Love Times Three

Love Times Three:

Our True Story of a Polygamous Marriage

by Joe, Alina, Vicki, and Valerie Darger with Brooke Adams

audiobook: 9.25 hours

narrated by Jamie Lurie, Eliza Foss, Kathleen McInerney, and Karla Kendrick

About the Book

Joe is Independent Fundamentalist Mormon and he has three wives. Together they wrote this book to help counteract the often incorrect assumptions about their culture and way of life.  Told through four perspectives, the book gives a look at the reasons behind their decision to live a polygamous marriage and the challenges and blessings that are part of their everyday lives.

Why I Read It

I was a huge fan of the HBO series Big Love and am fascinated by people who can make polygamous marriage work. This book sounds like a realistic look at a successful family; I wanted to see how they do it.

My Thoughts

One of the first things that caught my attention was the fact that this family was part of the basis for the HBO series Big Love; series creators pulled lots of details from a magazine article that profiled the Darger family anonymously. Apparently the show included quite a few situations that were taken directly from the Darger's life. Of course there were lots of other situations that were purely created for the show (and Joe was quick to point those out).

Another interesting part of the book for me was the actual relationship between Joe's wives. Alina and Vicki were cousins who both became interested in the same man. Knowing that they wanted to be part of a plural marriage they decided to pursue Joe as a pair. About ten years later, after the collapse of her own plural marriage, Vicki's twin sister Valerie became Joe's third wife. An usual situation in so many ways.

The "everyday" part of the book was the most fascinating to me, dealing with sister wives and loads of children and sharing a husband. And of course there were the logistical challenges of a family with 24 children (5 in diapers!). Since I have just one child this was the craziest part of the book for me - I can't imagine dealing with a family that large, let alone sharing my husband with other wives.

This book was a quick and easy listen. It gave me a lot of insight into a culture, religion, and lifestyle that I am not all that familiar with.  I found it well written and well narrated, and definitely worth listening to.

BEA Book Review: The Beekeeper's Lament

The Beekeeper's Lament

by Hannah Nordaus

288 pages

About the Book

The subtitle of this book is "How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America" and that is really what the book is about. The author profiles one of the largest (and most interesting!) beekeepers in the US and shows how vitally important bees are to each and every one of us. She also presents the myriad problems facing beekeepers and their bees in today's world.

Why I Read It

This book was in the swag bag I received at the Harper Collins cocktail party at BEA earlier this year. The title and the cover intrigued me so I was excited to bring it home with me.

My Thoughts

I LOVED this book! Who knew bees (and their keepers) could be so fascinating?! And I honestly had NO CLUE about the massive numbers of bees being moved around the United States in order to pollinate all the farms that stock all the stores across the country.

I was marking pages left and right as I read this book. Here are some of the tidbits that fascinated me:

• About 20 years ago a bee disease killed off almost all of the feral bees in the US - today there is approx 2% of the pre-1987 feral bee population, and those 2% are likely escapees from beekeepers' hives.
• Due to various diseases in the current bee population, the Western honey bee would not survive without the intervention of beekeepers.
• Most farms and orchards WILL NOT produce crops if they don't contract with beekeepers to pollinate their fields/trees. The country's mono-crop landscape cannot support wild pollinators, even if there were enough in the local area to do all the pollinating. And the addition of pesticides makes this an even larger problem.
• Did you know that, by US Postal Code, the Postal Service is required to deliver live bees by mail? Fascinating!

If you have any interest in agriculture, insects, quirky people, strange businesses, or little-known topics, you should definitely give this book a try. It is well-written and fascinating non-fiction and I highly recommend it.

BEA Book Review: 9/11: the world speaks

Excerpt from the back cover:

Almost two million people from across the United States and around the world have come through the museum galleries of the Tribute WTC Visitor Center since it opened in September 2006 across the street from the World Trade Center site. Many of these visitors have written their poignant reflections about the impact of September 11 on visitor cards collected in the Center's final gallery. To date, the Center has collected 200,000 cards written in 48 languages by people from 120 countries.

Why I Wanted This Book 

Back in 2001 my husband was a firefighter/paramedic in the Baltimore City Fire Department.  After the attacks in New York and DC (this was before we knew about PA) my husband wanted to drive directly to NYC and help out. I had to use all my energy to convince him to come back in the house - there was nothing he could have done to help because he had dislocated his shoulder and was on heavy pain medication while he waited for surgery to be scheduled. As the days wore on we found out that he knew several of the firefighters who were killed in New York, and also two people who were on the planes.  Today my husband is not the same person that he was on 9/10/11; the events on 9/11/01 changed him forever.  They changed me as well, but not in the same way. I was 5 months pregnant with Kiddo, and I grieved for the world that he would grow up in.

My husband and I watch the 9/11 programming every year, and we have DVDs of many of the memorials, newscasts, and movies related to it.  I want to visit the place where the World Trade Center once stood (my husband was there on the 6 month annivesary of the attacks) and see the Tribute Center across the street. This book features notes from the Tribute Center, and I think they are important to share with the world.


My Thoughts

This is a book that with both make you proud and make your heart hurt. The majority of the messages included are from people outside New York reflecting on how 9/11 affected them. Most of those are inspiring to read and made me optimistic about the future of the world.  Some of them expressed such compassion and love that it literally made me cry.  Other messages are from people who lost loved ones in the attacks and those broke my heart.  One particular message was from a child who was born two months after his father died in one of the towers. All I could think about was how that child could have been Kiddo.  Quite a few of the messages included drawings that expressed more than words could ever say.

My husband started reading this book but he didn't get too far - some of it was just too painful for him. I think he'll continue reading though, and I think it will be good for him.  I read some of the messages to Kiddo to help him understand the enormity of the tragedy - it isn't as real for him, and I think personal notes like this will help with that.


A Book from BEA

I wish I could remember which publicist at which BEA booth handed this book to me. I remember talking to a woman about several books at the booth and getting very excited when she showed me this one, but I can't remember anything other than that.  If anyone knows which booth this book came from please let me know - I'd love to thank the person who gave it to me.

Mini Reviews: 4 books

I'm still behind on reviews so here are a few quick thoughts on some of my recent read/listens. For a summary of these books please click on the title.

The Bonesetter's Daughter, by Amy Tan - audiobook (11.9 hours) - narrated by Amy Tan and Chen Joan Tan - I enjoyed THE JOY LUCK CLUB year ago and haven't read anything by Tan since then. This was available for download from my library so I decided to give it a listen. And it was ok. Not great, but ok. Parts of the book were very moving and other parts were very intriguing, but the story as a whole didn't capture me. I think in part this was because I didn't identify with the relationship between the mother and daughter main characters.  Still, it was generally enjoyable to listen to, even if it won't stick with me long-term.

Heart of Lies, by M.L. Malcolm - 352 pages - I've had this book since BEA in 2010 - sad, right?! I met the author and really enjoyed chatting with her, so I was definitely looking forward to reading this. Unfortunately I didn't end up loving the book. The story is strongly based on the love between the two main characters, but I wasn't convinced of that love so the story didn't really work for me. I picked up the follow-up book, Heart of Deception, at BEA 2011 and I still plan to read it, but I'm not in any hurry to do so.

The Gunman's Rhapsody, by Robert Parker - audiobook (5.3 hours) - narrated by Ed Begley, Jr - This is a retelling of the Wyatt Earp story. Although it was well-written and I enjoyed listening to it, I can't say that it gave me any new insight into the story or the people involved.




The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, by Pat F. Garrett - audiobook (5.5 hours) - narrated by Daniel Luna - Alright, I have to admit that I didn't finish this one.  My husband and I started listening to it on a long drive and we made it about halfway through. Once we got home, we never got around to listening to the rest of it. It wasn't bad but it didn't really pull me in either, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on much by not finishing it.

BEA Book Review: Waltzing With The Enemy

Waltzing With The Enemy

by Rasia Kliot and Helen Mitsios

287 pages

During the panel I moderated at BEA I mentioned that I enjoy non-fiction. Immediately after the panel author Helen Mitsios introduced herself, thrilled to finally find a non-fiction fan (she hadn't had much success connecting with the right bloggers at that point). When she told me about the book she'd written with her mother, I knew I wanted to read it.

In the first part of the book Helen's mom, Rasia, explains how she used her wits and some luck to survive the Holocaust.  In the second part of the book Helen describes her own life and how her Rasia's experiences affected her daughter. Helen didn't find out she was Jewish until she was almost a teenager. Combined with other issues in her family, this fact had a huge impact on how Helen viewed herself, which she shares in her portion of the book.

Other than one minor thing which I'll discuss next, I really enjoyed this book. Rasia's experiences and the way she survived are simply amazing and would make for fascinating reading on their own. The fact that her experience affected her daughter's life should be obvious, but I have never read anything about the children of survivors and how they deal with their own (and their parents') issues. Helen's part of the book was well-written and (for the most part) interesting.

And here we come to the one thing I didn't like about the book. A huge part of Helen's story is how she came to grips with her own issues. That's great, because I was very interested in it. However I felt that she spent too much time focusing on which psychologist said what in his latest book and which researcher has a new theory.  This section dragged for me and I feel it could have been cut down considerably.

Other than that one issue though, I really enjoyed this book. I'm so glad Helen came up and introduced herself!

BEA (mini) Book Review: Something Inside of Me

Something Inside of Me

by Chitoka Webb

200 pages

I met Chitoka while I was at BEA in New York back in May and I really enjoyed the time I spent chatting with her. She is a lovely conversationalist and it was for that reason that I decided to read her book, even though it isn't something I'd normally pick up.

This book is a short memoir that seeks to inspire readers to fight through hard times.  Chitoka overcame a variety of obstacles to become a successful business woman and she relied on "something inside of her" to get her there.

Although I enjoyed learning more about Chitoka's life I can't say that I loved the book. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. I think perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more if it had been shortened and included in a collection with other inspiring true stories.

Mini Reviews: 6 Books

I hope that you all are enjoying your summer (or, for those in the other hemisphere, your winter) as much as I am.  Things have been super busy here BUT I am reading some and definitely listening to lots of audio books.  Below are some quick thoughts on some of my latest finished books.  I didn't provide summaries because 1) most of these are books you've probably heard of, 2) I'm trying to keep this short so I actually get a post written, and 3) you can click on the titles to read the summaries at GoodReads.com.

Stardust, by Neil Gaiman - audio, 6.5 hours, narrated by the author - I'm not a huge Gaiman fan so this was actually the first book by him that I've read/listened to.  I had seen the movie and loved it so I figured I'd give it a shot.  All in all I enjoyed it.  It wasn't anything that blew me out of the water but it was entertaining and original and I'm glad I listened to it.






Crossed, by Ally Condie - ARC from BEA (no idea of the page count as I don't have the book anymore) - I enjoyed Matched (liked but not loved) and I wanted to see what happened to the characters next. I picked up this book to send to Amanda but of course I had to read it first. :) Although I did like it I also felt that not a whole lot happened; it definitely had the feel of a "second in a trilogy" book.  I'm not particularly invested in the series but I will read the final book when it comes out.


The Girl Who Fell From The Sky, by Heidi W. Durrow - 264 pages - This book was not what I expected AT ALL but it was strangely fascinating.  I didn't necessarily love it but I was totally intrigued by it.  What I did love was the examination of race and class that the author showed through the main character and her interactions with those around her.  I need to look up some info about the author and see if her writing was influenced by her own experiences with race in any way ...



Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian - audio - DNF - This is a book that I SHOULD love. It has everything that I enjoy - historical detail, epic adventure, good narration - but I just couldn't get into it.  I listened for about 5 hours before finally calling it quits.  Of course, the fact that I fell asleep in the movie version might have given me a clue ...



A Woman of Independent Means, Elizabeth Forysthe Hailey - audio, 1.9 hours, narrated by Barbara Rush -  I really wanted to love this story of a real woman in the early 1900s making her way through marriage and family while retaining her independence.  Unfortunately I found that I really didn't like this woman. This became very clear to me via her dealings with her adult daughter late in the book; I couldn't imagine having to deal with this woman as my own mother!

Don't Breathe A Word, by Jennifer McMahon - 464 pages - I saw a ton of reviews for this book over the past few months so when I got a copy in a BEA swag bag I decided to give it a try. I don't usually read "missing children" books but I was intrigued by the fantasy element in this one. It kept my attention and parts of it slightly gave me the creeps but overall it was just okay.  The problem for me what that I wanted more of the fantasy than I got.




Have you read any of these?  What did you think of them?

Hopefully I'll have more short reviews soon ...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - mini review

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

by Rebecca Skloot

audiobook: 12.5 hours

This book made all sorts of waves when it came out (last year, I think) and I really wanted to read it but of course it got put off and put off. Finally I decided to get the audio from the library and just listen to it rather than reading it. Boy, am I glad I did - I can't believe I waited so long to dig into this book!

Here's part of the summary from Amazon.com (since I'm feeling really lazy right now - still recovering from BEA!):

Henrietta Lacks was a mother of five in Baltimore, a poor African American migrant from the tobacco farms of Virginia, who died from a cruelly aggressive cancer at the age of 30 in 1951. A sample of her cancerous tissue, taken without her knowledge or consent, as was the custom then, turned out to provide one of the holy grails of mid-century biology: human cells that could survive--even thrive--in the lab. Known as HeLa cells, their stunning potency gave scientists a building block for countless breakthroughs, beginning with the cure for polio. Meanwhile, Henrietta's family continued to live in poverty and frequently poor health, and their discovery decades later of her unknowing contribution--and her cells' strange survival--left them full of pride, anger, and suspicion. For a decade, Skloot doggedly but compassionately gathered the threads of these stories, slowly gaining the trust of the family while helping them learn the truth about Henrietta, and with their aid she tells a rich and haunting story that asks the questions, Who owns our bodies? And who carries our memories?

This is one of those knock-your-socks-off kind of books.  As you read (or listen) you are constantly thinking, "How did I not know this story before?" and "How did this actually happen to these people?!"

By the time you gather in all the science, the history, and the people, there is a LOT going on in this book.  The author did a great job gathering all the threads of the story and weaving them together into one.  I never felt confused about what was going on or who someone was.  I also cared a great deal about the people in the story, though there were times when I was amazed at the author's patience with Deborah (Henrietta's daughter, and the main contact for the story) - I am certainly NOT that patient!

I realize this isn't really much of a review.  Unfortunately it's been about a month since I finished listening to this book and though I really enjoyed it I didn't make any notes about what I wanted to write. Instead I can just give you my lingering impression of the book, which is this: this is a story EVERYONE should be familiar with and I cannot recommend it enough.

Lost in Shangri-La

Lost in Shangri-La

by Mitchell Zuckoff

audiobook: 8.5 hours
narrated by the author

About the Book

The subtitle of this book is "A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II" and that really say it all.  It's the story of a plane crash in the remote and inaccessible mountains of New Guinea that left only 3 survivors, and the amazingly risky plan to rescue them.  Check out this video for a bit about the story and to see what the survivors (and the local people) looked like.

My Thoughts

I'm a fan of WWII stories, probably because of my grandpa's involvement in the war, so books set in that time and place - especially non-fiction books - always capture my attention.  But I have to admit that I'd never heard of this plane crash or the rescue before this book.  It's always great to discover new stories like this!

The author begins by introducing the people who found themselves on the fateful plane that day. I got to know a bit about their families, what life was like on base, and something of their personalities.  He then goes on to explain the discovery of the hidden valley of Shangri-La and the lives of the native population.  When the plane crash happened I felt so sad for the families of the people who died, families I'd just learned about a short time before.  

In addition to the people on the plane I also learned about the rescue crew, the reporters, and several other important players.  Knowing about their backgrounds and their families added a lot to the story for me.

The book is not all that long and it moves quickly.  It was over before I knew it and although the story comes to a definite conclusion I was left wanting more. Not to say that the book left out anything important, more that I was enjoying the experience of listening and could have continued for many more hours.  

Oh, and the book is narrated by the author - he does a very good job with it.

Recommend?

You'd like this book if you are a fan of WWII stories, tales of survival and/or rescue, of if you are looking for a little known bit of history.  I quite enjoyed it.

Forbidden Creatures

Forbidden Creatures 

by Peter Laufer

272 pages

About the Book

Laufer examines the exotic animal trade - legal and illegal - and the types of people who keep "big cats, long snakes, and great apes" as pets.


Why I Read It

I picked this up at BEA last May.  The first thing that attracted me was the cover - that yellow snake is actually a shimmery, reflective color when you see the book in person.  I'm fascinated by people who keep exotic animals so the topic of the book intrigued me as well.  And since BEA is coming up next week I thought I'd better finish reading the books I brought home last year before I bring home another stack. :)


My Thoughts

The subject matter of this book is absolutely fascinating to me.  I'm a huge fan of TV shows like Fatal Attractions and Python Hunters and many of the stories in the book were ones I recognized from those types of shows.  Having a big dog is about all the pet I can handle so the idea of owning a tiger, a chimpanzee, or a 200 lb snake is rather beyond my comprehension.  Still, I do understand the appeal.

Laufer looks at the exotic animal trade from a variety of perspectives in order to understand what it is that drives people to capture, breed, sell, and/or own these very wild creatures.  He also examines the unique position of wild animals bred in captivity:

They're not wild. They're not domesticated.  They're not feral. They're not tamed.  Perhaps we need to create a new classification: captive bred, untamable, and latently wild.  It's awkward but descriptive. (p95)

As I said, I'm very interested in this topic so I found the book quite intriguing.  At the same time, I felt that Laufer's writing was somewhat choppy.  I also got the impression that each chapter was written more as an essay than as a chapter, which resulted in a lot of repetition at the beginning of the book; this did improve as the book progressed though.

Recommend?

If you find the idea of exotic animals living with people to be an "interesting" situation then you will likely enjoy this book.  Read it for the topic not for the writing and you won't be disappointed.

The debate between the exotic pet lovers and those opposed to their relationships with their animals polarizes participants and observers.  Like abortion, capital punishment, and the viability of Sarah Palin as a presidential candidate, there seems to be precious little middle ground or room for compromise among the participants. (p105)

quick thoughts on more books

Here are a few more quick reviews ... I'm just about caught up now!



Matched, by Ally Condie - There was a big fuss about this book last year and I basically ignored it because this isn't the type of book I usually read (it's YA dystopian).  However, when the audio version popped up as a downloadable option from my library I figured I'd give it a shot. And I have to say ... I quite enjoyed this one! The first part of the book was okay but by the end I was really into it.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series. (9.8 hours)




20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne - I've mentioned before that I have a literary crush on Jules Verne, and that I love the old movie of this book. I can't believe it's taken me so many years to actually get around to the book.  Parts of it were really good but parts of it dragged as well.  It was interesting to see how our views of nature have changed since Verne's era.  Many times in the book the characters mentioned that the ocean has such an abundance that man will never be able to use it all up - how different than what we know now!  I'm glad I listened to this one but it isn't my favorite Verne.  (11.5 hours)




Cesar Millan books - I skimmed through both Cesar's Rules and A Member of the Family just after we got Bullet.  I didn't read them thoroughly but rather focused on sections that I thought might be helpful.  I'm a huge Cesar fan and can't recommend these enough - if you have a dog or want to get a dog, definitely check into Cesar's methods. (320 pages each)

The Tiger

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

by John Vaillant

audiobook: 12 .1 hours

narrated by the author

I was REALLY looking forward to this book.  It is a true story, and one that greatly intrigued me.

Check out this video to get an idea of what the book is about:



This book turned out to be very different from what I expected, in both good and bad ways.

On the one hand the story is much MUCH more complex than simply a tiger stalking and killing a man. I learned about the religious beliefs of the native Siberian people (and those of neighboring Asian countries), the status of animals during and after the Soviet government, poaching for survival and for profit, tiger biology and habits, and so much more.  The story in incredibly and fascinatingly complex, yet unbelievably simple at the same time.

On the other hand, I was sort of expecting more of the book to be about how and why this particular tiger had a vendetta against this particular man.  Although I did learn the answers to both questions, this comprised a much smaller portion of the book than I expected and I was a bit disappointed in that.  I think it was more a issue of how the book had been marketed than a fault of the book itself though.

On the whole I found this book fascinating and educational, if not always completely thrilling.  It wasn't one that I rushed back to whenever possible but it held my attention completely whenever I had it playing.

Oh, and the author did a great job narrating this one so that was a definitely bonus for me.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

by Rhoda Janzen

272 pages

After reading that Mormon Singles book and loving it so much I was on the lookout for a similar read.  Mennonite was on my shelf and it seemed like just the thing.

In this memoir the author shares how her life changed when her husband left her for "Bob the guy from Gay.com."  She was about to go on a sabbatical from teaching when this happened.  To make it worse, she was then in a car accident and needed a great deal of medical care.  Since she could no longer pay for her house or care for herself full time, she returned to her Mennonite parents home for the duration of her sabbatical.  The rest of the book details her experiences living again in a Mennonite community and the ways in which that community is different from the rest of modern America.

The blurb on the back of the book led me to believe that this would be a humorous yet thought-provoking read. I wasn't bad, but I really didn't fall in love with it either.  Rhoda is a bit more sarcastic and less introspective than Elna Baker (author of the Mormon Singles book I mentioned above) and I found that I wasn't as invested in her life as I was in Elna's.  Not to say that there weren't some fun and funny parts to this book, but I didn't feel like Rhoda was really learning anything (about herself or others) or changing her life.  And perhaps that wasn't the point of the book, but it IS what I was looking for.