BookBrowse Free Newsletter 11/15/2012

Nov 15, 2012

Hello

Here's the latest issue of our free twice-monthly newsletter to keep you up to date with some of the new books and authors featured at BookBrowse.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers and, as always, happy reading to you all!

Davina,
BookBrowse Founder & Editor

Featured Review

Below is part of BookBrowse's review of All of Me. Read the review in full here

All of Me: How I Learned to Live with the Many Personalities Sharing My Body

by Kim Noble

Hardcover (Oct 2012), 384 pages.

Publisher: University Of Chicago Press
ISBN 9781613744703

BookBrowse Rating:

Critics' Consensus:

Review

It's difficult to fully comprehend the challenges and frustrations of living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It seems an impossible disorder to cope with - blacking out and waking up in unfamiliar places and situations, not having any memory of your different personalities' actions, people constantly blaming you for things you never said or did, having no sense of continuity - it's maddening. But what's truly scary is realizing that the brain's decision to split is actually its way of protecting a person from unbearably traumatic events - most commonly, childhood sexual abuse.

In her memoir, All of Me: How I Learned to Live with the Many Personalities Sharing My Body, Kim Noble (a name given to her at birth that she has now learned to respond to) describes, with great honesty and a bit of dramatic flair, her experiences living with DID. As a young child, Noble was often left in the care of neighbors, some of whom, she has learned with the help of her therapist, subjected her to unthinkable sexual acts. (A note to sensitive readers: these acts are not described in the book.) Her home life was unstable, and she was always getting into trouble at school for things she said she didn't do. Over time, her personalities, or "alters," started to take shape. It wasn't clear to me whether she started with one alter or if her identity had splintered into many pieces right from the beginning, but as Noble aged, each personality became more and more distinct. Readers learn about Haylee, an assertive, no-nonsense woman; Judy, who suffers from bulimia; Bonny, the responsible mother; Salome, a Catholic zealot; Sonia, who eats paper; Rebecca, who has attempted suicide; Ken, a 21-year-old gay man; Dawn, a woman who is in constant search of her baby Skye... the list goes on.

Of course, as these personalities were developing, Noble didn't know what was going on. No one did. People accused her acting out, and she gained a reputation as a liar. Then, after a series of truly horrible events, she found herself bouncing around from hospital to mental institution, solitary confinement to a girls' home, back to where she grew up. She was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, drugged to prevent psychotic episodes, and kicked out of school. Noble's descriptions are clear, though at times surface, as if she's only interested in getting so close to certain memories. But who could blame her?

Nevertheless, I found myself swimming in unanswered questions. I wasn't always sure who was narrating, or how a memory of abuse was being recalled by a personality whose existence was created to prevent that memory from surfacing. I wanted to know how a project like writing a book was even possible when different alters - many unaware of each other - would take over her body and brain multiple times each day. I felt like I was waiting for her therapist to intercede and fill me in on the details. In this way, though at times frustrating, Kim Noble effectively communicates what she experiences as a person with DID. The confusion, the lack of control, the absence of linear time, the habitual return to "It wasn't me," the tacit acceptance that her life was out of the ordinary - the reader experiences it right along with her. It isn't until the second half of the book, when Noble comes to realize that she might actually be the host to dozens of different personalities, that she starts to piece together her past. And what a relief it is!

Because she has so many lives, so many stories, I felt like more pages could have been dedicated to the understanding of her composite story. I wanted to know more about how one of her personalities uncovered a child pornography ring (and was almost killed doing so), what it's like raising her daughter Aimee, or why certain alters can accept the DID diagnosis (i.e. that they share a body) while others can't. Most of all, I was curious to learn about how art therapy (see Beyond the Book) changed the course of her life. It's fascinating that of Noble's 20 major personalities, 14 of them turned to art as a form of emotional expression, and they each have a distinct and unique artistic style.

Despite my unanswered questions, or perhaps because of them, All of Me proves itself as a fascinating, illuminating glimpse into the very complex world of Dissociative Identity Disorder. Recommended.

"The Naming" by Dawn (one of Kim's 14 personalities that paint): Dawn uses a sponge to apply the paint and often likes to add a verse or poem. In this painting there are three sections containing a poem called "It is the Time of Naming".

Reviewed by Elena Spagnolie

Above is part of BookBrowse's review of All of Me. Read the review in full here

Beyond The Book

At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to the story.

Here is a recent "Beyond the Book" feature for Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior.

The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve

The misguided migration of monarch butterflies to southern Appalachia in Flight Behavior is a fictional event, but Kingsolver grounds her theoretical occurrence in reality. As readers see through the character of Lupe, the Mexican wintering grounds of the monarch butterfly are damaged by drastic flooding and mudslides. This event is, sadly, entirely true.

In February 2010 the town of Angangueo, Mexico was devastated with floods and landslides. The damage caused the local economy to rely even more heavily on its butterfly-related tourism due to the extensive damage to the town's infrastructure, crop productions, and ability to farm cattle. Angangueo is located in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Biosphere Reserve is famous for the millions of monarchs who winter here every fall, but the species is very susceptible to environmental shifts and climate change, and in March 2012 the World Wildlife Fund estimated that that the number of monarch butterflies wintering in the reserve had dropped by nearly a third since 2011. Possible reasons include deforestation, logging, landslides, and the environmental impact of tourism.

Sustainable tourism or "ecotourism" is a key factor to the survival of the monarch butterflies' habitat. As Kingsolver shows in Flight Behavior, many people come to care greatly about ecology when they are confronted directly with environmental concerns. The more people who travel to Mexico to be awed by the natural beauty of the butterfly colonies, the more likely they are to care about maintaining a healthy planet for species like the monarch.

To learn more about the monarch's migration journey, click the link belowto view a video, from the New York Times, below:

By Elizabeth Whitmore Funk

Above is part of BookBrowse's review of Flight Behavior. Read the review and backstory in full here

National Book Awards

First awarded in 1950, the National Book Awards recognize the best of American literature. The winners of the 2012 Awards were announced on Wednesday Nov 14 in New York:

National Book Award for Fiction:

The Round House

by Louise Erdrich

National Book Award for Nonfiction:

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

by Katherine Boo

National Book Award for Poetry:

Bewilderment

by David Ferry

National Book Award for Young People's Literature:

Goblin Secrets

by William Alexander

Blog:

Big on Books in Boston by Poornima Apte

We might not see each other very often during the year but my friend Barbara and I always make it a point to go in to the Boston Book Festival together. Our kids are in the same grade in high school and Barbara and I share a love of books so the train ride in and back is a chance for us to reconnect, complain about the kids, and talk books. This year, Hurricane Sandy was a blot on the horizon but the day of the festival was a crisp fall day in Boston.

Lizz Winstead The majestic Trinity Church in Boston seemed like an incongruous setting for comedians discussing satire but the beautiful setting hosted a panel who had to watch their language to much laughter from the audience. Two of the three panelists had associations with The Daily Show: Lizz Winstead, the co-creator of the show, had the audience in stitches with riffs about her Minnesota childhood, growing up one of five kids in a Catholic family. Promoting her book, Lizz Free or Die, she recounted rebelling against established norms about what girlhood should look like. "I just didn't get convention," Lizz said. When she got a doll which she was supposed to "feed" with a bottle, she was appalled that she then had to change its diaper. One day, for fun, she tried feeding the baby from the same side that leaked. Net effect? The baby threw up and Mom was horrified. Mom, Lizz said, was "Minnesota nice." "I love your hair," her mom would say to her, "it makes you look less muscular."

At a big-name event in Minnesota, Lizz was part of a panel whose other guests were Desmond Tutu, Hillary Clinton and Jonathan Alter. Mom called Lizz and complained, "Lizz, you're the only guest I have never heard of!" Lizz recounted the singular event that turned her on to news satire. She was on a date with a sports maniac and after dinner, the two went to a bar and watched the first Iraq war unfold on television. Her date noticed the coverage and said, "This is so awesome." He was fascinated and impressed. Lizz, not so much! She thought to herself, "Are they reporting on a war or selling me the war?" That event, she says, made her look at news in a new light, and formed some of the basis for the award-winning show. Continued

Win

Buddy by Brian McGrory

Publication Date: Nov 2012

Enter the Giveaway

From the Jacket

Award-winning journalist Brian McGrory goes head to beak in a battle royale with another male for a top-spot in his home, vying for dominance with the family's pet rooster.

Brian McGrory's life changed drastically after the death of his beloved dog, Harry: he fell in love with Pam, Harry's veterinarian. Though Brian's only responsibility used to be his adored Harry, Pam came with accessories that could not have been more exotic to the city-loving bachelor: a home in suburbia, two young daughters, two dogs, two cats, two rabbits, and a portly, snow white, red-crowned-and-wattled step-rooster named Buddy. While Buddy loves the women of the house, he takes Brian's presence as an affront, doing everything he can to drive out his rival. Initially resistant to elements of his new life and to the loud, aggressive rooster (who stares menacingly, pecks threateningly, and is constantly poised to attack), Brian eventually sees that Buddy shares the kind of extraordinary relationship with Pam and her two girls that he wants for himself. The rooster is what Brian needs to be - strong and content, devoted to what he has rather than what might be missing. As he learns how to live by living with animals, Buddy, Brian's nemesis, becomes Buddy, Brian's inspiration, in this inherently human story of love, acceptance, and change.

In the tradition of bestsellers like Marley and Me, Dewey, and The Tender Bar comes a heartwarming and wise tale of finding love in life's second chapter - and how it means all the more when you have to fight for it.

Reviews

"A moving and funny account of one man's journey from bachelor to husband and father aided by remarkable pets." - Publishers Weekly

"The ancient Greeks believed that even lions feared the brave rooster. The Talmud praises his manly virtues, and the sacred book of Hadith claims roosters can see angels. Now we hear from Brian McGrory on the subject, and I think his report is the most fun of all. In this delightful book, he tells us how a rooster helped him create a family blended from five species and two divorces. At turns hilarious and heart-breaking, Buddy is a book to crow about." - Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig and Birdology

5 people will each win a copy of Buddy.

This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only, unless you are a BookBrowse member, in which case you are eligible to win wherever you might live.

Enter the giveaway here

Past Winners

Contents