Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

This book has a good premise that is poorly executed. Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich set out to uncover what it's like to be part of the working class poor in America. With her masters degree and a chunk of "just-in-case" money she goes "undercover," taking jobs that pay only $6 or $7 an hour and writes about how she gets by. The first fourth of the book I was intrigued, but it quickly went down hill.

To start, there is a big difference between pretending to be poor, knowing you will return to your enjoyable life in a few months, than actually being poor. Ehrenreich never actually discusses this discrepancy, nor does she acknowledge the fact that she doesn't struggle with many barriers that actual poor people do. More often than not, there is a reason behind someone's poverty, whether that reason be lack of education, addiction, lack of resources, language barriers, mental disabilities; the list goes on. Ehrenreich never really has a problem finding a job, no matter how low paying, but she doesn't talk about the fact that her ability to speak well, or the fact that she has means to a shower everyday and a dentist anytime she needs, might just have helped her get said job so quickly. There are many people who aren't so lucky.

The book also reeked of haughtiness. Many times Ehrenreich questioned why no one realized she had a masters, or even asked her about it, implying an innate link between education and intelligence; implying that those with no education are not intelligent because you know, she was different from everyone else. She was smarter because she had a higher education and used to eat frisee salads for lunch, you guys. How could no one notice she didn't belong? How could they not figure her out? This attitude of hers got old fast.

Finally, to top it all of, after she tells her coworkers - you know, those people who actually are poor - that SURPRISE, she's really a journalist who will be returning to her comfortable life - she couldn't believe their reaction wasn't greater! Why weren't they floored? Why didn't they worry about more than who would have to cover her shift until they hired someone else? Moreover, she didn't even consider the fact that writing about how hard it is to be poor, from the perspective of a well-off, pretentious individual, might be somewhat offensive to these women who are struggling to get by. It's almost as if she's saying "Sorry your life sucks, but at least it's well articulated in this new book I wrote about you that will be published soon. Peace."

I mean come on! There are so many things wrong with this book.

Publisher: Owl Books, 2001

People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry

"People are afraid of stories like Lucie's, stories about meaningless, brutal, premature death, but most of them cannot own up to their fear. So they take comfort in the certainty of moral judgements, which they brandish like burning branches waved in the night to keep off the wolves."

Farrar, Straus and Giroux is quickly becoming one of my favorite publishers. A chunk of my favorite reads from last year, notably The Submission and The Marriage Plot, were published by FSG. When I signed up for their Work In Progress newsletter, they promised me a review copy of People Who Eat Darkness: The Fate of Lucie Blackman. (Me and the other first 500 people to sign up.) It was my first true crime book I've read and man, was it good. I knew little going into this one and I believe, like most mysteries, that is the best way to go into it, as it heightened my reading experience. I had a hard time putting this one down and I read the first half of the novel in 24 hours. People Who Eat Darkness follows the Lucie Blackman case in which a 21-year-old, thin, blond girl from England moves to Tokyo with a friend, in hopes of to mainge big money, and disappears. The details surround her disappearance suggested she was abducted, but there weren't many details from the start aside from a strange phone call and a mystery man. The author of the book, Richard Llyod Parry, was quite close to this case for its entirety. I didn't feel like there were any holes or questions left unanswered. In fact there were times when I felt there was almost too much detail given, but those instances were few. For over ten years Richard Lloyd Parry followed the case while he earned the trust of Lucie's family and gained countless interviews from those who knew her best.

Lucie was a hostess in Toyko, entertaining men in night clubs for a living. But this role should not be confused with prostitution. A hostess was never expected to preform intercourse with their clients, but rather play toward their fantasies psychologically. One hostess explains:

We were taught three things when we started. How to light our client's cigarettes, how to pour his drinks, and not to put our elbows on the table... Those rules aside, your job was to to fulfill his fantasy. If he wanted you loud, you were loud. If he wanted you intelligent, you were intelligent. If he wanted you horny, you were horny. Sordid? Yes. Degrading? Yes. But one thing it wasn't was the White Salve Trade. The one thing the hostess bars are not about is sex. 

It turns out, this is much more than a true crime book. It's also a lens for what happens behind closed doors in eastern culture, like an anthropological look at the darker, hidden aspects of this culture and their obsession with ritual and role play. For instance the practice of the "water trade" and the long-time tradition of women as a form of entertainment. 

One of the reasons I found this book so interseting is because I learned a lot about the east and how it differs from the west in terms of government, law, and media. Of the handful of times I've traveled abroad, I have never gone further east than Rome, so much of this was new to me. I also felt that I could identify with some of the girls described who traveled to Japan, who had hopes of a more exotic and exciting life. What girl hasn't dreamed of moving to a place that holds such promises? Sadly, it all went down hill pretty quickly for Lucie but just as her family and friends didn't know what happened to her right away, neither does the reader. The crime is unfolded chronologically which really makes for a compelling and fast-paced read. Despite the one night of nightmares I had while reading this book, (yeah, it has happened before) I couldn't be happier this book found its way into my hands.   The horrific crimes inflicted on Lucie Blackman were nothing short of pure evil, and this book will ensure her story isn't forgotten anytime soon.  

Chris Cleave called this book "In Cold Blood for our times." Needless to say, I'm really excited to pick that one up, disturbing as it may be.

People Who Eat Darkness will be published May 7th.

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012

Sugar In My Bowl by Erica Jong

I need a little sugar in my bowl,

I need a little hot dog, on my roll

I can stand a bit of lovin', oh so bad,

I feel so funny, I feel so sad

-Bessie Smith

Here is the thing about a collection of essays, I know not every piece in the book is going to be stellar. Some will be mediocre, a few might be flat out bad, but the hope is that there will be enough good ones to hold the reader's interest. I've got to say Sugar in My Bowl did not deliver enough essays to keep me very interested. I'll admit, about halfway through the book I began to skim and even skip essays that didn't grab my interest in the first couple of pages. I decided life is too short to read vanilla. I should mention that this collection also included short stories, one graphic novel and a trialogue. Some of these pieces of fiction resembled erotica rather than the real women and real sex I was told I'd be reading about. These bits really didn't do it for me. Compared to the essays they felt, surprise surprise, less authentic and somewhat campy.

The lack of diversity was also disappointing. When "real women" talk about "real sex" I want variety. However, each story related was told from the viewpoint of a straight woman. The focus of each story was heterosexual sex. It would have been nice to have a bisexual, lesbian, or transgender viewpoint in an essay or two. Let's be real, this is the 21st century and diversity keeps it interesting. There were two bisexual women who wrote stories for the collection, but their stories didn't reflect their bisexual viewpoint and instead focused on male and female relationships. If I hadn't googled the contributors, I would have never known. Moreover, there was very little diversity in terms of race and ethnicity of authors.

With all that said, I do want to highlight the portions of the book I did enjoy. My favorite piece is entitled "The Diddler" by J.A.K. Andres, in which she discusses her young daughter's tenancy to, well, diddle herself. It's fresh, well-written, and laugh-out-loud funny. I also enjoyed "Cramming It All In: A Satire" by Susan Kingsloving and "My First Time, Twice" by Ariel Levy. I did liked that the general concept of the book is unique to the publishing world and while there were bits worth reading, as a whole this book left me uninspired.


Publisher: Ecco Press, 2011

Night by Elie Wiesel

"Never shall I forget that night, that first night in camp, which turned my life into one long night..."

This is a hard book to review because of its sheer power and emotional impact it had on me. When it comes to non-fiction that is this harrowing, I question how justified I am in critiquing it at all. Short answer: I'm not. Instead I'll express the facts. Night is one man's story of his experiences in concentration camps during World War II. Elie Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968 for his "message of peace and commitment to embrace all repressed peoples and races." Sharing his experience in WWII concentration camps was Wiesel's first step in his call for peace and tolerance toward Jews and other persecuted religious and racial groups.

The title "Night" works on a few different levels. Most simply, it's a metaphor for the sense of darkness that permeated Nazi controlled Europe, signifying the idea that the days felt like night because of the gloom and despair that continuously pervaded day to day life. There was also a reoccurring theme of disappearing into the night, being taken from the places you once called home without a trace. The novel reads like fiction, communicating the horrific cruelty that the human race is capable of and the incredible instinct to survive in a nearly hopeless situation.

Night. No one was praying for the night to pass quickly. The stars were but sparks of the immense conflagration that was consuming us. Were this conflagration to be extinguished one day, nothing would be left in the sky but extinct stars and unseeing eyes.

Needless to say, Night does not end on a hopeful note. Wiesel states, "One day when I was able to get up, I decided to look at myself in the mirror on the opposite wall. I had not seen myself since the ghetto. From the depths of the mirror a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed me never left me." This was a tough book to read; its an intensely disturbing account of torture and trauma, physically and mentally. I was thankful it was on the shorter side because I honestly don't know that I could handle a 300-plus page novel so intense. Wiesel's followup to the book, Dawn, was published in 1960. I can only hope (and loosely assume based on its title) that he was able to begin to cope with the horrific experiences he endured.

I read this for the classics challenge, fulfilling a classic literature in translation.

Publisher: Hill and Wang, 1955

The Western Lit Survival Kit by Sandra Newman

In The Western Lit Survivial Kit, author Sandra Newman seeks to shed a new light on the classics to prove they are less intimidating and more readable than you think. She argues that reading literature should be "emotionally satisfying, intellectually thrilling, and just plain fun." By providing a humorous guide that covers nearly every important work in the Western literary canon, Newman resurrects the classics you forgot you read in college and helps you remember why you studied them in the first place. Starting with classical literature, the Greeks and the Romans, and covering everything through the 20th century, Newman deconstructs the plots of important authors into concise summaries, so even if you never got around to reading Chaucer's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, at least you've got a basic knowledge of its plot. 

What is great about this book is that it makes for a great refresher if it has been awhile since your undergraduate lit survey classe (as it has been for me). I feel like I have brushed up on many of the movements, their key players and what made each so significant. The book can also work as an introduction to the history of the classics and would certainly make a good supplement to any related courses. I know the chapter on Shakespeare would have helped me greatly in my Shakespearean Drama class, where we read a play a week for 15 weeks. When studying for my final, it was hard for me to keep all the historical plays in order. While this isn't the end all be all book when it comes to western lit, it certainly helps clarify some of the fuzziness. 

This book treats Western lit like an amusement park. It offers a guide to the rides, suggesting which ones are fun for all ages, which are impossibly dull for all ages, and which might take a lot out of you but offer an experience you simply can't get anywhere else.

What I found especially helpful about this book is it's rating system. Newman conveniently rates each work by each author she cites by it's importance, accessibility and fun, making it easy to weed through the lesser important works in favor for the ones that are more worth your while. The book as a whole has motivated to tackle more classics. While their may not be any new information or profound opinions included in this guide, and though it's likely you'll roll your eyes at some of her jokes, Newman's fresh take on the classics is sure to inspire a non-classic reader to take a look at the works that set the precedent for future literature. 

I was provided a copy of this book by TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.

Publisher: Gotham Books, 2012

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut

A Man Without A Country is a collection of essays, speeches and drawings in which Vonnegut reflects on politics, religion, art, and human nature. It was the last book that was published before Vonnegut's death in April of 2007. The collection is a delight to read; though a bit disjointed, overall it's funny and incredibly sincere, it's moralistic, and at times biting. Vonnegut discusses war, the bombing of Dresden and how it lead to his classic Slaughterhouse-Five, he examines the coincidence and hopelessness of life, our less-then-ideal government, the bleak state of the environment, and how he feels helpless in a world where most of us focus on the now, rather than the state of the future.

I don't think people give a damn whether the planet goes on or not. It seems to me as if everyone is living as members of Alcoholics Anonymous do, day by day. And a few more days will be enough. I know of very few people who are dreaming of a world for their grandchildren.

Despite the fact that Vonnegut was painted as a bitter, angry old man in his most recent biography, from these essays it seems to me that while he was disillusioned with the state of America and society as a whole, he did maintain a certain faith in people and the good of which they are capable. Moreover, Vonnegut stresses the importance of acting in kindness and advises to pay attention to moments of happiness, lest they should pass you by wasted and unnoticed. It's a simple piece of advice that is overlooked by many. It's also a testament that while Vonnegut was cynical and pessimistic about a lot of things, he truly took the time to appreciate his happiness what was good in his life.

I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur of think at some point, "if this isn't nice, i don't know what is."

I think part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because I happen to agree with its outlook and politics. The essays are meandering, but it works. If you're a fan of Vonnegut's novels but haven't read any of his essays, I urge you to read this book.

Other opinions:
The Avid Reader's Musings
Things Mean A Lot

Publisher: Seven Stories Press, 2005

Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi

"I wanted to write a book that would help correct Western stereotypes of Islam, especially the image of Muslim women as docile, forlorn creatures."

I've long been interested in Middle Eastern perspectives on the West, Western perspectives on the Middle East and the Muslim experience. I think it started with Persepolis and grew from there. In any case, I think it's important to learn about, or at least expose oneself to the ideas of Middle Eastern culture, history - modern and otherwise - and religion. With that in mind I picked up Shirin Ebadi's Iran Awakening; One Women's Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country.

Ebadi won the Nobel Prize in 2003 "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children." Iran Awakening is Ebadi's memoir, with a focus on her struggles with political prosecution during the Iranian Revolution. Ebadi's persepctive is a unique one; she grew up in Tehran and prior to the Islamic Revolution, became the first female judge in Iran. Four years later, as a result of the 1979 Isalmic Revolution, Iran's view of women changed and Ebadi was demoted to a clerk and eventually "retired" early. Ebadi stayed in Iran as she watched her many of her friends flee. She managed to eventually earn herself a professional and political role in the emerging theocracy and worked to promote equality and human rights, going above and beyond to help and defend those in need.

Iran Awakening is less a political or historical memoir and more an account of one women's struggles and ability to overcome persecution. Ebadi's prose is smart and fluid, welcoming and eloquent. Her story is one of brutality and triumph, of faith and hardship.

When the gravity of death first touched me, I'd found preoccupation with the minutiae of daily life meaningless. If we ultimately die, and turn to dust in the ground, should it ever truly upset us if the floor hasn't been swept quite recently enough?

Edabi's story speaks to the power of one voice to make a difference. While Ebadi hopes for a free and democratic future for Iran, she still speaks of her country with loyalty and admiration. If you are interested to learn more about Iran's modern history and its struggle for democracy and equality from a unique and relevant perspective, I urge you to read this book.

Publisher: Random House, 2006

Book Lust by Nancy Pearl

Back in May Thomas at My Porch had a Book Lust Giveaway - to my elation I won and received Book Lust in the mail the following week. I've been reading through it casually for the last couple of weeks, noting titles to add to my TBR.

Nancy Pearl is a reading rock star. She has worked as a librarian and bookseller, is a regular commentator on NPR, won the Women's National Book Association Award and exudes an unmistakable enthusiasm for books. In Book Lust: Recommended Reading For Every Mood, Moment and Reason, Pearl breaks down her recommendations by category, making it easy to peruse based on one's literary taste. Such lists include grit lit, les crimes noir, first novels, food for thought, Russian heavies and New York, New York. She features a nice variety of both fiction and non-fiction topics.

What I like best about this book is that it will remain a reference point for me when I want to step out of my reading comfort zone and try something new. I especially will use when I am in the mood for non-fiction, as I don't often get non-fiction recommendations. Thanks again Thomas for this great book. I will continue to go back to it for recommended reading.

Publisher: Sasquatch Books, 2003

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

So this is supposed to be about the how, the when, and the why, and what of reading - about the way that, when reading is going well, one book leads to another and to another, a paper trail of theme and meaning; and how, when it's going badly, when books don't stick or take; when your mood and the mood of the book are fighting like cats, you'd rather do anything but attempt the next paragraph, or reread the last one for the tenth time.

The Polysyllabic Spree is an account of the books Nick Hornby buys and reads over the course of a year. It's made up of a collection of essays he wrote for The Believer in which he chornicles his literary andventures month by month. Even though Nick Hornby reads some serious stuff, he doesn't take it too seriously in this column. He writes about books in a way that makes me:

a. happy I'm an avid reader

b. want to read more books
c. wish he never ended this column

The Polysyllabic Spree is hilarious as well as dignified. He writes about books and the act of reading with such heart and humor. I can't help but think the majority of bibliophiles are quite similar because this book is me; someone who struggles to keep up with their reading appetite, continuously buying books faster than she can read them. This is also Nick Hornby. Nick Hornby and I are the same person (not really at all - he's far more interesting and funny than I'll ever be).

Books are, lets face it, better than everything else. If we played Cultural Fantasy Boxing League, and made books go fifteen rounds in the ring against the best of any other art form had to offer, then books would win pretty much every time... Even if you love movies and music as much as you do books, it's still, in any given four week period, way, way more likey you'll find a great book you haven't read than a great movie you haven't seen, or a great album you haven't heard.

There are so many bookish truths in this collection of essays I could offer you 25 passages that are equal parts awesomeness, but instead I'm just going to tell you to read this book. It's that good. Just be prepared for your TBR list to grow.

Publisher: Believer Books, 2004

84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff

"If you happen to pass 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me? I owe it so much."

I can't remember where I first heard about this book, but it seems to be making the rounds. It's a delightful little read that consists of a collection of letters between Helene Hanff and and Mark Doel, a book buyer for Marks & Co. in London. The letters span 20 years starting in 1949 and offer a glimpse into post-war England and a timeless love for books.

I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins, I like the comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading passages some one long gone has called my attention to.

84, Charing Cross Road speaks to the love of books and the connections readers make with one other as a result. It's an account of bibliophilia at its finest. If you enjoy books about books, I highly recommended this charming little number. The fact that it's non-fiction and this correspondence actually took place makes it all the more worth while.

Publisher: Avon, 1970

A Room of One's Own by Viriginia Woolf

and I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse perhaps to be locked in...

Virginia Woolf died 60 years ago today, which coincidentally fell on the same day of my review of her extended essay A Room of One's Own. The essay explores women and writing; if women were offered the same opportunities as men could they write in equal quality? Were financial limitations the only thing that held them back? And if so, why are men offered more opportunity than women?

Woolf explores these questions and their implications and then goes on to encourage an integrated humanity, one where writers (women and men alike) can write without any hindrances. The title of the work comes from Woolf's assertion that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."

Overall I found the book to be a little dry, but full of interesting ideas. If you are interested in women and writing, this text is a must-read. But it's more than that. A Room of One's Own explores the relationship between gender and socioeconomics throughout history and ends on a hopeful note. These essays are based on a series of lectures that Woolf gave to women's colleges at Cambridge University. What a lucky group of students.

Publisher: Harcourt, 1929

To read or not to read: Eating Animals

I really like Jonathan Safran Foer. I absolutely loved Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and I very much enjoyed Everything is Illuminated. I am interested in reading his non-fiction work Eating Animals, but I am hesitant to do so.

In my second year of college I took a contemporary moral issues philosophy course and one of the moral issues we covered was animal rights. I had to watch a horrific video made by PETA that detailed the cruel conditions associated with the meat market in the US (for those of you interested it's called Meet Your Meat). After I watched that video I didn't touch a piece of meat for three years.

After the sting wore off I began eating meat again. I've never been a big meat eater - I typically avoid red meat and eat poultry in moderation - but I do enjoy the option. Being a veggie was hard - not for me but for the people in my life. I always felt like a burden going to a friend or relative's house for dinner. Splitting appetizers while eating out didn't work out well for me, as the vegetarian apps were generally less appealing to my carnivorous friends. All in all, I felt like a liability whenever I ate with people.

I'm 95% certain that if I read this book I will go back to being a veggie, as it details the ethical issues involved with eating animals. I don't want to be an uninformed eater (which I don't think I am, especially after reading Skinny Bitch a few years back - a Nazi diet book whose agenda is to make you a vegan), but on the other hand - pardon the cliché - ignorance is bliss. Revisiting these horrendous topics will undoubtedly upset me and propel me into an indefinite state of vegetarianism and I'm just not sure I'm reading to do that again. So, to read, or not to read?

Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz

I can't wait to get a dog. I love dogs. I love puppies. I've wanted a dog for as long as I can remember. My mom was allergic to dogs growing up, so I never had a dog to call my own. Now that I'm older I plan on getting a dog for myself - an English bulldog to be exact - but I am waiting until I'm not working full-time so the pup doesn't have to be alone eight hours a day. Until then, I will read about dogs so I am prepared to welcome a canine into my world.

I found Inside of a Dog an interesting read. It is not a guide to training your dog, but more of a road map to better understand how they think and perceive the world around them. Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains why certain dogs act the way they do and what an owner can learn from their everyday actions. She also examines how a dog perceives certain concepts: time, right vs. wrong, emotions and themselves. I found Inside of a Dog to be a nice starting point to learning about dogs' perceptual and cognitive abilities, but it is by no means a comprehensive volume. If you have any sort of background or experience studying animal behavior I would skip this book, because most of the information it contains will be obvious to you. But it does work well as an introduction to the subject, regardless of its occasional repetition.

Horowitz highlights a few ideas to keep in mind when trying to better understand your dog. First, forget what you think you know about your dog. Secondly, if you want to understand the life of any animal, you need to know what things are meaningful to it and how it acts in reaction to those things.

I enjoyed the anecdotes Horowitz included with every chapter - an instance when her dog, Pump, exemplified an action that Horowitz goes on to examine. I also found the chapter on how a dogs vision works particularly interesting. Not only do they perceive colors differently than humans, but they also have a higher flicker-fusion rate than humans (the number of snapshots of the world that the eye takes in every second). It is for this reason that dogs can actually see a thrown frisbee's or ball's new location a fraction of a second before humans do. Also, when dogs see an image on the tv, the image stream is not fast enough for a dog's vision - they see individual frames and the dark space between them too. In other words, the image on a tv does not look real to a dog.

All in all, this was an interesting read that I am going to push onto my dog-owning friends. It has also made me even more excited for the day when I can bring home my own puppy.

Me and my old friend, Lola

Publisher: Scribner, 2010

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

I may be one of the last people to discover how funny Davis Sedaris is. HILARIOUS. Choke-on-my-soup-laughing-during-lunch hilarious. And I'm not even one of those people who laugh out loud when she reads. Enter David Sedaris.

Me Talk Pretty One Day is a collection of personal essays that detail irreverent instances of Sedaris' life; from coping with a speech impediment, to taking guitar lessons from a midget, to living in France while struggling to speak French:

It got to the point where I'd see a baby in the bakery or grocery store and instinctively ball up my fists, jealous over how easy he had it. I wanted to lie in a French crib and start from scratch, learning the language from the ground floor up. I wanted to be a baby, but instead I just talked like one, a spooky man-child demanding more than his fair share of attention.

Sedaris is so funny because he's clever and he's witty. It's not hit you across the face funny, but goes just far enough without being presumptuous or overwrought. He's got the act of self-deprecation down to an art.

I enjoyed the book from the beginning, however I found part Duex especially funny. It is in this section that he details instances in his adult life, while living in New York City or France, with his partner whom he met when he borrowed his ladder. The stories in part Duex seem to flow a little nicer, creating a more cohesive storyline than the first half.

My very favorite essay in the book is entitled "Today's Specials" details the presumptuous food culture that exists in Manhattan; quarky ingredients in small proportions arranged on a plate to look like art but taste like cardboard:

What I really want is a cigarette, and I'm always searching the menu in the hope that some courageous young chef has finally recognized tobacco as a vegetable.

This is a refreshing little read, and I will continue to go back to Sedaris when I am craving something smart and funny.

Publisher: Little, Brown, 2000

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a well-known activist throughout the Civil Rights movement in the 1960's. She wrote I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. as a way of dealing with his death and to highlight her own personal struggles as an African-American woman. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the first book in a five part autobiography and is considered a milestone for African-American writing. It details Maya Angelou's troublesome childhood in the segregated south during the 1930's.

One of the things that makes Maya Angelou's childhood particularly interesting is that she experienced two different worlds growing up. One living with her grandmother in a segregated community in Stamps, Arkansas, where she remembered "never believing that whites were really real" and a second after she turned 13, when Maya's lived with her mother in San Francisco, a place that quickly became "California's Harlem" when WWI began and the majority of the Asian community left the area and African Americans began to dominate. While the people who surrounded Maya had a great impact on her life, these two places also proved to be influential and ultimately had a great effect on her - changing the way she viewed the world and viewed herself.

In San Francisco, for the first time, I perceived myself as part of something. Not that I identified with the newcomers, nor with the rare Black descendants of native San Franciscans, nor with the whites or even the Asians, but rather with the times and the city.

What I related to the most in Angelou's story was her passion for literature and it's capacity to heal and inspire. Throughout her childhood, Maya Angelou experienced traumatic events that no child should have to endure. However, she coped with her feelings of displacement and uncertainty through literature. Ultimately her reading helped to shape the strong, secure woman she grew to be.

Even though this novel was published in 1969, Angelou's prose feels fresh, employing anecdotes that made me frown in sadness and laugh out loud.

Ever since [my brother and I] read The Fall of the House of Usher we had made a pact that neither of us would allow the other to be buried unless 'absolutely, positively sure' (his favorite phrase) that the person was dead. I also had to swear that when his soul was sleeping I would never try to wake it, for the shock might make it go to sleep forever.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a story of a young girls evolution of her own identity as an African-American woman

The fact than an adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even billigerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.

It's a book about persistence, perseverance and tolerance. While some instances were hard to stomach, overall I enjoyed the book very much.

Publisher: Virago, 1969

Dreaming of Baghdad by Haifa Zangana

Haifa Zangana was a young woman in Iraq during the Baath regime as led my Saddam Hussein in the 1970's. As an activist who recognized the catastrophic potential of this regime, Zangana became as resister who was eventually captured. Dreaming of Baghdad is the true story of Haifa Zangana's imprisonment and torture in Abu Ghraib.

I was hoping to learn more about the Baath Party and the organized opposition that Haifa Zangana was a part of, but the book focuses on her imprisonment and her memories of growing up in Iran. It is also an account of her struggles with these memories after she is released and her yearning to return to the Baghdad she knew as a young child; a city that had celebrated it's new found freedom from British rule and lauded openness; a city that has changed so dramatically that the place Zangana remembers is one that no longer exists.

On a personal level, writing this book in the 1980's was my way to gain courage to look at the past, record it, examine it's values and mistakes, and to recapture its happy memories. In the process I liberated myself from the pain, sadness, disappointment, shattered dreams and obsession with the past. Writing helped me to return to the present, to celebrate life without fear, and to regain joy and human feeling.

The author notes that Dreaming of Baghdad may be the first published book written by an Iranian woman that details the the experience of imprisonment and struggle against the Baath regime. I think that fact alone should make this a book many people should read.

Publisher: The Feminist Press, 2009

Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I'm typically not one for historical non-fiction. At all. However the title of this book caught my eye and it turned out to be worth the read. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich offers interesting vignettes that detail women in history who were "well-behaved" and therefore overlooked.

Cotton Mather called them "the hidden ones." They never preached or sat in a deacon's bench. Nor did they vote or attend Harvard. Neither, because they were virtuous women, did they question God or the magistrates. They prayed secretly, read the Bible through at least once a year, and went to hear the minister preach even when it snowed. Hoping for an eternal crown, they never asked to be remembered on earth. And they haven't been. Well-behaved women seldom make history.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's argues the women who didn't try to make history but did were the women who changed the face of female possibilites and feminism. Ulrich's goal was to uncover these well-behaved women's history and tell it. This book is well-researched and included clever anecdotes that make the book accessible - even to readers like me who don't often read historical non-fiction. My favorite section was the one entitled "Slaves in the Attic" and detailed the lesser known stories of Harriet Tubman, Harriet Powell and Harriet Jacobs; women who all contributed to 19th century feminism in their own unique way. 

Harriet Tubman, 1869 woodcut

While I did enjoy the book enough, I wouldn't say it was great. I found some sections dull repetitive. The overall message was inspiring, but the delivery lacked a certain punch. As I've mentioned, I haven't read much historical non-fiction that covers women in history, but I can't help but think there is a better book out there on the subject. 

Publisher: Vintage, 2007

The Diving Bell and The Butterfly - Jean-Dominique Bauby

After 43 year old Jean-Dominique suffered massive stroke he was only left with the ability to blink his left eye. He was a victim of "locked-in syndrome" - aware and awake but unable to move or communicate because of complete paralysis. Then he wrote this book, choosing each letter of each word by blinking his eye.

It's a simple enough system. You read off the alphabet until, with a blink of my eye, I stop you at the letter to be noted.

Bauby's alphabet was ordered differently than the traditional a,b,c. Rather, he used an order that began with the most frequently used letter and digressed to end with the least used letter. In French, this begins with e,s,e. The amount of effort that went into writing this memoir makes it even more powerful, poignant and unique.

The title for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (Le Scaphandre et Le Papillon) is an analogy Bauby uses for his condition. "A giant invisible diving bell holds [his] whole body prisoner... and [his] mind takes flight like a butterfly." While parts of this memoir are incredibly heartbreaking, the overall tone is hopeful. It is less a lament of Bauby's paralyzed state and more a celebration of the freedom his conscious mind offers. When reliving favorite moments of his past and creating alternate lives, Bauby uses rich descriptions that captures the power of imagination.

This is one of those books that makes you put your life in perspective and reconsider your priorities, both touching and life-affirming.

Publisher: Vintage, 1997

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach

*Please avoid this review if you are easily disturbed by the idea of corpses and cadavers. As the title suggests, this review will revolve around these subjects. This certainly won't be an exceptionally grotesque or disrespectful review, but to some these subjects may be off-putting.*

This non-fiction book written by Mary Roach literally details "the life" of a human cadavers: the many different things they can be used for, exactly what they under-go and how each process worked historically.  Roach's well-researched book is written in a unique and often humorous tone, which helps to bring a sense of lightness to the heavy subject matter. I was never disturbed or offended while reading the details of this book; rather I was intrigued and fascinated with the odd specifics:

"Before us is a man with a torso greatly distended. It is a circumference I more readily associate with livestock. As for the groin, it is difficult to tell what's going on; insects cover the area, like something he is wearing.  The face is similarly obscured. The larvae look like cooked rice. They live like rice, too, pressed together: a moist, solid entity. If you lower your head to within a foot or two of an infested corpse (and this I truly don't recommend), you can hear them feeding. Arpad pinpoints the sound: "Rice Krispies." Ron frowns. Ron used to like Rice Krispies."

The book is broken into 12 chapters, each chapter exploring a different theme. Two of my favorites were "How to Know If You're Dead: Beating-heart cadavers, live burial, and the scientific search for the soul" and "Beyond The Black Box: When the bodies of the passengers must tell the story of a crash". The footnotes are well worth reading, detailing interesting facts. For instance, every so often an anatamy student will recognize a lab cadaver. A professor at the University of California said he's "had it happen twice in a quarter of a century". Of course these are slim odds, but could you imagine?

A few (of the many) other interesting things I learned while reading this book:

• When embalming fluid is pumped into a cadaver's viens, the body's erectile tissues expands, leaving male cadavers "better endowed in death than they were in life"
• Up until 1965 necrophilia was not a crime in any US state
• Before it was possible to donate your body to science, anatomists would buy cadavers for a sizable sum of money, thus prompting some to create their own corpses by killing people they believed would die soon anyway
• Corpses lose about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit per hour until they reach room temperature
• The brain is an "early-departure" organ, liquefying very quickly after death. It pours out the ears and bubbles out the mouth.

If you are intrigued by this subject matter (as I am) I highly recommend this book. Not only is it very interesting, it is also one of the funniest books I have read in awhile. (Not because of the subject matter, but because of the way Roach approaches it.) It is especially fun to read around this time of year.   


Publisher: Norton, 2003

Easy to be Around

Reading now: Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

I find the dead easier to be around than the dying. They are not in pain, not afraid of death. There are no awkward silences and conversations that dance around the obvious. They aren't scary. The half hour I spent with my mother as a dead person was easier by far than the many hours I spent with her as a live person dying and in pain. Not that I wished her dead. I'm just saying it's easier. Cadavers, once you get used to them - and you do that quite fast - are surprisingly easy to be around.