Life, ugh

Nov. 7th, 2006 09:59 am
angela_o: (red shoes)
[personal profile] angela_o
I've got a cold, am dealing with an imminent deadline, it's raining, I've got a school committee meeting tonight (and did I mention it's raining?) for which I need to make a potluck entree, and E broke his ankle last Thursday at basketball practice and is now in one of those walking boots that looks like a ski boot on steroids and will miss weeks of the season. But, I wanted to get my latest books down before I totally forget about them.

#107 is Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. The story of Doctor Paul Farmer and his work on behalf of the poverty-stricken, marginalized, and ill around the world. You thought one person can't make a difference? Think again! An eye-opening read to the problems and potential solutions of global inequities in healthcare and one that I highly recommend.

#108 is A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. A YA set in upstate New York roughly a hundred years ago and loosely based around the murder that Dreiser used in An American Tragedy. It's always amazing to realize that the "olden days" really weren't that long ago.

#109 is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. This month's book club book. A series of vignettes centered on the life of a street in Chicago peopled by immigrants and the working class. Very much a change of pace from my normal reading.

#110 The Year of My Indian Prince by Ella Thorp Ellis. A quasi-autobiographical story about a young girl diagnosed with tuberculosis at the end of WWII in California and her treatment in a sanitarium. It's hard to believe that people were still being shut away for years in the middle of the twentieth century. While she was there, the author/protagonist was courted by the son of an Indian majarajah. In retrospect, the timing on this one is interesting because TB and its treatment is a huge part of Mountains Beyond Mountains.

Now, to work I go. With no heigh hos.

Date: 2006-11-08 01:39 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] mockingbird39.livejournal.com
I read A Northern Light last summer and really enjoyed it. The ending wasn't quite definitive enough for me, but the rest of the book was satisfying.

Date: 2006-11-09 06:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] angela-o.livejournal.com
I totally agree with you about the very open (and somewhat pat) ending of the book. I did like the glimpse into what farm life was like near the turn of the century in the Adirondacks though. The gulf between the summer people and the true residents was quite marked.

How are you holding up post-election? Did your candidates escape the massacre? I know that I'm elated about the results, but I'm guessing you're less enthusiastic.

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