A bookworm journalist blogs on literature and life
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I’m so excited to share that I get to be a guest on That’s How I Blog, a show hosted by Nicole of Linus’s Blanket. We’ll be chatting about books and blogging and gossip, starting tonight, March 2 at 8 p.m. CST. Then at the end we’ll talk about Susan Jane Gilman’s memoir Undress Me In the Temple of Heaven!
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One Sentence Summary: Memoir: A History is exactly what the title implies — an overview of how memoirs have evolved from the early days of spiritual autobiography to the current trends of celebrity memoir and contested truth.
One Sentence Review: This book is a must read for anyone interested in reading memoirs or enjoys talking about truth and writing and how we’ve gotten to the type of memoirs we can read today.
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One Sentence Summary: In this memoir, Lamott explores moments that test faith and explore her own quirky relationship with God.
One Sentence Review: If you can enjoy Lamott’s neurotic but open personality, Traveling Mercies is a joy to read.
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This has to be a pretty quick TSS post because I have people coming over to watch the Superbowl in a couple hours and I have cookies to bake and soup to make.
One of the best things about only taking two classes this semester is the extra time I’ve found to read. Yesterday I was able to finish “Socialism is Great!” A Worker’s Memoir of New China by Lijia Zhang. This was the first book I decided to read off my Women Unbound reading list, and it was a good one.
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Summary: As ambassador to Romania shortly after the end of Communist rule, Jim Rosapepe worked hard to help the country shed the image of an old, dark, haunted place and bring Romania into the 20th century and all that implies. His wife, Sheila, used her skills as a journalist to work with the Romanian people to make the transition possible. In this book, Sheila and Jim chronicle their time in Romania by taking the reader through each of Romania’s eight regions and the changes that have helped shape the country.
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I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle back-to-back earlier this year as part of my semester-long class on food writing. While both look at what we eat, they approach the issue from very different directions. Pollan’s book is a more academic look at the structures and politics that make up the food system, while Kingsolver’s memoir applies some suggested reforms to her family’s food choices for a year.
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Two Sentence Summary: As a grad student, Ventaktesh befriended J.T., a gang leader from the projects in Chicago. Over several years, the two formed a tense friendship that allowed Ventaktesh unprecedented access to the inner-workings of life in the area and the gang’s role in the community.
One Sentence Review: Ventaktesh’s methods and lack of awareness of the implications of his project can be frustrating, but the book provides an intimate look into a world most people would prefer to ignore.
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Even though reading challenges sometimes stress me out and I still find them a little strange, I decided I wanted to do the Women Unbound Challenge this year. Feminism or feminist themes is one way I get hooked on books, and I can do the challenge with books I already have in my apartment (therefore forcing me to read through my very full to-be-read shelves).
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Random title, I know, but this is a bit of a random post.
First, Unplugged: Last month (and last year–ha ha!), there was a sort-of challenge for bloggers to take time and unplug. I’m going to be away from good internet access for the next four days while I volunteer with some high school students here in Minnesota. So until Monday, this blog and most blog-related activities are unplugged.
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I’ve been on my Christmas Break for 14 days now, which means I should have read 1400 pages to be on track to meet my goal of reading 3000 pages in 30 days. As of Saturday night I was at 1327 pages. Just a little short, but nothing that can’t be made up.
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