Free Kindle Book Today: Compassion Haiku by Karl Grass

Compassion Haiku: Daily insights and practices for developing compassion for yourself and for others by Karl Grass, Kindle version is free to download today 6/26/2013!

Link to download it free on Amazon below:

http://www.amazon.com/Compassion-Haiku-practices-developing-compassion/dp/0615761410/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372270826&sr=1-1&keywords=Compassion+Haiku+-+Daily+insights+and+practices+for+developing+compassion+for+yourself+and+for+others

And so it goes...

Book Review: Burying the Typewriter by Carmen Bugan

Read for CLPL "Real World Reads" non-fiction book club for July 2013.  I read it early because July might be a very busy month.

I really enjoyed this book!  It is a memoir by Carmen Bugan about her time growing up as a child in Romania during the Ceausescu regime.  If you did not know that she wrote poetry, you could guess it once you start reading the book.  She does not really write as an adult looking back with mature observations, but writes the memoir in a way that makes you feel the same emotions and sensations she did as a child.  The thoughts and observations grow up as she does in the memoir.  It takes place primarily in the 1970s and 1980s, mostly in Romania, and ends with her immediate family's arrival in the U.S. (Michigan), with an afterward written in the early 2000s.

Although her father was a political activist, you do not find out too much about this until later, because she did not know about it until later, so you have a kind of sweet and naive veil over your eyes while reading the book, the same that she did as a child.  It is written with such beautiful descriptions that it really makes you long for those simpler times, with pure enjoyment of flowers, making bread, canning vegetables and fruits, small village life, the kindness of grandparents, and so on.  And as she becomes more and more repressed and goes through more and more hardships because of the government and her father's rebellious actions, you see the tragedies but do not feel depressed because of her lyrical writing.

I would definitely recommend this book!  It is wonderfully written, a quick read (I read it in two sittings), and looks at what could be a depressing and horrible time with the simple and joyful eyes of a child, surrounded by her loving grandparents, and enjoying every moment of life.

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Book Review: Fordlandia by Greg Grandin

Read for the fiction book club "Bookies" at CLPL for June 2013, but this is a non-fiction selection.

Although the actual events of what happened in the Amazonian jungle with Henry Ford creating "Fordlandia" was interesting, I did not like the book.  It was dry, extremely repetitive, and could have been accomplished in fewer pages.  It made for an O.K. discussion, with us talking about how inept the Ford men in the jungle were, the arrogance of imposing "Americanism" on different cultures, and why people blame Henry Ford for making America into a fast-paced consumer culture.

The beginning of the book is kind to Henry Ford and praises his inventiveness and determination to pay his workers good wages, but probably only as a means to sucker people into reading the rest of it (that is what one woman in our book club thought, and I probably have to agree with her).  The middle is terribly repetitive and dry, with the author rarely telling you what year it is while simultaneously jumping around in time.  This makes it confusing to know what happened in what order, since it is not chronological at all, and also makes it seem like they were in the Amazon for decades when they were only there a handful of years.  The end concentrates on the author blaming Henry Ford for everything bad that has ever happened with consumer culture for the last eighty years because of his interest in trees, soybeans, and assembly-line production.

My advice would be to look up this information somewhere else and save yourself about sixteen hours of reading severely dry and repetitive text.  I really had to force myself to finish this one, I was tempted many times to put it down and walk away from it forever.  I only finished it because it was for book club and that is saying quite a bit, I always finish books I have started, no matter what.

And so it goes...

Father's Day 2013

Winslow Homer, Dad's Coming, 1873. Oil on wood, 9 x 13 3/4" (22.9 x 34.9cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

     This year for Father's Day I chose to share a work by the American artist Winslow Homer, who excelled at watercolors in particular.  The work pictured above was painted in 1873 when he spent the summer in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  It is a subdued painting of a mother and her two children awaiting the return of their father who is a fisherman.  The moment of watching and waiting is wordless and heart-stirring.  I offer this one up for those of you who are (like the figures in the painting) calmly, patiently, and quietly waiting for the return of a loved one to your home.  I wish them a safe journey and wish you a joyous moment of celebration upon their safe return!

And so it goes...

Book Review: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Read for CLPL Real World Reads Non-Fiction Book Club for June 2013.  

     This was a funny book about trying to "thru-hike" the Appalachian Trail (AT) from Georgia to Maine.  It slows down a little bit about halfway through the book when the author has to take a break because of other previous obligations, but picks back up toward the end.  When he tries to just section hike small bits and pieces of the trail on day-hikes by himself it is not as steady a pace or as funny as when he is sincerely hiking it with his friend in earlier portions of the book.  It was a nice summer read and was absolutely hilarious in the beginning, filled with factoids about the AT and the environment throughout, and it was also a pretty quick read.
     Some of the funniest moments are with his old friend and hiking partner Katz, who tends to whip things off the cliff when he gets frustrated with the weight of his pack, including seemingly weightless items like coffee filters just for the sheer joy of watching them flutter in the wind because he is so frustrated.  The author also has some pretty choice things to say about bears, maintaining the trails, and young hikers wearing suede boots and only wanting to party.  At times Bryson paints a pretty bleak picture of conservation efforts, including a few crazy things like a town in PA burning for decades because of a spark set to some anthracite coal.  I definitely recommend it as a good laugh and as informative at the same time!

And so it goes...