Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
by Barack Obama It is a rare privilege to have such a personal insight into the life and background of a prominent politician. Often it is written about leaders that nobody knows what they are really like as people. But in Barack Obama's case, it is laid out in quite frank detail in this book.Like most people outside Illinois, I had not heard of Barack Obama until he gave his speech at the Democratic Convention on 27 July (it can be read on his website: www.obamaforillinois.com), and I was fortunate to find the last copy of his book in a Chicago bookshop in August. The opening of the convention speech is a brief outline of the background that formed the book. His father was a Kenyan who went to study in Hawaii, and his mother was living in Hawaii having grown up in Kansas. They parted company soon after Barack was born.
The book is about his childhood and how he adapted to life after his father left his mother. She remarried an Indonesian man, and they went with him to live in Indonesia for some years. Barack returned to the US to finish high school. After graduating, he went to work in Chicago among underprivileged black communities there before deciding to go to law school in Harvard.
Obama's style of writing is extremely personal and analytical of how he dealt with certain issues in his life - his absent father, the colour of his skin, the remarriage of his mother, how he learnt of his father's death, his work in Chicago, his decision to become a lawyer and his rediscovery of his roots in Kenya (including his grandmother, uncles and aunts, and various half-brothers and sisters). Despite having led a very different life in a different part of the world, I was regularly struck by similarities between his life and mine - and can only assume that every reader would have the same reaction.
On a slightly critical note, the book is written at times in quite a fictionalised style that took some time to get used to. It cannot really be believed that Obama remembered every word and pause in quite so many conversation (not to mention what he saw through the window during the many pauses in conversation).
That aside, this is a great book which appears not to have been written with an eye on a political career (future Republican opponents will doubtless make great play out of a small, passing reference to drug use). It was first published in 1995 when Obama was fresh out of law school, commissioned as a result of his having been the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. Even if his political star were to fade without the widely tipped shot at the 2012 presidency, I would recommend anybody to read his book.
The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream by Barack Obama This is the first book by an aspirant politician, indeed the first political manifesto, (for that is what it is) that I have read cover to cover. (Perhaps, it occurs to me, I should read some of the works by serving British politicians, too, and not just rely on commentaries by journalists?) I bought the book the day after Barack Obama slipped up re-using the "lipstick on a pig" cliché, when, for the first time, McCain and Palin seemed to have achieved a significant lead in the polls.Obama wrote this book to update his life story, including how he came to be elected senator for Illinois (he completed his first book "Dreams of my father" some ten years earlier), to offer an analysis of how modern American political life has become so polarised, but above all to state his personal and political principles. It would be easy to be cynical: his principles turn out to offer something to everyone, but this is the prerogative and the stategy of the political centrist. Economically, his liberalism demonstrates why Milton Friedman and others were forced to rebrand themselves as libertarians. He seems well versed in the pros and cons of state intervention, and clearly believes in the value of Keynsian-style state intervention, lamenting the breakdown of the New Deal consensus in the 1970s and 1980s. He does, however, go on record as recognising some of the limits of government. While he offers few concrete proposals as to what should be done, the reader does get the impression that this is a man who is aware of major issues and has thought them through in depth. Sadly but unsurprisingly he has not come up with any new solution to the problem that globalisation presents to American manufacturing and the American working class.
I was left with the impression that Barack Obama is a man of principle, but not one whose principles lead him to try to impose them on others. He recognises, for example, the abortion debate as being one of the most polarising in the US, and lays out his own pro-choice view very carefully, doing his best to respect the "social conservatives" who oppose his view. In one recollection he refers to how a pro-life doctor (but potential Democrat voter) who objected to Obama's implicit inclusion of him within the category of "right wing ideologues who wish to take away a woman's right to choose", and how, having thought the matter through, he changed this statement on his web site to a less confrontational one. Obama sketches out (but no more than sketches) a personal journey that led to his being baptised as an adult (his mother was not an adherent of institutionalised religion, but rather of spiritualist, new age inclinations). Cynically, perhaps, I was reminded of an oft-repeated statement that it would be impossible for an atheist to be elected to high office in the US. Obama believes in the separation of church and state, in accordance with the US Constitution; I do too, and perhaps therefore the privacy of his beliefs, whatever they actually are, should be respected.
Obama devotes a whole chapter to Race, although it is inevitably a backdrop to the whole book. He is of course aware that it is the colour of his skin that has given him the early prominence he has achieved. He tells us of his Kenyan cousins, the mainstream African American family of his wife Michelle, his Indonesian step-father and his white mother's family and mentions ethnic Chinese in-laws. He quietly implies that his background makes him both the epitome of the American dream and someone uniquely placed to deal with the domestic and international problems that confront the US, and to represent and to lead a multi-ethnic America. Not everyone is going to be convinced by that argument: he is certainly not guaranteed to succeed and, to be fair, he does not suggest that others with a less heterogeneous background could not succeed. His analysis of the condition of black America seems balanced - much progress made, but much more still to be made. My only concern for the US is that the programmes that he seems inclined to follow would involve a great deal more state expenditure. It is a shame that he has not put more effort into learning Spanish, acknowledging as he does the burgeoning Latino population of the US.
This is an excellent book. As a commentary on politics in the US over the past 30 years it is easy to read precisely because it is not done to any real depth. As a memoir by someone who is, at the very least, a remarkable man from a very unusual background it is uplifting. Whichever way we might prefer to see the Americans vote, I would hope that all would think it a loss to his country and the world if 2008 turns out to have been the high point in Obama's career. I was convinced that Obama is more than just an excellent public speaker or a politician riding high because of the novelty of his background. He is less beholden to interest groups than most contenders for the presidency. The USA could do a lot worse than bet on Barack Obama for the next 4 years - and I say that as someone who sees a good man in John McCain, too, (although I cannot but feel that he would have made a better president 8 years ago). As we enter the last 8 weeks of the US elections, this is the time to read "Audacity of Hope" if you have not yet done so.
Aliens Love Underpants! by Claire FreedmanBasically this book can be summed up as "Aliens come to earth and play with underpants, then they leave." We get a nice rhyming story and glorious pictures of Alien's playing with smalls. My 4 year old boy giggles the whole way through the story as he thinks it's very funny. It's good, it's fun, the story is nice, the pictures are great. 10/10
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne I'm sure that this is a book that most people have now heard of, especially with the film now released. However, it's probably approached with as least pre-information as possible. I prefer the synopsis that the book originally had.."The story of "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about. If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence. We hope you never have to cross such a fence."
It is listed as a children's book, but it's not for younger children, and it's certainly an adult book aswell. If you haven't yet read it, don't go searching the reviews, just pick up the book, and read it in the way it was intended.
The book is told in a simple manner, reflecting the innocence and naivety of Bruno. I believe it's meant to be read in the same way as a parable or fable, it's not meant to be a historically accurate text. To me, it was a simple, very effective piece of story telling, which brought me to a stand still, made me cry, and has stayed very much in my thoughts.
Do Polar Bears Get Lonely?: And 101 Other Intriguing Science Questions by Mick O'Haregreat for those who love bizare facts or those who your not really sure what to get for a present! does anything eat wasps is the best in the new scientist series though, but if your getting this for a fact lover then they will probably have that already! a great stocking filler!
my favourite is how long would it take to fill the grand canyon with milk?
about 20,000 years! if you want to know why get the book!
my favourite is how long would it take to fill the grand canyon with milk?
about 20,000 years! if you want to know why get the book!
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak The Book Thief is one of those children's books that has crossed over into the adult market and become subject to incredible word-of-mouth marketing. To be honest, I let it languish on my nightstand for 12 months, because I wasn't sure it would live up to the hype. I've read my fair share of books about the Holocaust and wasn't sure this one would tell me anything I didn't already know.
But the author, Markus Zusak, has created a wholly original story. First, the narrator is death, who talks in a kind of roundabout language, part all-knowing, part creepy, part loving.
And second, the main character is an ordinary German girl growing up in Nazi Germany who must confront many personal difficulties and traumas during the course of the Second World War. This is not so much a book about the extermination of the Jewish race under Nazi occupation, but the ways in which many Germans went about their ordinary lives at the time and the extraordinary lengths some of them went to save their Jewish friends.
The story begins with Liesel Meminger, a traumatised nine-year-old girl. It's 1939 and she has just witnessed the death and burial of her younger brother enroute to her new foster family in a town called Molching. During the burial Liesel picks up an object she finds in the snow -- The Gravediggers Handbook -- which sets up a lifelong love of books, even if she has to beg, borrow or steal them.
Her foster father, the kindly accordion-playing Hans Hubermann, teaches her how to read, and together the two of them pass many hours pouring over the pages of the gravedigger's instruction manual. Later, when the family takes in a Jewish man, Max Vanderburg, and hides him away in their basement, Leisel shares her love of words with him, too.
Desperate for new reading material, Liesel -- with the help of her blonde-headed friend Rudy -- rescues a book from a Nazi book-burning pile. Later she is introduced to an amazing private library, owned by the mayor's wife, which allows her to momentarily escape the dismal poverty of her ordinary day-to-day life.
But when the Nazis discover her foster father handing out bread to a march-through of Jews on their way to Dachau, their lives suddenly take on a more sinister, darker twist -- which no amount of book thievery can alleviate. When the Allied bombs begin to fall on their street, things get even worse and death begins to close in on Liesel, her family and friends...
The Book Thief is, without a doubt, an incredibly memorable story. The narrative voice is unique, and the style, which double-backs on itself and occasionally jumps backwards and forwards in time, is interesting if somewhat confusing at times (Would kids get this? I kept asking myself). Initially the staccato rhythm of Death's voice jarred, but I soon learnt to appreciate its whimsical charm. However, I enjoyed the story much more when Death kept his mouth shut and simply let Liesel get on with things.
The characters are great, too. Liesel starts off as a rather weak-willed creature, too terrified to even step out of the car when she first arrives at her foster family's home, but over the course of the war she turns into a feisty, courageous tom-boy, who isn't scared of tackling anyone who bullies her. And her best friend Rudy, who has an obsession with Olympic athlete Jesse James, is a suitable, dare I say lovable, ally.
I was not as convinced about the foster parents who seemed a little stereotyped -- the kindly, loving father; the foul-mouthed, bullish mother -- but I can understand that younger readers would enjoy the "good cop, bad cop" personalities.
The Book Thief is a deeply unsettling story and a truly moving one. I teared up over so many scenes that I couldn't bare to list them here for fear of running out of room! The ending is of the typical grab-your-tissues-and-sob-your-eyes-out ilk. But in reading this very long book -- perhaps a fraction too long, in my opinion (it meanders a lot in the middle) -- I never once thought I was being emotionally manipulated. Zusak does a nice line in letting actions speak louder than words, so that the reader gets to join the dots rather than have every little thing spelt out for them. I like this approach, if only because he treats the children to which this book is aimed with intelligence rather than patronising or speaking down to them.
A delightfully human book, haunting, wise and joyous by turn. I don't know why I waited so long to read it.
But the author, Markus Zusak, has created a wholly original story. First, the narrator is death, who talks in a kind of roundabout language, part all-knowing, part creepy, part loving.
And second, the main character is an ordinary German girl growing up in Nazi Germany who must confront many personal difficulties and traumas during the course of the Second World War. This is not so much a book about the extermination of the Jewish race under Nazi occupation, but the ways in which many Germans went about their ordinary lives at the time and the extraordinary lengths some of them went to save their Jewish friends.
The story begins with Liesel Meminger, a traumatised nine-year-old girl. It's 1939 and she has just witnessed the death and burial of her younger brother enroute to her new foster family in a town called Molching. During the burial Liesel picks up an object she finds in the snow -- The Gravediggers Handbook -- which sets up a lifelong love of books, even if she has to beg, borrow or steal them.
Her foster father, the kindly accordion-playing Hans Hubermann, teaches her how to read, and together the two of them pass many hours pouring over the pages of the gravedigger's instruction manual. Later, when the family takes in a Jewish man, Max Vanderburg, and hides him away in their basement, Leisel shares her love of words with him, too.
Desperate for new reading material, Liesel -- with the help of her blonde-headed friend Rudy -- rescues a book from a Nazi book-burning pile. Later she is introduced to an amazing private library, owned by the mayor's wife, which allows her to momentarily escape the dismal poverty of her ordinary day-to-day life.
But when the Nazis discover her foster father handing out bread to a march-through of Jews on their way to Dachau, their lives suddenly take on a more sinister, darker twist -- which no amount of book thievery can alleviate. When the Allied bombs begin to fall on their street, things get even worse and death begins to close in on Liesel, her family and friends...
The Book Thief is, without a doubt, an incredibly memorable story. The narrative voice is unique, and the style, which double-backs on itself and occasionally jumps backwards and forwards in time, is interesting if somewhat confusing at times (Would kids get this? I kept asking myself). Initially the staccato rhythm of Death's voice jarred, but I soon learnt to appreciate its whimsical charm. However, I enjoyed the story much more when Death kept his mouth shut and simply let Liesel get on with things.
The characters are great, too. Liesel starts off as a rather weak-willed creature, too terrified to even step out of the car when she first arrives at her foster family's home, but over the course of the war she turns into a feisty, courageous tom-boy, who isn't scared of tackling anyone who bullies her. And her best friend Rudy, who has an obsession with Olympic athlete Jesse James, is a suitable, dare I say lovable, ally.
I was not as convinced about the foster parents who seemed a little stereotyped -- the kindly, loving father; the foul-mouthed, bullish mother -- but I can understand that younger readers would enjoy the "good cop, bad cop" personalities.
The Book Thief is a deeply unsettling story and a truly moving one. I teared up over so many scenes that I couldn't bare to list them here for fear of running out of room! The ending is of the typical grab-your-tissues-and-sob-your-eyes-out ilk. But in reading this very long book -- perhaps a fraction too long, in my opinion (it meanders a lot in the middle) -- I never once thought I was being emotionally manipulated. Zusak does a nice line in letting actions speak louder than words, so that the reader gets to join the dots rather than have every little thing spelt out for them. I like this approach, if only because he treats the children to which this book is aimed with intelligence rather than patronising or speaking down to them.
A delightfully human book, haunting, wise and joyous by turn. I don't know why I waited so long to read it.
Harry Hill's Whopping Great Joke Book by Harry HillA treat for Harry Hill fans! Britain's favourite comedian, Harry Hill, loves jokes so much that he has put together a side-splitting joke book for all the family. Containing Harry's favourite jokes picked from the world's joke archive, it also features jokes written by Harry, including some brand-new ones written specially for this book.
Harry Hill used to be a doctor but not for a long time now. He's had many TV shows and tells jokes for a living. His hobbies are painting and drawing and occasional games of swingball.our 8 year old loves this, and keeps going back to it and then comes attacking us with the jokes.
