Book 27: Bossypants by Tina Fey

 I listened to this book, and I have to say...when "reading" a memoir, try to listen to it if it's read by the author.  It makes the book so much more...awesome.  I've listened to Frank McCourt read Angela's Ashes, Augusten Burroughs read Running with Scissors...  It just makes the whole thing seem more real and interesting.

This book was soooo good.  Sometimes comedians fill their books with one-liners that are just missing the bumdum ching! at the end, but not this book.  This book is the story of Tina Fey, from childhood to present day.  She talks about being a gawky teenager in love with her gay co-workers at a summer theater camp in a way that makes her so accessible.  I really feel like we're the same person only she got a part in the high school play while I was cut and continued on my nerd-path with National Honor Society and French Club. 

I would highly recommend reading (but really listening) to this book.  I'm not sure if you have to be a fan on comedy and SNL, but I'm sure it helps.  Tina Fey is who I want to be when I grow up...

Book 26: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

I "read" (listened) to this book on my way to and from St. Louis this week.  I needed something to listen to in the car and I saw this classic that I had not read before.  For those of you, like me, who recognize the title as a classic but know nothing of the story, this is the story of a WWII vet.  But this is not a normal memoir of war.  This vet (Billy) believes that he has been kidnapped by aliens and now has the ability to time-jump from moment to moment in his life.  And so his story is told in fits and starts as he jumps from war to adolescence to an alien zoo to death to birth to his honeymoon...and so on...

I don't know about this book.  It was interesting but I'm not really sure what makes it a classic.  Is it because it was one of the first anti-war books after WWII?  Is it because of the structures?  The vocabulary?  I guess it's short enough that it was worth the read, but I probably won't be recommending it two years from now (unlike Life of Pi...read it!)

Book 25: Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder

My sister insisted I read this book when I told her that I had been reading a lot of narrative non-fiction.  I'm not sure if that is even a real category of writing, but I think it describes it pretty well... 

This is a book about Haiti and about the American doctor who believes it is his job to ease the suffering of their poor.  I don't know if I'm really summarizing Dr. Paul Farmer's beliefs that well, but it takes him the entire book to fully explain his point of view.  Suffice it to say that Dr. Farmer spends almost every waking minute treating patients, corresponding with others in order to help them treat or understand patients in other poverty-stricken parts of the world, fundraising, travelling to speaking engagements (again, to educate others on how to do what he is doing), travelling to other countries to treat patients, or writing books.  This is a man with a well-defined purpose in his life, and that is to do everything in his power (and some things outside his power) to improve the health of the poor. 

This book is very interesting and inspiring.  I recommend that you read it and then give some money to his foundation, Partners in Health.

Book 24: Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

I had been wanting to read this book for quite some time.  When it came out, I kept reading about how great it was AND it is a non-fiction story of Hurricane Katrina.  For those of you who don't know, my mom, step-dad, and sister were all in New Orleans before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina.  They were lucky to "escape" a couple of days after it hit because a random stranger offered to take them in his car to Houston. 

This is a really great and horrifying story of what happened to New Orleans resident Mr. Zeitoun during all this mess.  Mr. Zeitoun is an Arab-American who owned a painting and home repair business and also owned several rental properties.  As Hurricane Katrina approached, Zeitoun's wife and children evacuated while Zeitoun stayed around to keep an eye on their properties.  Zeitoun used an old canoe to travel around the flooded city and experienced New Orleans as the city was under martial law.

I knew that the story was going to be horrifying, but I didn't know exactly why it would be so disgusting.  I was under the impression that Eggers (and Zeitoun) would describe death and rape and so on...but that doesn't really happen.  I don't want to say why this story is sickening because I want you to read it and discover his story on your own.