Unveiled

Unveiled: How an American Woman Found Her Way through Politics, Love, and Obedience in the Middle East by Deborah Kanafani narrated by Suzanne Toren adult autobiography audiobook A well educated daughter of a Syrian American lawyer is interested in exploring her Middle Eastern roots. She takes a job with a nonprofit organization promoting understanding of the Arab world. Eventually she falls in love with a man whose first duty is to the love of his life - Palestine. She tells about Middle East politics from a personal point of view. She is not particularly religious nor loyal to any particular political stance except for PEACE. She works toward understanding and peace between Israel and Palestine and the West and the Middle East. Eventually her marriage dissolves and she finds herself without custody of her children. Through her experiences, the listener comes to understand a little bit the frustration that westerners have with sharia law. She also tells the stories of a number of courageous Middle Eastern women, including Queen Dina of Jordan and Suha Arafat, the wife of Yasser Arafat. It is/was certainly a world with which I am not familiar. It is interesting to hear another perspective than what we generally get from the American media.

Summer reading, etc. 2012

What have I checked out of the library so far this summer? Ghost Flower by Michele Jaffe. YA suspense fiction. This book has the creepiness of the Flowers in the Attic books. An 18 year old homeless girl is hired by a pair of rich siblings to impersonate their dead cousin. This seems like a good deal to Eve, but will they now bump her off for the money? Jaffe keeps the reader guessing. 7/30/2012 9:31:34 AM _____ Along the Way. Autobiography by Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. This father and son actor team tell about their lives on and off set. Daytonians will be interested that Sheen attended Chaminade High and lived in Dayton. He mentions Brown Street, WSU, UD, and Kettering. 7/24/2012 1:14:31 PM _____ Contagion. Video. What if a new virus hit the Earth leaving one in three people dead? How long would it take to make a vaccine? Would riots ensue? Would school be cancelled? This is a realistic look at the possibilities. 7/13/2012 11:34:23 AM _____ Cat Who Turned On and Off. Audiobook. Lillian Jackson Braun. Qwill is a crime solving newspape writer and Koko is his Siamese cat partner. In this delightful installation Qwill is investigating the antiques neighborhood. Has someone taken the antique dealers' competition too far? Is someone murdering for rare treasures? Find out! 7/11/2012 2:40:15 PM _____ Goddess Test. Teen Romance Book. Aimee Carter. This is a modern take on the Greek mythology of Persephone and Hades. Kate is a teenager who is acquainted with death through the lingering illness of her mother. Can she withstand a number of trials to make a deal with death? 7/7/2012 4:47:37 PM _____ Lockdown. Audiobook. Walter Dean Myers. This author is a master storyteller and the reader, J. D. Jackson does a great job with narrating. Fourteen year old Maurice is in juvenile detention for having stolen prescription pads from a doctor's office. Is he doomed to a life of crime or can he turn himself around? The book is gritty, yet authentic as it debates the current situation of inner city children. 6/29/2012 1:41:25 PM _____ Gone Away Lake and Return to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. Children's book and audiobook. What if you found an abandoned neighborhood complete with spooky old houses, furniture, and more? It is a This Old House and Antiques Roadshow dream as well as that of some New York children. Newbery Honor Book. 6/27/2012 9:18:34 AM _____ Everything Must Go. Video. Will Ferrell. This is a sad, thoughtful, movie about a man who loses his job, his wife, and his home. Is it all bad, though? Now he has time to talk to the people in the neighborhood and assess what is important. 6/27/2012 9:10:23 AM _____ War Horse. Video. This movie follows the life of a British horse during World War I. He is captured by the Germans, then falls into French hands, back to German control, etc. It reminds me of Black Beauty. 6/26/2012 12:22:20 PM _____ Yo Gabba Gabba the Dancey Dance Bunch. children's video. Psychedelic, man. Far out! If you have watched all of the Doodlebops, watch this next. 6/26/2012 12:21:08 PM _____ Mighty Wind. Video + Soundtrack on CD. We watched this fake documentary about 1960's folk singers and enjoyed the music very much, then we checked out the soundtrack to listen to in the car. In particular, the novelty song "Old Joe's Place" and the title song are toe tapping fun! 6/25/2012 12:48:45 PM _____ Mockingjay. Book #3 in the Hunger Games. Katniss has become the symbol of the revolution, but who can she trust? Is she still just a player in someone's game? 6/21/2012 11:49:26 AM _____ Movie. Talking Picture. in Portuguese with subtitles. This is a tour of the history of Western civilization up to 2001 as seen through the eyes of a Portuguese professor and her young daughter as they take a cruise around the Mediterranean. 6/18/2012 12:46:53 PM _____ Movie. Descendants with George Clooney. A family is changed forever when the mother is in an accident and in a coma from which she will not recover. The Dad has to stop

being the "backup parent" and become THE parent. It is a thoughtful film with a great Hawaiian soundtrack. 6/18/2012 10:12:33 AM _____ Book. White Truffles in Winter. This work of historical fiction is based on the life of Auguste Escoffier, a master chef whose work influenced French and English cooking forevermore. Some of his dishes are disgusting and others sound wonderful. Many other historical figures also appear including Prince Bertie, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Sarah Bernhardt. 6/14/2012 2:44:42 PM _____ "Catching Fire" book 2 in the Hunger Games series. Without meaning to, Katniss has become a symbol of rebellion against the Capitol. What will transpire in District 12 and the rest of the country? 6/14/2012 2:35:41 PM _____ Video "The Way" staring Martin Sheen and written by his son, Emilio Estevez. A father decides to walk El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrim's path in France and Spain in memory of his son who died on this historic trail. The walk is a spiritual journey as well as a physical one. Sheen, a Dayton native, gives a great performance. 6/14/2012 2:34:26 PM _____ Audiobook "13 Gifts" by Wendy Mass. Twelve year old Tara is banished to her mother's home town for the summer while her parents are on a research trip to Madagascar. Odd things are happening in this town. Is this like Eerie, Indiana, or is it all in Tara's head? Somehow she is trapped into leading a scavenger hunt. Can she get the items before the summer is out? Sometimes silly, sometimes serious, Tara deals with the quirky characters the best she can. 6/14/2012 2:31:43 PM

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by
Maya Angelou
adult autobiography

I had seen this book on a number of "must read" lists for years, but did not get around to reading it until just now. Marguerite Johnson and her brother are shuffled from their mother's house to their father's house to grandma's house and back a number of times while Marguerite and Bailey are growing up in the 1930's. Overall their childhood is poor and the Black folks keep away from White people. This book is an important look at how things were in America and how they are different today.

There are some not-so-nice scenes in this book which have landed it on the Banned Book list ever since it was published 40 years ago. Since it is an autobiography, these plot points are essential to the book.

Color of Water

Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
by
James McBride
adult memoir

This book was published in 1996 and every year since then a librarian or website or patron has recommended it. I think Oprah recommended it as well. I finally decided to check it out and see what all the hype was about.
James McBride is the son of an African American minister and a woman who described herself as light skinned. While saying she was light skinned is technically the truth, the truth is also that she was not at all African American, but a Polish Jewish immigrant (She passed away in 2010). Life was tough for his mother, Ruth, and tough for James McBride as well. His mother grew up under the very strict discipline of her rabbi father and her disabled mother. James grew up very poor and had to live with the social stigma of being a mixed raced child in the 1960's and 1970's. His father passed away before he was born, and although he had a step father this man did not even live with his wife and children. Ruth had a total of 12 children.
This is not a warm, cuddly book. Life was HARD! His mother was not particularly affectionate and took a get-tough attitude toward life. She was convinced that regardless of the color of her skin, her children's skin, etc. if someone prays hard, studies hard and works hard in America, by the grace of God, they will succeed.
The author titled this as a tribute, but it is not an affectionate tribute. It is a hardscrambled tribute.
One librarian that I talked to about this book said that this is more relevant than ever as evidenced in the life of our President. Barack Obama, the child of a White mother and a Black father studied hard and prayed hard and look where he is today! Mom McBride was right.
There are only a few photographs and these are intentionally faded out and shown in black and white. I understand the effect they were going for, but I was curious to see more photographs of these remarkable people and places.

Overall this is a very good book, but I was a bit disappointed. I had hoped for more joy and humor. It is pretty serious book.

Here is a link to the New York Times article on her life and death:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/16/arts/16jordan.html

Enemies of the People

Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America
by
Kati Marton
nonfiction audiobook.
9 hours unabridged.

I wasn't certain if I would find this topic intriguing enough to listen to all nine hours, but I was pleased that it kept my interest over the course of a month of driving. Kati grew up in communist Hungary during the Cold War. Her parents were both Hungarian journalists working for the international press. Being the voice of truth in a country controlled by a totalitarian government has serious risks involved, however. They lived with a constant fear that they would be taken away at any time for being too friendly with Westerners, including Americans. Not surprisingly, they were, indeed, interrogated and imprisoned. What is it like to be a little girl and have your parents taken away? It is most people's worst nightmare.
The author worked with boxes and boxes of observations from the Hungarian equivalent of the KGB. They are now available to the next of kin of those observed. Her parents were under constant surveillance for years, so this is an unusual treasure trove of facts small and large about their everyday life. Kati's life proves that truth is weirder than fiction.

Wikipedia reports that this book is slated to be made into a movie. I hope it is a blockbuster.
P. S. She was married to Peter Jennings (reporter) and is now married to Richard Holbrooke (politician), so reporting and politics run in the family.