January Reads
Keeping with the idea that I read on average two books a month, I’ve decided to be a little more organized and plan what books I will read each month. The books for the blistery, cold month of January are:
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage
By Alfred Lansing
Yes, maybe not the best choice to choose a book about a group of men stranded in the cold, frozen, icy continent of Antarctica for January. But the way I figure it is that anything they go through (frost bite, freezing to death etc) will make me feel like my 40 degree bedroom is quite balmy in comparison. Plus, I love Emperor Penguins, but they only part they’ve played so far is to be considered food :(
The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer
By Siddhartha Mukherjee
I know, again it seems like a weird choice. But the book has been getting great reviews everywhere, and seeing how I like History (I mean I did get a degree in it) and how this covers a topic that we all about today in the present sense, but still not in a historical sense, it seemed like a good choice. Plus, it goes with the whole non-fiction theme and will make me sound really smart (and possibly really depressing at parties).
Say You’re One of Them
Let me just say that do I most of my reading on the bus. Over the last two weeks I have been reading Say Your One of Them by Uwem Akpan – on the bus. This was probably not the best idea because I have spent the last two weeks gasping, squirming, crying, saying “no, no, no” and more all while riding a bus full of blissfully ignorant, slightly confused Seattle commuters.
But I don’t regret it because this book is incredible. The writing is superb but that is not what makes this book incredible, or why Oprah chose it for her book club (yes, I had to give Oprah her due praise). No, the reason this book is outstanding is the stories, and the children who inspired them. It’s a book of incredible heartbreak, intense and unreasonable hatred, and resilience. It is not an easy read, and Uwen does not bother to make it so. Instead, he uses brutal honesty to illuminate a world and young lives that too many are naive about and that too many are all too familiar with.
I am not going to start preaching, or say that if this book doesn’t force you into action then you have no human decency or compassion. This is powerful book and will spur some into direct action, but not jumping on a plane to Africa instantly doesn’t make you less human or an awful person. I’ve read it, and I don’t know how this book will impact my actions yet but I do know that it has already had an impact on my thoughts. I have not been able to stop thinking about the stories, or to not have some innocuous thing remind me of the stories and the children introduced in this book. And that is where the power of books come from - the words – and their power to change the way one thinks and perceives the world.
This book is a must read because it is life changing and illuminating. While we might as a society easily change the channel when one of those sad, adopt an orphan commercial comes on, we can not remove the power these stories have and the way they ingrain themselves on your heart.
Read it.
