I just finished reading, Sold, by Patricia McCormick. The main character of the story, Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl from mountain village in Nepal, thinks she's been sent to the big city to be a maid when her stepfather has actually sold her to a woman for 800 rupees. Lakshmi narrates her journey and life in the city, the way McCormick writes portrays an unforgettable and thought-provoking illustration of helplessness, anticipation, and desires. It is a very quick book reading wise, there are no chapters, but rather one to two pages of commentary from Lakshmi. I highly recommend this book, with the warning that even though it is short, the topic is rather heavy and can be a bit upsetting.
McCormick has written two other books, Cut and My Brother's Keeper, neither of which I have read, but would assume if written like she did Sold, would both be good reads as well.
800,000 killed in 100 days. Would you risk your life to make a difference?
I think everyone should be required to watch the movie, Shooting Dogs also known as Beyond the Gates in America. It is based on the experiences of David Belton, a BBC employee who was working in Rwanda during the genocide in 1994. A really cool aspect of this movie unlike Hotel Rwanda is that it was filmed on the original location instead of South Africa. Some survivors of the genocide also played a role in the production and took minor acting roles in the movie. I think it was my mum who asked me why it was called Shooting Dogs and I think the answer was from the fact that UN peacekeepers would shoot local dogs that were eating decomposing bodies of the genocide victims but yet refused to shoot the Hutu extremists - which was somewhat funny considering that the UN peacekeepers where told not to shoot unless fired upon first & as they mention in the movie, it's not like the dogs had fired at them - which I thought was a great line!!
I think the thing I liked about this movie way better than Hotel Rwanda was I felt it was much more heart felt than Hotel Rwanda. Not to say that Hotel Rwanda isn't a good movie, just for me, I was able to "feel" for the characters in Shooting Dogs much more. If you get a chance to rent this movie you totally should! If you'd like to see more photos from Rwanda which were taken just last year, please visit Adam Bacher's blog.
Okay off to read Left to Tell written by a woman who survived the genocide in Rwanda her name is Immaculee Ilibagiza. More info on this book later, I fear I might have trouble sleeping since I only read 5 pages on the bus ride home before I realised I'd nearly missed my stop . . . btw 119.5 hours till I leave :)
Still need to get £600 in cash in LARGE CRISP bills for my trip, since of course nobody takes credit cards and the likelihood of the cash points (aka ATMs) working is slim to none. That's probably way more money than I need but I don't wanna be calling my mum or dad from the Western Union at the Kigali Airport - I some how don't think they'd appreciate it especially since the time difference between Kigali & the Adirondacks is going to be 8 hours.
I still haven't gotten myself a windbreaker/rain coat thing, instead of going shopping today after work I decided to come straight home, run a bath & finish reading The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas by John Boyne . . . has anyone read it? I thought it was a good book, it's only like 215 pages, but it's rather good! I'm off to see the movie tomorrow night with Jaid & Kaylie so I HAD to finish it today!!!! The film was released on September 12 over here in UK, but not till November 7 over in America, so I'll have to let you know if it's worth it since this is probably only the one time a movie will be out first over here!!!
Okay off to finish watching Brothers & Sisters Season 1 - thanks to Neala & Melissa I've got it on DVD :)
so just a quick update for all the Americans out there who didn't even know that the US soccer team was over in London yesterday to play a friendly with the England football team & to no body's surprise USA didn't even score one goal - they luckily were only scored on twice. I went & supported them and of course was one of only 2 people in the whole pub who was supporting the good old USofA. I really feel if America would put even half the money & enthusiasm as they do for American football their soccer team could be top notch!! What is it about soccer that Americans just can't get into? The rest of the world plays rugby & soccer, yet America plays football, basketball & baseball which no other country in the world plays . . . what's up with that, is that so that we're never beaten as a nation?!?!?!
In other notes, I've just finished reading The Call of the Wild by Jack London and now I'm moving on to Vinegar Hill by A. Mannete Ansay.
That's all I've got for today, thanks for stopping by, feel free to leave a comment or two, I'm feeling as nobody is reading my blog anymore - well aside from Ms. CheeseWiz for some reason she likes stopping by and is always fantastic about leaving a comment for me ;-)
Kabul Beauty School, Three Cups of Tea, Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns, what more could you ask for?
Just finished reading Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez and can say it ranks right up there with Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Books like this always amaze me - "if she did it why can't I" is what I always think . . . maybe one day I will!!!
I'm off to start Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin, which has won the following awards:
Kiriyama Prize - Nonfiction Award Time Magazine - Asia Book of The Year Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association - Nonfiction Award Borders Bookstore - Original Voices Selection Banff Mountain Festival - Book Award Finalist Montana Honor Book Award
Once again Ms Brain Cheese has yet another great post - so along those lines I pose to my readers (all 3 of you - lol) "What has life taught you?" in under 50 words please!!
Linda's question came at an interesting time in my day. I got up around 9am, had breakfast, started reading a new book, Tran-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian (author of Midwives, which I enjoyed while at Norwich & living in VT) then showered & got ready to go to the movies. I'd made plans to meet up with Jaiden at 12.45 outside the Angel tube station, but she'd cancelled last minute, so I figured heck I'll just go alone since I wanted to go to Angel to get some Teva sandals from Blacks anyways. I got on the bust at 11.35, but this bus was only going to Muswell Hill Broadway (about 3 minutes up the road) but I got on it & figured I'd just grab the next 43 bus & be on my way . . . after waiting 20 minutes I finally got on a 43 bus but it was terminating at Highbury Corners (my stop is past that) but again figured get on & at least get going in the direction I want to go. A few stops later the bus makes a strange turn & I realise part of the problem is that the bus route road is closed for resurfacing (UGH!!) but no worries we're moving & hopefully it should be too much longer (famous last words). When the bus finally gets to Archway (diversion was very slow) I think okay lets get this show on the road, I'll pop off here & get on the tube . . . smart idea until I realise the northern line is closed for track replacement all weekend . . . back to the bus stop I go. This time I get a bus which is terminating at Angel, which is fine by me as that's where I want to go - I think "yeah I'll get there" after a VERY slow ride we finally arrive at the tube station at 13.47, the movie started at 13.30 :( For those of you not good with math that journey took me just over 2 hours, typically it takes 40 minutes. Since I've come all this way I figure I'll get my sandals and then start my trip back home. I won't recite the reverse trip, but it's just as bloody bad as the trip into town! Luckily for me, I had nothing else I had to do today so I just tried to remain calm & enjoy the bus ride (which is hard with people bitching & moaning, pushing & shoving all around you).
So back to the point of this story . . . what life has taught me is to take it one day at a time & not to sweat the small stuff, but then again the first half might just be me mum's 12 step program rubbing off on me, since I grew up with it all around me. We often joke that I've been to more meetings than the average person in AA and that I know most of the lingo fluently, just ask Jed in C'town, he hated it when he'd say, "oh I didn't have time or I'm too tired to go to a meeting" and I'd say with a smirk on my face, "you always had time & energy to go get drunk" . . . and amasingly he didn't have much of a reply to that aside from, "dammit, you're right Ra" and off to a meeting we'd go.
It's hard at times when I hear people in the program whining about this & that in their lives & how hard things are . . . it makes me almost pissed off at times because the reality is what they're going through is just as tough as what I'm going through. If you stop to think about it, getting drunk is never a solution to any of my problems, to be honest it just hinders the problem. I mean if I think oh I've had a bad day at work, I'm gonna go get pissed at the pub tonight to make myself feel better, the reality is the hangover I'm gonna have the following day did not solve the problem & now I've got a new problem of a hangover. I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't like it when people use alcoholism (or any other disorder) as an excuse in their life. I mean I could blame bad things in my life on my mom, "if she hadn't drank then . . . " but the reality is this is the hand I've been dealt & I've gotta make the best of it, one day at a time!!
Sorry I'm rambling now, I guess what I'm trying to say is "Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle." Who are you to say yours is worse?!??!!
So I just finished reading what I think is going to be my favourite book of the year, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and I have to admit I've read some good books this year, but this one takes the cake (thus far)! The Kite Runner was Hosseini's first book ever written and his second one, A Thousand Splendid Suns just came out this past May, I reckon I would enjoy this book as well maybe as a Christmas present (hint hint mum or dad or patty).
I do not want to ruin the story for you so I will just tell you that it's a wonderfully written & really intense book, I couldn't put it down, for real, I stayed up late reading it & missed my bus stop earlier today b/c I was so into the book I didn't realise where we were. I could see, feel, smell, and really "be" where Amir and Hassan where when reading. I've obviously never been to Afghanistan (and to be honest probably won't ever make it there) but I have a picture of it in my head & I was thinking as I finished it earlier that it could make a great movie, then when I goggled it, I noticed it is being made into a movie (coming out this Christmas), just wonder if it could do it justice, since in my head I know what the characters look like & I might not see then the same way.
Has anyone else read this book & if so what are your views on it, as I know not everyone enjoys the same books.
So Cormac McCarthy has won the UK's oldest literary award for his book The Road, which I read as part of Jen's summer book club & to be honest I'm not impressed with it. I can't believe he got £10,000 for winning this award, not to say he's not a good writer, I just don't think this book was worth that amount by any means . . . maybe I missed the meaning of the book, who knows.
On the Road by Jack Kerouac is another of my book club books, which again being honest (since it is the best policy) I enjoyed more than The Road, but still wasn't a huge fan of that one either. Just about half way through it I started to think it was almost predictable & I just wanted him to stop in a city & tell me they were all going to live happily ever after.
Wickett's Remedy is the book I'm currently reading and with 50 pages left to go I can say it is my favourite yet. It's a novel about the 1918 flu epidemic in Boston, MA. I think one of my favourite bits is how Myla Goldberg puts in snippets from actual newspaper articles from that time period and then there are letters from Quentin Driscoll to his wife & son, which makes him a bit less horrible of a man at least in my eyes, you'll have to read it to understand what I mean!
Next two from the list are Little House on the Prairie and Lady Oracle, will let ya know how those go when I'm done . . . Do you have any thoughts on these books, have you ready any, would you recommend them, give me your 2 cents!!!
That question is more for all of the teachers whose class I was a member of while growing up. I reckon that 80-90% of the teachers I had while growing up would be bowled over if they saw me now. No, not from my looks or personality, but to hear what I've done academically. I'm willing to bet most didn't think I'd do that much with my career. I'm not saying that to be mean to any of them, it's more just a realisation I've come to when looking back at my younger school days. I wasn't a bad student, I did my homework, I came to class, I never misbehaved, BUT I also never went out of my way to study or ask questions. Probably because of that I never was in any "accelerated" math or science classes. To be honest, I think the first required book I actually ever read cover to cover was Catcher in the Rye and continuing on this honesty kick, it might have been the last one I read cover to cover until I got to my MSc course last year (when I read cover to cover Immunobiology along with Cellular and Molecular Immunology).
Reading and maths (N.B. the shortened word for "mathematics" in the UK is maths) were never fun for me. I don't have a recorded learning disability, but I know that I have learning "issues" as I like to call them. I'm not saying this for sympathy & I'm not trying to blame anyone for it, as I'm sure there are too many people to list if I were to start accusing people for my "issues", it's just a fact of life that I've learned to live with.
Doing math in my head use to be one of the hardest things for me to do - I HATED with a passion those days growing up when we'd have "maths speed drills" and you'd have see how many addition (or subtraction, division, multiplication) questions you could answer in X amount of time. Still to this day I cannot do division in my head - I have to have paper/pen and a calculator. I know my 2x, 5x, 9x, and 10x tables, but aside from that if I want 4x7 I start out with 4x5=20 and then I had 4 twice on my fingers to get 28, even "easier" ones like 8x3, I know 8x2=16, plus 8 (on my fingers) equals 24. The 9x table is easy b/c I can do that with my finger trick :) Now just imagine how slow & painful watching me take a "maths speed drill" would be - trust me it's torture for all those involved!
With reading my biggest problem comes in sounding words out - I'm not sure if I was never taught it or if I was out sick that day or if I just decided not to pay attention in class that day (all of which are very possible), but words that I don't use on a regular basis (and even at times ones that I do which are hyphenated or out of context in my mind) are hard for me to read. For example, earlier today I was reading My Detachment, by Tracy Kidder and at the end of the line the start of the word was "amorphous social re-" and on the next line it said, "gion", but when I read it in my head I read, "amorphous social regain" I can't think of a bigger word which has tripped me up recently, but I know that pronouncing words I don't know, especially names of foreign towns I get nervous about saying the word out loud since I reckon I've just made up a new name for it in my head. I do this a lot with characters names when I don't know what they really should be I just rename them in my head - throws me off when others speak about the book I've just read and they're talking about the character, ie in London, by Edward Rutherfurd, one of the characters was named, Cartimandua, who I called Car, along with Segovax, whom I renamed Sax. My plan when seeing a word I don't know is to just replace it with a word I think should go there - it works most of the time (sorta figure out what it should mean from context clues) but with names of places & people this doesn't work & not always for other situations. Like in science when I'm not really sure what they're talking about & I just make up what I think should be there - I can be completely wrong at times which really screws up my understanding of a certain paper! I also think this links in with my lack of a good spelling ability - trust me if not for spell check on this blog you would roaring with laughter over the way I spell things - just ask my mum, she could tell you stories that would make you wet yourself for sure!
Well the reason for this post was more for me to show off to all those who thought I'd never make it this far & let them know that the following books have been read over the past 3.5 months ALL FOR FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I posted earlier I'm doing a virtual book club thanks to Jen and if any of you fancy joinging, it would be great - I've never been a part of any sort of book club, so I'm uber excited about this one!!
Well I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend . . . not sure what I'm going to be doing, I've got a few potential plans & the only thing I know I will do is have dinner with the boys on Sunday night - it's somewhat becoming a tradition, it's my family time as I like to call it, DON'T tell them I said that!! BTW, Jim is so excited to come to NY (as am I but now that he & Pete have been emailing I think he's really getting excited about it).
Here is the link to the virtual book club my mom & I are going to participate in, THANKS JEN for doing this!! Anyone out there fancy joining - the more the merrier!
Once again I am amazed when I open my yahoo account to find emails from supposed friends which just blow me away. Maybe it is easier to rude to a friend when you know they are moving over 3000 miles away? Well I refuse to rehash the details, all it has helped me to do is weed out the fair weather friends. So I guess in a way I should be grateful to those of you who have emailed & proven where our friendship lies, in the long run it makes my departure on Saturday just that much easier, so let me take this time to thank each & every one of you.
As for my plans for tomorrow & Saturday . . . hmm . . . good question. Tonight I know is Asian Chicken Salad with Anne, John & Matt. Tomorrow I HAVE to go to Patty's and get my suitcase sorted (had originally planned to do that today, "Never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Delay may give clearer light as to what is best to be done." -- Aaron Burr) Tomorrow night is up in the air (dependent on if Melissa comes to CT for the weekend) as is Saturday, but I do have tentative plans no matter what occurs.
Okay, on a happier note, my friend Zee's site, Behind Blue Eyes, posted this book meme & since I have bugger all to do today (yeah right) I decide it was a good procrastination tactic. What I've learned from doing this is that I'm not well read according to this list, but then again I'm not sure that Harry Potter is really a classic.
Instructions: in bold=have read the book. in italics=want to read the book * =own the book []=notes from me 1. *The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) [loved it] 2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) 3. *To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) [a favourite from hs] 4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) [started but never finished] 5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) 6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) 7. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Tolkien) 8. *Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) [I read ALL the books in this series] 9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) 10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) 11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) 12. *Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) [a disappointment after reading DaVinci Code] 13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) 14. *A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) 15. *Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) [really good, given to me by my previous boss while recouping from knee surgery!] 16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerors’s Stone (Rowling) 17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) 18. The Stand (Stephen King) 19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) 20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) 21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) 22. *The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) [required reading for hs, but really enjoyed it as well] 23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) 24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) 25. *Life of Pi (Yann Martel) 26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) 27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) 28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) [will never forget this book, Mrs. Smith read it to us in 3rd grade as we sat in a circle giving each other back massages] 29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) 30. *Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) [highly recommended!!!!!!!] 31. Dune (Frank Herbert) 32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) [saw the movie & it was really good so I'm guessing I should try to pick it up] 33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) 34. 1984 (Orwell) [was required reading in hs but never finished it] 35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) 36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) 37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) 38. *I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) 39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) 40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) 41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) 42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) 43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) 44. *The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) [not nearly as good as Tuesday's with Morrie] 45. *Bible 46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) 47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) 48. *Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt) 49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) 50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb) [Started, never finished] 51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) 52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) 53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card) 54. Great Expectations (Dickens) 55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) [hs reading list, not a big fan] 56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) 57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) 58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) 59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) 60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger) 61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) 62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) [Started; couldn't get through it] 63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) 64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) 65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davies) 66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) 67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) 68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) 69. Les Miserables (Hugo) [Started, liked it, but never finished it, saw the musical 10 times in NYC while growing up] 70. *The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) [read in French & English, top that!] 71. *Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) 72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) 73. Shogun (James Clavell) 74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) [didn't like the movie, so doubt I will try reading it] 75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) 77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) [ms reading I think] 78. The World According To Garp (John Irving) 79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) 81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley) 82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) 83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) 84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) 85. Emma (Jane Austen) 86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) 87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) 88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) 89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) 90. Kane and Abel (Archer) 91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) 92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) 93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) 94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) 95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) 96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) 97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) 98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) 99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) 100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
Well how many years did it take them to figure this out?!?!?! I guess I should just be happy that they are finally starting to agree that it is caused by humans.
Who knew 21 July would be a very happy & sad day at book stores all over the UK and also that 13 July would be such a popular day at the movies, and that again I should have guessed seeing as how many people are NUTS about Harry!!
I'm jealous that I didn't wake up to snow like these people did, but I am excited that in Saranac Lake the ice palace is coming along, here are some great links (thanks PCS) IP I, IP II, IP III, IP VI.
In other more personal news, I'm taking today off, my ankle is feeling better, but I'm exhausted from all the cleaning I've done. I went over to Patty's condo yesterday for "Girls Night" dinner & my poor hands still stunk of bleach, after washing with regular hand soap like 4 times!! Instead I'm just going food shopping for tonight's dinner of Lemon Chicken(recipe is similar but not online, it's in Anne's head) over long grain & wild rice with broccoli and apple cobbler (per Matt's request) for dessert.
Everyone should try to go to this walk, YES I know it's far away from OR & NY but it looks fun and my friend Analise will be there! If you can't make it see if you can set one up in your neighbourhood!
thinking of things to write is kinda hard when I've done bugger all since I last posted.
I don't think I've told you about the annoyance of my credit card number being stolen & used, BUT the wonderful folks at Bank of America caught it & have cancelled that card & sent me a new one :)
I spent most of the weekend watching american football (Go Pats!!) Dan arrived on Saturday so I got to hang out with him as well, which is cool since I haven't seen him in about a year & he's getting married on Feb 17th to the wonderful Julie - congrats!!!
Other minor things I've had to do which have been kinda annoying is tracking down paperwork for my work permit - I need COPIES of my diploma from Norwich, I'm sure is packed safely away in one of the million boxes in my storage unit in upstate NY, so I'm leaving Friday to head up to find it - ugh that is a waste of gas, time & energy (to top it all off doesn't the weather have to become freezing cold when I need to search through boxes). Someone who shall remain nameless, who lives very near to the boxes is apparently unable to look through them for me, find it, scan it & email it to me, which annoys me, but I'm over it now.
Showed up to the doctor's today & apparently they were going to do blood work but didn't remind me to fast so now I have to go back next Wednesday - another minor annoyance in my lil world.
My friend Matt will be moving into his place a week from this Sunday (day after my big party!!) & I'm guessing I'll be invited to help him move & set up. Not too bad since I kinda like to set up kitchens & arrange furniture & I know that his friends will have to carry all the heavy stuff so I'll just sorta stand around & "bark orders", not really but it sounded good!
Okay, off to read my newest book, London by Edward Rutherfurd, I'm only on page 32 but so far so good!!
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
