What I've been reading lately
Jul. 28th, 2005 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_lotus131. The Nettle spinner by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer- This is an interesting first novel which wove together a Flemish folk tale with a story about a girl in a treeplanting camp. I didn't think it was a brilliant novel, but I did enjoy it. The details were rich, and the description of treeplanting was bang on. There were so many small details that were examined here such as how treeplanting makes you horny, the repetitiveness of it, the strangeness of the lifestyle, and the weird things that can happen. I enjoyed it just because of these details.
2. The Earth, My Butt and other big round things- by Carolyn Mackler- I adored this book. When I first saw it, I was intrigued by the title. My intrigue grew again when I heard a woman at Kidsbooks describing it to someone. It's a YA novel about a girl who is ashamed of her weight and who feels that she doesn't fit in in her perfect family. However, when her brother is found guilty of daterape and gets kicked out of Columbia, she begins to wrestle with her self image, her identity and the way things really are. I loved it. Reading stuff like this really makes me realize that at some point, I will be writing YA. THe more I think about it and consider it, the more it makes sense and seems like a logical choice for me. I just wish I felt ready to write a novel. I still don't feel comfortable starting one yet.
3. Dharma Punx- by Noah Levine. An excellent book for anyone interested in Buddhism. Noah, who is actually the son of Buddhist author, Stephen Levine, started out life as a rebel punk addicted to alcohol and drugs. After spending some time in the clink and having some pretty shitty experiences, he cleans up and discovers spirituality and becomes a meditation teacher and practitioner. It's a really interesting look at how a person chooses to change their life. It's also interesting because he starts out very involved in the punk scene and remains very into the scene, even as a Buddhist. In his mind, Buddhism and punk have a lot of the same anti-establishment, not happy with capitalism mentality and goals. Very interesting. [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], I think you would really like this book.
4. Under the Banner of Heaven- Jon Krakauer- B* and I participate in a book exchange with a lot of our friends. Our friend Allison decided to get a group of people together to exchange books with each other, than come together to discuss them. This was the book I got last month. It's a book about Mormons in America. I was fascinated by the true crime type story of the modern day fundamentalists, but found the history of the Mormons to be rather dull. However, I now feel that I know more about the Mormon religion and am intrigued to learn more about Bountiful (the Mormon community in British Columbia.) I guess that's worth something.
2. The Earth, My Butt and other big round things- by Carolyn Mackler- I adored this book. When I first saw it, I was intrigued by the title. My intrigue grew again when I heard a woman at Kidsbooks describing it to someone. It's a YA novel about a girl who is ashamed of her weight and who feels that she doesn't fit in in her perfect family. However, when her brother is found guilty of daterape and gets kicked out of Columbia, she begins to wrestle with her self image, her identity and the way things really are. I loved it. Reading stuff like this really makes me realize that at some point, I will be writing YA. THe more I think about it and consider it, the more it makes sense and seems like a logical choice for me. I just wish I felt ready to write a novel. I still don't feel comfortable starting one yet.
3. Dharma Punx- by Noah Levine. An excellent book for anyone interested in Buddhism. Noah, who is actually the son of Buddhist author, Stephen Levine, started out life as a rebel punk addicted to alcohol and drugs. After spending some time in the clink and having some pretty shitty experiences, he cleans up and discovers spirituality and becomes a meditation teacher and practitioner. It's a really interesting look at how a person chooses to change their life. It's also interesting because he starts out very involved in the punk scene and remains very into the scene, even as a Buddhist. In his mind, Buddhism and punk have a lot of the same anti-establishment, not happy with capitalism mentality and goals. Very interesting. [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], I think you would really like this book.
4. Under the Banner of Heaven- Jon Krakauer- B* and I participate in a book exchange with a lot of our friends. Our friend Allison decided to get a group of people together to exchange books with each other, than come together to discuss them. This was the book I got last month. It's a book about Mormons in America. I was fascinated by the true crime type story of the modern day fundamentalists, but found the history of the Mormons to be rather dull. However, I now feel that I know more about the Mormon religion and am intrigued to learn more about Bountiful (the Mormon community in British Columbia.) I guess that's worth something.
