The Price of Stones--Building a School for my Village

Can one person really make a difference in the world?  The answer is a resounding "YES"!  This is the story of one such person.  I loved it.  It made me want to do a fundraiser, or hop on a plane and go help teach the orphans.  It changed me and my worldview a little bit more.

From Publishers Weekly

So many people die of AIDS in Uganda that at times bodies are stacked in city mortuaries like firewood. Moved by the plight of more than one million AIDS orphans in a nation with a population of 30 million, Kaguri, a human rights advocate returning home after studying at Columbia University, decided to build a school for children who had lost one or both parents to the syndrome. Kaguri and his American wife used their modest resources and contributions from friends and churches to open the two-classroom Nyaka AIDS Orphans School and initiate advocacy campaigns to counteract the superstitions that have stigmatized HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Anecdotes about the students, the author's family—his own brother and sister died from the disease—and his dealings with donors and corrupt officials, reveal Kaguri to be at once vulnerable and ferociously determined. Written in simple, straightforward style, the book is an affecting and accessible tribute to the difference one person can make in the world. (Jun.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Kaguri, born in Uganda in 1970, the year before Idi Amin’s ascendance to power, studied human rights at the national university, enrolled in the Human Rights Advocacy Program at Columbia, and married an American doctoral student in 1998. It is on a visit back to his native village in 2001 that Kaguri and his wife witness firsthand the devastation to families caused by the AIDS epidemic, and the huge number of orphans. They pledge to build those orphans a school, and upon their return to the U.S., they garner funds from churches, Rotary clubs, private businesses, and grants. Remarkably, they open their school with one class of 60 orphans in January, 2003. Mirroring the work of Greg Mortenson (Three Cups of Tea, 2009), Kaguri gradually expands his goals, adding not only classrooms but also water and nutrition programs, community gardens, teachers’ workshops, and eventually a second school in a neighboring village. His story is an uplifting testament to the belief that one motivated individual can accomplish much, even when others have given up before even trying. --Deborah Donovan

An Ordinary Man (Hotel Rwanda) by Paul Rusesabagina

In the spring of 1994, I was expecting Amber.  I wasn't keeping up with the news, and if I heard about Rwanda, I don't remember it.  I never watched Hotel Rwanda.  I knew enough to know it was a heartbreaking story--the kind of movie without a happy ending--the kind of movie I avoid.  So when I picked this book up, I wasn't sure I really wanted to read it.  I knew it wouldn't have a happy ending either.  BUT I decided that since it really happened, and is actually part of history, I should read it.  I'm glad I did.  While the 100 days of genocide was truly horrifying and unbelieveable, the author's childhood, education, and the history of Rwanda that he shares was fascinating.  Especially interesting is the way the political system--the people in power--used the media to stir up hatred, causing normal people to turn against their neighbors, friends, schoolmates, fellow employees--to actually slaughter them.  We need to read these types of stories in order to recognize how these things come about.  While not as many people died, I found this to be every bit as unbelieveable as the Holocaust, if not more so, because of the involvement of so many ordinary people.  Below is the review from Amazon. . .

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. For former hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, words are the most powerful weapon in the human arsenal. For good and for evil, as was the case in the spring of 1994 in Rwanda. Over 100 days, some 800,000 people were slaughtered, most hacked to death by machete. Rusesabagina, inspiration for the movie Hotel Rwanda, used his facility with words and persuasion to save 1,268 of his fellow countrymen, turning the Belgian luxury hotel under his charge into a sanctuary from madness. Through negotiation, favor, flattery and deception, Rusesabagina managed to keep his "guests" alive another day despite the homicidal gangs just beyond the fence and the world's failure to act. The humble hotel manager not only illuminates the machinery behind the genocide but delves into Rwanda's complex and colorful cultural history as well as his own childhood, the son of a Hutu father and Tutsi mother. . . .

 

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

 I'm having trouble finding time to write reviews of the books I read, so I'm borrowing Amazon's review for this book.  I loved the book, and I'm not even an "animal" person.  The story was sweet, interesting, touching, funny. . . I found it hard to put down. 

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Her first thought upon hearing a strange sound coming from the book drop one frigid January morning was “this can’t be good.” In fact, for both the tiny kitten found shivering in the metal box’s corner and for Myron, director of the Spencer Public Library, the discovery was the best thing that ever happened to either of them, and to the tiny Iowa farming community beset by an unrelenting string of economic challenges. Filthy and frostbitten, the kitten was in dire need of massive doses of TLC; fortunately, the library staff, patrons, and townspeople had plenty to spare. The story of how a bedraggled orange fur ball became “Dewey Readmore Books,” an enchantingly irresistible library mascot capable of bringing international attention to a small midwestern town and melting the heart of even the most curmudgeonly visitor, is uplifting enough; but woven among the cute-cat anecdotes are Myron’s own inspirational stories of enduring welfare, the abuses of an alcoholic husband, breast cancer, and single motherhood. Myron’s beguiling, poignant, and tender tale of survival, loyalty, and love is an unforgettable study in the mysterious and wondrous ways animals, and libraries, enrich humanity. --Carol Haggas --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

What Einstein Told His Cook by Robert Wolke

What Einstein told his Cook, by Robert Wolke, 2002, 350 pages, softcover.

Kitchen Science Explained

This title may not sound interesting, but the book really is. "This book explains the science behind both the foods themselves and the tools we use to prepare them." In simple question and answer format, this book is like having a scientist at your elbow while you are cooking. It answers those pesky questions that arise, like "how can you soften hardened brown sugar?" "What does "carmelize" mean?" "Why does chocolate melt in your mouth?" "Can a potato remove the excess salt from over salted soup?" "How do the various cooking oils compare?" "What is the difference between baking soda and baking powder?" "What makes ground beef brown?" "What is a calorie?" "Can eggs be frozen?" "How is coffee decaffeinated?" "How do microwave ovens work?" "What's the best kind of frying pan?"

There are 9 chapters covering over 100 questions with full answers and explanations in common sense, every day English. These include 1) Sweet Talk, all about sugars, 2) The Salt of the earth, about--what else?--Salt, 3) The Fat of the Land--about oils, butter, gravy, 4) Chemicals in the Kitchen, about spices, powders, 5) Turf and Surf--about fish and meat, 6) Fire and Ice, about heat, calories, freezers, 7) Liquid Refreshment--coffee, tea, soft drinks, 8) Microwaves, and 9) Tools and Technology--thermometers, pressure cookers.

Wolke is a professor of chemistry and the author of the Washington Post column Food 101. He is wonderful at answering those food questions you always wondered about but didn't know where to look to find the answer. There are also recipes demonstrating the scientific principles Wolke is explaining, like perfect gravy. "He is informed, amusing and delivers clear answers as well as good, in-depth science." He has a website: www.RobertWolke.com with a link to some of his columns and his other books, as well as recommended links to interesting science websites. I'm looking forward to reading his other books, which answer questions about everyday things unrelated to cooking.

Available through the library, but you may have to request it.

Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef

Son of Hamas: A gripping account of terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices.

by Mosab Hassan Yousef

From inside the front cover:

Before the age of twenty-one, Mosab Hassan Yousef saw things no one should ever see: Abject poverty, abuse of power, torture, and death.

He witnessed the behind-the-scenes dealings of top Middle Eastern leaders who make headlines around the world. He was trusted at the highest levels of Hamas and participated in the Intifada. He was held captive deep inside Israel's most feared prison facility. His dangerous choices and unlikely journey through dark places made him a traitor in the eyes of people he loves--and gave him access to extraordinary secrets. On the pages of this book he exposes events and processes that to this point have been known only by a handful of individuals. . .

Yousef is the son of the founding leader of Hamas, internationally recognized as a terrorist organization and responsible for countless suicide bombings and other deadly attacks against Israel. An intregal part of the movement, Mosab was imprisoned several times by the Israeli internal intelligence service. After a chance encounter with a British tourist, he started a six year quest that jeopardized Hamas, endangered his family, and threatened his life. He has since embraced the teachings of Jesus and sought political asylum in America.

(Asylum was granted just this summer after many people spoke up on his behalf.)

This is a true story that reads like a novel. It is well written, and very interesting. It told me many things that I'd never heard before and helped me to understand the conflict in the Middle East better.

Available at the library.

Terrorist Hunter by Anonymous

Terrorist Hunter--the extraordinary Story of a Woman Who went undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America.



"The remarkable memoir of an Iraqi woman who escaped from captivity in Baghdad and became America's leading undercover counter-terrorist expert."



From the front cover:



"Here is the story of an anonymous counterterrorism expert, who, in disguise, has penetrated front groups of anti-American terrorist organizations operating in this country. In this edge-of- the-seat memoir, she chronicles her escape from Iraq to Israel, following a great tragedy that befell her family at the hands of Saddam Hussein. She also details how she became involved in intelligence gathering for the United States. She was able to infiltrate and identify dangerous terrorist organizations and entities working undetected in the United States."

This book was very informative and scary. Our country is in danger from the radical Muslims in our country that are being allowed to do whatever they want AGAINST America. They build schools where they teach their children songs with lyrics that say "death to America." They build mosques where they preach "kill the infidels"--and they mean US! They rely on OUR laws that provide for freedom of speech, to say whatever they want to say, teaching their people to hate us--to kill us.

from page 86:

Having a good meal in their bellies seemed to cause the men to let down their guard and we began to speak. I talked only a little, very humbly, extremely cautious to make my cover story credible. There I was, sitting with members of Hamas, the terrorist organization that had claimed more innocent Israeli lives than any other. I, a Jew and an Israeli, a woman alone with fifteen men. Very dangerous game I was playing in this unbelievable scenario. . . .

Everyone should read this book just to be informed.

Embrace Me by Lisa Samson

Lisa Samson is one of my favorite Christian authors of fiction, and I highly recommend her books.

from the back of the book "Embrace Me":

"When a "lizard woman", a self-mutilating preacher, a tattooed monk, and a sleazy lobbyist find themselves in the same North Carolina town one winter, their lives are edging precariously close to disaster. . . and improbably close to grace."

"The Christy-award winning author of 19 books including the Women of Faith Novel of the Year "Quaker Summer", Lisa Samson has been hailed by Publishers Weekly as a "talented novelist who isn't afraid to take risks, and one of the most powerful voices in Christian fiction."

from page 37:

"If there's a smaller room than mine here at the hotel, the occupant must sleep standing up. I'm guessing mine served as a storage closet at one time. To the left of my bed the wooden floor forms a narrow aisle between my single bed and a grid of rough shelving that checkers the wall. Linen storage in the old days, maybe? Cleaning supplies as well? I could use some cleaning supplies. Today I'll find some, and I will scrub this place from floor to ceiling. Maid service is extra."

from page 107:

"I place a phone call to my father before he leaves for work the next day. "So where's Mom these days?"

He huffs his condescending laugh, but I hear the fear around the edges. "Have you gone a little crazy, son? You know as well as I do that your mother is dead."

As well versed as he is in political maneuverngs, I hear all the earmarks of keeping something under wraps: accuse the accuser, and employ the "everybody knows that" defense.

"Then dead people make phone calls." I tell him about the series of calls.

"Oh, Drew. It's just some crazy. You're on the air now. It could have been anybody."

"It was her voice."

"You were twelve when she died. How can you be so sure? Look, I'll meet you at Chapel Hill. I'll take you to her grave."