Book Review: Gough Whitlam: A Tribute

From ABC Shop: An all new photographic tribute to a giant of Australian politics.

When Gough Whitlam died on 21 October 2014, his legacy to the Australian people was a nation transformed. With all royalties going to the Whitlam Institute, this tribute traces his extraordinary life through the photographers' lens from his childhood and meeting his great love Margaret, to the soaring successes and shattering defeats of his political life and his ongoing enthusiasm for the great cause of a fairer, more mature Australia.

Thoughts: This was a chance find. It simply came through the return chute at work and it appealed to me. I grew up in a very left wing house. Not surprisingly then, my own politics have a strong left lean to them. While I don't have a living memory of Gough Whitlam as Australia's Prime Minister (I was three when he uttered those immortal words, "Well may we say God Save the Queen, for nothing will save the Governor General!) my mother was a staunch supporter of him. My sister benefited from his belief that education was a right, not a privilege and studied her university degree under the no fee system introduced by the Whitlam government. Like or hate him, you have to admit the man had presence and his career will be forever talked about by both sides.

Each of the pictures in the book had a commentary about it - what it was, when it was taken and the significance of it - whether it was a family photo or Whitlam meeting international heads of state. It is unashamedly pro Whitlam. It focuses on his strengths, his desire to bring about radical change and his role as one of the first in government to lever the press in his favour.

If you want a snap shot of Whitlam, his life in and out of politics, you could do worse than this book. As for me, it has feed a desire to read something more in depth about this great man.

Gough Whitlam: A Tribute gets 3 stars 

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing

Book Review: Self-Made Man

From Goodreads: Following in the tradition of John Howard Griffin (Black Like Me) and Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed), Norah Vincent absorbed a cultural experience and reported back on what she observed incognito. For more than a year and a half she ventured into the world as Ned, with an ever-present five o'clock shadow, a crew cut, wire-rim glasses, and her own size 11 1/2 shoes-a perfect disguise that enabled her to observe the world of men as an insider. The result is a sympathetic, shrewd, and thrilling tour de force of immersion journalism that's destined to challenge preconceptions and attract enormous attention. With her buddies on the bowling league she enjoyed the rough and rewarding embrace of male camaraderie undetectable to an outsider. A stint in a high-octane sales job taught her the gut- wrenching pressures endured by men who would do anything to succeed. She frequented sex clubs, dated women hungry for love but bitter about men, and infiltrated all- male communities as hermetically sealed as a men's therapy group, and even a monastery. Narrated in her utterly captivating prose style and with exquisite insight, humor, empathy, nuance, and at great personal cost, Norah uses her intimate firsthand experience to explore the many remarkable mysteries of gender identity as well as who men are apart from and in relation to women. Far from becoming bitter or outraged, Vincent ended her journey astounded-and exhausted-by the rigid codes and rituals of masculinity. Having gone where no woman (who wasn't an aspiring or actual transsexual) has gone for any significant length of time, let alone eighteen months, Norah Vincent's surprising account is an enthralling reading experience and a revelatory piece of anecdotally based gender analysis that is sure to spark fierce and fascinating conversation. 

Thoughts: Oh dear, where to start. I can't even begin to tell you what a mess this book is. The amount of times I wanted to throw it across the room in sheer anger (but didn't because I was reading it on my Kindle) is ridiculously high - higher than any other book I have ever read before. Norah Vincent sells not only men short, but women as well. From what I can gather, men are poor put upon idiots who are unable to help themselves and are constantly manipulated and played by women. Women are calculating, manipulative bitches who want it all and a man to deliver it.
I stopped taking notes. I kept hoping I would come across some great epiphany about the gender divide. I finished it because it's our book group book this month. At the very least, it should provide some great discussion.

Self-Made Man is a definite 1 star.

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing

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Book Review: The Wife Drought

From Goodreads: ‘I need a wife’
It's a common joke among women juggling work and family. But it’s not actually a joke. Having a spouse who takes care of things at home is a Godsend on the domestic front. It’s a potent economic asset on the work front. And it’s an advantage enjoyed – even in our modern society – by vastly more men than women.
Working women are in an advanced, sustained, and chronically under-reported state of wife drought, and there is no sign of rain.
But why is the work-and-family debate always about women? Why don’t men get the same flexibility that women do? In our fixation on the barriers that face women on the way into the workplace, do we forget about the barriers that – for men – still block the exits?
The Wife Drought is about women, men, family and work. Written in Annabel Crabb’s inimitable style, it’s full of candid and funny stories from the author's work in and around politics and the media, historical nuggets about the role of ‘The Wife’ in Australia, and intriguing research about the attitudes that pulse beneath the surface of egalitarian Australia.
Crabb's call is for a ceasefire in the gender wars. Rather than a shout of rage, The Wife Drought is the thoughtful, engaging catalyst for a conversation that's long overdue.

Thoughts:  The tag line of this book - Why women need wives, and men need lives - may be off putting, particularly to the male portion of the population. Don't let it fool you. It means men need lives outside of work and our social paradigm makes that incredibly different.
Crabb defines a wife as "...male or female. Whether they're men or women, though, the main thing wives are is a cracking professional asset. They enable the busy full-time worker to experience the joy and fulfilment of children, without the considerable inconvenience of having to pick them up from school at 3pm...Having a wife means that if you get caught up at work, or want to stay later...it can be done. Many wives work, but they do jobs that are either part-time or offer sufficient flexibility for the accommodation of late-breaking debacles."
So a wife can be either male or female, but the reality is that it's usually the woman.
The thing I found quite refreshing about this book is it actually had a look at the effect of how our societal norms affect men as well as women. While it has worked to keep women out of the workforce, made it harder for them to move up the corporate ladder and achieve equal pay, it has worked equally hard to keep men in the workforce and out of the home. Men who do take time out to be "the wives" not only suffer in the workforce, but also in the world of the stay at home parent. Crabb points out that we have spent too long looking at what is happening in the workplace without considering what is happening in the home. The reality is most families need someone who is willing to be the wife. I know in my own house, my role as wife is essential and allows our house to operate smoothly, but it has come at the cost of my career. In houses where both parents work full time, women still tend to pick up the slack of running the rest of the house. While chores may be shared, women still do the lions share. They are the ones to organise the extra curricula activity and take time off when the kids are sick.
In this book, Crabb suggests until we address the inequality in the home - not only towards women, but men as well. We need to make it ok for men to take time off to be the wife. We need to value the wife's role and realise that without them many of our full time workers could not do what they do. 

The Wife Drought gets 3 stars.


*        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing

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Book Review: Australian Prime Ministers

 

From Goodreads: Larrikins or patricians, socialists or silvertails - in the century following Federation, Australia's prime ministers were as diverse as the nation they served. Some came from backgrounds of rural or urban poverty and were largely self-educated, looking to the ballot box as a tool of social justice; some were drawn to politics as their destiny; still others regarded high office as no more than their due. One or two demonstrated that, as well as being the art of the possible, politics can also be the art of the unlikely.
In this lively and authoritative book, 21 historians, biographers and political analysts discuss and profile the men who have attained Australia's highest public office and the forces that shaped them. In doing so, Australian Prime Ministers obliquely considers the nature of Australian democratic and political power.

Thoughts: With the recent death of Gough Whitlam I found myself wanting to know more about the people who had lead Australia over the past 100+ years. My information above  (the cover and the blurb from Goodreads) is a bit of a mish-mash. I read the most recent edition, which is the cover I used. As it was not available on Goodreads, I took it from Booktopia. The blurb comes from Goodreads, but doesn't include Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott who are included in the most recent edition.
 This was a really fascinating read. Most chapters were no longer than 30 pages, making it easy to read a chapter a day which was my aim. I can now say my knowledge of my country's leaders is a lot stronger and I have a much better idea of how our parliament and the parties within it have developed. As always with history, hind sight is a wonderful tools. A few years distance can see a Prime Minister judged very differently to they way they were perceived in office. One thing they all have in common though is that under their leadership, both good and bad decisions were made. As to what you yourself see as a good or bad decision may depend largely on your own personal politics.

Book Review: This House of Grief

From Goodreads: On the evening of 4 September 2005, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother when his car plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven, and two, drowned. Was this an act of deliberate revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner's obsession. She was in the courtroom every day of Farquharson's trial and subsequent retrial, along with countless journalists and the families of both the accused and his former wife.
In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. At its core is a search for truth that takes author and reader through complex psychological terrain. Garner exposes, with great compassion, that truth and justice are as complex as human frailty and morality.

Thoughts: Harrowing is a word that instantly springs to mind in regards to this book. Helen Garner sat through and shares her thoughts about the trial of Robert Farquharson, a man convicted of murdering his three sons by driving his into a dam and allowing them to drown.
I've read a lot of true crime books, but Garner is the first writer who manages to not sensationalise or aim purely to horrify the reader. Her observations are thoughtful, heart-rending and have the tone of someone who is truly interested in the truth and at times conflicted by what she sees and hears in the courtroom. It's also a book that examines our jury system, removing any idea of the glamour of prestige Hollywood portrays these trials to be. Instead it shows how gruelling, often boring and frequently distressing they can be.
This House of Grief is a harrowing (there's that word again!)read, but well worth the emotional roller coaster it will take you on.

Book Review: The Shelf

From Goodreads: Phyllis Rose embarks on a grand literary experiment—to read her way through a random shelf of library books, LEQ–LES
Can you have an Extreme Adventure in a library? Phyllis Rose casts herself into the wilds of an Upper East Side lending library in an effort to do just that. Hoping to explore the “real ground of literature,” she reads her way through a somewhat randomly chosen shelf of fiction, from LEQ to LES.
The shelf has everything Rose could wish for—a classic she has not read, a remarkable variety of authors, and a range of literary styles. The early nineteenth-century Russian classic A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov is spine by spine with The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Stories of French Canadian farmers sit beside those about aristocratic Austrians. California detective novels abut a picaresque novel from the seventeenth century. There are several novels by a wonderful, funny, contemporary novelist who has turned to raising dogs because of the tepid response to her work.
In The Shelf, Rose investigates the books on her shelf with exuberance, candor, and wit while pondering the many questions her experiment raises and measuring her discoveries against her own inner shelf—those texts that accompany us through life. “Fairly sure that no one in the history of the world has read exactly this series of novels,” she sustains a sense of excitement as she creates a refreshingly original and generous portrait of the literary enterprise.

Thoughts: The idea of this book appealed to me as I have often looked at a library full of books and wondered if you could systematically read the whole thing. Logic tells me no, but it could be rather fun to try! Phyllis Rose didn't attempt to read a whole library, but she did aim to read a whole shelf. The choosing of the shelf was not completely random, she did come up with a few guidelines to help her choose which of the  1249 fiction shelves in the New York Society Library she would read. The guidelines included the shelf having to include a classic, having no more than 5 books by one author (of which she would only have to read 3) and a mix of contemporary and older works.
Rose's exploration of her shelf turned up some wonderful works for her. She fully explores not only the book, but the author, at times contacting the author to discover more of their story. You could look at each of the eleven chapters as separate essays, tied together by the shelf. Her analysis of the effects of different translations of one book was fascinating, as was her look at  women in fiction and the amazingly complex world of weeding or deaccessioning in a library.
The Shelf won't be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it. I fought hard to limit the number of books Rose mentioned making it onto my TBR list, although a few have found their way to it. I will also admit to being awfully tempted to undertake a similar challenge....

Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

From Goodreads: Henrietta Lacks, as HeLa, is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. Cells descended from her may weigh more than 50M metric tons.
HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb’s effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave.
The journey starts in the “colored” ward of Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1950s, her small, dying hometown of Clover, Virginia — wooden slave quarters, faith healings, and voodoo. Today are stark white laboratories with freezers full of HeLa cells, East Baltimore children and grandchildren live in obscurity, see no profits, and feel violated. The dark history of experimentation on African Americans helped lead to the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

Thoughts:  Although you may not know it, you may owe your life to Henrietta Lacks - a poor African American woman who died in 1951. She also had cells taken from her cervix that turned out to be rather incredible and have been used in just about every medical research project since.
The big problem - Lacks never knew, and neither did her family.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks raises a raft of issues. Once tissue leaves your body, do you have any right or control over it? Should you? Should you be able to say whether or not it's used, whether is should be used for commercial purposes and if it is, should you be compensated for it?
I think very few people would not allow their tissues to be used to further medical research. What is wrong (as far as I'm concerned) is when money is made of the raw product without the knowledge or consent of the donor or their family. (ie. the cells) There are whole companies in America who have built substantial businesses based on HeLa cells and her family can't even get medical insurance.
The thing that struck me the most though, is for Henrietta's daughter, Deborah, it wasn't about money - it was about appropriate recognition for her mother. In the end, even her brothers who were all ready to sue Hopkins came to that conclusion. And really, I'm not surprised. I think very few people would see it as a money making opportunity. In fact, research cited in the book suggests it is those without an emotional attachment to the tissues (as the donor or a family member) who are more likely to want to commercialise it. 
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a fantastic read and worthy of all the praise it has been given, Highly recommended.

Challenges: 5 from Forever in '14

Gone Viral

Title: Gone Viral 
Author: Frank Bowden
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: Featuring 15 infectious diseases—eight bacteria, six viruses, and a parasite—and one friendly fungus, this book explores significant medical themes and highlights the effect micro-organisms have on modern life. Hilarious, informative, yet deeply moving, it discusses each disease while weaving true stories of patients and their families and the difficulties doctors face. Touching upon the swine flu, golden staph, SARS, hepatitis, and HIV, this account teaches crucial lessons about public health and the human experience of disease.

What I thought: Well the first thinkg I would say about this book is don't read it if you have a weak stomach! As an infectious diesease and sexual health specalist, some of Frank Bowden's descriptions are a little off putting to say the least!
I came to this book from a radio interview by Richard Fidler's excellent program called The Conversation Hour. (Australian's may know Fidler as 1/3 of the comedy trio Doug Anthony Allstars.) You can actually access the audio by clicking here.
I love when the way someone talks or is interviewed translates to their writing. Bowden was a very interesting speaker - giving a great mix of facts and anecdotes, with a humerous or thought provoking twist.
Most probably the scareiest thing I found about this book was the level of politicking that goes into getting funding for treatment programs. The eradication was made possible by governments agreeing to vacinate and treat in a wide spread program. There are so many diseases such as Chlamydia and Hepatitis C which are rife, especially in indigenous communities, that could be all but eradicated IF governments were willing to fund extensive comprehensive education, vaccination and treatment programs. While the cost of these programs is not insignificant, the long term savings from on going health care due to the original disease plus it's complications would be significant - to say nothing of the quality of life for many.
On the whole, Frank Bowden takes a subject that could be dry and boring and brings it to life. His balance of scientific information and real life examples gives the reader much to think about, laugh at and learn. Well worth tolerating a few stomach churning descriptions!

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge

Alex and Me

Title: Alex and Me

Author: Irene M Pepperberg

Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Lent by friend

From Goodreads: From Alex's first words to his sudden death, "Alex & Me" tells the story of a delightful and mischievous parrot who rocked the scientific establishment. Yet his real story can't be found in any science journal--the story of a relationship, with its affection, jealousy, and lifelong rewards.

 What I thought:  A lovely friend gave me this book to read after she came to my house and met my pet cockatiel.

My gorgeous Smokey.

 Now while my bird above is no African Grey, he is pretty smart! He wolf whistles at me every time I come down stairs,  (a great confidence booster, I'm telling you!) can whistle the Imperial March from Star Wars (that's this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bzWSJG93P8), is working on When the Saints go Marching in, says how you doing whenever someone walks in the front door, mimics the microwave so well I've actually got up to check what is in it and says hop on when he wants to come out of his cage. All in all, I think he is pretty special. (even if he does love my husband more than me!)

Alex and Me is the story of an amazing African Grey parrot who changed the way the scientific world thought about the brains of birds and other non mammalian animals. This youtube clip is a short example of what he could do.

I loved this book - the relationship between Irene and Alex and the fact she proved how smart a bird can be. As I said above, I love my bird, something that a lot people don't get. (it's only a bird) and I adore the way this book celebrates the intelligence of parrots.

Disrupting Grace

Title: Disrupting Grace

Author: Kristen Richburg

Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Personal Copy

From Goodreads: We have two children. We used to have three. Our third child didn't grow up and leave home, she didn't die. We relinquished her. Aren't adoption stories supposed to have happy endings? While there are many adoption stories that do have happy endings, this is not one of them. And we've come to learn we are not alone. More and more families are finding themselves in situations similar to ours, feeling like there is no way out. This book is my story of adopting a child who was unable to attach. It is a chronicle of investment and sacrifice in our daughter, the pain and loss we experienced, the grief of darkened hopes and loss of a dream. It is also a story of grace and healing, of relinquishment and new beginnings. 

What I thought:  I first discovered this book about two years ago over at Life in the Thumb and knew I wanted to read it.I taught a child who suffered, among other things, attachment disorder and I can tell you they are hard, hard work.
I admire Kristen Richburg and her husband so much because they did two really hard things - they relinquished a child they loved and had wanted so much because it was the best thing for her and the rest of the family and they were brave enough to share their story. It's easy to sit and say "I would never" or "They wouldn't have if she had been biologically theirs." Both statements are lies. I truly believe you cannot say what you would and wouldn't do until you are in the exact same situation and I believe biology makes no difference once you have accepted a child into your heart. In fact I'm sure it wouldn't take much searching to find documented examples of people relinquishing their biological children.
This book was heart wrenching to read. The trauma experienced by all involved is unimaginable. It's not an easy read and I wouldn't suggest it to anyone who upsets easily. It also reminded me a lot of Jessie Mei Mei which was written by two Australian journalists who adopted a child with issues that they did not know about. Either of these books are a good look at the not so happy ending side of adoption.

Sins of the Father

Title: Sins of the Father
Author: Eamonn Duff
Genre: Non fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Lent by a friend

Synopsis: Schapelle Corby is an Australian girl who was accused of smuggling a large amount of marijuana into Indonesia. She has always maintained her innocence. Her family turned it into a media circus. This book examines her father's involvement in the drug trade in Australia, the families apparent hunger for media attention and whether Schapelle is as innocent as she pretends.
   
What I thought: This book had potential. You say the name "Schapelle Corby" to any Australian and they will have an opinion. The family, particularly her sister Mercedes, rode the media wave for a long time and still crop up on the cover of women's magazines. Debate has raged for awhile over the role of the media and Schapelle's innocence or guilt. For quite a time, the country believed she was innocent, believed she was set up, but as time has gone on, more people have questioned the truth of this. Me personally - I don't see how she couldn't know the drugs were in her boogie board bag. I don't think she was alone and I think she has taken the fall for others - most particularly her father. I also think if you are stupid enough to traffic drugs into Indonesia you cannot cry foul when you get caught. They aren't exactly secretive about how they treat drug runners. At the same time, I also believe all efforts should be made to bring her home to serve her sentence in an Australian jail.
Now, having said that, the book was not well written. It was clunky, disjointed and in real need of a good editor. What could have been a really interesting, insightful  book in the end was just frustrating.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge

Reading by Moonlight

Title: Reading by Moonlight: How Books Saved a Life
Author: Brenda Walker
Genre: Non Fiction - Memoir
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

From Goodreads: The first time Brenda Walker packed her bag to go into hospital, she wondered which book to take with her. As a novelist and professor of literature, her life had been built around reading and writing. Now she was also a patient, being treated for breast cancer, fighting for her life and afraid for herself and her family. But turning to medicine didn't mean she turned away from fiction. Books had always been her solace and sustenance, and now choosing the right one was the most important thing she could do for herself.
In Reading by Moonlight, Brenda describes the five stages of her treatment and how different books and authors helped her through the tumultuous process of recovery. As well as offering wonderful introductions and insights into the work of writers like Dante, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Beckett and Dickens, Brenda shows how the very process of reading – surrendering and then regathering yourself – echoes the process of healing.
Reading by Moonlight guides, reassures, throws light on dark places, and finds beauty in the stories that come to us in times of jeopardy. It affirms that reading can be essential to life itself.

What I thought: I reserved, borrowed and returned this book twice before I actually got to read it on my third attempt. I wonder if I partly put it off because of the subject matter. My most wonderful mother in law (and I mean that sincerely, she is wonderful) is currently battling cancer. Not breast cancer, but cancer all the same. And at times, this book bought me to tears, just wondering if she was feeling the same way Brenda Walker describes her own feelings are various parts of her journey. To me the book read like a battle with cancer. I wouldn't say it was uplifting but anger iducing, tiring, causing self doubt, defiant and relentless. Walker's ability to draw comfort and parrallels with books was wonderful. I know there have been many times in my life when what I have been reading seems to reflect my life and I wonder if during those times you subconciously select those books, looking for direction or needing to identify with someone else and know you are not alone.
This book is worth it, just don't go into it thinking you will walk out feeling up lifted and triumphant. It is an honest account of one woman's  journey.

Recommended for: those who want a truthful, gritty account of dealing with cancer.

Challenges: 100+ Challenge

The Fear

Title: The Fear: The Last Days of Robert Mugabe
Author: Peter Godwin
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Library

From Goodreads:  In mid-2008, after thirty years of increasingly tyrannical rule, Robert Mugabe, the eighty-four-year-old ruler of Zimbabwe, met his politburo. He had just lost an election. But instead of conceding power, he was persuaded to launch a brutal campaign of terror to cower his citizens. Journalist and author Peter Godwin was one of the few observers to slip into the country and bear witness to the terrifying period that Zimbabweans call, simply, the Fear. Following on from his compelling and moving memoirs, "Mukiwa" and "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun", this is a personal journey through the country Peter Godwin grew up in and knows so well - a landscape and a people, grotesquely altered, laid waste by a raging despot. At considerable risk, he travels widely to see the torture bases, the burned villages, the death squads, the opposition leaders in hiding, the last white farmers, the churchmen and the diplomats putting their own lives on the line to stop the carnage. Told with Godwin's brilliant eye for character and natural story-telling gifts, this dark story of Africa's corruption and violence is populated by extraordinary characters whose lives have been shaped by the Fear.

What I thought: Do not read this book if you have a weak stomach. In fact, even if you have a strong stomach, prepare to be nauseated on a regular basis. Peter Godwin's account of the atrocities that have occurred in Mugabe's Zimbabwe is stomach turning. From the running off of white farmers, to the torture of those who support the opposition, Mugabe has taken Zimbabwe from a once prosperous, peaceful country to a hell on earth. I had to stop several times while reading this and go to something lighter. Unfortunately those living there don't have the same luxury.

Recommended for: those who want to bear witness to those who suffer for their beliefs.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,

Listening to Country

Title: Listening to Country
Author: Ros Moriarty
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Library

From Goodreads:  From a trip made by the author to the Australian desert to spend time learning the secrets and hearing the stories of her husband's family's matriarchs, comes a warm, intimate account providing rare insight into the spiritual and emotional world of Aboriginal women. Ros Moriarty is a white woman married to an Aboriginal man. Over the course of many visits to her husband's family, she was fascinated to discover that the older tribal women of his family had a deep sense of happiness and purpose that transcended the abject material poverty, illness, and increasing violence of their community—a happiness that she feels is related to an essential "warmth of heart" that these women say has gone missing in today's world. In May 2006, she had the chance to spend time in the Tanami Desert in north central Australia with 200 Aboriginal women, performing women's Law ceremonies. Here is the story of that trip and her friendship with these women, as she tells their stories and passes on their wisdom and understanding. Offering a privileged window into the spiritual and emotional world of Aboriginal women, this book is a moving story of common human experience, the getting and passing on of wisdom, and the deep friendship and bonds between women. It carries a moving and profound sense of optimism in the fundamental humanity we all share.

What I thought: This is a profoundly moving and emotional book. Ros Moriarty's husband, John, is one of the Stolen Generation, a generation of children taken from their indigenous families to be raised in missions and homes. He is one of the lucky ones in that he was able to find his family later in life and reconnect with them and his culture.
The cultures of many Aboriginal tribes are dying out. The older generation, the last to remember living bush, remember the dreaming and remember all the old ceremonies and customs are dying out. The younger generation who through various government interventions and policies are caught between the indigenous culture and the white world. They are not as interested in the old ways, but are disenfranchised by white culture. Australian Aborigines have higher rates of disease, maternal death, child death and incarceration than their white counterparts.
This book looks at the value of Aboriginal culture and the changes Ros Moriarty has seen over the years of traveling back to visit family. It explores the importance of retaining the links to the bush and the Law and why those links are not being maintained.

Recommended for: those with an interest in Aboriginal Australia past and present.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,

The Secet Lives of Hoarders

Title: The Secret Lives of Hoarders
Author: Matt Paxton with Phaedra Hise
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Library

From Goodreads: The Secret Lives of Hoarders is much more than harrowing tales of attacking the ugliest, dirtiest, and most shocking hoarding cases in the country. It is a behind-the-scenes look at this hidden epidemic- what it means, how to recognize it before it gets out of hand, and how to deal with it.
Through his work with hundreds of clients in the worst circumstances- from the giant "rat's nest" that hid more than $13,000 in cash to a vast cache of cartoon pornography to twenty-five years' worth of unopened mail-Matt Paxton has learned to understand this disorder and his clients' impulses to collect, to speak the hoarders' language, and to reach out to them with compassion and concern while avoiding criticism and judgment. Most important, he guides compulsive hoarders successfully through every step of the clean-up and healing process.
The Secret Lives of Hoarders is an engrossing and sometimes unsettling look at extreme clutter but one that helps hoarders, their families, and their friends to find meaning in the chaos.

What I thought: You know, I can't tell you what drew me to this book. It's most probably the psychology angle. I think in another life I would have been a psychologist - I have always had a fascination with unusual or non neurotypical behaviour. I also love transformation shows and lets face it, the cleaning of a hoarders house is the ultimate transformation! Having said that, because I don't have pay TV, I have never seen Matt Paxton's show Hoarders, but I have a feeling I would like it! What I found interesting about this book is the emphasis on how the clean is not solution. Just because a hoarder's house is clean, doesn't mean you have addressed the reasons why they hoard. Also interesting was the fact that it has not yet been decided where the compulsion to hoard sits within psychological disorders. Many hoarders suffer other psychological conditions such as OCD, depression, anxiety or addiction. The question often is is the hoarding triggered by the other psychological conditions, are those conditions trigged by the hoarding or are they completely separate from one another? Finally, I identified a few traits within myself that are hoarder like. I do let the mess get overwhelming at times, I can find it hard to throw things away. However, in the end, the mess gets to me and I go through massive stages of purging all the junk from my house. Unless these phases end, I think I'll manage to stop it becoming full blown hoarding!

Recommended for: those with an interest in this area or think they know someone who is a hoarder and wants to know how to help.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,

North by Northwestern

Title: North by Northwestern
Author: Sig Hansen and Mark Sundeen
Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Library

Synopsis: Sig Hansen is the captain of the Northwestern, one of the crab fishing boats featured in The Deadliest Catch. In this book he looks at his family's Norwegian heritage, how he was raised and why crabbing is in his blood.
 

What I thought: I love Deadliest Catch and Sig Hansen has always been one of the most entertaining characters. I'm not a big fan of his management style, but I am also happy to admit that I only see what is edited in to the show, not what is left out. The book was interesting, although as I find with a lot of books written with a strong focus on one topic - it did get a bit repetitive. It wasn't a challenging read and gave an different insight into the lives these guys lead.

Recommended for: those who are Deadliest Catch fans.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,

Angel in the Rubble

Title: Angel in the Rubble
Author: Genelle Guzman-McMillan
Genre: Non fiction
Audience: Adult
Format: Book – Personal copy

Synopsis: Genelle Guzman-McMillan was the last survivor to be pulled out of the rubble of the twin towers. She survived 27 hours trapped after the second tower collapsed while she in the stairwell of the thirteenth floor. This is her story of survival.

What I thought:  heard Genelle speaking on the radio on a Monday while in the car and immediately went and bought the book. I read it the same day. Her story is compelling and amazing. I am not a religious person, but I believe in God or some higher power. Not surprisingly, during her 27 hour ordeal, Genelle rediscovered a faith she not so much lost, but forgotten. The truly inspiring part of this story however, is how she maintained and built on her personal belief and relationship with God. She has not got out and then forgotten all the things she promised if He would save her. Towards the end of her ordeal, Genelle reached up through a small hole and felt someone grab her hand. He told her his name was Paul and they were coming to get her. In the radio interview when she related that, I teared up. "How amazing," I thought "to have that person find you." Paul left and let the rescuers get Genelle out. As she recovered, she tried to find Paul. After all, he had stayed with her, told her the rescuers were getting closer. But she could never find him - there was no Paul in that area that day. The men who pulled her from the rubble didn't see anyone else. At that point in the story, shivers ran down my spine. As she said, whether he was real or not, man or not, he will forever be her angel.

Recommended for: people who like a story of adversity - especially with a religious angle.

Challenges: 100+ Challenge, TwentyEleven Challenge,

Free-Range Kids

Title: Free -Range Kids

Author: Lenore Skenazy

Genre: Non Fiction
Audience: Adult 
Format: Book - Library

Synopsis: Lenore Skenazy allowed her then nine year old son catch the subway in New York home - alone. He'd ridden the subway many times before with his family, he was a sensible kid, so after going over the ground rules, giving him a map, money and contact information off he went. Skenazy then wrote a column about it for a NY newspaper and overnight as labeled America's Worst Mother. This lead her to having to defend the way she raised her kids and start the website Free-Range Kids. This book explains what free range kids are, how you can become more free range and dispels alot of the myths around child safety.

What I thought: So I'm a pretty free range mum. I live on an island and my eldest (9) pretty much has free rein to wander around it. My 5 year old is allowed to walk to her friend's place around the corner without supervision and rides her bike/ scooter on the road outside our house. I don't worry overly about my kids getting taken  or hurt. There are a few things in this book that made me realise there were still things I was worried about. I now let my 9 year old boy go into the mens toilets alone at the shops. I'm considering letting him ride to school, even though it's a bit of a hike. What Skenazy does in this book is explain how the media and our fear of judgment by others has caused us to curtail our kids childhoods. Now I live in Australia, so a lot of the stats she quoted don't relate to me - but we are constantly told America is a more dangerous place to live than here so I assume are stats are similar or better. For example, the chance of an American child being kidnapped and killed by a stranger is 0.00007%! Yet this is the reason for not letting kids walk even two blocks to school or the bus stop. And that is just the beginning. Skanazy also looks at the booming business of baby/ child safety products (Baby knee pads for when they are crawling and the Thudguard - a helmet for your toddler to wear while learning to walk! Seriously!!), other countries and how they don't "protect" their kids like this and the value of failing. She also explains the best way to make your kids safe - don't baby proof the world, world proof your child. Teach them things like don't go off with strangers (completely different from don't talk to strangers), what to do if someone does try to grab you (yell, scream, run), and gives you baby steps, brave steps and Giant leaps to becoming free range. A final thing to think on, and this I'm going to quote straight from the book.

 But there are two more reasons why all this good news may not be at all reassuring to you:


1. It's lovely that abductions are down. But what if that 1 in 1.5 million is YOUR KID?

2. It's lovely that abductions are down. But what if that 1 in 1.5 million is MY KID?


That's how everyone thinks - including me. And I've been thinking that way even more, ever since the world decided to weigh in on whether or not I was irresponsible jerk to let my nine year-old ride the subway alone. Usually after I replied to my detractors by rattling off all my safety stats, the person would probe, "But what if that one was your kid? followed by, "How would you ever forgive yourself?"
Answer: I wouldn't
Of course I wouldn't! But what was so upsetting about these questions was the notion behind them: that I'd deliberately put my son in harm's way - and didn't give a hoot - when actually I was allowing him to do something that was extremely safe. And confidence building and competence building too.
Then one day I got an e-mail...It suggested that from now on, whenever anyone asks, "How could you possibly let your child get around on his own? Wouldn't you feel terrible if something happened?" you respond "How could you possibly let your kids get in the car with you? Wouldn't you feel awful if they were in a crash? 
After all a child is forty times more likely to die as a passenger in a car crash than to be kidnapped and murdered by a stranger.
..."How could you possibly make you kids stay inside after school instead of letting the wander on their own. Wouldn't you fell awful if they were burned to a crisp" After all, there are about 50 children killed by kidnappers each year, but ten times that number are killed by fires at home.
"How could you possibly let you kids visit a relative?" After all, they are eighty or ninety times more likely to be molested by someone they know than..
- pages 183/4

Great advice I feel and I will it the next time someone asks me how I can let my kids roam free.

Recommended for: parents or parents to be of kids at any age 

Challenges: 100+ Challenge, 

The Happiest Refugee

Title: The Happiest Refugee

Author: Anh Do

Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adult 
Format: Book - Library

Synopsis: Anh Do is one of Australia's funniest comedians. He also arrived on our shores with 39 of his family members in a boat. The Happiest Refugee recounts the terrifying journey his family took and the life they built in Australia.

What I thought: I was a bit hesitant about this. I've so often read books by comedians I love and have found that while their stand up may be brilliant, their writing leaves a lot to be desired. Happily, Ahn Do turns out to write pretty well. While there are laughs in this book, there is also a very serious side. This book gives you a look into what it's like to grow up with nothing and still think you have everything.

Recommended for: people who like Anh Do's stand up or for those who want an insight into a different type of life in Australia.

Challenges: 100+ Challenge,

Layla's Story

Title: Layla's Story
Author: Vanessa Gorman
Genre: Memoir
Audience: Adult
Format: Book - Library

Synopsis: Vanessa Gorman writes the story of her baby Layla. She goes back to the beginning, starting with meeting Layla's father, their complex relationship, her pregnancy, the traumatic loss of Layla not long after she was born and all that came after that loss.

What I thought: OK, this is going to be a really hard review to write. I am very mindful that who I am writing about are real people and so are the  events that happened. While I in no way think my blog is widely read, I have been contacted by authors of books I've review before. Vanessa Gorman also made a documentary about Layla. It started before Layla was born and I remember watching it. I wasn't pregnant at the time, but we were about to start trying for our first. I remember sobbing and being amazed that these people were able to share such a private experience. It's one of the reasons I picked up the book when I saw it at work. I found the book's exploration of the dilemma of being in a relationship where you both want different things, the sharing of raw grief at Layla's death and Gorman's embracing of the experience excellent. Enjoyed is not the right words, but thought provoking. In these areas of the book, I feel Gorman made a small window into a world I am grateful to never had experienced, and allowed me to develop a small understanding of what it's like to live in that world. For all of these reasons, I kept reading. Early on in the book, at the beginning of her and Michael's relationship, Gorman goes into explicit details about their sex life. Now I enjoy the odd titillating read, but I found this uncomfortable and out of place. It was information I didn't need to know and am not sure why you would want to share it with the world. Obviously the sex was good and an important part of their relationship, but I just don't think I need to know the details. I also found Michael's continued need to know there was a way out of the relationship, his need to be able to leave and Vanessa's willingness to put up with this despite the fact was it completely opposite to what she wanted hard to deal with. Vanessa wanted a child. Ached for a child. I get that, I've experienced that. I have also had the partner who was reluctant and if truth be told, would be childless except for me. I understand what it is like to look at a person who you feel is truly your soulmate and think if you can't give me this, I need to leave. I know what it's like to say those words and be terrified of the answer. I'm also lucky enough to know a man who loved me enough to say yes, he would give me a baby.  A man who loved me enough to put aside his reservations to make me happy. To make a huge sacrifice in order to stay with me. And there in lies my biggest problem with Michael. For me, if you truly love someone, you do what is best for them. What was best for Vanessa, was to have a baby. It was a physical ache. Someone who truly loved her would have said yes, or walked away permanently. And while I understand that Vanessa loved Michael, had a strong physical and spiritual connection to him, it was obvious he was never going to give in willingly and even if he did, it was highly likely he wouldn't hang around after.
In the end, Vanessa found someone else. They have two children and a continuing love for Layla.

Recommended for: those who wanted a raw, no hold barred look on loving and losing a child.

Challenges:  100+ Challenge,