Green Books Campaign - The Green Guide for Business by Chris Goodall

Hello Internet People! I haven't reviewed a book in months and so I feel a bit out of practice, but I could not miss this event.
It's the Green Book Campaign organised by Eco-Libris, in which bloggers around the world review eco-friendly books and help raise awareness on the importance of sustainability in the publishing industry. I took part last year, when I reviewed "Sustainable Sushi" and learned a lot about the fish industry and the impact it has on our oceans. This year I decided to take part again, because I think it's important to always keep educating ourselves and others on the big issues facing our mistreated planet.
And the Green Books Campaign does just that. Here's the official introduction:

This review is part of the Green Books campaign.Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.
The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

The Green Guide for Business by Chris Goodall

(printed in Britain on paper from well-managed forests and other controlled sources = FSC certified)

I chose to review this book for mainly one reason. I'm looking to start an independent business soon, and one of my main goals is to do it in the most eco-friendly way. Before reading it, I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do to implement green measures: recycle as much as possible, source materials from local suppliers, use transport with low-carbon impact, such as bikes and hopefully an electric car or van, use a compost bin and natural cleaning products.
After reading this, I realised that my ideas were set in the right direction, but, also, that there is so much more to consider.

It challenged some of my most firm beliefs and urged me to read even more about many issues, from recycling to alternative renewable energies.
This doesn't mean to say that I necessarily agree with everything Mr Goodall advocates. I found myself shaking my head more than once at the blatant way the book often refers to (and endorses) financially convenient choices and corporate hierarchy. The author addresses his advices to the CEO of businesses of any size, while referring to the junior staff in a, sometimes, dismissive and patronising way. Maybe it's just me who's allergic to this king of talk. Maybe Chris Goodall and I won't be the best of friends. But that's not the point. The important thing here is that I learned A LOT. I gathered lots of insightful information, useful tips and a general, clearer idea of how I'd like to run my business, so I can say it was an important read.
I should also say that, as insightful and well-researched as it is, this guide is almost completely UK-centred. It speaks to a British audience, so whoever doesn't live there, like me, needs to do their own local research on regulations, allowances, statistics etc.

But let's go more into details on what the book is actually about.

The first chapter looks at the reasons why a business should go green:

Contrary to general beliefs, going green doesn't mean spending more simply to be kind to the environment. It means being more efficient. A green business is able to monitor its costs better than a non-green one. It's also going to be ready to face changes in energy prices and respond quicker to changes in environmental regulations. It's basically saying that it makes all kinds of sense to switch to more sustainable options, even financially.

Having established that going green is a necessity, and not a luxury, the guide goes on to look at what it means to be a green business and what it can be done to implement real changes, from simple housekeeping to bigger but still easy steps, to major and revolutionary green projects. It also contains a whole chapter on how to calculate your carbon footprint (not an easy feat, I'm warning you), another one on how to reduce emissions on transports, and another on recycling, reducing and reusing (focusing on paper, water, stationery, and even furniture).

The major lesson I've learned is that whatever you do, you can never hope to achieve a completely green business. Everything we do is bound to be linked to carbon emissions, like it or not. But the answer isn't to seat back and keep doing nothing. The sensible and smart way to deal with it is, firstly, to be aware of the impact of our actions on the planet. Then to make informed choices on what to do to minimise this impact.

Maybe not surprisingly, the general public and the media, is apparently focused on things that don't matter as much as others, in terms of reducing emissions.
For example, the emphasis is on reducing stand-by power use of electrical appliances but the electricity consumed when things are in use has a bigger impact.

The attention is directed on issues such as recycling domestic waste, but this is generally a trivial matter compared, say to the importance of home insulation or the role of car and air transport in adding to carbon footprints.

Also:

Not buying stuff in the first place, or only purchasing from suppliers that minimise the amount of energy or materials used, is not something that is well understood.

Now, while I would agree that awareness should be raised on those issues, because saving energy and using less things are essential ways to reduce CO2 emissions, I wouldn't call recycling a trivial issue, in any case. And this lead to the main criticism I have about this book. It focuses almost solely on carbon emissions. It's definitely vital that the world learns how to reduce them, but I wouldn't underestimate the importance of other factors as well, such as chemical or plastic pollution in the oceans.
It was certainly interesting to learn that it's greener to choose plastic cups in a business instead of china or metal ones. They takes less energy to make compared to glass or ceramic, and if recycled, will have a small carbon footprint.But I'm wondering, why can't paper cups be used instead of glass or china? If the paper comes from sustainable forests and it can be recycled again (up to 5 times, as I've learned from this guide), wouldn't it be better than plastic? It would come from a renewable source and it would be easier to recycle.
These are all doubts than I have which I'm still trying to work out in my head. They, by no means, intend to diminish the value of the author's researches. I just like to question everything. And I do hate plastic with a passion.

The section on energy saving in building was interesting and definitely alarming. Did you know, for example, that refrigerators can be the single most important contributor to climate change for some businesses? I had never even thought about it.
The book shows small and big changes that can be done to effectively reduce energy needed and thus reducing emissions AND costs. Some ideas are very alluring, like the possibility of having a green roof (look them up, they look amazing!). Some other sound very daunting. But I'm grateful that now I know about the existence of all these different options and I can carefully ponder if I should invest on them or not.
The section on travel and transport has convinced me even more that choosing an electric vehicle is the best choice. Don't know if I will afford it, but I will definitely aim for it.
The section on reducing, recycling and reusing was possible the most interesting for me. I always thought that biodegradable products equal good. Think again. If not recycled, paper will end up in landfill and will rot, releasing methane, a potent climate change gas. Bio-plastic (PLA made from maize) is not currently recyclable, so it's even a bigger problem. Recycled plastic seems a better choice than the bio alternative. Also, I had never really thought about green stationery or furniture.

I realise this review is getting very long and I haven't managed to mention everything I intended. I know I won't be able to. This guide contains so much information and valid options, not to mention examples coming from existing companies who are trying to or have already succeeded in becoming greener. I could stay here all night telling you all about it. The truth is that it'll be boring. Better to go and read it for yourself, if you're running a business or planning to, like me.

I know this won't be the last book I read before taking all my decisions on how to run my future business. Nevertheless, this was a great start and I will be returning to it again for future references.

My family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell

When Gerry Durrell was 10 years old his family, composed by his mother, 23-year-old Larry, 19-year-old Leslie and 18-year-old Margo, decided to move to the Greek island of Corfu and lived there for five years.
This is an "accurate and unexaggerated picture" of how Gerry saw his family and the animal world which richly populated the island.

Although the book title refers to the author's family I found myself a lot more interested in Gerry's love for zoology. It must have been heaven for a kid with such a passionate interest to live in an island like Corfu. It literally buzzed with life and the book portraits this so well. You can feel just how much the author loved this place by reading the lengthy descriptions of the beauty of its flora and fauna. The natural wonders of the island provided him with all sorts of entertainment and his houses (because the family moved from villa to villa quite a lot) often became the home for the strangest and sometimes scariest pets, including snakes, scorpions and owls.
Some accounts of animal lives were more hilarious than others, like Achilles', the strawberry-loving tortoise, whose favourite pastime was climbing on people in the garden:

If [...] you were lying on a rug, sun-bathing, Achilles would be convinced that you were lying on the ground simply to provide him with amusement. He would surge down the path and on to the rug with an expression of bemused good humour on his face. He would pause, survey you thoughtfully, and then choose a portion of your anatomy on which to practise mountaineering.

Or the over-enthusiastic male swallow's:

He seemed determined to leave no stone unturned to provide his young with the finest nest-lining in the colony. But, unfortunately, he was no mathematician, and, try as he would, he could not remember the size of his nest. He would come flying back, twittering in an excited if somewhat muffled manner, carrying a chicken or turkey feather as big as himself, and with such a thick quill it was impossible to bend it. It would generally take his wife several minutes to convince him that, no matter how they struggled and juggled, the feather would not fit into the nest.

Or the grumpy owlet Ulysses', and the fierce gecko Geronimo's and his epic battle with the giant mantis Cicely.
But really, the whole book was a pleasure to read. The author's family was definitely bizarre, and so were their friends who were invited once in a while, and for whom the family moved villa more than once, just to fit them all in. The matter-of-factly way of recounting the events by the author makes everything even more endearing. That was just what happened, even though sometimes it sounded surreal or just straight out of a slapstick comedy.
I admit I wasn't always comfortable with how Gerry treated the animals he found. He often captured them and brought them home with him, even when they were clearly wild creatures. A couple of time he actually hunts the mother's nest or den and brings the tiny newborn with him. I wanted to shout at him to leave the poor thing alone, but then I had to remember that he was only a kid enamoured with the animal life and way too eager to observe it as close as possible. Moreover, he didn't have anyone to tell him otherwise, so why shouldn't he?
Gerry grew up to be a notable naturalist so I'm sure he learned to respect the wild life in time.
So, despite some occasional criticism, I enjoyed this book very much, definitely one to recommend in the future.

other blog reviews:
BookNAround

Green Books Campaign: Sustainable Sushi - a Guide to Saving the Oceans One Bite at a Time

This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 100 bloggers are reviewing 100 great books printed in an environmentally friendly way. Our goal is to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books. This campaign is organized by Eco-Libris, a a green company working to green up the book industry by promoting the adoption of green practices, balancing out books by planting trees, and supporting green books. A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.

The book I have chosen to review for the campaign is Sustainable Sushi, a guide to saving the oceans one bite at a time by Casson Trenor.
I have mentioned a couple of times here how I am a sushi lover. If fact, I could eat sushi every day and live happily ever after. Except the oceans wouldn't be as happy as my tummy. The truth is that the way many of our favourite sushi staples such as the bluefin tuna and the eel have been heavily overfished to supply for their ever-growing demand have affected the ecosystems and are in danger of threatening their survival.
This is something anyone could have guessed. After all we are used to being told that the our world is being squeezed out to its limits and it's running out of resources. But did you know that it's not just wild fishing to blame and that fish farms (or at least some types) are just as dangerous? Do you know the difference between trolling, purse seine and long line fishing? Have you ever wondered where your delicious maguro sashimi come from and how it has been caught?
Personally I knew little about these issues before reading this book. I had a sort of idealistic idea in my head that eating fish is better than eating meat, because it's less polluted, or because it doesn't involve industrial farming. Clearly I was wrong. Very wrong.

This little but informative - and surprisingly entertaining - guide does a wonderful job in debunking these myths and in providing an unforgiving view on the state of our oceans. Thankfully, at the same time, it provides us with a choice. It doesn't tell us "Stop eating sushi now". Instead it offers valid alternatives which promise to be just as good. It also invites us to be more inquisitive at the sushi bar counter. If you want to know whether your salmon is wild or farmed, the only way to find out is by asking!
Ultimately, it encourages us to be more aware. To think with our minds and not just with our gluttony.

The format of the book is an A to Z to the most popular shushi choices. For each it gives a concise but well-researched profile which includes informations on how and where they are caught, whether or not they're an endangered species, and whether or not they are at high mercury risk. It also has great colourful illustrations for each fish.
At the end there's a short section on sushi packaging and its recycling. Again, I found myself realising how little I know about this topic.
But my favourite part was, possibly, the very last one. A small section called "Taking it further", where the author suggests some vegan and vegetarian options for our handmade sushi rolls. Some ideas include sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and even strawberries. I can't wait to try them all out.

Even though I agree with the author when he says that changing the eating habits of few individuals isn't the magic solution for every problem, I also agree about what he says after: The point of this book is to help you start thinking about sustainability in all aspects of life.
I think it has worked on me so far. I feel like there's a big dark hole in my knowledge that needs to be filled. I want to be more aware of how our world works and what I can do to make it work better. I hope it will push lots more people to do the same.

My only complain is that this book is very much US-oriented. It has been written by a North-American guy for a North-American audience. And although I am interested in knowing how fish farms work in the US, it doesn't always help in making a responsible choice here, at my local sushi bar. It's still a valuable introduction on the topic and I will treasure it for this, but I will have to make my own research locally, to know more details.

A bit of information on the author:
From saving the whales of the Antarctic to studying the salmon of Alaska, Casson Trenor has worked to support stewardship of our marine resources in all five oceans and countless seas. Trenor has extensive experience and expertise: he has stalked the fetid warehouses of Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, spent two months journeying by ship along the Antarctic coast, berthed on leaking wrecks off Central Pacific islands, and gone octopus fishing with holy men on the Island of Yap. In thousands of conversations with fishermen around the world, he has heard one statement repeated: “The fish are gone.” Born in Seattle and living in San Francisco, Trenor speaks five languages, has traveled to over forty countries, and holds an MA in International Environmental Policy from the prestigious Monterey Institute of International Studies. He is a top consultant for the first fully sustainable sushi restaurant in the United States: Tataki Sake and Sushi Bar in San Francisco. Sustainable Sushi is a culmination of Trenor’s life work.

If interested, you can purchase Sustainable Sushi at this link

And now head to the other 99 reviews that will be posted today for the campaign! That's a lot of reviews:)

Embroideries - Marjane Satrapi

...and in this way we began a long session of ventilation of the heart...

This one the most entertaining read I've read recently. It was the perfect Read-a-thon choice. Short, smart and absolutely hilarious. If you loved Persepolis, like I did, you don't want to miss this little gem. If you still don't know Marjane Satrapi's work, this is a fast and delightful way to realise what you've missing out all this time.

What do women talk while drinking tea, away from men's ears? Sex, of course! And marriage, men, plastic surgeries...the usual. Only, these are Iranian women, living in a patriarchal society where they have half of the rights of their male partners, so what's usual becomes outrageous!
I'm in awe of Satrapi's gift for irony and subversiveness. Even the sole idea that, behind doors, women talk about these themes, is refreshing. But she just adds that magic touch of lightness and humour that makes it completely irresistible.
Of course, though, being Iranian, the secrets they share are part of a culture that we only know from the media, and from what we read on books (if we do at all). This is a rare opportunity to have a sneak peek at their private lives and thoughts. It's addictive! I wish there were a whole series of these books:D
It was also really interesting to know what is the image that they have of the western culture. For example, when talking about virginity, Marjane's aunt, a free-thinking, divorced artist, declares:

...Why don't we behave as westerns do!? For them, since the problem of sex is resolved, they can move on to other things!
Ha!
I wish. I mean, I see her point, but the "problem" is far from resolved. Especially when you look at the new wave of conservatism which encourages boys and girls to join pledges not to lose their virginity till marriage and advocates abstinence for adolescents as the solution for every problem. I find this very scary, considering it's coming from the so called liberated western society.
But aaaaanyway. I recommend this book wholeheartedly. It's clever, bold, and definitely too damn short!

need more encouragements?
read these:
Tripping Toward Lucidity
American Bibliophile
Things mean a lot
Biblio File
Books of Mee


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Safe Area Goražde - Joe Sacco

Before reading this I had a very vague idea of what happened in the early 90's in Bosnia. I couldn't have picked a better book to introduce me to this topic.
This graphic novel is a brilliant reportage written by Joe Sacco, who decided that in order to tell the world about the Bosnian war, he couldn't just be a normal daytime journalist, there in the morning, gone by the evening. He had to live with the locals, talk to them, eat with them, even become friends with them. Between late 1995 and early 1996 he has travelled to Goražde four times, staying at Edin's (his translator and closest friend there) most of the time.
Why Goražde? Because they were still there. Of the eastern UN designated Safe Areas, only Goražde had survived the ethnic cleansing. But also because...who has ever heard of Goražde? The press concentrated on Sarajevo, making the capital look like a privileged area to those left on the eastern Bosnian areas. The media forgot all about those small towns left to fight for their lives with barely any weapon to defend them.
Now here these people are given a chance to tell their stories. The main voice is Edin's. We get to know him closely, meet this parents, his friends, even his dog. It's him who starts telling how they lived before the war, how different ethnicities coexisted peacefully:

"I didn't make any distinction between Serb, Croat, and Muslim children. We were always together...fishing, in forests, on the playground, the stadium..."

He goes on to give a brief historic background of the area, which I particularly appreciated, because when we covered that in school I must have been sleeping.

Through Edin's voice, and through all the other witnesses that are interviewed, the war is being given faces and names. Real people! Gradually I came to care for them and to worry for their safety, even though I knew that those who were telling the story survived. But at what price.
I learned how they were forced to live in fear for years. How their houses were burned, with all their memories and belongings. How they risked their lives to get food that would last for one or two weeks. There are stories of incredible cruelties, unconceivable violence, of rapes and humiliation. Of mass murders and mass graves.
It's not an easy read, you can imagine that. It takes time to digest everything, even to turn the page, sometimes. I still haven't come to terms with all that unjustified violence. It's there, clear as day, drawn vividly in front of you. Sometimes it was more horrifying than a horror movie. Because it really happened, and barely anything has been done to stop it.
If it sounds a heavy read, I won't deny it. But Sacco has managed to include some humour in it, too. Some light and funny moments, sharing his chats with the locals, making fun of himself, of the journalists, of his friends. Riki, for example, with his unbeatable optimism and his love for American songs, is one I will not forget easily.


I loved Sacco's irony and amused observations.
But what I loved most was the obvious passion he puts in his work. It's intimate, detailed, shocking and highly informative. It should be required reading in high schools.

I wish I didn't have to return it to the library, because one read is not enough to grasp everything. So many stories, so many nightmares, and so little international help.
I was appalled at the lack of support that the Bosnian Muslims had, from the UN (so called) peacekeepers. The little faith I had in this organization has crumbled like a shelled house.
At some point, towards the end, Edin is shown defending his town with few others, hiding in an abandoned house and watching the tanks advancing helplessly.
"Our only hope was the support of the world. We'd expected that for months and years. We thought they would stop it...But they didn't do anything"



Luckily they survived. But the consequences were enormous.
This is definitely not a comprehensive view on the Bosnian war, but it could be a great introduction.
I don't think this book is widely read as it should be. I'm going to make sure at least my best friends get a copy!

Another review:
The boston bibliophile

Fun Home - Alison Bechdel

I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel memoir. It seems like the only form where I find memoirs entertaining is this. But while I was swept away emotionally by Persepolis, here my appreciation has been more of the intellectual kind.
I can't say how many times I had to write down words I didn't know, to be looked up later, because it would be embarrassing. But it gives you an idea of the richness of the language.

It's a deeply honest, witty and insightful exploration of of the author's complex relationship with her father, of how it shaped her whole being from her early age till her father's sudden death, and how it continues to make her reflect on her personality in relation to his. It's also a very intimate account of her personal sexual awakening, which reaches its peak the moment she realises she is a lesbian. This epiphany is also the trigger to another revelation, which will make her reconsider all her life

I felt like this memoir was a necessity, something it needed to be done, for Alison Bechdel to connect all the dots, to forgive and understand, and to record how her family's life was shaped by a long series of literary allusions, from The Addams Family to The Great Gatsby, from Proust to Joyce.

I can relate on many levels with Bechdel. I too had to grow up with a father whose personality was (and is) bigger than life. He too has molded my early literary loves, and it's him I see in my earliest and most vivid childhood memories, more than anyone else, even more than my mum. He was very controlling and probably depressed too. Although, fortunately, I didn't develop any obsessive-compulsive disorder because of that, as far as I know.
I also related to her freshman year in college, where she was astonished by the need of every English lecturers to find hidden symbols and metaphors in literary works. I laughed my socks off when she mentioned Heart of Darkness's gender interpretation (Congo = vagina, Marlowe's boat= penis), because that was exactly what my first English class in college was about! But I was intrigued by all these new layers of meanings, while Bechdel's reaction was more like "why can't we just read the books?".
As I mentioned, this book is packed with literary references, but what it really made me want to go and read is Homer, both the Iliad and the Odissey. I'm not sure I'm ready for Proust yet and I will probably never be ready for Ulysses.

The art was great. It's detailed, expressive and just perfect to balance the complexity of the text. It has very strong lines which work very well with the gray-green watercolours. As Bechdel said "(this colour) has a bleak, elegiac quality" which suits the tone of the book.

I'd love to re-read it one day, and maybe in Italian to capture all the nuances of the language and of some turn of phrases that I'm sure have eluded me!


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other reviews:
Nymeth
Dewey
Books for breakfast

The Translator, a tribesman's memoir of Darfur - Daoud Hari

I picked this completely by chance. Most of the times, when I'm shelving books in work, I find books than catch my attention and I file them under my mental wishlist. This time, instead, I decided to just borrow it (and later buy it) and read it straight away.
I'm ashamed to say I didn't know anything about what happened in Darfur. I don't like reading newspapers daily because they depress me and they take a long time, too. I prefer to go into more depth by reading books like this one.
I was surprised to notice how readable it was. The writing was urgent, with no frills, but it was also lyrical at times. I'm guessing the editors had a bigger role than usual, but it's ok. It's the subject that matters.
Hari's voice is easy to follow and to like. He managed to strike some deep chords with me, while he talked about his family, how he returned to his village learning that it might be attacked in few days and how he led his people to safety. I saw how his tribe shared everything, even when they had nothing. It made me re-think about the extreme poverty of Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes, and how lonely it compares to this.
But the atrocities they had to suffer are incomparable. It was a genocide and they let it happened. I was appalled to see just how little the International governments did to help them
But to hear how much Oxfam, Amnesty and other charities, made a difference, from someone who can testify in person, having witnessed the lack of basic resources that thousands of refugees endured, I decided I wanted to contribute as well. Just a little, but so I know I'm doing something. So as a new year's resolution, I'm going to donate monthly to Amnesty and, possibly to Emergency.

I recommend this book to anyone, but in particular to those like me who want an introduction to what is the Darfur's genocide, and those who like to hear things from people who experienced them firsthand.

other reviews:
Trish's reading nook
Natasha at Maw Books
Debi at Nothing of Importance
Wendy of Caribousmom
Literary Feline at Musings of a Bookish Kitty
3M at 1 More Chapter
Megan of Leafing through Life
Somer at SomeReads
Chris at Stuff As Dreams Are Made On

Angela's Ashes - Frank McCourt

I had no intention to read this. It had been sitting on the pile for more than a year, until I had enough and chose it for the non-fiction challenge. See, I moan about the restrictions of challenges, but sometimes they help overcome some unreasonable blocks about some books we've had for ages. Like Angela's Ashes. In my head I had the notion that it was gonna be an immensely depressive read. I've seen the movie a while ago, and it was, immensely depressive. All the blog reviews I had read agreed. Very sad, unbearable, even boring.
But they must have read a different book, because I ended up enjoying it very much, I even found myself laughing and smiling quite often. It must be because of the language. Even when it recounts the most incredible hardship, it always has its very Irish way of telling it.
You have to get used to it, though. Especially because the prose doesn't use any quotation marks, which I didn't find confusing, but might require some adjusting at the beginning. I thought it added to the musicality and the flow of the narration.
So, the book, as many of you might know, is about Frank McCourt's childhood:

When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, ot course, a mirerable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood

Forget about plot. This is hardship after hardship, in Limerick in the 1930's. Drunk father, depressed mother, constant hunger. While I was reading it I kept thinking how lucky I was that I could eat anytime I wanted! Not something I will take for granted again.
The story recalls Frank's memories from when he was 3 and still in America, to the Limerick years of poverty and rain. McCourt's memories are incredibly detailed, even during the early years. Indeed, you could wonder how he knew that much at only 3. So, I just assumed that at least these early memories were partially fictionalised to fit the story.
I understand that reading about what it is about doesn't sound very appealing. Who wants to read about endless sufferance, dirty rags, cold winters and rainy summers? About queues at the dole, dead babies, stinky alleys and broken shoes? I wouldn't. But again, it's how you say it that counts, not what you say. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece of writing, but it was certainly entertaining.
Few examples: Grandam is a grumpy, hard soul, who never stops going on against protestants. But she managed to make me laugh when Frank's mother had just had yet another baby and there were fears it will die without being baptized.

Grandma is there to help and she says, That's right, no hope in heaven for the infant that's not baptized.
Bridey says it would be a hard God that would do the likes of that.
He has to be hard, says Grandma, otherwise you'd have all kinds of babies clamorin' to get into heaven. Protestants an' everything, an' why should they get in after what they did to us for eight hundread years?
The babies didn't do it, says Bridey. They're too small.
They would if they got the chance, says Grandma. They're trained for it.

Another favourite part of mine was Frank's composition called "Jesus and the Weather" which its last paragraph was:

It's a good thing Jesus decided to be born Jewish in that warm place because if he was born in Limerick he'd catch the consumption and be dead in a month and there wouldn't be any Catholic Church and there wouldn't be any Communion or Confirmation and we wouldn't have to learn the catechism and write compositions about Him. The end.

The conditions in which Frank's family managed to survive were unbelievable. I'm not surprised he left the country as soon as he could and never wanted to come back. If even half of what he tells is true, it would have been enough to drive anyone insane, or bitter at least.
But there was often a comic side of their miseries. Once their house was so cold that Frank and his little brothers Malachy and Michael run out of wood and decided to burn the wall that divided the two rooms in it. When the rent man saw what happened he wasn't pleased:

He says , Great God in Heaven, where's the other room?
Grandma says, what room?
I rented ye two rooms up here and now there's one. And what happened to the wall? There was a wall. Now there's no wall. I distinctly remember a wall because I distinctly remember a room. Now, where is that wall? Where is that room?
Grandma says, I don't remember a wall and if I don't remember a wall, how can I remember a room?
Ye don't remember?Well, I remember. Forty years a landlord's agent and I never seen the likes of this. By God, 'tis a desperate situation altogether when you can't turn your back but tenants are not paying their rent and making walls and rooms disappear on top of it. I want to know where that wall is and what ye did with the room, so I do.
Mam turns to us. Do any of ye remember a wall?
Michael pulls at her hand. Is that the wall we burned in the fire?

I can't help but laugh. The book is full of these tragicomic situations, which make the unbearable even funny, sometimes.
Ok, I didn't find it impossible to put down, but when I did pick it up I enjoyed it. i didn't expect it to, so it was a very pleasant surprise, which should teach me something about prejudices and expectations. Only, I know I would make the same mistake again. It's just too good to be surprised sometimes.

other blog reviews:


Peruse Peach
Well above average
Trish's Reading Nook

Let me know if you've reviewed it too and I'll add it to the list!

There's an egg in my soup...and other adventures of an Irishman in Poland - Tom Galvin

Up until two years ago I had no idea that so many polish people were in Ireland. I think I was in living on the moon. There's polish shops, polish newspapers, polish restaurants, polish signs in the banks, polish adds in the streets. An estimated 300.000 polish people are currently living and working across the country.
And I had no clue! Typical.
But anyway, when this book came out, it looked too funny not to give it a try. And it was, funny. Without being disrespectful or snobbish. No, this guy really loved Poland, so much that he stayed there for five years!
Tom Galvin went to Poland in the mid '90s to teach English in a State School for a year, and he ended up staying for four more, and marrying a polish woman in the meantime. So, it's less of a "travel" writing book, and more of a "stay-and-mingle-with-the-locals" kind of book. Which is essentially what I did. I meant to come to Ireland for a year, and I'm still here after four...
What I liked most about this book was its readability. I didn't expect a non-fiction book, about someone living abroad for few years, to be gripping. But it mostly was. It was a very quick and enjoyable read, which I would definitely recommend, even if you don't plan to travel to Poland anytime soon.
Some of the funniest parts were at the beginning, during his acclimatization stage, where he describes his struggling attempts to:
- buy food
- enjoy a cooked polish meal in a restaurant.
- hide empty bottles of beer in his coat.
- avoid the canteen meals.

One of my favourite part was his description of the butchers in his town: Butcher Nice, Butcher Nasty, Butcher Nervy and Butcher Nephritis. All women and all scary, except for Butcher Nice, of course. Here are my highlights:

Butcher Nasty is to animals what Satan in to God-fearing Christians. Mean and tight and with a stare that would stop a cuckoo emerging from its clock, she cuts cold meats using cheese-wire and a ruler.

Butcher Nervy is a schizophrenic. Although she works alone, I distinctly heard her talking to her 'assistant' one day when I asked for a pound of sausages...The type of character that would have floated around the mind of Hitchcock...

Butcher Nephritis's shop looks and smell like a leper's graveyard. But Butcher Nephritis is really a kind old soul, a typical country butcher, and perhaps only for this have the tools of her trade not been confiscated and herself locked away in a walk-in freezer for a minimum sentence of ten years.


I also laughed out loud when I read about his first night out in a proper restaurant:

The second course is "tatar", a serious disappointment, having starved all day for it. Tatar, I'm told proudly, is a typical 'delicacy', consisting of raw, minced beef mashed with raw onion and crowned with the yoke of a raw egg. It strikes the fear of God in me. I later learned that God was right to have struck his fear in me, as I'm told of a man who got a tapeworm from the stuff.

Yeeewww!

But the best part must be the "customised" buses. I don't know if they still exist,but I wish I could go to Poland just to experience a ride on them:D

Unlike most public transport systems, in which a driver might travel different routes and on different buses, Polish drivers usually have the one bus for the duration of their careers. They tend to customise it according to their tastes, with stickers, pendants, crosses, picture of Jesus and the Pope, and of course, their own stereo and music collection. In the majority of cases, the music is a brand known as "Disco Polo", a poorly produced imitation of nineties continental disco with a hint of Polish folk thrown in. The result is unsettling.

Now, except for the customised buses, I'm not sure I would want to spend such a long time in east Poland as Tom Galvin did (you see, now I even know that the west of Poland is reacher than the east!). I understand now why so people left as soon as they could. It didn't sound like a place that offered a future for young people,especially in the rural areas. But I really wish one day to go as a tourist, at least now I have a slight idea of what to expect!

The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

I've been trying to catch up with my reviews and with the blogging activities in general but since I've come back from holidays I've been so busy, and tired, and then busy again that I still haven't found time to even develop my holiday pics, let alone write proper reviews of the books I've been reading. Even now I have so many things I should do...I'm so stressed!!! anyway, this is supposed to be a review, so here it goes.

I had heard about Persepolis before its film came out. It was mentioned now and again by those graphic novels connoisseurs as a must read, a pillar of the genre, a masterpiece. But it never occurred to me to go and look for it, till the movie was made.

Now that I've read it all I can say is "Wow, what a page-turner!" I know, it's very generic, and it doesn't say much about the book, but that's the first thing that came to my mind after finishing it. Anytime I was reading it on the bus I was at risk of missing my stop, because I was so deeply immersed in it. I never imagined a biography to be so captivating.
The edition I have includes both part I and part II, so it was an uninterrupted journey into Satrapi's life.
In my total ignorance about Iran's history, I didn't know anything of the Islamic revolution and its consequences. About the repression, the tortures, the fear that was part of people's everyday life. One thing is reading history books (which I don't do anyway) and another is reading a memoir of someone who experienced those years personally. I have a tendency of identifying with the stories and the characters I read about. I did the same with this book, and it was extremely emotional.
But don't make mistakes, this is far from being a heavy read. It was tough, it made me shiver and it made me angry, but it made me laugh out loud too. A lot. The shocking and the funny was perfectly balanced and that, I think, is what makes Persepolis unique.
It helped that Marjane was raised by a very liberal family, with a socialist background and an independent way of thinking. It showed the stark contrast between what was going on outside, where you could have been arrested for wearing make up, and inside, where people were risking their lives to throw parties or listening to rock music.

Unfortunately I've left it too late to write a review that would actually make justice to this wonderful book. All I know is that it was one of my favourite reads of this year, and that I couldn't recommend it more. Even if you think you wouldn't be interested, try and read the first few pages. I bet you'll be hooked before you know it.

Other blog reviews:
Thoughts of Joy (part I)
B&B Ex libris
The Book Nest (Part I)
An adventure in reading
Things mean a lot
The Hidden side of a leaf
Rhinoa's ramblings
ReadingAdventures
Katrina's reads
It's all about me

The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire- Arundhati Roy

The time has come, the Walrus said. Perhaps things will get worse and then better. Perhaps there's a small god up in heaven readying herself for us. Another world is not only possible, she's on her way. Maybe many of us won't be there to greet her, but on a quiet day, if I listen carefully, I can hear her breathing.

This is a collection of essays, speeches and articles written by Arundhati Roy between 2002 and 2003.
Reading them has had a huge impact on me. I can’t call it exactly an eye-opener experience, because my eyes were already open, on a lot of the topics Roy talks about. I don’t claim to be an expert on international politics, neo-liberalism or imperialism. But her arguments on war, global injustices and world poverty are familiar grounds for me. My first anti-war protest was in 1991, when I was 10 or 11. I’ve attended three European Social Forum, I’ve been to countless demonstrations and meetings. I’ve always wanted to make the world a better place, and I believe that “another world is possible” is not just a nice slogan.
It’s just that recently I have withdrawn from all this. Now I want to start to read more, to be informed and have good arguments to use when confronted with someone who supports the war on terror, or neo-liberal agendas. It’s not enough to say “was is wrong”. You need facts and figures. And you need to know what you’re talking about.

Arundhati Roy definitely knows what to say and how to say it. She writes about Iraq and the Middle East, about Chomsky and Bush, about everyday people struggling for their right to exist. She writes about this and so much more, with confidence and passion, and even humour.
If you think politics talk is boring, think again.

I must admit that even if I believe that people can always make a difference and that it’s better to do something than just sit and watch, my faith in the power of protests has had some ups and downs.
In February 2003, just before the invasion of Iraq, millions of people, all over the world, got on the streets on the same day, and said no to war. All over the world. 800 cities. 60 countries. It was a global protest of unprecedented scale. And it still didn’t physically stop the war. Not that year, not the year after, and not the year after that. So, what’s the point?

Arundhati Roy, even before February 15, in her speech “confronting empire” in Porto Alegre, had said:

We may not have stopped [Empire] in its track – yet - but we have stripped it down. We have made it drop its mask. We have forced it into the open. It now stands before us on the world’s stage in all its brutish, iniquitous nakedness. Empire may well go to war, but it’s out in the open now – too ugly to behold its own reflection.

This is why I needed to read this book. With beautiful words, she urges everyone to have an opinion, and possibly do something to bring change, even a small one.
She is compelling and moving. She sent shivers down my spine more than once.
I can’t recommend this book enough.

Letters to a Young Gymnast - Nadia Comaneci

This book has a special meaning to me, because I was a gymnast myself and even if I never reached high levels, I’ve always enjoyed it immensely. When I was 12 I watched for the first time the film “Nadia”, about the life and success of Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci. The movie was on this videotape that was passed on among us little gymnasts and every single girl in the gym thought that Nadia was her hero. I did as well. I don’t know how many times I watched it before bringing it back, but I thought about every scene, and sang the music that plays during her legendary uneven bar exercise at the 1976 Olympics, and dreamed about being her, for months and months. It was only after many years that I first watched a real video of her on tape. Short after I bought my first computer and learned how to surf the Internet, I began to trade gymnastics competitions on tape with people all over the world and one of the first competitions that I requested was the 1976 Olympics. It’s a rather boring tape, with no commentary and piano music played for the whole duration. But it still retains its magic, because it was THE competition. When Nadia became legend by earning a perfect 10 for the first time in Olympic history. Not just once, but seven times.

This book is her story, told by her, in the form of a long letter to an imaginary young fan asking for advices. She talks about everything, from her birth, to her childhood, to her first steps in the gym with legendary coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi. She speaks matter-of-factly about her victories and recounts passionately about her defection from Romania in 1989. She answers all the questions that are usually asked to her with honesty and patience. How her life changed after her success, if the stories about abuses from her coach are true, if she was starved by him, if she really tried to kill herself. She answers everything, even though I had the feeling she is not really telling everything, which is understandable. She denies that she attempted suicide, as told in the movie, and that leaves me a bit puzzled, because how could they have make up such a story if none of it was true?
But it was interesting to get an insight perspective from the very person who’s been my hero for so long. I didn’t know anything about her after her last Olympics in Moscow in 1980. That she lived a miserable life under the Ceausescu’s regime, and that she was eventually forced to defect. That she escaped in the night, on foot, with a group of strangers, and that she crossed the Hungarian border scratching herself on wire-fences, risking to be shot anytime by the Romanian police. That was very interesting, and scary.
We’ve lived very different lives, we have very different personalities, but we share one thing, and that is our love for gymnastics. She had the chance to shoot for the moon, I didn’t. But I understand when she says that her hard work didn’t feel like sacrifice, that she loved everything she did in the gym, not because she wanted the medals, but because she loved the feeling of flying in the air, of stretching her body towards impossible moves.

I dreamed of learning new skills. I never saw the bigger picture of international success and fame. I dreamed of running and twisting and double somersaults, and that nothing could tether me to the ground because I was born to fly.

She didn’t give up her childhood, she lived it just like she wanted to.

I enjoyed reading it, even though I suspect she had some help writing it. Her English is a bit too good, and too literary to be truly hers, and that didn’t feel completely real. Beside that, it really is a mandatory read for any real gymnastic fan.
For all the others, I know you might feel left out. So I will add this video, to help you understand what I’m talking about. Enjoy :-)