#status: read

[kabutoraiger]

i mean... he’s not wrong.

[the-readingshelf]

Title: The Travelling Cat Chronicles Author: Hiro Arikawa (translated from Japanese by Philip Gabriel) Category/genre: fiction Pages: 247 (paperback) Summary: It’s not the journey that counts, but who is at your side. Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where to. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved Satoru in the front of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn’t know why and Satoru won’t say.

Set against the backdrop of Japan’s changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and striking humour, Nana’s story explores the wonder and thrill of life’s unexpected detours. It is about friendship, solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. Above all, it shows how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.

Comments: I finished reading this just a few minutes ago, and I have probably been crying for well over an hour. Never before have I read a book that warmed my heart so much in the same moments as shattering it. Nana the cat’s voice is full of exactly the kind of attitude you’d expect from a feline narrator, and that makes his growing love for Satoru throughout the story all the more charming. Perfectly woven through their journey are flashbacks that give you snapshots of Satoru’s life, and the lives of the friends he visits. Add to that beautiful descriptions of various areas of Japan, and this book is ultimately a feel-good read despite how heartwrenching it is. If you love cats, if you’ve ever loved a pet, you’ve gotta give this book a shot.

[the-readingshelf]

Title: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee Author: Dee Brown Category/genre: non-fiction, Native American history, American history Pages: 487 (paperback) Summary: The American West, 1860 - 1890: years of broken promises, disillusionment, war and massacre. Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos and ending with the massacre of the Sioux at Wounded Knee, this extraordinary book tells how the American Indians lost their land, lives and liberty to white settlers pushing westward. Woven into an engrossing saga of cruelty, treachery and violence are the fascinating stories of such legendary figures as Sitting Bull, Cochise, Crazy Horse and Geronimo. First published in 1970, Dee Brown’s brutal and compelling narrative changed the way people thought about the original inhabitants of America, and focused attention on a national disgrace.

Comments: I originally purchased this book a couple of years ago, and had to stop reading halfway through. This book is heartbreaking, infuriating, and absolutely essential, particularly for white Americans. Now if only I could get a similarly thorough and comprehensive book about Canadian Natives.

[the-readingshelf]

Title: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons From The Twentieth Century Author: Timothy Snyder Category/genre: non-fiction, history, European history, social justice, current events Pages: 126 (paperback) Summary: History does not repeat, but it does instruct. In the twentieth century, European democracies collapsed into fascism, Nazism and communism. These were movements in which a leader or a party promised to give voice to the people, promised to protect them from global existential threats, and rejected reason in favour of myth. European history shows us that societies can break, democracies can fall, ethics can collapse, and ordinary people can find themselves in unimaginable circumstances. History can familiarise, and it can warn. Today, we are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to totalitarianism in the twentieth century. But when the political order seems imperiled, our advantage is that we can learn from their experience to resist the advance of tyranny. Now is a good time to do so. Comments: This is a concise, very readable book (I read it in two sittings) and is kind of a crash course on tyranny and how to resist. Most, if not all 20 lessons could probably be expanded upon to fill at least one book of their own, but here you get the essentials, the big picture, and pointers you can put to use in your own life. It’s a good place to start if you’re looking for ways to deal with the current state of the world or to get an idea of the lessons from history that we should be paying attention to right now. Although it is very America-centric (for obvious reasons), I would recommend it to people all around the world.

[the-readingshelf]

Title: If This Is A Woman: Inside Ravensbrück: Hitler’s Concentration Camp for Women Author: Sarah Helm Category/genre: non-fiction, history, World War II, the Holocaust Pages: 823 (paperback) Summary: Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS and the architect of the Holocaust, oversaw the construction of a special concentration camp just fifty miles north of Berlin. He called it Ravensbrück, and during the years that followed thousands of people died there after enduring brutal forms of torture. All were women. There are a handful of studies and memoirs that reference Ravensbrück, but until now no one has written a full account of this atrocity, perhaps due to the mostly masculine narrative of war, or perhaps because it lacks the Jewish context of most mainstream Holocaust history. Ninety percent of Ravensbrück's prisoners were not Jewish. Rather, they were political prisoners, Resistance fighters, lesbians, prostitutes, even the sister of New York's Mayor LaGuardia. In a perverse twist, most of the guards were women themselves. Sarah Helm's groundbreaking work sheds much-needed light on an aspect of World War II that has remained in the shadows for decades. Using research into German and newly opened Russian archives, as well as interviews with survivors, Helm has produced a landmark achievement that weaves together various accounts, allowing us to follow characters on both sides of the prisoner/guard divide. Chilling, compelling, and deeply unsettling, Ravensbrück is essential reading for anyone concerned with Nazi history. (via)

Comments: Hard to read, yet hard to put down. This is an aspect of WWII of which I was previously unaware. Provides details of prisoners and guards alike and allows for incredible insight into their lives and mindsets. This is one book I think everyone should read.

[the-readingshelf]

Title: I Wrote This For You: Just The Words Author: Iain S. Thomas Category/genre: poetry Pages: 216 (paperback) Summary: The follow-up to the #1 bestseller, I Wrote This For You: Just The Words presents twice the number of entries with over 400 works from the internationally acclaimed poetry and photography project; including several new and never before seen poems. While focusing on the words from the project, new photography launches each section which portray everyone’s journey through the world: Love Found, Being In Love, Love Lost, Hope, Despair, Living and Dying. (via)

Comments: I cried a lot while reading this, which was strange, since I’ve never really cried over poetry before. I guess that must mean something.