Okay, okay, so it's already been over a week into the month of March and I hadn't posted my book reviews for February. If I had an editor, I'm sure they would be yelling at me for not making my own deadline. Fortunately for me (for the moment), I do not have an editor to get me off my ass. I must get myself to do such things. I suppose as an excuse I could say that February is such a short month but then everybody will know that I'm just making up an excuse. Well, I have been watching a lot of films which takes me away from my reading time. That counts doesn't it? Oh well, in the words of the popular English idiom - "Better late than never." Be sure to read my reviews along with Janet Brown's and others on "Asia by the Book" as well. And now to entertain you with my choices of reading materials for the month of February, read on.
世界の教会 - The title translates to [The World's Churches]. I can't say enough about this beautiful photography book series published by PIE Books. In this book, some of the featured churchs are Basilica de San Pietro in Rome next to the Holy See, Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, the Meteora in Greece, the Floating Church at Tonle Sap in Cambodia, and my favorite (after seeing the pictures), the Chapel of All Saints, also known as the Bone Church or Kutna Hora in Sedlec in the Czech Republic. It's fascinating and macabre.
THE ODESSA FILE by Frederick Forsyth - This book was actually made into a film some years ago and I caught the last half-hour of it when it was aired on television here a few months ago. As I couldn't quite remember the story, I found myself reading the original book. The "Odessa" in the title has nothing to do with the city in southern Russia or the small town in Texas as the foreward to the story tells us. In German, it stood for the Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehorigen which translates to the "Organization of Former Members of the SS". The book starts off innocently enough. An older Jewish man commits suicide. A young reporter who has a friend on the police beat checks it out but doesn't think there is a story to sell. His police friend says the old man left a diary and maybe he might want to take a look through it. The old man's diary was about his time spent in a concentration camp in Riga and his last entry says that he had recently seen the former Commadant of the camp. This diary takes the journalist on an increasingly dangerous journey as he goes in search of the Commadant who's name was Eduard Roschman, also known as the Butcher of Riga. Intense. Fiction with bits of truth missed in makes this for a very compelling read.
THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND : CREATING CURRENTS OF ELECTRICITY AND HOPE by William Kamkwamba - The truly inspiring story of a young man in Malawi who's parents could not afford to send him to school, and yet he finds one book in the library which teaches him about wind currents and creating electricity. With this book and whole lot of inspiration, William builds his own windmill out of scrap metal and other odds and ends. While the community thinks he's gone crazy, William gets the last laugh when he completes his windmill and it actually works. Parts of the story are really sad as we learn that Malawi suffered an extreme famine in 2004 no less, and the government who had received aid had no grain or food to show for it. William fortunately survives. Things start to look up when a journalist from a large city writes a blurb about William on his blog. From there, the excitement grows exponentianally as more foreign journalists come visit William in his home town, a village so small most people have never even heard of it. With his new found fame, William gains a sponsor and is able to return to school, get an education, and give talks about how he built his windmill. As with Vikas Swarup, someone in Hollywood should definitely adapt this for the silver scrren. What makes it even better than "Slumdog Millionaire" is the fact that this is a true story!
世界の駅 ～Stations～ by Mikio and Kazumiki Miura - Once again I had to look through PIE Books wonderful photography series. We've already checked out the world's airports and churches. Now it's time to check out the world's stations. That would be train stations. From tiny stations seemingly in the middle of nowhere to vast buildings that would give a church a run for their money. However, I couldn't believe they didn't include Penn Station or Grand Central in New York City. But they did feature my adopted town and country of Tokyo, Japan with a nice wide angle photo of Tokyo Station.
DEAD AID : WHY AID IS NOT WORKING AND HOW THERE IS A BETTER WAY FOR AFRICA by Dambisa Moyo - The subtitle of this book makes it rather self-explanatory. What gives this book an edge over others about why aid is not working is that this particular book was written by a native African. Not only does she speak out against the western world and their condescending attitudes towards Africa and Africans, she also speaks out against the Africans who are virtually held prisoner to the cycle of aid without showing any economic growth for their countries. I mean, I just read about the boy who made a windmill by himself in Malawi, a country that reserved a ton of food and aid money, and yet many people died because of a famine - in 2004! Moyo says one of the biggest misunderstandings about Africa is that it needs aid. She says that aid is the problem! In fact, aid has had the opposite effect on Africa where the standard of living continues to decline. And she supports her arguments as well. In times of crisis, of course I agree with giving aid, but in recent news articles, it seems that the aid doesn't get to the people who really need. Corrupt governments won't allow NGOs to certain parts of the country and the aid or supplies or food or redirected towards the military to help keep the corrupt governments in power. Even western governments seem helpless in solving Africa's variety of problems and think aid will take care of everything. "You’re WRONG!" says Moyo. But there is still a light at the end of the tunnel. And one bright spot is trade with China, who refuses to give Africa aid for nothing. If they're want to get aid, the Chinese demand something in return, which Moyo says is one step in the right direction. Of all the countries, it seems China is helping Africa with its economic growth. Fascinating stuff, but kind of a dry subject to read about.
THE BORROWERS by Mary Norton - Knowing that the next Studio Ghibli film is going to be called "Kari gurahi no Arietti" and is based on the children's novel by Mary Norton, I knew I had to read it. "The Borrowers" are little people who live under the floorboards who "borrow" things from normal "human beans". In fact, the "Borrowers" think that the humans were there for them to borrow from. Follow the life of Pod, Homily and Arietti as they go about their life living under the floorboards of a nice house in England. Unfortunately, Arietti longs to explore the outside world. She only knows life under the floor. But things take a change when Pod, Arietti's father is spotted by a boy. Although Pod senses danger, he reluctantly teaches Arietti how to become a "borrower" without being spotted. But on her first trip to the outside, not only is she spotted by "the boy", they actually have a conversation and start a friendship. But danger abounds when the maid notices that things are going missing and thinks the boy is keeping a pet ferret or something in the house. I enjoyed the story so much, I already went out and bought a couple of the sequels, "The Borrowers Afield" and "The Borrowers Afloat".
JAPAN TOOK THE J.A.P OUT OF ME by Lisa Feinberg Cook - Before some people, especially Japanophiles, are offended by the term J.A.P., Cook uses the term to describe herself — a Jewish American Princess–one who is used to having things her own way, to driving her red Jetta around town, to having her weekly pedicure/manicure and to meeting her girlfriends for drinks and fun. However, this entertaining memoir is of a year that changes Cook’s life as she becomes a newlywed and less than a week later moves to Nagoya, Japan with her new husband who ha a job waiting for him there. I knew I would be both amused and annoyed by this book, as I could tell from the first paragraph that Cook was going to be in for a major culture shock. During her first year in Japan, her attitude is so Ameri-centric and selfish, it borders on being hysterical (from this expat’s point of view anyway). Her husband’s contract is for two years which Cook at first doesn’t consider a long time until she gets a wake-up call when she arrives in Japan on a blistering hot day. Unlike the bustling metropolis of Tokyo or the history-filled city of Kyoto, the city she finds herself in is Nagoya. For a more detailed review, check out the “Asia by the Book” blog at http://asiabythebook.thingsasian.com/
DUCK! RABBIT! by Amy Krause Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld – It's a duck. It's a rabbit. Is it a duck? Is it a rabbit? No, it's definitely a duck. No it's definitely a rabbit. Look at its bill, it’s definitely a duck. Look at its ears, it’s definitely a rabbit. Only one picture throughout the book as two people debate over what they see as being either a duck or a rabbit. Very cute. I love optical illusions. And you don’t have to a kid to enjoy picture books. I found this to be quite amusing. So, is it a duck? Or is it a rabbit? 
HOT ROD HAMSTER by Cynthia Lord and illustrated by Derek Anderson - I just love the pictures in this children's book as a hamster goes looking for a car so he can compete in an upcoming race. Its only 40 pages long, but as this is a kid’s picture books, the main selling point are the pictures. Beautiful. 
DIPLOMATIC BAGGAGE : THE ADVENTURES OF A TRAILING SPOUSE by Brigid Keenan – This is the fascinating story about the wife of a diplomat. Keenan starts her story from her husband’s new post of Kazakhstan and begins to relate to us what it’s like to live the life of a “trailing spouse” meaning she follows her husband to wherever he’s posted. Keenan meets her future husband through friends and the two hit off. But at the time, her future husband was working in Nepal. She visits him and experiences life abroad for a month or so. Although Keenan had a promising career at a fashion magazine, she takes a chance and accepts a marriage proposal and finds herself moving from her native England to Belgium. In the next few years her husband also gets posted to Ethiopia, India, Trinidad, Barbados, Syria, back to England and as I mentioned in the beginning, currently in Kazakhstan. You can’t help but laugh at her exploits of learning to get around in a new country, making new friends every time they move and learning bits of the language and trying to keep herself sane when at times she is lonely and bored out of her mind.And so you have it. I'm trying to get an early start with the reviews for March and have been getting myself to write a review of what I read immediately after finishing whatever book I'm reading. Last month, I waited until the end of the month to write them all which I know, sounds like another excuse. I think I will make a trip to my local library this weekend just to see what its like and see what types of books they have. I haven't been inside a library for such a long time, it should prove to be an interesting experience. I wonder if they carry any books in English as well. I can tell you that I've already bought a couple of sequels to "The Borrowers", "The Borrowers Afield" and "The Borrowers Afloat" that I plan on reading this month.
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