Book Update Number 4
Jan. 12th, 2006 10:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melwilBook 5: Rival Gymnast by Sheila Haigh
"Now it was Anda's turn. Swift and sure she ran, her mouth set in a determined line, in one second remembering every detail. Pointed toes, Straight legs. Perfect landing. Not quite flawless. But her second vault was. Perfect.
One of my guilty reading pleasures are children's books about ballet or gymnastics. Gymnastics books are a strange breed of their own, filled with spunky Nadia-like children, all spinning, vaulting and twisting around the place.
Rival Gymnast is the third book about Anda, a young English gymnast who is training for a number of competitions. I've read the first book, but haven't got the second - which really isn't an issue in a book like this. The plot is pretty thin - a new girl (who looks like Anda) joins the gymnastic club. She's surly and mean (and bitchy), but a brilliant gymnast who's disliked by all the other girls. Turns out her parents have been through a bad break up and she never wanted to move.
There's a number of stereotypes in here. The tough coach who occasionally crosses the line, the slightly older girl who's not improving anymore and may be over-the-hill. The parents who don't understand that gymnastics means everything to their daughter. There's really nothing new in the story, and it's poorer for it.
If you're interested in a gymnastics book, I'd probably avoid this and go for one of the others out there.
Rating: 2.5
Book 6: Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose
'The rabbits were actually green,' Spiegel reported. 'The dinoseb had turned the skin and the coats of the rabbits that lived around the site a green colour. If it was turning the rabbits green, what was it doing to the children?'
This is the second Ivins and Dubose book I've read, after devouring Shrub early in Bush's presidency. This book examines real people and how their lives have been affected by policy decisions made in the United States. In particular Ivins and Dubose examine George W. Bush and the people who work for him, and the decisions they have made.
Ivins and Dubose cover a wide range of areas, from campaign financing to education, the environment to food regulation. The people they talk to tend to be interesting and compelling, some of them with very sad stories. They range from the poor in the east who can't afford heating costs, to ranchers whose land is being destroyed by methane mining.
I knew some of the issues before reading the book - particularly issues related to the No Child Left Behind policy. But other issues shocked me - especially the regulations over food processing (which made me feel physically ill) and some of the judges being appointed by Bush and his people. Despite the name of the book, the probalems do not all stem from Bush, but rather from a culture of influence from big business and their big campaign donations.
The book is well written and mostly easy to read (although the finance stuff bogs you down a bit). It's funny, and interesting, and pretty shocking. There are no sources quoted during the book, but there is a long list at the back. There's always the worry with political books of how much bias is going into it, and how many errors are slipping through (Missing Australia on a list of supporters for action in Afghanistan was annoying). From time to time I worried that I wasn't getting the full story, and I'd like to do some follow up reading. The foreign policy section was a little short - but then the focus was on living in America. Overall, it was a good and compelling read.
Rating: A 4
BuzzFlash Interview with Molly Ivins
Book reporter review
"Now it was Anda's turn. Swift and sure she ran, her mouth set in a determined line, in one second remembering every detail. Pointed toes, Straight legs. Perfect landing. Not quite flawless. But her second vault was. Perfect.
One of my guilty reading pleasures are children's books about ballet or gymnastics. Gymnastics books are a strange breed of their own, filled with spunky Nadia-like children, all spinning, vaulting and twisting around the place.
Rival Gymnast is the third book about Anda, a young English gymnast who is training for a number of competitions. I've read the first book, but haven't got the second - which really isn't an issue in a book like this. The plot is pretty thin - a new girl (who looks like Anda) joins the gymnastic club. She's surly and mean (and bitchy), but a brilliant gymnast who's disliked by all the other girls. Turns out her parents have been through a bad break up and she never wanted to move.
There's a number of stereotypes in here. The tough coach who occasionally crosses the line, the slightly older girl who's not improving anymore and may be over-the-hill. The parents who don't understand that gymnastics means everything to their daughter. There's really nothing new in the story, and it's poorer for it.
If you're interested in a gymnastics book, I'd probably avoid this and go for one of the others out there.
Rating: 2.5
Book 6: Bushwacked: Life in George W. Bush's America by Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose
'The rabbits were actually green,' Spiegel reported. 'The dinoseb had turned the skin and the coats of the rabbits that lived around the site a green colour. If it was turning the rabbits green, what was it doing to the children?'
This is the second Ivins and Dubose book I've read, after devouring Shrub early in Bush's presidency. This book examines real people and how their lives have been affected by policy decisions made in the United States. In particular Ivins and Dubose examine George W. Bush and the people who work for him, and the decisions they have made.
Ivins and Dubose cover a wide range of areas, from campaign financing to education, the environment to food regulation. The people they talk to tend to be interesting and compelling, some of them with very sad stories. They range from the poor in the east who can't afford heating costs, to ranchers whose land is being destroyed by methane mining.
I knew some of the issues before reading the book - particularly issues related to the No Child Left Behind policy. But other issues shocked me - especially the regulations over food processing (which made me feel physically ill) and some of the judges being appointed by Bush and his people. Despite the name of the book, the probalems do not all stem from Bush, but rather from a culture of influence from big business and their big campaign donations.
The book is well written and mostly easy to read (although the finance stuff bogs you down a bit). It's funny, and interesting, and pretty shocking. There are no sources quoted during the book, but there is a long list at the back. There's always the worry with political books of how much bias is going into it, and how many errors are slipping through (Missing Australia on a list of supporters for action in Afghanistan was annoying). From time to time I worried that I wasn't getting the full story, and I'd like to do some follow up reading. The foreign policy section was a little short - but then the focus was on living in America. Overall, it was a good and compelling read.
Rating: A 4
BuzzFlash Interview with Molly Ivins
Book reporter review
