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A
the zookeeper's wife
diane ackerman
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| This extraordinary story combines Ackerman's lovely talent for writing about nature and the amazing tale of the Jan and Antoinia Zabinski, who were running the Warsaw Zoo during WWII, where they helped hide hundreds of Jews fleeing the city. Ackerman uncovered many stories about the Underground resistance in Warsaw and describes many other courageous people in addition to the Zabinskis. She also writes about the Germans desire for not only cleansing the human race but also animal populations as well. The Zabinskis used ingenuity to feed themselves and those they hid in empty animal cages and in their home. At one point, the zoo was destined to be "decomissioned" but Jan persuades those in charge that it should be turned into a pig farm to supply the German troops with fresh meat (some of the meat was detoured to resistance forces and poisoned before being sent to German dining halls). There are harrowing moments for the Zabinskis but they preservered to help humankind because, as Jan put it, "it was the right thing to do." |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
January 2008 [link] |
recommend
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open: an autobiography
andre agassi
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| After reading and hearing good things about this sports autobiography, I cracked it open with much enthusiasm even though the cover photo looked like a headshot from a character in A Chorus Line. I soon learned in this fast read that image is not everything as Agassi presented himself, his receeding hairline, and his hatred of tennis with humor and grace. What do you do when the thing that you are the most talented at is also the thing you hate the most? Can you really hate it or can you just learn to live with yourself and it? Andre Agassi has written a book with a lot of balls and a lot of love. |
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reviewed by: jen |
June 2010 [link] |
recommend
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brothel: mustang ranch and its women
alexa albert
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After years of badgering the owner of the Mustang Ranch, Alexa Albert is finally granted permission to visit the Ranch and conduct a study for her public health degree. She wants to research why the instances of STDs and HIV are so low in brothels. Not only does she interview prostitutes and pay them for their used condoms (eww!), she gets to live at the brothel (awesome!) The interviews and dinner table discussions provide us all the nitty gritty we could want about a brothel. Alexa is actually invited into a room with "Baby" to watch her "party" with a client - a disturbing but necessary addition to the ride. We also meet some of the clients -one guy visits five times a week! The author also includes historical and political information on brothels and is there when the IRS eventually closes the brothel down. While the book left me with much to think about, I'm still not sure why women sell their bodies. I now know far more about sexual fetishes than I thought possible - I probably could've lived my life just fine not knowing what a "load licker" was but, somehow, I feel enriched.
This book is available in paperback and may not be at your public library - I found it at the university library because it's considered a "sociology book". Also, you probably don't want to read it in front of your granny since the word "BROTHEL" is emblazoned across the front and spine. Read an excerpt at Amazon. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2002 [link] |
recommend
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the $64 tomato: how one man nearly lost his sanity, spent a fortune, and endured an existential crisis in the quest for the perfect garden
william alexander
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| In this funny and thoughtful compilation of essays written about his family's move to an old farmstead in the Hudson Valley, William Alexander sets out to turn his yard into a mini-farm land only to find that it's hard, demanding work. At times, his fruits and veggies are snatch up by wild animals in the blink of an eye, leading Alexander to resort to guerilla tactics. His wish for organic produce is shattered when he realizes that organic produce is ugly and the bugs eat up the organic produce leaving nothing for his family. In the end, after many lessons learned, Alexander tallies up costs of yard construction, garden tools and supplies, costs of seeds and the work involved and figures that one heirloom tomato costs him $64. The local farm stand is looking mighty good right about now. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2009 [link] |
recommend
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bastard out of carolina
dorothy allison
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| Published in 1992 to much critical acclaim, BOOC was turned into a movie directed by Anjelica Houston. The classic story of good women marrying bad men, the ending of this book made my heartache and it still haunts me. Set in Greenville, SC and told from the point of view of a pre-teen girl nicknamed "Bone", we follow her and her mother through the death of one husband and the marriage to another. If you aren't already depressed, read this one. It'll do it for you. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2004 [link] |
recommend 3 thumbs up
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candyfreak: a journey through the chocolate underbelly of america
steve almond
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| Steve Almond's book answers the oft thought question- where does candy come from? As he leads us through the factories of the few independent candy makers left in America we also learn the answer to- where has all the candy gone? The "big 3" manufacturers have strong-armed the little man off the shelves of our the candy aisles but there are those out there who keep on producing the goods in spite of their lack of distribution because there are those out there--like me-- who keep on devouring. This is a very satisfying read. |
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reviewed by: rachel |
May 2004 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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rachel papers, the
martin amis
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| I've tried reading Amis a time or two. He never really has struck a chord with me, but I do recognize that he must be a very talented writer. This book was good in that it was set in beloved England and involved a budding love relationship. I thought the woo-ing scenes were fabulous. I liked that he loved her even though he didn't know her very well. There is a lot of meat in this book (details not cooked flesh). The one thing I still glean from it is as he was woo-ing Rachel, he picked a mid-Beatles album (Revolver) reasoning that only an unworthy nut would not like it. (Which is ironic as the only Rachel I know doesn't like any Beatles be it middle, early, or late.) |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2000 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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jackie ater jack
christopher anderson
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| Trust me. The first chapter is worth the price of admission alone. That said, the first chapter is all I've read, but good biographies can be so good, and this book appears to be just that. I'll give you a hint: Jackie Kennedy lovingly held (by instinct apparently) a piece of JFK's brain until they got to the hospital. And that's just a teaser. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
January 2002 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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with a tangled skein
piers anthony
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| I came to this author by way of my new love of personality testing (I’m an INFJ and a 4). This author was listed as the same type of personality as me, and as I’m always on the lookout for new things to read, I looked him up. He was a fantasy author who had about two shelves of books. I sighed as I’m a sucker for fantasy and still have a lingering fear that reading it makes me a sci-fi geek (but as I’m a personality type four, I am fear based). I chose this book because it didn’t say "Fourth in the Dangor series" or "Dragon/Unicorn’s Plight". This book was really really good. It may be because I had such low expectations, but I truly enjoyed this thinly veiled fictionalized view on fate, spirituality, and unity of life. It wasn’t pure perfection. The human relationships were a bit sketchy and anesthetic, but the imagination displayed was great. The book deals with a beautiful but average woman who falls in love and gets more than a happy/lovey life. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
October 2000 [link] |
recommend
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on a pale horse (incarnations of immortality, bk. 1)
piers anthony
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| I'm sorry that I'm on a fantasy kick lately. I know that it annoys many people. I DO remember someone saying though that the smartest people read fantasy, so ALL RIGHT. This was a book that was in the same "realm" as the other Piers Anthony book I read: "Tangled Skein". I wouldn't say it was a better book, but it's subject matter was more philosophical than the last book. The novelty had worn off though, and I knew all the precepts for the fates and stuff. This book dealt with death and one's connection to a large whole. I'll probably read the other book about the Keeper of Time, and then not read a Piers Anthony book again. He's nice and all, but the themes are much more important than the characters in these books, and I much prefer to fall in love with the world AND the characters. I'm missing my Richard Jury and Inspector Wexford (I've read all the books in their series.) Ahhh I'm an anglophile at heart. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
November 2000 [link] |
recommend
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seventeen widows of san souci
charlotte armstrong
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| One of my theories is that there is absolutely NO WAY that every book worth reading is either a classic or a new book. I'm always wondering about all the silent majority of books on the shelf in the library that were written in the 30's, 40's, etc that are for sure not going to be mentioned on Amazon.com or reviewed. There must be many many worthy and amazing books that didn't have a marketing machine behind them and fell to obscurity and now serve to beef up the circulation numbers at libraries). I have no idea if anyone in all the world shares my nostalgic heart. I revere old movies and old times. But more than that, I'm nostalgic even for my lover's lost college life - that time when worries were nothing (in hindsight). I'm also beginning to pay more attention to old people - as I think perhaps they might have some insight into why we roam this earth. One of my favorite quotes from this book is something like: "she hadn't realized yet that she too would grow old. She still thought she owned youth and it was a creation entirely of her own" . Anyhoo, this book isn't Milan Kundera or anything, but I was fascinated by it as a historical document (readers will start rushing to it now) and slight ruminations on attitude. The women in this book all live in a furnished hotel. They are all widows and are just plowing on through life- not defined by a man. The main character is 51 and is just waiting to die and trying to even remember who she was before she married - back when she was a young boheme. It's all so very Zen and relative. (Sans Souci means without care). |
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reviewed by: kristen |
November 2000 [link] |
recommend
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thirteen reasons why
jay asher
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| This young adult book has been making the popular rounds and it's an intriguing read. Hannah Baker, a junior in high school, kills herself; before she does, she makes a series of cassette tapes detailing the reasons why she came to this decision – thirteen people related to several different events. Clay Jensen gets the tapes and we experience the tapes along with him as he follows a map to relevant places mentioned in the tapes throughout town. It's a chilling reminder of how fragile – and cruel – teens can be. My one complaint is that some of the thoughts and dialogue are like nothing I ever remember from high school. I kept having to remind myself that they were in high school and not older but, times have changed and possibly I'm being naïve as to what kids are experiencing these days. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2009 [link] |
recommend
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i was a really good mom before i had kids: reinventing modern motherhood
trisha ashworth
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| This book was also authored by Amy Nobile and basically, the two mothers talked to 100 other moms to get an idea of what modern motherhood is REALLY like. Not the "Oh-it's-so-great-I-want-ten-more-kids" playground talk but real life things like "Once while I sauteeing onions, my baby ate 6 crayons before I noticed". Not filled with anything ground-breaking, the authors advise parents to reevaluate expectations, not worry about what the "other" parents are doing and to basically, chill out. There are lots of funny quotes from interviewees such as the women who said "A boner in the back is not foreplay" (I seriously laughed for three days) and the women who said her husband will say "Why don't you go take a shower, hon. You deserve it" and she responds by saying "Taking a crap is not a luxury, it's a neccessity!". |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
January 2008 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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the handmaid's tale
margaret atwood
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As I am one left out of most social circles, IE, life, I didn't know anything about this book at all until I read Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake," which apparently came out like twenty years after this one did.
"Oryx and Crake" was great, but that's not what this book review is about.
However, there are many thematic elements that are similar between the two. "The Handmaid's Tale" takes place in the very-soon future, I would guess maybe a few years from now. In this alternate-future, a civil war has caused the government as we know it to be replaced by a militaristic dictatorship that exploits women at all levels of society.
The book is told from the point of view of Offred, a Handmaid, belonging to one of the social castes that has the responsibility of reproducing children for the leaders of the new world.
You can think of this book as a kindof feminist "1984." Just as 1984 did, the story of Offred's life serves as a warning for the possible future we face if psycho Christians are allowed to run around unchecked.
All in all it was a fantastic and, clocking in at only 395 pages (small, paperback), a quick read. Highly recommended. |
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reviewed by: frost |
November 2004 [link] |
recommend 5 thumbs up
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foreskin's lament
shalom auslander
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A book of essays on being an ex-orthodox Jew whose ever present fear of God has become a personal, cuss word-filled growling match with the almighty.
The first chapter of this book had me howling and nudging Chris to let me read it to him (he said no: I want to read it on my own, OK? I am doing the crossword now).
The second chapter was pretty great, but as I made my way through the book (note, I did not say "sailed on waves of laughter" but "made my way") it felt thematically overworked.
There were still some great moments and the essay on circumcision made me cackle knowingly, but I think I would recommend borrowing this and skipping the chapters that don't grab you by the knedelach.
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reviewed by: adina |
January 2008 [link] |
recommend
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i thought my father was god
paul auster
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(Paul Auster (Introduction), Nelly Reifler (Editor), National Story Project)
I can’t figure out what to list in the author field for this – I keep thinking that I should go with the common music one “Various Artists”. This book, from a practical point of view, is the perfect bedside table book because it’s made up of short stories – the longest ones running 4 pages. Perfect for our attention deficit disorder society.
Enough silliness, this is a wonderful collection of stories compiled by Nelly Reifler and the National Story Project and organized by subject matter (animals, dreams, death, etc). Uplifting, sad, disturbing, funny – the contrast can sometimes be a bit much, but still a great collection of a great collection of musings that can be read all at once or here and there.
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reviewed by: rich |
August 2002 [link] |
recommend 3 thumbs up
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our band could be your life: scenes from the american indie underground, 1981-1991
michael azerrad
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The decade covered in this book was a fine time in the whole indie/punk rock scene here in the USA, and Azzerad documents the heck out of the scene with interviews from all the influential people involved. A great introduction (or refresher course) to a scene that laid the groundwork for the ‘alternative’ music explosion in the 90’s. I personally found it interesting how a few core people kept weaving in and out of different scenes at different times throughout the book.
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reviewed by: rich |
March 2003 [link] |
recommend
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