Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic

Title: Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo
Author: Zlata Filipovic
Type: Nonfiction
Genre: Diary
Series: No
Pages: 208
Copyright: 1994
Publisher:Viking Penguin
Rating: 3 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
In a voice both innocent and wise, touchingly reminiscent of Anne Frank's, Zlata Filipovic's diary has awoken the conscience of the world. Now thirteen years old, Zlata began her diary just before her eleventh birthday, when there was peace in Sarajevo and her life was that of a bright, intelligent, carefree young girl. Her early entries describe her friends, her new skis, her family, her grades at school, her interest in joining the Madonna Fan Club. And then, on television, she sees the bombs falling on Dubrovnik. Though repelled by the sight, Zlata cannot conceive of the same thing happening in Sarajevo. When it does, the whole tone of her diary changes. Early on, she starts an entry to "Dear Mimmy" (named after her dead goldfish): "SLAUGHTERHOUSE! MASSACRE! HORROR! CRIMES! BLOOD! SCREAMS! DESPAIR!" We see the world of a child increasingly circumscribed by the violence outside. Zlata is confined to her family's apartment, spending the nights, as the shells rain down mercilessly, in a neighbor's cellar. And the danger outside steadily invades her life. No more school. Living without water and electricity. Food in short supply. The onslaught destroys the pieces she loves, kills or injures her friends, visibly ages her parents. In one entry Zlata cries out, "War has nothing to do with humanity. War is something inhuman." In another, she thinks about killing herself. Yet, with indomitable courage and a clarity of mind well beyond her years, Zlata preserves what she can of her former existence, continuing to study piano, to find books to read, to celebrate special occasions - recording it all in the pages of this extraordinary diary.

Feelings:
Zlata starts keeping a diary before the war breaks out in Bosnia. When she starts her diary we see that she is a normal young girl who thinks about school, her friends, and popular culture. when the conflict starts in a near by city she does not think it will come to Sarajevo. Over the two years that Zlata kept her diary we see the changes that come over her city and her family.

I am using this book with a student who is learning English. I have found so far that the level of the writing is such that it is easy to understand and we are able to have conversations about the book and what is happening. Reading about this reminded me of hearing about the conflict when I was growing up. This book made it real for me when it hadn't been before.

I highly recommend this book. It is easy to read and Zlata is strong even when things are falling apart around her.

The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman

Title: The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story
Author: Diane Ackerman
Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Suzanne Toren
Genre: Nonfiction history
Series: No
Copyright: 2007
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Rating: 2 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads
The New York Times bestseller: a true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

After their zoo was bombed, Polish zookeepers Jan and Antonina Zabinski managed to save over three hundred people from the Nazis by hiding refugees in the empty animal cages. With animal names for these "guests," and human names for the animals, it's no wonder that the zoo's code name became "The House Under a Crazy Star." Best-selling naturalist and acclaimed storyteller Diane Ackerman combines extensive research and an exuberant writing style to re-create this fascinating, true-life story—sharing Antonina's life as "the zookeeper's wife," while examining the disturbing obsessions at the core of Nazism.

Feelings:
This book was a bit hard for me to get into even as an audiobook. The narrator did a really good job. It was hard for me because while this was a story it often wandered off on tangents. While these were interesting, I often didn't see how they related to the story of the war and the zoo.  

I had originally gotten this as a paperback book, however, I am glad I didn't try and read it because I never would have made it through. I appreciated Suzanne Toren reading this because it added to the story and without it being something I was listening to on my drives to and from work I don't think this would have been a book I continued. I do admit that the ending didn't really work for me and I think the book could have been shorter and probably better for it. I do not recommend that anyone sit down to read this book because it is very slow passed and at times drifts from the story of the Nazi occupation of Warsaw and leaves you wondering why that was important to the book and story of Antonina, the zookeeper's wife.
 

The World is a Carpet by Anna Badkhen

Title: The World is a Carpet: Four Seasons in an Afghan Village
Author: Anna Badkhen

Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Non-Fiction

Series: No

Pages: 288
Copyright: 2013

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Rating: 2 out of 5


Summary: from Good Reads

An unforgettable portrait of a place and a people shaped by centuries of art, trade, and war.
In the middle of the salt-frosted Afghan desert, in a village so remote that Google can’t find it, a woman squats on top of a loom, making flowers bloom in the thousand threads she knots by hand. Here, where heroin is cheaper than rice, every day is a fast day. B-52s pass overhead—a sign of America’s omnipotence or its vulnerability, the villagers are unsure. They know, though, that the earth is flat—like a carpet.

Anna Badkhen first traveled to this country in 2001, as a war correspondent. She has returned many times since, drawn by a land that geography has made a perpetual battleground, and by a people who sustain an exquisite tradition there. Through the four seasons in which a new carpet is woven by the women and children of Oqa, she immortalizes their way of life much as the carpet does—from the petal half-finished where a hungry infant needs care to the interruptions when the women trade sex jokes or go fill in for wedding musicians scared away by the Taliban. As Badkhen follows the carpet out into the world beyond, she leaves the reader with an indelible portrait of fates woven by centuries of art, war, and an ancient trade that ultimately binds the invaded to the invader.

Feelings: 
I expected a lot more from this book than what it gave. I ended up feeling a little like the author didn't really have enough content for a full book and thus ended up with a hodgepodge of stories put together as a book. I didn't really think it worked.

Another thing that bothered me about the book was the author's use of language. I felt like words weren't always used properly or she would use really obscure words to describe something. That being said this book should be read with a dictionary handy. When I found out that English was likely not the author's first language this explained a lot.

I should note that some of the book was really good.

Once upon a time the moon was white, and the sun and the moon had a fight over who was more beautiful. The sun said it was more beautiful because its beauty illuminated the entire world. The moon said it was more beautiful because its face was completely white. Then the sun got angry and collected desert sand, dust, and ashes from its bukhari and threw them at the moon. The dirt soiled the moon's face forever. The moon became embarrassed and stopped coming out during the day. That's why the moon comes only at night and its face is blemished (p. 176)

This was one of the treasures held within this book. I wouldn't say you should read the book for just that though. I wanted to see more of the carpet and a lot less conjecture about what happens to the carpet after it leaves the loom.

Parts of this book were good but overall it just didn't hold up. I wouldn't recommend it unless you are going to skim it for the little jewels it does hold.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Title: I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

Author: Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

Type: Non-Fiction
Genre: Memoir

Series: No

Pages: 327
Copyright: 2013
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Summary: From Good Reads
I come from a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after midday.

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 nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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.

I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

Feelings:
I really enjoyed reading this book. Malala's story is one that resonates for anyone who feels like education is a human right for all people. While she is no longer able to live in her home country, Pakistan, because of threats on her life she still longs to go back there.

What I really liked most about the book is that it discussed may events that took place in Pakistan that were discussed in my classes. Seeing a different view on these issues was interesting for me. Also, living in a country where an even happens is very different than reading about it in the news.

Swat Valley sounds like a very green and lush place, not what I thought of when I thought of the region, and while it is not a place I would visit under current conditions, the descriptions make it seem like a nice place to take a vacation if you didn't mind a bit of a scenic drive to get there.

Reading about individuals that overcome great obstacle is satisfying for me. This book was both about a young girl that has obstacles placed in her way by society and the political citation in the country. Both of which really appealed to me.

I would highly recommend this book.

A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong

Title: A Short History of Myth
Author: Karen Armstrong
Type: Audiobook
Narrator: Sandra Burr
Genre: History
Series: Canongate Myths #1
Copyright: 2006
Publisher: Brilliance Corporation
Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Summary: From GoodReads

What are myths? How have they evolved? And why do we still so desperately need them? The history of myth is the history of humanity; our stories and beliefs, our curiosity and attempts to understand the world, link us to our ancestors and each other. Myths help us make sense of the universe. Armstrong takes us from the Palaeolithic period and the myths of the hunters right up to the "Great Western Transformation" of the last five hundred years and the discrediting of myth by science. Heralding a major series of retellings of international myths by authors from around the world, Armstrong's characteristically insightful and eloquent book serves as a brilliant and thought-provoking introduction to myth in the broadest sense - and why we dismiss it only at our peril. 

Witty, informative and contemplative: Ms. Armstrong can simplify complex ideas, but she is never simplistic. - New York Times Book Review 

Armstrong writes with sensitivity and wisdom. She employs a breadth of learning that reflects the scintillating, shifting light and shade of human experience. - The Times

Feelings: 
I thought that the early history of myth that was included in here was information. It disused parts of myth that I was unfamiliar with. The discussions of what myth meant to early civilizations reflect what many in current times are lacking. Armstrong looks at myth up through 2000 and how the scientific revolution that started with philosophers trying to rationalize everything began the dismantling of myth and the significance it played in our lives.

Myths were not to be taken as the literal truth but as a guide for us an example we could live up to. Once literal truth was place on myths they started to be pushed aside. Christianity was based on myth and Armstrong discusses how when we take literally, as fact, what is written in the bible we are taking away much of it's meaning and putting a meaning that wasn't their originally.

The discussions of how human myth evolved from prehistory to the current age is interesting. My fault with this book was the last chapter on the current time. I think she makes some interesting points but I felt like she was doing a lot of speculating on how novels, most of which I have not read, are at times working in the same way as myths used to. I think this was the weakest part of the book and she may have been using it to demonstrate her thesis that human kind has relied on myth and when we don't have myth we are lost. I think that she may be right in some points but it was to rushed for me to really agree with the ending.

Over all I think that the first part of the book is a very good discussion of myth and I would recommend this to individuals looking to expand their knowledge of how myth has evolved through history.