Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan Slaght
I guess I'm in the minority with this book - I did NOT like it. I love owls and was fascinated by the description of this book how the author stumbled upon the rare Russian fish owl and ended up doing his PhD study on these owls and their habitat. In reality the book highlighted for me how awful it would be to live in these rural parts of Russia. During Slaght's research he and his rotating cast of local research assistants would stay with locals or camp in the more remote spots. The people were always nice to Slaght and his teams, but it was a hard life for anyone out there. And he also highlighted how terrible it was for local animals - there were some really horrific stories he told that made me want to put the book down. I was hoping that once it got more into the owls it would get better, but honestly for me it didn't. While he did make progress with his owl research and getting data on these very elusive birds, overall the book was just awful. I would NOT recommend this one at all. A very hard read with not much redeeming owl value, in my opinion.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson - Community Read, re-read, Evening Edition, Books & Banter
On re-reading for Community Read book clubs in 2021
At first I was reluctant to re-read this book because it's a hard read and everything is so hard right now I honestly didn't want something else hard to read. But, just like the first time I read it this book and the writing just sucks you in. And while it is hard there is also so much hope threaded through the hardness because of people like Bryan Stevenson and the work of EJI and other similar groups. This is such a powerful book and I hope the discussion goes well in both of my book clubs.
A few extra quotes I liked from this re-read:
"The prison population has increased from 300,000 people in the early 1970s to 2.3 million people today. There are nearly six million people on probation or parole. One in every fifteen people born in the United States is 2001 is expected to go to jail or prison; one in every three black male babies born in this century is expected to be incarcerated." (p. 15)
"It was so adamantly clear that George was mentally ill that it came as no shock when we discovered that the doctor who had examined him at Bryce Hospital was a fraud with no medical training. 'Dr. Ed Seger' had made up his credentials. He had never graduated from college but had fooled hospital officials into believing he was a trained physician with expertise in psychiatry. He had masqueraded at the hospital for eight years conducting competency evaluations on people accused of crimes before his fraud was uncovered...there are likely hundreds of other people imprisoned after an evaluation by 'Dr. Seger' whose convictions have never been reviewed." (p. 191)
Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett
When Mikel Jollett was 4 years old his mother kidnapped him and his older brother, Tony, from the Syanon cult they were in. They briefly lived with his maternal grandparents who helped them escape, then moved out on their own. After some "enforcers" from Syanon came and beat their mother's boyfriend into a coma they moved to Oregon. Soon their mother has a new boyfriend Paul and their biological father is back in the picture and they start spending summers with him. Eventually both Mikel and Tony live in Los Angeles with their father and his wife Bonnie (who was also in the cult and took care of Mikel in the school). Their mother also goes through a string of marriages and dysfunctional relationships. Both Mikel and Tony struggle with the effects of growing up in Syanon, but no one ever thinks to send them to therapy or anything. Only after Mikel is a successful musician will he seek out therapy and finally start to heal. The very beginning of the book was harder for me because it's written from Mikel's perspective as a young child, but as he starts to grow up and understand more and question more it gets better. By about half way through I couldn't put it down. His family has a LOT of dysfunction, but on his Dad's side there is an equal amount of love. Mikel breaks many of the family cycles of addiction and criminality eventually going to Stanford and forming the music group Airborne Toxic Event. He writes beautifully in the book about his struggles and the hard work he did to break toxic patterns, but also recognize the good in (most) of his family.
I had heard of the band Airborne Toxic Event, but didn't follow them or really know their music. I picked this book up because of the cult element, but it was so amazing and just beautifully and descriptively written. I would highly recommend this one.
Some quotes I liked:
"It's shocking to realize it's in me to be like him. I wonder if it's in him to be like me. If we didn't choose ourselves at all but just became what was required of us, like characters following a script." (p. 129)
"It's so different how they see us. Mom is always trying to find a way to make us take care of her. Dad and Bonnie's first thought is always of us, how we might be sad, how it might be difficult for us that Paul is leaving." (p. 137)
"I wondered how the authors dreamed these stories up. It seemed like writers have the most important job in the world, to make books, to create a connection, a kind of telepathy between two minds in which one can inhabit the other. It doesn't seem like a thing that exists in the real world, to be an artist." (p. 224)
"I want so badly to be on whatever team Richard Wright is on. I knew he faced things I never will, that I have the advantage of this white face I can wear like a mask, that when teachers or cops or y peers look at me, they don't see the food stamps and heroin and lineage of men who've gone to prison, all they see is my blonde hair and my green eyes, the picture of a suburban white boy. And that Tanisha Campbell and my black peers, no matter how focused on the future they are, no matter how safe, settled, upwardly mobile their home lives are, when authority figures see a black teenager, what they see is a million stereotypes." (p. 225-26)
"It's never occurred to me that my birthday was anything other than a time I owe to her and that all this pretending, this role I know must continually play, is costing me something. It's as if she doesn't even see me, only a person who is an extension of herself, one who left, who betrayed her, to whom she gave life and therefore a person from whom a life is owed. It never occurred to me that other mothers don't feel this way." (p. 246)
"But something changed. The resentment is gone and in its place is a simple understanding. I don't want him to be like my friends' fathers with their degrees, their clean records, their pressure, and I know - as much as I know anything in the world - that this flawed, angry, funny, wise and affectionate man is on my side no matter where I go or what I do. It's the greatest gift anyone has ever given me." (p. 255)
"Take your pain and make it useful. That's what it means to be an artist. I never want to go home anyway." (p. 287)
Uprooted: a gardener reflects on beginning again by Page Dickey
Page Dickey was known for her ultra-manicured 3 acre garden Duck Hill in New York. When she and her husband decided that the property was too expensive and too much to maintain as they got older, they started looking for something else. Ironically (to me), they went with a 17 acre property in Connecticut. I thought the book would be more about how hard it was for the author to leave the property and gardens she had put so much time into, but it was more about all the stuff they have done and plan to do on their new property. To me it doesn't sound like the new property will be less work - just less manicured. This book focuses more on the difference between the two properties and what Dickey wants to do differently. Parts of it were interesting and parts of it were redundant with the author going on and on listing dozens of varieties of plants I don't know and why and where she's planted them on either property. I was more on her side until she added a random chapter about how awful cats are - why?! I know you are typically a dog person or a cat person, but that one chapter really turned me off of the whole book. I bumped it back up to 3 stars because there are tons of beautiful photos throughout the book and it is a quick, relatively easy read. Overall though it was not what I was expecting and I wouldn't really recommend this one.
Nobody's Victim: fighting psychos, stalkers, pervs, and trolls by Carrie Goldberg
Carrie Goldberg was stalked and harassed by an ex-boyfriend for over a year when she tried to end their relationship. Even though Goldberg was already a lawyer many people in law enforcement and the justice system were not equipped to deal with this type of intimate partner stalking and harassment. So, she became the person she needed and opened her own law firm specializing in sexual harassment, sextortion, revenge porn, and stalking. The variety of tactics used by these men to target women is almost unimaginable. The law is ridiculously slow to catch up with modern technology and that makes Goldberg's work even more important. She has figured out ways to make current law work in her client's favor while also continuing to work with law makers to create new laws relating to technology and privacy. Each chapter details one type of case or crime and how she's fighting back for her clients. I honestly wasn't really sure what to expect with this book, but it was disturbing and hard to read at times. But, this is the world we live in and I think parents especially need to read this. The author doesn't point this out but these are two big takeaways for me 1) violent pornography is the root cause of almost all the behavior highlighted in this book - it demeans women and sets up the expectation of women's bodies as vessels for men to use. It also normalizes videoing and photographing women with or without their consent. 2) children and technology is NOT a good combination. There were several stories of children being either pressured or tricked into sending nude/sexual pictures that were then used against them. While some of this book was hard to read I feel like this is such an important topic that needs to be discussed more. I applaud Goldberg and her work in this field. While sometimes hard to read, I do feel like the book overall is hopeful and empowering.
Some quotes I liked:
"No other media entity - not Fox News, or the New York Times or even the National Enquirer - is allowed to operate as a vehicle for defamation, threats, or the promotion of hate crimes, nor can they legally facilitate the dissemination of nonconsensual porn. But thanks to Section 230 of the CDA [Communications Decency Act of 1996], internet companies get a pass." (p. 45)
"In January 2017 alone, Facebook reported receiving fifty-one thousand complaints about revenge porn. Multiply that number by twelve months and factor in all the other social media platforms that people use, and you begin to grasp the extent of the problem." (p. 117)
"In 2014, only 10 percent of Twitter technical jobs were filled by women. Men run and rule the internet, which might explain why, for so long, so little attention was paid to the crisis of sexual exploitation, harassment, and abuse on their sites. It wasn't a priority because these attacks weren't happening to the people in charge." (p. 128)
"In 2012, journalist Adrian Chen, reporting for Gawker, a now-defunct celebrity gossip and news site, uncovered the true identity of Violentacrez, one of the most notorious trolls on Reddit...In addition to moderating duties, Violentacrez was also notorious for posting racist, violent, and dehumanizing images...Offline, Chen discovered, Violentacrez led a very different existence. Violentacrez's real name is Michael Brutsch. He's a husband, father, and cat lover from Arlington, Texas. When Chen contacted Brutsch, who at the time worked as a programmer for a financial firm, Brutsch defended his actions with little more than a shrug: 'I do my job, go home, watch TV, and go on the internet. I just like riling people up in my spare time.' But when Chen told Brutsch he intended to reveal his identity on Gawker, Brutsch pleaded with the reporter to reconsider. 'My wife is disabled,' he implored. 'I've got a home and a mortgage, and if this hits the fan, I believe this will affect negatively on my employment.' Brutsch was right. Less than twenty-four hours after the story went live, he was fired. Offline, being a world-class dick has consequences." (p. 145-46)
"In the 1970s and '80s, feminist writer Andrea Dworkin tried to explain to anyone who'd listen that porn isn't just another form of entertainment. By offering visions of women who appear to be enjoying aggressive, violent, and degrading sex, porn promotes and normalizes violence against women, Dworkin argued. She famously described pornography as a 'celebration of rape and injury to women.' Not many agreed. Dworkin was dismissed, even by other feminists, as too 'radical.'...But in 2016 - almost four decades after Dworkin wrote her groundbreaking and definitive work on the matter, Pornograhy: Men Possessing Women - a meta-analysis of twenty-two different studies of pornography published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Communication found an overwhelming correlation between regular porn consumption and people who hold a 'favorable attitude' toward, or engage in, acts of sexual aggression." (p. 174-75)
Leave Only Footprints: my Acadia to Zion journey through America's National Parks by Conor Knighton
When Conor Knighton's fiancee breaks off their engagement he feels lost. In 2016 the National Parks Service would be celebrating it's 100th anniversary. That gave Knighton the idea of visiting every National Park in the year 2016 - 59 parks in 52 weeks (there are now 62 parks as 3 were added in 2018). Knighton pitched his ambitious idea to CBS Sunday Morning a show he had worked on in the past and they agreed. So on a shoestring budget and with no official home to go back to, Knighton started his journey. His first park was Acadia in Maine on January 1 to catch the very first sunrise of the year and his last was Yellowstone, choosing to end with the first official National Park. I was curious how he would organize the book - alphabetically, geographically, etc. He ended up organizing the chapters by things the parks in that chapter are known for - animals, trees, ice, etc. While I did like the way the book was laid out I felt like each park was just glossed over. Even if it would have been longer I would have liked a short chapter about each park. With his timeline though he didn't have tons of time in each park, so the way he did the book makes sense. There are also two sections of photos from some of the parks, which helps visualize some of what he's experiencing. He is a great writer too and the book is a very easy, enjoyable read. I've only been to 3 National Parks (and not even the one in my own home state!), so this definitely made me want to explore more of these parks and see more of our country. Overall, I would definitely recommend this one!
Some quotes I liked:
"...I gave thirty days' notice to my landlord and started packing up my stuff and selling what I could. Each night, I would invite a new batch of potential murderers from Craigslist to come check out the TV, the table, the Ikea Hopen dresser my fiancee and I had built together. I wanted it all gone." (p. 8)
[While visiting Redwood National Park] "For such tall trees, redwoods have surprisingly shallow roots. But the roots are wide - they can stretch for hundreds of feet, intermingling with the roots of neighboring trees...back at the visitor center, I learned of a much more practical purpose for the long roots. Even though the tall redwoods are constantly at risk of toppling over, they rarely do, thank to a little help from their friends. The trees lock their roots together under the soil and hold each other tight...Like us, the trees are stronger together than they are on their own." (p. 84)
National Parks: explore America's 60 National Parks by Rand McNally
After reading Leave Only Footprints about Conor Knighton's year-long journey to all the National Parks I put a few other books about National Parks on hold. This one is a great overview of 60 parks - at the time of publication that's how many there were, now we're up to 62. It's got a nice 2 page spread with a map of the US that shows all the National Park locations with a list that gives the page numbers of that park in the book. There is another page with some general info about National Parks, then it just gets into an alphabetical list of all the parks. Each park has 2-4 pages with lots of photos, a map of the park, and TONS of information. Each park has "basics" the history, where it is, seasons, contact info, etc. then "highlights" that focus on things to see, do, and where to stay. It's a great book to just flip through for a good overall view of each park. The only downside is it would be dated since shortly after it's publication 2 more parks were added, but overall it's a great book to look through and dream about where you want to go next.
I Am Restored: how I lost my religion but found my faith by Lecrae Moore
In Lecrae's previous book, Unashamed he tells his story of how he grew up and how he came to know Christ in college and then started his music career. In that book he does talk about abuse he suffered as a child and things he struggled with before he was a believer. But, in I Am Restored he really gets transparent and vulnerable about how much his upbringing and past wounded him even when he didn't realize it. At the peak of his success with his career he was at his lowest emotionally. He "had it all" on the surface, but was suffering from serious depression and addiction issues. Only in getting real with himself could he start to address and truly heal from his wounds. A lot of his wounds came from trying to address what it means to be a Christian Black man in today's society. As he works through his wounds he starts to realize that he will always be a work in progress, but counseling and having a support system to keep him accountable are two of the top things that helped him the most. Overall, a really honest book that not only tells his personal story, but also highlights healthy ways for any Christian to deal with their own wounds.
Some quotes I liked:
"Most of the theology I learned was missing the right categories for handling trauma in a healthy way. It only interacted with trauma when it was time to redeem it for the glory of God. But how do I live as a healthy human being? How do I handle trauma in a way that actually closes the loop of chaos in my life? How do I maintain honesty when even Christians cannot seem to handle the weight of my authenticity?" (p. 6-7)
"Through my journey to restoration I've learned this simple truth: we can face our past willingly, or our lives will force us to face it. It's really that simple. We can choose to go down the valley of the shadow of death that is filled with our shame and trauma, or we can drown in our dysfunction. The choice is not easy, but it is painfully clear." (p. 23)
"I believe that we are all one family in Christ despite our ethnicity, but each of us has unique distinctions and gifts. That's how God desires us to live. To say we don't see color is to say we don't see the beauty of that diverse kingdom." (p. 75)
"But this type of argument [about Colin Kaepernick taking a knee] was part of a broader Christian trend when it came to politics. I was learning that even the clearest articulation of the issues would not be heard with charity because it didn't fit the evangelical talking points." (p. 86)
"When I first started making music, I had no idea about this intermarriage of faith and politics that existed in the American church. I didn't feel that the church explicitly imposed its political views on me, but they were unwritten rules, assumptions that started to become louder as the 2016 election approached." (p. 91-2)
"Jesus showed us what it means to be healthy. Multiple times in Scriptures he stepped away from the crowds to spend time with God, to be with his Father. Yes, there was spiritual rhythm involved in that, but he was also caring for his mental health. By regularly taking a break from his ministry schedule, Jesus was modeling mental health for us. He was showing us that slipping away from all the noise is necessary to preserve our sanity." (p. 143)
"Emotional health needs to be incorporated into our discipleship. Mental health needs to be preached about in our sermons. We need healed people to tell us how they reached the reality of healing. We need historians to tell us the truth about the racial and cultural history of our local churches and denominations. We need women to be given the opportunity to lead us in areas other than women's ministry. We need a theological vision that seeps into our politics, health care, economics, education, and families." (p. 167)
Moon USA National Parks: the complete guide to all 62 parks by Becky Lomax
This is a fantastic travel guide for all 62 National Parks. The book gives lots of general information and tips for visiting National Parks before getting into the list of parks. I really liked that they create a list of parks by "best of" lists like - best hiking, best for wildlife, etc. The parks are divided into areas with Alaska and California getting their own sections since each state has several parks. Otherwise it's divided into geographic areas like Southwest, The South, Islands, etc. Each park has several pages of in-depth information about that park including maps, planning your time, sights, scenic drives, hiking, recreation, where to stay, getting there, getting around, and sights nearby. I also like that at each first page for a park there is a spot for the keepsake stamps that you can find in visitor's centers of each park if you're using the book to collect your visiting stamps. At the end is a chapter titled Essentials that gives a brief history of National Parks and the parks service, as well as road rules, health and safety tips, and travel tips. I would definitely recommend this book if you're planning to start visiting some National Parks or starting to make your dream vacation plans.
Sweet Taste of Liberty: a true story of slavery and restitution in America by W. Caleb McDaniel
Henrietta Wood was born into slavery in Kentucky, but in 1848 she was moved to Ohio and given her freedom by her owner at the time. Wood enjoyed 5 years of freedom before being kidnapped and taken back to Kentucky. Thanks to friends or her current employer people suspected she had been kidnapped back into slavery, as this unfortunately happened with regularity. An abolitionist lawyer tried to work on her behalf, but ultimately lost and she was subsequently sold back into slavery. First taken to New Orleans, then later her owner trying to evade slave emancipation took her and several other slaves to Texas for several years. In all Wood was re-enslaved for sixteen more years. When she was finally granted freedom again she immediately went back to Ohio and filed a lawsuit against Zebulon Ward, the man who conspired to kidnap her and sell her back into slavery. Miraculously Wood won her suit and received $2500 in damages - not the original $20,000 she sued for, but still a significant sum. That lawsuit allowed her son to buy a home outright and also attend law school.
Sadly, many of the details of Wood's story are lost. Reporter Lafcadio Hearn told Wood's story in the Cincinnati Commercial newspaper in 1876 while she was still waiting for her case to be decided. While this story captured more than many other sadly similar stories of the day, much of her story is lost. But, her captor, Zebulon Ward, has TONS of information available about his life and work. Ward not only worked in the kidnapping of free blacks and selling them back into slavery he was a pioneer in the convict leasing schemes that allowed him to treat prisoners like his own personal slave force and profit from their labors. He was really an awful person, but sadly not in the minority at the time.
This was an interesting book and I was really intrigued by Henrietta Wood's story and her determination to sue her kidnapper. But, because so much of Wood's story is not known the majority of the book is more about the time of this occurrence - the era of slavery ending, how deep South slave owners reacted to the end of the Civil War, etc. While all the definitely helped fill in the details of the time I do wish there was more of Henrietta's personal story or more from her son. But, sadly it's often after the fact that we realize we should have made more effort to record those stories for the future. While it's a shameful part of our country's history, Henrietta's victory did prove that sometimes the truth does win out despite enormous odds.
Some quotes I liked:
"And when his successor took over as keeper [of Ward's first prison] in 1859, a new corps of physicians uncovered deplorable conditions. Reviewing the records they found at the prison's crowded infirmary, they noted the 'fearful mortality' under Ward's tenure, a rate they called 'unprecedented in the annals of prison discipline' in the United States." (p. 121) [And that is really saying something for the time period, plus that didn't stop Ward from being able to do the same things in not one, but two subsequent prisons he ran in other areas.]
"Gerard Brandon had returned to Texas after his brief visit home in 1864, and as Wood later recalled in 1879, he kept his slaves working on his rented plantation for three more years after the Emancipation Proclamation - in other words, until the year 1866...Lincoln's proclamation had technically freed all the slaves in disloyal states, beginning on January 1, 1863. Actual emancipation depended, however, on federal troops who could enforce that order." (p. 166)
