Reading Undeterred

The Outcast by Sadie Jones (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:34:00 +0000

Finished: October 24, 2009

(Fiction - PR6110.O638 O87; 823/.92 - dc 22)

For Lewis Aldridge, the main protagonist in The Outcast, life was pretty normal until he was ten years old. Since his unsuccessful attempt to rescue his mother on a fateful summer day and then watching her drown in the river near their home, Lewis has lived a painful existence. Lewis the child and later Lewis the man can't seem to get it right when it comes to living.

The novel is divided into three parts and a prologue. Near London in 1957, we learn that Lewis has just been released from prison. The story begins when Lewis is just a child leading a typical life with his mother. Soon his father returns from war, changing the dynamic of the family. As mother, father and son settle into their new lives together, things begin to be more normal until his mother dies. Then, less than a year later, his father remarries a young woman.

No one knows quite how to interact with Lewis. This great tragedy in his life makes him feel unapproachable, and Lewis doesn't know what to think anymore. His distant father isn't helpful, his inexperienced step-mother quickly becomes exasperated, and his friends find him strange. He's not normal, and he knows it. His pain becomes more and more unbearable, and he begins to cut himself to relieve the tension. He begins to run away to London occasionally where he meets a woman at a jazz club who introduces Lewis to manhood. One day after a violent interaction with a neighborhood boy, he decides to do something more by burning down the church.

He gets out of prison two years later to find that not much has changed since he left, including how others relate to him. He has such hope that things will be better now and that he can regain the trust of others. It is devastating to him that his father is still cold and his step-mother is still bewildered. He reconnects with some old friends, but the relationships are awkward and tenuous.

Lewis' final lesson to learn is that everyone else's life is not as idyllic as it seems. There is plenty of pain to go around for everyone. He finds help and release from unexpected places. He finds betrayal and conspiracy. But he also finds tenderness and love.

I gravitate toward debut novels, and this one was excellent and replete with strong symbolism and messages about human nature, loss, love, and the damage of misunderstandings. The story weighs you down while simultaneously lifting you up. I felt love for Lewis but was a little afraid of him as well. Jones brings the reader into the fray, making you feel that you are with the characters, witnessing and feeling with them.

Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides Are Wrong in the Race Debate by Kenan Malik (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:13:00 +0000

Finished: October 13, 2009

(Nonfiction – HT1512 .M2575; 305.8 – dc 22)

Once in a while I come across a book that makes me pause and rethink an entire concept. Last year that book was When Sex Goes to School and since reading it I have a much more open opinion and understanding perception of the liberal/conservative debate about sex education that extends to life in general. This time it was Strange Fruit by Kenan Malik. The more I read, the more fascinated I became. Race, although real, is more of a concept than a scientific fact. What this means for science and politics runs deep.

What is race? Is it genetic? Is it cultural? Is it biological? Is it just a figment of our imaginations? Malik delves into all of these subjects with a great amount of research into each. The first two chapters deal with race on a genetic level. Chapters three through seven examine race historically. The last three chapters discuss contemporary views of race.

First, Malik shows that race is not a product of genes or biology. While you can “kind-of” put people into groups of races based on genetics and biology, it is really a messy way to divide up populations. Nor are races composed strictly of geographic origins. To use race in a scientific sense means that we have to use mutable, social definitions of identity, not something that scientists particularly espouse.

Historically, the concept of race is rather new. While people have always recognized the variations in skin color, it was not until the Enlightenment and the rise of rationalism that humans were divided into “races.” Empiricism and measurement created the concept of racial types, although there was much debate about how many races there were and the attributes of each. Scientific categorization created racial categories, however unfixed and mutable.

Now, there were two camps in the Enlightenment. The first were radical philosophes that viewed all of humanity as equal and saw little need for racial categorization. The more mainstream Enlightenment thinkers focused on toleration and acceptance of race because all humans are equal. Malik ends chapter four stating, “The debate about race ... is not so much about the facts of human diversity as about how we should understand such facts. Enlightenment views on human nature shapes the philosophes’ ideas about human variety and made them reluctant to interpret such variety in racial terms.”

With the nineteenth century, Romanticism came about as a reaction to the Enlightenment. The Romantics were of the idea that humans have an innate, unchanging inner essence that bound communities together. Although each human group was technically equal, the more widespread use of racial and ethnic categories had the effect of creating rank. Interestingly, and counter to what the Enlightenment thinkers had hoped, science and reason in this climate were viewed as the cause of humanity’s problems rather than the solution. “Against this background, many have come to accept that the roots of racial science lie within the scientific method itself.”

What came next was the rise of a cultural view of the world based on the racial view before it. “Romanticism was born in the late eighteenth century, partly out of the fear of the radical change and instability unleashed by the Enlightenment, and in particular by the French Revolution, and partly also out of the desire for the safe anchor of ancient traditions and established authority. In the late twentieth century, it was the fading of the possibilities of social transformation that led many radicals, albeit unwittingly, back to a Romantic view of the world.” Presently, we have taken the idea of culture and added race into it. Now we have diversity and multiculturalism. In order to preserve one’s culture, is the prevention of others from entering your culture justified? How do you know where one culture ends and another begins?

In eastern Washington, not far from where I currently reside, an ancient skeleton was found in a river bed. He was named Kennewick Man. Based on preliminary examinations, he appeared to be of European descent, but after carbon-dating he was found to be over 9000 years old. Both Native American tribes and scientists claimed the skeleton and a battle ensued that continues to this day. Native Americans believe they have a right to the skeleton because he came from their culture based on his geographic location. Scientists believe they have a right to the skeleton because of the scientific knowledge that can be gained. They each claimed him as part of their culture. Today’s views of culture and the importance of culture for social cohesion “lie at the heart of the modern pluralist view of culture and knowledge and, by creating a fixation with identity, have helped resurrect ideas of racial difference in a new form.” It is now not uncommon to treat people differently because of their race and/or culture.

Kenan Malik writes heavily and holds no punches. His level of understanding is deep and his method of conveying ideas is profound. He writes systematically and comprehensively. His level of intelligence on the topic is palatable, yet he writes so the reader will understand. His final thoughts are touching, and I couldn’t agree more. I hope for a time when universal humanism reigns, and individuals are seen as more than just an embodiment of racial concepts, when we can view our identities more broadly. Our identities, cultures, races and genders should not have the effect of pigeon-holing us; they should break down barriers that harbor and sustain stereotypes. If our current views of race, culture and difference are too rigid, the opposite of what we had hoped for may happen. I quote Malik at length:

Historically, antiracists challenged both the practice of racism and the process of racialisation; that is, both the practice of discriminating against people by virtue of their race and the insistence that an individual can be defined by the race to which he or she belongs. They did not ignore racism but they recognised that fighting racism meant treating everybody equally despite their differences, not differently because of them. This was the essence of universalism.

Today’s antiracists continually confuse the edict ‘You can’t fight racism if you ignore racial divisions’ with the demand ‘You can only fight racism by celebrating racial identity’. As the rise of the politics of difference has turned the assertion of group identity into a progressive demand, so racialisation is no longer viewed as a purely negative phenomenon. The consequence has been the resurrection of racial ideas and the imprisonment of people within their cultural identities. Challenging the politics of difference has become as important today as challenging racism. This does not mean ignoring the reality of race but seeking rather to transcend the politics of difference, whether promoted by racists or antiracists.

The concept of race is irrational. The practice of antiracism has become so. We need to challenge both,in the name of humanism and of reason.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:49:00 +0000

Finished: October 7, 2009

(Fiction - PS3569.T3655 A88; 813/.54 – dc 22)

This year’s Spokane Is Reading book was an excellent community-wide reading pick. It was short, thoughtful, poignant, heart-felt, and carried a deep, multi-layered message in simple language. Stein doesn’t get mucked down in the details yet all of the necessary elements of setting that a story-driven reader craves were there.

Before I began reading the book, I knew that it was narrated by a dog, Enzo, whose owner is Denny, a race car driver. That led me to the conclusion that the dog would likely die. I was right. But it’s not about the dog’s death, although death is a strong theme throughout. When we meet Enzo, he is contemplated his next life when he will be reincarnated as a human. He is old and knows that his work in this life is finished. He has done all he needed to do for those he loves. He has learned the art of racing in the rain, a metaphor for the best way to live your life.

Fairly soon we learn that Denny’s wife, Eve, has brain cancer. Enzo knows before everyone else because he can smell it. Because he is a dog, he doesn’t have a way to let anyone know, though. There are so many things Enzo wishes he could relate to his loved ones, but all he has are gestures. Although much can be, so much cannot be said in gestures. After Eve’s death, a custody battle ensues over Zoe, Eve and Denny’s daughter, between Denny and Eve’s parents. It gets uglier still when a teenage cousin of Eve’s accuses Denny of rape. This lie only adds fuel to the in-law’s fire, and Denny is on verge of losing his daughter and everything else as well.

While Enzo doesn’t know exactly what was said during the court hearings, he has watched a lot of television. He is able to recap what he thinks happened based on things that Denny says and his favorite courtroom dramas. While he can’t go to court, Enzo is privy to many conversations. Because he is a dog, no one notices how much he picks up about what is going on. Nor do they think to hide anything from him. He is our entry into the story and the cast of strong characters and their inner workings. While he can’t tell us everything, what he gives more than makes up for the pieces he must leave out.

Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love by Thomas Maier (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Finished: September 29, 2009

(Nonfiction - HQ18.3 .M35; 306.7092/273 - dc 22)

Sometimes in life, two people will find each other and together make history. While each one may be remarkable on their own, together they are extraordinary. Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson were two such people. When they got together, they did more than improve themselves and each other - they gave something to the rest of us too. When I first saw this book, I was surprised at myself for not having heard of them before. These two did more for sex research than anyone up to that time. They not only researched it, they practically invented it and paved the way for the future.

Bill Masters was a world-renown fertility doctor when he enlisted Virginia Johnson to assist him with his longtime dream - to research sexuality. She began as a secretary but quickly became his research partner. As one can imagine, this was an uneasy transition for someone who didn't even have a bachelor's degree, but her own confidence and her confidence in Masters helped her succeed. Eventually, their work proved their worth to the medical community. Of course, it helped that they began on the verge of the sexual revolution in a society increasingly open to matters of sexuality. He gave her the credentials, and she gave him the human touch and feminine perspective.

As people, these two were not always understood. They were walking contradictions. Amazingly, after years of working together and allegedly having intercourse, Bill Masters left his wife and married Virginia Johnson. This was probably the downfall of their relationship. In addition, they failed to see how they fit into the future of sex research and lost countless opportunities to play a larger role in the professionalization of the field. While those they worked with were sage advisors, they neglected to see the big picture.

As a testament to the personality of Masters, he basically woke up one day and wanted a divorce. As it turns out, he was reunited with a sweetheart from his youth and, he claims, his one true love. Despite her surprise, Johnson was not one to dwell. In fact, she had been considering divorcing Bill for some time. I think what stung her most was that he beat her to the punch.

Despite all of this, they continued to work together. However, Bill's failing health made this more and more difficult, and without Bill, Virginia lost her clout. The Masters and Johnson brand was amazing while it lasted. Some were appalled and decried that some of their research was unethical. In the long run, though, they were able to vastly augment the knowledge of sexual intimacy regardless of their methods. It's just a shame that they were unable to do the same for emotional intimacy.

Maier is a superb biographer. He tells a human story rather than a story about humans. This was a pleasure to read - insightful, well-researched, approachable, and gripping.

The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:05:00 +0000

Finished: September 27, 2009

(Fiction - PS3555.B4824 A615; 813/.54 - dc 22)

As much as I dislike beginning a review with my take on the ending, that is where I find myself. The irony is that although I did find the ending anti-climatic, it in no way tainted my praise of the novel. In fact, I prefer endings that ring with a dull thud over a symphonic overture. I tend toward ambivalent endings. This book brought that ambivalence as well as a concrete yet superficial-feeling resolution.

Actually, there were two endings. Written as a story within a story, one ending was a mystery solved and the other was a mystery never to be solved. The first story concerns Jordon Scott, a gay ex-Mormon from a remote Utah sect called the Firsts. The Firsts claim to fame is their adherence to polygamy in spite of the Church's official stance of banning the practice. As a teen, Jordon was abandoned by his mother. The reunion of mother and son after many years is at a prison where his mother is being held, accused of murdering her husband. She was his 19th wife.

The second story also tells of a 19th wife. This one concerns Ann Eliza, 19th wife of Brigham Young. She became a powerful agent in ending the practice of polygamy within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and criminalizing it in the rest of the country. Blackmailed into marrying the Church's prophet then basically ignored and neglected by him, Ann Eliza begins to doubt the central tenets of the Church. Eventually she leaves the Church, begins a lecturing tour, and pens an autobiography. Her book, along with other documents depicting life in early Church history, is interspersed with the story of Jordon Scott.

I love the story within a story idea, and Ebershoff pulls it off nicely. However, the Jordon Scott story often took a backseat much of the time to the Ann Eliza story. Her story and the supporting documents were used in a compelling way. It was much more of a well-researched historical novel than a present-day murder mystery. The Ann Eliza story and the Jordon Scott story filled in gaps for each other, making each one more compelling than if told individually. I appreciated this writing technique; Jordon provides the sparse prose with blunt dialogue, while Ann Eliza provides the deeper emotions of being one of many wives and the toll it took on the many children involved.

Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic by John de Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor (2001)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:33:00 +0000

Finished: September 16, 2009

(Nonfiction - HN60 .D396; 306/.0973 - dc 21)

It's good to know that I'm doing at least some things right, though I know I could do more. Reading this book only reaffirmed my beliefs about the state of over-consumption in America and increasingly, in the world. Written tongue-in-cheek as an exposé of the disease of affluenza, the authors discuss the disorder's symptoms, causes, and treatments.

I always seem to read these types of books after the predictions have come true. For example, take the credit crash of fall 2008. For anyone in government or business who said the state of credit in America was fine and were surprised by the catastrophe, this book is but one exhibit in a litany of books, articles, and documentaries that surmised a crash would be the inevitable conclusion. It makes me wonder what the authors of Affluenza would have written had they had the chance to see what happened under the Bush administration. I imagine it would have gone from concerned and distressed to appalled and disgusted.

For me the highlight was part two: causes of affluenza. It was wonderful to hear Marx again and incongruous that as a society we still fail to heed his advice. Again and again throughout history we are shown the errors of our ways yet still make the same mistakes. And now with the rest of the world watching and imitating us, we're taking everyone down the primrose path. Hopefully this time, we will have learned some lessons. It's not just the economy that is at stake if we don't - it's our environment, our health, our families, and our self-worth.

A Mercy by Toni Morrison (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:51:00 +0000

Finished: September 7, 2009

(Fiction - PS3563.O8749 M47; 813/.54 – dc 22)

This novel begins with a slave girl, Florens, travelling on foot through the forest in search of the blacksmith, a man both foreign to her and entrancing because he is a black but has never been enslaved. Her mistress is ill, and she is calling on him to heal her. The story quickly expands to include other characters, each one allowed a voice and the time to be heard regardless of the book’s small size. Morrison is terse and epigrammatical; I think I got as much from what was left out as from what was included.

As the characters are introduced, the story unfolds. It is the 1690s in America, and Jacob Vaark reluctantly agreed to take Florens as a partial payment from a debtor. Back at home, Jacob already has a full plate. His wife, Rebekka, has recently lost her only surviving child. Lina, a Native American woman whose tribe was annihilated by small pox, is their dedicated servant. Another girl, the strange Sorrow who grew up on a ship, was taken in by the Vaark’s as well. In addition, two slaves from a nearby farm also help the family and their servants.

To me the most compelling aspect of this novel was the unobtrusiveness of the history. Morrison is able to weave history into the story in such a way that the reader must decipher it to coax its full implications and its legacy. History is handed to you on a plate that you must dissect with your hands rather than being spoon-fed. While she imparts the inherent contradictions and suffering that comes with racism pushed to its most evil conclusions, aspects of love, belonging, and self-worth are revealed. There is no over-explaining here. As the novel progresses, each character finds their own mercy in their own way. Whether this mercy is right or wrong is open to interpretation and largely based on historicism.

Save the Males: Why Men Matter Why Women Should Care by Kathleen Parker (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:07:00 +0000

Finished: August 30, 2009

(Nonfiction - HQ1090 .P367; 306.874/2 - dc 22)

As with the subject matter, I was ambivalent about this book. Too often people write books on social science topics because they think it’s “common sense,” but they provide scant evidence to back up their opinions. This book was no exception to that unfortunate occurrence. While Parker does have some thought-provoking comments about feminism and the current climate of gender equality, her research is seriously lacking.

Parker wants us to "save the males." In other words, she wants us to stop behaving as though men and women are equal on all counts, and furthermore, she wants us to stop denigrating all things male, turning men into doofuses, deadbeats, and violent rage-aholics. While I agree that demeaning men is a bad policy, Parker paints with too broad of a brush. Citing the opinions and actions of a few and extrapolating that women have become vagina-worshipping, men-bashing, radical sluts is a bit much. There may very well be women out there who deny the importance of men to families and society, but I haven’t met any.

I did find her to be somewhat engaging and slightly humorous, although she's not as funny as she thinks she is. Her occasional tangents do nothing to justify her viewpoints; they are distracting and pointless. Anecdotal writing does not equal social science, and I was looking for something with more substance. The most impressive chapter was on women in the military, and if she would have focused on this topic, she might have had a fighting chance at convincing me that she knew what she was talking about.

Society is fluid, nothing is fixed. No ideas, behaviors, mores or norms remain stable. Little by little, things change. Sometimes there are major developments and the swing of the social pendulum can go too far. Inevitably though, things seem to even out if we let them. Parker seems to forget that the women’s rights movement is still relatively new and still working out its kinks.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier (1997)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 03:29:00 +0000

Finished: August 27, 2009

(Fiction - PS3556.R3599 C6; 813/.54 – dc 21)

In Frazier’s debut novel, he spins a tale as old as time. Inman, a wounded soldier in the Civil War, escapes from a hospital to return home to Cold Mountain and to Ada. Meanwhile, back on the farm, Ada’s father has died, and she is at a loss. She takes in a local woman, Ruby, to help her run the farm. Each adventurous chapter alternates between Inman on his wily journey home and Ada and Ruby with their trials and tribulations in bringing the farm back to life.

Conspicuously missing for a civil war novel was the war itself. Slavery, politics, and race were barely mentioned, which I found disconcerting. It seems Frazier shirked this aspect leaving me feeling gypped. Character-wise, all were strong people yet somewhat undeveloped. Frazier tells us numerous bits and pieces of each character’s life, yet he doesn’t really let us get into their heads all that much. When he does allow the reader to know the inner thoughts of the characters, it is insightful. Here is one of my favorite quotes of the book:

---When you got up this morning did you think before sunset you’d see cheese made? she said.

Inman thought about the question. He had long since decided there was little usefulness in speculating much on what a day will bring. It led a person to the equal errors of being either dreadful or hopeful. Neither, in his experience, served to ease your mind. But he did have to allow that cheese had not factored into this day’s dawn thoughts.

I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed this novel. Typically I find long descriptions and a bit story to be tedious and hard to get through. In this case, though, I found Frazier’s style engaging. Perhaps it was my own certainty about how this story would coalesce that allowed me to forget about the overarching plot and delve into the imaginative prose. Perhaps it was the unfamiliar setting in a distant but not that far away time that intrigued me and pulled me along so that the descriptions became stories unto themselves. Perhaps I was just in the right mood. For whatever reason or for all of the above, I took great pleasure in reading it.

The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog by Nancy Ellis-Bell (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:19:00 +0000

Finished: August 13, 2009

(Nonfiction - SF473.M33 E45; 636.6/8650929 - dc 22)

I think Nancy Ellis-Bell may be a little bit crazy. I have heard of love for animals before, but she is willing to go above and beyond. When she adopted a wild caught macaw named Sarah, she knew that she was inviting a potentially violent and destructive animal into her family’s midst. Sarah had been living in captivity for the past few years, first brought to the United States by a would-be breeder. When the breeding scenario went bust, Sarah was given to a bird rescue organization where Nancy found her and took her home.

While Sarah was not overly destructive or violent, she did turn their home upside-down. What amazed me the most was Nancy’s willingness to let it happen. After a few months of living with Sarah, Nancy decided to let the bird out. She followed Nancy first all over the house, then all over the yard, and then Sarah was exploring on her own. She dug up flowers, scratched marks into furniture, tore up work papers, and took short flights from one tree to the next. One day, Sarah flew higher and farther than ever before; unfortunately, she never flew back down again. Nancy never saw Sarah alive again, but she did adopt another exotic bird in short order. What better way to calm the loss of one thing than to replace it with another, I suppose.

Sarah’s antics are humorous, mostly because they didn’t happen to me. (I would have had to control an urge to wring the bird’s neck.) This would be an eye-opener for exotic bird owners, and she does offer plenty of well-written advice interspersed throughout the story for those interested. As a testament to her love for her bird, Nancy offers this glimpse into the world of a macaw and her patient owner.

Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City by Eric W. Sanderson (2009)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Finished: August 2, 2009

(Nonfiction - QH105.N7 S26; 508.747/1 – dc 22)

It has been a long time since I read a book with a natural history focus, and I was pleased at both how much I remembered from school and how much there was to learn again. While the title of the book is self-explanatory, the gist of it is anything but. This is more than a retelling of New York City based on primary documents and geographical reporting. Sanderson is able to cut through much of the historical clutter to bring the reader a clear-cut version of Manhattan before it was a city.

The true claim to fame of this book is the illustrations. Using the British Headquarters Map (1782-83), Sanderson was able to recreate the topography of the island as it appeared to Henry Hudson in 1609 when he landed on the island. As he studied the map, Sanderson found that it was assembled incorrectly at the National Archives of the United Kingdom. Using a computer imaging program, he realigned the map to its correct placement and voila, he had a “topographical and historical encyclopedia” of Manhattan before development. He used this map and other historical documents to create GIS points and layers that correspond to the current Manhattan. The result was a series of side-by-side images of the current Manhattan landscape and the landscape of Mannahatta (the original Lanape name for the island) circa 1609.

The illustrations are extraordinary and breathtaking. Although I read each chapter, looking through the images and reading the captions will fascinate even the cursorily curious. His research into the ways of life of the original inhabitants is intriguing and provides more in-depth analysis of this remarkable place. He ends the book with some thoughts about the future and sustainability in such a dense environment. This book was truly awesome, and it receives my highest seal of approval.

An Absolute Scandal by Penny Vincenzi (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:47:00 +0000

Finished: July 31, 2009

(Fiction - PR6072.I525 A64; 823/.914 - dc 22)

Joanne Kaufman said of one of Vincenzi’s previous novels, “Soap opera? You bet – but with her well-drawn characters and engaging style, Vincenzi keeps things humming.” Well, I couldn’t have said it better myself. An Absolute Scandal really is like a soap opera, but with a friendly narrator who speaks to the reader as if a confidante and in a cute British accent. This book may have been a little more lengthy than necessary, but I was kept far from bored with the cast of characters and their intertwining lives.

Around mid-1990 at a meeting called to gather together all of the parties involved in losing money to Lloyd’s of London, most of the main characters are introduced to each other. As the novel progresses, the characters are thrown together again and again as they attempt to sort out how they have been duped by their Lloyd’s contact, how they should go about suing those responsible, and how they are going to hold it together. Never mind the fact that most were made filthy rich at first after signing on with Lloyd’s; they’re losing their sailboats and million-dollar mansions now!

The actors in this drama marry, separate, divorce, have babies, and trade spouses in a little under a year that the novel takes place, although the real scandal is the death of a beloved friend who tied all of the pieces together. The cause of his death must be deliberated in court which brings a sense of appallment and reflection on their current vicissitude.

It just goes to show you, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Losing money can drive people to do all sorts of desperate things.

Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks (2002)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Finished: July 25, 2009

(Fiction - PS3569.P363 N54; 813/.54 - dc 21)

How many ways are there to say blegh? From the moment I opened this book, it felt like Sparks was pouring cheap saccharine-heavy syrup down my throat. This tiny book reads more like a movie script than a novel (e.g., walks to window, rinses glass), and honestly I wish Sparks would have skipped the whole thing. Rather than let the story unfold in a genuine and natural way, he just tells you the history of the characters. I felt like I was reading annotated biographies. At one point, I read a few passages to Joshua aloud, and I could barely get through an entire paragraph without bursting out in giggles. Hearing my own voice utter this drivel made me crack up.

This story of interrupted love begins with Adrienne telling her daughter about a love affair she had years earlier. Adrienne decides to share this because her daughter’s husband died recently, and she wants to give her daughter some perspective and let her know that she went through something similar. So right then I knew, this love interest of Adrienne’s is going to die. And that imminent death is basically what made the book bearable. It wasn’t a total horror show, but the first half was pretty bleak.

Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul by Michael Reid (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Finished: July 18, 2009

(Nonfiction - F1414.3 .R35; 980.03/8 – dc 22)

Honestly, I could not wait to finish this book. I did finish though, and it wasn’t the book’s fault. I repeatedly reassured the book, “It’s not you book, it’s me. I just don’t know enough.”

I found the political history of Latin American countries fascinating, mind-numbing and confusing all at the same time. There are so many countries, areas within countries, and political organizations that I quickly became distracted. Then as I moved onto the more recent political and economic history, I knew I was in over my head. What little I could grasp, hold onto, and digest was impactful, but I can’t be entirely sure how clear my understanding actually is. Despite all of this, I did learn a great deal.

The information on the Brazilian people was especially eye-opening for me as it explained many things that I found intriguing when I spent a week in São Paulo (i.e., racial diversity, stronger nationalistic rather than racial ties, dramatic economic disparity). Reid impressed upon the reader his stance that not everything unfortunate that happened in Latin America is the fault of the United States, only some of it. Most of it is due to individual countries’ own lack of planning, economic understanding, geography, social underpinnings, and dependency on militaristic regimes. Not all countries are created nor administrated equally; while they may not get much press coverage in the States, there are many progressive things happening south of the border.

White Oleander by Janet Fitch (1999)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:30:00 +0000

Finished: June 9, 2009

(Fiction - PS3556.I8155 W47; 813/.54 - dc 21)

I was only about thirty pages into this book when I realized I was hooked. It reminded me of reading about Las Vegas in Beautiful Children, but Fitch's portrayal of Los Angeles was executed even more richly. More than just an intriguing story emerging brilliantly, Fitch is first and foremost an excellent writer. It is a rare occasion when both story and writing style are matched so completely. Although the subject in itself is nothing new, Fitch manages to bring the foster child with a screwed up mother motif into a new shining light. She does more than convey the circumstances and happenings; the reader is thrust into the story, driving the desire to read on so that you can feel that same sun and wind, hear the voices and let them tell their part of the story. I'm not a big fan of long and winding descriptions that carry on for paragraphs without adding any significant weight to the tale or the characters. Fitch truly hits the target in this aspect. Every descriptive sentence is beautiful and well-placed, bringing the characters and the situations into focus rather than causing distraction or filling pages.

Narrated by Astrid, who we meet when she is twelve-years-old and living with her poetic single mother, Ingrid, we learn that her's is not a typical American childhood. She has lived all over the world, and her mother is her flawed luminary. All goes terribly wrong when Ingrid is imprisoned for murdering her ex-boyfriend. In the next five years, Astrid is shuffled from one foster home to the next where she slowly learns about herself through her surroundings and the people who care for her or at least are supposed to care. She constantly grapples with her own malleability and the ease with which she takes on the roles others assign her. She becomes a Christian, a semi-incestuous nymph, a fatherless child, a contentious daughter, an artist, a failure, a hard-ass. Each successive home brings with it a new Astrid and another internal struggle. The harder she tries to find herself, the more she realizes the fantastically devastating pull her mother has.

This novel was superb, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Leadership: The Challenge for the Information Profession by Sue Roberts and Jennifer Rowley (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:14:00 +0000

Finished: June 3, 2009

(Nonfiction - ZA 3157 .R03; 025.1 – dc 22)

While in school I read a textbook on library management and administration. And while it was dry, it offered much more by way of the intricacies of running a library than this one does. However, that is sort of the beauty of Leadership: The Challenge for the Information Profession. It’s concise yet clear, offers a fair amount of anecdotal evidence, and provides some tools for practical applications. Each chapter focuses on an aspect of leadership. There are questions for reflection scattered throughout each chapter, lots of tables and figures that give clarity and break down concepts nicely, and review and challenge questions at the end. Also included in each chapter are case studies – mainly interviews with people in leadership positions. I would have preferred that the case studies were in the form of problems posed within contexts so that I could examine them and pontificate on the best ways to handle them.

Truly, I don’t believe that any book is going to give you an absolute picture of leadership because the concept is so intangible. What’s nice about this book is that the authors acknowledge this gap and go on to explain why approaches to delivering information about leadership are complex due to the complexity of the topic. It’s not just you as a leader, it’s also who is following and what context you are all working in. The part of the book I got the most out of was the emphasis on self-reflection. The authors strive to get the reader to think critically about their own styles of learning and leading. As a textbook, I think it is lacking in some basics that a person new to the profession might appreciate learning, but it works wonderfully as a follow-up or a reading in conjunction with a more comprehensive work.

A Good and Happy Child by Justin Evans (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:08:00 +0000

Finished: May 26, 2009

(Fiction - PS3605.V366 G66; 813/.6 – dc 22)

Precocious and intelligent eleven-year-old George has a difficult time when his father, Paul, dies suddenly, and his method of coping is what you might call unorthodox (no pun intended). While it might be normal to become sullen and withdrawn, becoming possessed by a demon is usually not the mode of bereavement coping. When he first discovers his “friend”, a Huck Finn-like boy that helps George relieve his stress, George is happy. However, his “friend” soon tells him that his father died not due to disease, but rather he was murdered.

George attempts to divulge the true nature of his father’s untimely death and seeks aid from a group of family friends. These adults take George into their confidence and reveal that Paul saw visions, was a practitioner of exorcisms, and may have been possessed by a demon. Based on what George tells them and George’s own actions, they suspect that George has been possessed as well. His mother, on the other hand, believes none of this and forbids her friends contact with her son, and puts George in therapy. George continues to believe he is possessed, and he acts unknowingly on the catastrophic and deadly instructions of his possessor, which in short time he discovers is no friend after all.

All of this is told in through George’s adult journals that his psychiatrist has asked him to write. He came to be in the doctor’s care because he refuses to hold or even be near his newborn son. His wife is tired and exasperated by George’s behavior, and George would like nothing more than for a normal relationship between him and his child.

Interestingly, and often difficult to pull off well, the reader knows adult George only through his conversations with his doctor, the doctor’s role being written in the second person. Evans seems to accomplish writing in second person mainly because it’s such a small part of the novel. Most of the book is concerned with George’s notebooks, allowing the reader time away from the emphasis on the “you” of the second person narrative. When the psychiatrist suggests to George that he was never possessed but instead had an active imagination that pulled others in with him, George is torn, not knowing what is real and what is fantasy and what really happened to him as a child, and he falls even deeper into despair.

Evans is a business executive by trade, and this is his debut as a novelist. His writing is clear and sparse; he doesn’t spend too much time on the environmental details. It’s not a book full of poetic prose, but the story moves along nicely. Although the questions are never answered, it doesn’t leave you unrequited. It left me with a pause and feeling sticky. I suppose sometimes the questions are more fulfilling than the answers.

The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow Into Depressive Disorder by Allan V. Horowitz and Jerome C.Wakefield (2007)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 26 May 2009 23:40:00 +0000

Finished: May 23, 2009

(Nonfiction - RC480.5 .H667; 616.89 - dc 22)

It's been quite a while since I tackled an academic monograph, and I forgot how repetitive they can be. What I would greatly appreciate as a researcher becomes bogged down as a general reader. I would have been satisfied with a 100-page discussion. That being said, the topic is timely and the execution was perfect for its milieu. The authors' basic tenet is that the current methods of diagnosing depression are too broad, leading to a tremendous amount of false positive diagnoses and skewing the view of major depressive disorder. They argue that the next set of criteria for diagnosing major depression should include criteria that better allows for context.

The current diagnostic criteria are found in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). While these criteria are helpful for mapping out symptoms of depression, they only include bereavement as a contextual element that would explain the state of the depressed individual. The authors argue that there are many more life events that could provoke a depressive episode and depressive disorder. They posit that these life events do cause depression, but that this type of depression does not constitute disorder. The duration of the depression matched with the severity of the life event and other contextual clues about the individual's life need to be taken into account when diagnosing depression.

In addition, the authors delve into the history of depression, or melancholia as it was once referred to. The 2500-year history of this mood state has included contexts for depression, differentiating depression caused by life events and depression that is seemingly caused by nothing. Throughout these historical writings, severity and duration were measured against the context of the onset and the severity of the loss that caused depression. However, in the twentieth century physicians and researchers began to focus more on the symptoms than the context in an effort to enhance reliability.

While Horowitz and Wakefield do not go so far as to offer their own system of diagnosis for depression, they do offer numerous reasons why the current system is invalid and unreliable. Not only do the current diagnostic criteria lead to a significant amount of false positives and unnecessary medicalization, it also leads the culture to view normal sadness as disordered. They contend that the evolutionary and biological underpinnings for sadness should not be overlooked and that life events within context that cause sadness should not be treated as a disorder. If psychiatry is to remain relevant as a profession, clinicians and researchers need to be working with the right definitions, which they currently lack.

I tend to agree with Horowitz and Wakefield on most of their points, however weighted down I became in the nuances. It does seem like the surge in depression cases coincides with the new definitions and diagnostic symptoms provided in the DSM-III and the DSM-IV. I hope that the professional psychiatric community heeds the authors' call to create a more inclusive, grounded, and contextual basis for diagnosing depression, especially major depressive disorder. The background and discussion regarding biology, history, anthropology, and sociology provides excellent talking points in the fields of medicine and social science.

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:15:00 +0000

Finished: May 13, 2009

(Nonfiction - TL152.5 .V36; 629.28/3 - dc 22)

Just the title of this book fascinated me. I tend to be interested in book topics that seems so mundane and everyday that one wonders how it is possible to fill an entire book. I quickly learned, however, that filling a 400 page book with information about traffic is rather easy. Perhaps because it is something that almost all Americans do, driving a vehicle only seems easy. In actuality, the act of driving is anything but natural and the occurrence of traffic has gotten exponentially larger as more automobiles have entered our lives (though traffic itself is an ancient phenomenon).

Vanderbilt covers the bases in nine chapters (including the anonymity/lack of social interaction when driving, human misperceptions, measures to curtail traffic, parking, commuting, signs and road engineering, culture, and risk) citing study after study about traffic and driving. His writing style and congenial approach to the topic provide character to the facts without sacrificing the depth of the research. Also included are numerous conversational anecdotes that Vanderbilt amassed through interviews with the world's leading traffic and driving researchers. Traffic and driving are indeed complicated; there are no easy fixes that will work everywhere and with everyone. Counter-intuitively, more roads create more traffic, and the more we try to control and "fix" traffic, the more problems and traffic we create. I was enlightened by this book, and I daresay my driving has improved.

Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Finished: April 27, 2009

(Fiction - PR6063.C4 A88; 823/.914 - dc 21)

The only thing I knew about this book before I began reading it was that it was a bestseller and it was made into a movie. I still haven’t read the book flap, and had I read it beforehand, I may not have given the book a chance. I generally do not enjoy reading stories about war, but the style of this book made it much more approachable for me. Rather than a full-out war novel, this book is actually a family drama that includes some member’s experiences of war.

The first section begins before World War II hit England and introduces the Tallis family. Each chapter follows a member of the family, giving intimate details of each one’s thoughts and feelings about their lives (the father is conspicuously absent other than in the minds of the family). Emily, the matriarch, has just taken in two nephews and a niece because her sister ran off to live in France with her beau. This part of the book ends horribly when the nephews run away and while looking for her brothers, the niece is raped by an unknown man. Emily’s youngest daughter, Briony, with clouded judgment, swears that the rapist was a family friend, Robbie.

The reader knows that Robbie was not the culprit, and we learn during his war journeys that he was convicted and sent to prison based on Briony’s false evidence. Briony realizes her tragic mistake and seeks forgiveness from Robbie and her sister, Cecelia.

This novel is Briony’s atonement for her sins. By setting up the novel in this way, McEwan is able to provide a glimpse into the writing process through Briony. As a reader, I was frustrated at first by the seemingly drawn-out and overly descriptive prose, but I came to appreciate the style for its depth and character analysis.

A Wolf at the Table: A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 05:17:00 +0000

Finished: April 18, 2009

(Nonfiction - PS3552.U745 Z48; 813/.6 B - dc 22)

I know of Augusten Burroughs through the film adaptation of his memoir, Running with Scissors. Having seen the film, it is unlikely that I will read the book. So when I saw that he had written another memoir, it stirred my interest. A Wolf at the Table is about his life as a child living with this parents and his brother. If one wonders how a teenager comes to live with his mother's batty therapist and his kooky family, it becomes abundantly clear in this intimate and gripping recollection of an abuse-ridden childhood.

Burroughs' father was an alcoholic prone to violent outbursts and later to psychotic episodes. Despite this terror, Burroughs' craved his father's attention and love. One of the most compelling elements of this abuse is the devastation he feels due to the selfish disinterest and inattention of his father. He relates instance after instance in which he tries to illicit a positive emotional response from his father, and each time he is turned away. While more loving and available, his mother nevertheless was distant and preoccupied.

Burroughs' writing is understated yet poignant. It evoked emotion not because of the tragedy of the story but through the portrayal of the world through a fearful and confused child's eyes. The thoughts that run through a little boy's mind when faced with the turmoil of abuse and psychological disorder roused empathy and stirred rage. In the end he did not, as he feared, become like his father, yet he has still not fully recovered from the terror and neglect.

What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller (2003)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:02:00 +0000

Finished: April 4, 2009

(Fiction - PR6058.E483 W48; 823/.914 - dc 21)

Set in London, this story is about a teacher who falls head over heels in love with one of her fifteen-year-old students. The book is told through the eyes of a fellow teacher/friend, Barbara, who is a witness to the strange exploits of the adulterous/pedophilic Sheba, a seemingly perfectly average middle-aged woman that just so happens to become enamored with a student that is forward and worldly beyond his years. Both Sheba and Barbara are peculiar characters, and I don't believe one person in this satirical book is particularly sapient; each character is "out there" in their own special way.

As the book begins, the affair is already over, Sheba has already been found out, and she is facing a court trial for her crimes. Her husband has left her, and Sheba is currently residing in her brother's house with Barbara while Sheba's brother is out of the country. Barbara decides to record the details of the affair in a diary (the novel itself) in order to shed some light on the incident as well as to explain Sheba in some way. The book is as much a story about Barbara's loneliness and desperation and her friendship with Sheba as it is about the affair. As Sheba provides intimate details to Barbara, Barbara in turn provides intimate details about herself and less-than-introspective Sheba to the reader. Let's just say that neither woman is quite balanced.

Heller's writing is enjoyable and her characters are believable because they are so unsound and irrational; even the more compos mentis are still a little off. I love the premise of the story and the fact that it is told through Barbara in the first person. As person of questionable qualities that throughout the book mystified me, she was perfectly suited to relate the story of the unabashed Sheba. While the ending fell a little flat, it was fitting.

The Numerati by Stephen Baker (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:25:00 +0000

Finished: April 3, 2009

(Nonfiction - QA401 .B35; 303.48/3 - dc 22)

Math is everywhere and anything can be counted, including us and our behaviors. In fact, whether we realize it or not, our actions and behaviors are being counted right now at this minute by mostly unknown and unseen Numerati. The Numerati are the math geniuses of today, creating algorithms and writing computer code that can place each one of us into buckets of data. These buckets are inhabited by people that are grouped together for one reason or another - who we communicate with, grocery purchases, voting patterns, and the list goes on and on.

Being counted is nothing new, but the scale on which are now being counted is phenomenal. So much data is collected on each of us constantly; in order to make sense of this data, mathematical formulas and computer algorithms are needed to siphon out which parts go together and which ones don't. Of course, most attempts at predicting and altering human behavior have shortcomings and miscalculations, but not enough to stop hundreds of companies from researching and tweaking us as numbers.

I found the blogger chapter the most intriguing. Baker discusses techniques that companies are using to find out who we, as bloggers, are. In order to do this, real live people must read blog upon blog to analyze words used, sentence structure, and topics discussed to determine our age, gender, and affiliations. Then, they input all of these semantic clues into a computer program and test it to see if the computer's diagnosis corresponds to the human's. They then re-figure, re-write, and re-test until the program gets it right or close enough. Inevitably, it takes numerous trials before they have a working product. So why do companies want to find out who these bloggers are? The simple answer: marketing and consumer insights. It may not be the most precise method, but analyzing blogs provides one of the most immediate techniques to find out what people are saying about a product or service.

This book was fascinating from start to finish. While Baker's main point is in the myriad ways that a new class of math geniuses is using technology to figure us out, he writes from a business perspective. Who are these companies that count us and why are they counting? If the numbers are so imprecise many times, why bother? With all of this number crunching becoming evermore prevalent and important to marketers, political candidates, national security, doctors, and even match-makers, what will I, as a non-Numerati, do in the world to come? I take solace in Baker's final thoughts:

"Spending all this time among the Numerati, I've found myself wondering what jobs the rest of the world will handle in an economy dominated by calculations. Now it occurs to me: it's up to us to help them find the keys. The mathematicians and computer scientists create magic but only if their formulas contain real, meaningful information from the physical world we inhabit. That's the way it's always been, and even as they mine truckloads of data, it's a team effort."

Let's hope he's right, and let's also hope we are prepared to educate America to be the next generation of Numerati because we're going to need them.

Duma Key by Stephen King (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:29:00 +0000

Finished: March 22, 2009

(Fiction - PS3561.I483 D86; 813/.54 - dc 22)

It's been a while since I've delved into the world of Stephen King, partly because I am so enthralled by the Dark Tower series that I don't want to be disappointed. With this one, it really could have been two books at a whopping 611 pages and an extended plot. The narrator/protagonist, Edgar Freemantle, was the victim of a heavy machinery accident in which he lost his right arm and a great deal of his memory. After his wife leaves him, he moves down to Florida from Minnesota to reside on Duma Key. It is there that he discovers his talent as a painter, but not just any kind of painter - he can paint the future and make things happen in a psychic kind of way. He befriends his neighbors, an elderly Elizabeth Eastlake who has her own memory problems and Ms. Eastlake's caregiver, Wireman, a man we meet early and mysteriously through Edgar's narrative dialogue.

Far from typical horrific Stephen King, the book seems like any other well-told novel. That is until the reader discovers what it is that makes Edgar such a talented and prolific psychic artist. While inklings to the otherworld crop up here and there, it is not until the final third of the book that the adventure truly begins. Here is where we see the beloved kind of storyline that King fans keep coming back for. Edgar, Wireman, and Edgar's hired man turned friend, Jack, must fight off a powerful poltergeist who is threatening to take over their lives and kill their loved ones through the paintings that Edgar has created.

While I still adore King's storytelling abilities, I did find that this book felt long-winded in places. A few times, I was bored and anxious for the story to progress into more adventurous terrain. What I really wanted was excitement. All in all, not bad but not near the top of his hit list.

I Don't: A Contrarian History of Marriage by Susan Squire (2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Carlie) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 01:54:00 +0000

Finished: March 9, 2009

(Nonfiction - HQ503 .S687; 306.8109 - dc 22)

Based on the title I thought I was going to get a more "contrarian" viewpoint, but as it stands this book is a thoughtful and concise historical treatment of marriage from an Anglo-American feminist viewpoint starting with the Bible and ending at the Victorian age. What began as wife as obedient helpmate then turned into financial and social arrangements (while still obedient, of course). It is not until the rise of Protestantism that marriage begins to be seen as a positive union of two individuals. Prior to Martin Luther's revolutionary stance on marriage, the church saw it as a necessary evil that clerics were too holy to engage in. Squire states when discussing the changes that fell upon the heels of the Protestant Reformation and the rise of the merchant class:

"Soon enough they'll have to choose between the new vision of marriage as a mutually rewarding companionship and the old assumption that wives, as members of the weaker sex, are necessarily subjugated to their husbands; the two elements are incompatible. This can be ignored only as long as expectations of marital happiness remain low. Once they begin to rise, the relationship will have to be reimagined."

Drawing information from historical texts and research in the various fields studying marriage and women's role in marriage, Squire turns out an easy-to-approach historical analysis. Her stance was actually much milder than I thought it would be, and that was refreshing. She leaves the reader pondering what the future for marriage will hold now that it is tied to the idea and expectation of love.