Two Non-Fiction Books

I seem to be soaking up my Non-Fiction at the momnet, and I even read one which wasn't a memoir!

Normal by Amy Bloom
Eva of The Striped Armchair wrote a fantastic review of this a few weeks back, if it hadn't been for her review I wouldn't ever have thought to read a book like this.
Normal is a collection of essays written by Amy Bloom, I couldn't believe how readable they were, and how interesting.
The first chapter focuses on transexuals, particularly male to female transexuals. It discusses the details and forms of surgery and hormonal treatment available, and boy does it sound painful. Alongside this Amy Bloom speaks to many people who are either in the process of or have had some form of surgery to change their appearance to a person of the opposite gender. As well as the stories of these men Bloom is open with us about the way she is looking at people trying to figure out if they had had a sex change or not.
The second section is about crossdressing men and their wives. She describes the men's need to dress as woman as a compulsion, something they absolutely have to do and have no control of. As she talks to the men they all come across as really conservative, they have socially upstanding jobs like Ministers and Managers, they have families and strong moral values. Many of the wives, presented in the book, don't find out abaout their husbands until way down the line and when they do they feel they have to stay and be supportive.
The third chapter about Hermaphrodites was fair more descriptive of the surgery and didn't have the same level of personal stories in it, as a result I wasn't as interested in this chapter. I had studied hermaphrodites as part of my sociology course in uni so I knew about some of the stuff which was discussed.
Challenges:
World Citizen Challenge
Non-Fiction 5
999 Non-Fiction




Night by Elie Wiesel

I had this on audiobook to listen to, it is one of the 1001 books to read before you die so when I saw the audiobook was part of a bookring I snapped it up.
Night is a memoir about Elie Wiessel experienced in the concentration camps.
As a young boy he is an extremely devout Jew, he visits the synagoge every day and begs a neighbour to educate him about his religion as his father refuses to.
As the war looms the town are warned by a local man of the persecution of the Jewish, but they refuse to listen to him. Snatched away during the night they soon find that his unbelieveable story was all true. 15 year old Elie is seperated from his mother and sister and goes with his father into the male side of the camp. For a long time they are not called to work or moved to other camps because they claim they are unskilled labourers. When they finally get chosen to move to another camp they know that their time is running out.
Elie's father is hospitalised in the final days of the war, begging for hos sons help in his final moments, Elie finds he is unable o help his father, he has to help himself instead.
The book is very short and very powerful, however as I'd read Primo Levi's If This is a Man many years ago I wasn't as shocked by the memoir as I may have been, the story is very similar to that of Levi, and tells of less shocking details in the camps.
Challenges:
World Citizen Challenge
Non-Fiction 5
In Their Shoes
999 (Non Fiction)

My Thoughts: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

This book was doing the blogsphere rounds last year when I signed up to recieve it as part of a bookcrossing bookring, the copy visited many people in many coutries before it arrived here with me, I'll be sending it off to the next person this weekend so it can carry on its travels.

Greg Mortenson was a mountainer who whilst attempting to climb K2 become horribly lost and stranded, he was rescued by his untrained Pakistani carrier and led safely back down the mountain. He stumbled across an tiny village in Baltisan, a place where white men never visited as it was too far off the beaten track. Whilst there Greg was nursed back to health and made to feel welcome by all. He was shocked into admiration when he saw the local boys and girls trying to educate themselves on a patch of land - they had access to a teacher just once a week, the rest of the time they taught each other. Greg, touched by this promised to build the village a school.
Back in America Greg sent out letters asking for the $12,000 he needed to build a school, no replies came back, so he set about working to save the money himself. Luckily a doner was found and Greg ploughed himself into buidling this school, he faced many problems with stolen goods, travel issues, the weather and numerous others.
Greg soon realised that this village was not the only one to need help, his doner created a charity for his as a way that Greg could create schools across the region. Greg's main focus was on educating girls as they had a greater impact on the wealth and wellbeing of a village. He also set up community working areas for women so they could create goods to trade using the skills of their communities.
And his story goes on. It was particularly moving reading about the rebuilding of schools in Afgahnistan after hearing the news of the bombings in Kabul this last few days.

This was an extremely moving book, and very open minded. The issues in Pakistan where highlighted truthfully - the warring between people to gain American help, but also the desperate need to educate these children and the rights of every child to gain an education. I would love to give a copy of this to the disengaged bright kids at school to show them what they are freely given and take for granted, and the worth that others put to it.
If ou haven't read it you should. I'll certainly be getting my own copy and lending it out, and copying sections for use in school.

Challenges:
Non-fiction 5
World Citizen Challenge
Olympic Challenge
In their shoes.

My Thoughts:A Year in Green Tea and Tuk Tuks: My Unlikely Year Creating an Eco Farm in Sri Lanka by Rory Spowers

Sri Lanaka is always one of the top places that I'd just love to visit - if I could ever get the money together - so I love reading about it, rather than another fiction book I thought I'd try some non-fiction.
Rory Spowers is a determined bloke, he travels the world to discover new ways to save the planet and reduce his families carbon footprint. He also reads a stack of books gathering ideas for living without the pollutants of modern life.
As a teenager he walks through Africa and then again through India, knowing that to live the life he wants he will need to live abroad. He and his wife first visit Barbados, a place they consider living until they see the devestation caused by tourism and the Western world. But in Barbados they meet Doc Man, the creator of an eco garden which provides for his family but is also used as an educational tool to teach local children about the local plants and fruits. From this his dream to create an eco farm unfolds.
Rory and his wife and two small children move to Sri Lanka and start searching out a new home and a place to build the eco farm, they consider many enviromental issues in their search for the perfect place. Eventually they discover the '60 acres' an old tea farm which had laid empty for years.
Work then starts to transform this place into a 'bio-versity' a place not only to cultivate local and rare fruits and wildlife, but also a place to teach others about this form of farming. Rory recounts not only the farming of this land and the creation of Samakanda, but also the trials and tribultions with the local people. He is honest about his moods, his families struggles in this new country.
In the middle of his creation the tsunami arrives, impacting on everyone he knows in Sri Lanka and he is quickly involved in working with friends to create new homes for those who lost theres.
This book was a great read, Samakanda is now open to visitors and looks great, he also is a founder of The Web of HopeChallenges:
Non-Fiction 5
World Citizen Challenge
999 (non-fiction)

My Thoughts: The Long Way Down by Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor

Having previously read The Long Way Round where this pair motorbiked from the UK overland to New York I was egar to get this book as soon as it came out, and so I did. A christmas present back in 2007 yet I've only just read it (I haven't read any of the other books I recieved that year or any of the ones I recieved this year - despite wanting to read them all!).
In the Long Way Down the pair motorbike from Scotland, through Europe and then through Africa right o Cape town. The book is told from both of the men's perspectives, each talking about their experiences and emotions of both riding and the sights, history and people that they meet.
Having read this I'm now itching to get out and find out more about Africa, its somewhere I'd love to go and teach for a month or so (China and Canada are on my list too). Its good to read a book that highlights the problems but also presents a positive picture from those haunting images I remember of Ethiopia from my childhood.

Challenges:
Non-fiction 5
999 (tbr pile)

My Thoughts: So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid

I'm trying to push my non-fiction reading by reading stuff which isn't just memoirs, my comfort zone. However I have been pretty unsuccessful as they seem to get pushed to the bottom of the pile, then get returned to the library.
This book is the first of the books I borrowed that are about books or words - I'm studying an English Language course at the moment so this is fairly safe ground for me.
So Many Books is a tiny book with just 146 pages, the premise of the book is based on the fact there is a surplus of books which far exceed demand. Zaid discusses whether publishers should print more titles a year than there are babies born, and what the effect is.
The book discusses supply and demand, publishing costs verses losses and whether a book can be seen as a piece of media, all of which seem quite heavy but you are never lost. The book also touches briefly on the history of printing, which is interesting as my next book is about the publication and printing of the first dictionary.
An easy and interesting little read.
Challenges:
Non-fiction 5
999 (non-fiction)

My Thoughts: 2 for 1

I'm being lazy and posting two reviews in one post - its been a lazy day, only 25 papers marked (I was aiming for 100), I joined a new gym but still haven't popped out to cancel the new one, most of the day has been spent dwindling time away.

I did however finish a book and read a short story.

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby.
This is one of the many Nick Honby article collections that has been doing the rounds on the blogsphere lately so I had to pick it up to see just what all the fuss was about.
Hornby writes each month in Believer magazine about his thoughts on his months reading, along with comments about Arsenal football club (I support their rivals), his children and friendships with other authors.
The articles are generally short, witty and make some interesting comments on reading. However I was shocked that at the end of the collection I hadn't even written down one book title to search out.
I did enjoy the collection but won't be racing out to pick up the next book in the collection for a while yet.
Challenges:
999 (Non Fiction)
Non-Fiction 5


Now for the short story.

'When I Was A Witch' by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
opening line:
"If I had understood the terms of that one-sided contract with Satan the Time of Witching would have lasted longer - you may be sure of that."
The narrator having oe of those bad days where nothing turns out makes a wish. A wish that the horseman she has just witnessed thrashing his horse could feel the pain he inflicted whilst the horse went free from pain. She is a little shocked when she sees the horseman wince and rub his head but thinks nothing of it.
The next day she makes another wish that all the cats which are trapped in the city die peacefully, and that anyone harming a horse is inflicted with an equal amount of pain. She gradually realises that these whimsical wishes are coming true and starts to make more and more wishes.
After exposing the lies in newspapers, making parrots tell the truth to their owners and killing off unhappy dogs Perkins-Gilman gets her narrator to express a wish that she herself was fighting for. She says:
"I thought of all the other women, the real ones, the vast majority, patiently doing the work of servants without even a servants pay - and neglecting the noblest duties of motherhood in favour of house-service; the greatest power on earth, blind, chained, untaught, in a treadmill."

I really enjoyed this story and I'm looking forward to reading more of the works in this collection

My Thought: Mendel's Daughter by Martin Lemelman

Well I haven't posted in a while, I'm in the middle of reading 3 books and listening to 2 audiobooks and not getting anywhere, this is mainly due to revision. I sat my exam yesterday (blah!) so now I can try and catch up with everything I need to read - I have a stack of library books and bookcrossing bookrings that have to be read asap, plus lots of challenges that need tackling.
Today I thought I'd tick a library book off the list, so I started with this Graphic Novel Memoir, which is a subgenre I've discovered in the last year and really enjoyed.

Mendel's Daughter is written and illustrated by Martin Lemelman. When his mother was nearing the end of her life he asked her to talk about her experiences of life as a Jewish person during the war, he recorded her thoughts. He created this graphic novel using those thoughts, his illustrations and family photographs.
The mother's tale is intimate and allows the reader to get a glimse at life at this time. The illustrations are lovingly produced and the use of family photographs is a touching addition. I tried to find some images from the book to share but no luck, you'll just have to go borrow a copy from the library ;)
Challenges:
A-Z (Title)
In Their Shoes 4/4
Orbis Terrarum (Poland) 10/12
999 (Non-Fiction) 33/81
Non-Fiction Five 1/5
Graphic Novel Challenge 7/12

Non - Fiction Five Challenge

Trish's Reading Nook is hosting the Non-Fiction Five challenge this year. Now I wasn't supposed to be joining anymore challenges but I have a stack of non-fiction in my TBR pile that needs to be read so hopefully this will help that.
I'm not creating a list, but the one book that I'm going to make myself read is The Short History of Everything by Bill Bryson. This book is completely different from everything I read which is why it has been lurking on the tbr pile for a good two years. The others will probably be memoirs or travel writing.

My Thoughts: Heavy Words Lightly Thrown, The Reason Behind the Rhyme, Chris Roberts

I'm really not much of a non-fiction reader, I always mean to read more but some how get caught up in fiction books and never make it on to something that is real. This book was brought years ago, back when I was a University, and more than likely brought because it had a cool cover.

The book features a huge mix of nursery rhymes, giving us the history of how the rhyme originated, or the various theories of where the rhyme originated as well as information about different versions of the rhyme in history and in other countries across the world.

I enjoyed the book for the most part, and as the book is written in short chapters -each chapter dedicated to a different rhyme I read it during the ad breaks while watching Big Brother (a reality show in England - not something I should admit to watching!). My only problem was one, that after a while the origins of the tales all merge into one and that my knowledge of history is shockingly poor. I know a little about the Romantic period and World War 1 and 2 and nothing else! I think if I could place the names of the Kings and Queens with the events he was talking about I would have got more from the book, even so I still got a lot from the book.

I loved the language, each nursery rhyme is discussed in a fairly chatty style, almost like you have an interesting mate down the pub talking to you about it. Also the drawings for each rhyme where fantastic, I could only find one example to illustrate but it's a good example.

If you have read this book or blogged about it leave a comment and I'll link your thoughts to the post.

My Thoughts: A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson

My brother has been trying to get me to read Bill Bryson for ages but I always thought that he enjoyed hem because they where written about places he had been to (he's travelled the world twice - I've been to 3 countries outside England!). I tried Byrson's book on Shakespeare, thought it was ok but I didn't learn much as I studied Shakespeare so often I've pretty much got the gist of the little bit of information there is to no about him.

So, when I saw that this was a bookring on Bookcrossing and I could read it just for the price of postage I signed up for it. And I'm so glad I did! I hadn't even heard of the Appalachian Trail that Bryson and his friend hike up across several states of America, I have no interest in hiking (well I hadn't when I started) and I'm not much of a non-fiction fan so it was a great surprise to enjoy this.

Bryson charts his trail, the problems, boredom, his annoyance at fellow hikers alongside an entertaining account of the history and nature of the trail. He writes so well that I felt that I could see the woods surrounding him, feel his frustration at Kratz his fellow hiker and at theAmerican government for not keeping the trail as well preserved as it should be. He comes across as a really interesting guy with a lot to say but with the ability to keep it short and focused.

I will certainly be digging out the copy of The Short History of Nearly Everything that has been lurking on my bookshelves since it got brought.

If you have read this book feel free to comment or leave a link to your own review.

Non Fiction Challenge

I'm joining this challenge in which I have t0 read 5 non fiction books between May 1st to September 30th. You can join or find out more by clicking on the button above.
My preliminary list (subject to change) is:

A Short History of Everythingby Bill Bryson

The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

Balderdash and Piffle by Alex Games.

And I'm going to search out a book on Indian culture hopefully.