoming a blues singer

This is the story of how Louisiana meets Janis Joplin and is offered a chance to audition if she can get down to Austin Texas in time.

And you would think that would be enough to the story but this is not a simple road trip, but a journey of thoughts as well as places. The world is changing in 1970, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

I throughly enjoyed this story and felt the author got everything right including Janis Joplin. I highly recommend this book. Well done historical fiction.

Thanks to Netfalley for providing this book for an honest review.

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Historical Canada

Canada Year by Year by Elizabeth MacLeod
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quick, if you are not Canadian, how much Canadian history can you tell me? And you can’t go look up old Kate Beaton’s Hark, A Vigilant cartoons either.

As an American, other than what I have learned from reading Kate Beaton, and reading on my own, I found that I really didn’t have much Canadian history under my belt. And did all you non-Canadian’s know that next year will be the 150th anniversary of their founding?

This is a very assessable little volume. It is not overly preachy, nor does it talk down to you. The author has picked one event per year to highlight, including nobel prize winners, olympic champions, and inventions. Nor does it shy away from issues such as the treatment of the First Nation people. The founding of the Indian act is mentioned, as well as the Residential schools apology. We learn who the first provinces who made up Canada were, as well as that Nunavut is the most recent province formed.

Highly recommended for just about everyone. Written at a middle-school to high school level, with great illustrations.

Thanks to Netgalley and Kids Can Press for making this book available for an honest review.

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Twist on a graphic novel

Ladycastle by Delilah S. Dawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I was growing up, as a young teen, I discovered Star Trek. Now Star Trek, the original series was very American, fighting, and punching people to “win” the day. Lasted, in college, I discovered Doctor Who. Very different. Brains, not brawn was what worked there.

I bring this up because LadyCastle is the Doctor Who to most graphic novels out there. The basic story is that all but one of the men have been eaten by a dragon, and so all the women have to take over the running of the castle, which they actually have been doing while the men were out on quests, so it isn’t all that much different for them.

The one man that remains is an old knight, and he thinks he is going to take over, and tell the women what to do, but they will have none of it. They are more interested in thinking of solutions than fighting. When they are attacked by flaming salamanders, they learn they don’t have to fight them, they can be friends with them. When they are attacked by werewolves, they just have to trap them long enough to make them change back to men, they don’t have to kill them. It is that sort of thing that makes me love this collection of the first five issues of this comic book, collected together.

In a nodd to Barbara Gordon, the librarian is a red-head in a wheel chair.

There are little gems like that through the book. There is a revision of the song of “I wonder what the king is doing tonight” from Camelot. There is a quote from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, revised to say “Listen, strang women lyin’ in ponds, distributing swords i a great basis for a system of government.”

Go seek this one out. The pictures are fun. The story is fun. The dialogue is fun. Thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

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Taking care of chickens

Chicken DIY: 20 Fun-To-Build Projects for Happy and Healthy Chickens by Daniel Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have had chickens for over six years now. I have had hawks eat them. I have had chickens run off and hatch their own brood of chickens, twice. I have had a skunk get into the coop. What I am trying to say is that while I may not be the most experienced person with backyard chickens, I do know what is what with them.

I thought, when reading this book it would be all, been there, done that, have the t-shirt sort of thing, but it was not. I thought I was going to argue with the author when I saw that one of the projects was a chicken sweater, but I quickly got off my high-horse when I saw that she wasn’t going to put it on the chicken longer than to take a picture, because, chickens don’t need sweaters. I thought all the projects would be things that I had done before, but they were not.

Very cool book, with very clean instructions on how to make things for yoru chickens that you didn’t even know you needed to make. Not only that, but reciepies in the last chapter, for when you have buckets of eggs and you can’t eat them fast enough. (There are times when, in the height of the summer I have as many as 9 dozen boxes of eggs.).

There are some cool, unusual projects in here, amongst them, the wading pool (because in the summer chickens need to get their feet cool), the grazing box (because chickens will eat every bit of green to the ground, and this is a way to solve the situation) and a chicken swing.

Some things aren’t really necessary if you have good hens, such a chicken brooder (as the hens are really good at keeping their babies warm), but hey, it is good to know how to make them.

So, this book would be recommended for both people just starting out and people who have had chickens for years, because, you never know what you might learn.

I love a book that teaches me something I didn’t know before.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

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