January 1 – December 31, 2012

I am not only co-hosting this challenge – I’m joining it! Sign ups may be found on this post.

Last year I did not reach my goal for this challenge, so I’ve chosen a different level this year:

The Plump Primer level challenges the reader to read SIX chunksters. As I read them, I’ll be listing them below with links to reviews.

1. The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman (624 pages) – COMPLETED January 8, 2012; rated 5/5; read my review.

I love the literary prizes and I own a ton of books which have either won or been nominated for those prizes…but which I have yet to read. I track many of the prizes on this page of my blog. I also have joined some individual challenges which are perpetual and encourage reading from certain prize lists. That said…I have been sorely lacking in those challenges, primarily because I read a lot of new fiction and forget to check the lists and read from my own stacks. Beginning in 2012, I am going to make a more concerted effort to read from certain prize lists. It will be a personal challenge of sorts. My goal will be to read AT LEAST ONE book from the list for that particular month – because I am trying to get a little more flexibility in my life, I may decide to read a book from one of the lists in a month when it is not highlighted – and if I do, I will count it!  Some books are on multiple lists, but I am going to try to read one unique book for each category. Make sense?

If anyone wants to join me, I’d love the company – but this is a very loose kind of challenge – no sign ups required. If you give me a link to your list, I’ll try to cheer you on!

Below I have divided up the months of the year and I’ve listed the books I currently own which would count for that particular award. As I read books, I’ll highlight them in blue and give links to my reviews.

January 2012 – Orange January (Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction AND Orange Broadband Award for New Authors)

• Swamplandia!, by Karen Russell (long list Fiction 2011) – read my review
• Scottsboro, by Ellen Feldman (short list Fiction 2009) – read my review

February 2012 – Man Booker Prize

• Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (short list 2011)
• In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (short list 2006)
• A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry (short list 2005)
• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (short list 2005)
• The Accidental by Ali Smith (short list 2005)
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith (short list 2005)
• The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (winner 2004)
• Brick Lane by Monica Ali (short list 2003)
• Unless by Carol Shields (short list 2002)
• True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey (winner 2001)
• Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell (short list 2001)
• Amsterdam by Ian McEwan (winner 1998)
• The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields (short list 1993)
• Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth (winner 1992)
• Possession by A.S. Byatt (winner 1990)
• Restoration by Rose Tremain (short list 1989)
• Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (winner 1988)
• The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie (short list 1988)

March 2012 – 5 Under 35 Awards

• Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, by ZZ Packer (won in 2006)
• The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, by Dinaw Mengestu (won in 2007)
• One More Year: Stories, by Sana Krasikov (won in 2008)
• The Boat, by Nam Le (won in 2008)

April 2012 - Edgar Award

• Faithful Place by Tana French (2011 nominee)
• A Beautiful Place to Die, by Malla Nunn (2010 nominee)
• The Dead Hour, by Denise Mina (2007 nominee)
• The Virgin of Small Plains, by Nancy Pickard (2007 nominee)
• Nemesis, by Jo Nesbo (2010 nominee)

May 2012 – Costa Whitbread Award

• The Girl with Glass Feet, by Ali Shaw (short list First Novel 2009)
• The Elephant Keeper, by Christopher Nicholson (short list Novel Award 2009)
• Child 44, by Tom Rob Smith (short list First Novel 2008)
• What Was Lost, by Catherine O’Flynn (winner First Novel 2007)
• Mosquito, by Roma Tearne (short list First Novel 2007)
• Small Island, by Andrea Levy (winner Novel Award 2004)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (winner Novel Award 2003)
• The Queen of the Tambourine, by Jane Gardam (winner Novel Award 1991)
• The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie  (winner Novel Award 1988)

June 2012 – Commonwealth Writers Prize

• The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (Sierra Leone) – Winner Best Book Africa 2011
• The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (UK) – Winner Best Book South Asia & Europe 2011
• The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigeria) – Short List Best Book Africa 2010
• Under this Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell (Canada) – Winner Best First Book Caribbean & Canada 2010
• Say You’re One of Them, by Uwem Akpan (Nigeria) – Winner Best First Book Africa 2009
• Chef, by Jaspreet Singh (Canada) – Short List Best Book Caribbean & Canada 2009
• The Slap, by Christos Tsiolkas (Australia) – Winner Best Book South East Asia & Pacific 2009
• The Boat, by Nam Le (Australia) – Short List Best First Book South East Asia & Pacific 2009
• A Golden Age, by Tahmima Anam (Bangladesh) – Winner Best First Book Europe & South Asia 2008
• What Was Lost, by Catherine O’Flynn (Britain ) – Short List Best First Book Europe & South Asia 2008
• In the Country of Men, by Hisham Matar (UK) – Winner Best First Book Europe & South Asia 2007

July 2012 – Orange July (Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction AND Orange Broadband Award for New Writers)

• The Boy Next Door, by Irene Sabatini (winner New Writers Award 2010)
• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, by Ann Weisgarber (short list New Writers Award 2009)
• The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff (short list New Writers 2008)
• The Memory of Love, by Aminatta Forna (short list Fiction 2011)
• Annabel, by Kathleen Winter (short list Fiction 2011)
• Whatever You Love, by Louise Doughty (long list Fiction 2011)
• A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan (long list Fiction 2011)
• The Invisible Bridge, by Julie Orringer (long list Fiction 2011)
• Repeat it Today with Tears, by Anne Peile (long list Fiction 2011)
• The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver (winner Fiction 2010)
• The Very Thought of You, by Rosie Alison (short list Fiction 2010)
• Black Water Rising, by Attica Locke (short list Fiction 2010)
• A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore (short list Fiction 2010)
• This is How, by M.J. Hyland (long list Fiction 2010)
• Black Mamba Boy, by Nadifa Mohamed (long list Fiction 2010)
• The Wilderness, by Samantha Harvey (short list Fiction 2009)
• Intuition, by Allegra Goodman (long list Fiction 2009)
• A Mercy, by Toni Morrison (long list Fiction 2009)
• The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight, by Gina Ochsner (long list Fiction 2009)
• The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, by Ann Weisgarber (long list Fiction 2009)
• Fault Lines, by Nancy Huston (short list Fiction 2008)
• The Blood of Flowers, by Anita Amirrezvani (long list Fiction 2008)
• The Septembers of Shiraz, by Dalia Sofer (long list Fiction 2008)
• Arlington Park, by Rachel Cusk (short list Fiction 2007)
• What Was Lost, by Catherine O’Flynn (long list Fiction 2007)
• On Beauty, by Zadie Smith (winner Fiction 2006)
• Minaret, by Leila Aboulela (long list Fiction 2006)
• We Need to Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver (winner Fiction 2005)
• The Mammoth Cheese, by Sheri Holman (short list Fiction 2005)
• A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, by Marina Lewycka (short list Fiction 2005)
• Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson (long list Fiction 2005)
• The Falls, by Joyce Carol Oates (long list Fiction 2005)
• Small Island, by Andrea Levy (winner Fiction 2004)
• Ice Road, by Gillian Slovo (short list Fiction 2004)
• Brick Lane, by Monica Ali (long list Fiction 2004)
• The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri (long list Fiction 2004)
• Love, by Toni Morrison (long list Fiction 2004)
• The Amateur Marriage, by Anne Tyler (long list Fiction 2004)
• Unless, by Carol Shields (short list Fiction 2003)
• What I Loved, by Siri Hustvedt (long list Fiction 2003)
• In the Forest, by Edna O’Brien (long list Fiction 2003)
• Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (long list Fiction 2003)
• Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett (winner Fiction 2002)
• The Siege, by Helen Dunmore (short list Fiction 2002)
• Five Quarters of an Orange, by Joanne Harris (long list Fiction 2002)
• The Idea of Perfection, by Kate Grenville (winner Fiction 2001)
• Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout (short list Fiction 2000)
• Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels (winner Fiction 1997)
• A Spell of Winter, by Helen Dunmore (winner Fiction 1996)

August 2012 – National Book Award

• The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway (1953 nominee)
• Them, by Joyce Carol Oates (1970 winner)
• Wonderland, by Joyce Carol Oates (1972 nominee)
• The Optimist’s Daughter, by Eudora Welty (1973 nominee)
• The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner (1977 winner)
• Beloved, by Toni Morrison (1987 nominee)
• Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler(1988 nominee)
• All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy (1992 winner)
• Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat(1995 nominee)
• The House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III (1999 nominee)
• The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (2001 winner)
• The Known World, by Edward P. Jones (2003 nominee)
• Fieldwork, by Mischa Berlinski (2007 nominee)
• Shadow Country, by Peter Matthiessen (2008)
• Lark and Termite, by Jayne Anne Phillips (2009 nominee)

September 2012 – Pulitzer Prize

• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (winner 2011)
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (winner 2008)
• The Known World – Edward P. Jones (winner 2004)
• Empire Falls – Richard Russo (winner 2002)
• Interpreter of Maladies – Jhumpa Lahiri (winner 2000)
• American Pastoral – Philip Roth (winner 1998)
• Independence Day – Richard Ford (winner 1996)
• The Stone Diaries – Carol Shields (winner 1995)
• A Thousand Acres – Jan Smiley (winner 1992)
• Breathing Lessons – Anne Tyler (winner 1989)
• Beloved – Toni Morrison (winner 1988)
• The Optimist’s Daughter – Eudora Welty (winner 1973)
• The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway (winner 1953)
• All the King’s Men – Robert Penn Warren (winner 1947)
• The Magnificent Ambersons – Booth Tarkington (winner 1919)

October 2012 – International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (short list 2011)
• The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (short list 2011)
• Little Bird of Heaven by Joyce Carol Oates (short list 2011)
• The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz (short list 2009)
• A Long Long Way, by Sebastian Barry (short list 2007)
• Graceland, by Chris Abani (short list 2006)
• Maps for Lost Lovers, by Nadeem Aslam (short list 2006)
• The Known World, by Edward P. Jones (winner 2005)
• The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen (short list 2003)
• Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett (short list 2003)
• True History of the Kelly Gang, by Peter Carey (short list 2002)
• The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, by Haruki Marakumi (short list 1999)

November 2012 – The Giller Prize

• Half-Blood Blues, by Esi  Edugyan (winner 2011)
• Annabel, by Kathleen Winter (short list 2010)
• The Disappeared, by Kim Echlin (short list 2009)
• Through Black Spruce, by Joseph Boyden (winner 2008)
• Late Nights on Air, by Elizabeth Hay (winner 2007)
• Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje (short list 2007)
• The Assassin’s Song, by M.G. Vassanji (short list 2007)
• The In-Between World of Vikram Lall, by M.G. Vassanji  (winner 2003)
• The Way the Crow Flies, by Ann-Marie MacDonald (short list 2003)
• Unless, by Carol Shields (short list 2002)
• Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards (winner 2000)
• Anil’s Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje (winner 2000)
• Fugitive Pieces, by Anne Michaels (short list 1996)

December 2012 – Governor General’s Literary Awards

• Half-Blood Blues, by Esi Edugyan (short list 2011)
• Annabel, by Kathleen Winter (short list 2010)
• Vanishing and Other Stories, by Deborah Willis (short list 2009)
• Divisadero, by Michael Ondaatje (winner 2007)
• The Assassin’s Song, by M.G. Vassanji (short list 2007)
• Unless, by Carol Shields (short list 2002)
• Anil’s Ghost, by Michael Ondaatje (winner 2000)
• Mercy Among The Children, by David Adams Richards (short list 2000)
• The Stone Diaries, by Carol Shields (winner 1993)
• Friend of my Youth, by Alice Monro (short list 1990)

January 1 – December 31, 2011

A Year of Feminist Classics is a project started by Amy, Ana, Emily Jane and Iris, four book bloggers who share an interest in the feminist movement and its history. The project will work a little like an informal reading group: for all of 2011, we will each month read what we consider to be a central feminist text, with one of us being in charge of the discussion. We invite all readers to join us – you certainly don’t have to commit to the whole twelve months to participate (though we would love it if you did!); if there’s any particular title you have always wanted to read, here’s your chance of doing so with a group of fellow readers who will do their best to use it as a point of departure for a stimulating discussion.

I’ve decided to participate in some of the reads. I’ve highlighted the books I am interested in reading on the list below. Here is the reading list:

January: A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollestonecraft AND So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
February: The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill
March: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (COMPLETED March 7, 2011; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
April: Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (COMPLETED April 4, 2011; rated 3.5/5; read my review)
May: A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
June: God Dies by the Nile by Nawal Saadawi (I wanted to read this one…but it costs $49 for the book, and I just can’t afford to buy it)
July: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
August: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
September: The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
October: Ain’t I a Woman? by bell hooks AND Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism Anthology
November: Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
December: Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

I’ll be adding links to this page to reviews or discussions as the year progresses.

Since we are well into November and the end of the year is fast approaching, I thought I should go through my remaining reading challenges and see where I am. Here is my update as of today:

COMPLETED Challenges in the last couple of months:

The Women Unbound Challenge asked that participants read nonfiction and fiction books related to the rather broad idea of ‘women’s studies.’ Hosted by Eva, Care, and Aarti, the challenge allowed readers to choose their level of participation…and I chose to read 8 books. I actually finished this challenge awhile ago, but enjoyed it so much, that I kept reading books that fit its criteria. I’m calling it quits now after having completed 13 books (5 nonfiction and 8 fiction). You can see the books I read with links to my reviews here. To get links to all the great reviews of women’s study books, check out this page on the challenge blog. This was a wonderful challenge…and if they host it again in 2011, I will join!

The Chick Lit Challenge was hosted by Twiga…and I really enjoyed this one. The challenge was to read 8 books, and I completed 9. Here is my list of books read with links to reviews. If you you are interested in getting more links to reviews of great women’s fiction, check out this post. As for the books I read, they were mostly excellent. My top three favorites (in order of most favorite) were: Get Lucky by Katherine Center, The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle, and Promises to Keep by Jane Green.

Hosted by Melissa at The Betty and Boo Chronicles, The Memorable Memoir Challenge was one of my most enjoyable challenges in 2010. I discovered that I really do love memoirs…and I read some excellent ones for this challenge. You can check out the books with links to my reviews here. The goal was to read four books, and I managed to read seven…four of which I gave my top rating of 5 stars (the rest were rated 4 stars and 4.5 stars!). I hope Melissa hosts this one again in 2011 because I would definitely join.

I’m pretty proud that I managed to finally complete one of my own hosted challenges this year! The Chunkster Challenge is hosted on its own blog – and it actually runs through the end of January – so, although I’ve already met my goal to read six chunksters, I’m going to keep adding to my list here until the challenge ends. And in case you are wondering…I am planning to host this challenge again in 2011 (more details later).

Another one of my favorite challenges in 2010 is the Orbis Terrarum Reading Challenge hosted by Bethany. As with other favorite challenges, I surpassed the goal I set for myself. I set out to read 8 books from around the world, but ended up completing 9 books. You can see the books I read with links to their reviews on this post. I would also encourage you to visit the dedicated blog where you can find reviews to hundreds of books from around the world. I will definitely do this challenge again in 2011!

I love reading books by new-to-me authors and so every year I join Literary Escapism’s New Author Challenge. In 2010, I set a goal to read 50 new-to-me authors…so far I’ve read 64. I’m going to keep adding to my list for this challenge until December 31st. If you want to be really impressed, check out the hundreds of links to reviews which are accumulating over at the challenge blog.

Teddy’s ARC Reading Challenge helps me read all those ARCs that keep piling up on my shelves. My goal for this year was to get through at least 25 of them and so far I’ve read and reviewed 29. Based on the dozens more patiently waiting for me, I’m going to continue adding to my list until December 31st. And, in case you’re wondering – yes, I will join this challenge again in 2011 if Teddy decides to host it.

I’m still working on several other challenges in 2010 – some I will probably complete, others I am afraid will drop by the wayside.

2010 Challenges I am close to finishing:

Lurve A La Mode is hosting The Year of the Historical Challenge which requires that I read twelve books of historical fiction. I should be able to finish this one as I’ve already read and reviewed ten books. I love historical fiction, and so far this challenge has rewarded me with some awesome books (with two of them competing for my top ten of 2010 list: The Children’s Book by AS Byatt and By Fire, By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan).

The Suspense-Thriller Challenge is one I thoroughly enjoy as it gives me permission to sink into books which are simply entertaining and fun to read. Hosted by Book Chick City, I need to read and review 12 books to complete this challenge. I’m close having read ten thus far. I’m looking through my stacks and hoping to squeeze in the final two before the end of the year.

Michelle hosts the ever popular Book Awards Challenges…for Book Awards IV, I need to complete 10 different books from 10 different awards. I hope I can finish this one – I have three left to read. I can see I am going to have to move a few books up in the stacks if I am going to have any hope of finishing!

Challenges I am unlikely to Complete in 2010…or I give up:

I completely spaced out on the South Asian Author Challenge hosted by Swapna. The goal was to complete five books…and I have only managed one so far. It is highly unlikely that I will be able to succeed at this challenge…but, in the spirit of optimism, I will keep it posted until the end of the year just in case!

I started out very enthusiastically with The Social Justice Challenge – and actually kept up with it through July. Then the bottom dropped out of my life with my sister getting very ill and needing me back in New Hampshire. I don’t feel so bad about this challenge, however, because it looks like I participated a bit more than a lot of people…and in fact, the hosts themselves look like they may have given up on the challenge too (the last post to the dedicated blog was in July). The best part about this challenge was it got me to read outside my comfort zone…and prompted me to do some good things in the world.

The Short Story Reading Challenge (hosted by Kate’s Book Blog) seemed like the perfect challenge for me – I used to read a ton of short stories, and I had lots of books on my shelves for this challenge. But out of the five collections I wanted to read, I’ve only read one so far. There is no way I’ll finish this one before December 31st…so I’ve given myself permission to throw in the towel on it.

The Aussie Author Challenge (hosted by Book Lover Book Reviews) also seemed like a no brainer – and yet given an entire year to complete three books, I’ve only managed to read one. Live and learn, right? Well, I still have all those Aussie Author books sitting on my shelves…and some day, I will read them! But not this year…

I cannot believe that I didn’t come close to completing the O.A.T.E.S. Challenge (hosted by Trish at Hey Lady! Watcha Readin’). I love the authors represented by this challenge – but managed only to do the “A” part of it (Atwood)…and read two books by her. Given that there is only 6 weeks left in the year, I’m quitting this challenge … but I am determined to get to those authors in 2011!

I also have bombed on the Scandinavian Challenge which is especially embarrassing given that I have Swedish roots! The goal was to read six books by Scandinavian authors…I’ve read two and doubt I’ll get to four more before the end of the year…so this one can be considered “failed.” Oh well – at least I read two!

So there you have it! Have you been doing an accounting of where you stand in your reading in 2010? I know that going through all of this has helped me narrow down how I want to organize my reading in 2011!

This month’s theme for The Social Justice Challenge is poverty.

We all know what poverty looks like, right? We see it on our streets daily – the homeless sitting on street corners, the elderly struggling to pay for medications and groceries, the young who are often hungry and sad. Most of us probably have a vision in our heads of who the poor are and why they ended up that way. Some of our visions may be correct; some may be based on myths…but regardless, we cannot deny that poverty is a huge problem globally.

When I thought about what I wanted to do for this month’s theme, I decided I wanted to look at poverty differently. I did not want to feel hopeless about it. I wanted to understand how individuals could tackle the issue of poverty and find a solution for it. That thought process led me to read a book which brings a new vision to the idea of poverty. That book led me to an organization which is about “supporting choice, not charity, and embracing dignity, not dependence.” Below I’ve given you some information about both the book I read this month, and the organization which I have joined in order to have a positive impact on one of the biggest problems humanity faces: Poverty.

Book Read: The Blue Sweater by Jacqueline Novogratz (Completed July 17, 2010; rated 5/5; read my review)

This is a fantastic book – hopeful and optimistic, it follows the journey of the author from America (where she was educated as an international banker) to Africa, India and Pakistan. The author is the creator and founder of The Acumen Fund which offers a revolutionary approach to ending poverty in the world. I loved the book and highly recommend it.

Action: Joined the Acumen Fund Community

Their vision:

[...]working toward a world where every human being has access to the critical goods and services they need—affordable health care, water, housing, energy—so that they can make choices for themselves and pursue lives of greater purpose.  This is where dignity starts—not just for the poor but for everyone on earth.

How they do it:

Using the compassion of philanthropy and the rigor of the marketplace, Acumen Fund brings together the best of business and charity. We invest patient capital to identify, strengthen, and scale transformative businesses with the aim of effectively serving millions—and someday billions—of the world’s poorest.

Check out some of their events.

FAQs about The Acumen Fund.

As part of the Social Justice Challenge in May, I decided to make a quilt for an organization called Quilts for Kids whose mission is:

Transforming discontinued, unwanted and other fabrics into patchwork quilts that comfort children with life-threatening illnesses and children of abuse.

I finished this quilt over the weekend and mailed it off today where it will get a label and be sent to a child in a hospital. Quilts for Kids have distributed thousands of quilts for children with terminal illness who are in hospitals nationwide. Check out the gallery of quilts on their site. Want to make a quilt for this organization? Visit this page for FAQs.

Here is my finished quilt (click on photos to enjoy a larger view):

Haregewoin had one color photo of Atetegeb holding her baby. She enlarged this photo until its lines turned all pastel and soft. She framed it and centered it on the wall above the sofa. She framed a smaller black-and-white photo of Atetegeb and Suzie as teenagers laughing together. Under the glass she placed a slip of paper upon which she’d typed the words from a pop song: “There is no me without you.”

A child cannot live without a mother or father. A mother or father cannot live without the child. - from There is No Me Without You, page 134 -

A widowed, middle-class woman grieves for her daughter who dies horribly from AIDS. More than a year later, depressed and still mourning, she enters a church to request a hut in the cemetery near her daughter’s grave – she has decided to go into seclusion and live out the rest of her life in grief. Instead of seclusion, however, the priest offers her something different – to become a foster mother to an orphaned teenage girl whose mother has died from AIDS. The decision to accept the priest’s offer is a turning point for  Haregewoin Teferra and her life begins again.

She had lost her daughter. And God sent her these precious children. - from There is No Me Without You, page 259 -

There is No Me Without You is Haregewoin’s story told by award-winning journalist Melissa Fay Greene. When Haregewoin took in her first orphan, her heart was opened to the plight of her country’s children. Thousands of Ethiopians were dying from a virus with no cure, and leaving behind their children who were shunned because of fear. The options for these children were few – many ended up on the streets, starving, selling sex for food, or dying from the same disease which had taken their parents. Haregewoin Teferra was an angel of mercy. Very quickly she  found her small home filled with children who had no other place to go.

Greene provides the historical backdrop for the AIDS pandemic in Africa which later made its way to every country in the world. She explores the variety of theories about why AIDS arrived in the human population…the most compelling of these being the theory of serial passage – that a weak pathogenic virus is strengthened through mutation of the virus as it is injected from one host to another. In the case of AIDS, unsterile injections of vaccines in third world countries may have been the genesis of the disease whose roots have been found in African monkeys. I was shocked to learn that even as late as 2000, there was an estimated thirty to fifty billion unsterile injections occuring per year…even though a single-use autodestruct disposable syringe had already been developed. Why were these new syringes not being used? Of course, the reason is money.

Global health experts agree that safer needles are a crucial step toward eradicating the iatrogenic spread of diseases, but where will the funding come from? WHO’s budget is insufficient and the big donors are not coming forward. - from There is no You Without Me, page 84 -

Greene reveals the incredible poverty and poor delivery of medical services which has allowed AIDS to continue killing people by the thousands in Africa, while in the United States people are surviving the disease because of access to life saving drugs. She examines the greed of the pharmaceutical companies who initially charged upwards of $15,000 per year for the latest AIDS drugs, while production costs for those drugs were somewhere in the range of $200. Patent protection contributes to the inability for poor countries to acquire the medications needed to save their communities. When GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) patent on AZT expired in 2005, generic drug makers were able to provide the drug for $105 per year, a marked decrease from GSK’s price of $3893.64 per year. Despite the ability to now provide generic first line AIDS drugs to patients, multinational drug companies continue to fight for exclusive patents on the second line drugs…a move that makes them out of reach for poor countries.

The statistics Greene shares with her readers is stunning and heartbreaking; the numbers staggering:

• 81% of Ethiopia’s people live on less than two dollars a day; and 26% live on less than a dollar a day (page 12)
• By 1999, UNAIDS estimated that 33 million people around the world were living with HIV/AIDS and that 16.3 million people worldwide had died from the disease. (page 113)
• In 2000, AIDS had killed more than twenty-one million people, including four million children. More than thirteen million children had been orphaned by AIDS – twelve million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-five percent  of those lived in two countries: Nigeria and Ethiopia. (page 20)
• By 2000, Ethiopia had the world’s third-largest HIV/AIDS-infected population, trailing only India and South Africa. (page 117)
• Spending on health per person in Ethiopia in 2002 was two dollars per year – across all of  sub-Saharan Africa during that time, it was ten dollars per person per year (page 14)
• In 2005, Ethiopia had 1,563,000 AIDS orphans; and 4,414,000 orphans from all causes – the second highest number in Africa (page 268)
• In 2006, 4.7 million people were in immediate need of lifesaving AIDS drugs, but only 500,000 had access to them. During that time, sixty-six hundred Africans were dying each day of AIDS. In Zimbabwe, a UNICEF report stated that every twenty minutes a child either died from AIDS or was orphaned by the disease. (page 25)

The hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic in Africa are the children who continue to be orphaned by this disease. They are also the most innocent of victims – often being born HIV positive because their mothers are ill with the disease.

In North America and Europe, it had been discovered that triple-dose combination therapies, beginning twenty-eight weeks into a women’s pregnancy, could reduce transmission of HIV to the baby by 98 percent and save the mother, too. Public health campaigns, counseling, prenatal care, and ARV therapy for HIV-infected pregnant women in the United States reduced childhood infections to below 2 percent of births. In 2002, the number of new cases of pediatric AIDS was ninety-two.

And in 2003, fifty-nine.

But fewer than 10 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women in Africa had access to these drugs.

So, in Ethiopia, the number of new pediatric cases in 2003 was roughly sixty thousand. - from There is No Me Without You, page 214 -

In light of these kinds of statistics, Haregewoin’s mission to help the children of her country is even more poignant. Greene’s writing is compelling. She intersperses the facts with beautiful descriptions of Africa and its people. She captures the stories of individual children with a tenderness which made my heart ache. Many of the children mentioned in the book go on to find homes in adoptive families. Some do not.

Perhaps the strongest element of this book was Greene’s portrayal of Haregewoin herself. No one is perfect, but it would have been easy for Greene to place Haregewoin on a pedestal – make her into a saint. Instead, Greene describes Haregewoin’s weaknesses, struggles and ultimate triumph through a lens of honesty. Times were not easy. Choices made were not always the right ones. And yet, imagine stepping forward to take on what Haregewoin Teferra took on. She was essentially a volunteer who lived, breathed, and slept her mission of saving children. Sadly, Haregewoin passed away from natural causes last year. Her work, however, continues to live on.

There is No Me Without You is another one of those books which is hard to read. It is painful. At times it made me angry. There seems to be no end to the suffering in Africa. And yet, it is also a book which is important to read. There is hope within the pages – a glimpse of the humanity and kindness that can overcome the worst of situations. And for that reason, it is a book I recommend.

Visit the author’s website.

How you can help.

Help Ethiopia Reads – donate books to Ethiopian Libraries and connect children to books.

Everything is Broken by Emma Larkin
ISBN 978-1-59420-257-5
264 pages
The Penguin Press (2010)

Welcome to my TLC Book Tour of Everything is Broken. This is a stark, moving book which I highly recommend (read my review). Emma Larkin is the pseudonym for an American who was born and raised in Asia, studied the Burmese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She lives in Bangkok, Thailand, and has been visiting Burma for close to fifteen years.

You can read more reviews of the book by following the links on the TLC Book Tour site.

Good nonfiction should motivate the reader to want to know more about the subject, and Larkin’s book Everything Is Broken did just that for me.  I am a little embarrassed to admit that before I read The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly last month, I had no idea how bad things were in Burma. Then I agreed to this TLC tour of Emma Larkin’s book where she explores the tragic aftermath of Cyclone Nargis  in Burma in 2008, when the Burmese government refused foreign aid to the detriment of its people. For all intents and purposes, the response of the regime was genocide.

Trigger warning: the following video was taken by amateur videographers in the days following Cyclone Nargis and shows images which may be disturbing to some people:

Compelled to learn more about the human right’s abuses and lack of freedom in Burma, I did a little research on the topic. Below are some of things I wanted to share with you, as well as  links to websites which will help you learn more and discover how you can take action.

Learn more about Aung Sang Suu Kyi:

Read her 1990 Freedom From Fear speech.

Read her biography.

Why Are They Afraid of Aung Sang Suu Kyi?

Loss of Freedom:

Read about the history of Freedom of Speech violations in Burma.

View a moving video about the 2007 crackdown against Burmese monks:

Take Action:

Learn more about Burma and TAKE ACTION by visiting US Campaign for Burma:

• Contact your senator by phone or email to request a renewal of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act (Senate Joint Resolution 29).

Each year, the Senate must vote to renew the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act. This year, seven leading Senators – Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John McCain (R-AZ), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Judd Gregg (R-NH), and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) – have introduced a Senate Joint Resolution 29 to renew the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act.  This year, we need your help to get as many Senators on board as possible to make a strong impact! We need your help to help Burma.

• Support a UN Commission of Inquiry into the regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity

The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, released a groundbreaking report to the UN Human Rights Council calling for a Commission of Inquiry into Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes in Burma, after nearly a year of being bombarded by our demands. This is the first time an acting UN official has called for such strong action.

• Arrest yourself in 2010 to show solidarity with solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.

• E-mail your representative urging them to co-sponsor Resolution 898 to help end abuses committed by the Burmese Junta.

Other excellent websites providing information on Burma:

• Burma Democratic Concern

[...]the global campaigning and lobbying organisation to restore democracy, human rights and rule of law in Burma where everyone can enjoy the freedom of speech, press, beliefs, assembly and rule of law that emphasizes the protection of individual rights. Burma Democratic Concern (BDC) has the firm determination, dedication and devotion to keep on working until the democracy restore in Burma.

• Burma VJ

The VJs and individual activists in this film took great personal risks to get this story out to the world. A number of them are currently incarcerated as a result of their roles in the Saffron Revolution. After careful consideration of each case, the DVB decided to campaign on behalf of the following individuals: Htin Kyaw, Su Su Nway, Ohn Than, Sithu Maung, Ko Win Maw. This is the first time it has ever released names for such a campaign.

Show your support – write to the United Nations now.

• Free Burma Coalition

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and the Penguin Press for providing me the opportunity to read Emma Larkin’s moving story of Burma…and for motivating me to learn more and take action.

There is a Burmese phrase that perfectly described the limited amount of aid being delivered after the cyclone versus the enormity of the need: As the phrase goes, it was like tossing sesame seeds into the mouth of an elephant. – from Everything is Broken, page 46 -

The willingness expected of a soldier is encapsulated in the Burmese expression that a cup must be filled with water even if it is cracked or broken. As a Burmese man explained to me, “If a commanding officer says, ‘Get me a cup of water,’ the soldier must fulfill the order, whether or not the cup is broken. There are no excuses.” – from Everything is Broken, page 143 -

In May of 2008, a Category 4 cyclone dubbed “Nargis” reached the coast of Burma and charged through the Irrawaddy Delta (a flood basin for Burma’s main river). Hundreds of farming and fishing villages which were home to thousands of people were devastated. In some cases, 90% of the people living in a village were killed. But it was not the storm itself which shocked everyone, but the response of Burma’s government.

In neighboring Thailand, the U.S. government had loaded a C-130 cargo plane with lifesaving relief supplies that would have taken just under an hour to reach Burma, but the craft was not given clearance to land at Rangoon’s airport. The United Nations World Food Programme had three planes ready to fly in from Bangladesh, Thailand, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The planes were loaded with vitamin-fortified biscuits for hungry survivors who may have not been able to eat for some days and would be in need of instant nourishment. These biscuit-laden planes were also denied clearance. A flight from Qatar carrying relief materials and aid workers managed to land at Rangoon airport but was immediately forced to take off again without unloading any of its contents. – from Everything is Broken, page 8 -

The Burmese government denied foreign aid in the critical weeks following the storm – a time when most experts believe people might have been saved. Instead tens of thousands perished. Even when aid was allowed into the country, the regime restricted the movement of aid workers into the hardest hit areas, allowing only untrained Burmese employees to distribute supplies and provide assistance to the people in the Delta area.

Burma is controlled by a military regime headed by Than Shwe, an uneducated village boy who rose through the ranks to become the country’s top leader. Fueled by the need for complete control over its people, the Burmese regime ignores human rights, restricts freedom of speech, quickly eliminates any organized protests, and imprisons anyone who dares stand up against its actions.

Emma Larkin has been traveling to Burma over the last fifteen years. She writes under an assumed name to protect her contacts there. In Everything is Broken, she reveals the history of the Burmese government and how that history impacted the response to cyclone Nargis. Not only does Larkin cover the nationwide uprising against the government in 1988 (where soldiers shot into crowds of people killing an estimated three thousand citizens), but she also takes a look at the events of September 2007 when a mass protest by Buddhist monks ended in a government crackdown where monks and citizens were beaten, killed and imprisoned – made more shocking because of the revered status of monks in Burmese society. She also introduces readers to Aung San Suu Kyi, a Noble Peace Prize winner (1991) and Burmese opposition party leader (she won the general election for Prime Minister in 1990 but has never been allowed to serve), who has spent most of the last twenty plus years under house arrest because of her political stance.

But perhaps the strongest element of Larkin’s reportage is when she illuminates the people and culture of Burma. In the months following the storm, Larkin managed to travel through some of the most devastated areas. She spoke with villagers who had lost everything, and recorded their stories. She experienced first hand the grief and loss.

The dead had become indelibly etched into people’s memories and onto the landscape. The bodies of people and carcasses of farm animals that floated in the waterways during the weeks after the cyclone had now sunk beneath the surface, but at low tide the waters would recede and reveal anonymous piles of bones slick with the fertile, alluvial mud of the delta. – from Everything is Broken, page 196 -

In a country where speech is controlled, and even the peoples’ memories of events are rewritten, Larkin’s dedication to giving voice to the people of Burma is moving. The Burmese government does not allow for collective memory because to do so might give the people power to rise up. Larkin eloquently writes of the effect this silencing has on the Burmese people:

By maintaining a effective gag order on all public forums, the regime ensures that there is no space for any collective remembrance. Only the regime’s version of the truth remains to be seen or read. As a result, recent historical events – no matter how earth-shattering or all-consuming – are remembered only in private. Because people cannot compare their experiences easily or openly, past events become distorted and intensely personal. In isolation, these memories evolve into the kind of twisted secrets that can end up breaking people. – from Everything is Broken, page 219 -

Larkin is a gifted writer who writes with sensitivity and authority about a country which is divided by the moral, nonviolent principles of the Buddhist tradition, and the intensely oppressive rule of the government. The contrast between these two aspects of Burmese society is stunning. Larkin captures the beauty of the culture and the gentleness of the people of Burma in her narrative. Everything is Broken is not simply a summary of Burma’s history, but it is an exploration of a people who are still struggling to find hope in a broken society.

In a society where nothing can be taken for granted, distorted truths, half stories, and private visions are, by necessity, woven into the popular narrative of events. Burma is a place where the government hides behind convoluted smoke screens. It is a place where those who sacrifice themselves for their country must go unrecognized and can only be lauded or remembered in secret. It is a place where natural disasters don’t happen, at least not officially, and where the gaping misery that follows any catastrophe must be covered up and silenced. In such an environment, almost anything becomes believable. – from Everything is Broken, page 258 -

Everything is Broken is a difficult book to read. It uncovers the suffering and desolation of a country and its people. But it also offers up the beauty found in Burma – the beauty of an ancient culture, of the people who find ways to keep going in spite of the oppression, and of the stories of redemption and hope which cannot be silenced. Emma Larkin’s book is a must read for those who want to know the truth about Burma and its people, and for those who do not want to close their eyes to the injustices in the world. Eloquent, marvelously crafted, and expertly researched…Everything is Broken is highly recommended.

Read my TLC Book Tour where I provide video and links to websites, and a call to action re: Burma.

Read other reviews of this book:

• Word Lily
• The Little Reader
• Heart 2 Heart
• Cafe of Dreams
• Books Movies and Chinese Food
• Book Addiction
• Lit and Life
• Sophisticated Dorkiness

FTC Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher through a TLC Book Tour for review on my blog.

**Enjoy a larger view on all photos with a click

Now that I’m back from New York City, I decided to get busy on this project. Yesterday I cut all the fabric, laid out the design and then pieced about half of the quilt top. Today I got really motivated and pieced the rest of the top and attached the borders. Then I decided to do a pieced back as well…but I kept it all really simple.

This is about as simple a quilt as you can make – simply cut 5.5″ squares arranged as you like into rows…then stitch them together. I used only  one border which is 1.5″ wide. The back is just strips of certain fabrics I really loved inserted between two strips of the main backing fabric. The main fabric for this quilt is Wendy Slotboom‘s Lily Pond – I love the pinks and calm greens in this fabric…and it is fun with the turtles and frogs. I used some other coordinating fabrics in my stash as well. The total size is going to be about 43″ X 38″ which is a good size for a lap quilt for a child.

I hope to have this quilted and bound by next weekend so I can send it off to Quilts for Kids. I like to imagine some child finding comfort beneath its folds!

**This last photo is of the pieced back