Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin ****

My sister loaned me this book, she’s in a book club that reads non-fiction books from & about different cultures. Basically, it has to do with a man who tried to climb K2 & failed, but in the process found his true calling—building schools for the people of the Karakoram Mountains of northern Pakistan. I have to say that this is a very inspirational story, where one person actually did make a difference. Greg Mortenson now heads an organization called the Central Asia Institute that’s responsible for building 55 schools in Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Musing on how important education is to those who don’t get to have it, it makes me think about how much me take for granted in our country. The US has a lot of problems, that’s true. But they’re the kind of problems born out of plenty. We’re fat, depressed, & stressed, all because we get to have too much. When seeing how other people live, in countries where food is scarce, let alone education, it makes me feel like our country needs to do more. And when I say do more, I don’t mean exporting & imposing our way of life onto others. I mean just giving them a fair chance, like all of us have.
Dog & I got to see President Obama about a month ago when he came to town to give his first 100 days speech. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’ll never forget. I particularly liked his take on giving aide to other countries. He pointed out how little of our budget is spent on foreign aid—it’s a pittance. By reaching out a hand to help other countries make their own dreams come true, we do good for others. When we retroactively wage war against people who don’t even know who we are, & who we certainly haven’t taken the time to know, all it does in set the human race back. I hope we’re getting back on the right track. I know I feel much better about the direction of our country now than I did a year ago.

Rules by Cynthia Lord ****

Alrighty, after this one I'm almost caught up with blogging about what I've read lately! I'll just need to write about a book I've almost totally forgotten about, then I'm clear! Rules is another very good book by a first time author. It's about tween Catherine, who happens to have a younger brother with autism. There's a new girl moving in next door that she's sure she'll be best friends with, but the book is very good partly because what is expected just doesn't happen. Like real life. She's met a boy her age at the therapy center her brother goes to, who happens to communicate with a communication book (pictures that he points at). By making him a few new pictures to help him express his teen aged angst, they get closer. Meanwhile, the stress & embarrassment (both real & imagined) of having a younger brother with autism is portrayed very vividly--I never realized how extremely frustrating that must be for siblings. And her frustration with her parents' necessary neglect of her in favor of her brother is heartbreaking. Great book!

A Small White Scar by K.A. Nuzum ****

This is another book for ages 10 & up that was nominated for the Mark Twain book award. I picked this one because it & 2 other books (see Finest Kind) all had to do with kids with developmental disabilities of one kind or another. It's fascinating that 3 books are written with DD heavily imbuing the story this year for kids--maybe it's a sign of the times.
Basically the story is about twin brothers Will & Denny. 15 year old Will is determined to leave behind his father's ranch in 1940 & make his way being a rodeo rider & ranch hand. The problem is that he's chief caretaker for his brother Denny, who happens to have Down's Syndrome. Their mother died when they were about 7, & their father has placed the burden of looking after Denny squarely on Will's shoulders. Will is tired of being treated like a child by his father, & tired of being tied to the ranch by Denny. He decides to run away to the rodeo in La Junta, the biggest one around, & seek his own fortune.
It's funny how I underestimate how well a first time writer can write. Finest Kind was the 5th or 6th book by that author, but it just didn't ring true. In contrast, K.A. Nuzum writes a remarkable book by dealing with the feelings that overwhelm the sibling of a child with DD. Torn between caring & irritation, you can feel the frustration in Will. Other issues regarding how DD were dealt with back when the story takes place are eye opening & very important also.
A very good book, well written & beautifully peopled.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro *****

I have to say that I'm a little back logged. I've got a couple other books to review, but I just finished this one today & I have to write about it. First off, I think it's the saddest, most heart-wrenching book I've ever read. I almost cried at the end, and though that might not sound like much, I was in the break room at work eating lunch at the time with a crusty old man. So I really really didn't want to cry in front of him, & I managed to keep tears from falling. But my eyes got pretty damn misty. The book is about a boarding school in England. That's all I can really say, other than it's about the relationships among the students. Very vague, I know. But if I said anything else it would give away too much. From the second line in the book you'll be scratching your head, wondering what the heck the narrator is talking about. At first I thought, "It's those Brits. They use strange words for things." But oh, it's not that. Not at all. Please read it. I can't say you won't be upset at the end, but it's necessary. Things need to be thought about.

Finest Kind by Lea Wait **

I came upon this book when I saw the Mark Twain Award nominees on my son's school's website. All the books had brief synapses & a was surprised that 3 of the nominees were about siblings of children with developmental disabilities. Since Lea Wait was the only one of the three authors who'd written before, I chose that book first.
I was very disappointed with the woodenness of the writing, but I had to remind myself that this book was written for 8-12 year olds & maybe that's why she kept the language so simple. But I have to say that overall, it was disappointing.
The story is about a young boy named Jake who travels to rural Maine with his family in 1838. Jake grew up in Boston in a privileged home, but the fall of the stock market brought about financial ruin. His family sold their fancy house & have moved to Maine in search of a job for his father.
Jake's brother Frankie has what would be called cerebral palsy now. He has frequent seizures & at age 6 is not able to communicate or move independently. The family is ashamed of Frankie's condition & try to hide his existence from their few neighbors. When Jake's dad gets work at a mill in another town, the family suddenly realizes that they will have to fend for themselves without the father's help, since he can only come home on weekends. And that means Jake will have to do most of the work, since his mother must stay home & take care of his brother.
Bottom line, it was hard to have much sympathy for the characters. I think it's a great history book for kids, which may be it's primary goal, even though I question some of the sugar-coating. From the stand point of an accurate portrayal of developmental disabilities, it was fair. It wasn't very historically accurate in the town's acceptance of Frankie, but maybe I'm being too harsh.

Place of Birth

I haven't been able to read Precious Bane or any other book right now due to my class & also being on overload right now.

I don't know if anyone else out there ever gets to book burn out, but I've been in it for about a week now. I can't read anything. This happens to me about 4 times a year, & then it goes away as mysteriously as it came.

So until I get out of it, I thought I'd try something new.

I thought of some of the questions we have to answer all the time, like when we go to a new doctor for the first time, filling out a job application, things like that.

And then I thought I'd answer it in a way that they didn't intend to hear--completely.

So my first question is the title of this entry.

And the answer is:

The place I work.

Oddly enough, I work at the same hospital in St. Louis, MO where I was born. It sounds pretty cool, until you realize that St. John's is literally a baby factory. They had a billboard up a couple years ago on I-270 listing the thousands of babies born there that year. I guess that was supposed to make you want to have your baby there, but I would think it turned off about as many people as it turned on. I mean, everyone wants to think that their baby & their experience is utterly unique & incomparable to someone else's. The thought that 15 minutes after they swab down the delivery room they're going to have some other poor, screaming wretch in there doing the same thing you just did doesn't fit in with the *magic* that is your own birthing experience.

But all that aside, it is kind of neat to walk the hallways there & think about traveling back in time to when I was born. I'd like to sidle up to my parents & tell them that their newborn baby girl was going to be working at that very hospital in 27 years. Of course, they'd assume I was going to at least be a doctor there, if not director of the whole shebang. But there are great benefits to being a lowly pharmacy tech. Like learning all the secret passageways & staircases that seem to abound in every nook & cranny. For example, I was overjoyed (really!) to have found a new way to get out of the building the other day. Out the back door, up a poorly marked stairwell for 2 floors, take the door on the left & presto! you're in the courtyard by the fountain! I didn't even know a door was there! I felt like Marco Polo walking into the Forbidden City (except, was he forbidden there?). It was like a re birthing process--OK OK, that's going too far.

But it is interesting to see that no matter how far I think I've come, I'm still at the same place I started.

Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer ***

HA! Yeah, well, I...

Nevermind, I won't try to justify reading the next book. All I'm going to say is that it's better than the second book. And I'm sure I'll end up reading the 4th book, since I've sworn never to do so. So just wait awhile, it'll be up here soon.

Meanwhile I'm going to re-read a book from a couple years ago, Precious Bane. I've tried looking on here to see if I've reviewed it, but it doesn't seem to be here. So what the hay! It's become one of my all-time favorites, up there with Katherine by Anya Seton. It's the kind of book that, for some reason, I hold so close & personal that I don't want others to read it. I guess I get scared that someone else would make fun of it & blemish the smooth, round, wholeness of this beautiful story. It's a deeply personal journey, I find, to read Precious Bane. I hope some other people out there read it & it touches them too.