March Pick

(I'm just gonna keep telling myself that I'll be more successful next month, right?)

Ok, so..... I ADMIT IT!!! I failed at reading my book this month. Just NOT the right month for ME and I have to say it was a HARD book to get INTO!  Do YOU agree?  Or did you FINISH it?  I'd LOVE to know if you did and what you thought about it.

So I'm turning a NEW PAGE (get it? - I know I'm cheesy) and starting FRESH with March!

After much proding, poking, hints and comments - ALL from my husband - the book for March is....

The Princess Bride
by
William Goldman

Most of us have seen the movie. But how many of us have actually read the book?  I haven't!  My husband says it's really good - and I'm a sucker for a love story with some action too.  I think I'll be much better at reading this book. 

Good Luck and Have Fun!

Slacking?

No, I'm not slacking.  I am reading!  I just haven't had the time yet to do a post on Chapter 2, but I will this week... maybe Chapter 3 too.  We'll see.  How's your reading coming?  I think this has been a hard book to read, but a good read, at the same time.  I'll talk more about that in my next post. 

Have a great week!

Chapter 1 - Scenes from Apartheid

7 Chapters - 181 pages

So here's my thought:

with such a short book (a least short in comparison with the last book),

why not do a post on every chapter and really take the time to read it and enjoy it and learn from it?

Here we go....

Chapter 1

Eugene de Kock

We're briefly introduced to this man - "the man whom many in the country considered the most brutal of apartheid's covert police operatives."

Although Pumla doesn't spend a lot of time writing about him yet, and who he is and what he's done - the way she describes him does make him seem evil.  i guess I'll see if I feel the same way as I continue reading.

One of my favorite parts of the book is after she was recounting a memory from her childhood and then found out that what she remembered was different than the actual facts recorded of the event:

"Can what was still so vividly alive in my memory be described simply as a misrepresentation of the facts, a recontruction of events as they happened?"

Thoughts similar to this (but obviously not so eloquently said) cross my mind when I can remember conversations or events SO CLEARLY, yet when I ask the other person that was present, it isn't exactly what they remember either.  Are they wrong?  Am I wrong?  Or is that the event happened differently than we both remember and because of how we interpreted it, that's how it's replayed in our minds?  I don't know!

Does this happen to you too?

February Pick

Thanks to those who gave their suggestions.  If I didn't pick it this month, I might in the future - so don't worry, I wrote them down.  This month I decided to read a true story.  It's called...

A Human Being Died That Night

A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid

By Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

(Here's the description on the back of the book)

This book recounts an extraordinary dialogue.  Pumla, a psychologist who grew up in a black South African township, reflects on her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the commanding officer of state-sanctioned death squads under apartheid. Pumla met with de Kock in Pretoria's maximum-security prison, where he is serving a 212 year sentence for crimes against humanity.  in prufoundly arresting scenes, Pumla conveys her struggle with contradictory internal impulses to hold him accountable and to forgive.  Ultimately, as she allows us to witness do Kock's extraordinary awakening of conscience, she illuminates the ways in which the encounter compelled her to redefine the value of remorse and the limits of forgiveness.

Doesn't that sound AWESOME! 

I'm always up for reading inspiring stories, especially when they're true.  Here's a few of the reviews-in case you need more convincing :)

"An exploration of far reaches of compassion...The important maeesages of this remarkable book are many. But the powers of compassion and forgiveness are not the least of them" - Christian Science Monitor

"A book that tugs at our humanity, compassion, and integrity" - Archbishop Desmon Tutu

"The story of an almost unimagineable dialogue... and exploration of evil, innocence, and the gray spaces in between." - New York Times

Now go get the book at your nearest library, bookstore or from a friend and let's start reading!