Nose in a Book

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with books, not bombs in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Greg Mortenson

Many people have read Three Cups of Tea and are familiar with Mortenson’s mission to build schools in Pakistan.  In this book Mortenson continues to build schools in Pakistan (with some new challenges) and begins to to build schools in post 9/11 Afghanistan.

As you can imagine, building schools in Afghanistan after 9/11 is no easy task.  And after the earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, Mortenson and the CAI had to change the way they built schools in Pakistan.  Add to all that that the CAI’s policy is to build schools in the most remote areas first and then work their way towards the more populated regions.  Mortenson has some amazing people working for him that don’t seem to ever let anything get in their way when it comes to moving forward with these schools.  It’s really inspiring to read about the school building process and the people in the villages where the schools are being built.  (Above: Sitara School, Afghanistan)

I was very impressed with the writing and the way the story was told.  It’s entertaining and engaging and Mortenson told the story that was cohesive and had good flow.  The only complaint I have is that there were some editing problems, missing or wrong words, and some typos.  But the book contains events from as late as September of 2009 and the book was published in early December 2009 so I’ll cut them some slack in the editing department!  If you enjoyed Three Cups of Tea, you will definitely enjoy this one.  If you haven’t read Three Cups of Tea you should probably start there before picking up this one.  I think both books are definitely worth reading.

All images courtesy Central Asia Institute.

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Afghanistan, Greg Mortenson, Pakistan

This weeks topic:

• Tell your readers what is it about “an” author that you are most passionate about, that have you coming back for more from them, following their every blog post – literally blackmailing people to read their books?

• Who are some of your all time favourite authors?

• And what is it about them that makes you keep going back for more?

I have several authors that I really enjoy.  I think my favourite though is Alexander McCall Smith.  I love his writing style, I love his stories and I love his characters.  Back when I first started this blog I actually did an author review of McCall Smith.  Check it out.  I think it pretty much covers all of the questions for weekly geeks except the other authors I enjoy.  Some other authors I like are Maeve Binchy, Orson Scott Card, and Margaret Atwood.

Make sure you check out the other weekly geekers!

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Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza

Read for: Global Reading Challenge

Wow, was this one ever intense!  Immaculée was a university student who had travelled home for easter in 1994 when the Rwandan genocide began.  As a Tutsi, she and her entire family were in danger.  She managed to make it to a neighbour’s house where he hid her and several other women in a tiny bathroom for over 100 days while the country literally went insane killing over a million Tutsi people.

I had heard of the Rwandan genocide before but I didn’t really know anything about it.  As I was reading this book, not only was I disgusted by the attitudes of the people responsible for the genocide, I was amazed by how quickly the general population adopted those same attitudes and joined in on the killing.  I am astonished by the capability of human beings to act in this manner, to be so cruel to each other.  In many cases, Tutsis were hunted and murdered by people who had been their neighbours and close friends.  And what they did to children?  Unforgivable.

I think what bothers me the most about the whole thing though is that we, the so-called civilized nations just sat back and allowed this to go on.  We knew what was happening but it took over three months before anyone was willing to enter to country to try and stop the slaughter.

This book made me so angry and sad.  It’s especially saddening to know that this is not a unique circumstance.  It happens all the time.  Why do we as humans feel the need to divide ourselves along racial lines?  Why do we have to feel superior to other races, sexes, religions?  And why does that feeling of superiority give us permission to imprison, enslave, torture and kill those we view as inferior?

I think this book (and others like it) are so important for us to read so we can take steps to prevent these kinds of things from occurring.  What struck me most was that Immaculée’s father was so confident that nothing was going to happen.  On the eve of the genocide, his children tried to convince him that they should leave but he wouldn’t believe that anything could go wrong.  How often do we think that way about where we live?  How often to we read books about the terrible things that go on in the world and think “That could never happen here.”?  “It’s ok for me to be a little bit racist because that could never happen here.”  These are the kind of attitudes and thoughts that eventually lead to hate crimes.

The subtitle for this book is “Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust”.  I think this is a little misleading because Immaculée was already very religious before the genocide began.  There is definitely a lot of religion in the book as she is a very devout Catholic but it never bothered me.  It wasn’t preachy or in your face religion.  It’s just what got her through this difficult time in her life.  Because she was able to forgive the killers (which I am astounded at – I can’t even forgive them and it didn’t happen to me!)  she was able to move on and get past this terrible thing that happened to her.  She was able to be happy again.  Amazing.

This is a book I think everyone should read although you may not enjoy it!

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Immaculée Ilibagiza, Rwanda

Ok, so it’s been forever since I’ve participated in Weekly Geeks, but this week has a fun topic – comments!

Do you have a commenting policy? For example:

*Do reply to all comments? If you do, how do you do it? Email? On the blog?
*Do you use moderation?
*How do you handle trolls? Flaming?
*How much do you tolerate from a belligerent commenter before you close or delete comments?

Have you ever gotten a comment from someone you admire? An author? A superstar blogger (the ones with the book deals)?

How do you feel about author comments? Are they welcome or do they make you nervous?

Word verification? Yay or nay.

And then there’s spam. How do we combat the evil that is spam?

Talk about your experiences with any of the above. Share your wisdom with other bloggers. What works on your blog? What doesn’t?

If you are feeling brave, try something new and report on it later in the week (a new commenting widget or spam catcher. These will vary depending on your blog).

Or write a commenting policy, even if no one sees it but you.

Or comment on some blogs you’ve never commented on before.

As always, take this prompt and make it your own.

Do I have a commenting policy? I do, you can read it here.

Do I reply to all comments? Not all the time, but if I have something to say, I’ll reply and always in the comments.

Do I use moderation? Sort of – I have a spam blocker that decides if a comment needs to be held for moderation.  If it does, I get an email notifying me that a comment is waiting to be moderation.  This doesn’t happen very often.

How do I handle trolls? It depends how trolly they are – sometimes I respond, something I just delete the comment.  Flaming? Uh, I don’t get enough comments for there to be any flaming!

How much do I tolerate from a belligerent commenter? Not much, I’ve never had to deal with this on my book blog but on my personal blog.  Usually my regular commenters come to me rescue and I don’t need to delete anything.  I have a couple of very well spoken commenters that have the ability to make most people look really stupid.

Comments from someone I admire? Yes, pretty much everyone who comments.  Thanks everyone!!

Comments from authors? I’ve never had any.  It makes me nervous to think they might be reading my reviews, but I would definitely welcome comments – unless they are rude!

Word verification? My spam blocker will sometimes decide that a commenter needs to prove they are human before posting a comment.  But not always.

Spam? I have a plugin called Spam Karma.  It’s pretty good at catching spam but it catches a lot of non-spam too!  If that ever happens to you – don’t worry, I always check the spam before deleting it.  Legitimate comments will always get rescued!

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I meant to post about my new little baby but it slipped my mind until I read another blogger who’s just had a baby.

Here she is – the reason I took such a long blogging break:

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The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly- Newbery Honour Book 2010

So, I’ve decided to read all the Newbery Honour books since I’ve already read the winner.  I want to know if I agree with their choice!

I chose to read this one first because of the cover.  Isn’t it fun?  Anyway, Calpurnia Tate is a twelve-year-old girl with six brothers, three older and three younger.  She lives in Texas at the turn of the century (the 20th that is).  Her grandfather is distant and most of the kids are afraid of him (if not all), until Calpurnia goes to him with a question about grasshoppers.  He tells her she’s smart enough, she should figure it out herself.  When she figures it out she reports to him and they begin to develop a relationship based on their mutual interest in the natural world.

The book is really about Calpurnia’s relationship with her grandfather.  There isn’t a major plot and while I really liked the book, I can see that it might not appeal to the younger audiences like When You Reach Me would.  That being said, I still think I would have enjoyed this book as a twelve-year-old…I just can’t see reading it to my seven-year-old anytime soon.

But, I did really like it.  Calpurnia was a likable protagonist and her brothers were entertaining as well.  There was also a coming-of-age aspect to the book, both for Calpurnia and some of her brothers.  I like the Kelly’s writing style as well.  I can’t quite put my finger on what appealed to me but it did.  I can see why this was chosen as one of the honour books, and I would recommend it but I also see why it didn’t win the actual prize.  Not because it isn’t good, but because When You Reach Me is better.

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When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Wow, I loved this book!  It was such a quick easy read (probably because I’m not the target audience).  I can see why it won the Newbery Medal this year.  I haven’t read the rest of the honour books yet so I can’t say for sure that it was the best one, but I’m working on it!

Twelve-year-old Miranda, who lives in New York City with her mother, begins to receive mysterious notes.  She doesn’t know who they are coming from and she doesn’t quite understand what they mean either.  On top of that, her best friend Sal, got punched for no reason on the walk home and that caused him to stop talking to her entirely, there is some weird homeless guy living on her street creeping her out and she keeps bumping into the guy that punched Sal, and he doesn’t ever seem to remember her.

This book was so sweet.  Miranda is a totally believable twelve-year-old and a likable one too.  She has some friend issues but she works them out in the end.  What I liked most about the book was that I felt it was uplifting.  Miranda has some problems but nothing insurmountable.  Lately, it seems like there have been a lot of books with children who have truly depressing lives.  I liked that Miranda had a pretty happy life.

I loved the ending.  I don’t want to give anything away because the surprise was what I liked the most about it.  This was a sweet little book that I was able to read in an afternoon.  A definite recommend.  I can’t wait until my seven-year-old is just a little bit more mature so I can read it to him.

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New York City, Rebecca Stead

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Read for: Banned Books Challenge

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a very long time.  It’s been sitting on my night stand (where I keep my TBR in the next month pile) since September because I planned to read it for Banned Books Week.  But I just never got around to it.  But then a friend told me that I had to read When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead, but that I should probably reread A Wrinkle in Time first.  So I finally picked it up.  I remember loving this book when I was younger.  In fact, I remember it as one of the books/series’ that made me love reading!  I read it several times and loved it every time, but I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as an adult.  But I did!  I think I may like it even more now because I think I have a deeper understanding of the novel now.

I’m surprised that this book has been challenged/banned because it apparently has anti-Christian ideas.  I found it just the opposite.  I think it has very strong religious themes.  People may have been offended by the “witches” and I’m not sure that if this book were published today it would have any problems with it.  They have their hands full with all those evil Harry Potter and Twilight novels!

There were a few things that bothered me about the book but I think it’s mainly because I am not the target audience.  The pacing of certain events were a little too fast for me, with not enough character development but I know it’s perfect pacing for a younger audience.  I think children need the story to happen faster, but they also have a better ability to accept the characters relationships without a whole bunch of lead-up.

I’m so glad I was able to enjoy this book as much as I did as a child and I can’t wait to reread the rest of the series.  I also can’t wait until my oldest is mature enough to read it to him.  I love reading to him my favourites from when I was young and I really hope that by doing this I can teach him to love reading and books as much as I do!  (This is the cover of the copy that I had as a child.)

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Madeleine L'Engle

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Read for: Canadian Book Challenge 3, What’s in a Name? 3 Challenge

I loved this book!  I don’t know how I haven’t heard of it sooner, I know people have been blogging about it because I just read a bunch of reviews, but somehow I’ve missed them all.  Last month at book club a couple of people mentioned it and I decided it sounded interesting.  I’m so glad I picked it up!  I’ve been having a rough week (nothing serious – just adjusting to life with three kids) and it’s been the only thing that’s kept me sane (besides bedtime!).

Anyway, what made the story for me was Flavia, the main character.  She’s an incredible intelligent eleven-year-old who loves chemistry.  She’s inherited a very well appointed chemistry lab (seriously, I used to teach chemistry and some of the equipment she had was better than we had!) and she know how to use it.  I think what I liked best about the novel were all the little chemistry references that were woven into the story.  At one point she’s in a classroom and notices a mistake on the periodic table.  This is too much for her and she has to correct it.  I was cheering her on at that point!

But that’s not even the most important part of the book.  One afternoon, the housekeeper finds a dead bird with a stamp on its beak on the front step.  The very next morning, Flavia finds a dead man in the garden.  After calling the police, she decides that she takes it upon herself to find the murderer.  As I mentioned earlier, Flavia is very intelligent, but she is also eleven and this equals funny!  Another reviewer said the story wouldn’t have worked if she had been older and more mature and I totally agree.  The humour comes from her age and immaturity combined with her intelligence.

The book was fun and humourous and light but still had a great plot and a mystery with an unpredictable ending.   I’m looking forward to reading more about Flavia!

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Alan Bradley, England