Monday, March 28, 2016

Missoula


Allison Huguet was raped.  Her rapist, longtime friend, Beau Donaldson, enjoyed a stellar reputation as a high school and college football hero...a hero, who, in the eyes of many, could not have committed such a terrible act.  Allison's story twists and turns through the justice system, challenging the victim's stamina and questioning her recall and intentions.  The details of the process baffle especially as Krakauer cites case after case not unlike Allison's.

This is the text from the bottom of the front cover, "Missoula, Montana is a typical college town, home to a highly regarded state university whose beloved football team inspires a passionately loyal fan base. Between January 2008 and May 2012, hundreds of students reported sexual assaults to the local police.  Few of the cases were properly handled by either the university or local authorities.  In this, Missoula is also typical."

Krakauer, noted researcher and author of Under the Banner of Heaven, uses a four year period in the social history of  Missoula University as a case study from which to draw frightening evidence of college campus rapes and the systemic dismissal of these crimes.  Although he highlights the experiences of only five young women, Krakauer's relentless digging uncovers the mortifying reality that the Missoula campus is not an anomaly.

At times I felt as if I were reading a script from Law and Order SVU, but then I had to remind myself that these true accounts scream of a scourge of disrespect, violence and dishonesty toward women.  The Anita Hill case raised the consciousness of our nation and many people, at least in voice, chose a more sensitive  way of interacting each other.  Now I wonder if those old habits - the name calling, the badgering, the belief that some people are less and deserve less than others - simply burrowed underground for a while.

Although not an easy book to read from an emotional perspective, I would suggest that any parent sending someone off to college read and discuss this book with their son or daughter.

Now back to A Man Called Ove.  I'm not enjoying it any more than I did the first time around, but I am finding much to admire about Ove.  And I'm taking notes, arming myself for our April book discussion meeting.

Thanks to Steph K. for telling me about Missoula and...
Thanks for stopping by.
LaDeDa Bev

Monday, March 21, 2016

Baby Bunnies In Cups...Happy Easter...Turn up the Sound...There's Fun Music

Hopefully you noticed that  I avoided the temptation to say "Hoppy" Easter.  The bunny owner assures everyone that no bunnies were harmed while making the video.  In fact, these five are featured in several adorable posts on YouTube.

What am I reading?  My friend Connie suggested House of Sand and Fog, and older book with an Oprah sticker on the cover.  Dogs on the cover, weather conditions on the cover, Oprah sticker on the cover - nope!  Not reading those books.  Thank you to Connie for reading this on her most recent exotic adventure which included margaritas and beaches.  I am savoring this book and can't wait to discuss it with her.  When I'm done, it's round two with A Man Called Ove.  Ove and I didn't hit if off the first time I read the book, but it's our book club choice and I will read it again and happily discuss!

Chocolate eggs are calling you name, aren't they?
Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Two Books and a Funny Letter

Because I broke one of my reading rules, I was not able to post last week. You see, I attempted to read two books at once - OK, not simultaneously, but I did have two books in progress over the past weeks, and that just doesn't work for me. Consequently, I had not read enough in either one to say anything substantial.  But YAY me...I have finally  finished both of these challenging works.

I read Jubilee for the first time in college. I wonder how I made it through this novel considering I read slowly and surely faced other copious reading requirements at the time.  If you have read Gone with the Wind or have seen the movie, you'll have a reference point from which to approach this civil war novel. The difference? This is told from the slave's point of view. We all learned about slavery in high school, but Walker's book shows the reality of how people were treated because of something as arbitrary as skin color with an intensity that just didn't come across in history books.  Walker tells the story of Vyry - a story she knows all too well because it is the story of her great-grandmother who was freed from slavery exactly 100 years before Walker finished her manuscript. This book made me angry, embarrassed, and sadly forced me question how much society's attitudes have changed.


A Deadly  Wandering was gruelling in totally different ways.  Rather than me trying to capsulize...this is what the back of the book succinctly tells us.....Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist, Matt Richtel interweaves the cutting edge science of attention with the tensely plotted story of a mysterious car accident and its aftermath to answer some of the defining questions of our time:  What is technology doing to us? Can our minds keep up with the pace of change? How can we find balance?  Richtel parallels the accident information with leading edge scientific findings on the impact of technology on our brains, showing how these devices play into our deepest social instincts. This is a book that can change - and save - lives.

Now, on to lighter fare.  I get all sorts of new book promos. Those coming  from established, reputable publishers  are tastefully done, accompanied by skillful marketing materials.  Not so much for the little letter from Lord Christian Halliday, touting the glories of his book, Memoirs of a Gigolo.  I'll spare you most of the contents of the letter, but to say it was filled with double entendre would be an understatement. In this book his life will be "laid bare....across the sheets intriguingly bound between two covers."  He teases readers to "expose" themselves to his provocative content.  He ends the letter by encouraging me to pour a glass of wine, light a fire and "enjoy your time alone with me."  

Yup...and his book is the first of a trilogy about his gigolo years.  After that he's starting another trilogy.  I have tried in vain to find a picture of this guy and to uncover his real name.  For all we know the Lord is some little old lady pounding away on her Underwood at her kitchen table in Scranton. 

There will be a fabulous prize for the first person who can find a photo (and no, it will not be copy of his book.)

Thanks for stopping by.