I finished The Poisonwood Bible and also a book by Jane Goodall, In the Shadow of Man.

Jane Goodall just impresses the heck out of me. She started her work at Gombe with no degree and no background in zoology. Louis Leakey said he figured that would be a plus -- no preconceptions. And she wandered around Gombe finding her own way with no African guide almost from the first. She also had phenomenal patience. If I'd had to wait that long just to get close enough to see the objects of my research, much less make any useful observations, I'd have quit and gone home to my airconditioning.

Right now I'm reading a collection of Western short stories, all winners of the Golden Spur. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I've only read a few of the stories, and so far none of them have even touched on the issue of Native Americans. I knew from the get-go that I would probably be unhappy with the book for exactly this reason, but I still wanted to read it out of curiosity. At least it's a library book -- I wouldn't want to pay for this.

I'm reading Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek right now and really, I just want to be her. I love love love this book.

I just finished reading this book last night - I really really like it. Has any one esle read it? Natsuo Kirino is the most successful murder-mystery writer in Japan and this is her first translated to english book

It has "middle age" characters with teenagers and a night shift at the factory job and chopping up people. Excellent. all this time I've felt so alone as a mother of teen, I should have turned to lititure more.

it lingers in me today. was pretty intense. I wasn't sure about a part at the end

I've finished My Antonia, which means I really am done with Willa Cather for now. I may very well come back to her, however. I like her books. I don't, however, see why My Antonia is seen as her best work, as opposed to Death Comes for the Archbishop. Both of them are excellent, if a little on the relaxed side. But then, most "literary" writing is on the relaxed side; if you're going for a page-turner, you're more likely to find it over in fantasy or science fiction.

I'm about halfway through The Poisonwood Bible. The urge to shake Nathan into some sense is just about overwhelming. I enjoy Adah's surprisingly clear vision of exactly what the family's place in the community is, and isn't, and I'm waiting to see where Leah's awakening takes her. Orleanna looks to be developing a troublesome mind of her own, as well.

I'm going to go dig through the library basket and see what I'm going to be reading side-by-side with Poisonwood.

and I've reached my quota of renewals:

"American Indian Activism: Alcatraz to the Longest Walk" edited by Troy Johnson, Joane Nagel & Duane Champagne.

Right now, I'm reading an essay by former AIM activist Karren Baird-Olson. In 1976, she took a cross-country trip with her three kids to protest the American Bicentennial events in DC:

"The unaware have often expressed amazement that a single woman would travel with 3 children across the country, as well as take an active part in protesting against the abuses of the U.S. govt. In the first place, I was used to driving across the country by myself, but during this trip I was not alone. 3 responsible young people--2 teenagers (one 17 and one 16) and a preteenager of 12--were with me. More important, I wanted my children to know that they did not have to be passive victims, that they could make positive changes not only in their own lives but also in the lives of others if they had the courage to take action, to do something."

While trying to show her daughters the BIA office that had been occupied four years earlier at the end of the Trail of Broken Treaties, she, her daughters and the other Native parents and children were surrounded by the police (or whatever law enforcement in DC are called). She said that she told her daughters to leave, but her daughters (17 and 12) refused. They were all manhandled, thrown onto the cement (Baird-Olson reported that her face was ground into the cement) and arrested. At the jail, the officials refused to tell them where their children were being held.

In court, all charges (not that they were told what charges had been brought against them) were dropped.

Later, she writes: "My children tell me that my activism as well as theirs has taught me that they do not have to keep silent about injustice, as so many of their ancestors were forced to do. They have learned that individuals can make a difference, and a united people can make an even bigger difference in ensuring a world where equity is given more than lip service."

I'm done with Willa Cather for the moment. I finished A Lost Lady and that's it until I take My Antonia out of the library. I'm almost ready for a trip there; I think that the book I'm reading right now, Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde, is my last library book.

I'm reading The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde, and unbelievably, it's even funnier than his first two Thursday Next books. I keep laughing out loud, which is very good for me.

I've just started Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop. It's intriguing, but not page-turning, or at least not yet. I'm still in the early stages, though, so we'll see. And "not page-turning" isn't necessarly a criticism, just an observation; as I get older I become more and more comfortable with books that take their time.

I'm also reading Low Fat Living, another book from my mother. She knows I'm a bit concerned about the fact that my meds have taken me from slender and beautiful to plump and beautiful, so she figures I might find the book helpful. I hope she's right -- my knees don't love me any more.

I finished up The Edible Woman and also read another book called When the Last Leaf Falls. Leaf turned out to be Christian inspirational literature, which was a disappointment; I couldn't tell you anything about the literary value of the book because I was so busy being cranky about the theology.

Now I've started The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. It's very different from The Edible Woman, but I can definitely hear tonal and stylistic similarities with Cat's Eye.

Just finished Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. Quite possibly the best book I have ever read. One of those books that leaves behind a permanent hole in your gut.

I'm reading "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood. I've kinda been waiting to read it -- I kept hearing about it, but not remembering it when I was actually in a bookstore. I knew I liked her work -- "The Handmaid's Tale" was excellent and extremely disturbing, and "Catseye" was one of my favorite books -- but I just hadn't picked this one up. So far, it's engaging, although somewhat bemusing. I can't wait to reach the end to find out how this confusion works out.

so now I'm reading this book, another one sent to me by some wonderful person during the time that we had to stay out of new orleans, called the secret life of eve hathaway. and it's at once entertaining and disturbing! like, she'll say something like, "I'm just a whore from new jersey" and I love her and then she'll have this disturbing take on race, sex, etc. and I just recoil. it's from the 80s but in many ways it feels kinda 50s to me. except for the sex.
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superzine

I keep finding that I need comfort books to keep me from getting way, way down these days. so first I re-read all of the sue grafton mysteries I own, and right now I'm reading By The Shores of Silver Lake...
I read Oryx & Crake by margaret atwood (my favorite) a couple of weeks ago, and it was beautiful, but I think an apocalyptic tale was too disturbing for me right now, living in this place that feels somewhat apocalyptic already.
I'm going to the library tomorrow to check out chanuka & kwanzaa books for my work. we can check books out but we can't order them from the larger city collection - know what I mean? which is really frustrating for me as a reader. but I'm going to dig for something gritty yet lightweight. you know, bloody is okay as long as it removed from reality. for some reason.
or it can be sad, but with some resolution. like, china sent me the bean trees and I really, really enjoyed it.
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superzine

by Barbara Kingsolver. Nice winter read-

earlier this month, but I started a couple of other books that I'd put on hold at the library and so need to get through more quickly:

*biography of Anzia Yezierska written by her daughter

*history of Hong Kong written by a HK historian (as opposed to a western one)

*Community assessment of my daughter's former Early Head Start program (okay,that's *not* a library book,but I'm onadeadline with that)

*1970s book on rape by the NY Radical Feminists

"To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

its an old paperback and all the pages are very yellow, with tiny type, and they were already falling out (but kept in order) when I got the book. So I read a page, often just hold a page in my hand, and then put it down on the stack.

it feels so ethmereal. like writing is really nothing. but thought. and pen and paper. the little yellow pages falling from me as I start to envision her story.... loving being able to see what Truman Capote was like as a child, her neighbor and oldest friend.

I'll never be able to write like her. Not with my own childhood of pop rocks and tv and experimental writers.

I'm enjoying the experience. Next I want to read "Breakfast at Tiffanys"

reading the 3rd book of ruth reichl's memoirs, called "Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise." she is so much fun. great winter blahs book. (i thought the 2nd book was a downer, though, so stick to this one and "Tender at the Bone.")

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tenderfoot zine * mamaphiles!

I'm trying to get through "Gilead," by Marilynne Robinson, which has been frustrating me for a year or so now. It's a beautiful, heart-stopping book, just like "Housekeeping," her other novel (both Pulitzer winners, or Nobel, something big), but it's the kind of book that deserves to be adored, savored, experienced-- not gulped down quickly between snacks and tantrums. What I really want is to just rent a hotel room for a day and just READ and READ until I've read the whole thing, front to back. Twice.