I Am Malala Book Reviews

2018 Reading Challenge

7. I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

8. I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition) by Malala Yousafzai with Patricia McCormick

Prompt: book about feminism

Synopses:
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive.
Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons.

My Review:
I'm doing this a little different. Both of these books are about the same true story, except for the way it was told for their intended audiences. I have been awed by Malala's story from the beginning and have wanted to read these books for awhile. When I went to pick up I Am Malala for this particular prompt, I wasn't aware that there had been two versions, one for adults and one for young adults. Even though there's a young reader's edition, it would be remiss of me to mention that it's not suitable for young children, as well as it depends on the maturity of the child. I recommend this book to anyone 12/13 (middle school grades) and older.

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban
This is the regular version of Malala's story. If you're into the history about Pakistan and the way it's been run as a country, you'll want to read this. It goes in depth of just that, of how Pakistan was before, as well as after, Malala was born. It is important to know the background to understand her story and why she fought for what she did.

I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World
This is the younger reader's version. It lacks the rich history that the regular version provides. It gets to the essence of Malala's story earlier, while skipping out on some of the mundane parts or parts that gets in the way of relating to her story. This book was more understandable and easier to relate to than the regular version, which is why I preferred this over the other one.

I challenged myself to read both versions of I Am Malala to see what made them different. The only things really different was one delved more into the history and the other one didn't. While I mentioned above that I preferred the young reader's version, I feel that it's important to read both of them as a way of comparing and seeing what you like and don't like.

Malala was (and still is) a girl (adult now) who wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in, specifically for the right for girls to be educated in her country. And unfortunately, she almost lost her life for doing just that. Her survival and bravery are awe-inspiring - that it takes only one to make a difference and get their voice heard. It doesn't always mean that things will change immediately, if at all, but it can help. Malala's story shows that any one, no matter what age, can make a difference. 

Let me know if you read one or both of these and what you thought. Did you prefer one over the other if you read both? 

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou) Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

23. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
      Prompt: book by a person of color

Synopsis:
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local "powhitetrash." At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.

My Review:

I've wanted to read this book for quite some time and I'm glad I finally got the chance to. Maya Angelou was a poignant and powerful woman in not only the US, but an inspiration for many around the world.

In this autobiography, Maya tells of her experiences of being a woman of color growing up as a child and adolescent in the South. Dealing with racial prejudice, abandonment, and getting sexually abused, she also told of her insecurities of being African American, as well as her image. For a female, it's quite common for us to question our image at some point in our lives no matter the color of our skin and it's very relatable when you're reading this book (obviously I can't relate to the African American side of it).

There are moments in life where we have to deal with the impact it leaves on us for the rest of our lives. For Maya, it was when she got sexually abused several times as a child. There's a pain and shame involved for victims that Maya had to start dealing with at such a young age. Writing of that time must have been freeing all the emotions of those experiences. In society to this very day, rape and sexual abuse are not really talked about because it's considered to be more or less a taboo topic for several reasons that I'm not going to get into at this time. But I don't think not talking about it really helps those victims to heal and realize that it wasn't their fault.

Maya was a survivor. The way she wrote about her experiences was interesting and poignant. Some parts of her story are relatable to every female. I did appreciate reading about how people of color see things in life. Too often, we see things one-sided when there are two sides to every story. Maya exhibited an incredible strength to write about some of horrific moments in her childhood. But she also wrote about times when she was able to celebrate little things, such as getting a new dress for Church, and you could celebrate those moments with her.

While Maya was going through these experiences and other hard times, she found an escape and comfort in reading (and food as well). I really enjoyed her sharing and describing her favorite books and authors she was reading (like Shakespeare), as I have always loved reading as well. Books have a way of taking you somewhere you can only imagine going to.

Maya exhibited that you can survive and be a role model for others going through similar experiences. I might create another post of some of my favorite quotes from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

~Meg~

Talking As Fast As I Can (Lauren Graham) Book Review

2017 Reading Challenge

2. Talking As Fast As I Can by Lauren Graham

Synopsis:

In this collection of personal essays, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood reveals stories about life, love, and working as a woman in Hollywood—along with behind-the-scenes dispatches from the set of the new Gilmore Girls, where she plays the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore once again.
In Talking as Fast as I Can, Lauren Graham hits pause for a moment and looks back on her life, sharing laugh-out-loud stories about growing up, starting out as an actress, and, years later, sitting in her trailer on the Parenthood set and asking herself, “Did you, um, make it?” She opens up about the challenges of being single in Hollywood (“Strangers were worried about me; that’s how long I was single!”), the time she was asked to audition her butt for a role, and her experience being a judge on Project Runway (“It’s like I had a fashion-induced blackout”).
In “What It Was Like, Part One,” Graham sits down for an epic Gilmore Girls marathon and reflects on being cast as the fast-talking Lorelai Gilmore. The essay “What It Was Like, Part Two” reveals how it felt to pick up the role again nine years later, and what doing so has meant to her.

My Review:

Gilmore Girls is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I also think that Lorelai and Rory are relatable to almost every mother - daughter relationship. I have been fortunate to have a close relationship with my mom and like Rory, I have always loved to read. As far as Parenthood, I've only seen a couple episodes here and there.

Lauren Graham has been a class act. She has avoided controversies and the like in the media, one of the rare celebrities to do so. She has acted more as a role model in that respect. It was nice to read about how Lauren got started in acting. She proves that you can't gain success overnight and every role, no matter how small, counts. As in any job, you have to start at the bottom and work yourself up the ladder to success. 

Since I'm a Gilmore Girls fan, I appreciated how Lauren reflected back on the successful seven year run. And even though I haven't seen the new episodes (since I don't have Netflix), I liked her journal entries, as I'm referring to it as, on what happened behind the scenes while filming those four episodes and her thoughts on reprising her role. Since everyone was talking about the four final words, I am aware of what they are and honestly, I saw it coming. It makes sense to me. 

Her look back on Parenthood was good, too. I love the fact that she created an alter ego as a way to give advice on life and such to the kid/teen actors on the show. It was creative. I kind of feel like she was closer to the Parenthood cast in a different way than the Gilmore Girls cast.

While I enjoyed Lauren's thoughts and advice (as well as her sarcasm and wit at times) throughout the book, I really enjoyed the chapters 'Someday, Someday, Maybe You'll Believe My Novel Wasn't Completely Autobiographical' and 'Kitchen Timer'. She talked about the process of writing her novel and this book as well. She admitted her struggles with procrastination and dealing with deadlines. Writing can be hard at times and that's okay. So she incorporated the strategy that Don Roos uses: the kitchen timer. The kitchen timer method is setting a time limit (an hour for example), having no distractions, and do nothing but write during that time. And then stopping no matter where you are after the said time is up and giving yourself credit when completed. It's all about keeping an appointment, so technically it's not necessary to write the entire time, but you still have to keep the scheduled appointment. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter if you write on an existing project or journal write for that time. 

I have one critique for the kitchen timer method. While I get that it's important to not have any distractions like not going on the internet or phone or doing anything else for that matter, there's one that I don't agree with. It's recommended that you don't have any music on, unless it doesn't have words or in another language than your own. Here's my problem with that: music actually helps me stay concentrated on what I'm doing and helps me think. Growing up, I would put music on if I was having trouble with my homework, like math, and it helped me to focus and get it done. 

Since I just said music helps me out when I get stuck, my question is:

What do you do when you get stuck or have a mental block?

Happy Reading and Keep On Writing!

❤Meg❤

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

54. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
      Topic/Theme: an autobiography

Synopsis:
Few men could compare to Benjamin Franklin. Virtually self-taught, he excelled as an athlete, a man of letters, a printer, a scientist, a wit, an inventor, an editor, and a writer, and he was probably the most successful diplomat in American history. David Hume hailed him as the first great philosopher and great man of letters in the New World.
Written initially to guide his son, Franklin's autobiography is a lively, spellbinding account of his unique and eventful life. Stylistically his best work, it has become a classic in world literature, one to inspire and delight readers everywhere.

My Review:
Benjamin Franklin is known for being one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As a polymath, he was an author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. He is credited for laying or aiding in the foundation for several things including the first fire department in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania (then known as The Academy and College of Philadelphia), the first public library (Library Company of Philadelphia), and Pennsylvania Hospital, the first hospital in the United States.

Ben Franklin started writing his autobiography for his son William. He wrote about parts of his life and he referred to it as memoirs instead of an autobiography. He talks about growing up in Boston, before running away to Philadelphia when he was 17 - to start over in a new city. Growing up in Philly, it was interesting to get to know more about Philly back then. Trying to establish himself in Philly, he became involved in several different avenues, including the newspaper and printing business and the postal service. He talks about the different positions he had in politics, including the time spent in the UK and France. Ben also was involved in making some changes to the Declaration of Independence.

There is no question that this book is unfinished. The American Revolution isn't mentioned because he felt that he couldn't talk about it for whatever reason. It's possible that he just ran out of time to write about it or didn't have the time to write about it. Benjamin Franklin wrote much of his autobiography from memory, especially about his childhood and the early days in Philadelphia. 

One of my favorite qualities about Ben Franklin is that he's always thought he could do better than what he was doing and that includes writing these pages. In doing so, he kept making changes to it from when he started writing it in 1771 until his death in 1790.

To keep this from going further, I have done a follow-up post about his thirteen virtues he lived by, which will be posted later today.

I want to point out that the picture I posted above of the book is my own copy that my grandmother had in the house.

Fun Fact: Ben Franklin never intended for this to be published.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

❤Meg❤

Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

46. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
      Topic/Theme: New York Times bestseller

Synopsis:

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all. It was, of course, a miserable 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.”

So begins the luminous memoir of Frank McCourt, born in Depression-era Brooklyn to recent Irish immigrants and raised in the slums of Limerick, Ireland. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed the children since Frank’s father, Malachy, rarely works, and when he does he drinks his wages. Yet Malachy — exasperating, irresponsible, and beguiling — does nurture in Frank an appetite for the one thing he can provide: a story. Frank lives for his father’s tales of Cuchulain, who saved Ireland, and of the Angel on the Seventh Step, who brings his mother babies.
Perhaps it is story that accounts for Frank’s survival. Wearing rags for diapers, begging a pig’s head for Christmas dinner and gathering coal from the roadside to light a fire, Frank endures poverty, near-starvation and the casual cruelty of relatives and neighbors—yet lives to tell his tale with eloquence, exuberance, and remarkable forgiveness.

My Review:
Frank's writing style was a little different from what I'm used to. It did take a little while to grasp that, but once I did, I came to appreciate it. It's a great narration of what it was like to grow up in a time of poverty and the additional challenges of dealing with the alcoholism of his father. Alcoholism is a disease. For Frank's father, it was his way of coping with deaths in the family, especially that of his daughter, among other troubles. It was interesting to read about what life was like in the 1930s and 40s in Ireland. Poverty can affect each and every country and everyone of all backgrounds. Just like the US has experienced the Great Depression and other economic crises, Ireland has also had its fair share of problems. It was such a good attribute of Frank's to be able to write so descriptively of those hard times. To be able to overcome those challenges was incredible. Anything is possible if you're willing to work hard and keep fighting through by not giving up.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥

Confessions of a Transformed Heart (Nancy D Sheppard) Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

39. Confessions of a Transformed Heart by Nancy D Sheppard

Synopsis:

     When Mark and Nancy Sheppard began missionary service in Liberia, Nancy had no idea what God would ask of her. Their idyllic first term was followed by the Liberian Civil War and a nightmarish year working among Liberian refugees in the Ivory Coast. Conditions were difficult, expectations overwhelming and the tensions of the war at their doorstep. Fear, self-pity, resentment and depression haunted her. God used Nancy's difficult decision to follow her husband's leadership and remain in refugee work to begin an amazing spiritual journey—one that led to a clearer understanding of biblical womanhood as well as a deeper relationship with the Lord and with her husband.
    The book chronicles Nancy's journey to true peace in the midst of very difficult circumstances. As God teaches her about genuine service, submission, sincere prayer, reverence and humility, she is totally and completely transformed. The scenarios are unique to Nancy, but every seeking Christian can fully identify with the spiritual lessons.

My Review:

I felt that this book was just okay. Nancy and her husband, Mark, have been involved in missionary service for years. This book chronicles their time spent in Liberia, told from her perspective. It goes without saying that they saw things that you can't even imagine. While Mark was able to adapt quickly to their new surroundings (not saying that it was easy for him, but in that he felt called to be doing missionary work), it took Nancy longer to come around. I get that being around war (civil war for their area that they were in), violence in general, working with refugees, and other horrible things, and all the while trying to constitute change for the better, isn't easy. Change can be difficult to accept for some people (as in Liberia's case of turning against what was normal for them), and Nancy was one of them. It drove her down a path of self-pity, resentment, and depression. At times, though, it can!e across as being selfish - only thinking about what she was going through and not what anybody else was going through, including her husband. While Nancy was doing her work at home, Mark was in the middle of all of it and I imagine that it was harder for him. For a few chapters, it seemed like the same thing over and over again.

Missionary work is done in terms or installments. It means that a year of time is spent in whatever country they are needed in (for Nancy and Mark, it was Liberia and the Ivory Coast) followed by a year back home. During one of these visits home, Nancy finally confronted her demons, so to say. Faced with a tough decision to either continue being a missionary or giving it up, Nancy left it in God's hands. Mark gave her the choice and realizing that he wouldn't be happy doing anything else, she decided to stick with it. Nancy then started her spiritual journey and transformation of learning the true meaning of doing God's work and living according to His word. It was a slow process, but things can't change overnight. When she started going through that process, she was able to become closer to not only God, but her husband as well. Did I mention that Nancy went through all of this while raising a family? It was during this time that her story became more interesting. 

I definitely learned a lot more about missionary work and what it entails. I kind of wish to hear from Mark's perspective as well. I read this as an eBook and it was an interactive version. I didn't care too much for that. It was bothersome for me. My only other small complaint would be that the chapters didn't always flow freely into one another. All in all, there were some good parts and not so good parts reading this, which is why I said it was okay.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥

The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls) Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

37. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
      Topic/Theme: book recommended by a family member

Synopsis:
     The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.
     The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

My Review:

Jeannette wrote about her experiences growing up in a dysfunctional and poverty-stricken family as prose. I'm typically not a fan of prose because to me, it lacks that special pizazz as in fiction to keep the story flowing a bit better. I did appreciate Jeannette's ability to recall her childhood memories with vivid detail, as well as not being resentful to her parents. This memoir is a perfect example that not everyone grows up as fortunate as others. Growing up with an alcoholic father and a mother with a probable mental disorder and not wanting to raise a family, Jeannette and her siblings learned how to fend for themselves. I liked how she talked about good memories when her father was sober as well as the bad times when he wasn't sober and was destructive. Alcoholism is a disease and we, as society, need to realize that. I think it's hard for people who haven't been through it or known someone who has to relate and understand it.  In Jeannette and her siblings' case, they were able to overcome their peculiar childhood and be successful when they got older. I don't necessarily agree with how they were raised, or lack thereof, by their parents. Even as their children became successful, their parents still preferred to be poor and homeless despite offers from their grown children. If they want to keep being that and doing nothing to change that, then so be it, whatever - as long as they're happy I guess.

What I enjoyed more about this book was the symbolism behind the glass castle. Jeannette's father always told her that he would build the family a glass castle after finding gold, or means to do that, as a way of living life without authority and live in better prosperity. After reading this, I could clearly tell that that was never going to happen and obviously, it didn't happen. To me, the glass castle symbolized something to look forward to, like the good after the bad. It could also mean all the times that Jeannette's father let her down. I feel like you can interpret in any which way you want to after reading the book.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥

A Million Steps Book Review

2015 Reading Challenge

37. A Million Steps by Kurt Koontz
     Theme/Topic: a memoir

Synopsis:
Kurt Koontz thought he was well prepared for his 490-mile walking trip on the historic Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. He was fit and strong. He had a good guidebook and all the right equipment. His pilgrim passport would grant him access to the shelter of hostels along the way. But all that, however helpful, did not begin to encompass the grandeur of his external or internal adventure. A Million Steps climbs over the high meadows of the Pyrenees, quests through the unceasing wind of the Meseta, and dances in the rains of Galicia. While following the yellow arrows that mark the route, Koontz also navigates through his personal history of addiction, recovery, and love. With outgoing humor and friendliness, he embraces the beauty of the countryside and joyful connections to other pilgrims from around the world. Part diary, part travelogue, A Million Steps is a journey within a journey all the way to the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela and beyond.

My Review:
In recent years, I have really been interested in reading stories about self-discovery or life changing adventures. A Million Steps was exactly that. Kurt is not a natural writer, but everyone has a story. While his actual writing was far from great, Kurt accomplished the task of getting his story across. I've never been Spain and to be honest, I don't have any desire to go to Spain. However, it was interesting to read about all the towns he passed and stayed in on his journey. It was also neat to hear about all the people he met along the way as well. He opened up about his own life stories and struggles and how he was able to meet them head on during the trip.

If you could take a trip of a lifetime anywhere in the world (no matter what the reason), where would it be? For me, that would be Australia and Ireland.

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥