I’m reading Ana’s Story, by none other than Jenna Bush. Though I don’t know much about her, she doesn’t seem to be as much as a replica of her father as one might think.

Jenna Bush Reconsidered — From the American Prospect

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Like the vast majority of Americans in their mid-twenties, Jenna Bush believes condoms effectively prevent the spread of HIV, comprehensive sex education helps young people make healthy choices, and sex between two mutually loving people is okay -- even if they aren't married.

None of that is surprising. But given that Jenna Bush is the daughter of a deeply conservative president, one whose administration has in part been defined by retrograde sexual politics, it's rather extraordinary that Jenna has written a book advocating a practical, social justice stance toward the problems of poverty, AIDS, child abuse, sexual abuse, and teenage motherhood in Latin America.

As her father threatens to veto the entire $34 billion 2008 foreign aid budget just because congressional Democrats have finally snuck in loopholes providing condoms and abortion services to women in the developing world, Jenna is on a nationwide book tour and media blitz, spreading the message that safe sex and education are some of the most important tools in fighting disease.

Her Ana's Story (Harper Teen, 2007) is the biography of a 17-year old HIV-positive mother Jenna met in Panama while interning for UNICEF alongside longtime friend Mia Baxter, who provided photographs for the book. Ana's Story is geared toward young readers, especially teenage girls. It tells a moving, difficult story about a girl born with HIV, orphaned by her parents, abused by her caretakers, and sexually molested by her grandmother's boyfriend. By age 16, Ana is a pregnant high school drop-out; she doesn't always make the right choices and her story doesn't tie up neatly. It would be all too easy to moralize instead of empathize, or to shield young readers' eyes from the complicated ways poverty, love, and sex affect judgment. But Jenna Bush -- who, her publisher swears, wrote every last word of the book -- does none of these things.

There's no pabulum about abstinence-only education from the young author whose dad funneled $50 million annually to such programs, despite a complete lack of evidence they work. "Children need to be free to discuss all of life's issues …with safe and trustworthy adults," Jenna writes. "Equipped with information and knowledge, children can then take the steps necessary to protect themselves and to break the cycle that perpetuates abuse and spreads disease from one generation to the next." And Jenna mentions approvingly the lessons on condom usage that Ana got through a local hospital beginning at the age of 10.

Nor does Jenna present sex as the scariest, dirtiest thing that could ever happen to a young woman. "She felt no fear, only love," Jenna narrates, describing Ana losing her virginity with her boyfriend, Berto, who was also born HIV-positive. "Ana's heart felt overcome with love, but she wanted to be safe."

Could we have misjudged this Bush twin?

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Interesting information about Jenna Bush's book, will have to look for it next week when I go to the city, thank you jrose.

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"I just read an article on the dangers of drinking....

Scared the shit out of me!

So that's it!

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Originally posted by jrose:
It's an interesting read. It's very quick to get through, and not incredibly detailed, as it can be found in the "Young Readers" section of the library. It also comes complete with resources and study questions at the back. Her resources have faults, providing organizations that can help teens if they're pregnant and once they have their baby, though not addressing abortion, or providing contact information for Planned Parenthood, but overall it was far more progressive than I expected, and a book that I would pass on to the "Young Adults" in my life.

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Now that both their father are ending their political careers they are coming out and publically speaking and being honest about their true values.

They kept quiet and silent about their true views when it was time to re-elect their fathers in 2000 and 2004 and this is disgusting to me.

Lesbian daughter Mary Cheney openly campaigned for her father while keeping quiet about her true beliefs regarding lesbian and gay rights.

Read the ugly truths about Mary Cheney and the big fat book deal she got AFTER her father was safely elected!! more in wikipedia...

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In 2002, Cheney joined the gay-friendly Republican Unity Coalition and said that sexual orientation should be "a non-issue for the Republican Party", with a goal of "equality for all gay and lesbian Americans."[8] Cheney resigned from the RUC's board and in July 2003 became the director of vice presidential operations for the Bush-Cheney 2004 Presidential re-election campaign.[6]

In 2004, public attention refocused on Cheney's sexuality when the Bush administration supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would limit marriage to heterosexual couples and also ban civil unions and domestic partnership benefits. Cheney did not publicly express her opinion of the amendment at the time. In her 2006 autobiography Now It's My Turn, Cheney stated her opposition to the amendment. However, at the time, she remained silent to support Bush's re-election bid. In August 2004, Vice President Cheney reiterated the position he took in the 2000 Presidential campaign: that the issue should be handled by individual state governments. He added, though, that Bush determined his administration's policies and his policy supported the Federal Marriage Amendment.[9]

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Originally posted by clersal:
The whole shrub family gets my goat,

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haha.

I still remember reading an article in 2004 before the election on these 2 ingrates who clearly didn't support their fathers views and had disdain for his views on abortion and gay rights and they STILL went out like good little Stepford wives and supported their old man.
Idiots they are.

Ok no more ranting ... I think i got it out of my system ...

Books anyone reading anything interesting???

[ 02 February 2008: Message edited by: mary123 ]

I'm enjoying it so far...

"What happened was that I started to pray.
You know --like, to God"

Then she stops the narrative and goes into her description of what 'God' means to her ,"just so people can decide right away how offended they need to get."

The description of her first meal in Italy alone was enough to continue reading if only to live the year vicariously though Gilbert.

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Hey, I just finished Eat, Pray, Love and I really enjoyed it. She had me laughing out loud a few times and nodding my head in agreement.

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I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love, but I have read Elizabeth Gilbert's book called The Last American Man.

It was an assignment in university, showing how an article can make the tranisition to a non-fiction book. I remember reading it in one night, and really loving it.

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A piece of anarchist graffiti from the 1960s rejects "a world where the guarantee of not dying of starvation brings the risk of dying of boredom." Its author, one is tempted to speculate, was probably someone for whom dying of starvation had never been a genuine concern. But it's also a sentiment Eustace Conway would wholeheartedly embrace, and he's cheated starvation on several occasions, once by killing and eating a porcupine.
Conway, the subject of Elizabeth Gilbert's quasi-biography "The Last American Man," is exceptional. He left home to live in the woods at age 17 and has slept in a tepee most of his adult life. A preternaturally gifted hunter, horseman, carpenter, ecologist and athlete, he's the sort of person whose accomplishments make hyperbole -- the book's title, for example -- seem reasonable. He has hiked the length of the Appalachian Trail without provisions, kayaked across Alaska, ridden a horse coast to coast in 103 days and acquired more than 1,000 acres of North Carolina wilderness for preservation in perpetuity.

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I've always thought that the reason we have turned into the society Conway talks about is because of "rugged individualism" meaning that it becomes all about the "self" and not about the "group"

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Originally posted by 1234567:
I just had to stick this here because one of my favourite things to do at the end of the day is to have a glass of wine and read the paper!

"I just read an article on the dangers of drinking....

Scared the shit out of me!

So that's it!

After today, no more reading. "

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Lol, too funny!!!

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Galeano: Soon a book of mine will be published, titled Espejos [Mirrors]. It's just like a universal history -- pardon my audacity. "I can resist everything except the temptation," Oscar Wilde said, and I confess that I have succumbed to the temptation to recount some episodes of human adventure in the world, from the point of view of those who have not appeared in the picture.

In other words, it's about little known facts.

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Here are a few of those little known facts.

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Names usually do not correspond to what they name. In the British Museum, for example, the sculptures of the Parthenon are called "Elgin marbles," but they are marbles of Phidias. Elgin was the name of the Englishman who sold them to the museum.

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Here's another:

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Water made Tenochtitlán, the center of the Aztec Empire. Hernán Cortés demolished the city, stone by stone, and with its rubble he filled the canals where two hundred thousand canoes sailed. This was the first water war in America. Now Tenochtitlán is called Mexico City. Where water once ran, now run cars.

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I've been reading a lot lately. Mostly about food I might add.

I know I've posted these titles in another thread, but I've just finished

The End of Food, by Thomas Pawlick, as well as The 100-Mile Diet, by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon, and You Grow Girl, by Gayla Trail.

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angrymonkey:I read galeano's 'upside down' and enjoyed it. Are there any of his books you would recommend more than others?

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Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

Days and Nights of Love and War

Memory of Fire trilogy

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

Days and Nights of Love and War

Memory of Fire trilogy

heeheehee - thanks

I like getting books

I haven't read stuff like this since high school when I used to read teen romance novels. It started with buying a book at Shopper's Drug Mart for a long GO bus ride - I got "Everybody Worth Knowing" by the same author of "The Devil Wears Prada". And it was a quick, fun read.

So then on my next long GO bus ride, I bought another from the same genre - "Good in Bed" by, damn, can't remember her name, someone Weiner maybe? Anyhow, I also enjoyed that.

So then on Monday night, for yet another long GO bus ride, I broke down and did what I said I'd never do. I bought the first Shopoholic book. Yes. I did. I didn't enjoy that one quite so much, and I won't be buying the rest of them. I like chick lit that focuses on the story and characters, not on what they're wearing. I swear, every single sentence had a fashion brand name in it. It was still a fun story, but I just couldn't handle all the product placement.

One thing I've noticed about this genre (from the three books I've read, so I'm a real expert now) is that there's a tendency to use a lot of fleeting pop culture references, something I always thought was a no-no when writing books. Although, actually, I've always thought that rule (not putting real pop culture references into novels) was stupid. I mean, so what if no one knows the songs or actors or pop groups you're referencing 50 years from now? It would have exactly the same effect, in that case, as made-up names. And I think that in the future, books like this will be an interesting social history, kind of like how Rilla of Ingleside is now has a ton of social history references from the first World War.

[ 20 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

The other thing I've noticed is that there's a difference between the chick lit novels I've been reading and romance novels. I mean, they generally have romance in them, but they're different - not the same formula, not the same cutesy-swirly writing on the covers with the gorgeous hunk and swooning heroine on the cover. And for some reason, a lot of them take place in New York City. It's like chick lit Mecca, NYC.

Judy Blume for grownups, is how I'd characterize it, as opposed to Harlequin romances, which are Sweet Valley High or high school romance novels for grownups.

[ 20 February 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

[ 20 February 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
Just a suggestion: Canadian writer Aritha Van Herk has created a series of books which "feature strong women fighting against societal norms and the expectations of their families". Everything of hers that I've read is outstanding. Maybe start with The Tent Peg. (For more information, have a look at her Wikipedia entry.

[ 20 February 2008: Message edited by: N.Beltov ]

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I just finished Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine and all I can say is Naomi's rock.

"The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell and
"How to See YOURSELF" by the Dalai Lama.

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Originally posted by N.Beltov:
I haven't read that one. The most recent stuff of hers that I've read is No Fixed Address: An Amorous Journey and some of her experimental criticism. I mostly just like the women that she writes about. Perhaps that's why I'm such a fan of Chinghiz Aitmatov.

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I read a book of his shorts, mostly speedos and fruit of the loom, and the Days Last More than a Hundred Years, I believe it was called.

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I haven't read stuff like this since high school when I used to read teen romance novels. It started with buying a book at Shopper's Drug Mart for a long GO bus ride - I got "Everybody Worth Knowing" by the same author of "The Devil Wears Prada". And it was a quick, fun read.

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with a good chick lit book... I've read all the ones you were talking about and I am here to recommend some more... Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Baby Proof all by Emily Griffin

Also if you want to get a little more serious, My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards-- both amazing reads!

Right now I am reading 19 minutes also by Jodi Picoult-- so far its great, I can't put it down.

[ 26 February 2008: Message edited by: amandathelifeguard ]

by Donald Pink

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Originally posted by kingblake:
I just started reading Gunter Grass' The Tin Drum. So far, so good. It's billed as German magical realism, so it tickled my fancy.

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I just finished Beijing Confidential, by Jan Wong.

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In the early 70s, Jan Wong travelled from Canada to become one of only two Westerners permitted to study at Beijing University. One day a young stranger, Yin Luoyi, asked for help in getting to the United States. Wong, then a starry-eyed Maoist, immediately reported Yin to the authorities. Thirty-three years on, and more than a decade after the publication of her bestselling Red China Blues, Jan Wong revisits the Chinese capital to begin her search for the person who has haunted her conscience. She wants to apologize, to somehow make amends. At the very least, she wants to discover whether Yin survived.

As Jan Wong hunts through the city, she finds herself travelling back through the decades, back to her experiences in the Cultural Revolution, to places that were once of huge importance to her. She has changed, of course, but not as much as Beijing.

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I found it a tad repetitive, and probably would have been a great 150 page read, but it seemed to drag at 300 pages, but in the end I did enjoy it.

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Newman writes about Asper and other powerful Canadians in his book, "Titans: How the New Canadian Establishment Seized Power."

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Highly recommended to me as a guide to messaging and marketing. They say there's six key qualities of ideas that 'stick': Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotional, and Stories.

Your "open house breakfast" is a brilliant concept! Pollan's In Defense Of Food brings us back over and over again to the culture of eating and how it has been lost in the race of the running dogs of nutritional sciences. A large part of healthy eating/eating for health is the 'where' and 'with whom', not just the 'what'.

a riveting life of Shakespeare; sounds like a yawn to some, I'm sure, but just full of revelations and speculation about, well, everything Shakespeare -- politics, religion, reading, rivalries, family, wife, fortune, fears, fantasies, and on and on; an excellent read

Greenblatt knows the life and the period deeply, has no hobbyhorses to ride, and makes, one after another, exquisitely sensitive and persuasive connections between what the eloquent poetry says and what the fragmentary life suggests. A fully postmodernized critic, he knows the barriers of rhetoric and artifice that make us write the poems and then have the feelings as often as we have the feelings first. But he does not make the postmodern mistake of overestimating those barriers, either. Poets may often write things they do not feel, but they rarely feel things that they do not, sooner or later, write. The absence of one emotion in Shakespeare, the undue intensity of another are powerful indicators of a mind and a man at work.

Drawing on surprisingly fertile decades of biographical scholarship, Greenblatt is not afraid to make definite assertions. He begins with a fine, disabused picture of Stratford circa 1564, when the poet was born. Against the old notion of an expansive Elizabethan culture connected by the open English road, he draws a portrait of a society nearly Soviet, or perhaps South American, in its paranoias, public persecutions, and sudden, murderous changes of ideology.

[ 27 April 2008: Message edited by: Geneva ]

The TLS calls him the greatest philosopher of the 20th C.

I just finished Mike Wallace's biography, Between You and Me.

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Originally posted by WendyL:
Biographies/memoirs are my favourite! How was Wallace's?

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Many of the books I read are biographies or autobiographies, usually profiling journalists or celebrities of the golden age (Katharine Hepburn, Olivier, Bette Davis are among some that I've read). My dad just also passed down his ridiculous amount of books about Bob Dylan, so I expect I should delve into at least one or two of those soon.

Instead, I showed up to the library to find a copy of another 2008 release, Cleavage, by Theanna Bischoff.