A year in the blink of an eye..

I completely missed my blog's 1st birthday...it was back on the 6th of this month..and tomorrow marks one year to the day that I started the job!

Quick review: Burned Alive - Souad

Lent to me by Evil Vampire Penguin, Burned Alive isn't the usual type of book that I read. I wouldn't have picked it up in a bookstore, it wouldn't have jumped out at me. That said, I will read anything, and since Sarah and myself generally like the same things, I gave it a look.

It's not a new book, you may have heard of it, or read it. But for those of you that haven't, Burned Alive tells the true story of a girl, who calls herself Souad. She was able to write it because of repressed memory therapy, and so the story can seem sketchy and vague at times.

Souad, at the age of seventeen, commits the worst crime imaginable to her strict Palestinian family. She falls in love with her neighbour, loses her virginity out of wedlock, and falls pregnant. Betrayed by her beloved, she tries to hide her pregnancy for as long as she can, but, inevitably, she is found out.
With her family deeply shamed, they decide that to get their honour back, Souad must be killed. What follows is absolutely horrific. She is doused in petrol, and set alight.
She is rescued by some women in her community, and left in hospital. She recieves no care from the medical staff, and is treated with scorn and distaste. However, luckily for Souad, an aid worker takes on her case, and, eventually, manages to get Souad and her young baby out of the country, and into a hospital in Switzerland. From there, she begins to get her life back on track.

I'm not going to go into more detail, in case anyone reading this post decides to try the book. I will just say that it ends on a happy note, with Souad getting the better life that so many of the women from The West Bank deserve, but don't recieve.

Sometimes hard to believe, sometimes sad, always shocking, this is a book I'm glad to have read. It has opened my eyes wide to the suffering of women still treated lower than second class citizens.

(No rating for this book, I feel it would be slightly crude to rate a story like this..)

What a load of aul..

*** Warning - contains strong language and badly expressed opinions***

Swearing.

It's not big.
It's not clever.
It's not appropriate.
But we're all guilty of it.

This post is prompted by a group discussion about the 'c' word (I'm aware that some people are sensitive about that particular word, so I won't type it in full...we all know what it is.) It started simply with the question 'Does it offend you'? and the responses were varied and quite interesting. Very few people said that they weren't offended by it, some said that they were, but weren't quite sure why, and the rest insisted that they were indeed offended by it.

Swear words are funny old things though, aren't they? Where did they come from? Like...who thought up the word 'fuck' and decided that it would be an offensive word, a vulgar term that would be used to insult someone? And for all the other swear words that you know, the same applies. Who gave these simple words that power?

Some argue that it's not the words themselves that can be offensive, but the intent. That 'fuck you!' said with malice behind it is far more offensive than the same words said in a jesting, or apathetic way.
Others say that the words themselves are the problem, and are just unncessary, not to be used.
I tend to agree with the former. Swear words, to me, are just like any other. The person saying them is the one who puts the meaning behind them. The words alone are nothing.

One thing noticeable about swearing is that it's a lot less taboo than it once was. In my opinion, anyway. It's frowned upon, certainly, but it is accepted, however uncomfortably, by today's society. It's not shocking to hear someone use 'fuck' or 'shit' or 'bollix' in their everyday conversations. Which, in one way, is a good thing. It lessens the offending power of the words. I do, however, shudder everytime I hear a child of any age telling someone to 'piss off' or 'get the fuck away from me, ye bastard!'. The downsides of a society open to swearing, I suppose..

Before I wrap up this already rambly post, I'd like to go back to the 'c' word. I want to know just why so many people find it offensive. Of those asked, they stated it's because it's a derogatory term for female genitals. Fair enough, this is true.

But...what about words like 'dick(head)', 'prick', 'bollix', 'knob'...all swear words, all insults. All derogatory terms for men's bits. And yet there's nowhere near as much stigma surrounding those words. Should men get all uppity and offended whenever one of those words are used now?

And then, there's arsehole...

(see Lette's Blog for her take on swearing)

..can you keep it?

Song of the week

Loving this - 'Mama Do' by Pixie Lott! Enjoy..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNHRUOF0j-8

(Edited to delete video - was stretching out the page)

Quick review: Handle With Care - Jodi Picoult

The name 'Jodi Picoult' always jumps out at me in bookstores. It genuinly excites me when she releases a new book. Although some of her books are, admittedly, a bit similar, and repetitive, every so often she'll bring out a novel that blows me away. 'My Sister's Keeper' was one. 'Nineteen Minutes' is another.

Her latest book, 'Handle With Care', in my opinion, follows the above in the list. And now I'm going to attempt to do a quick review of it.

Willow O'Keefe is the same as any other six year old girl. She loves her family, loves playing, and loves life. Unlike any other six year old girl however, she suffers from a severe case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bone disease). She risks breaking bones from doing as little as sneezing, or rolling over in bed.
Her parents, Charlotte and Sean are paying money hand over fist for everything she needs to help her in everyday tasks, and it's putting a strain on their marriage. Willow's sister Amelia feels invisible, and is compelled to do things that make her be seen.

Financial relief is offered in the form of a lawsuit. (This is what Picoult does best after all.) All Charlotte has to do is file a wrongful birth case against the doctor she was seeing during her pregnancy. The doctor, however, also happens to be her best friend. She has to lie to her daughter, and tell the world that, given the option at the time, she would have had an abortion.

Picoult really is at her best here, asking the difficult questions...could you make someone that you love believe that you wish they'd never been born, if it made their life better in the long run? How far exactly would you be willing to go just for the payout? Could you betray a best friend? Lie to your children? Risk losing your spouse?

Completely absorbing, with a completely unexpected twist to the tale, I would without a doubt encourage you to read this book...if you're a fan of Picoult's already, then you're sure to love it, and if you haven't read anything by her before, then it's a great way to start! 4 stars!

Random Picture Day #1

Myself and Evil Vampire Penguin roaming around town and Dundrum armed with the camera results in this...