Books this year: a book diary

I tried to read something else; 62 by Cortazar. Something experimental, something adult. But the pull was too great, and I gave in. I had to finish, had to find out what happened. To the little kids in the fantasy novel. SHUT UP IT’S GOOD.

The Amber Spyglass wraps up the His Dark Materials trilogy. Trying to separate the books makes for a bit of a quandary, especially when read back-to-back, as they form a cohesive piece. But The Amber Spyglass is definitely a worthy ending to the trilogy.

I will not explore the grievances I might have had with Pullman’s humanistic evangelical approach as I originally planned. Laying out my concerns to my roommate, she stated that she was unaware of the background of the novel, and thus didn’t notice when she should have taken offense. This seems like the most desirable position. If you have a novel for kids where God is getting killed, the lines are probably already drawn on whether you can enjoy it or not, regardless of what the author’s intent was.

The book follows two children as they attempt to bring about a second fall. Introduced are new characters and worlds and creatures, and the book is by far the most imaginative of the three in terms of content. The protagonists go to a world with miniature spies with poison-tipped spurs who travel on dragon flies, to the land of the dead, and to the home that the Authority (God) lives in.

What’s amazing is that Pullman dispenses with much of the religious overtones with over a hundred pages to go, and shows that the story is largely about love. Not love in a bullshit humanistic-hold-hands-fellow-men kind of way, but love in the sense that we all, if we are lucky, have experienced it growing up: the feeling that you aren’t a kid anymore, because you love. And it’s weird, and it’s sexual, and it’s confusing, and you know you’re still a kid, but you don’t want to be, and you figure out that this is the color of life that you have been missing. Pullman manages to capture this almost pitch-perfectly. And there are still little midget dudes running around with spurs on dragonflies.

I can see this book changing a kid’s life, probably for the better. And I can see it being helpful to occasionally be reminded of the wonder of logic and love as an adult.

This is a selection of Roman leaders from the Lives of Plutarch that took me months to wade through for some reason.  It wasn’t difficult to read, but it has massive amounts of information, and my eyes have a tendency to glaze over when confronted with that.

Since Plutarch wasn’t concerned with being accurate with the biographies he was writing, we’re treated to entertaining character sketches where even bad qualities are used to exalt someone somehow.  We are also made to witness manly, stoic Roman soldiers and generals act all weepy and cry at the drop of a hat, which is funny.

So, if you’re into classics, this is definitely in that category.  Because it’s written by an ancient Greek about ancient Rome.  There you go.

I have been hearing good things about this book for a while now, and when I finally got around to reading it I wasn’t sure if it could live up to the hype.  As it turns out, all the great things I had heard didn’t do it justice.

I was intrigued from the very beginning by the unnatural friendship between the demon Crowley (nee Crawly, who was responsible for tempting Eve with the apple), and the angel Aziraphale (who didn’t quite make it out of Eden with his flaming sword).  They have both come to enjoy Earth more than Heaven or Hell, and are intent on stopping the Apocalypse, which seemed easy enough except that a scatter-brained Satanist nun misplaced the Antichrist.

This kicks off a race to find the Antichrist before anyone else does, and joining into the competition is an occultist using a book of prophecies written by her ancestor (Agnes Nutter, Witch).  Add into the mix the witch-finder army  and the 4 (or is it 8?) bikers of the Apocalypse, and chaos ensues.  Of course there is plenty of humor along the way, aided by footnotes and the unique take that some of the characters have on historical figures (” In a climate-controlled cabinet in one corner was the original scroll in the shaky handwriting of St. John the Divine of Patmos, whose “Revelation” had been the all-time best seller. Aziraphale had found him a nice chap, if a bit too fond of odd mushrooms”).  There are also more serious looks at human nature for those who care to look. It might also be worth noting that you have to read the United States version if you want to know what ever became of Warlock, or are interested in all the footnotes.

I’ve seen lots of reviews about the jokes going over the reviewers’ heads, and some people are quite offended by the things Aziraphale has to say about the Rapture, so if you aren’t a fan of British humor or if you believe in the Rapture this may not be the book for you.  Of course if you don’t like British humor and you believe in the Rapture, and you still pick up a book about the end of the world that was written by two British guys, you deserve to suffer for your stupidity

This book was probably written in the early 1400s, around the time that the author received the priesthood.  The theme of the book is that as Christians we ought to deny ourselves and imitate Christ through bearing the cross.  This book has been around for hundreds of years, and has been called by many second only to the Bible.  Personally, I didn’t like it very much.  That might be blasphemy or something, but I read the book twice in a row trying to like it and the darn thing wouldn’t let me.  If it seems interesting to you, by all means pick it up.  It doesn’t take long at all to read.  Maybe you will find something really great in it, and then you can share it with me.

I read this book because my husband checked it out of the library while muttering something about how one of us should really read it before it was due back, and we both knew he wasn’t going to do it.  It’s a really quick read that basically tells you that if you don’t get involved in your children’s arguing they will quit trying to involve you and leave you alone about it.  Some of the things that the author had to say made sense, and to be honest it was fun trying it out.  My kids quit telling on each other really fast once they realized that the only reaction they were going to get out of it was a hug.  The only problem that I had with it was that when you leave the kids to work it out between themselves it’s not necessarily going to go smoothly.  It’s a lot easier for a kid to be mean to their brother when they know that the end result is going to be a hug for the aggrieved party and nothing for the tormentor.   If you are looking for a way to get your kids to learn to fight without using you as a mediator, this is definitely the book for you.  If you are looking for a book to help you actually get your children to communicate without arguing, don’t waste your time on this one.  Either way, just once in your life when your child comes running into the room to tell you all the horrible ways they have been wronged by a sibling look them straight in the eye and offer them a hug without acknowledging a word they just told you.  Have a camera ready when you do, because the perplexed look on their face will be priceless.

Wow. That was a fast way to put something prestigious-looking on my book list. One sitting, man. For real. Like an hour - maybe less. And a good book, too.

I like Rilke because he’s all misty-eyed and life affirming and  finds beauty and joy in everything, but this book taught me that he’s not me. Cool, cool. Vive la différence.

I can sum this book up in two words: poetic tantra. Tantra (as I understand it) redefines the goals of sex, opting for exquisite eternal writhing almost-climax instead of the orgasmic release that would just leave you bored and talking about the weather again in a few minutes. Rilke treats a lot of life like that. Love the questions. Don’t rush for the answers. Writhe, and celebrate your writhing. Write is all down. Be patient. Become supremely alone, and wallow in it, and record your thoughts. The purpose of life is here redefined around the creation of beauty. I have to admit that in my love of chaos I’ve often played tantric like this with my life, preferring, say, limmerence to love, and the ascent to the plateau, but seeing it written here, however beautiful and edifying, reminds me that I’d personally rather storm some castles and die soaked with blood and wine than perfect the haiku.

This book covers the many different movements of the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation from 1490-1700.  The author starts in the late Middle Ages and looks exhaustively into all aspects of the Protestant movement from then on, as well as its effects on politics and society.  Also discussed in the book is the spread of Christianity in the New World from the time that Christopher Columbus discovered it to the time of the first colonies.  At the end of the book there is also a section about patterns of life, where the author puts aside the exhaustive recounting of names and dates and gets into things like witch hunts and funerals, and the differences in those types of things in a Catholic community vs. a Protestant one.I’m sure there are easier volumes on the Reformation, but I doubt that there are any that are more comprehensive.  At over 700 pages, it’s an extensive read, but worth the time for anyone with a genuine interest in learning about the subject.

I had no prior knowledge of Man in the High Castle going into it. It was part of the included novels in the Library of America’s compendium.

I didn’t know that it was alternate history, and not futuristic science fiction as most of Dick’s other works that I’ve read have been. I didn’t know the basic plot, nor that the ending is somewhat famous for its ambiguity.

The thrust of the novel seems to be how we perceive truth. The novel takes the premise that the Axis won World War II, that American culture has been dominated by Japan, and that the Jews are still being persecuted under the rein of the Reich.

In many sections, Dick points to this question of perception. One of the clearest examples deals with the history of a lighter. One lighter, presented by a character in the book, is highly precious, full of historic value, valuable. The other is an ordinary lighter. The character presented with the lighters is unable to tell them apart, and even doubts that either is worth anything.

Beyond this, Dick introduces themes of how we perceive his novel. The question of whether alternate reality fiction, through a book-within-a-book device used, constitutes “science fiction” is even brought up.

Dick, as always, seems to be getting at something whereby he wishes to eat his own tail. As always, it’s endlessly fascinating and about as thought provoking as genre fiction gets.
The ending, detested by someone else I talked to who had read the book, is a stunning bit of brilliance. Here, Dick wraps up many of the threads of the book while leaving a giant puzzle to the reader. What are we reading? What is Dick’s real aim? The ambiguity is not so much within the plot, but as to what Dick’s overall thesis is in regards to his own fiction.

I read this on my cell phone on the way to church one Sunday to combat car sickness.  I’m sure everyone has read the book or seen a movie about it in their lifetime, and therefore knows the story.  If you haven’t, there is a pretty concise summary of the story here .  I really don’t have anything to add about the story that you don’t already know, but I didn’t start keeping track of what books I have read this year until December and I am adding every book that I’m sure I read recently so Ken can’t say I didn’t give it a good effort.

I borrowed this book from a friend in the Peace Corps. It’s a really good book. I had previously read The Night Is Dark and I Am Far from Home, but this book is definitely better and the one I would recommend. While The Night is Dark is more personal and searching, Savage Inequalities is very direct and policy oriented.

The book is about class and racial inequality and points out that often schools within a few miles of each other will differ in annual per capita student expenditure by $5000 to $10000. This leads to conditions such as unsanitary facilities that are falling apart, lack of textbooks, and unattended (by teachers) classes. Reading the accounts of when Kozol visited these schools, I was stricken by the eerie resemblance that poor schools in America have to schools I see everyday in the third world here in Africa.

This book was a real history lesson for me. I recall having learned about major Supreme Court decisions such as Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education. The first guaranteed schools separate but equal education. The second mandated mixed education. When these decisions are presented in classrooms like the one I attended, everyone seems to think that we’ve triumphed over the problems of the past and that the Civil Rights Movement has been victorious. However, we fail to even consider that the reality of the situation today — as Kozol demonstrates — is that education today is still separate and still unequal. The education that an inner city black child is likely to receive is vastly inferior to the education that a suburban white child will receive.

Kozol points to various moves that have been made to keep money in the rich school districts. One change introduced was to guarantee that funds for school are taken out of local property taxes. The Constitutional justification for this system is that schools should have local self-determination. However, decisions such as this one (solidified in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez), and other Supreme Court rulings such as Milliken v. Bradley, have effectively overturned both Plessy and Brown, making education lawfully separate and unequal once again.

In San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, the Supreme Court actually said that education is not a fundamental right, and that therefore, it is not subject to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This is interesting to me, given that politicians often claim education is a fundamental right and the Universal Declaration seems to say so as well. This case also makes an interesting point. The residents of the Edgewood District, which is a poor area in West San Antonio (where I actually applied once), pay a much higher rate of tax than residents of richer San Antonio districts like Alamo Heights. This tends to be the rule rather than the exception. People like to argue that the residents of the richer districts simply value education more highly than those of the poorer districts. However, this is clearly not the case given the financial hardship in the form of bonds and other indebtedness parents in poor districts consistently vote for.

It’s a really quick read and it blew my mind. When I told Ken I was reading this book, he said something like, “Kozol’s not going to make you into some sort of a Statist is he?” Rest assured, I’m still an Anarchist. While Kozol argues for reform, I realize that the state is inherently bad. However, reform would be better than nothing. Also, as long as the state is coercing people to go to school, it might as well try to be fair about it. Of course this probably isn’t the state’s goal.