Nina Lewis

Archive for the ‘Books’ Category

Sometimes it’s feast or famine.  At least that is what it feels like when I try to check out books from the library at the university where I work.

If there is a recently published popular fiction book either the library does not have a copy or it is already checked out.

The check out policy is that administrative folks and faculty can check out a book for 6 months!  You can put a ‘request’ for it and then the person is supposed to turn it back in within a week.  But my requests seem to fall into a black hole never to be seen again.  So, if the library has that popular fiction book and it is checked out, I might as well forget about checking out the book for a decade or so.  Then, it won’t be so popular.

If by chance the library has a copy of the book that I want and it isn’t checked out, you’d think that I would be able to find it on the bookshelf.  Right?  Wrong!  As I recently learned, people can sign up for lockers in the library.  They can take books off the shelf, use them, and then store them in their locker until they no longer want them.  The check out system claims that the book is available.  But, in reality, it isn’t.  Fooey on those people!

Last week, I hit the jackpot.  The computer said that the library had copies of three books that I wanted to read.  When I went to the bookshelf, lo and behold!  The book was there.  All three of them.  Of course I immediately checked them out.  I didn’t want to chance them being gone if I only checked out one at a time.

So, two books are snuggled on my desk and one accompanies me on my bus ride to work so that I can read it.

In preparation for our trip to Denmark, I decided to buy a book or two (ahem . .  or three . . . ahem . . . or five!).  Who can resist purchasing a book when it is less than $4?

Book one (a fiction book about Japanese sisters) arrived within 2 days.  The second book (about China) arrived the next day.  The third book (about Darfur) came two days later.  A day after that came a fiction book about India.

Now I’m waiting.  Waiting.  Waiting.  Do you hear my impatient toe tapping?  Where is my fifth book — my book about American politics??  I check my e-mail from Amazon.  It will be delivered by September 14.  September 14?!?!!  I want to take the book with me to Denmark.  I’ll be in Denmark on the 14th!  Methinks I’ll just have to read it when I get home.  Le sigh (to quote my daughter-in-law).

Then there is the book on education that I am reading at work for work.

And the marketing book that I got from work that I get to keep.

That makes nine books for Nina.  Wait.  Let me count them up again.  Mmmmm . . . That makes ten.  Ten books for Tena (pronounced ten-uh)*.

That just might keep my eyeballs busy for the next little bit.

Oh wait!  I forgot the book that I got from a friend that she asked if I would read and write a review about it.  That makes eleven books!

I’m having a feast!

*Tena was the nickname that my older sister gave to me when we were teenagers.

Over and over I hear the phrase ’sense of entitlement’ used by the older generation (my generation) about the younger generation.  The older generation sees many instances in which the youth of today exhibit feelings that they are entitled to things: expensive cars, elaborate homes, the latest styles in clothing.  Entitled to things and privileges that their parents worked a lifetime for.  After all, these young folks deserve it, don’t they?  Why shouldn’t they have it?

I would like to pit any one of these entitled youth against Deo to see who would last the longest.

Deo who for six months hid from the violence, the mayhem, and the murder that was happening around him in 1993 in his country of Burundi.  For six months, he fled from place to place, eking out a meager existence, hiding in the forest, following steams and rivers, and avoiding people for fear of being killed.  Six months of seeing mounds of dead bodies, of smelling the breath of death.  Six months with little to eat that left him a gaunt skeleton — a person who resisted sleep because sleep brought nightmares.

This book tells the true story of Deogratias who was a third year medical student in Burundi.  He managed to escape the ethnic violence in his country and flee to New York City.  Deo (as he is called) delivered groceries for a paltry wage and slept in Central Park.  He was taken in by Charlie and Nancy, learned to speak English, and graduated from Columbia University. Deo crossed paths with Paul Farmer (as written about in the book Mountains Beyond Mountains) who sponsored Deo when Deo was accepted into Darkmouth Medical School.

Oh, and by the way, Deo became a United States citizen.

He has paused in his medical studies to return to his village to build a health clinic as a mark of his forgiveness for those who had tried to kill him and a sign of hope for Burundi’s future.

In May 2010, Deo was honored at the Voices of Courage Awards in New York City for his work in providing health care to refugee women and children.

I highly recommend that you read this amazing book. 

And, get down on your knees and thank God for all of the bounteous blessings in your life.

I long for my down-filled coat.  And a turtleneck shirt.  And a wool sweater.

I trudge up the hill from the bus stop to my office.  Chilled to the bone.  Heavy, wet snow falls with a vengeance.  My tiny red umbrella struggles to keep my head and shoulders dry.

Why did I only wear a jacket today? I fret.

From my knees down, I’m soaked. Snowy slush squishes in my shoes.  I vainly jump away as cars covered with two inches of snow rumble by spraying me with more wet snow.  Only the thoughts of hunching over my space heater in my office keeps me going.

I tell myself I will be warm soon — if I just keep going.  It’s May 24.  May. Twenty-fourth!  Where is the lovely spring day that my calendar has promised me? I reflect about global warming.  Methinks it hasn’t ventured into my corner of the world.

Part of my coldness is due to the book that I started reading this morning on the bus.  For the last forty minutes, I’ve been figuratively encapsulated in ice and snow along with an expedition that climbed Mount Everest in 1996.  I’m only on chapter three and I already feel their deadly cold, their pain, their angst, their struggles, their horror.

As a rule, I generally don’t recommend books until I’ve finished reading them.  However, I don’t think I’ll wait for this one.  From page one of the introduction, I was sucked in.  Mesmerized.  Enthralled.  I wanted to stay on the bus reading (can you imagine that?).

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is a griping tale of the harrowing experience of climbing Mount Everest and the deadly cost it was to the team members.

Read it.

Just make sure you stay toasty warm!

My son, Tyler, and his wife gave me a book for my birthday. For me, books are the best ever gift. Wanna get on my good side? Give me a good book.  Not those Harlequin romance type of books — blech! Something well-written, a good quality book.  This gift was one definitely a high quality book! It was The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Meale (non-fiction). Come to find out, this book made Amazon’s Top 10 Best Books of the Year. I’m not surprised.

Because of a severe famine in 2001-2002, William’s family was unable to pay for his schooling during his freshman year in high school.  Rather than languishing around doing nothing of consequence, William borrowed a book from a teeny, tiny library.  Now this book wasn’t a novel or some light fluff reading.  It was an American textbook titled Using Energy.  (Would I have read a book like this when I was a freshman?  Not hardly!) The picture of a wind turbine on the cover inspired William to build a windmill to provide power to his family’s home.  After scrounging in a junkyard for materials like a broken bicycle, old PVC pipes, and tractor fan blades, William built his first windmill.  A bit later, he built a taller one so that it would be above the trees to catch more wind.

People flocked to see his windmill.  A man blogged about it.  It came to the attention of the program director for TEDGlobal (a conference for great thinkers and innovators).  William was invited to speak about his windmill.  Because of that, people donated money to help fund his education.  And changed his life forever.

I was deeply humbled by this book.   William had one dingy white shirt and one pair of pants to wear to school.  I have a closet full of clothes and drawers stuffed so tight they barely close.  He only had flip flops for footwear.  I have casual shoes, tennis shoes, dress shoes, shoes to wear to work, winter boots, several pairs of sandals, and even water shoes.

His family barely survived a famine.  Having enough food to eat is still a huge concern for them.  I have a walk-in pantry, a second pantry, a fridge, and a freezer full of food.  I can buy things at a grocery store anytime I want.

His home had a thatched roof and no electricity.  I have a nice comfortable home with a very sturdy roof and a dependable source of electricity.  (And I won’t even go into all of the technology that swarms inside my house!)

His family didn’t have enough money to pay for his schooling.  While my family wasn’t rich by any means, I was able to finish high school, get a bachelor’s degree, and a master’s degree without any undue financial hardship.

Here in America, my husband and I are just middle-class folks.  Yet compared to William, I feel that we are outrageously wealthy.

I have heard about the three phases of life:  learn, earn, return.  I am in the third phase which means I ought to be ‘giving back’ to my community and to the world at large to help others along their path of life.  Instead of focusing inward (on me, me, me and my family), I need to extend my efforts to improving society and the life of others.  Somehow, maybe I could touch the lives of others who are in circumstances similar to William’s.

Thank you so much, Tyler and Lisa, for such a great birthday present!

I almost didn’t read the book that our book club selected for our October meeting:  Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson.  But, one day I forgot to pack a book to read on the bus.  (Oops.  There I go again mentioning the bus. Sorry.)  I went to the library and checked out Speak and I’m so glad I did.

Speak (fiction) is about a girl’s experience as a freshman in high school.  She is the pariah of the school.  Her grades are horrible and she refuses to speak to anyone — even her parents.  In the climax of the book, you find out the cause of her problems.

This is a superbly written Young Adult book.  There are well turned phrases, subtle symbolism, great plot.  It’s funny.  It’s poignant.  It’s powerful.  It’s an easy read — one that is well worth your time.