Book and Movie Night

Books

“When the Heart Waits” – Sue Monk Kidd.
Inspirational, spiritual.  Marked lots of pages to return to at another time. 

“The Soloist” – Steve Lopez. 
True story.  Musician who has mental illness.

“Between Sisters” – Kristin Hannah. 
Story of difficulties between sisters.

“Falling” – Anne Simpson. 
Loss and finding redemption, set at Niagara Falls.
(These 4 books are owned by Candace and  may be borrowed).

“The Well-Trained Mind” – Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise.
(Jen’s book).  Book about education – homeschooling thoughts?  Organizing education into 3 stages – grammar, logic, rhetoric (think and write with originality).

“The Naked Anabaptist” – Stuart Murray (Don & Kelvin have books). 
Back to basics.  What makes a person an Anabaptist?

“Tuesdays with Morrie”  and “Have a Little Faith” – Mitch Albom. 
Must reads.

“The Illuminator” – Vantrease. 
4th Century politics.  Resisted the established church.

“A Walk in the Woods” – Bill Bryson. 
(Ron has book & audio available at the library).  Decides to walk the Appalachian Trail-2000 miles.  Account of the walk along with forays into many other topics.  (See review below.)

“Our War” – David Harris. 
See review below.

“This Hidden Thing” – Dora Dueck. 
(Elaine has book).  About an 18 yr. old girl fleeing Russia and coming to Winnipeg in 1927.  She has no English and needs to get a job.  She ends up working in the home of an English family.  Something happens to her and she feels she has to hide it.

“Godspace” – Christine Sine. 
(Elaine has it). Suggestions for how to make space for God in your life.

“Snowflower & The Secret Fan” – Lisa See.
(Pearl has it).  About life in China when girls had their feet bound and living in one small room.  Focus on female friendship. (See review below.)

“Infidel” – Ayaan Hirsi Ali
(Pearl has it).  Life of a young woman in the Muslim world.  Her life story in various countries of the world.  Her colleague was murdered.  Coming of age story. (See review below.)

“Same Kind of Different as Me” – Ron Hall & Denver Moore. 
True story.  Three main characters – the author, Denver Moore and Hall’s wife.  Denver Moore is a black man growing up as a slave after slavery was abolished.  Ron Hall was a typical middle-class white boy.  How practiced faith can make a difference.

“In a Sun-burned Country” – Bill Bryson.
(Australia)

“Booze” – James Gray. 
No one has done a better job of hiding their history than we.

“The Promised Land” – Pierre Berton.

“Crude World” – Peter Moss. 
Extraction of crude oil in various places around the world.

“Let Your Life Speak” – Palmer J. Parker
(Kelvin has it).  Listening for the Voice of Vocation.  Quaker.  Seriers of chapters which were originally written for other publications.  You need to listen to your own life rather than trying to live up to other people’s expectations.

John attended a conference on Alzheimer’s.    Picked up 3 books.
“Laughing Matters” – Phil Calloway.
“Making Life Rich Without Any Money” –Phil Calloway.
“Who Put My Life on Fast Forward?” – Phil Calloway.

“Leaders Who Shaped Us” – Harold Jantz. 
About the MB Church.  John knows many of the leaders talked about, some of whom have had an impact on his life.

“School of Essential Ingrediants” – Erica Baermeister. 
Story of the lives of the people who get together for a classing class.

“Claude & Camilla” – Stephanie Cowell. 
About Claude Monet & his artist friends.  Always struggling to maintain relationships, earn enough to put food on the table and buy more art supplies.

“Mandella’s Way”
15 life lessons about life, love and courage.  Amazing life story.

“The Book of Negroes” – Lawrence Hill. 
(Garry’s book).Life story of a black woman from the time she was captured as a slave in Africa, came to USA, eventually to Canada (which was a huge disappointment) and finally late in life returns to Africa and Europe.

“Stones Into Schools” – Greg Mortenson. 
Continuation of the story “Three Cups of Tea”.  About building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Home” – Marilyn Robinson.  
(Kelvin’s book).  Modernized version of the prodigal son.  Set in the 50’s in the mid western states.  How do I as a father talk to my children?  What don’t I say?  Companion volume to “Gilead”.

“Hannah’s Child” – Stanley Hauerwas. 
Author is a character who doesn’t forget where he comes from.  Person in the church – a Christian?  He cares deeply for John Howard Yoder.

David S. – reading the dictionary.  Oxford English Dictionary.

“After the Flood” – Margaret Atwood.  
The future – a little group of gardeners grow food the old way.

Movies

“The Social Network”.
Watch a computer geek.  Person driven by his ideas.  (See review below.)

“Waking Ned Devine”
(Elaine has it).  Get to know each of the characters in a small village.

“The Secret Life of Bees” 
Main character is a bee keeper.

“Dinner for Schmucks”
Good and funny.

“Bruce Almighty” – Jim Carey & Morgan Freeman.  
(Bueckerts movie).  Freeman plays God.

“Invictus” 
Story about Nelson Mandella.

“One Week” – Ben Tyler. 
Young teacher who was engaged.  He wanted to spend some time alone.  Great scenery and impact of people he meets.  What would you do if you only had 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year to live?

“The Blind Side”
Family of 4 meet a young black homeless man and adopt him into their family.  He becomes a football player.

“The Last Station” 
(Larry’s movie).  About Leo Tolstoy before he dies – has become an anarchist before he dies.

“The Gathering Storm” 
(Larry’s movie).  The story of Winston Churchill.

Book and Movie Reviews

"Our War: What We Did In Vietnam And What It Did To Us” by David Harris

A Response

"...the war not only needed to be resisted but remained to be understood. Thirty years later I still that to be true." (xi)

The war in question is the Vietnam War and the writer of those words is Daniel Ellsberg now remembered as a whistleblower on the dishonesty of the American government in the late 1960s. The story I'll share this evening is not Secrets, Ellsberg's 2001 memoir. I have just started reading it.

The book I've chosen is by David Harris. Written about 15 years ago, it's called "Our War: What We Did in Vietnam and What It Did To Us."

When Harris (in 1995) told his mother that he was, once again, writing about the war, she said she wished America would put behind it all the stuff that happened in Vietnam. The country needed to move on. Harris agreed, but said that first it needed to face up.

Santayana said, "If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it"... and we are. As one of many who helped to resist the Vietnam War, I came to Harris' book feeling (in the words of Ellsberg), it still remains to be understood.

The historical reflections and self-examination in Harris' Our War are a helpful but painful step in that direction.

Some of you may recall that David Harris was--for a short time--the husband of Joan Baez. During the Vietnam War, Harris became the most famous draft resister and Baez popularized his civil disobedience in 1969 in "David's Album."

I still like--and listen to--the music of Baez (she has a great voice), but when it comes to political reflection, I much prefer the books of David Harris. And this one--Our War--is his best.  Harris describes his personal experience with the U.S. Selective Service, but that account is woven smoothly into the larger account of America's involvement in a war that corrupted not just U.S. military practice but the country's view of itself.

None of us likes to dwell on stories of torture and massacre, but if we ignore them, they will continue to happen...in places like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo.

Since his release from prison, Harris has worked as a journalist. He has six books and thousands of articles to his credit. He writes with much style and skill. Here is one example, dealing with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that sent thousands of American troops to Vietnam:

1. "Having used an incident that never happened to start a war that he could never stop, Lyndon Johnson swept the November 1964 election as a peace candidate and served another four years as president. By the time his new term was up, some 540,000 American soldiers were stationed in Vietnam and he was hounded out of politics to chants of 'Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?"' (122)

Myra and I were among those chanters, as we filed by the White House in the November 1969 Moratorium and "March Against Death." We came to Canada only a few months later, and I forced myself to stop thinking about the war. I just wanted to get on with life.

Now I think the time has come to face up, to try to understand this sad chapter of history in which we came of age.

At the outset, Harris contends that if we don't own our experience, "we will continue to be owned by it" (7). I've been owned by this experience for over 40 years, but now I've purchased a number of books dealing with the history of the American Resistance.

It won't be happy reading, but with persistence I may learn better "What We Did" and understand more fully "What It Did To Us."

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Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

“A language kept a secret for a thousand years forms the backdrop for an unforgettable
novel of two Chinese women whose friendship and love sustains them through their lives.  This absorbing novel - with a storyline unlike anything Lisa See has written before - takes place in 19th century China when girls had their feet bound, then spent the rest of their lives in seclusion with only a single window from which to see. Illiterate and
isolated, they were not expected to think, be creative, or have emotions. But in one
remote county, women developed their own secret code, nu shu - "women's writing" -
the only gender-based written language to have been found in the world. Some girls were paired as “old-sames" in emotional matches that lasted throughout their lives. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on handkerchiefs, and composed stories, thereby reaching out of their windows to share their hopes, dreams, and accomplishments. An old woman tells of her relationship with her "old-same," their arranged marriages, and the joys and tragedies of motherhood--until a terrible misunderstanding written on their secret fan threatens to tear them apart. With the detail and emotional resonance of Memoirs of a Geisha, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan delves into one of the most mysterious and treasured relationships of all time--female friendship." (review taken from the internet.)

This book was recommended to me by a friend and it is a book I'd like to recommend for friends to read together and discuss, especially for women. I cannot begin to imagine the incredible pain and stupidity of the foot binding ritual; being excluded from the outside world and daily life lived in one small room together with sisters, mothers, grandmothers, sister-in-laws, concubines; their “voicelessness" in almost every
aspect of life except for the beauty they created in the countless different sizes of
shoes they made and clothes. On the other hand, the beauty in this book for me, is the
relationship between 2 women - Snow Flower and Lily - the "old-sames". They were
there for for each other, for much of life, teaching each other much from two varied
backgrounds. But then we see the tragedy of misunderstandings.  A book that continues to keep me thinking and realizing how incredibly fortunate that I was born into the family/culture that I was.

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Infidel
By Avaan Hirsi Ali. Simon & Schuster lApril 1,2008 | Trade paperback

"In this profoundly affecting memoir from the internationally renowned author of The Caged Virgin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali tells her astonishing life story, from her traditional Muslim childhood in Somali, Saudi Arabia, and Kenya, to her intellectual awakening and activism in the Netherlands, and her current life under armed guard in the West. One of today's most admired and controversial political figures, Ayaan Hirsi Ali burst into international headlines following an Islamist’s murder of her colleague, Theo van Gogh, with whom she made the movie Submission. Infidel is the eagerly awaited story of the coming of age of this elegant, distinguished -- and sometimes reviled political superstar and champion of free speech. With a gimlet eye and measured, often ironic, voice, Hirsi Ali recounts the evolution of her beliefs, her ironclad will, and her extraordinary resolve to fight injustice done in the name of religion. Raised in a strict Muslim family and extended clan, Hirsi Ali survived civil war, female mutilation, brutal beatings, adolescence as a devout believer during the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and life in four troubled, unstable countries largely ruled by despots. In her early twenties, she escaped from a forced marriage and sought asylum in the Netherlands,where she earned a college degree in political science, tried to help her tragically depressed sister adjust to the West, and fought for the rights of Muslim immigrant women and the reform of Islam as a member of Parliament. Even though she is under constant threat -- demonized by reactionary Islamists and politicians, disowned by her father, and expelled from her family and clan -- she refuses to be silenced. Ultimately a celebration of triumph over adversity, Hirsi Ali’s story tells how a bright little girl evolved out of dutiful obedience to become an outspoken, pioneering freedom fighter. As Western governments struggle to balance democratic ideals with religious pressures, no story could be timelier or more significant." (review taken from the books jacket cover)

A book that was drawn to my attention as I was waiting at the airport and I'm so glad I read it. Opened my eyes, hugely, to the very difficult life of Muslim women. Women who again are '”Voiceless" and treated as sub-humans. Ayaan is one gutsy women who has chosen to not remain “Voiceless" and hopefully she will help many of us understand the plight of the women/children in the Muslim believing worlds. "Life is better in Europe than it is in the Muslim world because human relations are better, and one reason human relations are better is that in the West, life on earth is valued and in the here and now, and individuals enjoy rights and freedoms that are recognized and protected by the state. To accept subordination and abuse because Allah willed it -- that, for me, would be self-hatred." (p. 34s) I highly recommend reading this book.

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The Social Network- movie

How exciting is it to watch a computer geek sitting by his computer, typing away, working with algorithms, and eating pizza?

That might have been what Mark Zuckerman did in real life, but what Jesse Eisenberg portrays as Zuckerman in the movie, The Social Network, is very different, and in my opinion a fascinating and riveting story. What is a person like who is driven not by money, not by friendships, but only by his ideas, ideas for computer programs that will grab people's attention. He wrote a program one night, while drunk, that had viewers on the Harvard campus compare faces of female colleagues. It caught on so fast that very night, that the system crashed because of overuse. Once he got going on FaceBook, nothing stopped him. The way the film portrays the FaceBook creator, he would sacrifice his last friend if this friend stood in the way of the program's success.

If you have a chance to see this movie, I think you will find it worth your while. Zuckerman in real life is what, 27 year old, and is worth something like 25 billion dollars. And he continues to wear jeans and fleece, as he did the day he designed FaceBook. As 100 000 000 people use FaceBook.

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Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson, 1998

Bryson was born in the USA, lived in the UK for 20 years, moves back to the States, and to reconnect, as it were, he decides the walk the Appalachian Trail.

The Appalachian Trail is a short little trail, a mere 2,200 miles in length, from Georgia to Maine along the Appalachian Mountains - actually the trail now extends into Canada, right into the Atlantic Ocean.

Bryson decides to walk this trail. An old friend, Stephen Katz, joins him. Katz is a recovering alcoholic, overweight, out of shape, and addicted to doughnuts.

The book is an account of the walk, along with numerous forays into other subjects - ecology, equipment for hiking, life philosophy, the joys of decadent civilization, and so on. Everything is told with class, wit, and humour. Robert Redford said that of all the books he had read, none had made him laugh as much as this one.

This is an easy and fun book to read, and imparts many useful insights along the way.

Once I have it back from my cousin, who has actually walked the Appalachian Trail, well, two day's worth of it, once I have the book back, you are welcome to borrow it.

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