50 Book Challenge 2008
Rob
6) ‘After London; Or, Wild England’, Richard Jefferies
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/13944
I don’t know how well-known this actually is, but at the risk of
appearing ignorant I’ll assume that people are unfamiliar with it (as
I was until recently). It’s a Victorian post-apocalyptic science
fiction novel, written in 1885 and set a few centuries after some
calamity has left most of England submerged by rising sea levels. The
exact nature of the catastrophe is not explained, although it seems to
have been a natural disaster of some sort. At the first signs of
trouble the wealthy and educated classes all buggered off never to
return, leaving behind only those who had no idea how anything works.
As a result, all the marvels of Victorian technology have been lost,
and England has reverted to a kind of medieval agrarian feudalism.
This England is a pretty brutal place, where serfs end up nailed to
trees for looking at someone the wrong way, and travel outside the few
pockets of order and stability is made dangerous by ‘Bushmen’ and the
occasional marauding band of Celtic pirates. The hero is a young
nobleman who, unlike his peers, has too much ambition and intellectual
curiosity to be content with a life of hunting, feasting and grinding
the faces of the poor. In frustration he builds a boat as a means of
escape and goes off in search of a place where his talents can be put
to better use. The rest of the book is about his adventures.
I loved it, but I’m not completely sure exactly why. Jefferies was
also a natural history writer, and the first chapters set the scene by
describing at length how plants and animals gradually reclaimed the
cities after the people had gone. There’s something wonderfully
Pre-Raphaelite about his descriptions of the tangled forests and the
people and animals who inhabit them, and more than a hint of Arts and
Crafts romanticism in the pastoral society he describes. Obviously
it’s interesting just as an early science fiction novel; there is one
bit where the hero is sailing through the pestilent swamp which is all
that remains of London which invites obvious comparisons with ‘The
Drowned World’. But the plot and storytelling are a bit weak, and
despite the setting I don’t think Jefferies is actually all that
interested in the collapse of civilisation as such. There’s quite a
lot of social commentary on issues like poverty, class prejudice, and
the stifling of talent and expression, but the main theme is the
hero’s existential quest to find some sort of place in the world. I
suspect there is a lot of Jefferies in the character of the hero, and
I think in the end it’s this personal dimension which makes the whole
thing a lot more interesting than it would otherwise be.
7) ‘Division Chief Kosaku Shima (Part 1)’, Kenshi Hirokane
A rather charming manga about a middle-aged salaryman which is
apparently very popular among middle-aged salarymen. Kosaku Shima is
an advertising executive who succeeds in business where others have
failed by being bold, direct and handsome. As fiction it’s not up to
much, but as a glimpse into the world of corporate bushido it’s quite
fascinating.
8) ‘The Sacred and the Profane : The Nature of Religion’, Mircea Eliade
This is about the human capacity to perceive certain otherwise
ordinary things and places as somehow supernaturally charged, or
sacred, and how this tendency manifests itself in modern secular
societies, even if only at a subconscious level. Or at least I think
it is – I can’t be entirely certain because most of it went over my
head. But there were enough interesting bits to make it worth the
effort. In fact it would have been worth reading just for the
wonderfully allegorical story of the holy pole of the Achilpa:
http://www.oup.com/us/companion.websites/0195115880/gill.numbakulla/
Dark Phoenix
This is a horror story. There are no vampires or ghouls, but there is an
evil stepmother, a mad scientist, a child who can do nothing right and a
father who doesn’t care.
The mad scientist is Dr. Walter Freeman, the man who invented the ‘ice pick’
lobotomy, the brain scrambling operation made famous in ‘One Flew Over The
Cuckoo’s Next’. The child who cannot seem to do anything right- at least in
the eyes of his family- is Howard Dully, who at the age of 12 became the
youngest victim, er, patient to be given a transorbital lobotomy. His
stepmother, a woman who would have benefited from psychiatry care herself,
hates Howard with an irrational passion that is obvious even to her own
sons. His father works three jobs, in part, I suspect, to avoid being at
home.
Howard is not the ideal little boy, but his main faults seem to have been
laziness and an inability to apply himself at school. No one will ever know
why he attracted his stepmother’s hatred, but she set out on a campaign to
have him declared insane and removed from the home. After several
psychiatrists tell her that there is nothing wrong with Howard- and is told
by a couple that she, not the boy, is the problem- she finally lands on
Freeman. At first, Freeman seems to agree with the other doctors that Howard
is fine. Then the stepmother turns on the lies- documented in Freeman’s
papers and refuted 40 years later by Howard’s family- and Freeman is unable
to resist destroying the front of Howard’s brain with his tools, the
glorified ice picks.
Unlike the 15%, and the other large percent who are left unable to care for
themselves, of Freeman’s patients who die from the operation, Howard
recovers, albeit slowly, and he is returned to his home. Of course this
makes his stepmother unhappy, and after a great many more lies, he is sent
to a mental institution. Finally he is turned out onto the streets to fend
for himself. The next 40 years of his life is spent drifting, drinking,
doing short stints of work, living on welfare and pursuing petty crime. When
he gains custody of his son, however, he is motivated to quit drinking and
doing drugs and gets a degree in computer science. A heart attack makes him
quit smoking. He gets a full time job driving a bus. In just a few years, he
turns his life completely around. Then he begins a search to find out what,
and why, was done to him when he was a child. Aided by reporters from
National Public Radio, he obtains Freeman’s records, the notes that the
doctor wrote when he met with Howard, his father and his stepmother. Howard
finds himself vindicated, but he still doesn’t know why it happened. His
father is the only one alive who knows, and the reporters push Howard to
meet him and ask him. It’s an unsatisfactory meeting, with the senior Dully
claiming total ignorance of what his wife did to his son. This is the point
in the book where I became angriest- this man obviously knew what was going
on in his own home and let his wife torture his son because he was afraid
she would leave him. He refuses to say he’s sorry it happened. He ‘refuses
to think about negative things’. This, the man who would beat Howard with
wooden boards on his wife’s say.
The NPR broadcast of Howard opening Freeman’s records and interviewing his
father and other victims of Freeman affected many people. The NPR email
server crashed from the overload when the show aired and all the people who’s
lives had been affected by Freeman’s barbaric surgeries sent their thanks
for the show.
The book is not the best written one in the world. It’s repetitious and
plodding. But the emotional impact is tremendous. The horrors that Howard
went through as a child, and the fact that no one stepped in to help him-
and his was in 1960, not the dark ages- is appalling. No one ever uses the
words ‘child abuse’. This is a very dark chapter in psychiatric history.
--
Laurie Brown, Dark Phoenix
dark_p...@netw.com
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/103910/laurie_brown.html
"To destroy the Western tradition of independent thought, it is not
necessary to burn books. All we have to do is leave them unread for a couple
of generations."
--Robert Maynard Hutchens.
Troia
> My Lobotomy: A Memoir, by Howard Dully. Random House, 2007
>
Oh .... I feel shaken just reading what you wrote, even though I'm of an
age to know about such things going on.
-- Troia
Dark Phoenix
"Troia" <troia....@gmail.removethiscom> wrote in message
news:48055d75$0$47521$892e...@auth.newsreader.octanews.com...
I knew that a lot of the people who had lobotomies weren't exactly willing
participants, but this guys childhood was just... fucked. Like I said, the
stepmother was psychotic- even her own kids thought so- but when the father
later refused to admit that perhaps Howard was treated wrong, I just wanted
to beat him to death with a 2x4 full of rusty nails.
howar...@gmail.com
> "To destroy the Western tradition of independent thought, it is not
> necessary to burn books. All we have to do is leave them unread for a couple
> of generations."
> --Robert Maynard Hutchens.
Thanks for the review and for reading my book.......
Siobhan
<dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>My Lobotomy: A Memoir, by Howard Dully. Random House, 2007
[snip]
I have to tell you, your review gave me the heaving shivers.
I didn't even know one could recover from a lobotomy.
Siobhan
Dark Phoenix
Good or Bad Design, by Odd Brochmann. Studio Vista, 1970
This little volume attempts to describe what good design is. In some ways it
succeeds- the design must fit human needs and be built to human scale; it
must avoid disorder. The object must be skillfully made, of suitable,
durable materials. He admits that it’s very difficult to define ‘beauty’.
But he has a quirks that I found bothersome.
He states that the tastes of the intellectual elite will always be superior
to the tastes of the lower classes. Now, since we’ve already decided that
beauty is very subjective, how can he make this statement? A singing lobster
is made of suitable materials (and is all too durable) and it effectively
does it’s job. A large segment of the population find it amusing. This seems
to me to be good, albeit annoying, design.
He also maintains that good design is progressive, that while there were
good designs in the past, things are getting progressively better. Here
comes the subjective clause again! He wrote this in 1970, and one of his
examples in the book is about the pleasing contrast of a shiny chrome and
glass table set on a shag carpet. My subjective opinion of the designs of
that era is that I thought they were ugly then, and I still think it. Of
course, I’m not an intellectual elite, so perhaps that’s why shag carpet
makes me want to puke, while I find Art Nouveau designs very beautiful.
--
Laurie Brown, Dark Phoenix
Dark Phoenix
Mason. Viking Press, 1974
Broad but not deep, this book gives a very brief overview of the Victorian
era. The advances in technology, the politics of the time, the military and
the changes in lifestyle-especially the creation of leisure time for the
lower classes- are covered lightly. Sex and fashion, the theater, the press,
the artists, the sexual double standard - the images most people think of
when they think of the Victorian era are the heart of the book. It ends with
a look how the celebration of Christmas changed in Victorian times, becoming
the huge production that we know today. Many period illustrations and
photos; recommended if you need a quick, broad look at the time.
whisky-dave
"Dark Phoenix" <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote in message
news:_OednZKHS8gUXpPV...@povn.com...
>
>
> Good or Bad Design, by Odd Brochmann. Studio Vista, 1970
>
>
>
> This little volume attempts to describe what good design is. In some ways
> it succeeds- the design must fit human needs and be built to human scale;
> it must avoid disorder. The object must be skillfully made, of suitable,
> durable materials. He admits that it's very difficult to define 'beauty'.
> But he has a quirks that I found bothersome.
>
>
>
> He states that the tastes of the intellectual elite will always be
> superior to the tastes of the lower classes.
I don;t suppose he's defined lower classes has he.
> He also maintains that good design is progressive, that while there were
> good designs in the past, things are getting progressively better.
Does he say what is getting better ?
> Here comes the subjective clause again! He wrote this in 1970, and one of
> his examples in the book is about the pleasing contrast of a shiny chrome
> and glass table set on a shag carpet. My subjective opinion of the designs
> of that era is that I thought they were ugly then, and I still think it.
> Of course, I'm not an intellectual elite, so perhaps that's why shag
> carpet makes me want to puke, while I find Art Nouveau designs very
> beautiful.
I guess you're not classy enough to be intellectually elite
or is it that you're not intellectually elite enough to be classy :)
But one thing I've always been curious about is the link between design
and so called fit for purpose.
Is it better to build say a DVD player out of solid well made parts
that will perhaps last at least 5 years if not 10 or use cheaper plastic
parts/cogs
that will become faulty in 2 years, but will be much cheaper.
Enabling you to upgrade to the latest speced machine every few years.
Dark Phoenix
"whisky-dave" <whisk...@final.front.ear> wrote in message
news:fun8sj$s6$1@qmul...
>
> "Dark Phoenix" <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote in message
> news:_OednZKHS8gUXpPV...@povn.com...
>>
>>
>> Good or Bad Design, by Odd Brochmann. Studio Vista, 1970
>>
>>
>>
>> This little volume attempts to describe what good design is. In some ways
>> it succeeds- the design must fit human needs and be built to human scale;
>> it must avoid disorder. The object must be skillfully made, of suitable,
>> durable materials. He admits that it's very difficult to define 'beauty'.
>> But he has a quirks that I found bothersome.
>>
>>
>>
>> He states that the tastes of the intellectual elite will always be
>> superior to the tastes of the lower classes.
>
> I don;t suppose he's defined lower classes has he.
People who don't like avant garde plays on TV, for one thing, and prefer
commercial TV shows. That's his big example.
>
>> He also maintains that good design is progressive, that while there were
>> good designs in the past, things are getting progressively better.
>
> Does he say what is getting better ?
No, nor does he say *why* it's better than what went before. He seems to
like change for the sake of change.
>
>> Here comes the subjective clause again! He wrote this in 1970, and one of
>> his examples in the book is about the pleasing contrast of a shiny chrome
>> and glass table set on a shag carpet. My subjective opinion of the
>> designs of that era is that I thought they were ugly then, and I still
>> think it. Of course, I'm not an intellectual elite, so perhaps that's why
>> shag carpet makes me want to puke, while I find Art Nouveau designs very
>> beautiful.
>
> I guess you're not classy enough to be intellectually elite
> or is it that you're not intellectually elite enough to be classy :)
Obviously!
> But one thing I've always been curious about is the link between design
> and so called fit for purpose.
> Is it better to build say a DVD player out of solid well made parts
> that will perhaps last at least 5 years if not 10 or use cheaper plastic
> parts/cogs
> that will become faulty in 2 years, but will be much cheaper.
> Enabling you to upgrade to the latest speced machine every few years.
He is for things made of quality materials etc. He made no mention of the
need to upgrade- I don't think it was much of an issue in 1970- a TV set was
pretty much a TV set back then. And he didn't mention if he thought an
8-track was better than a record...
Dark Phoenix
1982
Carl Jung’s theory of the archetypes in human consciousness has been
described- and disdained by some- as mysticism. Stevens sets out to explain,
mostly in layman’s terms, why the archetypes are not some mystic dream but
rather grounded in the biology of the brain and the social needs of humans.
Taking information from several disciplines- biology, ethology, psychology,
neurology- Stevens shows how Jung’s ideas were ahead of their time and have
been proved by recent discoveries. Along with this, Stevens explains the
archetypes in language that makes them more accessible to the common reader
than Jung’s original texts. Like a good professor, he avoids jargon (but
provides a glossary), breaks the concepts down, and provides examples.
Still, this book is one that would be best understood after a second
reading, taking notes all the way. Very recommended.
Dark Phoenix
This is a rose book without any pretty color pictures. It doesn’t have an
encyclopedia of roses in it. It’s small, not a coffee table book. Despite
this, it’s one of the best rose books I’ve found.
Scanniello, former rosarian at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, tells us, one
month at a time, what to do in the rose garden. The calendar is made for a
warmer climate than mine, but he tells how to adjust for different climates
than the one he’s writing about. He presents the basics of choosing roses,
planting them, dealing with pests and diseases, pruning and companion plants
for them. He covers it all thoroughly and in understandable fashion. Since
it’s broken up over months, it’s not overwhelming.
I didn’t learn a great deal new from this book, but it was nice to see it
all put down in one place. I would recommend this book to anyone new to
roses, or anyone who is having trouble with their roses.
Dark Phoenix
Penguin, 2005
Susanne Antonetta has bipolar disorder, and she says her book is a bipolar
book. She tells us about her family, both nuclear and extended, including
her male cousin-in-law who has multiple personalities, all female. She
ponders on how neuroatypicals may have a role in evolution, and how the
world would be much more boring, and possibly in danger of losing a lot of
creativity if there were no people with mental disorders. She explains what
it feels like to feel the depressions starting to come on, and how the lower
levels of mania are so seductive and sometimes productive.
The book is interesting, but it wasn’t something that I just couldn’t put
down. The author writes in a rather stream of consciousness style that takes
the impact from the things she describes. I never entirely figured out the
point of the book, unless it was to show how neuroatypicals are really just
like the average person- and perhaps even better.
Dark Phoenix
This collection of short stories and story poems spans Gaiman’s writing
career. They range from Lovecraftian tales to fallen angels to science
fiction about curing cancer. While all story collections are uneven in
quality, all the offerings in this book are almost guaranteed to please; I’m
not the biggest fan of short fiction, but I was not disappointed with a
single tale. I think my favorite is “Shoggoth’s Old Peculiar”, one of the
Lovecraft inspired stories, which manages to be both humorous and creepy.
All the tales are dark; if they were films they’d be in black and white and
mostly shadows. Highly recommended.
Dark Phoenix
While some of the stories in this book have horror aspects to them, I
hesitate to call them horror stories. Some-most- have fantasy aspects to
them, but don’t always fall neatly into the fantasy category. I think they
could best be called ‘weird tales’; they’d fit right into the old pulp
magazines.
The book leads with a Sherlock Holmes/Lovecraft mashup and ends with a
novella starring Shadow from American Gods. In between are stories and poems
that range in quality from uninspired to riveting. A good lot were written
on spec- there is even one written for website for The Matrix before the
movie was ever made, which made a hell of a lot more sense to me than the
movie did. My favorite was the one about Shadow; Gaiman has a great deal of
trouble fleshing out characters in his short stories and Shadow was already
familiar to me, so I *cared* that he was obviously walking into a trap. The
volume is worth definitely worth a read, but be prepared for the uneven
quality. \
Dark Phoenix
While not as ‘miraculous’ as the cover blurb says it is, this book is still
rather incredible. Not just because it was written by a nonverbal autistic
child, but because the first section was written when he was eight years
old. While it’s not perfectly grammatical, it’s still written at a level far
above 8 years old and shows a self awareness that many adults don’t have.
This section is his autobiography to that date; he describes visits to
various doctors, various schools, and how ultimately it was his mother who
taught him. I found parts of this creepy; his mother frequently hit him when
he got things wrong and sometimes denied him food until he got the lesson
right, things that made his father have to leave the room. Tito describes
this dispassionately and blamelessly. He also tries to explain *why* he did
certain things like flapping and spinning, and why he could not do other
things and how he got past them. This is the most fascinating part.
The second part of the book is the actual story titled ‘The Mind Tree’,
written when Tito was eleven . In it, Tito speaks from the point of view of
a tree, and tells about the various things that occur around him. I’m
afraid I never did figure out if this was a story he wrote, or if he felt
like he was that tree. There are also some poems. These pieces are lovely,
fluid writing.
Dark Phoenix
Charles E. Tuttle Co, 1963
Ms. Chandler taught school in Japan, and while there, discovered Hakata
dolls. These are not playthings, but clay miniatures of people and animals.
Chandler was inspired to combine these with bonseki, the art of scenic
floral art. She called this Hakata Ryu Floral Art and taught it for some
time, but an internet search found no evidence of this art form catching on
and surviving.
Her goal was to have her artwork photographed and used in books portraying
Japanese life. This volume gives a very short history of geisha, illustrated
with color photos of Chandler’s arrangements. Unique and fun to look
through.
Dark Phoenix
William Morrow & Co., 1991
Though I know nothing about art and not much more about physics, this book
intrigued me. A connection between the two disparate fields? Perhaps I could
manage to follow what the author was saying.
I needn’t have worried. Shlain writes on a level anyone can understand, at
least until the last few chapters. This big door stop of a book goes through
the history of artistic style and physics discoveries era by era, from
ancient Egypt to the 1960s. For each of these eras, he produces facts to
support his thesis that the art came first, and then was followed by a
revolution in physics and how the world was viewed. I found a few things
hard to believe- he states that it wasn’t until the 5th century BC that
people figured out that there was a past, that there was history, until
writing was developed and they could write the past down. Blind poets and
bards be damned, I suppose. He claims that radio waves are ‘a form of light’.
Now, I realize that they are both segments of the electromagnetic spectrum,
but both being parts of a whole does not make them identical.
I was on page 315 or so when I began to think that this was all very
interesting, but what was his point? I didn’t get to that for another
hundred pages. Finally on page 427, he reveals all: “When the vision of the
revolutionary artist, rooted in the Dionysian right hemisphere, combines
with precognition, art will prophesy the future conception of reality”
Oh.
Well, I’m glad that all got cleared up.
I’m a firm believer that there are a lot of things we don’t know and things
we can’t explain yet. It’s true that there are parts of quantum physics
that seem to verge on magic and mysticism. But this theory seems a bit much.
All of those artists had extrasensory perception, and the technical ability
to produce the work that demonstrated what they learned from this ESP? And
if this is true, did the physicists have ESP, too, or did they work out the
theories by brain power alone? And if the artists and/or physicists could
dip into the time stream, why did they only go one step at a time, rather
than, say, de Vinci developing cubism, or Aristotle thinking that light is
both a wave and a particle? I find the whole idea rather dubious. It’s an
interesting history of art and physics, but I feel that’s as far as it goes.
Dark Phoenix
Palgrave, 2005
”Fresh Lipstick” is a rebuttal to those feminists who have claimed, since
the beginning of the first wave of the feminist movement, that fashion and
beauty are evil things forced on women by men as a method of controlling
them and that to be a true feminist one must reject such things. This is a
stand that I have never understood; as a woman who came of age during the
second wave of feminism, I found it downright insulting for someone to say
that I was so damn stupid I couldn’t be trusted to read a fashion magazine
without it irreparably damaging me.
In a meticulously researched book, Scott shows that the fashion industry is
not, in fact, run by men trying to control women. Fashion magazines and
women’s magazines have been predominately run by women, not men. And those
female editors were not dupes of the patriarchy- I remember reading those
fashion magazines back in the second wave, and there were articles on
feminism, on getting ahead in business, on expressing one’s sexuality right
along side the articles on eye shadow and sexy lingerie. The author is not
making it up that those articles existed!
The author follows the feminist movement from the first wave back in the
mid-1800s up to the present day and parallels that with how the beauty and
fashion world was evolving. It’s interesting to see how beauty shops came
about, and how they have always been owned and run by women. Some of the
most successful ad campaigns for beauty treatments have been created by
women. These are not dupes of the patriarchy; these are business women
making a living and providing things that other women wanted.
The only thing that I was left wondering is *why* some women feel that all
women- in particular all feminists- should look alike and be unadorned. The
back biting has been intense throughout the history of the women’s movement,
but why? That would be a book on psychology, though, rather than history.
But I hope someone writes it soon. Because it’s truly bizarre that people
who have spent their lives advocating for freedom for women would wish to
impose their own restrictions on them.
whisky-dave
> Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism, by Linda M. Scott.
> Palgrave, 2005
>
> In a meticulously researched book, Scott shows that the fashion industry
> is not, in fact, run by men trying to control women. Fashion magazines and
> women's magazines have been predominately run by women, not men.
Any mention on the influences of gay men with regard to women's fashion,
or why so many gay men succeed in women's fashion from designer to
photography.
I also wonder when and why hetrosexual women started to listen to gay men
instructing them in looking good for men.
I've also wondered whether many women design men's clothes and why we don;t
see or here about lesbian women and there particular skills in whatever
area.
Oh and of course just what proportion of feminists are lesbian.
> The author follows the feminist movement from the first wave back in the
> mid-1800s up to the present day and parallels that with how the beauty and
> fashion world was evolving. It's interesting to see how beauty shops came
> about, and how they have always been owned and run by women. Some of the
> most successful ad campaigns for beauty treatments have been created by
> women. These are not dupes of the patriarchy; these are business women
> making a living and providing things that other women wanted.
Any idea whether these women are just there for the profit, what I mean is
are they as manipulative as other professions such as car salesmen or
insurance
sales in that the product is secondary, the selling of it is the primary
importance.
Was there any references to the size zero and where that came from,
men women or clothes designers and who managed to convince some women
that men prefer stick insects
> The only thing that I was left wondering is *why* some women feel that all
> women- in particular all feminists- should look alike and be unadorned.
> The back biting has been intense throughout the history of the women's
> movement, but why? That would be a book on psychology, though, rather than
> history. But I hope someone writes it soon. Because it's truly bizarre
> that people who have spent their lives advocating for freedom for women
> would wish to impose their own restrictions on them.
Perhaps it's feminist logic the bastard child of female logic ;-)
Dark Phoenix
De Lint’s latest, a slim young adult novel, is, as usual, a joy to read.
This is a spare, bare bones book- we plunge right into the story and it
never lets up. In it, seventeen year old Miguel meets the girl of his dreams
and finds that he is able to believe- and do- the unbelievable where she is
concerned. He learns some surprising things about himself along the way,
too, and about the hidden depths of the town bully. Very good, compelling
reading.
Dark Phoenix
"whisky-dave" <whisk...@final.front.ear> wrote in message
>
> "Dark Phoenix" <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote in message
> news:9emdnX4-MLNkqsrV...@povn.com...
>> Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism, by Linda M. Scott.
>> Palgrave, 2005
>>
>
>
>
>> In a meticulously researched book, Scott shows that the fashion industry
>> is not, in fact, run by men trying to control women. Fashion magazines
>> and women's magazines have been predominately run by women, not men.
>
> Any mention on the influences of gay men with regard to women's fashion,
> or why so many gay men succeed in women's fashion from designer to
> photography.
> I also wonder when and why hetrosexual women started to listen to gay men
> instructing them in looking good for men.
> I've also wondered whether many women design men's clothes and why we
> don;t
> see or here about lesbian women and there particular skills in whatever
> area.
> Oh and of course just what proportion of feminists are lesbian.
Not a bit about any of that, but it's a book I'd like to see written.
>> The author follows the feminist movement from the first wave back in the
>> mid-1800s up to the present day and parallels that with how the beauty
>> and fashion world was evolving. It's interesting to see how beauty shops
>> came about, and how they have always been owned and run by women. Some of
>> the most successful ad campaigns for beauty treatments have been created
>> by women. These are not dupes of the patriarchy; these are business
>> women making a living and providing things that other women wanted.
>
> Any idea whether these women are just there for the profit, what I mean is
> are they as manipulative as other professions such as car salesmen or
> insurance
> sales in that the product is secondary, the selling of it is the primary
> importance.
Some of them were and are certainly into it just for the profit and are just
as manipulative as the males. The sales campaigns that were so successful
were all about manipulation. The cosmetics counters of today are all about
manipulation. Gift with purchase? An idea of Estee Lauder herself. Whole
lines of treatment that are best used together? Woman's idea.
> Was there any references to the size zero and where that came from,
> men women or clothes designers and who managed to convince some women
> that men prefer stick insects
That's never mentioned, but I'm going to bet it was a woman who started
that, since I swear the majority of men prefer women with curves. Why? I've
no idea. Another book I'd like to see written. That one has been around for
a good while, but it's much worse these days. Dress sizes have been changed
through the years so that women can say "I'm a size 8" (never "I wear a size
8"; they seem to really take that size as their identity) when the year
before those same dimensions had been a szie 10. Used to be that it was only
the waist measurement that mattered.
>
>> The only thing that I was left wondering is *why* some women feel that
>> all women- in particular all feminists- should look alike and be
>> unadorned. The back biting has been intense throughout the history of the
>> women's movement, but why? That would be a book on psychology, though,
>> rather than history. But I hope someone writes it soon. Because it's
>> truly bizarre that people who have spent their lives advocating for
>> freedom for women would wish to impose their own restrictions on them.
>
> Perhaps it's feminist logic the bastard child of female logic ;-)
Hey! I don't want to hear about logic from a member of the sex who designs
their clothing so that intermeshing metal teeth are within a millimeter of
their most sensitive part.
NightMist
<dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>
>Hey! I don't want to hear about logic from a member of the sex who designs
>their clothing so that intermeshing metal teeth are within a millimeter of
>their most sensitive part.
Have you ever heard a guy scream when they get their foreskin caught
in the zip? Wow.
NightMist
--
Nothing has been the same since that house fell on my sister.
Dark Phoenix
"NightMist" <night...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:485cdd20...@news.madbbs.com...
> On Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:05:44 -0700, "Dark Phoenix"
> <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>>
>>Hey! I don't want to hear about logic from a member of the sex who designs
>>their clothing so that intermeshing metal teeth are within a millimeter of
>>their most sensitive part.
>
> Have you ever heard a guy scream when they get their foreskin caught
> in the zip? Wow.
Yeah, actually. That's why the idea came to mind!
Jennie Kermode
> I needn’t have worried. Shlain writes on a level anyone can understand, at
> least until the last few chapters. This big door stop of a book goes through
> the history of artistic style and physics discoveries era by era, from
> ancient Egypt to the 1960s. For each of these eras, he produces facts to
> support his thesis that the art came first, and then was followed by a
> revolution in physics and how the world was viewed.
You made this sound so interesting that I added the book to my
Amazon wish list and then had to hastily remove it again after reading
the rest of your review...
> hard to believe- he states that it wasn’t until the 5th century BC that
> people figured out that there was a past, that there was history, until
> writing was developed and they could write the past down. Blind poets and
> bards be damned, I suppose.
Um, yeah. That's a pretty dubious date for the origin of
writing, too.
I wonder what he makes of all those cultures which have
foundation myths explicitly set in the dim and distant past? What about
the ones which trace their ancestry back to founding figures using
memorised generational lists? (How shocking to realise that this is a
scientific debate in which the Bible might be useful!)
> He claims that radio waves are ‘a form of light’.
Okay. Um, this guy has problems. Did he take too much acid?
> hundred pages. Finally on page 427, he reveals all: “When the vision of the
> revolutionary artist, rooted in the Dionysian right hemisphere, combines
> with precognition, art will prophesy the future conception of reality”
I would hazard a guess that precognition could well reveal the
future. Doesn't avail us much, though, does it?
> All of those artists had extrasensory perception, and the technical ability
> to produce the work that demonstrated what they learned from this ESP? And
> if this is true, did the physicists have ESP, too, or did they work out the
> theories by brain power alone?
I always find it terribly insulting when people strive to
create alternative explanations for the achievements of great artists
and scientists, implying that they enjoyed external aid. It seems as if
the one thing which most human beings are unable to conceive of is the
imagination. Let's have some respect for _human_ ability.
Jennie
--
Jennie Kermode
jen...@innocent.com
www.jenniekermode.com
Jennie Kermode
> ”Fresh Lipstick” is a rebuttal to those feminists who have claimed, since
> the beginning of the first wave of the feminist movement, that fashion and
> beauty are evil things forced on women by men as a method of controlling
> them and that to be a true feminist one must reject such things.
The biggest problem I've always had with this is that feminism
purports to be a liberating force, and a free person can no more be
_obliged_ to reject a thing than to buy into it. (Not that this is the
position of all feminists, of course.) But it strikes me that only a few
individuals in any generation ever really understand how to be free, and
a whole lot of other people strive to imitate them through the use of
rules.
> In a meticulously researched book, Scott shows that the fashion industry is
> not, in fact, run by men trying to control women.
As somene who's worked within it and as a fashion journalist, I
quite agree. Aside from anything else, the usual rule applies: human
beings have too many disparate aims, interests and personality quirks to
be organised enough for a grand conspiracy. That said, more enlightened
feminists argue that there can be such a thing as an accidental
conspiracy, with women potentially as much a part of it as men, with
entrenched cultural expression taking the place of deliberate
manipulation. Personally, whilst I have some sympathy with that, I think
it's far more active in oppresing men than women. The latter have, in
most human cultures, always had the option of beautifying themselves or
not. Men's choices are more often restricted in this regard (at least
where a binary gender system is in place), and in modern western
society intensely so.
> fashion world was evolving. It’s interesting to see how beauty shops came
> about, and how they have always been owned and run by women. Some of the
> most successful ad campaigns for beauty treatments have been created by
> women. These are not dupes of the patriarchy; these are business women
> making a living and providing things that other women wanted.
Historically, of course, beautification ha often been a source
of power for women or an assertive statement on their part. In places
where it is expressly forbidden it is often undertaken in secret so that
women can remind themselves of their own respect for their sexuality.
Many kinds of female sexuality can be emphasised using make-up, not just
a willingness to be objectified. It can be a means of reminding that
world that that sexuality (and sensuality) exosts, that they have a
right to it, and that it is a force to be reckoned with.
> The only thing that I was left wondering is *why* some women feel that all
> women- in particular all feminists- should look alike and be unadorned.
One of the biggest problems women have faced in establishing
equal status within western culture has been the underlying cultural
assumption that the default human body is that of a (white) male. As
such, men have access not only to the masculine gender option but also
to a sort of ungendered, neutral state. It strikes me that the 'alike
and unadorned' state which those feminists aim for represents an attempt
to establish that sort of neutrality. It's a noble aim almost certainly
doomed to failure, as entrenched assumptions about the statement made by
female curves bugger up the whole thing. I honestly think that the best
way for people (in any oppressed group) to establish themselves as full
human beings in the minds of others is to _act_ like full human beings,
regardless of pressures like this, but that's much harder to do. It's
part of our nature to doubt our own instincts and desires when we're in
a habitually submissive position, and only exceptional individuals can
overcome that. However, the more who do, over any given historical
period, the easier it will become for others. As such, I'd say that
the achievement of cultural equality (as opposed to legal equality,
which must be campaigned for with vigour) is an innately slow process.
In the meantime, individuals frustrated by this should remember that
real freedom has nothing to do with other people anyway, and must stem
from a decision which is entirely personal.
Jennie
--
Jennie Kermode
jen...@innocent.com
www.jenniekermode.com
NP: 'Closer to Mario'
Peter H. Coffin
> On 2008-06-09, Dark Phoenix <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>> He claims that radio waves are ‘a form of light’.
>
> Okay. Um, this guy has problems. Did he take too much acid?
Well, it's KIND of true.... It's EM radiation, on a different frequency.
BBC-3's between 90.2 and 92.4 megacycles per second, and what you see
with is between 430 and 740ish tetracycles per second, but the right
kind of eyeball would see BBC-3 as a giant collection of lavalamps.
The rest does seem increasingly wacky to the point of not even being
funny anymore, though.
--
Windows gives you a nice view of clouds so you can't see any potentially
useful boot time messages.
-- Bill Hay in the Monastery
Jennie Kermode
> Well, it's KIND of true.... It's EM radiation, on a different frequency.
> BBC-3's between 90.2 and 92.4 megacycles per second, and what you see
> with is between 430 and 740ish tetracycles per second, but the right
> kind of eyeball would see BBC-3 as a giant collection of lavalamps.
I realise that, but in that context, it's rather misleading. As
you say about the right kind of eye and all, well, that's what had me
thinking first of synaesthesia, given that the rest of the book sounds
as if it might well be acid-influenced.
H Duffy
"Jennie Kermode" <"Jennie Kermode"@triffid.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:slrng5sk79.nj3...@laocoon.triffid.demon.co.uk...
> On 2008-06-17, Dark Phoenix <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>> In a meticulously researched book, Scott shows that the fashion industry
>> is
>> not, in fact, run by men trying to control women.
>
> As somene who's worked within it and as a fashion journalist, I
> quite agree. Aside from anything else, the usual rule applies: human
> beings have too many disparate aims, interests and personality quirks to
> be organised enough for a grand conspiracy. That said, more enlightened
> feminists argue that there can be such a thing as an accidental
> conspiracy, with women potentially as much a part of it as men, with
> entrenched cultural expression taking the place of deliberate
> manipulation. Personally, whilst I have some sympathy with that, I think
> it's far more active in oppresing men than women. The latter have, in
> most human cultures, always had the option of beautifying themselves or
> not.
I'm not sure that's true, actually; in many cultures, both past and present,
women who beautify themselves are considered to be disreputable (a hundred
years ago in England, a woman who wore makeup was considered "fast"), while
those who don't are boring or unattractive or "letting themselves go", and
they pay a certain price for their choices. So yes, they have the choice,
but it's not by any mans a free choice, nor one without consequences. For
example, a study a while back found that in criminal cases in which a woman
has been sexually assaulted, the length of her attacker's sentence depends
on how attractive the victim is perceived to be; if she is perceived to be
unattractive, he gets a lesser sentence, presumably because it's less
unacceptable, or less seriousl, to assault an ugly girl than a pretty one. n
the other hand, another study found that when asked to remember the (female)
victims of violent assaults after a description of the injuries they
suffered, people tended to dsescribe those worst injured as being less
attractive than those with lesser injuries; their memoriy of the physical
appearance of the victims was affected by what had been inflicted on them.
> Men's choices are more often restricted in this regard (at least
> where a binary gender system is in place), and in modern western
> society intensely so.
Again, I'm not sure that this is true either; in most historical Western
cultures, it was quite as acceptable for men to dandify themselves (and I
use that term deliberately) as it was for women; in fact, more so in many
societies, because men are allowed to be "fast", whereas women aren't. So a
Recency buck could prettify himself with fabulous (and impractical) clothes,
makeup, and wigs, and be thought of as the very height of fashion, and have
the ladies (and no doubt some of the gentlemen too) swooning over him,
whereas a woman who did the same was, well, probably an actress.
It's true that in our modern Western culture, it's considered "unmanly" for
a man to wear makeup (although even that is changing a fair bit now, at
least within certain subcultures), or to take too obvious a pride in his
appearance, but I think there are still plenty of opportunities for men to
beautify themselves. Look at David Beckham, for example; he's constantly
experimenting with hairstyles and fashions, he obviously p[ays a very great
deal of time and attention to the way his body looks, and he's rarely
accused of being anything less than utterly manly, and indeed one of the
world's "most beautiful people". The same is true of his wife, of course;
the difference is that if they both go out on an off-day with unwashed hair
and scruffy jeans, he'll be considered rugged and manly, and she'll be
considered dog-rough.
>> fashion world was evolving. It's interesting to see how beauty shops came
>> about, and how they have always been owned and run by women. Some of the
>> most successful ad campaigns for beauty treatments have been created by
>> women. These are not dupes of the patriarchy; these are business women
>> making a living and providing things that other women wanted.
>
> Historically, of course, beautification ha often been a source
> of power for women or an assertive statement on their part. In places
> where it is expressly forbidden it is often undertaken in secret so that
> women can remind themselves of their own respect for their sexuality.
> Many kinds of female sexuality can be emphasised using make-up, not just
> a willingness to be objectified. It can be a means of reminding that
> world that that sexuality (and sensuality) exosts, that they have a
> right to it, and that it is a force to be reckoned with.
I'm interested in the claim that makeup can emphasise sexuality without
objectifying it; could you expand on that?
H
whisky-dave
"Peter H. Coffin" <hel...@ninehells.com> wrote in message
news:slrng5smrn....@abyss.ninehells.com...
> On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:39:09 +0100, Jennie Kermode wrote:
>> On 2008-06-09, Dark Phoenix <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>>> He claims that radio waves are 'a form of light'.
>>
>> Okay. Um, this guy has problems. Did he take too much acid?
>
> Well, it's KIND of true.... It's EM radiation, on a different frequency.
As far as we know, or the methods we use to describe them are the same
as in frequency and wave length. So that's two senses sight and sound
we use the same measuring units to describe them.
But I can;t think of a way we measure smell or touch in the same way.
And then there's this which I can't quite decide on, whether it's art or
technology. :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/sci_nat_enl_1213979908/html/1.stm
whisky-dave
"Jennie Kermode" <"Jennie Kermode"@triffid.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:slrng5sk79.nj3...@laocoon.triffid.demon.co.uk...
> One of the biggest problems women have faced in establishing
> equal status within western culture has been the underlying cultural
> assumption that the default human body is that of a (white) male.
I wonder how much that has to do with the 'fact' that God is not only male
but white too. ;-)
But then again I've heard that pagen and pre-christian beliefs held women
with greater regard as they were the birth gives (almost a star trek
reference)
and women played a very important role in those societies.
> I honestly think that the best
> way for people (in any oppressed group) to establish themselves as full
> human beings in the minds of others is to _act_ like full human beings,
> regardless of pressures like this, but that's much harder to do.
But we also have the inbuilt tendency to trust those that are like us or
agree with us and casting out those that are different and that seems to
stem from something within.
>It's
> part of our nature to doubt our own instincts and desires when we're in
> a habitually submissive position,
I wonder whether humans are born that way or whether they become that way
due to whatever happens in the first few years of childhood.
>and only exceptional individuals can
> overcome that. However, the more who do, over any given historical
> period, the easier it will become for others.
Unless of course those with stonger wills and sense of all knowing,
end up supressing the weaker.
> As such, I'd say that
> the achievement of cultural equality (as opposed to legal equality,
> which must be campaigned for with vigour) is an innately slow process.
But which came first the KFC bargin bucket or the egg.
> In the meantime, individuals frustrated by this should remember that
> real freedom has nothing to do with other people anyway, and must stem
> from a decision which is entirely personal.
The eye of the beer holder is controlled by the mind,
but what controls the mind later on. :-)
Peter H. Coffin
>
> "Peter H. Coffin" <hel...@ninehells.com> wrote in message
> news:slrng5smrn....@abyss.ninehells.com...
>> On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:39:09 +0100, Jennie Kermode wrote:
>>> On 2008-06-09, Dark Phoenix <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>>>> He claims that radio waves are 'a form of light'.
>>>
>>> Okay. Um, this guy has problems. Did he take too much acid?
>>
>> Well, it's KIND of true.... It's EM radiation, on a different frequency.
>
>
> As far as we know, or the methods we use to describe them are the same
> as in frequency and wave length. So that's two senses sight and sound
> we use the same measuring units to describe them.
Don't even go there, dave. We already did this one.
--
'Cluids' - def: "Fluids having the effect of restoring or imparting
Clue. Eg; beer, coffee, sulphuric acid, etc."
-- Lionel, in the Monastery
Dark Phoenix
Bellairs is known mainly as a writer of young adult fiction, but this book
was written before he started with that genre. While this
fantasy/horror/humor novel could certainly be enjoyed by young adults, it
was aimed at adults.
Wizards Prospero and Roger Bacon need to save the world from a Dire Evil.
While a short book, it covers their epic quest over hundreds of miles.
Reading it, it kept making me think of Tolkien; after reading it, I
discovered that Bellairs had indeed been trying to write a LOTR inspired
quest fantasy. But while he might have been inspired by JRR, his sense of
humor and a touch of horror save it from being derivative. I found it a very
enjoyable can’t-put-it-down piece, but I was saddened that I didn’t find it
scary as some people have. Still worth seeking out.
Dark Phoenix
Research, by Pierce J. Howard, Ph.D.. Bard Press, 2006
I don’t think I’ve ever had it take me as long to finish a book as it did
this one. It’s a thousand pages, and covers both the neurological and
psychological aspects of the brain. Howard starts with how the brain is put
together and from there goes to how different forms of brain damage affect
how one functions and how male and female brains are different. Then it’s on
to how your brain ages, and how to keep it from doing so too fast. How males
and females *think* differently. Different learning styles. A very large
section of the book is devoted to the workplace and how to get different
types of people to work their best.
It can be a very useful book, and the author has updated it twice now. One
very helpful thing he has done is put in all the sources he’s used, so you
can find out more- the book is very wide but fairly shallow, and these
sources allow the reader to easily find more on the subjects that interest
them. I think this book would be better used by dipping into the sections
that interest one, rather than reading every page like I did, because there
was an awful lot in it I already knew (because he doesn’t go very deep into
any section) and a great deal that didn’t particularly interest me- namely
the workplace sections, because I’ll not be hiring or managing employees
anytime soon.
Dark Phoenix
Paula, by Isabel Allende. Harper Collins, 1994
Allende wrote this autobiography while her daughter Paula was in a coma
following an attack of porphyria, both as something to keep herself busy and
because she felt Paula should know the family history. It’s not just the
author’s biography, though- it’s also that of her family and, in some ways,
that of her home country of Chile.
Allende spares herself nothing. She reveals her weaknesses and failings just
as she does other people’s. Her life has some of the magic that ‘House of
the Spirits’ does- a clairvoyant grandmother, precognitive dreams and
visions. It becomes obvious that her family and personal history inspire her
novels; as she says, her maternal grandfather had enough adventures himself
to make a lifetime of stories. Woven through this journey through the past
are Allende’s fears for her daughters, the efforts at healing her, and her
final acceptance of the inevitability of Paula’s death. A moving tale of
love, loss, revolution and strength.
Dark Phoenix
Hailed by one reviewer as ‘the new Oliver Sacks’, I expected Broks to write
about odd neurological cases and what caused them. There are some of these,
but a lot of the book is Broks reflections on consciousness and where it is
seated. How, he asks, does the physical brain, that gelatinous mass, create
personality out of electro-chemical synapses? He even includes some dreams
he’s had on the subject, but sadly comes up with no answers. He can say what
he thinks consciousness is not much easier than he can say what it is.
Interesting, but not really what the book is billed as.
Dark Phoenix
In Dark Age Ahead, Jacobs describes her take on the decay of civilization in
the US and Canada. She makes strong points. She marks out five ‘pillars’ of
civilization that are going downhill.
The first is community and family. This is not the usual cry of “ZOMG we’re
not like Ozzie and Harriet anymore!” but a reasoned look at how families
these days are more focused on consumerism than nurturance, thus putting the
family in debt, and how so many people within a community choose fiscal
advantage over the good of the community at large. Living in a small
town/rural area as I do, I get to see these things up close and personal.
Magnify these problems by 10 to get a small American city and it begins to
look insolvable.
Higher education is the second pillar. Jacobs claims that universities are
sacrificing true education to credentialing as many students as possible.
And it’s certainly true that curriculums have been dumbed down so that more
people can pass courses with less effort. Add this to the trend of requiring
less courses outside of the students major and you have a lot of people who
don’t know much about anything but their one small focus. No wonder when
they go out into the world they don’t see the big picture. They’ve been
taught not to!
‘Bad science’ is the third problem the author tackles. Her biggest complaint
is that economics are running the show. For instance, when economics runs
medical research, drugs and treatments that will only help a few people- or
will be inexpensive or unpatentable- are ignored in favor of big, expensive
technologies and drugs that will be sold to millions. (not that I’m saying
that those big technologies and millions of people should be ignored,
either, but there could be a little more balance) True enough, but under bad
science I’d also put the trend in the US of allowing religion to influence
the teaching of science. Scientific enquiry comes to an end when the answer
is “Because the Bible/Koran/the Goddess said so”.
Bad government and it’s catering to the special interest groups is the
fourth issue; we’re all well acquainted with that. Whoever gives the best
vacation trip to the Congressman gets their vote rather than the Congressman
looking out for the best interests of their constituents. Self policing by
the ‘learned’ professions is the last pillar, but I’m not sure there is a
real decay there as it being something that never really existed.
All Jacobs’ points are valid and well made. What I find sad is that she
never really gives any solutions. I’m not sure anyone *could* offer
solutions, really.
Dag
> Add this to the trend of requiring
> less courses outside of the students major and you have a lot of people who
> don’t know much about anything but their one small focus. No wonder when
> they go out into the world they don’t see the big picture. They’ve been
> taught not to!
Well this describes me, so I'm going to try to defend this trend. The
world doesn't need more generalists who can see all kinds of "big
pictures", but lack the skills to actually do anything. I spent 4 years
taking basically nothing but math courses (plus a course in logic, a
little bit of programming and some economics). And it really did take
those 4 years do get general grasp of mathematics plus a reasonable
understanding of my specific area. I could spend another 4 years taking
nothing but math courses and still have plenty left to learn. 4 years
is not a lot of time when all is said and done, and if you're going to
learn something useful in that time then you better get your head down
and focus. People should have gotten a basic general education from
high school. If people have interests outside their narrow field (and
lets face it, most people do) they'll pick it up on their own. If they
don't, then forcing them to take courses in stuff they have no interest
in is hardly going to help.
Note that I'm not saying having interests in a wide area is in any way
bad, but that should be your responsibility once you leave high school.
University should be about teaching you a lot about one thing, not a
little about everything.
Dag
Dark Phoenix
Tennessee Press, 1997
The Rainbow Family is a very loosely defined group that meets every year,
usually on US National Forest land. There are a lot Rainbows in other
parts of the world, and lots of other gatherings, but this book is a study
of the US annual meeting.
The meeting is about love, peace and equality. The Family has no
hierarchical organization; there are no leaders and no one speaks for the
family. This aspect is almost impossible for bureaucracies like the Forest
Service to conceive of and this creates problems with getting the permits
for the gathering, since *someone* has to sign them, and there is no one
person that *can* sign for the group. In the group, a person can only sign
or speak for themselves.
It takes a lot of labor to pull off a gathering. Five to ten thousand (yes,
that many) people will show up, some for the labor of setting up right
through final tear down and clean up, some for just the gathering itself,
some only for a day or two. But none of this labor is assigned. People
volunteer to do all this shitter digging, cooking, supply wrangling, water
bringing and cleaning up. . A fair number of attendees work harder during
the Gathering than they do at their regular lives. Despite the fact that the
Forest Service hates to see them coming, they are forced to admit that the
Rainbow Family not only leaves a site cleaner than other groups tend to,
they frequently leave it in better shape than it was right before the
Gathering. They have refined the science of the shitter to where flies and
disease are not a problem. In the face of no refrigeration, food borne
disease is virtually unknown. Alcohol is restricted to the ‘A Camp’ on the
outskirts of the main camp to keep violence down. Hard drugs are
discouraged. Except for passing around the “Magic Hat” for donations for
food and medical supplies, no money changes hands for the duration of the
Gathering; if something is not freely given, it’s bartered for.
Huh? Holy Haight-Ashbury, Batman, it’s the 60s!
Except that the Gathering didn’t start until the 70s, and while there are a
good number of former 60s hippies, the largest demographic is the younger
set, people in their 20s, proving that peace and love didn’t die off when
Nehru jackets became unfashionable (about 5 minutes after they became
fashionable.) Many of the people resent being called hippies.
Is it perfect? Of course not. As in any group, some people don’t pull their
weight. Drainbows are a problem- people who just take and don’t give.
Blissninnies are those who are so high, either on love or on pot, that they
get nothing done. Law enforcement is constantly hassling them. Sometimes the
violence of A Camp finds it’s way into the main camp- or runs into problems
with law enforcement. Crime within the camp itself is very low; with so many
people around watching out for each other, it’s a very safe place. They are
very quick to notice anyone who is aggressive sexually and anyone with an
unhealthy interest in the many children.
One issue I have with the book is Niman’s constant assertion that the
Rainbow Family is a sustained intentional community. Well, not really. It’s
been sustained for years, but only for a few weeks at a time. The rest of
the year, the Rainbows live their ordinary lives, having to deal with filthy
money- making a living, paying taxes, affording health care (free during the
encampment), feeding themselves. While local businesses frequently donate
food to the Gathering, most folks aren’t going to donate food to a person on
their own trying to live without money, or continue giving food to 5000
people for years on end. Frictions that arise among people can be ignored
for a couple of weeks; if they had to live in proximity for a couple of
years, arguments and even violence can easily erupt. Drainbows would be
unsupportable in the long term- not to mention resented, no matter now
blissful the others feel at first. Much as I’d like to believe in the dream,
it just couldn’t survive in the long term.
Intentional communities have long fascinated me, and this is one I’d like to
visit someday. Because of it’s not being based around a charismatic leader
or a religion, it’s not cultish. It does not require *anything* of it’s
attendees, while some communes require the pooling of all resources. I’d
love to see how this group works first hand.
Dark Phoenix
French literature expert Setterfield’s first effort reads like it was the
love child of Shirley Jackson, Victoria Holt and V.C. Andrews. And an
attractive child it is. I found it to be a can’t-put-it-down feast of gothic
escapism.
Beloved writer Vida Winter has told many different stories of her life over
her six decades of fame, all obviously made up. Now, in her old age, she
summons Margaret Lea, a young bookseller and writer who has written a
biography of a set of twins, to tell the truth to before she dies. The wary
Lea sets out to investigate what Winter is telling her, and discovers that
there is more to the story than Winter is telling her- and Winter’s tale is
outlandish enough.
I had a couple of problems with the book, but it’s impossible for me to
discuss them without giving spoilers. But the problems aren’t enough to stop
me from recommending this novel if you like crumbling ruins and snowed in
heroines.
(don't worry, I'm caught up for awhile now)
Dark Phoenix
"Dag" <dwastberg@g_REMOVE_mail.com> wrote in message
news:g6387...@news2.newsguy.com...
True enough. I'd not like to think that my doctor spent his time studying
underwater basket weaving. But we do need *some* people who can see the
whole picture. Without this, it seems to me that people will be pursuing
their work without an idea of what it's effects are in the world as a whole.
I can see that a person doing pure research wouldn't need this, but IMHO
someone who is making policy really shouldn't have a narrow point of view.
TenshiKurai9
> People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Culture, by Michael I. Niman. University of
> Tennessee Press, 1997
Did the book mention crusties? My boyfriend has told me that there
can and will be crusties camping-out on the outskirts of Rainbow
Gatherings.
-TenshiKurai9, and are quite possibly the children of Rainbows.
Dark Phoenix
"TenshiKurai9" <Tenshi...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2950e1d0-5b27-40b2...@34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
No mention of crusties, no. Some homeless folks do go to the Gatherings,
though, but the ones Niman mentioned were actually integrated into the
regular camp.
A Post-Fascinet Reconstruction
saying, but in the end she became very prescriptive about things.
Credentialism is one such problem. It's a major problem, and part of
why a bachelor's degree is worth less today than it was ten years ago.
Fifteen years ago, I was dismayed when people talked about themselves
as a product produced by the college.
It makes sense as far as engineering and business degrees go. Still,
if that's really the case, then these degrees should be conferred by
special institutions, said one friend. There was no salient difference
between a liberal arts degree and a business degree said the friend
who'd suggested it. Both suggestions came from philosophy majors I
hung out with (and dated), and neither was being mischievous.
But with some hindsight, it seems to me that the credentialism isn't
completely wrong. Obviously, I wanted the credential (as I told a
professor, "Of course I want the degree, if I didn't I'd just read the
books myself;" he thought I'd just been having fun). Furthermore, the
very fact that so many people decide to go to college just to get a
job, even classics majors, means that their degree should mean
something in the workforce.
That means that the idea that education "completes the individual" is
the patrician notion of the university as a glorified finishing school
projected from the 19th century wealthy on the 21st century
bureaucrat. It means that the idea that education teaches people how
to confront and solve any problem needs, at minimum, strong revision.
-F
A Post-Fascinet Reconstruction
Jacobs, as I recall,* has a particular model of the college in mind.
She discusses the wonder and inspiration she felt while interacting
with her professors in the small college atmosphere, and so on. This
helped her open her mind metastasize into what it became. There's a
lot in the middle, but the basic gist is: therefore, everyone ought to
go through the same experience she did. Otherwise, people will
graduate from the university and become city planners, and no one
wants that.
The nice thing about the U.S. is that the whole "how should we educate
people" is moot. If you want to go to a small college with high
standards and a good general curriculum, head off to Beloit. If you
want to get a serious education as an engineer, Arizona State is right
for you. For the vast majority of kids who are going to college--just
going to college to avoid work for a few years and get a better job
when they do (and thus this includes would-be lawyers and doctors)--
any old NCAA division A-I school will do. They're all available.
I've seen this debate elsewhere. I think it's particularly pernicious
of college professors to presume that they can help their students
build their characters. After all, half of them went to graduate
school because they really couldn't think of anything else to do with
their lives. That is, most college professors are college professors
just because they never gained any character, and now, they'll never
have to.
* This is very frustrating. I know I reviewed this book somewhere,
but I can't find it for reference.
Dag
> On Jul 21, 7:05 pm, Dag <dwastberg@g_REMOVE_mail.com> wrote:
>> Dark Phoenix wrote:
>> Note that I'm not saying having interests in a wide area is in any way
>> bad, but that should be your responsibility once you leave high school.
>> University should be about teaching you a lot about one thing, not a
>> little about everything.
>>
>
> Jacobs, as I recall,* has a particular model of the college in mind.
> She discusses the wonder and inspiration she felt while interacting
> with her professors in the small college atmosphere, and so on.
I fail to see why this is in any way the antithesis to becoming a
specialist. You could have wonderful discussions with your topology
professor about how his subject ties into probability theory and the
professor of numerical PDEs could have long debates with the abstract
algebra professor as to whether or not numerical PDEs should even count
as proper mathematics.
> There's a
> lot in the middle, but the basic gist is: therefore, everyone ought to
> go through the same experience she did. Otherwise, people will
> graduate from the university and become city planners, and no one
> wants that.
In my admittedly limited experience, most people who end up working in
any way connect to city planning would have greatly benefited taking
more courses connected to city planning and much less fluff.
> I've seen this debate elsewhere. I think it's particularly pernicious
> of college professors to presume that they can help their students
> build their characters.
College should in my most humble opinion not be a finishing school.
Character should be learned elsewhere. Then again I was 25 when I
actually got around to college properly (I dropped out once when 19) so
my college experience is admittedly not the norm.
Dag
A Post-Fascinet Reconstruction
Mine either. People who want to teach the youngsters how to flower
into wonderful people seem to all come from that tree.
I've thought quite a bit that people should be banned from college
until they can, in the US at least, drink. A few years out of
secondary school would do wonders for their own appreciation of what
their doing, and when they graduate, what their options are.
I'm against the tide of history again. Even though about a third of
people under forty have four year college degrees or more, some
people* want to send everybody to college.
-F
Dark Phoenix
Hunt’s first novel is a vast tale of Dickensian steampunk with some
political comment thrown in for good measure. Ancient gods, subterranean
cities, aerostats, fairies, Loas, communists, religious nuts, sentient
steam-powered robots, gruesome fates, bloody violence and, of course,
orphans fill this ambitious novel. It is, perhaps, a little too ambitious.
The breakneck pace never lets up for a moment and new characters and ideas
are introduced at every turn. Things get a bit jumbled at times, especially
when the big battle starts and one tries to figure out who is where and what
side they are on. Some characters seem to be a little too all powerful for a
proper story. And the Court of the Air from the title? They actually have
very little to do in the story.
But it’s a fun read. It kept me enthralled, wondering what the heck could
possibly happen next. My favorite thing about the book is the race of Steam
Men, the steam powered metal people with souls. They are, in fact, the only
people from this book I’d find good company to live in! They may be tin men,
but they have hearts. Take this book as one of your vacation books and
really escape.
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In Wild Nights!, Oates presents stories based on the deaths of five well
known authors, some more loosely based than others. Each story is also
written in the style of the author portrayed. The writers she uses for this
literary game are Poe, Dickinson, Samuel Clemons, Henry James, and
Hemingway.
Hemingway’s story is perhaps the one done best, but it’s my least favorite.
I don’t really care much for Hemingway, and Oates gets his style spot on.
The tale starts with his suicide, the days leading up to it following, as he
stumbles about, ill both physically and mentally.
Henry James spends the time in his story falling in love with young wounded
soldiers in WW 1, and one is never sure if he is hallucinating or not. In
the end he surely is; but how much of the first part was real? This is the
most touching of the tales. The old man, hurt by the injuries he sees on
those young bodies, worshipping every bit of them, even their gross
exudations. Hurt by the prejudice against gay men. And is the ending happy
or not?
The story about Clemons uses a fact that most of us are unaware of: in his
old age, he ‘collected’ young girls, ages 10 to 16. He corresponded with
them and called them his ‘Angelfish Club’. They spent time at his house and
went places with him. No, this wasn’t an early version of Neverland; they
were properly chaperoned at all times by parents or their maids. This tale
gives one possible explanation for this behavior.
Emily Dickinson is given a science fiction take; the personality of the poet
is put into a ľ life size robot, which is wholly owned by a couple. Neither
husband or wife get out of this what they think they will; robot Emily turns
out to have a will of her own.
Of course, I liked Poe’s turn best. It shows tinges of Lovecraft, which
makes me like it even better, even as it renders it further from Poe’s
style. Great fun. Oates is at her best when she goes all gothic like this.
If you’re a fan of even one of these authors and like literary games, pick
this one up.
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‘Sum of Our Days’ takes up Allende’s story following the December, 1992
death of her daughter, where her book ‘Paula’ left off. Allende likes to
have family around her, even living in her house, and if her blood family
isn’t enough, she’ll make family out of her friends. She worries incessantly
over this family, schemes for their own good, moves mountains for them and
*usually* turns out to be right.
This book isn’t just about family, though. There is a fair amount here about
her spiritual life and how she goes about her writing. Her own life contains
some of the magical realism that seeps into her books. Paula’s spirit still
hangs around the house, Allende’s dreams are prophetic, fortune tellers are
right on the money with her future.
Allende is unsparing with herself. Her faults come through just as loud and
clear as her assets do. This book is a marvelous look at her life which,
although pain and death enter into it, in the end revolves around love and
survival and helping each other.
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Tales of sex and horror? What could be better? They are, after all, two of
my favorite things. But sadly most of the stories didn’t really make me feel
either horrified or like I’d read erotica. Most of the stories are good and
interesting, but not really moving. There are a couple of exceptions: the
creepy build up in ‘Mr. Wrong’ had me going “Don’t drive the car!!!!!”, and
‘Again’ filled me with such horror- probably one of the scariest stories I’ve
read- and then, at the end, such laughter that it’s easily the best of the
bunch. And, oddly, it’s by Ramsey Campbell, a writer who’s novels I haven’t
much cared for. All in all, not exceptional horror, but many of the stories
are very *odd* and worth reading for that.
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This slim volume was de Lint’s first novel for young adults. The
protagonists are 16 year old cousins. Nina is the ‘perfect’ girl- smart,
trendy, friendly. Ashley, who has lived with Nina’s family since Ash’s
mother was killed three years before (and her father wants nothing to do
with her), skips school, plays heavy metal, reads books on magic and
occultism -and probably wears black eyeliner- why not round out the
stereotype. Sound like an after-school special? It is, kind of.
I’d probably like anything de Lint wrote, so I enjoyed this one, but you can
tell it’s an early work. The characters aren’t fleshed out enough to be
‘real’. Nina is kind of boring. There are times when the action is delayed
as it wouldn’t be in life while the person doing the action talks about what’s
going on- as in, delaying a knife strike to say why he’s doing it. The
lessons that Ashley learns are served up with a heavier hand that the author
usually uses.
Is it worth reading? Oh, hell yes! It’s a Newford story! It’s de Lint’s
special blend of urban life, Celtic fairy, Native American spirits, and the
worlds between. And while the lessons may be glopped on with a gravy ladle
this time, they are still lessons worth thinking about.
Dark Phoenix
Spalding’s sprawling biography of Vanessa Bell, one of the mainstays of the
Bloomsbury Group, has been painstakingly researched. Spalding was given
access to unpublished papers and letters, which adds considerably to our
knowledge of Bell, who had heretofore been largely a silent cipher.
Sister to Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell devoted her life to painting, both
fine art and decorative. Bloomsbury (the neighborhood where a lot of the
members of the Group lived for a time) had new ideas about art, writing and
living. They led Bohemian lifestyles, shocking for the time. Bell remained
married to her husband, Clive, until death separated them, but gave up
living together full time after a few years. She had an affair with Roger
Fry and they remained lifelong friends, and then lived with Duncan Grant for
the rest of her life. Since Grant was primarily homosexual, this involved
having his lovers live with them, too. Grant and Bell’s physical affair only
lasted a few years- and produced a daughter that Clive claimed and raised as
his own- but they remained very much in love for life.
While Bell loved her three children very much, she doesn’t seem to have been
much involved in their early upbringing. The family always had a nurse or
governess so that Bell could have time to paint. (Having a governess wasn’t
unusual for the time, but having the governess so the mother could work was)
When the children were grown and lived apart, however, she sent sometimes
daily letters to them to keep in touch.
Over Bell’s lifetime, her painting was at first new and startling, then
became very popular, and finally came to be considered old fashioned as
Abstractionism and Cubism came to the fore. Her style changed little through
the many years of her working life.
Spalding includes many details of Bell’s life in this book. Unfortunately, a
few of the details seem rather meaningless- her daughter had a toothache,
another of the Group moved house. Despite having access to Bell’s letters,
Spalding has described a woman who is *still* largely a mystery. We know
*what* she did pretty much every day of her life, but we don’t know the why.
Did Bell keep her feelings to herself this much? Did all her letters deal
with physical detail? Part of the problem may be because this biography is
25 years old, and some of the people she wrote to and about were still alive
them (and a few are today), and so those letters could not be used. But it
would be fascinating to know what she felt about some things, like how she
came to decide that keeping Duncan Grant close to her was worth putting up
with his lovers in her house, most of whom she didn’t care for at all. The
tension in the house must have been incredible. Did she really keep this to
herself? Did she unburden herself to no one? One wishes to see an updated
edition.
Dark Phoenix
“The Painted Kiss” is a fictionalized biography of Emilie Floge, who was the
life long friend and probably mistress of artist Gustav Klimt. While no one
knows for sure what their true relationship was, Klimt’s dying word was
‘Emilie’. Mistress, muse, friend, business associate- whatever she was, she
was important to him.
Hickey’s novel tells the story in first person, from Emilie’s first meeting
with Klimt when she is 12 years old, to her old age during WW 2. The
language is lush and ornate, the perfect way to tell a story set in fin de
siecle Vienna. It is also very sensual- the people’s bodies, the ever
present pastries and drinks, the fabrics that Emilie works with are all
vividly described. There is constant tension in the story between Klimt and
Emilie and his various mistresses. The story line about Emilie and her
sister’s fashion house appealed to me a great deal- how the salon was
decorated by Klimt’s avant garde designer friend, the preparations that went
into setting it up (those readers who are not interested in fashion and
textiles may very well find these parts boring).
If you like historical fiction, this short first novel is a winner.
Dark Phoenix
Harper & Row, 1988
Not a narrative but a collection of facts, showing how truly screwed up most
Americans view of their own history is- and by ‘most Americans’ I include
the writers of history text books. When one goes back and examines original
documents, it’s amazing what one finds. Independence was not declared on
July 4th. Paul Bunyan was originally an advertising gimmick for a lumber
company, putting him in the same league as Mr. Clean or the Energizer Bunny.
People did not receive a better education in the good old days than they get
now. In fact, the good old days were anything but good- there was much more
poverty back then.
A number of the items in the book were things I’ve known for ages, but it
was nice to see when and how the error (lie) occurred. Shenkman cites the
original sources, so that one knows that his version isn’t just another set
of lies. Everyone taking American history should read this book.
Dark Phoenix
House, 2007
The subtitle of this book is “How Body Maps in Your Brain Help You Do
(Almost) Everything Better”. It’s all about cutting edge neuroscience,
written to be understood by the intelligent layman, but not dumbed down.
Most people know that if you stimulate certain places in the brain, it will
feel as if a certain part of the body is being stimulated. This is the most
basic of body map. What most people don’t realize is that there is more than
one body map- several, in fact- and that they are plastic. Er, in the sense
of being mutable, that is, not in the polyethylene sense. Parts of your body
that get a lot of use get to use larger parts of the brain; if a body part
is unused it’s part of the map gets smaller. If you have a skill, going over
the actions in your mind can have almost as much of a training effect as
physically performing them. But only if you *have* the skill- you can’t
learn a new physical skill by going over it in your head.
Body maps will enlarge to encompass tools that you use frequently- if you
use a screwdriver, your map thinks it’s part of your body. When you drive a
car, your map grows to include it, so that you sense the feel of the road
under the tires. I’ve sensed this for years, and thought I was nuts, since
no one else ever spoke of it! One thing they don’t mention that I wonder
about is if a body map grows to encompass a computer, or a computer program,
that one uses a lot. The book goes on to propose possible body map bases
causes of anorexia, obsessive plastic surgery and ‘the yips’- a golfer’s
malady that involves tics that make playing the way they learned nearly
impossible (which also afflicts musicians, conductors and many others, but
it isn’t called the yips then).
It’s fascinating stuff. I’ve seen some, but not nearly all, of it before in
other books and magazines. One thing that I found a little annoying was that
the book supposedly will tell you how to do ‘almost anything better’ using
body map knowledge. This may be true, but most of it isn’t home DIY stuff;
you need a lab and MRIs, PETs, transcranial magnets and other things not
found in the average home workshop to do a lot of it. Still, it was a great
read and I hope to see more about this in the future.
Dark Phoenix
Pulitzer Prize winner Taylor has set these stories in the middle and upper
classes of Tennessee. The tales are all dark; they all deal with love and
family relations. The first stories- particularly the first one, Oracle-
deal with supernatural meddling. The further one reads in the book, the less
supernatural the stories become, which may be why I loved the first few
tales but liked the stories less the further I read. Oracle is the longest
story and the one I liked best; it keeps you guessing all the way through:
who is controlling who? To what end? In the other tales, the supernatural
element is left in the realm of ‘well, was that real?’; in Oracle, there is
no doubting it’s reality. By putting it first in the collection, it makes
the reader more open to thinking ‘well, yes, I think it *was* real’ to the
later tales. A good read.
Dark Phoenix
This is a very hard book to review without putting out spoilers. Part old
fashioned space opera, part Sophie’s World for quantum physics, part social
satire, part coming of age story and part alternate earth saga, Stephenson’s
latest opus is a huge book with a lot of ideas woven into it.
Narrated by Fra (Brother) Erasmus, an 18 year old avout (a member of a
concent, which is a cloistered community of nonreligious thinkers), the tale
starts slowly (perhaps too slowly), describing the concent and how it works.
Set apart from the everyday world, working without *most* forms of advanced
technology and emphasizing the use of the human brain, the concents are
divided into groups that are confined for either a year at a time, a decade
at a time, a century or a millennium. They grow their own food, make their
own wine, paper is grown on trees (using leaves rather than rendering pulp).
They spend most of their time in learned dialogue. But every once and a
while, a Fra or Suur is called out of the concent without warning, for some
mystery errand or quest via the rite of Voco. This happens once early in the
story. The next time the bell ringers – for rites are serenaded by bells
rung by ropes in the traditional manner- ring something unusual, Erasmus
assumes it’s another Voco. All are shocked to find it’s Anathem being rung
for Erasmus’ favorite teacher and father substitute, Orolo, removing him
forever from the concent and declaring him dead to the avout. But Erasmus
knows that Orolo may have been onto something happening in the skies and has
set out to find out what it is... and it’s something major, possibly more
major than anything the world has ever faced before- including the nuclear
wars it’s been through.
Other avout are called out in Voco and finally one day Erasmus hears his own
name called. Cast out into the saecular world of commerce, religion,
megastores, crime and violence with no resources, Erasmus has a quest to
fulfil that takes him halfway around the world and back, in company with his
sibling, some Kung Fu type avout, a religious nut or two, and a member of
the Itta- people who use celphones and the internet. The pace picks up as
the novel goes until things start occurring at breakneck speed in a race to
avert disaster.
While the use of the first person narrator works well to convey the
startling world into which Erasmus finds himself thrown, it also serves to
dilute some of the tension-since Erasmus is alive to tell the tale,
obviously the worst has been averted. But I suspect that the novel would
have lost something if the first person wasn’t employed; the love that
Erasmus bears for his friends is a vital part of the whole.
At times the story bogs down while the characters discus philosophy or
quantum physics to explain what is, or will be, going on. I know this is so
we’ll see how some fantastic things might actually be possible, but they
seem like speed bumps and it always takes the story awhile to build up speed
again. And I don’t quite understand why, when they have access to the most
advanced minds in the world in the form of the Thousanders, they choose a
group of teenagers to organize and implement the plan to save the world. But
I consider those pretty minor quibbles with a story I enjoyed hugely. I’m
quite eager to see what other’s will think of this novel.
And I’m sure it’ll be a major motion picture soon.
Dark Phoenix
Recently, someone said that Murdoch’s characters were hard to like. And I
find that’s true. Her characters are all very flawed, very human. And I find
that while I don’t like them a great deal, I do end up caring about them,
flaws and all. Rather as I do my friends and family, flaws and all.
Nuns and Soldiers is full of flawed characters. The ‘nuns’ are Anne, who
truly was a nun who has left her cloistered community, and Gertrude, Anne’s
friend from college days. Gertrude’s husband is dying as the novel starts,
an event which will propel her from a sort of cloistered life to that of a
single woman once again. The soldiers- well, I think all the characters are
the soldiers, marching along in life.
Everyone loves Gertrude, but she’s one of the most self centered humans in
fiction. She demands (sweetly) that Anne stay with her forever; when Anne
makes plans to do so, Gertrude starts another relationship and ignores her.
That relationship hits rocky shores; Gertrude demands Anne’s full attention
again. Other characters fall into Gertrude’s orbit and stay there, happy
with crumbs of her attention. Gertrude gets all this love by being genuinely
sweet to people; she’s not a tantrum throwing attention whore. She’s
generous and concerned about friends and strangers.
While the relationship trials of Gertrude and her group almost fall to the
‘romantic comedy’ level at times, the book sustains itself. I couldn’t help
but root for some of the characters. The ending could have been better, but
all in all I recommend the book.
Dark Phoenix
The Spiritualist, by Megan Chance. Three Rivers Press, 2008
Evie is the (gasp!) educated daughter of a private investigator father and a
mother who was considered a mad woman because she heard spirits. In 1856 New
York, she is living a ‘perfect’ life as the neglected wife of one of the
elite rich set. At least she is until her husband disappears the night of a
seance, and is then found murdered. Accused by her in-laws of the murder,
most of society shuts her out. The only friends she as left are the group
from the séance, and her husband’s business partner, who accuses the medium.
Bailed out of jail by the wealthy society matron who is the head of the
séance group, Evie is placed in the society matron’s home to await trial-
which also happens to be where the medium is living.
Seduction, investigation, red herrings, vengeful spirits and a grieving
mother all weave together to create an interesting read. Sadly, I figured
out the real bad guy- and the murdered man’s secret- well before the end,
but there were still surprises enough to keep me happily reading.
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Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894) was an American novelist and short
story writer who moved to Europe after her mother’s death. She took with her
a letter of introduction to Henry James. At first unwilling to meet her (he
had a very low opinion of ‘lady scribblers’), he finally succumbed and a
close, life long relationship was formed.
Woolson was not a conventional spinster lady; she had one long term (off and
on) sexual relationship and possibly more short term ones. She earned her
living by her pen her entire adult life, and traveled freely. Sadly, her
hearing started declining at a young age and her ears gave her intense pain.
Her work was published in respected magazines and received a lot of praise.
While this book tells the story of Woolson, it’s really more about her
relationship with James and his sister, which they would find eminently
reasonable. They tended to think that the people they knew existed only in
relation to themselves, the James. Henry James and Constance Woolson carried
on voluminous correspondence. Unfortunately for historians and biographers,
James made her promise the letters to him upon her death, at which time he
destroyed them. A (poorly) closeted homosexual, James feared exposure of
that, and probably also of anything he considered too personal. He guarded
his image closely. ‘The Open Door’ takes the form of an autobiographical
manuscript written by Woolson that is destroyed by James; in truth, there is
no way of knowing if she ever wrote any such thing. This is fictionalized
biography, told in first person.
Woolson drowned in a Venetian canal. There were speculations of suicide, but
her ear problems make it equally likely that she simply lost her balance.
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When I first found out China Mieville had written a young adult fantasy, I
wondered about it a little. The author of the very dark ‘Perdido Street
Station’, writing for kids? Hmmm.
London twelve year olds Zanna and Deeba accidentally find their way into
another world – Un Lun Dun. It is the world of the discarded, the broken,
and the dead. It is the world of marvels- animated (‘feral’) trash, people
with pincushions for heads, talking books, a bridge that moves about
constantly, buses with lizard legs. It’s also the world of the Smog- a
sentient, evil smoke that longs to take over the world. Zanna is declared to
be the Chosen One, the one who has been prophesized to defeat the Smog. But
things go wrong. Zanna and Deeba are taken back to their own world after a
disastrous event. Zanna really doesn’t even remember UnLondon, much less
want to go back there to save the world.
But Deeba doesn’t feel one has to be a Chosen One to make a difference.
Deeba may be the in book of prophecy as the ‘funny sidekick’ but she- the
average, every day person- is the one who goes back to make war on the Smog.
UnLondon is a dark world, true, but it’s a world where there can be hope,
where the every day person can make a difference. The characters are
unusual, but somehow a man with a pincushion head is not scary. It’s a world
where one can make a pet of an animated empty milk carton. It’s a world I
would have loved as a kid.
Troia
> The Open Door, by Elizabeth Maguire. Other Press, 2008
>
>
>
> Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894) was an American novelist and short
> story writer who moved to Europe after her mother’s death. She took with her
> a letter of introduction to Henry James. At first unwilling to meet her (he
> had a very low opinion of ‘lady scribblers’), he finally succumbed and a
> close, life long relationship was formed.
I just wanted to mention, even if insipidly, that I still adore your
book reviews.
Thank you for keeping at it.
-- Troia
Dark Phoenix
"Troia" <troia....@gmail.removethiscom> wrote in message
news:48d4e73d$0$67958$892e...@auth.newsreader.octanews.com...
> Dark Phoenix wrote:
>> The Open Door, by Elizabeth Maguire. Other Press, 2008
>>
>>
>>
>> her a letter of introduction to Henry James. At first unwilling to meet
>> her (he had a very low opinion of 'lady scribblers'), he finally
>> succumbed and a close, life long relationship was formed.
> ...
>
> I just wanted to mention, even if insipidly, that I still adore your book
> reviews.
>
> Thank you for keeping at it.
>
I am the unstoppable review generating machine BWAHAHAHHAHAHAAH!
Dark Phoenix
2008
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most feared diseases today. Slowly robbing
the victim of their mind and personality, it is, to a lot of people
(certainly to me), a fate worse than death. So any clue that could help a
person avert this fate is to be examined eagerly.
The ‘prescription’ is really fairly simple. Get enough exercise, don’t eat
junk food- a Mediterranean diet is recommended, exercise the mind as much as
the body, and reduce stress and get enough sleep. Fortanasce cites numerous
studies that back up his formula. He also gives a list of supplements he
feels are helpful. In the back of the book are menus, recipes and exercises.
Dr. Fortanasce is a professor of neurology and has been named one of the top
100 physicians in Los Angeles County.
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Women, by Axel Madsen. Birch Lane Press, 1995
Covering the time from the beginning of moving pictures to the early 1950s,
Madsen brings to light what had to be hidden back then: that many of the
female stars were lesbian or bisexual. Some of the biggest stars, those who
were idols to millions of movie goers, who were held up to the people as
romantic ideals (straight romantic ideals, of course), were secretly not
remotely interested in the opposite sex with whom they played such torrid
scenes on the big screen. “The sewing circle” was the code for the gay
women, an innocent name that could be given to their gatherings.
Garbo, Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, Judy
Garland, Patsy Kelly, Agnes Moorehead, Capucine, Nancy Kulp, and Katherine
Hepburn were all gay or bi. Some married gay men to provide cover for both
of them (Stanwyck and Robert Taylor; Judy Garland and Vincent Minelli); the
mores of the day made it such that a long time affair with a married man
(Spencer Tracy) was more acceptable for Katherine Hepburn than being gay!
Madsen chronicles the love affairs of these women through the years, as well
as their professional ups and downs.
In the final chapter the author points out that, while gays and lesbians are
much more accepted by the straight world today, there are still very few in
entertainment who are out of the closet. The majority of Americans still
want their idols to be ‘like them’- straight. Despite the fact that the
public finds out about Hollywood’s every straight affair, arrest, drug
problem or pregnancy instantly, it’s still a very closeted community.
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Lee has created an extra-large size Korean-American soap opera. Main
character Casey Han is recently graduated from Princeton and doesn’t know
what she wants to do. She is supposed to go on to law school (her
hardworking father has decided Casey will be a lawyer and her younger sister
a doctor), but makes no move to do so, or even to find a ‘real job’ for the
summer. Her father slaps her around and throws her out of the house. She
runs to her boyfriend’s apartment, only to find him having sex with two
girls. From this point, her life is one of scrambling for survival- poor
paying jobs, student loans, a passion for expensive hats and clothing,
credit card debt.
Other strands weave through the story- Casey’s sweet, giving friend Ella and
her marital woes; Casey’s sheltered, self effacing mother who has the voice
of an angel; Ella’s husband and his girlfriend; Casey’s friend, mentor and
sometime employer Sabine- but Casey stands center stage. Casey can be hard
to like at times- I wanted to shake her and yell “Stop doing stupid
things!!!!”- but I remained interested in how she turns out. Sadly, the book
ends abruptly without tying up her loose ends. She seems on the verge of
figuring her life out, but we don’t get to know about it. Tune in next
Monday at the same time to find out, I suppose.
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In Murphy’s urban fantasy world, the Old Races- vampires, dragons who
transform into humans, djinn, selkies and gargoyles (who also transform to
humans) live a hidden existence along with humans. Margrit Knight, a young
lawyer, discovers them and is drawn into their dangerous world. She is in
love with a gargoyle, finds herself working for a vampire, and in the middle
of an Old Race war. While this is only number 2 in the series, so far only
two characters are in love with Margrit, so there is hope that she will not
turn into a Mary Sue- she’s an interesting woman and while talented isn’t
beyond belief. Good, fast moving fun for fantasy lovers.
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Nugent is a self professed nerd. Into Dungeons & Dragons and boffing (mock
sword fighting, with PVC pipe as the weapons) as a kid, he knows well the
life of the social outcast. This book is part his story, and part
research -he even shows examples of the nerd in history.
By Nugent's definition, a nerd is someone who is socially awkward while
following intellectual passions to a degree that the average American
considers extreme. While the definition usually includes shunning physical
fitness, I've noticed that this particular criteria isn't always true- SCAer's
are considered nerds in his book, but some of them are quite fit- no couch
potatoes joust or excel in archery!
Nerds- we are the ones who love their computers, always carry books around,
don't dress fashionably, and who get picked on by the jocks and
cheerleaders. If a nerd is interested in sports, according to Nugent, they
will not be the athletes but rather the ones running the sports fantasy
league and studying stats. Nerds share a number of traits with people with
Asperger's, which leads to a chapter about Asperger's syndrome that seemed a
bit out of place. The history of American nerds is sociology; Asperger's is
a neurological thing. But it does make one wonder where the autistic
spectrum ends and simple nerdiness starts.
Despite the author's definition of nerds, I feel that Americans consider
people nerds who might not have the social awkwardness part of the equation;
a mere passion for a non-mainstream interest is enough to warrant the tag.
Certainly in the area I live in, not watching Nascar or Survivor and
preferring tea to beer can cause one to be branded as such.
I really wanted to like this book, but I found it somewhat disjointed and in
need of an editor to smooth things out. Nugent is a professional writer, so
this surprised me.
TenshiKurai9
> American Nerd: A History of My People, by Benjamin Nugent. Scribner, 2008
> Certainly in the area I live in, not watching Nascar or Survivor and
> preferring tea to beer can cause one to be branded as such.
I'm sure as soon as you go away from Bud and such, you go into nerd
territory.
-TK9
Dark Phoenix
"TenshiKurai9" <ten...@abyss.ninehells.com> wrote in message
news:slrngeds93...@abyss.ninehells.com...
Around here at least, those who venture away from Bud think they are
ultracool hipsters. Note that this image is in their own minds, not that of
other people.
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'The Years' is about the Pargiter family. It is also, just as importantly,
about the passage of time. Beginning in 1880 and ending in 'The Present Day'
(it was originally published in 1939), it's more a series of vignettes than
true novel. All but the first take place in just one day - one is barely a
moment. The first is longer, introducing us to the a lot of the characters.
This is not a family saga; no earth shaking things are done by these people.
The time they live through, though, is one of great change. Electricity,
automobiles, airplanes, the changing British Empire, women's suffrage and
World War 1 all affect their lives. The effect of the book is one of looking
through a photo album; here's great aunt Eleanor in full Victorian dress;
oh, my, look at her here in the 20s, you can see her ankles! Like most
people, they live their lives reacting to events and letting time do it's
work on them.
What is truly captivating about this book is Woolf's ability to describe
things and events in exquisite detail without bogging things down. Even
though nothing much happens, it's an engrossing read.
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2007
"The Street of a Thousand Blossoms" follows the lives of brothers Hiroshi
and Kenji Matsumoto through their childhoods in a suburb of Tokyo in 1939 to
the mid 1960s. World war 2 brings hunger and horror; their adult years bring
love and ambitions fulfilled. Time also brings loves lost and chances
missed. Hiroshi becomes a great sumo wrestler; Kenji, a master maker of
masks for the Noh theater. Woven into the story are their grandparents who
raise them, their wives, fellow sumo and Kenji's mask making teacher. Tokyo
is bombed, burns, is occupied by American forces and rises again from her
ashes.
Gail Tsukiyama is one of my favorite authors, but this book is not my
favorite of hers. Don't get me wrong; I enjoyed the book. But the book
seemed flat compared to her others. Despite love, grief, depression and
ambition, I never felt that I was getting into the heads and hearts of the
characters. Tsukiyama's other books are heavily character driven and the
people come alive. The characters in "Street" have little more than surface
characteristics. They are also somewhat uniform- the brothers, their
grandparents, their wives and friends and other relatives are all good,
moral people who don't even consider doing the wrong thing even once; a
little too good to believe. Still, any novel that gets me to read about- and
enjoy reading about- sumo wrestling has a lot going for it.
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With Schizophrenia, by Kurt Snyder. Oxford Press, 2007
In his second year of college, Snyder becomes fascinated with numbers and
fractals and is convinced he is going to come up with a wonderful new theory
of mathematics. Sadly, this is not Beautiful Mind territory- Snyder has
schizophrenia, all right, but he decompensates, becomes unable to
concentrate on his classes, drops out, becomes a successful handyman, his
condition worsens again and he is finally institutionalized by his parents.
Happily, his condition is now successfully controlled with medications. This
is his story, in his own words.
This slim book tells what schizophrenia is like from the victim's viewpoint.
All the unsettling symptoms are described. Not only is his personal story
told, a brief overview of all symptoms and treatments are given. While
written for a teenage audience, I'd recommend this book for anyone looking
for an introduction to what this disease is like.
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Martin's Press, 1991
Claire, Dag and Andy live in a group of little bungalows in Palm Springs.
This Palm Springs, however, is not the Palm Springs of wealth and privilege,
but the Palm Springs of those who serve those with wealth and privilege. Dag
and Andy are bartenders; Claire works a counter at a high end department
store. Educated and from middleclass (in Claire's case, quite wealthy)
families, they have stepped off the carrousel of high stress careers and
into the anonymity of McJobs that they don't have to care about. They guard
their souls fiercely; they only reveal themselves in their 'bedtime stories'-
tales they tell each other, tales that may or may not be about themselves.
They strive to be unattached; they are the postmodern people who value only
irony. But despite their detachment, Claire finds herself somewhat obsessed
with a pretty boy who embodies all she despises, Andy creates a moment of
magic for his middleclass family at Christmas, and Dag actually sets out to
make his dream real. These Gen-Xers may be more culturally aware than
earlier generations but at heart they still have the same emotions and
drives.
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Bases on questions people have asked him, Juan has compiled a book of
factoids about the human body. Can we keep a severed head alive? Why can't
we tickle ourselves? What is earwax? Most are answered adequately, sometimes
citing multiple sources. Some, however, aren't- for instance, he states that
in some cases of violent death, a kind of instant rigor takes place that
lasts for hours, but he fails to explain the physiology behind this or cite
a source. This might be a good book for a high school health class to browse
through. Sadly (to my 12 year old mind) there is no section on either the
gastrointestinal tract or the genitals.
TenshiKurai9
> The Odd Body, by Dr. Stephen Juan. Andrews McMeel, 2004
Sadly (to my 12 year old mind) there is no section on either the
> gastrointestinal tract or the genitals.
Ah man. . .
-TK9
Dark Phoenix
Simon & Schuster, 2008.
Simon Doonan advocates living your life creatively and with no thought to
conformity, and he has lived his life by this credo. This is not the usual
how-to beauty book; this book tells you ignore the fashion magazines (but by
all means look through them for ideas), to say no to the idea of hanging on
to superficial 'young' looks, to say no to looking like a prostitute
(unless, of course, you *are* a prostitute), and to find your own style and
look how you damn well please. It's an empowering idea.
Sadly, he does not tell you how you are supposed to actually obtain or keep
a job if you follow this advice, unless you work in an artsy atmosphere. He
does state that doctors and lawyers must NOT ever look kooky or anything but
responsible and normal, and he does state that a lot of glamorous eccentrics
end up being self employed, so he is aware of the problem. Of course, his
ideas can be toned down for the 'real world'.
Doonan divides his glamorous eccentrics into three categories: the Gypsy,
the Existentialist, and the Socialite. The Gypsy is obvious- the jewelry
laden, full skirt wearing, patchouli scented woman who collects crystals and
burns incense. The Existentialist is the black wearing, severe, ironic one.
The Socialite I just don't get- he's speaking of the designer wearing, hair
done up, conventional looking rich woman. He says that her eccentricity is
her sparkling wit, but it still seems like a very restricted style. But
then, the idea of creating only three categories for eccentrics seems
restrictive. If the whole idea is to express your core self, why pigeon hole
yourself?
But if you have any interest in fashion, the book is worth reading. It's
funny- very funny. Doonan takes aim at the things women do to follow
fashion, including the pain some endure to try and look young, and hits with
deadly force. And his advice that all the fashion in the world doesn't give
glamour if the person wearing it doesn't have character is so true.
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Daniel J. Levitin. Dutton, 2008.
Former musician and producer turned scientist Levitin has a couple of
theories: one, that humans ability to make music is what allowed us to
evolve as we did; and two, that all music can be divided into six types. He
backs these theories up with copious notes -over thirty pages of them.
The two theories blend together; #1 is that music is essential to who we
are; that there was music before there was language. To explain why this is
so one must explore each of the 6 types of music: friendship, joy, comfort,
knowledge, religion and love.
Friendship music is supposed to be that which brings us together. The
examples Levitin gives seem to be work songs (like those sung by chain
gangs) and war songs/rhythms. Songs and rhythm allow groups of people to
synchronize with each other, making them more effective. Synchronized war
drums and marching, for instance, can terrify others because this precision
suggests that they have such incredible discipline that resistance is futile
(which brought to my mind the huge number of drummers at the opening
ceremonies at the summer Olympics...). This type of music isn't all about
war, though- sometimes it's *against* war. The protest songs of the 1960s
united a huge number of people; others unite us for other causes -'We Are
The World' comes to mind.
Joy music is pretty self explanatory; sometimes we just want to sing with
happiness. Singing releases endorphins which in turn make us feel good,
reduces stress, and stimulates the immune system.
Comfort songs help you get through the night, whether the song is a lullaby
to a baby wherein the soothing comes from the tone of voice and the rhythm,
or the song is something that reminds us of happier times. Comfort songs
aren't just happy songs, though- a lot of them are songs of unhappiness that
remind us that we are not alone in our misery. I'm not entirely sure how
this helped us evolve, unless it's just that comfort songs kept a lot of our
ancestors from jumping off cliffs.
Knowledge songs are those, obviously, that teach us concrete things. A lot
of us learned the alphabet from a song, and a lot of us, no matter how old
we get, hear the song in our heads when asked where in the alphabet a
certain letter is. Song lyrics stick in the mind better than spoken words
do. In a preliterate society, recording information via easily rememberable
and transmittable songs would be giant step forward.
The section on religious music gets a little murky; he spends a number of
pages talking about religion, the things that religions have in common, the
purposes of religion and why animals can't be said to have either religion
or music . That music is connected to the rituals of religion is
incontrovertible, but, as with comfort, I'm not sure it helped us evolved.
When Levitin speaks of love songs, he's not talking about just romantic
love. He means love in general- love of a mate, love of offspring, love of
the group or an idea; the ability to place these things above one's own
interests. The chapter is long, and there is much of value in it, but I
never did get out of it how love songs helped us evolve into who we are. A
romantic love song may help us stick in the mind of the beloved, but I don't
think writing love songs was a universal preoccupation back in stone age
times.
It's an interesting book. There is a lot about music in it, a lot about
various societies, a lot about psychology and a lot about evolutionary
advantages. But somehow it doesn't all mesh smoothly and coherently. While I'm
convinced that music permeates all of humankind and enhances our rituals and
lives, I'm not convinced as to whether music was an evolutionary force or
simply an important psychological one. But even though I'm not convinced of
the main thesis, the book is still definitely worth reading for the
information in it.
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Taylor, Ph.D. Viking, 2006
Jill Taylor was a 37 year old neuroscientist when an arteriovenous
malformation in her brain ruptured, spilling blood into her brain tissue.
Blood is toxic when it comes into direct contact with them. This toxic spill
damaged mainly the left side of her brain, leaving her without speech or the
ability to comprehend it, barely able to move, exquisitely sensitive to
light and sound, with no math or ability to sequence things. It would take
her brain surgery and eight years to recover completely from this.
I found parts of this book fascinating. The part where she describes the
morning of the stroke, as she lost more and more abilities, is eerie and
frightening. How it feels to have the left brain shut down is incredibly
interesting.
Sadly, the book seems to have been written for a young adult audience
although it's not marketed as such. The science is dumbed down and the brain
illustrations are terrible. The writing style is very simple.
Taylor sees her stroke as a spiritual blessing. During her time without her
left brain communicating to her, she saw herself as a fluid and connected to
the entire universe. She reached Nirvana in a burst of blood, and has held
onto the feeling of joy. She has also learned to control how she reacts to
things- she doesn't like how she feels when she's angry and just lets it
wash through her and it's gone. Back to her state of joy. She spends the
entire last section of the book on this, repeating it a few times. She hopes
we can all follow her advice to let anger wash through us and be joyful-
without the AVM, of course. I really wish she had spent less time on this-
although I realize it's a very important part of her journey- and more on
what she did, and what others did, to expedite her recovery. As someone who
as dealt with a stroke victim, it's frustrating as hell for both the person
with aphasia and the person trying to understand what they need when they
don't have a road map. I think Taylor could have provided this map; I may be
wrong, though. Given her brain status when she was relearning speech, she
might not be able to remember it or put it into words.
An interesting book, but it could have been much better.
Dark Phoenix
2008
Dr. Bernstein founded and runs the Women's Headache Center at the Cambridge
Health Alliance and suffers from migraines herself, so she's the perfect
person to write a book on them. It's extensive; she covers all aspects of
the disease and shares all the latest discoveries.
Most people- even most people who have migraines- think it's 'just a
headache'. It's not; it's a neurological disease that has severe head pain
as *one* of it's symptoms. The list of other symptoms, and types of
migraine, is long. The one-sided with vomiting headache is the classic form,
but some types don't even involve head pain. Reading this book, I realized
that I probably didn't start getting migraines in my 20s; the weird belly
aches in my childhood and teens, and the strange visual effects in my teens,
were probably migraines. Many, many migraineurs are misdiagnosed, given
ineffective medications, belittled and told to 'suck it up'.
Rather than go straight to the drugs, Bernstein recommends prevention. Her
basic migraine prevention plan is the same as any other chronic disease: eat
healthy, get enough sleep, reduce stress and exercise a lot. Do the
detective work to find out what triggers your migraines, and eliminate them
if possible. If you still need drugs, ones to abort the oncoming migraine,
because they are more effective than ones to treat the pain once it starts.
She does go through the medications that are useful for migraine; sadly, the
most effective ones are outrageously expensive and can have very bad side
effects for some people. The author also has a section on alternative
therapies, figuring that there may not be any science to show how they work,
if they work for you, then it's good, even if it's a placebo.
I think I've read almost every migraine book to be published since the late
1970s, and this one is the most thorough of them all. The only flaw I
noticed was that the author imagines a world where you can take off time
from work when you have a migraine, and changes will be made in your
environment -lower light levels, lower sound levels, more fresh air- at your
request. Most people with migraines will get a really good laugh out of that
one.
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makeovers on the cheap before the show was ever thought of and was the queen
of the staple gun and glue gun before Martha started out.
The author takes us through the house room by room, showing us how to make
it luxurious and over the top with minimal expense. She uses examples of
houses she has actually worked on, showing us how she did each step. Lots of
plywood, faux finishing in marble or wood, dying and painting fabrics and
trims to make them match, using inexpensive clothing fabrics rather than
expensive decorator ones, and drapings, lots and lots of drapings. Fabric on
the walls, fabric making tents out of the ceilings of boring rooms, huge
poofy blinds and valences.
The instructions are pretty well written, but the illustrations could be a
lot better. The photographs are all too dark- and there could have been a
lot more of them. The line drawings are amateurish but usually good enough
to get the idea from. If you're new to DIY and like over the top style, this
is a good book for you.
Dark Phoenix
Affordable Splendor, by Diana Phipps. Random House, 1981
*head desk*
Dark Phoenix
Mooney has a learning disability and couldn't read until he was 12, but he
graduated from Brown University and had a book published before this one. He
harbors a deep resentment of the educational system for the way it treated
him while he was growing up, and I don't blame him. I realize that teachers
are frequently not given the time or resources to help students with
learning disabilities, but it's one thing to not take the time to do
something, and quite another to publicly shame the child for their
condition. That's going to create even more problems. But as the book goes
on an additional source of Mooney's problems is revealed, even though he
never confronts it.
The gimmick that gives the book it's structure is that Mooney buys an old
short bus- the little school bus that many American kids with learning
problems ride to school, segregating them from the general student
population. Frequently known as the 'tard bus', to ride one is to be the
butt of taunting. The author is going to take this bus on a trip around the
US, visiting people he was come to know after he published his first book.
These people have various learning disabilities or mental health problems.
He visits people with dyslexia, autism, are deaf and blind, have ADHD, Down's
syndrome, cerebral palsy, OCD, and some unnamed psychiatric disorders. Each
person has their chapter, and he gives their history and is honest about how
he feels about them, frequently wondering at first how he can communicate
with this person (and wanting to get the hell out of there because this
person is *too* far from normal) and ending up valuing the person in the
end.
The book is written with a great deal of humor and the descriptions of the
people he meets, and how their disabilities have affected their lives, are
outstanding. His point is that these people are just as valuable to society
as the 'norms' and that, really, 'normal' might not be the be-all and
end-all. These are lessons that a lot of people need to learn (although
those people probably wouldn't be reading this book anyway), it's a good
book. What's disappointing about the book is that the author blames his
problems on the school system, while ignoring the fact that several family
members suffer from depression, and some are alcoholics. Mooney himself lost
his license for 5 years for driving while drunk, and on more than one
occasion in the book says that he plans on dealing with the stress of the
day by getting drunk. Might not his family upbringing have something to do
with his unhappiness while growing up? Might not his family have been more
helpful to him when he was in school if they hadn't been drunk or paralyzed
by depression? No, obviously he feels his family was just fine, since he's
continuing the tradition.
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"Ghost" starts out as a novel of the supernatural: one day, sitting in the
slumber room at the mortuary he works in, David Kurzweil sees something he
cannot explain. But this is not your conventional ghost story; the thing
that David saw does not explain itself to be a murder victim who must be
avenged nor is it a demon come to animate zombies. No, this story is about
how David's life- and the lives of those around him- change because he
speaks of this event. This is a story of human nature.
When news of David's sighting get out- and this happens with incredible
speed- everyone interprets the event according to their own wishes and
beliefs, ignoring the fact that David has not ever described the event or
what he thinks of it. Cursed with instant celebrity, everyone wants a piece
of him and the story becomes one of human kind's gullibility and
selfishness. The ending is a jolt of ugly reality. This is a very good book
and I highly recommend it, but it's a thinking sort of book, not a creepy
Halloween book.
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Bloodsmoor Romance is one of Oates' parody of a genre books, this one taking
on the Victorian romance- romance not meaning romantic love, but a narrative
full of wild deeds. Told from the point of view of an easily shocked, but
willing to tell all, maiden relative, it chronicles the lives of the Zinn
family. The father is an inventor who never makes any money but is supported
by his rich wife's family; their five daughters, all expected to make
conventional, profitable marriages and produce heirs, prove unconventional.
The book starts well. Oates has the tone of the era down pat; the horror at
anything fleshly, the expectations that women will be obedient. An accident
with a time machine made me hope for some steampunk tone, but sadly that
hope was dashed. The fates of the daughters are interesting- one runs away
to become a (gasp!) actress, one becomes a famed medium, one becomes- quite
literally and physically- a man, one runs away with her father's apprentice,
and one marries obediently and conventionally- only to find herself married
to a fetishist with a taste for autoerotic asphyxiation, with no idea this
isn't what every husband does in bed. Thee are twists and turns aplenty.
There isn't anything wrong with what's there; there is simply... too much of
it.
Admittedly the way the narrator carries on about things makes the book seem
more 'Victorian', but it just goes on for too long. I love Oates' work, but
I by the time I got to page 500, I really wanted the book to end. I wanted
to know what happened to the characters, but I wanted to know much, much
sooner than I did.
TenshiKurai9
> A Bloodsmoor Romance, by Joyce Carol Oates. Dutton, 1982
> Admittedly the way the narrator carries on about things makes the book seem
> more 'Victorian', but it just goes on for too long. I love Oates' work, but
> I by the time I got to page 500, I really wanted the book to end. I wanted
> to know what happened to the characters, but I wanted to know much, much
> sooner than I did.
Was it a 500-page book or did it go further-on?
-TenshiKurai9
Dark Phoenix
It went on. Oh, my, did it go on.
TenshiKurai9
> "TenshiKurai9" <ten...@abyss.ninehells.com> wrote in message
> news:slrngjtd0h...@abyss.ninehells.com...
>>
>> -TenshiKurai9
>
> It went on. Oh, my, did it go on.
How many pages was it?
-TenshiKurai9, you masochist reader.
Dark Phoenix
When under stress, I go for fluff. But it's got to be fluff with some plot
and character to it. Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy Mysteries (Mrs. Murphy
being a cat), where talking (amongst themselves) animals help the heroine,
Harry, solve murders are my favorite go-to fluff.
In this episode, along with the usual murder method of guns and knives,
rabies rears it's ugly head, creating a panic in the quiet, rural county. Is
the rabies from natural sources? Is an epidemic brewing? Are the current
murders in any way connected with a disappearance decades ago? Very
entertaining.
Dark Phoenix
I'm not sure, but I'm thinking around 800 pages.
TenshiKurai9
>
> "TenshiKurai9" <ten...@abyss.ninehells.com> wrote in message
> news:slrngjuj5h...@abyss.ninehells.com...
>> On 2008-12-09, Dark Phoenix <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote:
>>> "TenshiKurai9" <ten...@abyss.ninehells.com> wrote in message
>>> news:slrngjtd0h...@abyss.ninehells.com...
>>>> Was it a 500-page book or did it go further-on?
>>>>
>>>> -TenshiKurai9
>>>
>>> It went on. Oh, my, did it go on.
>>
>> How many pages was it?
>>
>> -TenshiKurai9, you masochist reader.
>
> I'm not sure, but I'm thinking around 800 pages.
Too traumatized to even get near enough to it to look it up?
-TenshiKurai9, book-induced PTSD?
Dark Phoenix
It was a library book and I've taken it back. I tried Amazon- they
frequently give page counts- but they didn't have it on this one. Afraid
they'd scare people away, I think.
Dark Phoenix
This biography is mostly about Klimt's art rather than his life. There is
not, frankly, a great deal of good documentation about his life. While it is
known that he had many mistresses (and several illegitimate children), there
were no scandals. He had a close relationship with his sister-in-law, Emilie
Floge, for many years, but it was almost certainly not a physical
relationship. Despite his erotic paintings of women, we have very little
idea of how he felt about them. His art, his decorative designs, are all
that we have of him, and a good lot of that was destroyed during WW 2.
The book goes over Klimt's artistic life- his innovative portraits, his
designs for houses and installations, his sudden change away from his
golden, ornamented style to a looser way of working, his landscapes
(landscapes! I had no idea!) - and how his work was received during his
time. It has a very large number of illustrations, many of pictures I had
never seen before. A very nice little book.
Dark Phoenix
Chronicle Books, 2008
A book of questions, and their usually helpful and usually humorous answers
gleaned from the public radio series. I'd heard almost all the shows they
took the questions from, so the book didn't have much new in it for me, but
if you're new to the series, it's worth a look.
Dark Phoenix
Sour Puss, by Rita Mae Brown. Bantam, 2006
Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy Mysteries are great fun and great stress
relievers, and during the last couple of weeks, when we didn't know if my
father-in-law would be dying or getting better, I clutched these books with
the same deathgrip I had on my bottle of tranquilizers. Despite the murder
and deceit they are mainly lighthearted, with the talking animals taking
center stage most of the time.
These installments introduce a new note to the series: the main characters
get to be sexual beings. Normally, only the people involved in the crimes
get this privilege. Now, one of the usual cast discovers she is happily
bisexual, and we learn that Harry (the main human character) actually had an
affair while she was divorced from her husband.
"Cat's Eyewitness" revolves around a statue of Mary that weeps blood, an
event that leads to the disruption of a monastery and murder; "Sour Puss"
starts with the prospect of biological terrorism and evolves into some
murders- murders that aren't at all what the police think they are about.
Dark Phoenix
Dark Phoenix
In structure, Third Angel made me think of The Hours, but played backwards.
While each segment focuses on a different woman, they are all connected by
both other people (they all meet at one point) and the Lion Park hotel, a
second rate London inn, where much of the action takes place. The theme is
women who are in love with the wrong men.
These are not happy stories, as one might well imagine from the description.
There are no happy endings; even the ghost is an unhappy one. One woman
falls in love with her sister's fiancé. One is infatuated with a wannabe
rock star. One is still in love with her ex-husband, even though she is
about to marry someone else. Hopeless situations that the women know can
come to no good end, yet cannot stop themselves from stepping- leaping!-
into.
While I liked the interconnected stories and the format, I never did quite
understand the Third Angel. He's not the Angel of Life, nor the Angel of
Death. He's the angel who can make mistakes. Perhaps this is the angel who
follows these women.
Dark Phoenix
In this Young Adult novel, Violet and Claire are a pair of outsiders, the
kids that everyone makes fun of. Violet is the rich, jaded goth girl who
wants to make movies and feels she needs to have more experiences to use as
material; Claire is the poor girl who believes in fairies, writes poetry and
wears gauzy wings to school. Total opposites, they give each other what they
are lacking.
Problems arise when each steps onto a path the other doesn't believe in and
they draw apart. Violet gets a job in Hollywood and joins the party circuit;
Claire falls in love with her much older poetry teacher. Will they save each
other?
While Violet and Claire are very vividly drawn characters, I found their
story a bit unbelievable, almost flat despite the wildness of Violet's life.
It's like the details were just stuffed in there to make the author's point,
without any real care as to making them come alive.
whisky-dave
"Dark Phoenix" <dark_p...@netw.com> wrote in message
news:BeCdnQj8s7QLpfnU...@povn.com...
> The Third Angel, by Alice Hoffman. Shaye Areheart Books, 2008
>
> Hopeless situations that the women know can come to no good end, yet
> cannot stop themselves from stepping- leaping!- into.
>
>
>
> While I liked the interconnected stories and the format, I never did quite
> understand the Third Angel. He's not the Angel of Life, nor the Angel of
> Death. He's the angel who can make mistakes. Perhaps this is the angel who
> follows these women.
No sounds more like the angel these women are chasing ;-)