Friday, April 29, 2022

Lately...

The last book is up on my current MP3 download, The Kite Runner. The book has been recommended over and over to me, and finally I have it downloaded and queued. I loaded a lot of books last time around, going mostly for length. I listened to two Obama volumes, Barack Obama's volume one and Michelle's Becoming, each read by its author. Michelle has a sibilant S, and I love her all the more for it.

Another engrossing book was Know My Name, also read by its incredible author, Chanel Miller. Ms. Miller was the victim of sexual assault on Stanford University campus in 2015. She pressed charges against her 18 year old assailant, and two years later, after suffering a demoralizing and degrading trial, her assailant, Brock Turner was found guilty on all three counts.

Like many, I learned of the case when she wrote a victim impact statement that went viral within an hour. It was read eleven million times in four days, all thirty pages. Ms. Miller was known as Emily Doe from the time she was found unconscious, throughout the trial, and to the publication of her memoir. After the statement was read in open court, the judge read his verdict: ninety days in county jail, as anything else would be unfair to such an outstanding athlete and young man commencing his adult life.

Fittingly, the judge was recalled. The young man lost his scholarship and was banned from Stanford campus.

Know My Name was a compelling "listen". Actually reading it would have been the same--impossible to put down.

The books I downloaded lined up alphabetically, and so A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson popped up early. I bought and started reading the book a couple of years ago, and gave it up. Listening to it narrated was a much better experience, and I sailed on through. Light reading, but satisfactory.

Much further down the alphabet I came on Pearl Buck's The Good Earth.  On the whole I was going for length, and this is a long one. I remember reading it from my parent's book shelf, when I was a teen ager, but have not encountered it since. The entire length I struggled to place a time on the book. I simply could not place the novel in a context that included trains, soldiers with guns and a revolution. The Mao Zedong change of China was post World War II. A trip through Wikipedia reminded me of the 1911 revolution.

I did not remember one iota of my first reading of the book, sixty years ago. Definitely worth my time, though not a book I would read again.

And so I come to The Kite Runner. I hope it's as fascinating as has been claimed. A lot of good books these last several months and I have put a lot of towels on the shelf, as well as shipping more than a few around the country. It took me only a month to clear the last warp of towels, and I hope to weave off the current before the first Peninsula show, the first weekend of June.


I've made enough colors to make a decent color wheel. I've included a cream towel for some time, just to have a decent array. It's redundant, I think, with the cream rose center, and I probably will leave it out when the next towel is ready.


And it will be periwinkle. Also on standby, yellow:


22 comments:

  1. I read "The Kite Runner" a number of years ago when it was first published and enjoyed it. The movie based on it was also worthy. My Rare One listened to Michelle Obama's book on audiobook as well and said she liked it.

    I remember reading about that court case -- such an appalling but alas, all too typical, miscarriage of justice. I'm glad that horrible judge was recalled and the rapist lost his scholarship and university. He should have received much, much more jail time than he did.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sadly justice, particularly but not exclusively for women, seems to be a matter of luck. Which fills me with ballistic rage.
    I enjoyed (if that is the right term) The Kite Runner and hope you do too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Kite Runner is an excellent book.. Cruelty, suppression, no law have been part of a woman's live world round.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hari OM
    Worthy 'reading', all! I do love audio books and podcasts, leaving the hands free to occupy themselves elsewhere; and in your case, most frutifully! YAM xx
    Z=Zany

    ReplyDelete
  5. I use audio books a lot in daily activities, and only rarely nowadays read actual physical books, but Kite Runner was one. It's very readable in style and just a terrific story. I hope you enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've done some excellent reading. I enjoyed "Becoming" and have read all of Hosseini's books EXCEPT "Kite Runner." Strange.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I read Kite Runner. It's a good story. I like bill Bryson's stories. The Walk in the Woods got a little long in some places.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You always have an interesting list of books lined up. Do you get your audio books from the library or Audible or somewhere else? I'd like to get back into audio books again but I'm not sure of the best place to get them. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mine come from the library. My tiny village library is part of Clevenet, the enormous regional library. If I can't borrow a book at once, it goes to a waiting list and then is a wonderful surprise when I have an email notice that it is available for download.

      Delete
  9. Khaled Hosseini writes some of the most beautiful sentences I've ever read. Just so perfect and profound that I stop reading. But...and this is a big one...his books are just so painful to me that I can only bear to read their perfection once. They are beautiful and they will break your heart.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The towel wheel looks so pretty. I have the Kite Runner somewhere on my kindle, for reading, not listening and I'll get to it eventually.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I’ve been enthralled with the Louise Penny novels of the last number of years. Mystery at its best! I “enjoyed” The Kite Runner some time ago.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Have you ever listened to "Lonesome Dove"? It's a long one and it's a good one. Your color wheel is pure beauty and function!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've only recently gone back to fiction. I'll check that one out.

      Delete
  13. The Kite Runner is excellent. I also read his other books. You should tuck the last towel in the color wheel under the first towel. I love that periwinkle blue.

    ReplyDelete
  14. The color wheel is pretty - looks rather like a painted daisy. Judges like that are an insult to our legal system and should be recalled and slapped about the head and shoulders with a big stick.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I remember reading and liking The Kite Runner although it was years ago so I've forgotten most of the storyline. Maybe it's time to re-read it. Let us know what you think when you've finished!

    ReplyDelete
  16. That sexual assault story has me wondering how people and our legal system can be so cruel.
    Not sure if I listened to the "Walk In the Woods" but I know there was a movie. Good story.

    ReplyDelete
  17. We cold do two brite yellow towels too.

    ReplyDelete
  18. So he got just ninety days in jail, as anything else would be unfair to such an outstanding athlete and young man commencing his adult life. How does being an oustanding athlete excuse you from deliberate sexual assault?

    ReplyDelete
  19. "Know My Name" sounds like a good book. Brock Turner deserved a much longer prison sentence.

    ReplyDelete
  20. -love the color wheel; it's very pretty.

    ReplyDelete