Week 8 Assignment 1 and 2-Done AF

Week 8 Assignment 3

The four areas I will focus on for this assignment are:  Memoirs, History, Science/Math and Travel.  I enjoy reading narrative nonfiction as well as fiction so this is one of the easier assignments for me to complete. 

Memoirs are located in several Dewey sections, they are grouped with the genre the author writes about-Biography Solo:  A memoir of Hope by Hope Solo by Hope Solo

Geography and History-900's  Don't Sleep, There are Snakes:  Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle 918.11E by Daniel Everett

Science and Math-400-600's  Stiff:  The Curious Lives of  Human Cadavers by Mary Roach 611R

Travel-900's A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle 944.9

Week 8/Assignment 4/Part I  Stiff:  The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Book Talk

Would you enjoy reading about what happens to your body after death?  (I feel like Lemony Snickett at this point-well then just put this book down and read no further.....) If so, then this is the book for you.  Mary Roach delivers an informative and witty nonfiction read with Stiff.  Having worked the first half of my career in the medical field as a nurse, this is a true account of what happens to the flesh and blood when the body dies and decays.  She has ultimate respect of the human body and conveys this respect in her writing.  I could not put this book down once I started it and there were pages upon pages where I was literally brought to tears.  I laughed so hard, I cried.  I know this sounds rather morbid, but I tell you, she is a master of her craft. 

I would love to be a fly on the wall when cadavers are put to the guillotine test or transported to space on the shuttle.  How about the human cadaver "sniff testing"-yes, there is a research lab that tests the decay rate of human tissue in specific environments.  Those who read about serial killers or like the CSI stuff are in for a real treat with Roach's book. Sometimes gruesome and creepy, Roach knows how to appeal to our curiosities about death in this most candid novel. 

Did I mention "plasticizing" a human body....well, read on...

Week 8/Assignment 4/Part II  Solo:  A memoir of Hope Solo

Book Talk

This book was recommended to me by my 14 yo daughter.  She is very interested in soccer and Hope Solo is a controversial figure in the world of Women's National Soccer.  Her memoir hints at a very determined young woman who will allow nothing to stand in her way as she ascends to the top of her game. Sometimes you don't know whether to feel pangs of sorrow for her or to curse her for a complete lack of sportsmanship and comraderie amongst her fellow players.  She most definitely had a difficult upbringing and it is apparent her "edginess" was, at least in part, due to issues with her mother and father. 

I would most definitely recommend this to anyone interested in women's soccer because it gives a birds-eye view of the game, the good, the bad and the ugly.  I can see female soccer enthusiasts or other female athletes enjoying this read.  I think it touches on hopes and disappointments inherent with any professional sports league.  It seems to target the teen-twenty-something age group.