Mary Elizabeth Williams writes on Salon.com her views of the “Twitter controversy” regarding Alice Hoffman’s angry response to Roberta Silman’s scathing book review. Williams also mentions past exchanges between authors and reviewers, showing that while Hoffman may not be right, she is certainly not alone.
Update:
Williams brings up further feuds as evidence of the lengths authors go to in retaliation to a harsh reviewer.
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
ISBN-13: 978-1409102038
Mickey Haller, a Los Angeles defence attorney, inherits the clients of his dead colleague, Jerry Vincent. One of them is Hollywood mogul Walter Elliot, accused of brutally killing his wife and her lover. A win could propel him into the big league.
But Jerry Vincent was murdered. And detective Harry Bosch is convinced that the murderer was one of Vincent’s clients. Will Haller live to enjoy his new found success?
Not only does The Brass Verdict see the return of Mickey Haller, featured in one of Connelly’s most successful novels, The Lincoln Lawyer, but also Harry Bosch, a veteran of a dozen previous stories. As the story is narrated by Haller, we only see Bosch through Haller’s eyes, casting a familiar character in a new light.
As tightly plotted as his previous bestsellers, Connelly shows no signs of slipping. There are numerous twists and turns that should keep the reader guessing until the final pages. Newcomers may be advised to read The Lincoln Lawyer first. If you do, then it shouldn’t be long before you have to track down The Brass Verdict as well.
I was surprised to read about the recent drama over a review of Alice Hoffman’s latest novel The Story Sisters, in The Boston Globe. After reading a negative review of her book written by critic Roberta Silman, Hoffman lashed out on Twitter, publishing the reviewer’s phone number, and encouraging her fans to harass her. I witnessed similar behavior from Hoffman last week on Facebook, where she lashed out at a reviewer during an online interview about her book in a way that made me uncomfortable, and left me wondering if Hoffman;s success had truly gone to her head. The reviewer had made the obviously unpardonable sin of getting one of Hoffman’s character’ names wrong during the interview, and Hoffman went momentarily insane. So, although I was surprised to see her recent behavior on Twitter, I wasn’t shocked. It does seem strange though, that an author with a career as long and as successful as Hoffman’s would react this way, encouraging her fans to attack a 70 year old woman, and harass her at home. It’s one thing to disagree with a review, but quite another to throw a public temper tantrum and act like a overindulged, spoiled brat.
In this economy, and with the business of publishing the way it is right now, I am grateful that anyone is reading or reviewing my books at all. A little humility might do Alice Hoffman some good. After all, she has a career as a bestselling author that many novelists would kill for–myself included. Not everyone can, and will be a fan of your work, and one shouldn’t write simply to be praised–or loved universally. That’s what family and children are for—not literature. Now, truth be told, I’m not the greatest at taking criticism myself, however, I would never dream of publishing a blogger or reviewer’s phone number or address over a bad review, although I have access to both. To do so simply because a reviewer as less than thrilled with your work is unreasonable, not to mention downright immature. I have had my differences with one or two reviewers over certain negative reviews of my work, and have in fact regretted contacting them privately over it. But, then again, I’m a young novelist at the beginning of her career–not a seasoned veteran who should know better. After all these years in publishing, and almost universal praise for her work, Hoffman’s behavior is baffling–and to this reader anyway, patently offensive
*Update: Hoffman issued a statement through her publicist today apologizing “if” she had offended “anyone” through her actions. Bad move, Alice, and strikingly insincere to boot. First off, it is Silman that Hoffman needs to apologize to–not nameless, faceless Tweeters. Secondly, take some responsibility for your actions–don’t say “if,” but call it like it is and admit that your behavior was, in fact, offensive and wrong.
I’ll climb off my soapbox now . . .
“A summer in Jerusalem” by Chochana Miller Boukhobza (father of bread)
This French novel is the first of Chochana Miller Boukhobza published in 1986; she was 26 years old. She described Jerusalem in captivating details. A Jewish family from Tunisia decided to immigrate to France; the family lived the immigrant adventure of wants and hard life in a poor quarter of “Chemin Vert” in Paris. The elder girl (Sarah) was 17 when she exhorted her family to relocate to Israel. Three years later, as the family settle down in Jerusalem then Sarah fled back to Paris, leaving her conservative parents in complete disarray. The father is bitter and angry with his daughter living away from the family.
Sarah decided to spend her month vacation in Jerusalem after 3 years of absence. Saba (grand father in Hebrew) of Sarah was orphaned and studied to be rabbi. Rachael or Safta (grand mother), a beautiful girl, married thinking her man is going to act and behave as rabbi, with a social class and potential financial potentials. Saba was not interested in social affairs and spent his days reading at the synagogue; he also enjoyed drinking alcoholic beverages: he was an alcoholic. Safta insisted on playing the role of the wife of a fictitious rabbi in the Tunisian Jewish community; she would pray to Adonai (the name of God among the Sephardic immigrants, the God of Canaan and Phoenicia; The State of Israel of the Ashkenazi is trying to banish Adonai).
In Paris, the father of Sarah had to cloth his father differently; instead of the “red tarbush or kabouch” Saba wore forced by his son to wear a hat; the serwal was changed to a European dress. Saba learned to take the bus to the nearest Synagogue every day for the whole day. Saba was only given bus fare and something to eat but he always managed to come home drunk; the Jews entering the Synagogue had all kinds of excuses to offering reading rabbis small changes. Saba said of Paris “a country of images and idols”. Safta was completely disoriented in Paris but she practically raisded the kids while confined in the apartment. She would never beat the kids but encouraged her son to do the chastising
Saba and Safta were relegated to live in desert Beersheba with Sarah’s aunt. They were buried in a cemetery by the Olive Mountain close to Jerusalem.
The two younger brothers of Sarah are serving in the Israeli army (Tsahal) invading Lebanon in 1982 and entering the Capital Beirut and facilitating the genocides in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila.
The same as Safta ruined her life with Saba, the mother of Sarah, Camille, has ruined her life with her father. The parents stopped having sexual contacts after the birth of the last son Joseph. Camille cut her long hair and wore the scarf over her head to appease the anger of her husband. When Camille is away of her husband she feels younger; she longes to visit her daughter in Paris and tour the museums and theaters but she never got around her wishes. Camille is living awaiting her two sons to return home after the war. No mother in Israel has a normal life. It has been a succession of wars since the independence of the State of Israel; people have stopped planning for the future; they can die tomorrow. The soldiers return bitter and discouraged because they never see the use of these wars that didn’t bring peace or security.
Maud is a married neighbor of Sarah; she said “I don’t understand politics. I voted for Menahem Begin on instinct. Begin is the King of Israel”. During Chabath (Saturday) that starts around 4 p.m. on Friday, people stay home; the streets are deserted, and shops close down. Food are cooked on Friday and kept warm for a whole day on electric warmers so that no one should cook after 4 p.m.
Lea is saying to Myriam “you will leave this State to the Arabs without reacting?” Miriam retorted “who are the masons, the cleaners, the gardeners, and the servers in restaurants? If the Palestinians decided to stop working for us and adopt passive resistance then Israel would vanish in no time.” When in war, men are enlisted in the army and the crops are destroyed if Palestinians refuse to harvest.
When Safta died the custom required all the close relatives of Safta to live in her son’s home for 7 days and nights. They were the old generation of Tunisia; they were crippled; they just read and prayed; they waited to be nourished three times a day; they farted and urinated haphazardly but that what the rabbi recommended as the best remedy in order to forget mourning. Sarah fell in love with Henry, originally a Moroccan immigrant. She didn’t stay home to care for the elderly visitors and exaggerated her make up and went out all night in shorts and mini-skirts bringing the wrath of her older generation. She was considered crazy. Sarah had decided to stay in Jerusalem, quit her Jewish boyfriend waiting for her in Paris, and then marry Henri. Henry decided to go to Beirut on a reporting mission for three days; he did not return.
Note 1: The author Chochana Miller Boukhobza had hard time with the Israeli authority regarding acknowledging her Jewishness. She has American nationality and was converted by a “reformist” rabbi. The conservative rabbi at the Israeli ministry of Interior suggested that Chochana be reconverted by an orthodox rabbi in order to avoid refusal of an Israeli citizenship according to the “law of return”. She had to fight to circumvent these regulations and set uproar in Israel. The State of Israel refused to discriminate among types of Jews in order to encourage immigration to the State of Israel.
Note 2: (In spite of religions, the customs and traditions in the Arab World, especially in the Near East, are basically the same. These customs are the inheritance of millennia of people of “The Land”. The various religions changed headdresses and a little in the fashion for the sake of forcing discrimination for political reasons. The clergies of the different religions needed a tad of fashion changes to retain political dominance among their corelegionnaires. Outside, the headdresses might sort out the various sects but inside their homes the people are the same: their idioms, their habits, their food, and their interior style in furniture and comfort are the same. People before 1920 could not differentiate a Jew from a Christian or a Moslem. Even after decades of living in Israel, the Arab Jewish immigrants have conserved their Arabic language and the customs they inherited from their original Arab States. Many Arab diplomats, of States having signed “peace treaties” with Israel who could visit Jerusalem or Haifa or Yafa would declare that they felt in an Arab city. All these wars have nothing to do with religion: they are the consequences of European Ashkenazi playing the colonialists and applying colonial rules and regulations of apartheid.)
Roger H. Crook. An Introduction to Christian Ethics (5th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. xi + 308 p.
In this introductory work Robert Crook seeks to write a text that will enable students who are unfamiliar with the discipline to begin to “develop a method of dealing with the thorny moral issues that they face not only as students but also as people involved in the life of the broader community (vii).”
This commitment to practicality is evidenced by the layout of the book. Section I is devoted to exploring the basic definitions, concepts, and approaches to the field. In this area fundamental definitions are given and other religious approaches to ethics are explicated.
Sections II explores Crook’s approach to ethical thinking and decision-making. In this section we see Crook interact with the biblical material and theological issues related to ethics. Finally, section III is a broad exploration of several contemporary issues. Little personal conviction is stated by Crook in the final section, but rather an explication of the salient points of each issue is highlighted. What follows are some general comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the book.
To begin, Crook “recognizes as viable options a number of other” Christians systems, and seeks to present them without evaluation (vii). While Crook admits in the same paragraph that as a text on Christian ethics it must make certain assumptions, throughout the book Crook aims at prescription, not description.
In the first section Crook by and large achieves a level of detachment. This goal of demonstrating a Niebuhrian sense of humility (or pluralism as Yoder critiqued it) becomes a bit awkward when Crook turns more intensely to the biblical and theological issues surrounding ethics. Here Crook for the most part comes down off his perch of detachment and admittedly gives his own method for ethical decision making (cf vii-viii).
This shift in method is made difficult by the overall absence of the abstract theories enumerated in section I of the book. On page 54 Crook admits that at the conclusion of the methodological survey that he emphasizes the responsiblity of the individual to God in Christ, whose character is formed within the Christian community. From this short endorsement one can discern both Crook’s preference for Niebuhrian/Gustafsonian “responsibility ethics” and virtue ethics, at least in as much as it focuses on communal aspects of virtue formation (36-41, 43-45). However no indepth attempt at justifying these preferences are given, and instead Crook merely turns to an examination of the use of biblical, theological, and experiential (mind, conscience, & and the prompting of the Spirit) resources in his own framework.
While i appreciate Crook’s concern to not brainwash beginners, the unwillingness to demonstrate the inner logic he sees between ethical theory and his biblical and theological beliefs could just as easily leave the beginner wondering what exactly the point of the first section was. Crook may have given students plenty of fish, but hasn’t shown them how to fish for these interconnections themselves.
At this point it seems reasonable to see if there is a reason for this noticable gap other than simple pedagogical preference. Although this may sound harsh, this unwillingness to connect his theoretical preferences with his biblical and theological convictions is that their connection proves to be rather thin at times.
For example, Crook argues that
for Paul, as for Jesus, the starting point in thinking about human life was the sovereignty of God (87).
When one reads further the nature of this sovereign being is relativized due to our limited human vantage point. Here, where the mention of the revelatory incarnation would be so helpful, we instead find a more generic description of God as person, creator, sovereign, and judge (94-95).
This is not to say that Crook’s rendering of biblical and theological ethics carries nothing of substance, but only that his approach ends up rendering his general guidelines for decision making vague, making the practical value of all his analysis impoverished.
At this point, in only reading one book by Crook, it is hard to tell if this is simple intellectual humility or evidence of a high class intellectual elitism, similar to what Yoder criticized Niebuhr for in his classic Christ & Culture. Yoder criticized Niebuhr for cloaking an arrogance which believed that the ivy-league elite alone could understand the complexity of culture and the lack of a “right answer” within the apparent humility of admitting such difficulties. Thus, only the Yale-taught relativist could understand that there was no right answer, and all who opposed this humble relativism would be met with scathing hostility. Given Crook’s close proximity to Niebuhrian thought & Richard’s disciple Gustafson, Crook’s analysis may hide the same intent. Only further reading can resolve this issue.*
Regardless of the reason for these deficiencies, it should come as little surprise that these ambiguities lead to a 3rd section characterized largely by description, with little conviction given and even less defended by the author.
In sum, Crook’s descriptions are fair, generous, and accessible to beginners from beginning to end. This is the strength of the book. However, if one believes that Christian teaching, if it is to be Christian, must move beyond mere description and into the prescriptive realm, then Crook’s book will have little value outside of providing vital foundation pieces, as lucid and helpful as they are. Thus, this book highlights a deeper problem within the field of Christian ethics an education; the relationship between the church and modern educational models.**
*Much of the critique of section II of Crook’s book is born out of Yoder’s critique of H.R. Niebuhr in the book “Authentic Transformation.”
**This was first made apparent to me, from all places, in the blogosphere! Click here for the simple post that illuminated this point.
P.S. Comics. Melanie “Minty” Lewis. Fiction – Graphic Novel/Comics
I picked this up totally randomly last week at the comic book store. And it’s a great little book. And completely what I was in the mood for. I’m also glad I purchased it because these are the kind of books that I want (need!) to survive in comics. Totally off the beaten path, with good, but ‘affordable’ production design (i.e. no color), etc.
After doing a little research I found that Lewis’ P.S. Comics started as mini-comics (I suppose self published) and have gained enough awards and recognition to make the leap to full blown book in local comic stores – which is fantastic. Lewis’ issue #4 of the original mini-comic even won an Ignatz Award for ‘outstanding mini-comic’.
Lewis’ stories are mostly simple little tales that reveal tiny but important truths and are told via unconventional narrators – fruit, dogs, cats, and sometimes even humans. My favorite tale of hers (available to read on her website if you’re so inclined) was about salt and sugar falling in love. Their friends (pepper and coffee) of course make things a bit difficult for them, but their love prevails…at least for a little while. It’s a great little story and I smiled all the way through. Her dog and cat stories are good as well, but I personally found myself drawn more to her fruit stories – perhaps because I identified with poor apple – but that’s a whole other post.
Regardless, this is a great little book, and I encourage anyone that likes independent comics, or is looking to discover something new, to pick up P.S. Comics.
3.5 Stars
“The other Upchurch toddlers had never seen so much as a minute of television. They didn’t have tantrums that made us late for school…or occasion parent-teacher conferences because of their talent-show choices.”
Very funny insights to the “perfect Mommy syndrome” the neighborhood park benches filled with perfectly coiffed, well-heeled and model-like bodies of “Barbie does Suburbia”– Upchurch versus the former career woman of NYC now plagued with dirty cargo pants,a disheveled appearance, and a scattered lifestyle.
However, the perfect mom, Kitty Cavanaugh, who pens an article (well she ghostwrites) about the elusive “perfect mommy” meets a tragic ending to the “perfect life.” Kate happens upon the corpse and is cast into the web with the strange tie to Kitty and to a mystery man from Kate’s past. Suburbia is in chaos and the “playgrounds” of both the stepford wife-like crew and their families are full of suspicion and danger. The “sandbox” is no longer safe.
While the novel is an enjoyable and entertaining read, the plot is a bit disjointed. I did, however, sympathize with Kate’s need to investigate Kitty’s murder as it gave meaning to an otherwise mundane life where she made rather unsuccessful attempts to join the “perfect-mommy” club. The question becomes: Is there such a club and what is the price of membership?
BibleWorks 8: Software for Biblical Exegesis and Research
Purchase BW8 from the following sellers:
Westminser Bookstore
BibleWorks
Amazon
Eisenbrauns
.
With thanks to Jim Barr at BibleWorks for this review copy!
In this day of technology I’m woefully behind the times. I’m probably the only guy I know under the age of 35 who doesn’t own an iPod and I’m one of the few who doesn’t own a blackberry or some kind of cell phone with a touch screen. I suppose it can all be chalked up to my aversion to change. When I find something I like, I stick with it, that is until I’m forced to change. I stuck with audio cassettes long after compact discs came out, VHS well into the DVD period, and now DVDs when Blu-Rays are all the rage. My point is this: I’m not a technophile. I can type, Google stuff, and burn the occasional song to a CD, that’s about it. So I’ve said all this to say that for as much as BibleWorks can do, I’ll never know the half of it, but I’ll certainly enjoy trying to figure it all out.
For years I used the free Bible software e-Sword and it suited my purposes just fine. It functioned as an exhaustive concordance that I could search quickly and cut and paste Bible verses from. All of the extras were nice, but ultimately wasted on me. So why upgrade to BibleWorks you ask? Well, for starters I heard from everyone with a PC that BibleWorks is simply umparalleled in terms of power, speed, and functionality. Having tried out a couple of other programs I can confirm this. Searches are amazingly fast whether you’re searching a single version or across multiple versions of any given resource. For example, when simply double-clicking the word πρεσβύτεροι in Sib. Or. 2.264 (in toggle browse mode), in 0.05 seconds it returned 10 results in the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha as well as hundreds of hits in the other Greek texts available on BW8. That’s unbelievably quick!
The features in this program are legion, some of which I’ve mentioned before, many of which I’ve not yet discovered. One of my favorite features is the ability to create your own parallel versions window. So for example, if I want to compare the Greek text of the Fragments of Aristobulus with the English translation then all I have to do is click the parrallel versions icon, choose my versions, and presto(!), I’ve got the diglot (or as many glots as you prefer) of my choosing. And it’s also easy to syncronize; all you have to do is click a single button, so as you scroll through the one text the other moves with it.
But as nice as quick searches and parallel versions are, are these features enough to justify the cost of such a program? Well, not for my purposes, but the variety of quality texts included are! BW8 comes equipped with Greek and English versions of the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, Josephus’ complete works, Philo’s complete works, and the Apostolic Fathers. There are a number of Greek New Testament texts, as well as a couple of Greek Old Testament texts (Rahlfs’ Septuaginta & BibleWorks Greek LXX). The Aramaic and Hebrew (and let’s not forget Syriac) texts are nothing to sneeze at either. There’s a variety of Targumim, the Peshitta, various Hebrew Old Testaments and more. And finally, there’s a few Latin texts as well (a couple of Vulgates and the relevant portions of the Apostolic Fathers and Josephus). But this is only where my personal use of languages ends. I chose to do a custom install and stick solely with English (of which there is over 30 Bible translations), Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and Spanish resources. This says nothing of the multitude of modern language Bibles that could have been installed in every language from German to Italian to Korean if I had a use for them.
But the texts don’t stop at Biblical and related literature. BW8 also comes with some great grammar resources such as Dan Wallace’s Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics and Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Connor’s Biblical Hebrew Syntax (and much more). There’s a number of good lexical aids like Louw & Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, 2nd ed. and A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. BDAG & HALOT can be added for a relatively nominal cost considering what the print versions go for. The Ante-Nicene Fathers as well as the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (series I & II) are included as well as Rodkinson’s Babylonian Talmud and Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church. While all of these resources are extremely useful, there are a few that I have little use for like Nave’s Topical Bible or the Thompson New Chain-Reference Bible. Nonetheless, the useful far outweighs the useless.
As I said above, BW8 is full of features that I’ve yet to figure out or discover, but those that I have familiarized myself with are incredibly helpful for aiding in my studies. After using this program for the last six months I wonder how I ever managed without it. I use it on a daily basis and can’t see my use slowing down any time soon. I’d be hard-pressed to think of a reason not to recommend it. If you have an older version of BW then upgrade a.s.a.p.! If you’ve got no version then get BW8 a.s.a.p., trust me, you won’t regret it.
B”H
Another one of my short book reviews. Been too “busy” with other “stuff” for more substantial blogs lately…
In this novel James Howard Kunstler explores life in a post-industrial, post-oil United States.
The age of the motorised machine has ended, society and most of its institutions has collapsed, national and state governments are defunct and transport is mostly by foot or horsepower. Life has become very localised and much of it is controlled by violent thugs and religious cults. While Kunstler’s conception of a post peak oil future is certainly not utopian, this is not an entirely dystopian tale either. I found his storytelling a little stereotyped at times, but would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in peak oil and what our world might look like thereafter.
Modern Times Ulysses (June 22, 2009)
Ulysses in the Odyssey was away of his City-State Ithaca for 20 years. The first ten years were spent battling Troy. The next ten years were disposed of in other kinds of adventures and he was buffeted by storms and sea dangers. Ulysses was very lucky being loved by Calypso for over seven years in a paradise–like island. The love of Ulysses and Calypso were mutual; in fact, Ulysses knew Calypso far better than he knew Penelope; he loved Calypso much more than Penelope. Ulysses real life was not in Ithaca; he matured and experienced life outside of Ithaca. That Ulysses’ nostalgia for Ithaca to be so great is not within the realm of reason or of feelings. Homer wanted Ulysses to return for some other purposes. The stronger nostalgia is the poorer the memory. Nostalgia is self-sufficient in emotions and absorbed in its sufferings; it does not need any refreshing of reminiscences.
We find Ulysses sleeping under an ancient familiar olive tree in Ithaca. How many familiar trees remain after 20 years of absence in our modern times? The harbor is unchanged. A single bulldozer can move a small hill and open a breach into a new horizon, or block another one. Ulysses realizes that he is in Ithaca.
After killing the suitors to Penelope then Ulysses felt bored. His supposedly ancient compatriots are strangers to him; they are telling Ulysses stories of events that happened in Ithaca and people that died or whatever. Ulysses is not interested in these unilateral conversations; he is waiting for someone to ask him about his adventures and life during the last 20 years. No one was interested in Ulysses’ life in the last 20 years; no one asked him “Tell us your adventure”. Fortunately, Ulysses was shipwrecked in Pheacie on his way to Ithaca. The king of Pheacie was interested in the stranger Ulysses and his adventures; Ulysses felt voluble and told his story in four long songs.
Ulysses realized that his essence and the treasure of his life lay out of Ithaca. At this advanced age the present of Ulysses is figited because the future is no longer a project or a vision to contemplate and plan for. The only alternative for Ulysses to fill the present is to recount his very alive past 20 years. No one in Ithaca is interested in the last 20 years of Ulysses.
People figure out that they will live to be eighty as of the laterst estimates in developed nations; implicitely, they admit that they will die and that they must be living in a developed State. People always are absolutely certain that they will outlive their best friends by at least a decade; it is a matter of ego. Youth doesn’t think about future; it is far away and redundant. When we reach 30 then our present has value with urgency. We live our present according to how we view our future; we spend our present commensurate to our plans and projects expected in a future that will not change but for our specific projects and ideas. Whatever change is forecasted for the world community is redundant. People over 60 have a chance to re-invent their lives or spend their present recalling their past; it is time to either write the autobiography or leave peacefully. Homer is taking the task of recording “Ulysses Memoirs”. Ulysses is pretty old for his time and killing the suitors of Penelope must have exhausted the last shred of energy he saved. The Odyssey is rightfully not interested of what happened before Ulysses went to war against Troy; that period is totally irrelevant to the story: Ulysses had forgotten that part of his early life anyway.
Immigrants of my acquaintances come to visit after long absence. As I try to ask about their life abroad there is always someone to interrupt me and divert the subject to local events, especially stupid local politics; stupid because I am no politician. The immigrants do not get back to my question simply because they were no Ulysses in the countries they lived in; over there it is daily toil, a wretched life for stupid survival. Not many made it rich and their absence had no value or significance. Returning immigrants were no Ulysses; they did not live with a Calypso on an enchanted Island and served by slaves for every whim they had. They were the slaves and they did slave. Nowadays, societies in developed States are not that interested in strangers: strangers are just statistics and grouped haphazardly for the sake of classification and central data processing. Immigrants don’t have much to tell; they fled for greener pastures that turned dry; dollars were not found on the streets. Whatever rich life they had is irrelevant if not supported by actual material riches. In any case, immigrants were too busy to enjoy their present and memorize the good days; whatever they recall are the worst days which are not pleasing for story telling.
Immigrants who are in their sixties should not think returning “home”; they should banish “nostalgia” from their vocabulary; they should dissociate from people frequently mentioning “nostalgia”. Home is where they are now; they do not need further exacerbations of realizing that they are strangers in their “homeland”. Except if they decided to write their autobiography; then this would be the best location to remembering their real life abroad.
Ulysses would have not found his old familiar olive tree; the unchanged harbor would have been studded with performing monster cranes. Penelope would have been too old to ward off suitors if any. Penelope would not have been waiting if she was pretty and intelligent enough in the first place. Homer is a magician for transforming wretched reality into poetry, for describing nostalgia in its proper meaning, for showing us the period of real life and our inconsiderate valuing of the present.
Note: The theme of this article was presented in the French novel “The Ignorance” of Milan Kundera.
Dandelion Salad
wonderingmind42
June 20, 2009
Pre-order the book from Amazon:
http://snurl.com/kjpvp
Trailer for the book that grew out of “The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See.”
“What’s the Worst That Could Happen? A Rational Response to the Climate Change Debate,” by Greg Craven, will be in bookstores July 7, 2009, and is available now for pre-order at
http://www.gregcraven.org
“This book trumps most of our accounts of the global warming crisis. . . . The author has actually figured out what actions make sense. –Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature.
“…a brilliant and unique work on global warming…. innovative and intelligent…. superbly crafted…. A must read.” –Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, USMC (Ret.), former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command.
“This is a tremendous book and well worth anyone’s time to read…. You’re in for a treat—Craven is funny as well as exceptionally clear, and wise.” –Kim Stanley Robinson, Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author of the Mars Trilogy and Science in the Capital
LINKS:
“The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8w…
How It All Ends (playlist of 49 videos)
How It All Ends (Global Warming; must-see video; links)
more about “What’s the Worst That Could Happen? A…“, posted with vodpod
see
from the archives:
How It All Ends (Global Warming; must-see video; links)
How It All Ends: Your Mission (global warming; must-see videos)
The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See (videos; Parts 1-4)
The Most IMPORTANT Video You’ll Ever See (videos; Parts 5-8)
Operation Saturation: On the Threshold (must-see videos)
Global Warming on Dandelion Salad
Debunking Global Warming Deniers
Chapter 2 of Eric Johnson’s book, Foundations for Soul Care(IVP, 2007) traces the use of the bible as soul healing agent throughout the history of the church. Eric explores the work of early church fathers, medieval church, reformation, and Puritanism as examples of soul care writings based on the biblical text.
The chapter then moves to consider the historical movement of the relationship between Christianity and science. While early scientists saw their field of study as something revealing evidence of God’s handiwork, a “fracture” begins with Enlightenment thinking.
Ironically, while Christianity contributed to the development of the scientific revolution, that revolution came to be increasingly linked to an alternative worldview: modernism (p. 63)
Eric does a nice job summarizing the transition. One moves from the use of metaphysics, tradition, and revelation (Eric’s words) to a focus on the specific object of study and the use of observation. Thus, human reason and empiricism rule the day.
At core what distinguishes modernism and Christianity as ways of thinking about human life are their different ultimate commitments. Christianity assumes a God-centered worldview in which the individual self (with its submissive reason) is seen as relatively important in relation to the rest of creation but relatively unimportant in comparison to the infinite God. In such a framework, science is a noble task done first for the glory of God and second for the benefit of humanity, a good means to a greater end. Modernism inherited the self of Christianity, but without its God to keep things in proper perspective, the self became the center of the universe (an anti-Copernican revolution!), eventually regarding its own experience, together with its autonomous reason, as the foundations of truth and morality…Consequently, individualism–and not relationship–was established at the base of the modern worldview. (p. 65)
Eric goes on to talk about how Christianity imbibed the modernistic assumptions (either trying to use empiricism to defend fundamentalism or accepting that psychology is the best way to understand human functioning).
Eric does a good job summarizing the modern pastoral care movement and capitulation to psychotherapy models. Further, he shows how a Barthian model of soul care was not quite liberalism nor evangelicalism. Finally, he reviews the postmodern turn and “postliberal recovery.”
Johnson’s take on modern pastoral care movement? It doesn’t offer much to the evangelical in the way of thinking biblically about souls. The postliberal engagement with the Bible does two things: re-engages the text of Scripture as a real dialogue partner while not dismissing the helps within positivist psychology.
If you are unfamiliar with the modern history of Christian counseling and pastoral care, this is a great chapter to start with. You can get a quick overview plus a bibliography to point you to original sources. The next chapters deal with evangelical and fundamentalist counseling models and how they dealt with Scripture (i.e., biblical counseling or integrationism).
Claire Keegan has been hailed as the most important new, young voice coming out of Ireland. Fellow Irish writer, and winner of the Booker prize for her novel ‘The Gathering’ Anne Enright aptly describes the effect of her short stories as taking the clichés of Irish rural life and setting them ablaze. What are these clichés? The priest, the man who lets the drink in him speak, the healers and seers, the superstitions and folktales. But Keegan is never fey; quite the opposite. The priest in the title story of this collection, Walk The Blue Fields, is spiritually empty. He has just officiated at the wedding of the woman he has himself known, in the full biblical sense; he pays a visit to the Chinese healer living in a caravan, who pummels and strikes him until his resistance fades. And although he cannot go back to where he was, he finds a new way of being in the world.
The men in these stories are are often weak, and give in to their weaknesses; there is an abusive father, or the man who says words in anger when he ‘has the drink on him’, loses the woman he loves and quietly goes to the dogs, dreaming her back to his side every night. There is Deegan, who takes a wife as the next step after buying a herd of Fresian cows, putting electric fences round his land and installing the milking unit. Little wonder, then, that the wife eventually falls for the man who comes round selling roses. Only Deegan cannot understand what she’s been missing all the years. The women are far more in tune with themselves and with the past, which comes back in the form of customs and traditions, and with present developments. ‘Now that Stack knew a woman, there grew the knowledge that he would never understand women. They could smell rain, read doctors’ handwriting, hear the grass growing.’ It is the women who understand and cope with the world. The men on the other hand are puzzled by it, and by women.
You might think Beach Trip by Cathy Holton would be a light, fun, summertime romp, based on the cover and the description, but it really isn’t that. I’d call it women’s fiction, which to me means it’s a bit more serious than chick lit, and a lot less fluffy than what I think of as a beach read.
The story is about Lola, Mel, Sara, and Annie, college roommates and close friends who get together some 20 years later, in their 40’s, for a week at the beach. Life has taken them in completely different directions since their college years, but they still have a bond.
Alternating between the past and present, we get to know the women as they were and are. Lola- rich, beautiful, married to the very controlling Briggs, is sweet but childlike- she seemed medicated and in her own little world during the week at the beach. Mel, the wild one, is a twice-divorced writer and a breast cancer survivor who gets the women talking over margaronas. Sara is an attorney whose marriage is suffering under the strain of a difficult medical diagnosis for one of her children. Annie is an empty nester and uptight clean freak with secrets of her own. I related most to Sara, a former career woman with a long marriage and a couple of kids, whose life isn’t perfect, but I found Mel to be the most interesting of the four.
The women don’t connect immediately at the beach- they definitely have their guard up- and it takes almost the entire trip before they have any meaningful conversation with each other. I doubt they would have been friends without their shared history- they are friends because they’ve known each other forever. But as the week wears on and the secrets start coming out, their friendship grows and changes to allow for the mature people they’ve become.
So much of the first 3/4ths of the book is made up of the women’s inner dialogue- being around their old friends brings on a flood of memories- so much so that I kept thinking, are they ever going to really talk to each other? They are all so self involved! But then, finally, they do talk and share their lives with each other. That’s when the book starts to get really good.
I like when a book can surprise me, and there are a couple of big twists in Beach Trip. The ending was great- it totally made the book for me! One twist was obvious to me from the beginning (I’m not sure I’d even call it a twist, but then in our Summer Reading Series discussion, several people said that their favorite part was when it was revealed, so I guess it was a twist). The end, though, really took me by surprise. If you’ve read the book, don’t give it away! It’s a great ending.
I’d recommend Beach Trip to anyone who likes women’s fiction. For more thoughts on Beach Trip, follow Cathy Holton’s TLC Book Tour.
If you shoot in RAW and manage large numbers of photos, you need to give very serious consideration to Aperture 2. The program provides truly outstanding RAW conversion tools – greatly superior to Adobe’s free Digital Negative Converter. It provides very flexible, easy-to-use tools to compare and rate photos, including stacks, ratings and comparison tools. The library management tools are truly outstanding, giving you multiple levels of keywords, a variety of tools for organizing your shots, and a hierarchical system for organization. And it links tightly to the photo editing application(s) of your choice.
Batch processing is well-supported, both on import and on photo selections. Essentially all data associated with the photos – both image details and EXIF – can be handled individually or at a batch level.
Famously, Aperture makes its edits to photos by linked mathematical formulas; the RAW photo itself is not touched. So manipulations can always be reversed. This also keeps the photo database from growing through duplicate files; there’s just one file, and a series of small files representing the edits.
Aperture isn’t perfect. While it is adequate for simple edits to photos, you’ll still need a tool like Photoshop or Elements to perform serious adjustments to your photos. Aperture does a fine job of working with those photo editors. And Apple can be slow – sometimes, seriously slow – supporting the RAW formats of newly released cameras. In the case of the Olympus E-3, the camera was released for five months before Aperture could import its RAW format. There are always workarounds – Adobe DNG if nothing else – and in fairness to Apple, its Aperture RAW converters are outstanding, but be prepared for a wait if you have new model camera. And Aperture demands significant resources: at least G5 (an Intel chip is better), at least 2 GB RAM (4GB much better), an approved video card, hard drive space adequate to your projected library and a backup or removable drive to hold a backup (a “vault”).
Perhaps best of all, Aperture lets you define your own workflow. Adobe Lightroom, by contrast, pretty much imposes its workflow structure on you. You can do things in the order you want, not the order some programmer wants.
If you are new to Aperture, I recommend the Classroom in a Book tutorial, Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 2 (Apple Pro Training Series).
I could not be happier with this program. I have some 35,000 shots, and add 1,000-2,000 per month. It has been flawless. And I’ve never lost a photo.
My highest recommendation.
After naming Tamora Pierce one of the Strong Women in my previous post, I figured it would be a good time to review one of her books that I’ve read this year!
Terrier is set in the Tortall universe – a few hundred years before Alanna, Jonathan, George Cooper and all the beloved characters of the Lioness books. Beka is George’s ancestor and she has some unusual talents. Beka is a puppy – a rookie law enforcment officer. She also has a companion that we know and love from the Alanna series!
While this book is set in Tortall, this isn’t the Tortall we are accustomed to visiting! Life seems harsher at least for those who are not the rulers! Beka grew up in the Lower City so she knows the people quite well. Her unusual talents and her interest in justice attract the attention of the Provost who rescues her family and helps start Beka on her career.
She meets some intriguing people in this adventure. I think I know what will happen with the relationships between some of them but I’m not at all certain. I thought it was interesting that there was a lady knight and I wonder how the world will have forgotten that when Alanna comes along. I also thought it was interesting to hear about the city from an earlier time period. I must admit I had a hard time when they talked about Roger since he was such a villian in the Alanna series! But of course this was a different Roger!
I did have some trouble with the vernacular that is used a lot in the book. But once I found the glossary, I was able to make certain that I was getting it right.
I think the book is a wonderful addition to the Tortall world. And once again Tamora has created a very credible young woman hero who doubts herself and overcomes those doubts to make her world a safer place. I highly recommend it!
So I passed the 100 post mark with my post yesterday. Since the post wasn’t necessary the most celebratory kind (but it was monumental in it’s own regard), today I bring you this: Post #101! Woohoo!
Friday night I finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s, “Eat, Pray, Love“. The book tells the author’s story of self discovery following a difficult divorce at the age of 35.
The book is equally divided into three segments – each describes a leg of a international journey. She travels to three countries – Italy, India & Indonesia. In Italy she endulges in food, wine, friends and all the beauty around her. Hours upon hours of meditation at an ashram in India teaches Liz how to live on very little and how to quiet her mind. In Indonesia she befriends an old medicine man, a young medicine woman, and a Brazillian gentleman who all show her how to balance the extremes she experienced in Italy & India.
It’s easy to identify with Liz’s tale, regardless of whether you’ve been through a tough divorce or break-up. Everyone has had an identity crisis at some point in their lives, right? The book doesn’t dwell on the reasons why Liz takes the trip, but how she takes the trip & what she aims to learn from each. Her writing style is comfortable and easy – it’s very easy to feel as though her thoughts are your own.
Overall a good read, and I would recommend it to friends. I felt that the message was comparable to Paulo Coehlo’s “The Alchemist” . My only complaint was with the India section. Italy and Indonesia were characteristic of her experience – full of life, joy and energy. But in India, when much of her time was spent in quiet solitude, it was difficult to keep reading.
According to the internet (and the NY Times), a movie based on the book is due to be released in 2011.
If Rhys Bowen was a dancer, she’d be Fred Astaire. Her writing is effortless grace that makes everything around shine with glamor and class. It’s amazing really, how easily you’re drawn into the world and the characters that populate 1932 London – Britain’s upper crust, especially the ne’er do well ones used to living well and suddenly unable to do so on their own due to the depression. From the first page you’re lost in vaguely decadent pre-war London seen through the eyes of the still innocent, observant, increasingly less naïve Lady Georgiana Rannoch.
A Royal Pain is the second book in Bowen’s new Her Royal Spyness series and it’s even better than the first. Not only is there more of a mystery, but Ms Bowen dances Georgie through a tale filled with Noel Coward characters – not to mention a cameo appearance by Mr Coward himself – mixing fictional with real people easily and with her usual attention to detail. Bits of history, like the relationship between Prince George, later the Duke of Kent, and Noel Coward, the communist and fascist party conflicts, and most importantly, the infatuation of her cousin David – know to the world as Edward the VIII – with a notorious American woman, Wallis Simpson.
Once again, Her Majesty is trying to re-direct David’s attentions to a more suitable female. She asks Georgie to host the young Princess Maria Theresa Hannelore Whilelmina Mathilda, known as Hanni, and do her best to get her in the path of her son. The problem is Rannoch House has no servants and Georgie has no money – and heaven knows the Crown does think about things like paying the bills – so first on Georgie’s to-do list is prying some funds from her brother and sister-in-law. As for the rest, well a trip to see her ex-policeman grandfather, a solid down to earth type, for advice is where she starts. To help her out, he volunteers to be her ‘butler’ and his neighbor, widowed Mrs. Hubble who is avoiding eviction during the depression, will act as cook. Now she just needs a maid and a way how to keep her own little housekeeping business afloat – and a secret – while she’s back to being a royal and a hostess.
Hanni arrives and for a girl fresh from the convent, she’s brash, outspoken, uses American slang learned from gangster movies, and wants to party hearty. Her companion is a formidable lady, Baroness Rottenmeister, who has far more interest in her food than in London or entertainments. Hanni is quite the handful and with Georgie just few years older, it’s a challenge t try and keep her under control. Her maid, Irmgardt is skulking about Rannoch House at all hours. Her grandfather, with his policeman instincts and stolid yeoman eye thinks they’re all trouble and Georgie should dump them elsewhere. The thing is, one does not say no to the Queen.
A few outings and Hanni is already collecting Communist literature in Hyde Park. A campaign to rid them of the demanding Baroness – cold water baths, little food – and that things like porridge and toad in the hole – eventually takes its toll and the Baroness decides to stay with Prince Sigfried’s (AKA Fish Lips) Aunt – the lady for whom Georgie had cleaned house just a few days before. Hanni and Georgie land at a very swish party at Gussie Gormsely’s posh apartment with live jazz, lots of alcohol and cocaine in the kitchen and her mother in the living room chatting with Noel Coward about starring in a play he’s writing and the handsome Mr. Darcy in attendance, much to Hanni’s delight. Then Tubby Twekesbury ends up going off the balcony to his death as Georgie stand out there chatting to the young man in a tuxedo who had been handed them communist literature in Hyde Park.
Then a trip to a book shop in the heart of the Docklands area has another dead body – that same young man with the communist literature she chatted with on the balcony is knifed. Hanni finds him and the knife and Inspector Suggs, the same man who investigated the body in the bathtub in Her Royal Spyness finds himself once again interviewing Lady Georgina and not one bit happy about it. To get them away from the press – and near David, HM gets them invited to a house party, with the Baroness once again in tow. The hostess is an American heiress married to a title and a school friend of none other than Wallis Simpson. The smitten prince has less than no interest in Hanni and she shows little interest in him.
There is another death, apparently a natural one, but still too many to be just coincidence. What is the common thread? Georgie pieces it all together and it’s her mother who provides the final clue.
Rhys Bowen keeps A Royal Pain moving at a fast clip, but never rushing. Filled with the atmosphere of the early 30’s it captures the sense the economic turmoil and political and social unrest evident even to those that would ordinarily be well insulated from it all. It’s that juxtaposition of great wealth and poverty – the huge gap that goes beyond social standing where Georgie’s awareness begins blooming. Her new financial circumstances make her far more aware of sheltered and oblivious she’s been to the conditions of the working class. In addition to the mystery, the reader gets to watch Georgie evolve and mature as she gets experience with life – and death. An entertaining and satisfying cozy. Grab a cup of tea and some Pims biscuits and settle in for a classy mystery that’s as smooth, stylish and lively as Fred and Ginger.
My Grade: A- (4.5*)
Who would enjoy this book: Readers of classic British mysteries, British cozies and historical mysteries. The rating is PG.
The paperback will be released on July 7th
I completely forgot how good the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by J.R Ward is!!
Perhaps that is because she writes soooo slow.. one a year isnt enough!
Lucky me managed to get a hold of book 7: Lover Avenged thanks to a great customer of mine at work. She is crazy for paranormal stuff and totally digs J.R Ward. Lover Avenged doesn’t even have a release date in Australia yet, but she was so impatient she went and ordered it from Amazon, which im totally fine with as she then loaned it out to me.
And amazing it was! The last few previous to this one hadn’t reached the standard that Lover Avenged has!
Ward has strayed away from the rest of the Brotherhood, Phury being the last of the brothers to have his story released on book 6 where he finds Cormia. I honestly thought book 7 would follow John Matthew’s story but instead Ward chose the path of the sympath Rehevenge.
Rehevenge is the red lights district pimp/dealer/club owner in Caldwell. Zero Sum, his hang out is the hang out for mounds of humans and alot of the Brotherhood in the VIP section.
During the previous books, Revhenge was always portrayed at a very bad guy. Sympath’s are not allowed to roam free in the human world as other vampires do, and anyone who discovers a sympath must report it to Wrath so that he can have the sympath deported to the colony up north just before the Canadian border.
Sympaths are very evil creatures, they thrive on inflicting pain and misery on other, both physically and mentally. Alot of them use pain to succumb themselves from lashing out. Revhenge uses large amounts of Dopamine to calm himself, but the side effects are just as painful. Xhex, Zero Sum’s main bodyguard uses pain release, in the form of spike strips tightly belted to her thighs to calm her sympath urges.
After Revhenge is approached by one of the glycemia to kill Wrath, has they feel that the king, and his Brotherhood have not being doing enough to help the gycemia since the countless house raids by the Omega-ran Lessers. Someone out there knows Revhenges secret, and has threatened to expose him which is not an option for him.
Wrath is also have his own troubles, his vision getting increasingly worse by the day, as is his need to fight again with the brotherhood he begins to take on the Lessers without backup or approval from the brothers. He does not want to be king but as he is the last pure blood vampire he was handed the task without question.
This book is a must-read! But before you dive into this one, make sure you read the previous 6 in order!
1. Dark Lover
2. Lover Eternal
3. Lover Awakened
4. Lover Revealed
5. Lover Unbound
6. Lover Enshrined
7. Lover Avenged! YAY!
Lover Avenged 2009 Hard Cover
Published: 2005 (English 2006)
Translated from the French by John Cullen
Pages: 257
Challenges: Lost in Translation; Support your local library
A while ago I stopped rating books as I didn’t have a rating system that I was comfortable with and everything seemed to be either a 4 or 4.5 which seemed a bit pointless. I found myself looking at two or three completely different books that I had given the same rating to, thinking that wasn’t quite right and wondering if I should change them etc.. so I stopped and am happy now just to record my thoughts.
I didn’t have the same problem with The Attack. It was definitely a 5 star read for me. It wasn’t the writing style (there were several quite flowery descriptions which I found a bit over the top) or any special affinity with the main character but the message that comes through on a subject (terrorism and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict) which I have little knowledge. A powerful book, written from the point of view of an Israeli Arab in a balanced way that offers the reader a chance of a glimmer of understanding.
The book opens with a bomb blast seen through the eyes of a fatally wounded man. He lies dying but not realising he is dying, describing the mayhem and terror all around him:
My hand gropes among the gravel. I believe I’ve been hurt. I try to move my legs, to lift my head; not one of my muscles obeys me…. My trousers have almost disappeared; only a few strips of scorched cloth cover me here and there. Against my side, grotesque and horrible, my leg is lying, still connected to my thigh by a thin ribbon of flesh…. A man comes to me, picks up my wrist and lets it fall again….”This one’s a goner. We can’t do anything for him”. I’d like to hold him back and force him to reconsider his assessment, but my arm mutinies, refusing to obey me…..
The scene then shifts to a hospital where Dr Amin Jaafrie, a respected surgeon works through the night to save as many blast victims as he can. Exhausted, he stumbles home, falls into a deep sleep only to be woken and called back to the hospital. His wife’s body has been found among the dead. Her injuries strongly suggest she was the suicide bomber responsible for the attack.
Told in the first person, Amin Jaafrie relays how his world then falls apart. Not only does he have to deal with the grief of losing his wife, but the shock of what she is accused of and the accusation that he was in some way involved. On top of this people who previously tolerated him because of his “integration” and good standing revert back to their prejudices against him as an Arab. Prejudices that have always been simmering just below the surface of superficial tolerance.
Desperate to understand what has happened to his beloved wife, the wife he thought he knew so well, he revisits his memories and despite the danger seeks out the people that were with her in the days before the attack.
There are some lovely quotes throughout the book:
My father said, “Anyone who tells you that a greater symphony exists than the breath in your body is lying. He wants to undermine your most beautiful possession: The chance to profit from every moment of your life.”
I came naked into the world, I’ll leave it naked, what I possess doesn’t belong to me, and neither do other people’s lives. All human unhappiness comes from this misunderstanding…
Yasmina Khadra is the author of Swallows of Kabul which I had heard of before but haven’t read yet. She is actually a he, Mohammed Moulesshoul, a former Algerian army officer who wrote under this pen name to avoid military censorship.
How grateful I am that this book is available to read in English – a real gift.
It is a superb story – a mixed bag of emotions. The little boy (Amir) around whom the entire story keeps revolving and the situations he goes through from his childhood to his days of youth are so very close to reality. All of us will be able to relate to the situations and the story never seems like a fiction. The emotions that he is filled with are so beautifully framed in words that the reader can actually imagine the entire scene vividly in his mind. The story is set in Afghanistan, before the Taliban intervention and paints a very different view of the country. I for once realized that Afghanistan too could have been like any other country – terror free, with humans around and normal life for all.
The writer Hosseini, very tactfully deals with several issues – social life, double standards, class difference, childlike innocence, love, betrayal just everything and just when you thought that now things are smooth in the story there is an interesting angle added to it each time. The book takes you into the story as if you were one of the characters witnessing everything.
One of the incidents after the kite flying competition was so painful that I ended up crying. There was pain, helplessness, fear of a child, weaknesses exposed and indecisiveness. One realizes how crushing it is to know what is right and still not be able to find the courage to do it – the guilt that stays with the boy and how at the end that guilt makes him do something grand, really grand, so profound that it washes away all the sins away.
What stole my heart away was the character named Hasan. There is so much honesty, simplicity in the character that one cannot but fall in love with Hasan. There is devotion, complete surrender, dedication, strength, purity and much more that even words fall short for an apt explanation.
There are few beautiful lines from the book that I am going to carry with me for a long, long time –
Amir’s father tells his son that there is no other sin in the world other than theft. When you lie to someone you steal his right to truth. When you kill someone you steal his right to life. When you make someone unhappy you steal the right to his happiness and so on. I wonder if there is any simpler explanation of what life is. (all of us are thieves is one way or the other, only that we are capable of convincing ourselves with great conviction that we fell prey to situation, destiny and ignorance).
Another beautiful line was the last line of the book – that says that when the spring approaches, first layers of ice start to melt and you get to know this is ‘the new beginning’ – this is how life is….it goes on and everything around us teaches us the same. It ends the story with a hope that your life may have been a tumultuous journey but there is always hope that things are going to be good. There is more to life and more to live!!
Until pirates started raiding ships off the Somali coast, Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy was the epitome of the swashbuckling, treasure-seeking, barbarous pirate. Like most people, Peter T. Leeson has childhood fascination with the Sparrow sort of pirate, but, as an economist, Leeson can shed light on another, unexpected quality of their lives: pirates, he argues, adhered to codes and ethics not so different from those of land-faring people. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates, manages to recognize the myths of piracy while giving serious consideration to the logistics, both social and economic, of a life of adventure and plunder on the high seas in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Instead of focusing on the differences between pirates and the people they attack, Leeson draws out the similarities between democratic societies and the world of piracy. He begins by extending Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” theory to the economies of pirates. Leeson makes a simple yet critical connection, “Smith’s invisible hand is as true for criminals as it is for anyone else, although criminals direct their cooperation at someone else’s loss.” Our land-based economy cannot survive with individuals working entirely alone for personal benefit, and neither can a pirate economy. Leeson points out that pirates must work together to benefit from, as he aptly names it, the invisible hook.
The invisible hook, Leeson writes, led pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries to create democratic and ethical codes that had uncanny resemblances to the constitutional democracies crafted during the same era. While captains acted like kings on merchant ships, pirates crafted their societies around maximizing profit for everyone, and cooperation was the only way to secure it. Democratic codes created solidarity among them, giving each man equal representation and power for deciding everything from who was captain to how to divide up booty. Some codes even articulated how to pay out insurance to pirates injured on the job, and how to vote out a dishonorable captain. It was a far cry from the merchant ships, whose captains acted like kings.
Even the best-known stereotypes of pirates fit into Leeson’s economic theories, as examples of pirates’ “signaling” and “branding” to secure booty with minimal cost. The greatest of these signals was the Jolly Roger, the famed skull and cross-bones flag. “The Jolly Roger, then, signaled ‘pirate,’” Leeson writes, “which meant two things. ‘If you resist us, we’ll slaughter you. If you submit to us peacefully, we’ll let you live.’” The flag, along with the barbaric reputation it carried, enabled pirates to exercise power over mercantile ships with little effort, albeit with sometimes incredibly cruel punishment. Most of the time, however, crews submitted peacefully, relieving pirates of the trouble of fighting.
Whenever pirates did have to live up to their reputations, as Leeson explains, they had stipulations to follow. Torture was one of the acts significantly regulated by pirate code, primarily used for three main reasons, according to Leeson: to gain information, especially about treasure on captured ships; to punish government officials in retaliation for capturing or executing other pirates; and to punish abusive merchant captains. Pirates were merciless to those who did not surrender or cooperate, but were surprisingly humane to those who knew better than to challenge the Jolly Roger.
Going further into the dynamic culture and society of piracy, Leeson discloses some surprising facts about pirate conscription. Forcing merchant sailors to either “join the pirate crew or die,” Leeson tells us, was the exception and not the rule to pirate recruitment. More often then not, the economic benefits of joining a pirate ship outweighed the costs of remaining a lowly merchant crew member. Furthermore, Leeson sheds light on pirates’ progressive and profitable approach to racial tolerance, capitalizing on the economic benefits of having black men on their ships and sometimes even granting them equal rights.
The Invisible Hook reconciles the world of pirates and men by applying what we understand about democratic society, justice, and, ultimately, economics, to piracy. Leeson does the work of economist at a level that does not require fluency in economic theory. He writes with awe and respect for piracy, reconciling a childhood fascination with a mature and informed understanding of these rebellious seamen.
Como se diz chulé em inglês? (How do you say “chulé” in English?) is a book written for Brazilians learning English, but in my opinion its just as useful if not more so for English people learning Brazilian Portuguese.
Some time ago, Ron Martinez (who has a background of teaching English in Brazil) started a group on the social network site Orkut for learners of English. Students posted questions about words in Portuguese they couldn’t find an equivelent for in English. This book is Ron’s attempt to answer those queries. Basically, it’s a fascinating study of phrases and words that are common in Portuguese which no English word seems to quite capture.
The best way to illustrate this is through some examples. An oft-cited Portuguese word that has no English translation is “saudades” which roughly translates to “longing” – basically the feeling we have when we miss something. Other useful words which Martinez picks up on – Picanha (the prime cut of meat so popular at Brazilian barbeques/churrascos which butchers in the northern hemisphere don’t use!), caprichar (sort of means “to embellish”, “to treat well”, “to put extra effort in”), cadê (that wonderful word which doesn’t need to be conjugated which means – Where is/are..?) and, from the title, chulé (smelly feet!).
As the book is written in Portuguese you will need at least an intermediate grasp of Portuguese to get everything, but the chapters are short, witty and the examples clearly laid out in boxes. A great way to get under the skin of both English and Portuguese and how the two languages actually work in practice…
Here is a listing for the book on submarino.com.br
The Fruit Bowl Project (NOT The Fruits Basket Project as I keep calling it in my head) doesn’t seem to have a lot of legs outside of the classroom. It’s a fine quick little read, but the first half of the book that’s set-up doesn’t really have that much connection to the meat of the premise, or the variations on a theme. It’s also fairly tedious to read through all the different versions of the story when they’re not terribly inventive (the crazy genres and the math versions worked better for me here than interminable POVs.)
Savvy, on the other hand, I really liked. It has its faults, overt folksiness being the chief amongst them, but I really cared about that ragtag bunch of misfits who you never thought would make it through the season. The ending even made me a little teary. I loved all the little romantic subplots (particularly the bus driver/Bible deliveryman falls in love with sassy diner waitress) and how the climactic scenes managed to be full of action and funny at the same time. There’s something vaguely Sharon Creech-y (or Richard Peck-ish?) about Law’s tone throughout
that blended well with the fantastic elements.
In meta-challenge news, I decided to take a shower and a short walk over to the public library to pick up some holds and bid a tearful adieu to my first three 48HBC reads. And pick up a chocolate milkshake. Which was my lunch. Because apparently I’m trying to recreate what my life was like when I was ten, when I was completely fueled by kid’s books and sugar. Seriously, throw in some boxed mac-n-cheese and reruns of Highway to Heaven and it would be 1989 in my apartment today. Also, Route 11 BBQ potato chips are totally the best ever. They also make a good dinner. Just saying. I knocked back The Fruit Bowl Project quickly upon my return and was knee-deep into Savvy when I made the mistake of laying down on the couch to read. Yeah. The mid-evening nap is totally my fatal flaw in this thing (and was my undoing last night also… why can’t I learn?) After a very extended nap, I woke up, cursed a little, and tucked in to finish off Savvy and blog a bit. I’m actually feeling pretty good now, so I’m gonna see if I can make some headway on a short book (Edward’s Eyes, I think) so that I’m ending the night strong.
Progress update:
Reading time: 11 hours
Blogging/Twittering/blog-reading: 3.5 hours
Total 48HBC time: 14.5 hours
Books finished: 5
Pages read: 1239 pages (past the 1000 page mark=squee!)
Junk food dinner: stomach grumbling
What can be more wonderful to a biblophile like me, than, a book about books. I first heard about ‘The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop at Danielle’s blog. A quick peek at the front page thanks to amazon.com and I was looking for my own copy. Kapil’s timely trip to US made it possible for me to buy the book.
Lewiz Buzbee’s book is basically a tribute to the love of reading and selling books. The book draws heavily from his experience of decades as independent bookstore employee as well as publishing sales rep. We get glimpses of what goes behind the scenes at bookstores. What truly made this book an enjoyable read was the way I could relate to reverence towards books that the author has and that I share.
I will jot down some observations that Lewis makes..that me want to read this book again and again
‘When I walk into a bookstore, any bookstore, first thing in the morning, I’m flooded with a sense if hushed excitement…’
‘Books connect us with others, but that connection is created in solitude, one reader in one chair hearing one writer, what John Irving refers to as one genius speaking to another’
‘ There, face to face, over the elbow polished wood of the counter, bookseller and customer share a silent but telling moment. Travel guides, cookbooks, a book on divorce, one about ailing parents, baby names…..its a little like looking into another person’s heart.’
Lewis also provides the reader some background and history on the origin of books , publishers and bookstores. Its informative though slightly text-bookish at times. But I am not complaining. As long its about books , its fine.
One of the several stories and trivia that Lewis sprinkes across the book , the most profound is the one about the publication of the masterpiece ‘Ulysses’ . This story truly indicates the influence booksellers and publishers can have the on the current socio-political scene of a country / generation.
I took away a lot away from the book, substantial general knowledge , pleasure in knowing that more people in the world have same passion for books and a stronger resolve to try to make a career in the world of books. Someday.
Verdict : Must buy ( only if you love books)
This book is a fiction, mystery-romance novel by Roxanne St. Claire, which I purchased last June (2008) and started reading right away. I finished the almost 400 page book in a matter of three days. Yes, that’s how interesting I found the book. Prior to finding the book at a Shopper’s Drug Mart (I had been a the hospital waiting room at the time, looking for a good read), I had never heard of Roxanne St. Claire before. Now, after reading ‘First You Run‘, I went out and bought ‘Then You Hide‘, which is part 2 of the trilogy and still have ‘Now You Die’ to purchase. Though I found the first book very interesting, I can honestly say I have not found time to read the second book of the trilogy. Once I do read it, however, I can add it as a review.
I enjoy Roxanne’s writing style, and admire the amount of research she puts into her work. Pick it up. If you’re a mystery lover, you’re bound to like this one, ‘First You Run‘ by Roxanne St. Claire.
I got my order from the WTS bookstore today! You can’t beat that. I ordered it yesterday and it arrived today. I only live about 45 minutes from WTS so it’s not too surprising. In any event, all of the books look great. Two things I noticed that bothered me though was transliterated Greek in both Frame’s and Kelly’s books. If you know Greek then you don’t need a transliteration and if you don’t know it then they don’t help anyway.
I also got two boxes from Oxford University Press. The first contained Peter Widdicombe’s The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius. The second box has Sara Parvis’ Marcellus of Ancyra and the Lost Years of the Arian Controversy 325–345 as well as Norman Russell’s The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. This last one is going to make a great companion to one of the books my mom just got me. I decided that Widdicombe’s was a ‘must read’ after having read a couple of articles* of his on the same subject. As I understand it this is his revised doctoral dissertation so I’m expecting a couple hundred pages of technical goodness! Since Widdicombe’s volume is directly relevant to the doctrine of the Trinity I might see if I can get it reviewed this month. Time will tell.
B”H
* Widdicombe, Peter. “Father and the Conception of God in Early Greek Christian Literature.” Anglican Theological Review 82/3 (2000): 519-36.
––––––. “The Fathers on the Father in the Gospel of John.” Semeia 85 (1999): 105-25.
––––––. “Justin Martyr and the Fatherhood of God.” Laval Théologique et Philosophique 54/1 (1998): 109-26.
This Momentary Marriage
by John Piper
ISBN-10: 1433507129
ISBN-13: 9781433507120
178 pages of great writing is what is contained in this book. Piper hits a home run. Though we may find minor details about which to quibble, I am convinced that Piper has done us all a service by writing this book.
This Momentary Marriage (hence TMM) is the fruit of Piper’s forty years of marriage as well as many years of Bible study. He gives to us the voice of Scripture and experience.
Piper reminds us that marriage is not all about love. Marriage is not sustained by staying in love. Marriage is about covenant keeping.
Piper takes us to the Garden, to the Cross, to the altar, to the marriage bed, and to divorce court. In every place he tells us what the Word of God tells us, and in every place he calls us to strive for permanence in our marriages because it is God’s revealed will for us.
Piper reminds us that marriage is to show forth Christ and His church. Thus it is that the relationships within marriage serve to glorify God. It is also in this that we find many characteristics that should be found in the lives and hearts of husbands and wives.
Piper calls upon us to remember that we are to be fruitful and multiply, as God has commanded us. TMM gives us a nudge in the direction of child training by reminding us that the goal of Christian child bearing is to make children disciples of Jesus.
In the end, Piper discusses divorce. Granted, Piper’s views are a little more stringent than those of even most conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists today. At the same time, agree or disagree, Piper argues his point well by calling us to remember that Jesus is faithful to His bride. He then calls for us to have the same covenant faithfulness in our own marriages.
It is my wish that this become a classic book on the subject of marriage.
It’s that good!
Title: A Map of the Known World
Author: Lisa Ann Sandell
Rating: 9.5/10
Good If… You’re looking for a short and emotional book.
Summary: (Taken from Amazon)
Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother’s secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl’s journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.
My Thoughts: Sandell’s previous novel, Song of the Sparrow, blew me away so much that I had very high expectations for A Map of the Known World. This novel proved that not only can Sandell write amazing stories in verse, she’s also a very talented prose writer.
A Map of the Known World is a slow to start. I was a little disappointed but since I had nothing better to do, I stuck with it. Fast forward a chapter or two and I’m glued to the book. I finished it in one sitting.
Some people may not like this and say that everything happened too fast, characters like Damian don’t exist. And you know, maybe guys like Damian don’t exist but I wish they did. He played such a powerful role in the story and I completely fell in love with him from the time I read the summary. Personally, I felt that he was realistic. The things I wanted to happen ended up happening but I could see a real boy acting the same way as he did – emotional, quiet, and the artsy “bad boy”.
Cora and her family were also realistic characters. I’ve never lost any siblings so I’ve never seen it happen with my own family but I could see other families closing down and reacting in the same way. Cora was fierce and independent in her own way and it all fit in perfectly with the story.
The plot was original – I loved the part maps and art played in everything. It moved quickly but everything was spread out nicely so it all worked. The only thing I wasn’t overly fond of was the ending – I wish there had been more closure, especially between Damian and Cora.
I’ve been recommending this book like crazy already and I definitely recommend that everyone reading this picks up a copy ASAP.
