A Winter of Books

While I was in Benin I kept a list of all the books I read and would periodically write reviews on said books. I was reading about 2 books every 10 days, on average. Since that time I have come back from Benin I haven't been reading so much. There are lots of reasons why, one being that I have a full time job, then there is also my ability to drive places, but mostly it's because I have free internet at my house and no TV. But I have managed to read a few since arriving here in December. Here is the winter book review of 2012:

Tell Me Where It Hurts- 3/5 Book about an animal surgeon. He works with doggies and kitties. It's really a pet lovers book. There isn't a plot line but rather a bunch of stories intertwined. The book follows the author throughout a 24 hour period.

Prodigal Summer- A later work for Barbra Kingsolver. 3.5/5 More uplifting than The Poisonwood Bible, it explores different forms of love and relationships within the setting of an Appalachian town. Her writing does get a little too feminist for me. There are male roles in the book which I feel would be a good opportunity for a more gender neutral tone to the book, but the male roles aren't believable.

Last Child In The Woods- 5/5 Great book to anyone who works with children on a regular basis. This non-fiction book was required reading my senior year of college. When I read it the first time I felt that I might need more perspective on the subject of outdoor environmental education before I really absorbed what Louv was saying. Now that I've read it a second time after working for an outdoor education facility I see the challenges that are in school systems and how they are overcome by simply putting a child outside.

Pigs in Heaven- 2.5/5 My co-worker saw me reading Prodigal Summer and thought I might like this book, also by Barbra Kingsolver. This book was published 10 years before Prodigal Summer and you can tell the difference in the writing. While some characters are more believable (primarily the male roles) others are very forced. It's about the welfare of a Native American girl who was given to a white woman and raised by her. It asks questions about what is actually best for the child, who is wrong and who is right. But it ends up being exceptionally predictable and for the ending she tied a nice pretty bow around the whole thing leaving nothing hanging, she might as well have said 'everyone lived happily ever after'. Apparently this book was a companion to the first book she published. The next book in the Barbra Kingsolver line was Poisonwood Bible where she left some sticky ends, and thus the whole of the book was more powerful.

Living With Cannibals - 3/5 A collection of stories about women adventurers. While it was a feminist read for sure it was about women who defied the norm of adventurers and just went ahead and did what they wanted to do anyway. There are many mini biographies of these women and their lives. Quick fun read, when you're about done with one of them, there's another story on the next page.

Lord of the Flies - 4/5 This is the first time I've ever read this book. I'm not sure why we never had to read it in grade school but perhaps it was because the Columbine school shooting and others like it began when I was in middle school, so books portraying violence among children probably weren't high on the public school reading list. But this book reminds me of a teenagers version of The Fountainhead. It's deceptively easy to read, and it's a short novel. Like The Fountainhead the characters are based around one idea or persona and their traits are highly predictable. Each character is one sided and after a single goal. Nobody is conflicted, ever. The point is made stronger because of it, but I felt a hard time connecting to the characters on an individual level. We all want to say that we fully connect with Ralph but I found it hard to do after he gets single minded about the fire. I also feel that we all have a bit of Jack and Piggy in us too.

The Screwtape Letters - 5/5 Mind blowing. Good job C.S. Lewis. This raises questions about Heaven, Hell, religion and how we as people mull about in our daily lives. Each day having the possibility to be toward a positive or negative end. Really good, very creative.