Songs that Didn't Used to Exist

Hey Verizon: you need a new ad team

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:26:00 +0000

Verizon's just unleashed a few new ads for the Palm Pre Plus, the just-nabbed flagship device in the webOS family. Kudos to Verizon on the catch, likewise to Palm for getting its device onto a second carrier. Unfortunately, I'm not sure this is going to end well, for either of you.

Why? Well, the ads are terrible. Let's lay this one firmly at Verizon's feet -- since it's their ad (though we know that Palm's had some run-ins as of late with ads that didn't quite strike the right tone). The ads (I've seen two so far) depict "mothers" -- one in the 50's or early 60's (let's say Mad Men-era?) and one in the thick of the 80's -- huge hair, way awesome eyeshadow, fringe all over the place -- you get the idea. The mother depicted in the 80's version has a giant calendar overflowing with Post-It note appointments -- things like piano lessons, pot roast, groceries, and girl's night out. A quick record scratch brings to today -- the voiceover tells us that "yesterday is so yesterday" before telling us how with the Pre Plus, you can merge all of your calendars together in one handy device. Fair enough -- that's definitely something you couldn't do in the 80's right? In the 60's version -- well, that mom doesn't have any appointments to organize… she's just hanging out in the living room of her fly house talking about the gifts her husband buys her every Valentine's Day.

So, you might ask, what's the problem? Well here's what I thought last night when I saw the ad (the 80's one) while watching Lost on my DVR: I grew up in the 80's, so my mother was one of those poor 80's moms who didn't have a smartphone to keep track of her appointments. Yes, she cooked us dinner every night, and yes, she carted us around to various lessons. Trouble is, she also had a full time job, and in my memory, she doesn't look ridiculous -- or seem so -- and I assume the same thing goes for women who grew up in the 60's who see that other commercial. Do they really think of their mother as someone who looks like she would be right at home in Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" video?

That's the rub here -- these ads are targeted firmly at women -- busy moms, if you will -- but it seems to me that the ad is trying to sell me a product at the expense of other, less effective women. Because the ads aren't really offensive so much as they are merely weird and irritating. Sure, I'm offended a little -- because I know that my mother had better things to do than schedule her dinners into her calendar, and she probably wouldn't have been caught dead in a fringed denim dress regardless of the decade, but I understand that the near past is great fodder for lame attempts at ironic humor, so I'm not going to push it.

So what does this say about what Palm thinks? Well, it seems to back up Roger McNamy's earlier comments that the Pre is a phone that's friendly to women… but are we to believe that it's only for women -- and only for a specific type of woman at the exclusion of all others? In the same way that Motorola wants to set up the Droid as a "man's" phone, the Pre Plus is now being sold as a woman's phone. But who made such a determination, and why? Is it merely the mirror on the back of the Pre that destines it for ladies' purses the world over? Is the Droid innately manly? It seems a sort of silly and precarious road to go down for these companies… why fragment your buyers from the get go?

I do think, however, that Verizon needs a new ad team to sell its products, because the current team seems to think that the only way to move units is to portray ridiculous caricatures of women -- you need only refer to the Droid ads for more proof of that. And maybe the Droid ads are fair game -- after all, the world has been selling crap to men using women for as long as advertising's been around. But don't try to sell me (or my friends who are actual mothers) a smartphone by making fun of my mother or my grandmother, ok? Thanks.

Read Kara Swisher's previous "rant" (I use the term affectionately, as it hits the nail on the head) on the Droid ad here.

And here are the ads:

Book Review: "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," by Michael Chabon

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Part of my scheme to read all of the books that have won the Pulitzer Prize is to force myself to read authors that I either haven't read in the past... or haven't wanted to. Michael Chabon fell in between. I read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, I didn't like it very much, and I tossed him in the "current authors about my age that I don't have interest in" and then moved on. Mind you, that's a hefty bin. I'm just more of an old school girl. It's not really a comment on quality so much as it is on my being old and stuck in my ways, and having preferences, as we all do. Anyway, I've been working my way through that list, and have found it to be overwhelmingly satisfying and eye-opening.

Back to Kavalier and Clay. It was with some trepidation that I approached this work -- it's very long, and as I said, I was a little predisposed to not like Chabon's work. Well, I'm not afraid to admit when I'm wrong... and boy, was I ever wrong. This is a work of amazing magnitude, scope and beauty. After reading it, I read some criticisms and reviews, and have, as such, become a bit shy about producing my own -- it really seems like nearly everything I want to say about this book has already been said. So I'll just leave a few words here.

Sammy's mother Edith is one of the most lovable and lovingly drawn characters I've ever read. In a book that's not exactly overflowing with hilarity, she is truly hilarious. There's much to love affectionately here, but Edith strikes me as particularly well cared for in the writing... she is like so many people that I know myself.

I found a lagging in somewhere in the middle of the book where I began to fear its ending. Not so much dread or anticipation -- there was little left to the imagining as to where it was all going -- but I simply didn't want the book to be over.

Needless to say, I will probably go back and read it again one day. Truly a work of art.

don't you want me baby?

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 21:06:00 +0000

don't you want me baby?, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

baby quilt is finished. cute, right?

Penny's so unimpressed with this nearly-done quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 22:31:00 +0000

Penny's so unimpressed, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

In my non-Engadget time, I like to read (still reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and boy, is it awesome), play music (seriously, I barely have any time for this as of now), write, and yes, quilt. This quilt is being made for my brother Dan and his wife Kara, who got married in September. It's the largest quilt I've ever made -- probably big enough for a queen-sized bed. I'm going to try to finish it tonight.

Baby Quilt top nearly done

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:29:00 +0000

for babby, originally uploaded by LauraXJune.

I bought the materials for this quilt a few months back (back before the baby was born!), but was so busy with other things -- the redesign of Engadget, trying to finish my brother Dan's wedding quilt (still not quite there, but it's MASSIVE) that I haven't gotten around until now. And it's turning out even cuter than I thought it would. I'm very, very in love with the colors.

At work: I write about Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Today on Engadget, I published "The Apple Tablet: a complete history, supposedly." I'm probably more proud of this than anything I've done before in my time working there -- I put a lot of thought, planning, and effort into it, and couldn't really be happier with how it turned out.

Essentially, it grew out of my love of cultural history. The significance of a rumor that's been around this long seemed completely fascinating to me, and it seemed like there was a story there to tell -- and that just in re-telling it, we could learn something. (Oh, and I also love completely engrossing, tedious, and often thankless tasks!)

And I was right! That's all.

Anniversary

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:05:00 +0000

Today, January 21, 2010, marks the 3 year anniversary since my mother died at the age of 50. This day is not lost on me, not at all. I'm rarely one for sentimental shows of emotion, but this event (as well as the sickness and subsequent death of my dog about 8 months later) unsettled me and changed my life.

I can't accurately describe the changes I've undergone, but today I'm thinking of one in particular... something I've noted in the past when my grandparents and several friends died. That is -- my whole opinion and memory of her has begun its shift toward rosiness. I mean, I always had wonderful things to say about my mother, but she was very hard to live with and it was hard to be her daughter.

It seems however, that I am doomed to begin now to remember her with that sand-blasted, worn down and beautiful faded memory -- something I've often scorned in others, and am helpless to stop from happening now to me.

Oh, and another thing: I'm really grateful for the change. And so many other things. Sometimes, in my better moments, I feel that the best thing I can do in moving forward with my life without her is to be happy. And I am.

So another anniversary passes and I'm still here.

Book Review: Empire Falls by Richard Russo

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:03:00 +0000

Something about this book made me not want to read it. I was also vaguely aware that it had been made into an HBO miniseries at some point, but wasn't sure what the novel itself was all about. Regardless, this wasn't what I'd call an easy read. The first 25 or thirty pages I found to be incredibly difficult to get into. But, I was faced with a 5 hour flight to Las Vegas last week, and that did it for me and Empire Falls. Over the flight to CES and back, I became hooked and finished the book. I'm not sure what the lessons in the book are, but I do know that I loved the way that Russo builds his characters. It seems that the worst offenses are perpetrated by the characters who are the least to blame, and there is nothing easy about the turns that the plot takes. I really love the idea of a man reaching middle age and crisis, then turning around to see the past from whence he's come. It makes for a great story, and an even better mediation on America. For me, thinking and feeling how I feel about the country, the timing could not have been better, dealing as I was with the asininity of new TSA guidelines (or the threat of them, anyway) as a result of the would-be crotch bomber. Love the way we have to name our enemies cutely.

Book Review: The Known World, by Edward P. Jones

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:18:00 +0000

The Known World was the fifth book I read as part of my plan to read all the books that have won the Pulitzer Prize. I read it a few months ago, but the book beat me up so much that I just couldn't really face writing about it until now. When I read it, I was a bit downtrodden -- I had a terrible cold and was off work for about three days straight, plus, I'd just read Gilead (number four on my list), which I found to be utterly oppressive -- and not necessarily in a good way.

The Known World is not an easy read, emotionally. Technically, however, it goes down like the easiest of romance novels. Edward P. Jones' prose is nearly unmatched in modern literature, to my mind... and this is only one of the lavish praises I could sing of him.

A gripping, complicated, and complex web of a novel, the story spans generations, locales, and families in Virginia in the antebellum period. A novel largely about slavery, it is historical in tone, but personal in practice. Its themes are grand and painful -- yet Jones' abilities are on full display, as he deftly, fearlessly, and beautifully lays the story out for us. This is a novel that draws you in, in that simple sense of "getting lost" in a book -- a rare accomplishment for a work of this scope and material.

Some of the passages are so haunting and wonderful that I read them several times. Here is a favorite, early in the book:

"Moses walked out of the forest and into still more darkness toward the quarters, needing no moon to light his way. He was thirty-five years old and for every moment of those years he had been someone's slave, a white man's slave and then another white man's slave and now, for nearly ten years, the overseer slave for a black man."

This is the first book of the Pulitzer Prize lot where I can truly say that I will read every word that this author has written from now on. Books like this just don't come around that often.

Books: 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:58:00 +0000

So here it is, my fifth consecutive year of keeping track of the books I've read. Last year was an especially weak reading year, I've become a workaholic in that time -- but 2010 is going to be strong, I can feel it. I'm continuing my Pulitzer Prize winning novel quest for now...

1. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo (2001).
2. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon (2001).
3. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout (2008).

Book Review: "After Theory" by Terry Eagleton

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 04:55:00 +0000

Disclaimer: I'm actually not quite done reading this book. That said, I did read it in 2004 while I was in graduate school, so I know what happens in the end: Martin Amis storms onto the last page to make fun of Eagleton, of course.

I first encountered Terry Eagleton in 1995. I was 18 years old, didn't really know shit about Marxism or literary theory, though I was majoring in English, and knew that I really liked books. I was a freshman in college, brand new to the whole adulthood thing, and I was a little overwhelmed. The only place I felt instantly at home on campus was in the library, which was quite often deserted, scandalously so, I thought.

So there I was, rummaging the shelves, skipping some shitty class -- old habits died so hard back then -- trying my best to branch out. In those days, the extent of my literary knowledge was Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. So, I figured, if I was going to wimp out of class for the day, I might as well learn something, right?

Back to the rummaging. I rummaged. Knowing what I know now, this next bit sounds a little unlikely, but I swear to Christ it's what happened. That day, whilst ransacking, I discovered two writers who would change my reading and thinking life (also known as my "life.") They were, funnily enough, Martin Amis and Terry Eagleton. I walked out of the library that day with two books: Success and Criticism and Ideology (two great places to start if you've never heard of either, I must say). Leaving aside the wild differences between the two writers, let me just say a word on Amis for a moment so I can move on to the task at hand.

Amis' novel Success changed me -- you have to remember that I wasn't yet an adult. I'd never been outside the U.S., and while I was already a bit of an Anglophile, it was all wrapped up in Dickens and Bronte and Victorian coziness. So the disgust Amis vomited forth impressed and sickened me. Enough on that for now -- I plan to revisit that book in 2010, and I'll tell you what I think of it then.

This is not a review of Criticism and Ideology -- though it's a book that I've returned to time and again. I fell in love with Eagleton on reading it. He was smart and funny, spirited, and he understood the pompousness of literary criticism, despite being a critic himself. That attitude would bolster me through the next decade of academia, and it bolsters me still.

After Theory is the book that I needed to read right now. Working in media, I keep coming back to the same issues -- why are people so willfully stupid? Why does it seem like "anything goes" is the name of the game? Why is the left so flaccid? Why are Americans so fat and boring? Why does nobody have any good ideas?

The thing about this book is that its scope is quite grand, and I can't get past the feeling that, in the end, its barely about theory -- well, theory's just following the course of society, isn't it? And it's Eagleton's beautiful and respectable adherance to reality, and the Marxist principles that underpin his humanism, that keeps his eye on this very prize -- reality. The man who wrote The Illusions of Postmodernism at the exact moment that I needed him to seems to have his finger on the pulse of all that I think is relevant and worth thinking about in modern life and theory.

So, this is less of a review of After Theory than a simple statement of my great, enduring love and respect for his work. I'll do a proper run through once I've finished.

Amis barges in, throws up on his shoes and lights a cigarette. "You have anything to drink around here besides altar wine, old boy?"

best day of the year?!

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:48:00 +0000

Maybe!

The Engadget Show: Adafruit Industries

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:34:00 +0000

I really love this video.

Subtlety: Not one of Fox News's strongpoints

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Fox News wants to know: "Is NOTHING sacred"?

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 21:54:00 +0000

Well, sacred stuff is sacred. Frosty the Snowman? Not so much. Just saying.

My Firebird is the best

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:15:00 +0000

The Droid: Sarah Palin's favorite phone

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:13:00 +0000

I apologize in advance for some of the truly terrible (and offensive) language contained within.

Last night, right before bed, I checked out Twitter and saw this:

Is the New Droid Ad Anti-Women and Anti-Gay or Just Plain Idiotic? Actually, All Three!: http://bit.ly/5toLLN

It was a tweet that caught my eye, coming as it did from Kara Swisher -- writer for the Wall Street Journal's "All Things D." Kara's a woman -- and let's just say she's one of a rather slim crew of women who write about tech that I consistently pay attention to.

But what really caught my eye is something a bit more... embarrassing. I have to admit that the tweet caught me off guard, because even though we had posted about the ad (for Verizon's Android phone, the Droid) on Engadget (which is where I work), and I'd even come across it in my RSS feeds earlier... well, I hadn't watched the ad. I didn't watch it because I'm really busy, so in my regular search for news, I looked, saw that our fine editor Ross Miller had posted on it, and then moved on. Nevermind that the ad is about 30 seconds long, I just didn't take the time to peek at it. Droid ad? Seen enough of them. Move on.

Let's say that after reading Kara's entire post, I watched the ad. Twice. And I read what she had posted about it -- which may or may not have been written in somewhat of a rage. And, I have to say: with good reason.

I'm not going to repeat everything that Kara says about the ad -- you can read that for yourself, here. Let me give you the short version: this ad, in its rampant quest to target the iPhone as a phone that doesn't "get the job done" puts forth, essentially, the idea that the iPhone (no, it never names its target -- but we know well enough, don't we?) is for pussies, and the Droid -- which is a "robot" -- is for real men. Yes, there are Barbie dolls, exploding bananas, missiles, mannequins wearing scarves, and even a dolled up looking blonde talking on a phone applying makeup. Could it be any clearer?

Does it offend me? Is it effective? Eh. Let's leave those two questions aside while I tell you where my thoughts went, eventually, as I fumed about this advertisement.

There's not much information to be had here. We're not told much about WHAT the Droid "gets done" -- only that it essentially fucks shit up. Fair enough. Except that this complete lack of subtlety matters to me, and points to the "beer commercial" mentality I take issue with.

Let's just dilute the ad into the words -- into what it's actually saying. In effect, it's saying, "the Droid isn't pretty -- because being pretty means being weak. Being pretty means there's nothing contained within. The Droid means business -- which is just about getting things done. Doesn't matter what you're getting done or how it looks. Faggots and pussies need not apply."

Think that's a stretch? Not really. The ad is aggressive about its stance -- doesn't really give a shit what you think -- it's a ROBOT, for God's sake! It's not about elegance, informed decisions, or sophistication. In fact, the ad is an attack on sophistication, because sophistication is weak and "clueless."

Sound familiar? To me, the ad is overtly political -- so why would that be? Well, because, as a smart, liberal, thoughtful and gentle person, I've been repeatedly reminded that thinking is for suckers, and that I'm a "fag" if I put too much reasoning time into anything. During the presidential election, I unfortunately and misguidedly commented on one of Ken Layne's brilliant articles on the now-dead AOL Political Machine. His piece was a satire on the Obama birth certificate scandal, and if I recall correctly, his thesis was that we should start a Civil War -- rise up, if you will, not take any shit from this unAmerican trying to take over the world. I delivered my comment into the shitstorm abyss. I can't remember what it was. What I do remember is that I was immediately accussed of being both a "faggot" and a "pickaninny." Seriously? I didn't even bother responding to let them know I was a woman, white, and straight, because I knew that FACTS DIDN'T MATTER.

I'm struck now with the same feeling. The same feeling that drove Americans to love George Bush. He got shit done, he was down to earth and unapproachable all at the same time. Who gives a shit if the decisions were bad -- facts and reality be damned. This guy isn't a pussy. He's not going to take anything lying down. Fuck those over-thinking, wimpy, wine-drinking babies. FUCK THEM.

The Droid ad goes straight to the heart of another of my favorite topics, the concept of fanboys. At the end of the day, the ad takes the stance of the ultimate anti-Apple fanboy. It says: Apple's all about looks, it's for wimps who care more about architecture and good coffee and design than "getting things done" -- whatever that means. I see, day in day out, rabid Apple haters charge those that buy their products with being "rich people," and "hipsters," -- people who want to impress other people with their originality, their good taste. Well, you can't really put much stock in fanboys.

But then... you couldn't put much stock in the Obama birth certificate crowd either, until a few short months later when "the news" had taken up the quest, and there were Senators and people who knew better joining the cause. All this, of course, despite the overwhelming facts to the contrary. And now here we are, with Verizon making the tired fanboy argument -- playing to the base, if you will. Need I go on?

I'd like to point out one final observation... the Droid is actually a pretty good looking phone. Sure, it's more angular than say, the iPhone -- but it's a nice piece of industrial design all its own, and I don't look at it and see something particularly "manly." So why are the people who made it, and those selling it, pretending like it's some dumb fucking ugly hulking piece of machinery? Well, for an explanation to that one... let's just say there's a really long history of pretending that things that aren't ugly are ugly, and things that aren't fat are fat. My favorite example is 30 Rock's CONSTANT assertions that Tina Fey is ugly, undateable, and gross because she does things like eat and watch tv -- when most of us look at her and see a cute, super smart woman. So what's up with that?

Well, at the end of the day, the Droid ad is all about stereotypes -- which, I'm sure I don't need to point out, are all about appearance, not reality. And in the context of the ad, the Droid is stereotyped as much as women are. Funny, coming from an ad that positions itself the way it does, but there it is... the ad says the Droid is not about looks, but it's a great-looking phone all the same (remember, in this reality, being BOTH good looking and effective is not possible). The ad wants us to think there's some other phone out there, which, like women, are ONLY about looks, but no woman I've ever met was sheerly that, just as the iPhone can surely be said to have moved the bar higher in terms of smartphone performance -- "getting things done," if you will.

Now, is this how Motorola and Verizon really feel about their new and impressive device? I highly doubt it. But the iPhone is a juggernaut, and it must be taken down -- even if it means diluting their argument down to exploding bananas and missiles, for fuck's sake. Hey, I get it: when your back's against the wall, and you must win at any cost, fuck the truth. GET IT DONE.

Who could argue with that? Then again -- what do I know? I'm just a fucking pussy hipster who lives in Brooklyn and buys $20 bottles of wine from stores that I navigate to on my iPhone. I don't drive a hybrid yet -- but give me a few years, and I'll be tooling around in one, just to spite the pickup drivers.

So, I answer a rant with a rant.

Nothing to report

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Now that I blog for a living, I rarely blog for pleasure. I just spend too much time in front of a computer to sit at one in my spare time -- and by spare time, I mean the three hours I'm not sleeping that are left at the end of each day.

I'm not complaining -- I love my job. But I can't really say I regret not giving this more time these days. I still think of all kinds of hilarious and entertaining things to say, but I've never been an "oh, it's just an image and two words, let me throw it on my blog" kind of person. What I've always really valued about blogging was the fact that it was a place my words could live... and now I live with my words so often I run out at the end of the day! Seriously!

Anyway. I've been making little bird ornaments to give as gifts to my family and friends for the holidays. I cranked out about 12 of them in a day or two, then lost steam and didn't get back to the project for a while. Now I basically have to finish them this week -- which is fine -- they're not very time-consuming. They really turned out cute. So did the tree!!

Lol.

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:54:00 +0000

Penny!

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:01:00 +0000

It's like 9/11 but for dolphins

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Mysterious Porpoise Deaths Blamed On Berserk Dolphins
Deadly Attack On Lone Porpoise Caught On Camera

Posted: 12:42 pm PST November 6, 2009Updated: 3:34 pm PST November 7, 2009
MOSS LANDING, Calif. -- Marine biologists have figured out why a growing number of dead harbor porpoises have been found on California beaches in recent years: dolphin attacks.

Now they're trying to determine a reason for them.

Okeanis, a Moss Landing-based conservation group, shot video of bottlenose dolphins fatally attacking a porpoise. It helps explain why carcasses were found with internal bleeding, rake marks and broken bones.

"We saw severe beatings," said Okeanis Chief Scientist Daniela Maldini. "It was a mob of dolphins."

The video shows male dolphins coralling the porpoise, ramming it and drowning it, then bringing the carcass to researchers on a boat and swimming away.

Those images, taken for the first time last September, were the first to even depict dolphin-on-porpoise violence.

Dan Costa, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, said such an act of violence is not as unusual as it might seem in the wild.

"Everybody thinks flipper is this nice, mellow animal," Costa said. "In the wild, there's interactions that occur and not all of them are friendly."

Scientists say about 74 dead porpoises washed up last year in the state.

Okeanis biologists are working with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Marine Mammal Center and other groups to find evidence that will shed more light on the attacks.

One possible explanation for the violence, according to Maldini, could be pent up sexual angst on behalf of male dolphins.

"It could be a little sexual frustration," she said, "and a lot of males around for very few females. That's my favorite in terms of an explanation, but at this point we're fascinated by the behavior and trying to figure it out."

Scientists now want to test the testosterone levels of the male dolphins to see if higher levels could be playing a role.

Copyright 2009 by KTVU.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/21543657/detail.html

Book Review: Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #4 (Winner, 2005)
I was a bit wary of this book -- knowing that it's steeped in the kind of American religiousness that I'm so often turned off by. Now, that was partly misconception. The book, about a dying 70-some year old minister with a young son, is written very much in the meditative, reflecting back on life style that I love. And this book treats one's own history as worthy of being told, which I like very much.

This was still not one of my favorite books that I have read in recent memory -- partly because the experience was a bit painful to me. The idea that a parent would care so much for their child as they die, worry over them -- is completely known to me, as I worry so much over the people that I care about. But something inside the book made me uncomfortable, and it wasn't the meditations on God. Anyway, I'm really glad to have read it and the words are insanely beautiful, and so well chosen. Onward and upward.

Book Review: March, by Geraldine Brooks

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:58:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #3 (Winner, 2006)

I read March in about 5 hours of low-grade feverish sickness. Leave it to a bad cold to allow me to burn through three books in two days. I could barely move or breath, but March seeped into me. A lover of Civil War history and Little Women already, it was probably meant to be -- but I'd already had one aborted attempt to read it, so I was scared, a bit, I guess.

Geraldine Brooks' prose is terrifically convincing, and pulls you into the book so swiftly you don't even notice that it's happened. The story, for me, was nearly an afterthought, so taken in was I by the language of it all. It reads, not like a book about the 1800's, but like a book written in the 1800's. That's no small feat, and many others' attempts to do just this are not only failures, but embarrassing ones at that. No failures here. The plot lays out in front of me even now as I sit here, thinking on it. Not just a re-imagining of our literary past, but a new imagining of it which is beautiful.

Book Review: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:55:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #2 (Winner, 2007)

My review is here.

Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz

noreply@blogger.com (Grodyspice) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 19:10:00 +0000

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Reading List, #1 (Winner, 2008)