Blame me for reading

Posted on 19. Mar, 2010 by kchristieh in books

How would you feel if you woke up in jail, unable to remember the past few days, only to discover that you’re accused of homicide? That’s the premise of by Michelle Huneven. I heard her speak at the Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse last night. She read from her book, and took questions about the book and the process of writing it. I can’t wait to read it. She says that it’s about a woman who’s made a conscious decision to live a good life, even after something so horrible that she can’t even remember. By the way, she’s a local author, and part of the book takes place in La Canada. I told her she needs to meet local mystery/crime author Dianne Emley.

After Michelle spoke, Joe Murphy, a representative from W.W. Norton Publishing, went through a stack of his books that he says would be great for book clubs to read. He made them all sound wonderful, and I wish I had more time in the day! (Hahaha – as I write this, it’s 3:33 am…not a good solution to gaining more hours in the day!)

Here are the books he recommends, with a short explanation of why I remember he liked them so much:

• by Diane Ackerman: The true story of how the zookeepers of the Warsaw Zoo managed to hide Jews from the Nazis, even as they cared for the last remaining animals. It’s a fascinating story, and amazing that this hasn’t been written about earlier.
• by Sarah Thornton: Essays about experiences ranging from a critical review class at Cal Arts to auction day at Christie’s.
• by David Small: A biographical graphic novel about an incredibly dysfunctional family.
• by Michael Lewis: The account of some of the few people who managed to foresee our current economic crisis. When I returned from the book event, the first thing my husband said to me was that he wanted to read this book, and he didn’t even know it was discussed. But, he has a Kindle, so I won’t be getting it for him from the bookstore. You can read an excerpt in this month’s Vanity Fair.
• by Dara Horn: About two undercover spies in the Civil War who fall in love…but are on opposite sides of the conflict. Joe said he thought this was perhaps the best-written of the books he recommended, and found it fascinating to learn about Jewish culture in the mid-1800’s.
• by Michael Cox: A Victorian thriller about a lawyer who discovers that he’s the rightful heir to an estate, but has to fight to gain possession. It’s very Dickensian, and even has a sequel, .
• by Brady Udall: This was the grand raffle prize of the evening, and I won it! Amazon says this book won’t be published until May 3rd, so I’m lucky to be able to read it so early. Joe was really excited about this one, and the writeup he gave us said it’s the most anticipated novel of 2010. It’s the “tragicomedy of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future.” He said that it’s very well-written, and has some very funny spots. He also said that despite the large number of characters (the protagonist has 29 children), the author does such a good job of going into depth only on certain ones that it never gets confusing. (Too bad Juan Rulfo didn’t write like this!)

After the event, we were given “goody bags” with book samples. I chose one with a book called by Joanna Trollope in it. It’ll be published on April 13th, and its only reviewer on Amazon.com so far gives it 5 stars and says that she stayed up past 3 am to finish it. That sounds like my kind of book! (But how can I stay up past 3 am and yet wake up at 3 am? Don’t blame me for trying!)

Many thanks to the wonderful folks at the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse for putting on such a marvelous event. Catherine Linka was an incredible hostess, leading us in an engaging game of “Name that Literary Hunk” and giving eloquent introductions to the speaker. She and the bookstore are a treasure to our community.

Katrina Kenison to speak this Thursday at LCPC

Posted on 13. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in books, parenting

When my kids were little, they didn’t understand why someone would cry if they weren’t hurt. They thought I was crazy for getting teary-eyed when we’d pass a wedding party outside of a church. I think they’re starting to understand, however, as we all broke down recently while watching Marley & Me. Some things just hit you harder, and as you grow older, there are more life experiences you can relate to.

That’s what Katrina Kenison does for me. When someone emailed me a link to a video of her reading from her most recent book, , I almost didn’t watch it. I didn’t want to sacrifice 7 minutes to watch a YouTube video. But I trusted the judgment of the person who sent it to me, so I finally clicked on the link. I’m so glad I did. It made me reflect upon the joys and challenges that have come with parenting, and how much my children and I have grown. It also reminded me of how much I’ve been blessed by being a mother for the past 18 years. Grab the tissues and check this out:

You can hear Katrina in person this Thursday, February 18th at La Canada Presbyterian Church. She’ll be speaking during my Parent Ed class, but it’s open to the public. The program starts at 12:30 pm, and she’ll sign books after the presentation. Please rsvp to . Babysitting is available for $10 per child. If you would like to have babysitting for your child, you MUST confirm a spot with Sandy at before Feb. 18th.

Here’s the official event flyer. I hope you can come!

I’ve shipped or received over 100 books via Bookins

Posted on 09. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in books

Since I joined Bookins just over two years ago, I’ve shipped 56 books and two DVDs, and have received 46 books. No wonder my bookshelf is so full of great books!

Bookins fits my hectic lifestyle perfectly. When there’s a book I want, I look it up by title, author or ISBN, and add it to my Want List. When the book becomes available, I get an email saying it’s on the way, and I automatically pay a nominal shipping fee. When I have a book to trade, I enter the ISBN number on my Trade List. If someone wants it, I get an email with a link to print a USPS label for it. I put the book in an envelope, tape the label to the outside, and put it in a mailbox. I don’t need to pay shipping for books I trade, and I don’t stand in line at the Post Office.

It’s good for the environment, good for the pocketbook, and good for the mind. And it’s why I’m not rushing out to get a Kindle or an iPad.

Bookins has a new feature that shows you where you’ve shipped books to or received them from. Here’s what my map looks like:

I’ll assume that the R in the lower right part of the map is in South Florida, not Cuba…

What can/can’t you live without?

Posted on 26. Jan, 2010 by kchristieh in inspirational people, my life

In 1985, I was perfectly happy living in an 8′ x 12′ concrete-walled dorm room. I was thrilled to have a single in a dorm full of wonderful people. I didn’t care that the bathroom was down the hall, or that I didn’t own a car. I had a decent bike, a comfortable bed, adequate food, and was learning and having fun with terrific people.

Twenty-five years later, I enjoy living with my family in a nice house in a safe town with wonderful schools. I appreciate all the comforts life has brought me, but I also recognize how my material comforts have also brought an added level of stress, as my husband and I need to work hard to make mortgage payments, save for college for the kids, and meet expenses. I often tell my husband that I’d be happy living in a much smaller house, as long as I have my computer, a fast internet connection, and a secure yard for our dog. Clearly, the list would be longer if I thought about it…I’d also want great schools, a safe community, my printer, my purse, our couch, my gloves, my boots, my fleece jacket, my special pajamas, my pillows and a few more items and services. But as I sit here and scan the interior horizon, there truly aren’t very many items I’d consider to be that important to me.

In his recent column, “What Could You Live Without?“, Nicholas Kristof tells of an Atlanta family whose daughter challenged them to sell their house and buy a smaller one, and donate the net proceeds to charity. Even as it inspired some people, it evoked the wrath of others who complained that they shouldn’t donate to people overseas when there are Americans in need. I’m in the former category, and am impressed that a modern American family that has so much could sacrifice it and make a difference in the world.

The unexpected dividend in this case was that the family found that downsizing brought them closer together:

Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.

“We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness,” Mr. Salwen told me, adding, “I can’t figure out why everybody wouldn’t want that deal.”

I look forward to reading the book they wrote about their experiences, The Power of Half. I don’t think my family wants to downsize, but if they did, I’d be all for it. I wouldn’t mind slowing down the treadmill and enjoying life and my relationships more. In the meantime, if I ever find the time, I am going to get rid of a lot of extra stuff we have around here. The Sport Chalet shoes were just a start…

10 Reasons I Love Yet Ignore the Library

Posted on 05. Dec, 2009 by kchristieh in books

I’ve always loved libraries. The first library I got to know was the Tenafly Library. I would join the reading club each summer and read as many books as I could. When I moved to the shore, I learned to love the small but robust Fair Haven and Rumson libraries. When I had a big report to write, my mother would drop me off at the Monmouth County Library. I remember spending many a winter and spring break there, while I imagined that my classmates were hitting the slopes of Aspen or sunning themselves on Hilton Head.

When I got to college, I learned to be picky about choosing the right library for the occasion. Meyer Library was the more social library, and I remember someone throwing a dummy off the top floor into the atrium during finals one year in a mock suicide attempt. They put windows up to block the atrium soon after that. When I couldn’t stand the chaos of my dorm desk, I’d head over to the South Stack Mezzanine of Green Library and study like a monk. I think I needed to hide out there since I’d be distracted seeing people anywhere else.

As an adult, I’ve appreciated the classic architecture of the Pasadena Library, and the impressive collection of the downtown Los Angeles Library. My local library, the La Canada Flintridge Library, is functional, especially if I order books online and pick them up there. Our local high school also has a big library with public access hours.

So why can’t I remember the last time I visited a library other than to say “hi” to the high school librarian? Here are a few reasons:

1. I already have a pile of books and magazines waiting to be read.
2. When I decide I want to read a certain book, I put in a request on Bookins, and more often than not I get what I want and just pay the shipping.
3. The wonderful Flintridge Bookstore is up the street, and it stocks the required reading books for our school district. I like to support them since they’re big supporters of our local schools, and since their business suffered when the truck crashed into them last year.
4. Amazon.com. Sorry, but I get free shipping.
5. When I read a book, I don’t always finish in time to return it to the library.
6. My local library is loud, bright and sometimes seems like an afterschool daycare facility. (The picture to the right is not of our local library: it’s a picture of the Camarillo Library, whose interior was designed by The Design Studio.)
7. The library usually doesn’t have what I’m looking for in stock at our local branch. They’re good about ordering online, but that doesn’t help if I’m in a hurry.
8. If I want to listen to an audiobook, I purchase it on iTunes and put it on my iPod.
9. I don’t need to use the computers at the library, since I have one at home. And through it I can access more updated research information than the printed encyclopedia at the library has. (Are there printed copies of encyclopedias anymore?)
10. My dog chewed up my library card, and then I lost it. Seriously. I was hoping to scan it for this post, but I can’t find it.

Someday I’ll probably get an electronic book reading device, which will further decrease the likelihood that I’ll set foot in a library.

This post makes me sad. I feel like I’ve abandoned a loyal old friend. I still support libraries, especially in communities whose residents don’t have the alternate reading resources I do. I fear for the future of libraries…

Links:

• Los Angeles County online book ordering. Have your library number ready!
• More beautiful library interiors designed by my website client, The Design Studio. Why doesn’t our library look this good?
• “Downturn Puts New Stresses on Libraries,” a NY Times article about how the economic situation has made some libraries havens for the downtrodden and thieves, and made librarians more stressed-out.

Women are the solution, not the problem

Posted on 26. Oct, 2009 by kchristieh in economy, education, feminism, health, inspirational people, international, startling statistics

Tonight I met one of my heroes: NY Times journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Nicholas Kristof. I heard him address an alumni group about his work and his new book, Half the Sky. Other than my family and our president, there’s probably no one I’ve blogged about more. I have immense respect for how eloquently he tells the stories of people who are unfairly treated, and for how deeply he cares about what happens to them.

Here’s a quiz based on what I learned this evening:

1. Which do you think there are more of in the world: males or females?
2. If the 19th century was defined by slavery, and the 20th by totalitarianism, what is likely to define the 21st century?
3. True or false: As many American women died in childbirth during World War I as men died on the battlefield.
4. A female sex slave in Cambodia can be purchased for several hundred dollars. Approximately how much in today’s dollars would a 19th century American slave be worth?
5. Which of the following concerns Kristof the least when he visits an African warlord: car accident, banditry, or dying at the hand of the warlord?
6. In some developing countries, families spend 2% of their income on education. What do they often spend 20% on?

Answers:

1. Males. Even though statistically there should be more females, so many females are aborted and such a low priority is placed on the health of women that in many parts of the world, boys outnumber girls by an outsize margin.
2. Gender inequity. It’s a huge problem in much of the world, and holds many societies back. Also, see question 1.
3. True. American maternal mortality improved when women got the right to vote, and politicians thought the electorate demanded adequate medical care.
4. $40,000. As poorly as American slaves were treated, their masters had more of a financial interest in keeping them healthy and productive. A female sex slave is worth so little that if she causes problems, she’s expendable. In some instances, her fellow slaves are made to beat her to death if she’s a troublemaker.
5. Dying at the hand of the warlord. Caveat: that holds true when he’s in the territory of the warlord. The warlord doesn’t want to be known for being responsible for killing an American journalist. I agree about the car accidents; one of my fellow writers from The Stanford Daily recently died in a car accident in Africa.  :(
6. Tobacco, alcohol, prostitution and elaborate celebrations. Kristof argued that this is why women should be empowered to make more financial decisions. He said he’s seen families whose children have died of malaria for lack of a $5 net, and yet the father spends $1.50 on alcohol 3x a week.

Kristof doesn’t want to just make people feel sorry for the people he writes about: he wants to spur them to action. Here were some areas where he said improvement would make a drastic different not only in the lives of the women they affect, but would have a ripple effect in helping the societies in which they live:

• End sexual slavery. Nearly 1 million women and girls a year are trafficked as sex slaves, and at least one reputable group estimates that there are 27 million people in bondage worldwide at this time.
• Improve female education. He said that when he’s talking to leaders of poor nations, he makes more headway on this issue by explaining that females are their country’s biggest untapped resource than by appealing to moral arguments.
• Improve maternal health. Today, a woman in Niger has a 1 in 7 lifetime chance of dying in childbirth. Women in many other countries don’t fare much better. A poor woman in a rural setting has two strikes against her, but there are techniques and practices which could be used to serve even these women better.
• Empower women financially. Micro-loans have been particularly successful in allowing women to not only provide for their family’s livelihood and education, but it’s allowed them to have more of a say in how the family money is spent.

If I were a journalist, I’d want to be like Kristof. But I’ve chosen a path where I can be around my family more, so I try to do my part by volunteering, creating websites for non-profits, and blogging.

Kristof was correct when he said that what makes us happiest is when we help others. It’s immensely satisfying to have a positive impact on the world. And Kristof definitely does.

If you’re interested in hearing Nicholas Kristof speak, he’ll be in Southern California for a bit longer. Here’s his schedule of events.

How to kill a teen’s love of reading

Posted on 11. Aug, 2009 by kchristieh in books, education

Shouldn’t one of the goals of high school English be to emphasize the joy of reading? If so, then the following isn’t likely to achieve that goal:

• Step 1: Tell students which book they have to read. Don’t give them a choice.
• Step 2: Make them read it over the summer.
• Step 3: Require them to annotate at least three comments in the margins of every page.
• Repeat with several more books.

I know someone who’s annotating George Orwell’s this week. Instead of appreciating the greater themes at the pace that the author intended, this teen is slogging through this book so slowly that all the life is being sucked out of it. It’s bittersweet when a kid says, “It actually seems like a really good book, but I’m not able to enjoy it when I do this assignment.” Big Brother, can you hear this?

I told the child that hopefully they’d remember that reading can be fun, and that when they graduate they’ll rediscover that.

Links:

• A explaining why annotating is considered so valuable. I think it’s a recipe for sucking the fun out of reading.
• My list of Non-”Teen” Books for Teens, Plus Books for Boys. Please let me know if you have any books to add.

If Julia Child could do it, so can I

Posted on 09. Aug, 2009 by kchristieh in books, food, inspirational people, international, movies

The new movie Julie & Julia inspired me so much that I’m half-tempted to make boeuf bourguignon for dinner tonight. Instead, I opened up my cookbook cabinet and told my kids that they could each choose a recipe that contains no ingredients that I’m allergic to and I’d make it for them this week.

I knew I’d love this movie. I loved reading both Julia Child’s and Julie Powell’s even before I knew a movie was being made about them. Although I perfectly fit the demographic for someone who’d love these books – a French-speaking, American woman blogger – I think the books and the movie have a more universal appeal. They portray passionate people looking for a purpose in life who are willing to work hard at what they do. I also appreciated both the literary and on-screen representations of their marriages. Both women were in loving marriages full of mutual support and respect. Nora Ephron did a wonderful job of knitting both books together, and Meryl Streep, Amy Adams and the rest of the cast are absolutely marvelous.

I can’t wait to see what my kids choose for me to cook.

20 Books I Love

Posted on 02. Jul, 2009 by kchristieh in books

Not sure what to read this summer? Here’s a list of 20 of my favorite books. Click for my Amazon.com “Listmania” list which includes explanations of why I love each one, along with a few more I recommend.

1. What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers
2. The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay
3. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
4. The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids on 25 Words or Less by Terry Ryan
5. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich… Read More
6. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
7. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
8. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
9. My Life in France by Julia Child
10. Ambulance Girl: How I Saved Myself by Becoming an EMT by Jane Stern
11. Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph by C. Vivian Stringer
12. Personal History by Katharine Graham
13. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
14. True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
15. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
16. First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung
17. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
18. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
19. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
20. Cane River by Lalita Tademy

The book of wrecked books that got wrecked

Posted on 16. Apr, 2009 by kchristieh in art, books, local news

I visited the Flintridge Bookstore this evening to purchase Dianne Emley’s most recent book, “.” Thankfully, the car carrier that plowed through the store didn’t wreck these books. I managed to get a signed copy, and I can’t wait to get started on it because I couldn’t put the first two down!

While I was paying for the book, my mom started chatting with the store owner about the accident. After I joined them, he showed us a book called “” that was wrecked by the truck. Ironically, it contains pictures of books that have been wrecked.

In 125 startlingly complex works of many strata, extraordinary textures, luminous colors, and unforeseen juxtapositions, Purcell considers the vulnerability of books to the transforming powers of water, fire, gravity, organisms, and time.

Here’s what the store owner’s book looks like:

I think Rosamond Purcell should include his book in her next edition.

Vivian Stringer is my new heroine

Posted on 15. Dec, 2008 by kchristieh in books, feminism, inspirational people, sports

When Vivian Stringer recruits players for the Rutgers women’s basketball team, she doesn’t just promise them that they’ll play on a wonderful team. She looks the parents in the eye and promises them that if their daughter plays for her, she’ll treat her like a daughter, and do everything she can to make sure she graduates and is prepared for life. She means it, too: she’s still in touch with most of the young women she coached.

She’s the real deal. She comes from modest roots, as the daughter of an African-American coal miner, but was raised with self-confidence and an incredible work ethic. She also has a huge heart, and genuinely cares for everyone she knows. She’s overcome incredible adversity: the death of both her father and her husband at young ages, caring for a daughter who suffered severe brain damage from spinal meningitis, surviving breast cancer, and more, but she soldiers on and makes the most out of life.
I haven’t played on a basketball team since 8th grade, and I didn’t play any school sports in high school. Even so, I was completely entranced by her autobiography, . By the time I got to the end of the book, where she recounts how she chose to respond to Don Imus’s “nappy-headed hos” comment, I wasn’t at all surprised that she handled it with the utmost of grace and courage.

She inspires me, and I think she’d do the same for you. If my recommendation isn’t enough, 24 out of 25 reviewers on gave this book 5 stars, and the other gave it 4 stars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such positive feedback for a book on Amazon! This would make a perfect gift for a coach, teacher, or athlete.

I won a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, “Outliers”!

Posted on 01. Dec, 2008 by kchristieh in books

Here’s a shout out to Mitali Perkins, an amazing friend from college who not only writes excellent young adult books but also has a great blog. She recently ran a contest on her blog to give away several copies of Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, Outliers, and I’m one of the winners. Yay!!

I can’t wait to read it, as I really enjoyed his previous books, and . Thanks, Mitali!!

Semi-homemade cooking fits our family

Posted on 30. Oct, 2008 by kchristieh in books, feminism, food, local news, things that bug me

On Monday I took a break from work to listen to cookbook author / tv personality Sandra Lee speak at the bookstore around the corner. I’ve never seen her on tv, but in person she was bright, warm and fun. I really liked her, and enjoyed hearing about why she decided to start writing cookbooks.

I purchased her “” cookbook. I need to get some new, easy meals into our repertoire. So far I’ve made two recipes from the book, and both have been a hit with everyone in our family. I won’t copy the recipes here, since I don’t want to infringe upon her copyright. However, I’ll recount them to the best of my memory, and recommend that if you want the exact proportions and ingredients you purchase her cookbook.

Island Chicken:

• Slather thin-sliced chicken breasts with olive oil and jerk chicken seasoning. Grill.
• Sprinkle jerk chicken seasoning on canned pineapple slices. Grill.
• Mix pineapple juice with a little bit of brown sugar. Boil until reduced. Serve atop the aforementioned chicken and pineapple.

Turkey Meatballs:

• Mix 1.5 lb. ground turkey meat with egg, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, parsley, ground pepper. Form into 1″ meatballs.
• Mix a jar of spaghetti sauce with two medium cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano with basil.
• Put the sauce and the meatballs in the crockpot on low for about 8 hours.

Speaking of cooking, I was disturbed by the cover of the November, 2008 Arroyo Monthly. Why are all of Metro Pasadena’s Top Chefs pictured men? At least when you read the article you discover that one that isn’t pictured is a woman. Is there a problem with the system or the selection process?

Link:

• Sandra Lee’s official website. She didn’t look anything like this in person. She looked far hipper.

It’s much easier to read Pedro Paramo with this character chart as a study guide

Posted on 28. Oct, 2008 by kchristieh in books, international

When Salon.com called the classic Mexican novel “The Perfect Novel You’ve Never Heard Of,” I knew I had to read it. Here’s a quote from one of the great reviews on :

Juan Preciado comes to Comala looking for his estranged father, Pedro Paramo. In this town, the dead and the alive mingle together and talk, the epochs overlap. Bit by bit we are told a violent and dark story, with somber and convoluted characters. In the end it is a tale of war, perversion, solitude and other themes common to Latin American literature, but seen from a very unusual perspective. And Rulfo reveals as an extremely self-demanding author: every sentence is worked and reworked to utter perfection. Read it, it’s magical.

Since the book is about a man seeking his father in Mexico, I gave it to my husband for Father’s Day. He enjoyed it, but said that it was confusing, especially if you read it a few pages at a time. Even the Salon.com article agrees:

Peculiar things start to happen on the page, things I’ve never seen in a book. The tenses switch back and forth, past to present and back again, sometime in the space of a single paragraph, until time itself becomes senseless. The stories begin to refract, shatter, and rebuild; pronouns multiply—I, he, she, you, stumbling over each other. Dialogue and thoughts are left unattributed. The perspectives shift from internal to external and back again, from Preciado to Paramo to Paramo’s childhood love, Susana San Juan. “This town is full of echoes,” one character says.

On Sunday afternoon I read the whole book, and every time a new character appeared, I added it to my chart. It got pretty complicated, but my husband was right: charting it made the story and its meaning much, much clearer, and helped me to enjoy the story much more. Click here or on the picture below to see the pdf version of the chart, which was created in Microsoft Publisher.

How tolerant should we be of intolerance?

Posted on 22. Jul, 2008 by kchristieh in books, education, international, religion

I value love, and an outshoot of that is that I value respect and tolerance for people with other viewpoints and beliefs than my own.

But what should I do when the other person is not only intolerant, but actually advocates hating people such as myself? According to the Slate.com article, A Textbook Case of Intolerance, government-sanctioned textbooks teach Saudi schoolchildren to hate non-Muslims:

In fact, any child who sticks around in Saudi schools until ninth grade will eventually be taught that “Jews and Christians are enemies of believers.” They will also be taught that Jews conspire to “gain sole control of the world,” that the Christian crusades never ended, and that on Judgment Day “the rocks or the trees” will call out to Muslims to kill Jews.

These passages, it should be noted, are from new, “revised” Saudi textbooks. Following a similar analysis of earlier versions of these same textbooks in 2006, American diplomats immediately approached their Saudi counterparts about the more disturbing passages, and the Saudis agreed to conduct a “comprehensive revision … to weed out disparaging remarks towards religious groups.”

It’s hard for me to be tolerant of that. Sounds to me like American diplomats need to protest again. If only this were just a Saudi problem. Slate says that these textbooks are also “distributed, free of cost, to Saudi-sponsored schools as far afield as Lagos, Nigeria, and Buenos Aires, Argentina.”

This is so sad. All it does is encourage hatred and division. All the more reason for our government and private individuals to help fund organizations such as Greg Mortenson’s Central Asia Institute.

Why Barack Obama should read “Three Cups of Tea”

Posted on 15. Jul, 2008 by kchristieh in books, inspirational people, international, politics, religion

For all the money we’ve spent fighting terrorism in Pakistan, it seems to me the situation is far worse off now than it was several years ago. Too bad our government doesn’t adopt Greg Mortenson’s tactics. Nicholas Kristof agrees:

Mr. Bush has focused on military force and provided more than $10 billion — an extraordinary sum in the foreign-aid world — to the highly unpopular government of President Pervez Musharraf. This approach has failed: the backlash has radicalized Pakistan’s tribal areas so that they now nurture terrorists in ways that they never did before 9/11.

Mr. Mortenson, a frumpy, genial man from Montana, takes a diametrically opposite approach, and he has spent less than one-ten-thousandth as much as the Bush administration. He builds schools in isolated parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, working closely with Muslim clerics and even praying with them at times.

You can read all about Greg Mortenson in the book, Three Cups of Tea. (Wow. It’s as of this time.) I finished reading it recently, and was totally inspired by this humble American mountain climber who sacrifices his time with his family and a potentially higher standard of living to help people halfway around the world. His willingness to adapt to local customs and the love he has for the people he is trying to help have earned him immense respect among people who are usually suspicious of Westerners.

Today I had lunch with a friend who’s involved in a ministry in Ethiopia that builds schools and especially tries to educate girls. Hopefully I’ll be able to help them by creating a website in the next few months so that they can convince more people to support them. Here’s an impressive ministry our church supports that I think someone should write a book about: The Free Burma Rangers. They brave incredible dangers to bring emergency assistance to the indigenous Karen people of Burma, as well as document human rights abuses.

We’re so blessed in this country, and it’s incumbent that we share our blessings. Hopefully our next President will understand this and we’ll make REAL progress towards peace and understanding.

The book you MUST read this summer: “What is the What”

Posted on 20. Jun, 2008 by kchristieh in books, inspirational people, international

If you read only one book this summer, read Dave Eggers’ . It chronicles the life of Valentino Achak Deng, who escaped from his village in Southern Sudan to become a “Lost Boy” who saw unspeakable horrors as he walked across the desert to safety. After years as a refugee, he was fortunate enough to come to the U.S. and start a new life. His courage and determination are inspirational.

This incredibly well-written tome weaves current events with Valentino’s recollections of his youth. The book is labeled a novel only because he can’t guarantee that conversations and events are exactly as he remembers them, but the book has so much detail that I bet he’s not far off. I couldn’t put this book down.

Besides learning a lot about this time and place, I gained even more of an appreciation for the current situation in Sudan. It was also a good reminder not to whine about the little setbacks I may suffer in life. In truth, I’m a very, very fortunate gal, and need to be thankful for that and do what I can for those who aren’t as fortunate.

Hopefully I’ll be able to convince my kids to read it.

I wish I’d heard JK Rowling speak at Harvard

Posted on 07. Jun, 2008 by kchristieh in books, education, inspirational people, life lessons, quotes

Although I’m glad we arrived late Thursday for my husband’s 25th Harvard reunion, I would have enjoyed hearing Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s commencement speech earlier in the day. Her speech, which can be found on npr.org, focused on two themes: failure and imagination. She said that she always feared failure, but once she failed and realized she survived, she appreciated the lessons she learned from it.

I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.

I totally agree. I haven’t experienced total failure in my life, but I’ve definitely had setbacks. They’re never as bad as I’d feared, and I usually learn something from them. Failure also sometimes gets me off a treadmill and encourages me to try another path that is often better suited for me.

I also liked this quote from her speech:

There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.

That reminds me of someone I know who still blames her parents for all her ills…even though it’s been over 50 years since she was a child. There’s a point where you need to take responsibility for your own life. I’m not sure that the age is 16 (when kids get their driver’s licenses in California), but perhaps it is. Hmmm.
As for imagination,

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.

Amen. Hopefully the grads will heed that advice!

Bookins beats PaperBackSwap and Swaptree for trading books online

Posted on 15. May, 2008 by kchristieh in books, shopping

After months of testing several book trading sites, the results are in: Bookins wins by a long shot. It beats PaperBackSwap and Swaptree on every measure.

Here’s why I prefer Bookins:

• I don’t have to pay to ship books to other people. I only pay to have books shipped to me. That seems obvious, but that’s not how PaperBackSwap or Swaptree work. I’ve shipped out nine books via PaperBackSwap, and had to pay the shipping for each one.
• Bookins acknowledges that books can have different values. That old paperback copy is worth less credits than a new hardcover bestseller.
• I get more books via Bookins. I’ve shipped out 16 books and received 12. I have yet to receive a single book from PaperBackSwap, and I don’t want to read the books that Swaptree says I’m eligible for if I trade my books.
• Shipping is EASY with Bookins. I hate waiting in the long line at our local post office. Bookins allows me to print a label, tape it to a shipping envelope with a book inside, and drop it in a mailbox. It doesn’t get much easier.
• Bookins automatically sends me books that are on my wishlist as they become available. I still don’t completely understand the Swaptree logic, and as I said, PaperBackSwap seems to have forgotten all about me.

Here are the books I’ve received so far. As you can see, they’re all fairly current:

• The Boleyn Inheritance
• My Life in France
• The Fourth Bear: A Nursery Crime
• Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All Its Moods
• Atonement: A Novel (I’ve already traded it away again)
• The View from the Seventh Layer
• Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time
• The Secret River
• Cloud Atlas: A Novel
• What Is the What
• The Abstinence Teacher (I’ve already traded it away again)
• Pontoon: A Lake Wobegon Novel

Now to find time to read them all!

Please join Bookins! The more people that join, the better all of our selections will be!! Click here to join.

Circus elephants stuffed into truck

Posted on 27. Apr, 2008 by kchristieh in animals, art, books, my life, things that bug me

Who cares how many clowns you can stuff in a car when you can stuff elephants in a truck?

This picture was taken by esteemed photographer Jill Freedman, and a slide show of her amazing work can be found on the NY Times website.

Note the name of the circus on the truck: Clyde Beatty. This picture was taken in 1971. In June, 1973, that same circus set up camp on the Roosevelt Common field next to the high school in Tenafly, NJ. I was 10 at the time, and attended it with my family.

What I remember most is that an elephant stepped on a trainer and killed him. Thankfully, I didn’t see it happen. But now I understand better why one of those elephants might be angry enough to do that.

What a tragedy. People shouldn’t treat animals this way.

I actually found an article about the incident in the NY Times archives. Here’s an excerpt,

Circus Helper Crushed to Death By Elephant He Was Handling

TENAFLY, June 4 – A 45-year-old circus laborer was picked up and thrown to the ground twice yesterday before being crushed to death by an elephant he was handling after a performance on Roosevelt Common.

The laborer, Alvin Kelly of Dallas, was helping to water a group of 13 elephants following the afternoon performance of the Clyde Beatty Circus.

…

“We have reports that Kelly had been drinking heavily earlier in the day and that might have had something to do with the elephant’s actions,” the spokesman said. “He also was carrying a big stick, which he may have poked the elephant with at the wrong time.”

The elephant, the police spokesman said, is now with the circus in New City, N.Y., where it had a performance today. “The elephant is a problem for the circus to take care of, not the police,” the spokesman continued.

About 10 years ago, I took my kids to see the Clyde Beatty – Cole Brothers circus perform in the parking lot of the Freehold, NJ mall. One of the guys in the motorcycle/hamster wheel act lost his timing, and almost fell. The act stopped abruptly. I wonder if small circuses take more risks than bigger ones, to get more attention. I felt that as a paying customer, I was complicit in encouraging them to take potentially life-threatening risks.

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PS – If you haven’t already read , I highly recommend it. It’s about life in an old-time circus.

Daryn Kagan’s new book shows us “What’s Possible!”

Posted on 25. Apr, 2008 by kchristieh in books, inspirational people, international

Do you ever get tired of reading about all that’s wrong in the world? I do. The world is full of wonderful people who do amazing things, but their stories are often ignored by the media.

Former CNN anchor (and fellow college classmate) Daryn Kagan is determined to find these people and tell their stories. Her website, www.DarynKagan.com, uses videos to tell the stories of people who have accomplished extraordinary feats for themselves and others.

Daryn’s summarized many of these stories in her new book, “” I couldn’t put this book down. I thought that fifty stories might be a bit overwhelming, but each one of them was so special and inspirational that I wanted to read more. Each one of the stories is sticking with me, and I’ve mentioned some to my family and friends. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Sebri Omer, an Ethiopian immigrant who gave up half of his successful gas station business to fund a hospital in his native land;
• Henri Landwirth, a Holocaust survivor who founded “Give Kids the World,” a group which treats children with life-threatening illness to a memorable visit to the attractions of Central Florida;
• Zainab Selbi, who survived Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship and went on to found Women for Women International, which helps other women war refugees;
• Bob Nameng, who went from being a Soweto street child to founding Soweto Kliptown Youth (SKY) to help give the children and young adults of Kliptown hope for the future;
• Paula Lucas, who founded the American Domestic Violence Crisis Line to help women like herself who were being abused on foreign soil;
• Ken Wyniemko, who got heavily involved in The Innocence Project after he was released after being wrongfully imprisoned. (The Innocence Project estimates a 5% failure rate in the judicial system, which translates to 100,000 people wrongly imprisoned!)
• Jacquelyn Mitchard, who emerged from a tough time in her life to write , which wound up being selected for Oprah’s Book Club.

These are only a few of the amazing stories Daryn tells. By the end of the book, I think anyone would be compelled to stop any future whining and find a way to make their own mark on the world. Read this NOW!

I took a day off and finished a good book: “Dogface”

Posted on 12. Jan, 2008 by kchristieh in books

Hopefully no one who reads this blog needed me to do anything for them today. Instead of working, I took a Saturday off and finished reading my advance copy of Jeff Garigliano’s “.”

I had a hard time putting the book down. The characters were endearing, and there were no slow parts. Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly review:

A 14-year-old boy with an affinity for all things military makes for an extremely likable protagonist in former naval officer Garigliano’s dark, wonderfully twisted debut. Habitually uprooted by his beautiful mother, Cecile, Loren despises her ever-revolving carousel of dolt boyfriends, so he revolts by torching the golf course where Cecile’s latest dish, golf pro Tom, tees off. Loren gets caught, and Cecile reluctantly ships him off to Camp Ascend!—a six-week rehabilitation program for young miscreants headed by Ray Kellogg, aka the Colonel, an ex-con scam artist who charges a $7,000 fee for treatment at the ramshackle campground staffed by the Colonel’s suntanned, heavily coiffed wife, Kitty, and Kitty’s sadistic, malevolent brother Donovan, who likes to play drill sergeant and torture kids. Loren, clever and smitten with pretty fellow inmate Liz, uses the skills of the seasoned operative to navigate and, eventually, defuse the escalating dangers at Camp Ascend! in a thrilling denouement. What initially seems like a wacky teenage romp morphs into a harrowing story about resilience, redemption and the will to survive. Garigliano excels with this sinister, superlative debut.

At first, I was afraid that the book would be a rip-off of Louis Sachar’s , which also follows an enterprising boy at a questionable juvenile rehabilitation camp. That’s where the similarity ended, however, and I enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed Holes. I can’t believe this is Garigliano’s first book, and I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future. Also, like Holes, I hope this becomes a movie. I think it has the makings of a very good one.

From what I can tell, this book is being marketed to adults, not teens. I think that’s a good thing, as there’s one scene (p. 159) involving a prostitute that isn’t appropriate for teens. (or me) Even so, it’s not incredibly graphic, and in the end, the bad guy looks that much more stupid for being there. I think if you explain that to a kid before you hand him the book, this book would be fine for a mature teen boy.

The publisher sent it to me because I maintain a list of books that you wouldn’t normally think of for teens but that they’d like. There’s a special section of the list with books that boys would probably like. It’s easy to find teen chick-lit books for girls, but there aren’t as many options for boys, so I try to highlight what’s available. Please let me know if you have any books to add to the list.
Relaxation’s over! Back to work!!

Eat, Pray, Love: Great book, excellent philosophy

Posted on 23. Dec, 2007 by kchristieh in books, travel

For some reason I had low expectations when I started reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I shouldn’t have. Gilbert is a keen observer not only of others, but of herself. She lays her weaknesses and dreams out for everyone to see, but does it with such humor and grace that it’s no surprise that she finds friends wherever she goes.

The book chronicles the year after Gilbert divorces her husband, as she travels to Italy (Eat), India (Pray) and Indonesia (Love) for four months each. She immerses herself in the culture of each country, and in doing so learns just as much about herself as she does about her new surroundings.

Who would like this book? I think most women would. I’d like to think that men would, but to be honest, most of the men I know would dismiss it as “chick lit.” I think the themes and some of the scenes are a bit too mature for teens.

Oprah loved Elizabeth Gilbert so much that she had her on her show twice. Click here to see a summary of the first show, including pictures.

Kids say the darndest things

Posted on 20. Nov, 2007 by kchristieh in art, books

Last night I said, “Kids say the darndest things!” to my teenage son. He looked at me funny, so I ran to the next room and found our tattered copy of the by the same name. It was published in 1957, and contains the best quips from his “House Party” show, where kids between 3 and 11 would answer questions Mr. Linkletter would ask. My son got a kick out of reading it. Here are a few of our favorite quotes:

Give me a haircut like my dad’s – with a hole on top.

When will you reach maturity?
I’ll never get there.
Why not?
Too far away.
What makes you think it’s too far away?
Well, isn’t it an island in the South Pacific?

My folks met in a night club.
What was your father doing?
He was a bartender.
And your mother?
She was attending a PTA meeting.

Do you have a hobby?
I try to get my weekly allowance without doing any work.

One of the best features of the book is that it includes illustrations by Charles Schulz. Yes, THAT Charles Schulz! These drawings include adults and early Snoopy lookalikes. Here are the excerpts that go along with some of my favorite illustrations:

One of the most appealing remarks I’ve heard come out of a child was spoken by a four year old who was expressing the dearest wish of her heart:
I’d like to be king of the United States and have two special maids: The Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

My dad won’t even come home week-ends if there’s any work waiting there.

I once had a dog, but he got married and moved to Oakland.

Comedian Laraine Newman was a guest on the show when she was just four years old. Read her hilarious account here.

When my kids were little, we took up my friend Sally’s suggestion and created The Funny Book. It chronicles some of the sillier things my kids said before they became jaded and self-conscious. I’d include some here, but my kids would not be pleased…

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Which is worse: “slut” or “prude”?

Posted on 03. Nov, 2007 by kchristieh in books, feminism, parenting, politics

This week I created two new websites for Carol Platt Liebau. The first site highlights her new book, Prude: How the Sex-Obsessed Culture Damages Girls (and America, too!). Here’s how her website describes the book:

What do Britney Spears, “Laguna Beach,” and the best-selling Gossip Girl books all have in common?

Commentator Carol Platt Liebau cites all as contributors to our culture’s oversexualization. Such examples cue America’s young girls to believe that sexiness trumps intelligence and character at even the highest levels of influence and power.

Liebau argues that relaxed attitudes toward sexuality are damaging girls in their formative years and ultimately harming America by increasing social ills. “Once upon a time,” Liebau writes, “’slut’ was one of the greatest insults. But now, being a ‘prude’ is deemed to be even worse.”

Once I finished that site, I revamped Carol’s personal site, CarolLiebau.com. She’s a prolific writer and political commentator, so her site is full of links to articles that she’s written. It was fun to make the two sites complement each other.

I know Carol through her husband, Jack, who was in my college class. I’d always wanted to get to know her better, and am glad to finally have the chance to do so.

You can hear an interview with Carol about her book at: Heading Right Radio (Captain Ed). Prude is also going to be featured on Dr. Laura’s program next week.

I look forward to reading Prude. Carol’s right: there are many movies, tv shows, books and fashions that encourage blatant sexuality. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep them out of our household. Thankfully, I don’t think my community has a problem with girls or women dressing or behaving promiscuously, so there’s not pressure for my daughter or I to do so. I’m also glad that the current fashion for girls here is to layer shirts, not wear low cut jeans and short tops. It makes it so much easier to shop for clothes with my daughter!

Bookins status report – amazing!

Posted on 20. Oct, 2007 by kchristieh in books, shopping

I’m so happy I joined Bookins last month. So far I’ve traded away 9 books and received 5. I’ve got lots of credit points amassed, so I’m sure I’ll get more of the books on my wish list long before I read the books I’ve already received. It’s only cost me $3.99 for each book I’ve received.

My previous blog posting describes how Bookins works. I highly recommend it if you’re an avid reader. I wasn’t going to re-read the books I traded away, so I’m happy to pass them on to someone else who will appreciate them and get some points in the process. You can click here to sign up for Bookins.

What do Anne Coulter & banned books have in common?

Posted on 16. Oct, 2007 by kchristieh in books, politics, things that bug me

Anne Coulter’s not kidding when she describes herself as a “mean-spirited bigot.” Whether she’s slamming Jews, Muslims, presidential candidates, or anyone else that doesn’t share her beliefs, tolerance and civilized discussion clearly aren’t at the top of her agenda.

She has a right to say these things. But I also have a right to not listen to her, and I choose not to. If I ran a media outlet, I wouldn’t invite her to be a guest. That wouldn’t be censorship: it would be my choice. She can rant and rave all she wants, but I’d prefer she did it in the privacy of her own home.

This reminds me of the American Library Association’s recent Banned Books Week. According to their website,

Banned Books Week (BBW) celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

I absolutely agree that we should be free to choose and express our opinions. However, just as I believe television and radio stations have a right to choose whether to put Anne Coulter on the airwaves, I also believe that libraries should exercise their right to decide what goes on their bookshelves. In fact, they already do. They decide what to shelve and highlight based on the quality of the literature and the wants and needs of their patrons. They’re also careful not to expose children to inappropriate material.

Perhaps it boils down to this: if a speaker or author produces high-quality, respectful work, then we’ll be more inclined to listen to or read it. But if they spew hatred, or their work is inappropriate for the audience, then we can choose not to consume it or distribute it.

One of the great things about being an American is that not only do I have freedom of speech, but I have freedom of listening, viewing and reading.

Note: The great Anne Coulter image above is from Salon.com.

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Trade books online at Bookins

Posted on 13. Sep, 2007 by kchristieh in books, shopping

I discovered Bookins yesterday, and I’m hooked. This book trading site allows you to trade your books with other people, and all you have to pay is the cost of shipping a book to you. It’s organized brilliantly:

1. You register. No cost, but you do enter your credit card so that you can be charged shipping when you receive a book. You start out with 15 points.
2. You enter the ISBNs of books you’re willing to part with. Each has an assigned point value. If someone wants one of your books, you get an email asking if you’re ready to ship it. If so, you print out a mailing label, tape it to the envelope with the book in it, and put it in a mailbox within 48 hours. You never need to enter a post office. Bookins tracks the shipment. Once it’s delivered, your points are credited to your account.
3. You enter the ISBNs of books you wish to receive. If someone has a book you want, they ship it to you and you pay $3.99 for the shipping cost. Your account is debited the number of points that book is worth.

Within hours of signing up, I’d already shipped out one book and had two on the way to me. It was so simple. Many years ago I sold a bunch of books/audiobooks on Half.com (before it folded into eBay) and it was such a pain in the neck to wait in the line at the post office. This was painless. I can’t wait until the book I shipped arrived and I get my points credited.

Now to find time to read all the books I have waiting for me!

Show us your Dirty Wow Wow

Posted on 16. May, 2007 by kchristieh in books, cool websites, my life

Whenever I click on Cute Overload to confirm that I should delete this silly little site from my Blogroll, I wind up deciding to keep it on the list.

I checked it out again yesterday, and then linked from there to “Show Us Your Dirty Wow Wow.” The latter site is a tribute to a of the same name. Here’s what the book’s about:

What’s a Dirty Wow Wow? It’s the shabby stuffed toys and blankies you clung to and treasured from childhood, with nicknames like “Fuzzy Wuzzy,” “Night Night,” “Huggie,” “Dup Dup,” and yes, “Dirty Wow Wow.” Ten Speed Press celebrates these well-loved friends of childhood in the book Dirty Wow Wow, a touching, sweet, and funny collection of photos and stories.

The site features pictures of many beloved animals and blankets, and the stories behind them. If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you can enter a contest by sending in a picture of your favorite stuffed friend.

To the right is Snoopy the Bear. I received him for my third birthday, over 41 years ago, from my Aunt Joanne. My mom says he had a third dimension and a mouth when I got him, but I can only remember him as flat and mute. It’s ok, as we communicate telepathically anyway. He has a great smell that’s very comforting and will always put me in a good mood.

I’d bet that most adults have a favorite stuffed animal that they still cling to.

PS – I submitted Snoopy’s picture to the Dirty Wow Wow site, and they posted it on May 15th.

Great spy novel / historical fiction

Posted on 27. Mar, 2007 by kchristieh in books

I just finished . It’s a work of historical / current fiction about a British woman whose mother reveals that she was a spy during World War II. The most fascinating passages are where the mother describes her spy training. As a result, I’m looking at the world and people differently this week! The flashbacks are definitely more fascinating than the current day story.

It’s a quick read, with a somewhat suspenseful ending. I highly recommend it.