Rubbish!

All the reading I was doing about rats last month got me thinking about garbage. If garbage attracts rats, and rats are a problem, how big of a problem is garbage? I've never thought about it before. The garbage truck comes to my house every week and picks up my trash. I have no idea where it goes, and frankly, I never gave it much thought. So I thought it might be interesting to find out how much trash we produce and what exactly happens to it. It turns out that there are quite a few books on garbage. Elizabeth Royte's Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash and Heather Rogers's Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage provide a fascinating, yet scary, account of the history of garbage, the paths our garbage takes, and the issues we face today. These books are chock full of "did-you-knows" that you can use at parties. For example, did you know:

• The average American throws away 4.5 pounds of garbage per person, per day.


• 88% of U.S. products are used once and thrown out.


• 67% of America's household waste stream could be composted.


• The liners that are required for new landfills are only good for about fifty years. And the EPA requires landfill owners to monitor a landfill for only 30 years after its closure.


• Dumps from the Roman Empire are still leaching today.


• The garbage industry in New York was controlled by the Mafia for many years.
  

While both books share much of the same information, Royte's book is a more personal look at garbage. She spends the year analyzing her own trash, following garbage men (and women), and visiting landfills and recycling centers and she infuses much of the book with personal antidotes. Rogers's book sticks to the facts and does a better job of clearly detailing the history of trash and the current issues. Although both books provide more information than most people will ever want to know about garbage, they are interesting and eye-opening. I can't wait to get started composting.

Invisible Women

Qanta Ahmed's memoir In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom is a fascinating account of life in Riyadh for a working woman. Ahmed is an Englishwoman and a doctor, who had been living and working in the United States. When her visa expired and was not renewed, she decided to take a job working in a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Although raised in a Muslim family, Ahmed's family was not strictly devout and because they lived in England, Ahmed had never experienced living under Islamic law. When she gets to Riyadh, the male escort that is required to get her through customs is the first of many injustices she faces as a woman in this country. One of her first tasks is to buy an abayah, which covers the whole body except for the face, feet and hands. She is required to wear this any time she is in public, including while she is working. Female patients also remain covered while in the hospital. Ahmed, used to giving her opinion, was met with hostility from her male colleagues if her opinion differed from theirs. Aside from the working conditions, Ahmed describes her experiences of everyday life in Saudi Arabia, such as taking a trip to the shopping mall and attending parties (with only women). Although most of us are probably familiar with Saudi Arabia's treatment of women by now, it is still, nevertheless, a subject that continues to astonish me. Definitely worth a read.

Start your Tivos!

PBS's Masterpiece Theater will be showing some BBC adaptations of great classic novels over the upcoming months.

Last Sunday, January 4th was Part 1 of Tess of D'Urbervilles. Part 2 will air this Sunday, January 11th. Don't worry, if you missed Part 1 you can watch it online.

January 18th and 25th will be Parts 1 and 2 of Wuthering Heights (a new adaptation!).

February 1st and 8th will be a rerun of Sense and Sensibility.

February 15th and 22nd will be Parts 1 and 2 of Oliver Twist.

March 15th and 22nd will be Parts 1 and 2 of David Copperfield.

March 29th and April 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th will be Parts 1 through 5 of Little Dorrit.

May 3rd will be The Old Curiosity Shop.

Sigh...How I love the BBC.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

Since I'm doing the read-athon this year and raising money for Room to Read, I decided that I would start out the year by reading John Wood's (the founder of Room to Read) book, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur's Odyssey to Educate the World's Children. All I can say is: Wow. What an inspiring book to start off the new year! John Wood was an executive with Microsoft, and in my opinion, on the fast track to burn out. While on a trek through Nepal he was invited to visit a local village school. Aside from the fact that the school was too small to accomodate all the children, there was a stunning lack of books in its library. Just a few book were all the library had, including a worn out copy of a Danielle Steel novel and a Lonely Planet travel guide. Not really appropriate for school children. John made a promise that he would return with books for the school and that promise turned into a life-changing event. John ended up leaving Microsoft to focus his efforts full-time on raising funds for schools and libraries throughout the developing world. What I really enjoyed about the book was John's description of what it is like to actually start a charity like this. I had no idea how difficult it is to get one up and running and maintain it. It gives you a whole new respect for people that do this. This is one of those books, like Mountains Beyond Mountains or Three Cups of Tea, that will just amaze, inspire and humble you. If you haven't read these three books, stop what you are doing and go get them right now.

The Jewel of Medina

I finally got the chance to read Sherry Jones's controversial novel The Jewel of Medina, the fictional account of Aisha, one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad. I've mentioned the controversy before, but Wikipedia has a good summary of the events surrounding the book's publication. The reviews of the book have been pretty scathing. Aside from the complaints of its historical inaccuracy, it has been called soft-core pornography, a "second-rate bodice ripper" and a version of chick lit. The reviewer from the New York Times referred to Jones as inexperienced and untalented, and the prose as lamentable. Ayaan Hirsi Ali (author of Infidel and co-creator of the documentary of Muslim women that resulted in the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh) says that the novel is too easy on Muhammad and doesn't inspire young Muslim women to imagine that there is a reality beyond subjugation.

My impressions? This is simply another mediocre historical fiction novel. As far as accuracy, I know nothing about Aisha or Muhammad or about that time period, so I have no way of judging. But that's why it's historical FICTION. I'm guessing that the number of historical fiction novels that are completely accurate is quite small. If you don't like that, then get a biography of Aisha. Accuracy is a plus in historical fiction, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. I think the novel is successful when it inspires you to get the facts; read a biography. Was that the case here? Eh. Not so much. As for the novel being a bodice-ripper and soft-core pornography, I'd say that's a bit of an exaggeration. There are some low-key sex scenes, but nothing close to a bodice-ripper. It barely made me blush. As for the lamentable prose, that is, unfortunately, right on. She refers to sex as the "sting of the scorpion's tail" and an embrace with her father as "a coffee-and-cardamom embrace." Ugh. It was a little off-putting. The description of life in Medina, the language, customs, etc. was so-so. But Aisha is an interesting character and the story was engaging and entertaining. Bottom line: entertaining but not exceptional.

Books to look forward to...Or not.

Lynne Cheney will write a biography of James Madison. The book will be published by Viking in 2011.

Veterinarian Nick Trout, author of Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon, has signed a deal to write two more books, due out in 2010 and 2011.

Augusten Burroughs's (of Running With Scissors fame) mother has decided to get in on the action with a memoir telling her side of the story. A Place To Come Home To will be based on her diaries and will recount her abusive marriage and her descent into psychosis.

Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran, has just published her second book Things I've Been Silent About, a memoir of her childhood in Iran.

Ben Mezrich, author of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, which was made into the popular movie 21 starring Kevin Spacey, will be publishing his next book in the fall of 2009. The book will be about the Harvard students who founded Facebook and Harvard's Final Clubs (I had no idea what Final Clubs were, so here's a nice little Wikipedia description). Kevin Spacey's production company will be adapting the book for film.

David Wroblewski, author of Oprah pick The Story of Edgar Sawtelle has a deal to write the prequel to Edgar Sawtelle, which will detail the history of the Sawtelle family and the history of the fictional breed of dog featured in the book. The prequel will be the second in a planned trilogy.

Laura Bush's memoir will be published by Scribner and is due out in 2010.

James Patterson apparently decided that dominating the fiction bestseller lists was not enough and recently added a nonfiction book to his corpus with Against Medical Advice. He will be publishing another nonfiction book in November titled The Murder of King Tut.

Why we suck

I've never had much interest in Denis Leary. He has always seemed loud and obnoxious, so I never paid him much attention. But I saw him on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart recently, promoting his new book Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid, and it sounded like it might be good for a few laughs. The book is quite funny. Leary takes his turn at poking fun of everything that is wrong with our society, including celebrities, reality TV, Dr. Phil, the Catholic Church, children, and the way parents are raising kids today. He warns in the preface that this book will offend everyone in some way. And he's right. Even I felt my hackles rising when he writes that women should be at home with the kids instead of focused on a career. But I also agree with much of what he says-he just says it in a much funnier manner than I ever could. My favorite chapters included Your Kids Are Not Cute, Self-Esteem This and Grande Vente Mocha Oprah Chai. It's definitely a funny read, but like he says, if you don't have a sense of humor and you can't laugh at yourself, then you are not going to like this book.