a summary
A book of questions, sometimes the questions relate to those before and after sometimes not.

a review
I couldn’t read very much of the book at a time, it overwhelmed my brain to the point of pain. The the more I read, the less nonsensical the paragraphs seem so I am able to read more at a time. I have found that skipping forward and back to be the best way for me to enjoy the book. I wish there was an index so I could find exact questions again. If you have someone in your life you’d like to know better, grab a copy and have a go at it. I think I would rate this book for adults, some of the questions I wouldn’t want to explain to my 5 year old even though I don’ have a five year old. I may add this to my library if I happen upon a copy for a reasonable amount of money.

A few of my favorite questions, copyright of course belongs to the author, quoted here only to entice others to read it.

• Would a catastrophic global war be required to restore us to simple living? p17
• Have you any skills in the area of weaving or knitting? p35
• Do you miss Tab and do you fully understand its disappearance? p43
• Can you knit? p61
• Would it be reasonable to ask someone if he or she has a favorite musical note? p66
• Why is a banana yellow and not banana? p67

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a review/summary

I first started listening to this on Craftlit and found my attention span waning. I decided to stop listening to this book for a few episodes then checked out a hardcopy from the library. I started with the text on Project Gutenberg, linked above, and wanted to hold it in my hand and flip chapters. I found that I enjoyed understood it better to read first then listen.

While I don’t fancy myself anything special when it comes to reading deeper into what an author means, this author made it quite easy to see his points. The author used satire to convey his thoughts on social classes as well as gender inequality using personified flat two-dimensional shapes. I feel as though I can’t say too much more without revealing what can be discovered while reading. I found myself pulling for the poor square after a while. Please use the links above to read more about the book or the book itself as it is in public domain.

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a review/summary
I borrowed this book from the library along with many others to evaluate what books to add to my spinning library. This one will be joining my library at the end of the week, making an Amazon order for Christmas. Amy challenges the readers to play with the wheel. It’s nothing I couldn’t have figured out on my own but to see it written down, permission to play with the wheel whether it seems conventional or not, somehow makes it ok to set about doing. She tells us to change a specific setting one way then spin, then make another change and see what happens. Then change another setting and asks how it changed from the previous ones. (scientific method anyone?)

After the introductory chapters she gets to the business of explaining many of the questions I had in a blog draft like how to know how much twist to put in the yarn. She shows us how to evaluate previously spun or purchased yarn in an effort to reproduce it and encourages us to keep a spinning notebook. She shows us how to spin a variety to novelty yarns and even shows several knitted swatches of different prep and spinning techniques on the same base fiber. I feel like cover to cover gets me a spinning class. Can’t wait to get my hands on the book permanently. I’m off to browse the rest of the books, stay tuned for more reviews.

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by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

web site

a review & summary
Greg began raising money to build schools to educate the children in Pakistan 1990′s after he was unable to complete a summit to K2. He was the medic on a team who was scheduled to summit but had to do a last minute rescue and evac of a team member, thus eliminating his chance to reach the top. On his way down the mountain, he took the wrong path and found himself in a local village. Seeing the poverty in this village, he vowed to return an build them a school. This book chronicles his travels as he raised monies to build that school and many more with the hope of stopping the violence through education. He offers a unique perspective on America’s War on Terror with insights about the civilians this war impacted firsthand. I highly recommend reading this book if for no other reason than the unique perspective.

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a summary
After a divorce and rebound love, Liz took a year off of life to journey across Italy, India, and Indonesia as she struggled to write this book and bring peace and balance to her life. Without much planning, Liz spent almost four months in each country making friends, finding herself, her purpose and a peaceful coexistence with life. She shared her studies in the Hindu faith as well as other spiritual insights as she travels. While in Italy, a new friend shared his view of each person, each city having a word. He shared

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Post tags: book review, eat pray love, God

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a review
Rarely do I have to read a fiction book with a dictionary and I found it rather refreshing to expand my vocabulary while I read a reimagining of Peter Pan. Many of the potential new vocabulary words are explain either through context or by the narrator. I love the names of two of the pirates, “Caveat” and “Roomer,” they live up to their names. The only place Peter Pan is mentioned is in reviews on the covers of the book. After that we follow the story of “The Boy,” Gwenny, Paul Darling and a host of “Anyplace characters” The author wrote Tigerheart from the narrator’s point of view, but the narrator recorded the story in the first person. The narrator will occasionally become sidetracked explaining why something is the way it is or why he doesn’t know something he doesn’t know. I found myself giggling through the book often. I’m not sure this is a children’s book, but it could be read to a child with creative editing done by an adult. What I enjoyed most wasn’t the story line, who won the battle, what happened to the characters. I enjoyed trying to guess how the characters and plot twists related to the original story. Did this story occur before Wendy, John and Michael flew with Peter? Was “The Boy” Peter? Was Gwenny (Gwendolyn) Wendy? How does Paul relate to the Wendy, John and Michael?

I would like to read the Peter Pan stories and then Tigerheart again to compare the writing style and characters. To read the original Peter Pan and Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, please visit Project Gutenberg.

a summary
While villains and heroes come and go, one thing remains, there must be heroes and villains. Tigerheart is a story from “Anyplace” where in there are pirates and non-pirates, heroes and villains. Which are which are for you to decide. Paul Darling’s sister Bonnie disappeared, she didn’t want to be a baby, turned into a bird and flew away. This tale follows Paul’s adventure to and from “Anyplace” on the quest to bring a baby girl back to his mother to make her happy again.

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a review/a summary
It’s not often I struggle to write about a book. What to say without giving too much away? A familiar topic fictionalized in an unique manner, “The Book Thief” will keep you turning the pages. The main character, Liesel, becomes a thief of books among other things. The narrator leads the reader through Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s while following a child, her family, neighborhood and government. While technically a young adult book, I would highly recommend it for a wider audience including plain-old adults.

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a review
As the title indicates, this is a book I read for book club. I wouldn’t have read it otherwise. I find it hard to believe that a white author can write an account of life for African-American housekeepers/maids in the south in the 1960s. Penguin books had a podcast episode with the author about why she felt she could write this book. I listened to part of it and was so bored I turned it off before finishing it. The stories from the housekeepers/maids in the book were interesting enough to hold my interest.

a summary
A fictional account of the life of African-American housekeepers/maids set in the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. The book is written by a white woman and is told from the point of view of a white woman just out of college and two housekeepers/maids. The white woman, Skeeter, wants to be a journalist and decides to interview at least 12 woman who spent their lives taking care of other people’s children and house. The story is full of racial tension as all of the women sneak behind the backs of their employers, friends, family, neighbors and high-society. The story was creative enough to hold my interest, but I have no idea as to the accuracy of such an account, fictional though it is.

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a review
A well written memoir of the author’s childhood with an alcoholic parent and an out-of-touch parent. I was genuinely surprised by the depth of caring toward her parents the author could express as she wrote her account. I had a difficult time finding any empathy for the parents, while Janette clearly found common ground on which to stand with her family. I found myself a hybrid between Janette and her youngest sister, who when the time came, ran from her family and hasn’t looked back yet.

a summary
Janette recounts her childhood and the chaos that one alcoholic parent and one free-spirit parent brought to her life and the lives of her siblings with love and respect for them. While her father was not violent, his drinking left the family with little to no money to provide for basic needs, including food, clothes, and shelters. Her parents pride wouldn’t allow them to accept handouts or help of any kind, rather the children went without meals, clothes, appropriate shelter and more. Her mother would work only when absolutely necessary and kept secrets of her own that may have saved the children a great deal of pain and anguish had she been a bit less selfish. This is a heart wrenching account of a child watching her parents spiral out of control of their lives and their failure to provide for the basic care of their children. The few things the parents did instill were pride in education and pride in self, that one could do just about anything one set about doing.

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a review
A quick read wherein the author let’s you in on his secret a bit at time, though with enough information to figure out most of it before the last page. I’d read it again.

a summary
In the author’s typical style, the story looks at past choices and regrets, and then offers a way to rectify some. The premise of this work asks if you could have one more day with a loved one who had died, what would that day look like, what would you talk about, what would you do, etc. Charley, the main character, is allowed one more day with his long dead mother. He learns to look at himself and his family in a different light.

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a review
I can’t rate this high enough. A must read for anyone who would like to depend less on corporate America (or any other country), our Government and more on him/herself. In a humorous yet factual manner, the author shares her adventures of moving, raising small animals for food and fiber (to spin into yarn), crafting, thrifting for essentials that need not be brand new and other interesting discoveries along the way.

a summary
The author shares her experiences and knowledge of learning to live local. She shares chapters on raising a few chickens with limited acreage, gardening on a budget, learning to live without modern distractions, and shares a wealth of research at the end of the book.

favorite quote
“Vegetable gardening has been called ‘the peaceful sedition’ because at the most basic level, when a person can feed and shelter herself, she doesn’t require a government to provide for her.”

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• Guide 1

a review
I read several reviews that were less than glowing for this book. I have to respectfully disagree. Maybe because I am expecting our first little one and while I do not know little one, I already treasure little one more than words can describe. I found the switch between the account of the events and the dreams the author had interesting. While I may not believe in past lives, it’s not for me to jump all over someone who does. The author shared deeply personal emotions as she went back and forth in through decisions about the adoption.

a summary
The author shares her account of events as she travels to China with her neighbor, who intends to adopt an orphaned girl. The events seem to change and swirl around the author as she attempts to understand her role in the adoption process of a woman she barely knows. She bonds almost immediately with Baby, while the adoptive mother won’t even hold Baby. She struggles with dreams of a previous life in China while seeking her path in the present day China and USA.



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]]> http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/05/22/a-review-forever-lily/feed 0 http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/04/14/book-club-water-for-elephants http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/04/14/book-club-water-for-elephants#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:41:18 +0000 debra http://proefrocks.net/blog/?p=1002
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Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> Water for Elephants discussion guides:
Guide 1
Guide 2

a review
It was a fun little story, though not especially deep or philosophical and a nice diversion from what I usually read, but that was the point of joining the book club. There were a few unseen twists. I enjoyed the author’s note at the end explaining where and how she developed all the intricate characters and plots.

a summary
The story is told by Jacob about his life before the nursing home. Near the end of college, a tragedy sends him running from college and searching for what he will do with the rest of his life. A traveling circus gobbled him up to be the on-site vet, quickly. In the opening chapter, a circus man is killed in a melee that may have been preventable. At this point in the story, I understood absolutely nothing of the character of any of the characters. I struggled trying to understand the death and motives. I spent over half the book quite upset and unwilling to understand the characters involved in the death. The half-way mark or so gave enough insights into the character of all parties involved to allow me to understand a bit more. As the story progressed, the chapters would flip from “young” Jacob to “old” Jacob (93 yrs old). This odd storytelling method surprisingly held my interest better than had it only been old Jacob telling of his youth.



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]]> http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/04/14/book-club-water-for-elephants/feed 0 http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/03/11/book-club-the-shack http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/03/11/book-club-the-shack#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 03:59:02 +0000 debra http://proefrocks.net/blog/?p=995
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Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I was unable to attend this month’s meeting so I cannot comment on what was discussed. I was a bit disappointed. A few people couldn’t meet last week so it was moved to tonight, but it was my day in GR. I’m not going to do a summary or review as comprehensive as the first book. I am unsure about the next meeting as I haven’t gotten the book from the library yet. I ordered it over a month ago and it still hasn’t arrived. If it arrives in time for me to read it, I’ll try to attend, if not, maybe it’s a sign *giggle*

My thoughts:
Several years before reading the book, I am able to recall the fuss generated by this book because of how the author chose to portray the Trinity, God as Father, God as Son and God as Holy Spirit. Many were encouraged to avoid the book, denounce it, and more. I didn’t store the title of the book in my head, only the supposed problems with it. In the Spring of 2008 this book was recommended to me by a friend, but I was chastised again not to read it for the theology, as if I am not a critical thinker. I was told it had an interesting message about forgiveness that I might find helpful. I read it and enjoyed the theology as well as the story. Sometimes being outside of the box is a good thing. I’m not going to preach sermons from it, nor will I probably put into practice much of the book, but the author certainly presented some interesting arguments for changing thought patterns.

This story is quite fictional, but the story seems real at times, too real. The author gives the reader a few opportunities to rationalize how the most fantastic of the events could have been less that accurate. I choose to read it as written, trying to take the fictional main character, Mack, and his close friend, Willie, at their word.

Mack experiences a great loss in his life which in turn leads to a gread sadness that he seems unable to overcome. While his wife has a strong faith in God, Mack’s life experiences have left him feeling rather distant. He receives an invitation that seems to indicate that God would like to meet with him. This is his journey to find God.

Some online guides for The Shack by William Young (spoilers possible):
Guide 1
Guide 2



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]]> http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/03/11/book-club-the-shack/feed 0 http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/02/04/book-club-the-life-of-pi http://proefrocks.net/blog/2009/02/04/book-club-the-life-of-pi#comments Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:04:57 +0000 debra http://proefrocks.net/blog/?p=993
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Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> A few weeks ago, my husband forwarded me an advertisement from a coworker of his inviting people to join a book club. He checked with the organizer to be sure that I could join and it was. Next up The Shack and then Water for Elephants. I’ve read the first and had the second on my to-read-list for a while.

Our first meeting was tonight, so I’m not sure of any of us were truly ready. We shared some thoughts on the book of the month, The Life of Pi and then did some housekeeping for future books/meetings. Some of the copies of the book had study questions, so we glanced through those and answered a few of the questions. While those specific questions are not online that I found, here are a few that I did find (study guides may contain spoilers for the book):

Guide 1
Guide 2
Guide 3

I offer a summary with spoilers because writing reviews is one of my 101 things in 1001 days as well as joining a book club. If you plan to read the book, stop now. Really, I wanted to use bold and exclamation points galore but decided against it.

a review
Disturbingly creative. The first part took a while to get into as it explored several religions Pi pursued as a child in India. Much detail is spent on describing the zoo and Father’s care of the animals as well as how humans should interact with wild beasts. Once the ship sets sell, the action starts and doesn’t stop until the end of the book. The author weaves a tale drawing the reader to desire only the best of and for Pi. A chapter of the current adult Pi happens every few chapters so that the reader knows Pi survives, appears to be happy, but is pulled in to find out how he arrived at his present circumstances. After the author spends several hundred pages describing the journey from India to Mexico, he offers a second story lasting less than 20 pages with similar details but differing main characters. The reader must decide which is the “better” ending, the “more correct” ending, the truth.

a summary
The Life of Pi opens with the adult Pi reflecting on his childhood with the author sprinkling pictures of who Pi would become. Pi’s father own and operated a zoo in India until he because upset with the political climate. While a child in India, Pi explored many religions hoping to find the best way to “love God.” He struggled understanding why he couldn’t be a Hindu, Muslim and Christian at the same time. He refused to accept they were so different that there was no commonality. His father eventually closed the zoo, sold the animals and loaded his family and animals on a ship to deliver the animals and begin anew in Canada. The ship does not make it from India to the intended destination. The ship and most of the occupants went down to the bottom of the Pacific. Much of the book is a story of Pi’s journey on a lifeboat for 277 days. When Pi first entered the small lifeboat, he was joined by a hyena, zebra, gorilla and tiger. After nature takes its course, Pi is left alone with a personified tiger, Richard Parker. He remembered training from his father and eventually “trains” the tiger to stay out of territory that didn’t belong to the tiger. Pi fed the tiger and himself from rations store on the boat as well as what he caught in the ocean. When he encountered another castaway, the tiger was not so understanding and devoured him. Somewhere in mid-journey Pi and Richard Parker encounter a carnivorous island, much like a Venus Fly-trap. They stay until Pi realized the danger and left with the tiger in tow. When he washed up on shore in Mexico, officials from the shipping company showed up to question him. He offered the above story to them, which they chose not to believe and asked for the truth. Pi offers a story without animals, where Pi, mother, the cook and a sailor are on the lifeboat until the cook kills and eats Pi’s mother and the sailor. Pi is Richard Parker, the tiger, and kills the cook when he can’t take it anymore. Pi leaves it to the officials to decide which story they like best.



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