mkboylan's 2013 reading

Hoping this is how I start my thread!

it's a good start

Thanks Baswood. I did it!

I started off the year with a fun ride of a thriller I picked up free at a campground:

1. Never Look Away: A Thriller by Linwood Barclay

First book I've read by Barclay, but probably not the last. It caught my eye because it starts in an amusement park, which was the setting for one of my last books of 2012, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow, which was the first Doctorow I have read. Never Look Away had lots of twists and turns and kept me returning. Different perspectives were used which is always interesting. It was presented in a way that was not confusing as that sometimes can be.

2. Tahoe Trap by Todd Borg was next. I had been on the waiting list forever for that one when the Kindle edition popped up for 2.99 so I picked it up. Borg is one of my favorites, perhaps because I am 90 minutes from the setting of Lake Tahoe and love to spend time there. I like reading books where I am familiar with the setting. This was a very interesting look at immigration issues, set in the middle of a murder mystery. I found it to be a fair look at immigration from different perspectives.

3. Heads in Beds: a Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustle and So-called Hospitality by Jacob Tomsky continuing with a light reading binge, I found this to be a lot of fun. I like reading about the inside goings on of industries I am not familiar with. It is VERY informal - a quick, fun read, probably not for someone with a serious interest. Altho, if you're thinking of working in that industry.....

Think I'm ready for some more serious reading as the holidays pass and I'm feeling less distracted.

4. Paris in Love by Eloisa James

was NOT more serious reading. It is a very light read, a nice way to spend a little time relaxing in Paris, while still taking a peek at life as an ex-pat (albeit temporarily). The author and her husband take sabbatical from teaching in the U.S. and move to Paris for a year, along with their two children. The reader gets a look at school life for an American in a foreign county, Hubbie is Italian and a little time is spent with his family in Italy, so we also get a small look at that cultural interaction also.

5. A Loving Anarchist: the Spirit of Voltairine de Cleyre T.S. Greer

This book is one of my all time favorite reads. I'd been putting it off for awhile, thinking it would be rather dry but wanting to know what de Cleyre had to say. Big surprise - I thoroughly enjoyed almost every chapter. This is a book of essays and lectures the author wrote and delivered during the early 20th century. I'm very intrigued by the idea of anarchy but don't have any background or knowledge to help me with this topic. This book cleared up a lot of basic questions for me, in what I found to be a very simple and clear explanation of many issues. She addresses issues of marriage, sexuality, feminism, violence, majority rule and others. There is also a good chapter wherein she defends Emma Goldman, altho she does not see eye-to-eye with Goldman. It is very helpful to see their two perspectives compared and analyzed. de Dleyre also addressed methods of change in society, asking if education is enough, if violence necessary. This is indeed a classic volume on anarchy and I expect to return to it. I recommend this to anyone who has any interest in any of these issues. It is VERY readable, unlike some writing on the topic.

A loving Anarchist sounds interesting.

It IS great and .99 on Kindle by the way.

6. Before the Fall by Orna Ross

This novel is part of a trilogy. I read the first part After the Rise about two weeks before this one and immediately got this one electronically. I haven't previously chosen to read any trilogies because they don't usually hold my interest that long, but this time was different. I am very interested in the IRA for some reason and this novel tells a multi-generational story of IRA membership. It's a good look the disagreements not only between the Irish and the English, but between the Irish and the Irish. I especially enjoyed hearing more about the intense involvement of women in these activities. Additionally one character lives in London awhile and then San Francisco, so the things she experiences around her ethnicity in both places are also addressed and are intriguing. I've read a lot of non-fiction about the IRA and visited Ireland and Belfast and recommend this trilogy to anyone interested in those issues, or just a good family multi-generational novel.

Note problem with touchstones.

7. Me and Mine: the Life Story of Helen Sekaquaptewa
by Louise Udall

When I was in grad school and we were studying different ethnic groups, the American Indian Movement was the largest part of our focus, and where current student sympathies were focused. This is really the first time I have read a biography presenting the other perspective. This book tells the life story of a Hopi woman who, after being kidnapped and sent to government schools, embraced that white way of life and believed the stories of Christianity to be better than the old traditional Hopi stories. She continued living on reservations, experiencing the tension between the "hostiles" and the "friendlies". As a "friendly" she was looked down upon, judged, and treated poorly by the "hostiles". Her husband and children became active in reservation politics and activities, holding various offices and serving as police. In this book published by the University of Arizona Press in 1962, she is presented as a successful story of assimilation into white culture through white education. (She attended the Phoenix Indian School.) I tend to see it more as Stockholm Syndrome, although with my mental health training, that would be my tendency.

There is a lot of detail about daily life for the Hopi on reservations in the early 1900s which I enjoyed learning about. Lengthy descriptions of marriage rituals are intriguing, for example. Those descriptions made this book interesting reading for me. I was glad to hear a different side of the story, although my admiration still lies with Leonard Peltier and the AIM. That is probably just, perhaps, due to a personal interest in revolutionaries rather than any real knowledge about these issues.

8. Fire on the Mountain
by EdwardAbbey

I am on vacation (from retirement!) in the Arizona desert currently, where I always manage to read Abbey. He is one of my favorite authors, but I didn't personally find this to be one of his best books. This is some of his earliest writing, so needs to be understood with that in mind, as well as the times, when perhaps this was unusual thinking. For example he addresses issues of private property using ranchers versus developers, or rather government right of eminent domain. It is easy to sympathize with the rancher, whose father and grandfather built this place, until we are reminded that his forefathers stole the land from Indians. Abbey also projects this land ownership into the future, when who knows who will be living on it. The book IS full of Abbey's wonderful descriptions of wilderness and desert, well worth reading.

My favorite Edward Abbey is Postcards from Ed, a collection of his personal writing to friends and foes.

And now YAY! I'm caught up with posts! and on to another delicious desert treat, Red Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams. Two pages in I was stunned by her beautiful use of language.

Intriguing comments about the Hopi book. I've been to the Hopi mesas, and would find it interesting to learn what life was like there in the past.

Yes Rebecca (whose comments I have followed and enjoyed for a couple of years) SO interesting! You can see I struggled with some of the book. It is too easy for me to romanticize the Native American way of life, that it was good for me to read something different. Especially regarding the Hopi, who have seemed to me to be one of the smartest, most democratic and environmentally responsible groups of them all. I don't like it when anyone says anything negative about them! :) It is a really quick read by the way.

9. Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Terry Tempest Williams. Finished up this morning. Incredibly beautiful writing, especially since I am in the desert right now. I read it too quickly unfortunately, not sure why, just feeling impatient and ready for something faster moving.

Review:

This is my first reading of Williams and certainly a five star read. Yes her lyrical descriptions of desert and wilderness are alone worth the read, but what struck me the most were two specific ideas.

1. Time spent in the wilderness can lead to spiritual connection to the earth. This connection provides the strength to take on the responsibility and commitment of political action to preserve the earth, in a democratic process, perhaps even eventually leading to consensus.

2. Williams gives an illustration of this possible consensus, wherein environmentalists support locals who may not want wilderness designation because of perceived economic loss. The environmentalists put their money where their mouth is by "buying locally grown beef or purchasing value-added timber products from small-scale logging companies mindful of harmful forestry practices such as clear-cutting."

This book gives me hope.

You are in the desert in more ways than one. Very interesting about Helen Sekaquaptewa. As for Edward Abbey, i adored him back when I read Desert Solitaire, a major influence. But I'm afraid to read him now, afraid I will find him too simplistic. Terry Tempest Williams sounds terrific.

Desert Solitaire has meant an awful lot to me over the years. But I love the desert, spend a lot of time in the desert, so I'm biased. I love The Monkey Wrench Gang too.

Being that you're so close to Tahoe, may I recommend Place Last Seen, a search-and-rescue nail biter set in the backcountry of Desolation Wilderness, just west of Tahoe.

13 -yeah I suppose Abbey IS simplistic, maybe one of the radicals who make compromise easier tho, right? Because next to him others like Williams appear reasonable.

I see you are a geologist - When I'm driving cross country I always wish I had my bro-in-law, a geologist in the car with me to tell me more about what I am looking at. Suppose I could pick up the Roadside Geology books, but - I just want a live explanation! Most of his work has been on earthquakes tho.

14 - Thanks for the tip on the Tahoe mystery. I love Tahoe mysteries and have read all of Todd Borg and Perri O'Shaughnessy. I put Place Last Seen on my reminder list for when I get home. My library has it - yay!

So weird - when I first read Desert Solitaire I couldn't into it, and now it is one of my favs also. I think Fire on the Mountain is considered by some to be a precursor to The Monkey Wrench Gang, and certainly to EarthFirst.

Was planning to go back to some of the Marx stuff Halicarnassus has been posting about but......yesterday was a bookstore day! You know how that goes! My husband found out about Singing Wind Bookshop in Benson AZ, about an hour from where we are staying in Tucson. What a fun and amazing find! It is on a ranch outside of Benson, owned by Win Bundy. Wish someone would right her bio. She ranched and raised a family here, quite a story in itself. She had always wanted to own a bookstore, so when her children moved out she started one in her home. The store is still in her ranch house and quite a treat. She gave me a tour, because the books are in no standard arrangement! She is at least in her 80s and quite brilliant. She is THE go to person for books about the Southwest and other subjects as well. I'll try to figure out how to post pics and get some up. Long dirt road lead to the house, beautiful half dalmatian, half lab hanging out, very sweet dog. What a great experience. She is currently working on a fundraiser that is putting up a statue for Buffalo Soldiers and also wants to include some scholarships in the process. So........started new book which I will put in another post.

Google Singing Wind Bookshop in Benson to read more about this amazing woman.

I need to remember to cut and paste so I don't lose posts I'm writing!
So the new books are:

The Great Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon, which I have started and am really enjoying.

Adventures with Ed by Jack Loeffler which I did not own and haven't read so yahoo!

and Love in Condition Yellow by Sophia Raday a memoir about a Berkeley peace freak who marries an Oakland cop. Perhaps it was the handcuffs that brought them together? Those boys are always in trouble!

15 When I'm driving cross country I always wish I had my bro-in-law, a geologist in the car with me to tell me more about what I am looking at.

You might enjoy, if you haven't already read them, the books about geology by John McPhee, collected in Annals of the Former World, but available separately if you don't want such a tome. He's such a good writer! Still not the same as a live explanation though!

Thanks Rebecca!

I love McPhee. Also recommend the roadside books or any books about the geology of the place you are, wherever that place happens to be.

10. The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon

Wow! I'm not even 100 pages in and my head is spinning with so many things I didn't know. Sometimes it horrifies me to think I was teaching and there were SO many things I wasn't aware of! This book is a history of racism, gender, poverty, government, corporations and more, in Arizona. It is structured around a kidnapping of Irish orphans who were placed with Mexican families in a small and remote mining community. It ends in a Supreme Court case.

I could already write PAGES about what I have learned, so will limit this to things that were highlights for me personally. The story begins in New York City in an Irish Catholic orphanage. Interesting gender info: Anglo Americans were focused on a nuclear family structure and believed that was the best setting for orphans and attempted to place them in families. Irish Catholic nuns had been taught NOT that marriage and childbearing were the highest call for women, but that being a nun was. Therefore, they were NOT so focused on the nuclear family and in fact believed an institutional setting would be best for teaching that belief to children and raising them in the faith. A lot of interaction regarding these topics is addressed, ending with the Irish orphanage having too many children to handle and the need to place them elsewhere. They looked to the West and thus began sending "orphan trains" west and placing children in Catholic homes there.

A lot is said about how racism worked at this time in history (1904) including five races that were perceived by most, but in NYC Irish, Italian, German, and others were considered to be non-white races. Irish were treated very poorly, and signs NINA No Irish Need Apply were common. All of a sudden, when these non-whites were sent to Arizona and placed in Mexican homes, the locals immediately perceived these Irish children as being white. So, placing white children in Mexican homes? Not gonna happen.

Book 10 continued: The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction

The author next goes on to describe the dynamics of the town the orphans are being sent to. This town has grown up around copper mining. It is a fascinating look at the interaction between economics, religion, gender, technology and more. There are actually two towns involved, Clifton and Morenci AZ. This chapter in itself is an intriguing look at a town moving from a few single miners to a corporation, especially when read from today's perspective of critiques of corporate America. Copper was not as valuable as silver or gold, so more of it was necessary to make a profit, which required technology, which was costly, etc. etc. This attracted business people who had enough political clout to get the government to pay for roads and other things needed for transportation so government also became involved. The circle begins that requires more workers, leading to more immigration and of course more power and greed come into play. And, the company is NOT paying taxes. Sound familiar?

A separate chapter about Mexicans (the author chose to use ethnic terms in use at the time) includes an amazing amount of specific information about the effects of culture in this story. Of course there is the history of whose land was this anyway, who was already there, so there is info about Apaches also. , worth reading just for that. The immigration patterns also involved Chinese and their influence. SO - again just some highlights. Ideas about Mexican family values as a stereotype are overthrown or perhaps I should say expanded. Relationships between workers and their families left behind are addressed, and the strength of Mexican women is a focus. Many of them were NOT to be left out and were in fact the main economic support for their children. Some of them "followed their men" but many of them led. The saw the economic opportunities for business and too advantage of it, and those businesses grew a town. I especially loved this section.

Riveting, MK. Looking forward to the next instalment.

Thanks deebee. I am SO enjoying it!

The local priest who is from France, is the focus of the next chapter. He works mostly with the Mexican families because they are the largest portion of Catholics, and the nuns have requested his assistance in placing orphans with practicing Catholics who are married in the church and communicants. The main issue addressed here is that of race. There is a detailed account of how race is socially constructed, how the idea is used to persecute, etc. The French priest does not get the "finer" points of what is happening as he sees Mexicans as whites and does not realize the Anglos do not. Actually, local Anglos had not previously categorized Mexicans as non-whites, so the history of this change is also addressed. The author has taken this process and slowed it WAY down, almost described it step by step, making this process logical, at least from the perspective of the local people in their struggle for economic success - or I should probably say greed.

Between the "subject" chapters the story continues on of what is happening to the orphans. After we are given to understand the thinking of the priest, it is back to the story, with the local powerful men going to speak with the New York group to ask that the orphans be re-placed with white families. They "naturally" ask to speak with the male employee of the Sisters of Charity, although the nuns are his employer. They have assumed the man is in charge. Some believe this led to a man to man confrontation and escalated the situation, whereas as if they had correctly gone to the nun in charge there would more likely have been a compromise. Little bit of sexism there? I'm not sure I agree on this point.

So interesting to follow your reading of this book.

I've been to Morenci and a few other Arizona mining towns. They are worth visiting, especially if you like dead or decaying towns. I'll have to find The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, but until then, I am enjoying your comments.

My sister lives in Arizona, so we've visited a few mining towns ourselves. That's part of what made me interested in the book.

The chapter on Mexican women and families gives the reader an idea of how fortunate the orphans would have been to have been placed with most of these families. They were wonderful families overall and would have provided a good life for them. Details are given about gender relations between parents, home environment, religion, work environment, etc. As I was reading this, sitting in Tucson AZ about 3-1/2 hr by car from Morenci, I was remembering that Tucson has recently removed ethnic studies from their K-12 schools and are battling to do so at university level. The idea simply makes me sick and I am reflecting on how a better education in this regard would have effected me personally, a white woman from Tennessee, living in California since the age of 12. If I had had the information just from this one chapter, about Mexican women in the U.S. in the late 18, early 1900's I think it would have made a difference. I still remember my first time in a feminist bookstore. It was a required field trip in grad school. I walked into the store and was completely emotionally overwhelmed at what I saw. Room after room and shelf after shelf and stack after stack of books about women, and women's history. I realized at that moment that there was a whole other world out there that I knew nothing about. I had no idea there were many many women who had assumed they were equal to men and lived their lives accordingly. These were women who not only knew they were (at least) equal and capable, but also that they could do the things they wanted to do, whereas I had fallen for the main narrative. It has only been in the last couple of decades of my life that I have learned about feminism and the possibilities that go with it. And it has only been in the last decade or so that I have started to learn more, on an international basis, i.e. that there are feminists in almost all, if not all countries and cultures. And here the info was actually right in my own back yard the whole time. As a teacher I learned in the last part of my career about other cultures and taught a small amount in a required ethnic focused course about them. I thought I had learned something then. Now I am realizing with this reading, and of course just with life and experience, that I haven't even seen the tip of the iceberg regarding other cultures, and thus the important need for the continuation of ethnic study departments in universities, as well as ethnic studies in K-12. It is an area requiring much more than experience, and certainly much specialized study.

28 and 29 thanks for reading. One of the things I DO miss about working is the place to have these conversations.

Thanks for the tip about Morenci. I've been looking at it online and wondering if it was worth the trip. It would be so cool to stay there a few days while reading this book! I've been in Arizona about almost a month now and am ready to head back to California. Morenci will have to wait till next year, but I am going there for sure!

If you are in Tucson and want to visit an old mining town, it is probably closer to go to Bisbee (definitely a day trip). Your discussion of this book reminds me that I have a book my sister gave me by Barbara Kingsolver, Holding the Line (which I don't seem to have entered into LT, hmmm), about the copper strike of 1983. It focuses on women a lot, I think, and per its LT page one of the sites discussed is Morenci. I'm going to have to try to remember where I put it, as I've become more interested in mining strikes since reading Germinal and GB84.

Yah! I had to go to Bisbee because of the J. A. Jance Sheriff Brady books! Also Tombstone cause my grandfather took me there around 1960. Great memories of my wonderful grandparents.

Ill check out those books thanks!

I still remember my first time in a feminist bookstore.

Enjoying all your posts on the book, but that was a great personal story.

Thanks dchaikin - I hesitated to out my ignorance in public, but there you go! I have made some embarrassing choices in the past. In 1970 I was in a lot of pain and needed help. I was on the mailing list for the National Organization of Women and playing with some of those ideas, and at the same time being courted by a fundamentalist group. I went with the fundamentalists for a few years. Consequently I have picketed on all sides of some issues - I think my mailman must think I'm crazy because I get the propaganda from all sides. It's actually pretty funny now that I think about it. My learning pattern seems to be that I run like hell till I slam into a wall. Then I get up and start running the other direction till I slam into another one. Ah well, it's been a hell of a ride!

The Anglo Mothers and the Company Town - The perspective of the Anglo women is presented next. The split between white women and women of color in the feminist movement has been difficult for me to really understand. It was easy enough to think about it from the perspective of privilege alone, but that was just a surface understanding on my part. At last, I am beginning to get a little bit of light on this subject. This chapter addresses some of the ways Anglo women's racism developed against Mexican women. The Anglos, when faced with the desire to have the children for themselves, as well as to defend the kidnapping legally, turned their backs on their own relationships with Mexican moms and the whole Mexican middle class in these towns. This left the Anglos in a position of looking like idiots while they claimed Mexican women were filthy housekeepers, yet hired them as their own housekeepers. There is a lot of info here and a lot of it is subtle and I need to read this chapter again. It may be more difficult for me to see because I am white. To me the most notable issue was the way the Anglos began to dismiss the Mexican middle class from the discourse. It reminded me of when I was teaching and searching for info on African American middle class. Seemed like most of the info was directed at poor black kid makes it out of the ghetto, nothing about the Black middle class which was very active and a very strong society in some places such as Atlanta. In court, all the Anglos talked about was Mexicans dressed in rags, no mention of the Mexicans dressed in suits and dresses (stupid way to dress in the desert anyway if you ask me), the Mexicans who were teachers and healers who were consulted by Anglos. This is extremely important information as it is the beginning and basis for future custody laws and adoption laws and attitudes.

As far as being a company town, where everything was owned and run by the mining company: the previous year the miners had gone on strike asking for more money among other things. Especially Mexican workers were paid half of what white workers were paid for the same work, as well as being kept from better paying work. Then when they were in court defending their abilities as parents, Anglos used their low pay against them, saying they could not afford to take care of children. And there is much more along the same line.

32 - Thanks Rebecca for the tips. Believe it or not, my library didn't have the Kingsolver! what the heck? I got cheap copies of that and the GB83 from Amazon, and my library will have the other one for me when I get home in a couple of weeks. Well, they'll ALL be waiting for me when I get home! Yahoo!

I'm especially interested in the strike aspects lately because I've been doing some picketing in a strike that was very difficult for my community and didn't have the full support of the workers involved. I had to work hard to keep on top of the information presented and search out outside sources a lot - interesting stuff. It was a difficult strike with workers against workers, but ended well for the workers.

I will just warn you that GB84 can be a shocking, violent, and sometimes obscene read. Be prepared!

#35 That is quite interesting. The walls sound a bit painful though.

Book 10 Final installment!

Another chapter is devoted to The Strike of 1903. This was BEFORE the orphan kidnapping and the author writes about it not only because the book is covering the history of this area, but because some may see the kidnapping as an act of revenge against the Mexican miners. I found this chapter pretty depressing because of course mine strikes are horrendous and it is now a time in history when strikebreakers are at it again all over the U.S. It was very difficult to read and empathize with the pain and incredible courage of the strikers who have won concessions in some areas, then lost due to a major flood that occurred during the strike. At a time when many lost their homes and the risk of illness due to the flood damage, the mining company chose that point in history to cancel health insurance. Concessions are won throughout the years, and then lost again when Reagan fires the air traffic controllers in the 1980s. For some reason the thing that bothered me the most was that the miners would get off of work and often be drenched, their clothing drenched also, filthy from the work, and had to walk a mile home, wet, in all kinds of weather. The company refused to build them a shower and changing room so that could change to dry clothes for the mile walk home after their 10 or 12 hour shift. Of course it IS the daily life that I find so interesting and we are finally getting a look at in these social histories of the last couple of decades. It also made me so sad to hear the specifics of how the company worked to turn Anglo and Mexican workers again each other. We often hear how "they" keep working classes fighting each other rather than working together, but that is often passed off as silly conspiracy theories or paranoia, but here the story is told in specifics.

This book also tells about the formation of Mexican fraternal organizations who organized to help each other with many aspects of their lives, such as funeral costs initially, but moved on to other areas such as education. I'd call that anarchy at its best: local, voluntary, mutual aid.

I found the chapter on Vigilantes very informative and learned a lot. I had only the idea of vigilantes as bad guys, taking the law into their own hands. Another perspective is presented here as well, how they saw themselves as fulfilling their duty as members of a democratic society. This is in reference to the kidnappers.

You legal eagles would enjoy the chapter describing the U.S. Supreme Court case. It just made me sad once again to see the politics behind legal cases, the effects of who knows who, who hangs out with who, etc.

Finally the author ends by addressing some of the methods of recording history today, reminding the reader that whether or not the ending is
"happy" depends on at one point in history you choose to start and stop the story, right?

All in all a five star read and a highly researched and readable social history. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the construction of racism, gender issues, custody and adoption law formation as well as religion and some Irish history.

38 Thanks for the heads up Rebecca. Won't be a problem. I probably have too high of a tolerance for that stuff.

11. Love in Condition Yellow by Sophia Raday

Sophia Raday, a graduate of Stanford and a peace activist, married an Oakland cop who was also an officer in the Army Reserve and they made a home in Berkeley CA. How is that for a setup? I couldn't put the book down. Raday is an excellent writer. (She is one of the founding editors of www.literarymama.com.) This memoir begins when she already has an arrest record for civil disobedience and is a strong supporter of legalizing drugs. She has experienced a traumatic arrest so I suppose one could frame this as a trauma response, a reenactment and attempt to control her environment and I don't think that would be far off track.

I found Raday's attempt to understand her husband's perspective of law enforcement, civil disobedience, and war very touching and courageous because of course she has to see her projections and her own bigotry, her own use of stereotypes. THAT's never fun, right? She continues to struggle throughout the book to be open to other perspectives while remaining true to her own values. How does a person who embraces the philosophy of non-violence live with and honor a person who goes to war in Iraq and talks about the killing of civilians, especially a mother whose two children died in her lap at the hands of U.S. soldiers, when she herself is pregnant? Her husband's history fits right in with his life choices. He has lost his mother at an early age and grew up with a dad and two brothers, and spent his life looking for camaraderie that he only found in the police force and the military. Too bad he wasn't able to find it with his wife, because she surely did her part. I think she finally caved in on herself and it will effect the life choices her son makes also. It may be more difficult for her if he chooses war. I also think he would be much happier if he was able to develop more emotional capacity and get those camaraderie needs met with his wife and children. Can you tell I was disappointed in the "ending"? I'd like to hear her thought in another 20 years.

This is good reading for those who like me, believe in non-violence but think I would kill anyone who hurt my children. Ah the ambiguity kills me.

#40 - These forgotten or hidden (and ongoing?) crimes are always disturbing to read about. Whatever did become of those orphans? Perhaps I need to read to book.

#42 - Sounds like a tough marriage. Enjoyed your review.

I've enjoyed your chapter by chapter review. As for the pitting of one group of workers against another by a company -- the same tactic was used with great success by mill owners in the South. It's depressing, isn't it?

Enjoying your thread Merrikay and excellent reviews of both the Great Arizona Orphan Abduction and Love in Condition Yellow

Hmmm..... sounds like you probably don't vote Republican.

43 I was terribly disappointed because.there was no current info on orphans. Ill have to ask author.

Yes tough marriage but maybe better than most because their differences were obvious so forced a discourse which they both handled extremely well. Hmmmm noticing any ambiguity on my part? My grandson-in-law just joined the Air Force and I am not happy about it so struggling to support him in his well researched and well thought out choices. I know too much about birth defects in children of vets and we keep sending troops to new places like Mali. This book has been helpful.

44 thanks Ridgeway. Yes depressing! I am going to Morenci next year.

Trying to get into Pride and Prejudice but dying from boredom. Will it get better?

MK, the Gordon book would not likely be something I would put on my wishlist had it not been for your regular instalments -- thanks!

I've just caught up on your thread - I'll admit I was initimidated with the number of posts that piled up here! Really enjoyed your Arizona foray, both in the books you've read and your visit. I went to school at the University of Arizona and have visited Tucson, Phoenix and all over Arizona many times over the years. It was neat to see some of these places through your eyes. I'll be adding Me and Mine and The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction to my wish list.

#47 - hmmm. How far along are you? I'm thinking P&P is a book that attracts up front, with the language. Well, there is some delay before the story takes off. You may yet get into it, but you might stop and try again another time. It's a wonderful and fun book if you are in the right mindset.

48 and 49 If you get to the Orphan Abduction, I'd love to hear what you think of it.
Lisa, I wont be doing a lot of that probably, on the summaries, just putting down stuff I want to remember. Thanks for reading them.

Finished Pride and Prejudice today on my last day of driving - wait - riding! on our trip home. I have lots of catching up to do at home - you know how it is when you've been gone, and lots to catch up on on LT.

Book 12 -. Night Rain by Joe Hilley a quick mystery was called for and enjoyed. Probably not recommended to others, but it takes place on the Gulf Coast and I love that area so - good plot, not great writing. Probably won't read any more of his, but a decent mystery with no sex, violence, or bad language written for a Christian audience - didn't notice that till after.

Did it get better? (P&P)

Well 53, did it get better? I don't know, but see what you think.

BOOK 13 Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen

Oh my I was so bored I was getting cranky. I just didn't get what the fuss was about. It was a romance novel, a soap opera. I immediately liked the writing of course, and the use of language, but the story? I wanted to smack those people and tell them to straighten up, say what they meant, cut the bullshit and get on with it. The lifestyle was so demented, the sexism painful, the whole thing just petty.

Of course, I kept thinking about it. THAT was the most annoying part. I started thinking about the ways I have caved in on myself to keep food on the table, in a manner of speaking, which is what I felt the story actually was about. That is what women had to go through to provide for themselves and their children. I talked previously about my first visit to a feminist bookstore, and while reading this I kept looking for the story about the woman who didn't let the sexism hold her back. She was missing from this story. Of course I did love Elizabeth and her wit, her subtlety, her determination. If she hadn't gotten the rich guy, she would perhaps have found a way to live, e.g. running a boarding house. I thought of the way I have caved in on myself at times, giving in to a child or spouse to keep the peace can just seem easier. I thought of standing up to a bully of a boss and looking around me at my colleagues putting up with it, and realizing I could stand up because I didn't care if I got fired, AND I didn't have to support my children because I had a husband who was good at that. In other situations I have certainly caved in many ways, and told myself I wasn't caving. I talked myself into believing that was what I actually wanted anyway.

Then this morning, I began reading my next book Dreaming in French by Alice Kaplan. It is the story of how a year in Paris changed the lives of three women, Jacqueline Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis. What a combination of perspectives, right? I'm so excited to be reading this. I read the first part, about Jackie Kennedy, and all I could see was Elizabeth! Yep, there she was, caving in on herself, marrying the rich guy (Onassis) yet still fighting to maintain her own sense of identity as much as possible. Born into a certain social class, but without the financial means to maintain herself and later, to protect her children. They were pretty amazing, Elizabeth and Jackie.

As I read on through Dreaming, the author, Kaplan, talked about this caving phenomena which she states has been described as "the many ways in which we have been trained to be female impersonators, too." by Gloria Steinem. So, there it is. But that is into the next book, which I haven't yet completed!

45 - Baswood - you're right, I didn't vote Republican. I actually tallied up my presidential votes and found that I have voted Republican half the time and Democratic the other half, not in a row. I think I would have been tempted to vote for Colin Powell had he run. I don't really think the system is the problem, as much as plain old greed and human nature, the concentration of power. I think many systems could work if that could be overcome. You know that old saying about religion even? No one can even say Christianity doesn't work because it hasn't been tried? But if I had to label myself at this particular time, I'd go with Buddhist Anarchist. I've actually been baptized 5 times (yes I'm crazy) but at 64, I'm thinking this may be my final incarnation.

That's an interesting angle on Lizzie Bennett. I'll have to think about that. I don't think, though, that a woman of her class at that time could have gone into business for herself without losing her place in society and losing her relationship with her family. She could marry or she could become a governess or a companion, both powerless positions (Agnes Grey is a good novel about that life) without the possibility of a life of her own, however restrictive.

I think the strong, independent woman who refuses to bow to society's rules is a construct of contemporary historical fiction. Women like that were shunted to the edges of society. Think of Anne Hutchison driven from Massachusetts Bay Colony.

56 - so true - Anne Hutchison, one of my s\heroes.

While I was reading this book I was so conscious of how my lack of knowledge about the place and time was effecting my experience. I find that so frustrating. I need my own personal lit prof to fill me in. Wait - that's what I have LT for, right? Did you like P & P? Anyone else? What did you like about it? I'm told it is the writing, which is amazing, and the fact that it was one of the first modern novels so important in that way?

Enjoyed your comments on P&P. I would say it got you thinking, even if you read it as a tragedy.

Still reading Dreaming in French, finished the Kennedy section and on to Sontag. Thought of my comments in 54 above about wanting to smack those people and tell them to say what they meant. I understand that direct vs indirect communication is often culturally based, and had a good reason theoretically when it did develop that way, so I do try to be careful about that. It came up again today in my reading when the author talked about the implicit French way of communicating vs the explicit American way, stating the American way is based on being raised in a democracy and encouraged to speak directly. I find it so fascinating to think about how those patterns of thinking and communicating develop differently in different cultures. Heck we can see that here just in different states right? Teachers moving from one state to another in the U.S. often find a huge difference in students. Anyone experiencing that?

I'm also about half way through Naughts & Crosses a Thriller by Malorie Blackman suggested in the Social Justice theme thread of this group. Reading that is an interesting experience.

ETA Yes dchaikin - P & P has me thinking and that is the best, right?

Dreaming in French: The Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis sounds like a very interesting book. I will look forward to your review.

Repaying your visit to my thread. It took a bit of time to catch up here but what interesting stuff! I paid careful attention to The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction. I've been to Bisbee, Arizona, the old and hilly copper mining town but haven't heard of the other two you mentioned. So relieved to see I'm not the only one who was bored to tears with P & P. You are a more persevering soul than I; I gave up on it. (This was quite a few years ago.) Maybe one day I'll actually read it. Maybe .....

My learning pattern seems to be that I run like hell till I slam into a wall. Then I get up and start running the other direction till I slam into another one. Ah well, it's been a hell of a ride!
LOL!

Thank you Avid!

ETA - I had to go to Bisbee because of J.A. Jance and her Sheriff Brady books. :)

Dreaming in French sounds very interesting, although I'm not sure I could stand to read another word about Jackie O. I will tentatively put it on my wish list.

How are you liking Naughts and Crosses? I heard such good things about it so I bought it for my 16 year old, but she hated it. I will try to read it one day.

Book 14 Dreaming in French the Paris Years of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Susan Sontag, and Angela Davis by Alice Kaplan

I had been on a waiting list for awhile and was very much looking forward to reading this book. I've wanted to know more about Sontag since I had the good fortune to see an Annie Leibovitz (her partner) exhibition at an Atlanta museum entitled A Photographer's Life. The photos were the personal ones Leibovitz took of her own life and family, rather than the ones she took commercially. One of the photos was Susan Sontag in a hospital bed receiving treatment for cancer. It was quite graphic and surprising. Leibovitz and Sontag were aware of the shocking nature of the photo and stated that the treatment of cancer was part of their lives and the shocking reality of that was an important story to tell. It left me wondering about Sontag, about a woman who would allow an exhibition of herself receiving bathroom help.

I have been an admirer of Angela Davis for a few decades and had the good fortune to hear her speak on my campus a few years ago. I wondered how this author had found any commonalities between Davis, Sontag, and Kennedy. The common experience Kaplan addressed was the effect of their spending time in Paris, Kennedy and Davis as college study abroad students, and Sontag with her plan of self-education. All three women found a sense of freedom in Paris that they had not experienced in the U.S., Kennedy in 1949, Sontag in 1957, and Davis in 1963. During those time periods, African Americans experienced no discrimination from the French, according to Kaplan, which attracted many people, and others experienced more artistic freedom and a greater intellectual life and freedom. Of course there is already much written about this time and freedom and Kaplan backs up her thesis well. That is, they found who they were without some of the constraints of home, found strength in that knowledge, and took much of France home to strongly influence the U.S. If you remember, I just read Pride and Prejudice and kept thinking back to these women as Elizabeth, constrained by their time in history.

I don't have much knowledge about this personally so I learned a lot about Sontag and Davis, as well as much history of Paris. Sontag's story focused on literature and the arts, as did Kennedy's, and Davis on philosophy, then moving to politics. I think anyone interested in the area of literary criticism, philosophy, the civil rights moment in the U.S., the Black Panthers and issues of race and gender would find something of interest in this book.

For the record, in my opinion, Davis is the one who made the valuable, worthwhile, important contributions to the world.

Interesting review, Merrikay. The intellectual ferment of Paris always seems to work it's magic on creative types. I don't know enough to say which of these women made the most "valuable, worthwhile, important contributions to the world", but I think all of them did something useful.

Nice review of Dreaming in French, Merrikay. I remember hearing about Annie Leibovitz's photography exhibition at the High Museum, but I missed seeing it there.

There were lots of creative African-Americans who found Paris more hospitable than the US, especially in the 50s and 60s, including James Baldwin and more I could think of if I drank my coffee.

I think everyone should spend a year in Paris. I was there at an interesting time -- the first Gulf war started halfway through my stay--but it was a life changing experience.

How fortunate for you, RG. I've visited Paris five or six times, twice staying with a friend who lives there, which was a great experience. Coincidentally, I wasn't there when the US got involved in the first Gulf War, but I was there when Saddam invaded Kuwait in August 1990. When I flew home, there were soldiers throughout the airport and they made us go through two security checks "just for our flight." I have to say that made me more nervous, not less!

Thanks for reading, everyone! The review feels so DRY compared to my experience, but then I'm not a writer! There was just so much more to say actually. My favorite thing about Jackie Kennedy was that the dress she wore to the Inaugural Ball was a stunning white gown with a flower sitting right at the waist. The book told about the flack she was taking from the press about being too French, so she went to Oleg Cassini, an American designer, and said, dress me French. The flower at the waist was a symbol of the French Resistance. That's just so fun. Maybe sad that my fav thing was a dress, but it's the attitude, that trying to walk the line, you know? I thought the little stabbing resistance was brilliant.

Reading about Sontag continued to drive home for me how I know nothing about literature and lit crit. It felt like that first couple of weeks of the semester in a new GE course where you don't even have the vocabulary to know what the heck the prof is talking about. That's what it's like for me to read some of the reviews by Club Read members, as so many of you are reviewing literature and there is a big hole in my education right there. But I'm finding it interesting so I keep reading and learning.

Paris was certainly a place of less discrimination and more freedom for both women and African Americans. Many of them took full advantage of it, as described in this book, but Davis also saw more than that. Having experienced the American south, where she wasn't allowed to even eat or walk everywhere she wanted to, she noticed many similarities in Paris. The difference was, the French talked about how they did not discriminate, but Davis was participating in rallies in support of French Algerians who were horribly discriminated against by the French. Of course that continued after Algeria won it's independence in 1962. This is a large part of what moved her somewhat away from the study of philosophy and toward political activism.

We all discriminate against someone or some group I think. It's just not always easy to know when we are doing so. I've been fortunate to get a lot of education and training in that area and given the opportunity to deal with my own discriminatory behavior, but the next book I read continued to slap me upside the head. That book was Naughts and Crosses, which I will try to write about tomorrow.

Enjoyed your review of Dreaming in French, Alice Kaplan and the discussion that has followed.

Thanks baswood.

BOOK 15 Naughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

This book was recommended for the Social Justice Theme Read. This is a Young Adult novel and fitting for that age group. Naughts are white people, and crosses are black people. The story is the traditional one of falling in love with someone who is not in your group, and is told from both sides of that experience. What sets this book apart is the depth and subtle insight to these experiences. The characters examine their own prejudices, their own fears of being excluded and discriminated against. Are you willing to die for your values? Are you willing to kill for your values? Are you willing to turn your back on your own family? When you go out of your way to stand with a person who is considered less than you, are you doing so for them, or for yourself? This novel asks these questions to a depth I have not seen in other books.

Personal response - Remember from intro psych classes that your brain literally can only physically form to see what it sees, in a manner of speaking? E.g. the tribe in Africa that grew up seeing only circles and curves, no angles, because they were isolated and did not see any other form of architecture? Their brains then could not perceive angles? Remember the language of a particular Native American tribe that uses sounds not used by other languages and that those sounds then remained unheard, literally, by some from other groups? I've had problems holding foreign (to me) character names in my head, and I have heard others complain of struggling with that. With this story and this setting I was able to hold a different picture in my head most of the time. I could see I was in England, I had no problems seeing black people in power as that is not unfamiliar in some places or movies or books or in my experience. What I had extreme difficulty with was holding a picture of white people in the downtrodden position. The stereotype of white people being in power and being the oppressor is too strongly ingrained in my little pea brain. I just was not able to perceive them as the victim, which of course, I found very interesting as well as frustrating. It is just weird to be betrayed by your own brain.

That sounds so interesting. I bought it for my 16 yr old daughter and she didn't like it at all, but I'm going to try it anyway.

Cross posting my comment from kidzdocs thread responding to one of his reviews:

It made me think of that one I just read with Angela Davis. I watched her last night on netflix in Black Power Mixtape and she had a powerful response to a reporter who asked her about violence. You're asking ME about violence? I grew up in Birmingham hearing the sound of bombs. The girls who were killed in the church bombing were my neighbors. Pre-ordered.

Also reminded me of a line from another one of my favs Bridge of Courage where one of the female rebels is asked how it is for women in combat. She replies that that is a question for children. We are fighting for our lives.

And......this is enough thinking for awhile! I am now halfway through a sweet relaxing break in Louisiana with James Lee Burke's new one, Creole Belle He is one of my all time favorite authors.

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Nickelini, I kept thinking about that and wondering what it was she didn't like. Did she say? Because I wondered if it was just the whole book or the ending. There were parts that were slow moving, but it was intended as a thriller and I did want to see what happened.

Very interesting and thought-provoking thoughts about Naughts and Crosses. Thanks for posting about it. One of the things I remember about Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom is his astonishment upon arriving in another African country and seeing that the people in power, the army, the police, etc., were all black. Even though he knew they were, it's that wrapping your mind around something so contrary to experience.

Hi mk. Intriguing sounding book. When I got to What I had extreme difficulty with was holding a picture of white people in the downtrodden position, my mind immediately leapt to Northern Ireland in a relatively contemporary context. There are more examples, but this strikes me as one of the more egregious ones of white people being in power and being the oppressor

Thanks for the Mandela info rebecca - I got to see him in Oakland, CA -it was a wonderful day! He is amazing.
My copies of the Kingsolver and GB84 both arrived and I'm looking forward to them both but have a few in front of them.

Sassy - excellent point. and.....I've read lots about Northern Ireland and have visited Belfast and seen the murals, but have never thought about it all from that perspective of downtrodden whites, guess because it is white vs. white - boy what weird things automatic responses can be!

I'm still enjoying my James Lee Burke. He's one of my very favorites!

Yay I got an early review copy today - The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner - very much looking forward to it but have two other ER copies to read first.

Catching up here, mk. I can comment specifically on your each of your last two reviews, Dreaming in French the Paris Years of... & Naughts and Crosses, but mainly I just wanted say that I sense some kind of energy in these reviews, I get the impression you have a lot going through your mind. I really enjoyed reading them and your other posts here.

BOOK 16 Creole Belle by James Lee Burke

I can't believe that this Dave Robicheaux series still has such a hold on me. How can I possibly continue to be so enthralled when this is the nineteenth one!? I know that a big piece of that is that I am from the southern United States, although I have lived in California for the last 53 or so years. My extended family remains in the south and I certainly have strong feelings of nostalgia. Burke's writing puts you right there in the scene. You can feel the humidity, see the lush, lush vegetation, and experience the sounds and smells of New Orleans and the surrounding small towns. Dave himself is one of those men who plays both the role of the tough guy and the gentle, highly principled man who many women find so appealing. OK, that I find appealing. His personal struggles are a large part of what appeal to me in this series of novels. I keep wondering if I won't begin to find the books somewhat repetitive as many of the themes are in every book, e.g. his struggle with alcohol and PTSD from his experiences in Vietnam. But then, those ARE often life long struggles in real life. I'm hearing a lot lately about elderly men e.g. in the assisted living facility where my mom lives, whose PTSD gets worse in their old age and some seem to regress. Breaks my heart to see what we do to our women and men by sending them to war. Next to the tv series Rescue Me, about firefighters who experienced 9/11 and their recovery difficulties, Burke draws perhaps the most realistic picture of the experience of PTSD, certainly one of the best I have read. Yes this is a mystery, murder novel, but there is a lot to learn about the history of Louisiana and about war, even tho the novel is set in the present. I think this is Burke's best yet and give it five stars.

P.S. If you are interested in the topic of PTSD I also highly recommend Doug Peacock's book Walking It Off: a Veteran's Chronicle of War and Wilderness. It's a story of one man's method of using walking in wilderness to deal with his PTSD. Great story and wonderful time spent in the wild with bears! Peacock is a friend of Ed Abbey, for fans of Abbey.

80 - Thanks! If you haven't read any of James Lee Burke, I should say the "racial" theme continues. Louisiana culture with its mixture of so many different ethnic groups is fascinating and just plain fun. The mixture of African heritage, French Canadian, Native American, Caribbean, etc. etc. etc. is intriguing.....religion, fundamentalism, voodoo, Catholicism, political corruption makes for a very good read!

Enjoyed your comments on Creole Belle. I've not read any of James Lee Burke yet, though my mother's a fan of this series and keeps nudging me. I also grew up in the South, South Carolina to be exact, and still love to read stories set in this area. I really do need to start back at the beginning and dive in.

I kept thinking about that and wondering what it was she didn't like. Did she say? Because I wondered if it was just the whole book or the ending. There were parts that were slow moving, but it was intended as a thriller and I did want to see what happened.

I finally remembered to ask her when I saw her (she was always out when I thought of it--so goes the life with a 16 yr old). She says she really didn't like the ending at all, and she thought some of the characters were a bit silly (some 13 yr old drinking her mother's champagne, was her example). I think a tiny part of it might have also been that she's really into Lord of the Rings right now, and this wasn't that.

BOOK 17 Looking for Yesterday by Marcia Muller

Four stars, still one of my favorite authors. It has been fun reading this series over the year and seeing this character (Sharon McCone) grow and mature. I love the (usually) San Francisco setting. I love the strong female character (PI) just being a strong person, not having to mention the gender, altho there are occasional references to that fact.

Just had 10 requested books come in to the library all at once - you know how that happens. I try to freeze the requests when I see that happening, but can't always catch it.

84 - Thanks for the response. I'm always curious about responses from people of different ages. I didn't think the drinking was very well integrated either - just something off about it.

83 - YES! Listen to your mother!

I used to read a lot of Marcia Muller; I guess I stopped when the mystery bookstore near me closed. I too liked that she was a strong woman, and I remember there being some interesting recurring characters too.

BOOK 18 Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill

Thanks so much to Nickelini for the review on her thread. I knew absolutely nothing about this topic and enjoyed the book. The author spent 20 seasons planting clear cuts, which work was contracted out by the logging companies. The author stated she hated it and loved it equally and I can see why. Although I know I would not make it through one single day. There is a lot of geology and natural history in addition to the workers' stories. I especially enjoyed reading about the run-in with the grizzly. The author is an excellent writer and the book won several awards. There are great photos on her website, www.charlottegill.com and some nice videos of tree planters on youtube. The location for the book is Canada. I couldn't stop making comparisons with Mexican migrant workers in the U.S. I'd love to spend a few days with these groups - but I only want to watch! I am freezing and exhausted as I sit in my warm house on a comfie couch, from reading about the work.

Yesterday I started A Concise History of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes. It was loaned to me by one of the baristas at my local Peets Coffee where my husband and I go for our morning coffee and tea. Said barista has a master's in literature and about 1/3 of the remaining baristas have undergraduate degrees at least. They're part of this trend in the U.S.of wives supporting husbands. Well of course that's a whole different story. I hate to see the underemployment, but it makes for nice morning discussions for me!

Anyway.....we'll see how far I get in the book. He says it is very readable and interesting. It's put together from the author's two volume set, for those of us who don't have time left to read all the books in the world. My first read of Tolstoy last summer, and an influx of students from that area in my classes before I retired have made me want to know more. Sometimes I wish I had a Liberal Arts education as I appreciate more and more the usefulness of that broad knowledge base. I always feel I don't have the background for things I'm reading e.g. this history, but I have to start somewhere. Pipes does a good job of setting up what is happening in his first chapter though. The description of how individuals were perceived tells me what a revolutionary Carl Rogers was with his person-centered therapy. Didn't realize that when I was studying psych, just knew I loved Rogers.

I watched the movie Reds for the third time Sunday night and enjoyed it more than ever. First time I watched it I was in my ultra conservative stage and saw it as a lesson that communism doesn't work, period. That was when it came out in 1981. If you don't know the movie, it's the story of John Reed, American journalist and socialist who went to Russia as a representative of one of the socialist parties in the U.S., died and was buried there. Second time I watched the movie I was coming from a more liberal perspective, maybe 10 years ago or so. This time I noticed I was focused on the story of his wife Louise Bryant, also a writer, and her struggle to be her own woman in the middle of this marriage to such a strong figure. Also I have read some of Emma Goldman now, so was happy to see her represented in the movie also, and Scott Nearing, whose autobiography I read this past summer and of whom I have always been a fan. So.....all of this Russian and other revolution
stuff floating around in my head makes the book even more interesting but I don't if I will finish it or not. I want to say more about it but am out of time.

I am hoping there is someone on here who has read the book and can help with some of my questions.

I'm so glad that Eating Dirt was a worthwhile read for you. Thanks again for pointing me to her website.

I've never even heard of Marcia Muller, but a recommendation from both you and Rebecca? (scurries off to Amazon). Also, Eating Dirt is going be a perfect gift for someone I know. Thanks for both.

Great to find a fellow fan of Reds, although I suspect we initially watched it from completely different perspectives! Whenever I see it, I am always struck by the smaller roles as well, like Jack Nicholson actually acting in the role of Eugene O'Neill, or Jerzy Kosinski as Zinoviev.

If you're starting Russian history with Pipes's Concise History, you may want to have a copy of his Russia under the Old Regime on hand for reference, to see where some of the action originates. John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World might be interesting for you too, after watching the movie.

On a completely different note, I've always wanted to read one of the Robicheaux books, but haven't for fear I would get hooked! Your review kind of confirms that.

89 and 90 - Yay for Eating Dirt. Don't forget there are lots of videos on YouTube for treeplanters.

91 Sassy - Thanks for the feedback. I did not get past the first chapter of Pipes before I was bothered by some of the things he said. The reviews said it was rather biased, and I spent some time looking for something more middle of the road or that would present multiple perspectives. While doing that I found an article in Russian Review that critiqued Pipes and I decided to keep looking. I had a lunch date on campus at Cal State yesterday so stopped by the Friends of the Library bookstore and hit the jackpot. I found a history that is supposed to be less biased and bought that Red Victory a History of the Russian Civil War by W. Bruce Lincoln. I also found two books by and about Russian women during that time period! I bought Narodniki Women by Margaret Maxwell and Daughters of Revolution by Vera Broido. They are written from opposite perspectives, if you can believe I was that lucky, and all three books were $2 each! I started the Broido and am very much enjoying it. I may still return to the Pipes - I'll see how long this topic stays with me, but I do have 3 Early Review wins waiting to be read and reviewed.

If you or anyone else has any comments about the bias in any of these books, I'd like to hear it. It's a struggle but just the way it is right? I hardly see how it's possible to not let bias into the writing, as it is there immediately if only by the very choice of topic.

If you liked Reds, I expect you've seen Salvador, depending on what drew your interest. It's a great movie for showing both sides I thought and one of my favorite movies also. Another thread is talking about Joan Didion's book Salvador right now and I've also picked that up.

I haven't gotten much reading in this week however, as I've been taking care of my daughter while she recovers from knee surgery. We've been a couple of couch potatoes watching whole seasons of Downton Abbey which I'm enjoying and I find THAT funny after my complaints about Pride and Prejudice and also considering we are both fans of The Walking Dead. How does one possibly enjoy both of those?

I'd appreciate any info from anyone about books about Russian history, remembering it is WAY out of my field of knowledge and I need something interesting and very readable, undergrad level at best.

Love Downton Abbey. It is a good way to pass time while recuperating. I hope your daughter is mending nicely.

I am SO enjoying Daughter of Revolution a Russian Girlhood Remembered. It's an uncorrected proof by the way.

BOOK 19 - Daughter of Revolution A Russian Girlhood Remembered by Vera Broido

I am very much enjoying this book, both the writing and the content. Vera Broido's parents, Mark and Eva Broido, were both active revolutionaries in tsarist Russia, their lives in constant danger. Some stability was provided for Vera through the constant presence of her grandmother.

Broido begins by setting the scene and describing some of the political beliefs and differences of the time, e.g. the autocratic ideas of Lenin versus more democratic ideas of other groups. The author describes the movement to educate the working class, teaching them to read and creating small libraries. Broido also describes the effects of the industrial revolution, very slowly making changes in society.

Broido's parents are captured periodically and when her mother is at last exiled to Siberia, Broido accompanies her. Her description of the trip and the different places they lived before settling down in a certain village illustrates the importance of the final destination for exiles, which could be barren or lively, depending on the location and who else was exiled there. Her mother was fortunate in ending up in a good placement (Minusinsk) where she had enjoyable work and pay and food was more plentiful than they had experienced at home. Vera's teacher was a well known revolutionary woman, providing a wonderful and unique circumstance for her education.

The writing in this memoir is wonderful and seems insightful, such as when Broido describes the nomad tribe Kirghiz who lived nearby, noting the perfect stillness and quiet in their bodies while they were in town. This was compared to the intense energy they displayed when they left town and returned to their own space. It's always intriguing to hear stories from the viewpoint of children or other less powerful groups, whose survival depended on understanding the behavior, habits, and attitudes of those holding power and often it is the children.

The exiles do their best to keep each other's spirits up, having dinners, drinking, singing, and having a good time, but the parties end in tears over sentimental songs as they all miss their homes and families (and become drunk). When Vera's sister becomes ill with meningitis, their mother is not allowed to return home to be with her and she dies without her mother. This is painful for all, but Vera sees it as a revolutionary duty whereas her half sister Sanya saw it as betrayal. Sanya developed a hatred for her mother's chosen group, the Mensheviks (believers in a democratic structure), and began associating with the Bolsheviks (Lenin and his autocratic group) in retaliation. She ended up marrying a Bolshevik who was later executed and Sanya and their daughter were sent to a labor camp for many years. Intriguing (and sad) example of psychohistory and the effects of family dynamics on history.

This is making me think of JESSE JACKSON today:

This week the son of civil rights worker Jesse Jackson was convicted or sentenced for stealing, basically. It makes me so sad, and makes me remember another book, by John Blake, Children of the Movement about the results of being parented by people who were suffering with post traumatic stress while parenting. It is just so sad.

ETA - touchstones

Finished BOOK 19:

Broido describes her life among the revolutionaries in detail and I learned a lot about the political situation during this time period, deepening my understanding of the Russian revolutions. She also tells the story of her life in Paris as an apprentice to an artist, as well as the social life of Paris and Berlin where she lived. It is all fascinating, and the more social part lightened the reading also. This is a great read and therefore I think a good introduction to some of these political issues for a beginner like myself. If you already have some background in Russian history and want to go more deeply, this may not be for you. For me personally, I enjoy both these types of personal stories as well as more detailed history. Highly recommended.

This is one of my all time favorites actually and I'll be looking for more of this author's books, as well as her mother's books.

Now I need to get to an ER! BOOK that is!

BOOK 20 Take Your Time The Wisdom of Slowing Down by Eknath Easwaran This review is from a new edition of the book, which was given to me by the publisher.

Although I have about a zillion books on the topics of meditation and slowing down, focusing on the present, I'm glad I read this one and recommend it both to those who are new to the subject, and those who are not. It falls into the "simple yet profound" category of addressing this topic because of the author's writing and the book organization. At the risk of sounding naive, I have to say that I've read many books about meditation and present moment awareness in the last few years, and I am still convinced that living in the now is the answer to everything! I keep looking for something it won't work with, but have yet to find it. It seems to me that there is no difficulty it will not help to ease. This is one that will go on my nightstand to be read and reread again in small daily doses.

SO - that's the quickie review. I want to say also that from a psychotherapeutic perspective, I've literally been down the list of diagnoses and think the practice of mindfulness will literally be helpful with any of them. Lots of good research continues to come out of U Mass Med School on this topic also. If I ever decided to go back into practice I'd get some more training in mindfulness.

Interesting insight about Jesse Jackson, Jr.

>88 mkboylan:, >91 SassyLassy: Seconding Sassy's recommendations in her post.

As an experienced reader in Russian history, I'm happy to help you with your questions regarding Pipes. Don't worry too much about bias: any history or biography will contain bias: it's impossible to avoid. but at this stage, if you're just reading to learn about the events, bias shouldn't bother too you much: it's going to lie in subtle differences of interpretation anyway, and not in the actual presentation of events. Pipes is a reputable and well regarded specialist in the field, so you should be pretty safe with him.

I also recommend anything else you can get your hands by W.Bruce Lincoln, he's also pretty good and well regarded, especially I recommend his history of the Romanovs: Autocrats of all the Russias.

your two purchases on Russian women in the revolution look really good, I'm adding them to my own list.

If you want to let me know a bit more specifically what your interests in RUssia are: ie, post revolution or pre revolution, I can put together a list for you.
:)

The Broido sounds so interesting!

I'm thrilled to know that somebody else in Club Read is reading about the Russian revolution (I know marieke54 is also reading up on the subject, but I haven't seen her post lately). I've started on it myself just some days ago. I'm a few chapters into Orlando Figes's A People's Tragedy which is grabbing me, though I would really love to read accounts by other writers. I'm taking note of the recommendations of Sassy (#91) and tomcatMurr (#99).

I have this Pipes book on my wishlist. I'm curious though about what he said that bothered you.

Over the years, I've read a variety of books that touch on the Russian revolution; one of the best I've read is Victor Serge's Memoirs of a Revolutionary -- it is probably the only book written by a participant in the revolution I've read by someone who could stand by his revolutionary principles of tolerance and individual freedom while clearly seeing what was really taking place while the vision of others was clouded by wishful thinking.

Two weeks of taking care of my adult daughter who is recovering from knee surgery and other family issues have kept me from responding and posting or reading very much. All is well, but I miss my reading time something fierce! Light reading is all I've been able to get in, the best of which has been LT posts by others, and a couple of books. I read about 150 pages of GB84 and finally quit. I might return to it later but just wasn't able to track it. It's a novel about mine strikes in England and I'm always amazed by some of the little things that pop up in other cultures that are in my own language (I'm in U.S.) but still don't have meaning for me. Especially of course acronyms, and there are a lot in this book. I did find a review that placed the players for me so may go back to it.

Then I went to my stack of ER's and started Mania by Collins and Skover and am about half way through that. It's a new one about the Beats and started out pretty interesting. I was enjoying it but eventually wanted to smack the little brats and throw the book. The best line was when Kerouac's wife was pregnant and he was trying to get her to abort. He told her she had to choose between a baby or a husband. Her response - you mean I have to decide which baby to keep! Well said! I'm now to a part about Ginsberg's Howl and it has gotten better again. The last part will be about the legal case against Howl so I'll see how that goes. Funny, I agree with a lot of their frustrations, but they are annoying me with their behavior of dumping babies and wives and murdering their lovers! Suppose I would have loved it when I was 18, but I'm 64 and now more enamored of those who just ignore the crap in the world and create their own preferred ways of living and do it. I know that isn't possible in many, maybe most cases, but.........

Mostly tho, I miss hanging out with my Russian characters. Since retirement, with more time available and less serious reading necessary for work, my leisure reading is changing again and I find I need more substantial writing to hold my interest.

Thanks to all for the feedback and comments about the Russian "stuff", Sassy, Tomcat, etc. I think I will compile a list of recommendations I have received and post that with additional responses when I get another minute - I'm off to my last day of staying with my daughter. I so appreciate the time you took making recommendations.

You definitely have to be in the right mood for GB84, and to have the time to concentrate on it and keep the characters as straight as possible.

Don't worry too much thinking that the Beats were a bunch of assholes, they still wrote some pretty good stuff.

and we're all assholes occasionally. What was it from a literary viewpoint that was revolutionary in their writing style? The informality? stream of consciousness?

So I'm almost finished with Mania and now I have this to say about The Beats:

OOOOOHHH!

Curious to hear your full review of Mania Merrikay. You prompt some great discussion.

Finished Mania and will review soon, but for today, back to the Russians! I received a copy of another Broido in the mail and am enjoying it: Apostles into Terrorists, which title I think really probably sums up half of my interest in this area - what motivates people to activism and perhaps, if there is such a thing, extreme activism.

I'm so happy and thankful for all the comments about the Russian theme! LT is such a great thing. Thanks again to all of you. Tomcat, I've been enjoying visiting your blog also. Your comment here make me think I'm pretty ok with the Pipes and Lincoln, right? One reason I was anxious to get some feedback was just based on my lack of knowledge. I'm a little resentful that I fell for lots of history that I learned in school as a child and later learned was misinformation. (Me and lots of others, I know). As an adult now it is easier to spot lies because I have lived through some history, but I know nothing about countries outside the U.S. and even when I do see through lies, I sometimes find out it is not so much lying as a different perspective. For example, I was so angry when I heard Bush talking about how Republicans had supported Mandela because that was something I specifically remembered did NOT happen. When others were asking e.g. for boycotts or some kind of action by the U.S. against apartheid as practiced by or supported by some U.S. corporations such as Coke, Repubs refused any support. This was back when Mandela was still in prison. My ultra conservative Repub strategist cousin would say that they were fighting apartheid in a different way but just didn't think boycotting was effetive, or that there were better ways. Point is: in the U.S. I have a much better idea of where people are coming from and have found authors and sources from different perspectives that I think are somewhat trustworthy. I don't have that advantage with other countries so needed help with that.

Here in one place is the list of your recommendations, starting with Peach (Midnight_Louie's that were shared in a pm:

The following suggestions from Midnight Louie's former PolySci prof:
The 900 Days
City of Thieves
Iron Curtain
Kruschev and Stalin's Ghost

Sassy:
Russia under the Old Regime
Ten Days that Shook the World

The ones I have:
Red Victory a History of the Russian Civil War
Narodniki Women
Daughter of Revolution
Apostles into Terrorists

deebee:
A People's Tragedy

Rebecca:
Memoirs of a Revolutionary Serge

Tomcat:
Romanovs: Autocrats of all the Russians
W. Bruce Lincoln
Pipes

What do y'all think?

The other point of interest is that I've been learning more about anarchy in the last couple of years and love the ideas I've seen. So part of the exploration is just looking at different systems of government and seeing what works. As retirement has meant more time available when the Occupy movement became active and revolutions continue worldwide, there is the desire to become more active politically. I've done my share of picketing, but think to become much more active I would need to be VERY solidly grounded in what I'm doing. So also continuing to investigate nonviolence. I think really tho that I am concluding that the issue isn't systems, but greed and human nature. That is, most systems could work if it weren't for greed, but the concentration of power certainly doesn't help. But I'm still thinking........still thinking..........

Merrikay, that is quite an impressive list. I may steal a few ideas from there. As far as "thinking", how dull we would be if we stopped, right?

That is a good list and I look forward to reading your impressions.

I thought of you today while I was out perusing books Merrikay. I came across Kruschev Remembers which talks about his tapes that originally had gaps when released but have since been restored. I didn't get it but I may have to go back and pick it up.

All very interesting, MK. I, for one, am looking forward to where those thoughts will lead you...

And thanks for putting the reading suggestions together in one place. I may just steal them!

I wonder if all this Russia talk doesn't warrant its own thread? Just an idea...

My quickie review of Mania, is on the works page, but I just didn't seem able to get my thoughts down. As I mentioned earlier, the Beats seemed like bratty little boys to me. I kept trying to drum up some empathy but it took forever! I kept thinking that if they were my generation I would have that empathy in spades, e.g. for Jim Morrison or some other maniac whose work I liked. I'm so glad I stuck with the book because I eventually was able to develop some understanding of why they behaved so badly and I hope, understand their struggle more. I also feel I learned a little more about literature in general and its development over the centuries, through learning how their writing changed things in that field. (Altho I still can't verbalize it - I just know it did.) I am also glad I read it for the legal info on banning books and obscenity as well as the history of Ferlinghetti and City Lights, which I was not that familiar with.

While my head was still spinnning from that, I received a copy of another of Vera Broido's books, Apostles into Terrorists, which actually fit in somehow. I only got through the first two chapters so far, but learned a lot already about how feminism was an early, early part of the Russian Revolutionary movement. Fascinating and I want to say more after I finish that book. It was interesting still thinking about the Beats while reading Broido's description of revolutionaries, even something as simple as her description of their dress code: sunglasses and combat boots tucked into their pants. I read "Doc Marten's" and whatever the latest popular brand sunglasses are. It's just intriguing how many similarities I read about between the Beats, the Russian revolutionaries, and also those active in Occupy Wallstreet in the last year or so, as described by David Graeber, Chomsky and others. Can there really be any comparison there?

Decided to go ahead an post my review of Mania here also to keep my thread straight for myself:

BOOK 21 Mania the Story of the Outraged & Outrageous Lives that Launched a Cultural Revolution by Ronald Collins and David Skover

I know nothing about The Beats and wasn't crazy about On the Road, but I still kept wanting to know and understand them better. This book was perfect for me. I still remember an undergrad paper I was assigned in an Intro Music course, when we had to choose a particular musical time period and write about what was going on in all OTHER fields at that time e.g. math, science, government, etc. It was very eye-opening to see all the connections. Well Mania was like that for me regarding literature. I know nothing about literature and this book was eye opening for me in that regard. It illustrated so many connections to other fields, government again, other literature, art, ideals, ethics, etc. of that time period.

Initially I was getting pretty cranky with these characters and wanted to throw the book. I just wasn't feeling any empathy for them. They were incredibly misogynistic, abandoning both their wives and their children and mistreating everyone including each other. I stuck with it tho and finally, as time passed and these men matured, the understanding and empathy came. This is another coming of age story in a sense, people wrestling with the constraints of society and railing against injustice and stupidity, trying to live the life they believe in.

Mania is worth reading for the chapter on legal information and development of obscenity laws alone. It is fascinating to watch a very conservative Bible believing judge come to the conclusion that the Ginsberg poem Howl is not obscene and should not be banned, whether he likes it or not. This book is recommended for law students for that reason, for those like myself who knew nothing about The Beats, and for Beat experts!

113 - Peach, did you go back for Kruschev Remembers?

Rebecca - I think I will like GB84 when I get back to it now that I have a "map" of who the players are.

DeeBee - I've had that thought about a separate thread also but don't know how that would work. I've been tied up this week with more family medical stuff, my mom this time, and would have hated to start something and then not follow through. (Again, family is all ok - my mom just got the flu and got dehydrated and ended up in hospital.)

So while doing these other things most of my reading was actually ClubRead2013 threads, which was great! I also read a mindless:

BOOK 22 Marie Potter and the Campervan of Doom by Brian Burke which I would recommend to no one else probably. It's about a couple who drive a camper van around Europe so I was interested as my husband and I do so in the U.S. and have thought about doing it in Europe also. It was not helpful at all in that respect, either as a guide or just a good adventure story, but I did get a couple of laughs out of it.

I'm now trying to get my ER's read and reviewed so am reading The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner so I'll now be switching for awhile to radicals in Italy in 1977, and then will be on to my latest ER, Why Men Fake It.

Edited to try to fix The Flamethrowers touchstone but couldn't.

Edited again and fixed it. Just needed to make flamethrowers one word.

Enjoyed your quickie review of Mania the story of the Outraged & Outrageous Lives that Launched a Cultural Revolution. Are you tempted with any of the beat classics?

114 deebee wrote I wonder if all this Russia talk doesn't warrant its own thread? Just an idea..

So I started a thread here. Come on over . . .

Merrikay, I did run back over and get Khrushchev Remembers. Reading the dust jacket summary, it sounds interesting and once I finish A Tale Of Two Cities that I am re-reading with a friend, I am diving in.

Hi Merrikay! Sorry it's taken me so long to find your thread. I've had SUCH a couple of months. :) I hadn't realized you'd read Noughts and Crosses with me last month. Your comment about having trouble visualizing the white people as downtrodden really hit home with me. When I was reading, I kept imagining them as the wrong color skin - I had to keep reminding myself to visualize them differently.

oh my! I lost my own thread! Just marking it again till I can get it caught up.

There you are. I am glad to see you back.

Was wondering where you were!

Did you know there's an option to look at threads you started? Under Your World, in the left-hand column it says "Started by You" in addition to Starred and other options.

Oh finally! I clicked on every available option in that column on the left and my thread just would not come up. The only way I finally got to it was by clicking on your (rebecca) russian book thread and then clicking on the link to my thread! I spent SO much time trying to figure it out because I was pretty sure it had to be simple "misclick", right? I had to have accidentally clicked on something that messed me up. I even checked to see if I had accidentally unenrolled myself from t he group. Well for Pete's sake, I had clicked on "ignore topic" somehow so now all is well! Sheesh!

I am so far behind it might take awhile to catch up. I was out of town, in the Southern Calif desert for about 12 days with terrible internet coverage. Plus I was having fun with my kids! I WILL get caught up!

Welcome back!

>125 mkboylan: LOL! There are days, every now and then, when I long for a way to ignore myself. Where's the button for that?!?! HA! Glad you found yourself. :)

The Southern California desert?! Why, we might have been neighbors for a minute or two!

118 - I have read On the Road and enjoyed it somewhat. I do want to read some Ginsberg after reading Mania and I have a couple of Snyder's books that I'm moving up on the pile.

Thanks Rebecca for starting the Russia thread, altho vacation took some away from that mood, I will be getting back to it.

120 - I'll get caught up on your thread to see if you read the Kruschev yet.

121 - Thanks for that info. It was so weird, having to keep stopping and thinking wait, now which group is that character in!

Thanks Nana and Peach!

Avid - yes I'd sure like to ignore myself somedays! Not sure I have actually found mySELF yet! Too bad I didn,t know you were nearby. My (not) son-in-law attended an educator conference in Palm Springs and our daughter wanted us to meet them there. We have a fifth wheel (trailer) and stayed in an RV park in Desert Hot Springs. We had a great time with the kids in PS, did the tram for the first time in about 50 years, enjoyed the street fair, etc., enjoyed the vegan restaurants as well as others. Had six wonderful hours with an old jr high school friend, and then went with one of my other daughters to a family get together with her dad, my first husband, (now deceased) and had a blast. I love those people and I love to see my daughter with her paternal gma and uncle and cousins. She resembles them physically so that is a nice experience for her. She's a green eyed blonde (graying now!) and her half sibs she was raised with are all dark brown to black hair and blue or brown eyes.

So enough about that trip, but I had a great time mostly, altho it was a little too warm for me, 95ish. My reading went in different directions and I'm going to address that in my next post.

Rachel Kushner The Flamethrowers This was an Early Reviewer book for me but although I enjoyed the book, I had difficulty writing the required review. I'm not sure why - I just didn't know quite what to say about it. But here is the required review anyway:

BOOK 23 - The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

I've enjoyed reading stories of revolutionaries that trace their path to action. This has often been neighborhood, family, economic paths to realization of inequity in the reigning political system. This story might instead be called The Accidental Revolutionary. The story takes place at the great salt flats in Utah where a land speed record is set by a woman, accidentally. Her boyfriend where she lives in New York City, is Italian, an heir to an Italian motorcycle dynasty (interesting concept). They are part of the community of artists in NYC. When she travels to Italy with him, she ends up taking part in a labor revolutionary action, also accidentally. There is certainly a Great Gatsby side of the story. Mostly, for me, I just enjoyed spending time with these characters in these different settings and learning a little about their worlds. I wasn't very taken with the characters, but I did enjoy the book and will definitely go back and read Kushner's previous book, Telex from Cuba: a Novel, which is already on my shelf with a few other books about Cuba.

Have any of you read either one of those?

BOOK 24 - Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer

This book was reviewed by Ridgeway Girl on her thread Feb 20, which convinced me to take a look. Check out her excellent review. Briefly here, the premise is a good man "loses it" and commits accidental manslaughter. The book examines the effects this has on him, his girlfriend, and their relationship. They have to examine their shadow sides and face what they, and humanity are capable of in the midst of their clear goodness. The characters are likable in that they are multi-faceted, admitting and exploring both their strengths and weaknesses. I don't know why, but I didn't connect well with the female character. I wish I could explain that. My appreciation for professional book reviewer is growing exponentially! I wish the author had taken the time to explore more deeply the question of whether or not it is always wise or advisable to turn yourself over to the U.S. criminal justice system. I'd like to have seen the characters struggle with that question a little more. I'm not big on our criminal justice system and think there are better ways of making amends and much better guidelines for ethics and morals. It is a topic I'm very interested in. For example, most would agree that it was the correct thing to do to hide people from Nazis. I would say that in a system that denies healthcare to ill and dying people it is the moral thing to do for example, to write a prescription in the name of someone who has insurance. Maybe in another book...........Highly recommended. Thanks Ridgeway!

BOOK 25 - In the Heart of the Canyon Elisabeth Hyde

Perfect vacation reading for me. I've read a few books, both fiction and non-fiction, about rafting the Grand Canyon and I enjoyed spending a couple of days doing so from the comfort of a big easy chair. As usual, there were likable characters and a couple of jerks, and everyone experienced psychological growth on the trip. The descriptions of the experience and the canyon are based on real life experience and beautifully written. Yes the story is a little trite - just what I needed for relaxing. If you're more interested in non-fiction I recommend Canyon Solitude by McCairen.

BOOK 26 - Cannery Row John Steinbeck

We spent a couple of days in Monterey on the way home from southern California so I found myself once again in one of my favorite spots, but still never having read Steinbeck! So when on Cannery Row, read Cannery Row I decided. It is not listed as one of his best, but I was still in the mood for light reading and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a good combination of light reading (compared to all that Russian stuff, right?) with amazing writing. My taste in writing is developing, which is leading to some problems: how to find light reading that is beautiful writing? Can't seem to get into some of the e.g. mystery series I used previously for relaxing.

BOOK 27 - Slouching Toward Bethlehem Joan Didion

Finally getting around to yet another author I haven't read yet. I know her fiction is the thing, but this book of non-fiction essays appealed and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did not want it to end - it was a way of reading about things that are meaningful to me and make me think, but I guess it is the short length that makes it not too heavy? At any rate, another great read and I have her Salvador to look forward to, a subject that interests me, and will be checking out her fiction of course. Although, people who saw me with her book kept commenting "too depressing". This one wasn't.

BOOK 28 - The Bells of Nagasaki

Thanks to Lilisin for the review and recommendation. Her great review and pictures begin on her March 8 Club Read thread. I was intrigued by what she wrote and was happy to see my library has it. And now.......this may be one of my all time top favorites. Weird to think a description of experiencing an atomic bomb could be a fav, but there it is. There is a brief introduction about what was happening with political leaders at the time, the decision making involved, to set the scene. The book itself is an insider's story about the experience. There are the descriptions of the specific physical occurrences as well as the psychological ones: seeing the country you love defeated, addressing feeling and desires for revenge and moving beyond that. The focus ends on the meaning of the event for the whole world rather than just those who experienced it. The author was an amazing person who saw the importance of documenting the results with a scientific eye for the benefit of the medical world, as well as the religious implications. There were a couple of pages addressing religion, from a perspective I don't share, but that seemed to be helpful for them. I wish this was required reading for high schoolers and would love to have used it for my college classes.

and with that I am CAUGHT UP with my reading log. On to catch up on all of your posts!

An impressive selection of reading. Nice reviews!

I read Cannery Row when we drove through that area of California a few years ago. I thought it was a great book--well written, funny, interesting.

I've run into the problem of no longer being satisfied with the kinds of books I loved earlier and it is the fault of LT.

Yes Ridgeway, it is! And, I may never write another review after reading all of the ones on here! My writing training was in psych. All of the profs in that field were so paranoid about being called non-scientific that they were fanatical (as I think they should have been) about being concrete and factual and only writing what you could see. Then with clinical work, records could end up in court, and letters had to be written for court, and they had to also be very concrete. None of this oh you can feel their love and sincerity.......had to be progress as evidenced by attendance and blood tests. That leaves me with only a few descriptive words in my vocal: fine, beautiful, the dreaded awesome, repeated over and over.

Have you ever thought of taking a raft trip through the Grand Canyon yourself, Merrikay? I did back at the beginning of the 80s (the trip was run by the Sierra Club, although they contracted with an outfitting company) and it was really amazing. I read/bought a lot of books about the Canyon at that time, although they were mostly nonfiction; you can see them here.

>128 mkboylan: Sounds like a wonderful trip. Palm Springs is about an hour's drive from us out here. I love that area but don't get out that way very often. Nice reviews of your recent reading. My library (that I work next door to) has The Bells of Nagasaki; it too is on my radar. Cannery Row is one of my favorite books. If you liked Cannery Row, I'm pretty sure you would like the funny sequel, Sweet Thursday.

Cool variety of books you have been reading. I'm hoping to read The Bells of Nagasaki, and more Didion...and more Steinbeck...and Kushner too, maybe.

Following your comments on Cannery Row and RidgewayGirl in #135 - LT has done many strange things to my reading...getting me into certain kinds of books, and then moving me away to completely different books.

#137 Rebecca - great list on the Grand Canyon...even reading Powell! How can I remember this link when I finally manage to get back there? (Hopefully with the kids)

#139 Dan, nearly all, if not all, of those books date back to the beginning of the 1980s; there might be more recent versions of many of them.

I imagine Powell hasn't changed much. I took a one-week raft trip in college along with a class on the canyon. But the main book I read with relevance was A Canyon Voyage: The Narrative of the Second Powell Expedition down the Green-Colorado River from Wyoming, and the Explorations on Land, in the Years 1871 and 1872, by accompanying artist Frederick Dellenbaugh (published late, after Powell died, in 1908...presumably because he contradicts the not-so-reliable Powell). Goodness, i can't recommend the obscure book though. I also read Edward Abbey.

No, I'm sure Powell hasn't changed, but I was thinking of the nature and river guide books.

I mentioned this in my own thread as well but I'm glad you liked The Bells of Nagasaki. It gives me great pleasure to know that my little review was able to put the book so high on your list.

#116 -- I enjoyed your review of Mania the story of the outraged and outrageous lives that launched a cultural revolution, I should have said so before now. I mean to read Howl. I much preferred reading the Dharma Bums to On the road, it's been a long time since I read them but felt very good about the former, the other was much harder work for me.

144 Thanks - I' with you on Dharma Bums.

Wow, it is a million years (well, 40+) since I read On the Road and The Dharma Bums, not to mention Howl! Brings back memories, but I'm not sure I would want to read them again, now.

137 - Yes I've thought of taking that rafting trip, or the mules down to Phantom, which sounds easier to me. Altho, I think I might prefer a helicopter! I think what I would enjoy would be a LUXURY trip. Luxury meaning raft me down without me having to to do ANY work at all! or an assisted slack packing trip where someone else or some poor animal carries my load. or maybe just watching it on tv or reading about it! The furthest I've gotten is a half mile down Bright Angel. Too bad I'm so lazy cause there is some good rafting where I live near the American River in Northern Calif. Thanks for sharing your list of books on the Grand Canyon. What a great list.

Dan when you start talking about a trip to GC, I'm sure we will all be jumping on you with suggestions and remind you of Rebecca's list!

Also, I DO love me some Edward Abbey! It's one of my fav rituals to read him in the desert every year.

I just finished an ER Why Men Fake It and very much enjoyed it and the review is going to be a struggle so I'm putting it off.

I'm half way through my last ER Badges, Bears and Eagles the True Life Adventures of a California Fish and Game Warden so enjoying that little side trip back to the outdoors.

Just finished my second Joan Didion Salvador.

I'm skipping ahead to:

BOOK 30 - Badges, Bears and Eagles: the True Life Adventures of a California Fish and Game Warden by Steven T. Callan

This is a topic that I very much enjoy reading about so am reviewing in comparison to several other similar books. Callan writes about his decades spent all over California in various settings, which made the book very enjoyable to me. I got to spend some time with him in the southern Californian desert as well as the mountains of northern California AND even time in the urban setting of Riverside and San Bernardino, which was new to me for this field.

In addition to the information on the different geographical settings, or rather along with, there is information about the different animal life of those areas. I learned a lot about fish poaching and using illegal methods of fishing that were interesting as well as info about reptiles. I don't like fishing or hunting and the catch and release program drives me crazy. Poor fish! Oh God I'm caught! No wait......I'm free! oh NOOOO I'm caught again. So what I found interesting was not learning to fish, but rather the ecological implications for the earth and the different methods of poaching. You know it was that old thing that if the poachers would put as much energy into work as they do poaching, they might all be rich.

The urban setting was focused on exotic animals often used in the film industry, as well as those just kept by collectors.

The reading became more difficult as Callan moved more into larger mammals such as elk, deer, bears, etc. Sorry to be so prejudiced, but I like bears better than fish and hurting them creeps me out more. There was a lot of info on the market for bear gall bladders as medicine. The intricacy of the whole poaching and marketing is pretty amazing and the author goes into detail about the undercover work involved. I found it very interesting especially as I am familiar with the areas covered in the book. The relationships between the poachers was fascinating. The author also talked a lot about the relationships between game wardens as well as relations with other agencies. I very much enjoyed this four star read.

Thanks to the publisher for giving me an early review copy of this book. I read the ebook.

ETA: I spent time with him VICARIOUSLY! I don't actually know him. I wish!

BOOK 31 - Salvador by Joan Didion

After reading Slouching Toward Jeruselum I was left wanting more Didion. Stretch's review of Salvador and my own interest in the history of U.S. involvement there made it the next logical choice. My four children were mostly out of toddlerhood when this was happening, and my attention was again turning outward. This was really when I first more deeply understood some new things: my country was not the good guy, both
sides in this conflict were slaughtering people, there were more than two sides, it was way more complicated than good guy vs. bad guy. (Yeah, I'm a slow learner.)

It was intriguing to see Didion's writing applied to such a topic as Salvador and the ugliness that was happening. I especially appreciated the way she compared Salvadoran use of language to more linear U.S. language use, especially in the use of numbers. She talked about Salvadoran use as being more generally descriptive of their world beyond numbers and into deeper meaning and how this was misunderstood by Americans. It reminded me of a ten year old client who kept insisting there were hundreds of empty beer bottles at his dad's house. His mom was upset and wanted him to be more specific because he was going to have to testify in court. He was an exceptionally bright child so she could not understand nor tolerate his exaggeration. She finally got it tho - he wasn't telling her how many bottles there were. He was telling her how scared and overwhelmed he felt. Didion talks about this difficulty describing Salvador in terms many of us understand, that she found herself without the words.

It's an interesting and quick read at only 100 pages. I had my first Salvadoran student in the early 2000s and wish I could have had more time with him. I'd like current information on it if anyone has any suggestions for sources.

Glad to hear Salvador had a similar impact on you as well. I wasn't born yet so Didion's little book was my first real introduction to the conflict. It's really quite amazing to see how far the Salvadoran people have come since such a devastating civil war.

I really have to get to Didion! And the game warden book sounds interesting too.

Really interesting array of reading here, and great reviews/reflections on the books.

Going a ways back to your comment, "how to find light reading that is beautiful writing? Can't seem to get into some ... I used previously for relaxing", I'd recommend Tove Jansson's The Summer Book. Slim, light, gentle (sometimes bittersweet) episodes about a little girl and her grandmother and their time together on one of the small Finnish archipelago islands. A great summer read.

Thanks ljb - Sounds like a great book for me. I have 3 granddaughters and will be a great grandmother this fall!

Book 30, must feel strange reading a book by an author with whom you are familiar both personally and with his work.

Enjoying your reviews

Oh baswood I'm so glad you said that! I don't know the author. I meant I spent time with him vicariously! My review sounds misleading. I always think of reading as spending time in the place or with the people written about. Sorry!

Oh Merrikay, I did wonder what you were doing out in the South Californian desert.

Well baswood, I actually was there last month and had a great time!

This review is out of numerical order because it took me awhile to get to writing it. I really love this book.

BOOK 29 - Why Men Fake It Abraham Morgentaler

It's taken awhile for me to get to writing this because I was touched by this book and am still thinking about it. When I taught gender identity development one of the things I focused on was how sexism hurts men. Most of us can see the obvious ways it hurts women, e.g. salaries, violence, etc. I wanted my students to see the cost that oppressing has on the oppressor so my focus was different. Men pay in terms of their health among other things, but mostly in their emotional development and in their relationships with their children and other loved ones. The U.S. culture, although certainly changing, still has so much of a gender split that many members of both genders are held captive by their expected behavior and live restricted lives. They are often unaware of that and of the effects it has on them. Some women still expect men to sweep them off their feet, seduce them, and perform like supermen. Of course they still expect it - that is still the pattern in most movies, books, music regardless of the fact it has changed somewhat. A large portion of this book is focused on what it is like to be the sweeper, that knight in shining armor.

Morgentaler clearly and in great detail illustrates the ability of men to fake it physically, meaning to fake orgasm and passion. He presents in depth knowledge on this topic, in which he is well versed. He is an associate clinical professor of urology at Harvard Med, experienced in both medical practice (25 years of it) and peer reviewed research. There is enough background here for the lay reader, for whom the book is written, if not the professional. As a former teacher of human sexuality, I wish I had had this information before I retired, and would like to have used the book as an undergraduate text. For example Morgentaler addresses the difference between orgasm and ejaculation, explaining the physical possibility of faking it.

In short, the why of faking it is to live up to the cultural model of the always available sexual male not so much as to fulfill a sense of ego but even more so to fulfill his duty as a husband and/or lover.

There is interesting information about how some of the empirical data is gathered, e.g. equipment for measuring erections, traditional methods of measuring testosterone levels, etc. Certainly the biological drive to reproduce is clear and is addressed. There is some mention of the female drive here also (altho not a mention of the English research that shows that women are more likely to have affairs when they are fertile, a little tidbit that I have always found interesting). There is excellent coverage of the broad effects of testosterone levels, specifically those not related to erections and specific sexual performance, which have lead to some doctors prescribing viagra and testosterone together. Dr. Morgentaler addresses the previous controversy of the misuse of testosterone supplements and possible links to cancer, which appear to have been disproven. He has done this by performing a meta-analysis of over 200 medical articles.

The use of viagra in the U.S. culture is almost a joke to some people, and in my opinion it is certainly overprescribed and abused. This author reminds us of the importance and many benefits of the proper use of viagra, which I believe is an important topic that is overshadowed.

I was happy to see Dr. Morgentaler address penis size, because how can you trust anyone who continues to support the silly idea that differences in that area are non-existent. Looking at reality and examining it and dealing with it works much better in my opinion.

Happily Dr. Morgentaler also includes both hetero and homosexuality in this book, as well as making some interesting comparisons about how we perceive male versus female sexuality. For example, a woman can have multiple orgasms during intercourse and it is seen as a great thing, whereas a man who has an early orgasm and then more, is often derisively pathologized and referred to as a premature ejaculator. No one refers to a woman who has orgasm before her partner as a premature anything. Ultimately, the author states that when you ask women why they fake it, they usually reply that they wanted to make the man feel good. He shows us that in his experience in this field, when you ask men why they fake it, you get the same answer. They want to make their partner feel good about themselves.

This book is well written and a very good read. Whenever I started to think that was about all I wanted to hear about this topic, something new was presented and kept leading me on to finish. I highly recommend this book for undergrads, lay people, men and anyone who loves men. As a marriage therapist, I would give this to my clients. I intend to give away a few copies to my adult children and grandchildren for starters.

ETA: This is an Early Review copy

Excellent review of Why Men Fake it Merrikay. I see that the subtitle reads "The totally Unexpected Truth about Men and Sex", which is certainly an attention grabbing title. You must have been impressed by it to be giving it away to your children and grandchildren. You say it is suitable for lay people, which made me wonder if it was aimed at the more popular market and if so does he get the balance right between titillation and usefulness.

Hey Baswood - Yes I believe it is aimed at the popular market and I don't see it as titillating but as VERY useful. I see it as helping men and women understand each other better also. By the way, my children are 30-42 yrs old, and the two grandkids I would give it to are 20 and 16. I did HIV education with high school kids and taught Human Sexuality in a psych dept at a community college, plus marriage and family at university and had a lot of fun. I was shocked at how much the college studets did not know. I'd say e.g. "we can skip this part right? You all know this?" and they would yell NO! I was pretty matter of fact, altho we had a lot of fun, and they were pretty serious. I asked them if they didn't get some of those basics in high school, and they said yes they covered it but they were too embarassed then to ask questions so needed to address it again. I'm thinking of these things necause I'm wondering if I didn't find it titillating because of my experience, but no I really think the book is pretty matter of fact and compassionate.

Sounds like a very interesting book, Merrikay, but I found your description of your students even more interesting, and a little bit appalling. However, I have long thought that although it is almost impossible to avoid displays of sexuality in US popular culture, there is actually an extremely prudish thread in US culture as well that, among other things, precludes people from from getting basic information. Back when I worked on college science textbooks in the 80s, the company I worked for also had a high school textbook division, and I learned that the all-powerful Texas textbook selection board didn't want any mention of sexuality in high school biology texts because it might encourage students to have sex! As if nobody had sex before there were textbooks! How did we all get here? It boggles the mind.

>163 rebeccanyc: Indeed, sex is everywhere, and yet "we" want to shelter teenagers from learning the actual facts about it in school. It's ridiculous!

163 and 164 - So true about U.S. prudishness. That is one of the things we talked about in class because it was a pretty conservative campus and the students mostly had the idea that the U.S. is immoral sexually, that is so NOT prudish. I told them people in other cultures laugh at our prudishness. One of my main goals was just to get them talking to each other. I told them, #1, you certainly shouldn't be having sex with someone you can't talk to about it :) and #2, if you can't talk about it then that's where you start, by saying "This is so hard to talk about and I'm embarrassed" Well, I'm going on a rant - can you tell I miss the students? Not the accompanying work and stress, just the students! It was a lot of fun and something I just fell into, not knowing how much I was going to love it.

I was in Munich taking language classes and was asked by the students why, if the US was so prudish, did all the hard-core porn come from there? I had no answer.

why, . . . did all the hard-core porn come from there?

Is that even true? I don't know anything about porn. But when I was in Amsterdam in the early 1990s I was often shocked at the covers of porn magazines that I saw in shop windows. (It might be as simple as they had porn in shop windows and here in North America we don't).

I probably sound like a prude here, but when I'm walking down the street, I didn't really appreciate having pictures of rather extreme degradation of woman flashed in front of my eyes (and they were degrading). Other than that, I think I loved everything about the Netherlands.

eta: This has been a very interesting conversation!

167 - I don't remember from my text which country makes the most porn, but a quick look on google shows several sources that state U.S. are leaders and make as much as 89%. What I mostly remember is that A T & T make a ton of money from porn, mostly because of hotel and internet distribution.

166 - Combination of profit motive and psychological repression? Just thinking with my mouth open.

167 again - I just HAD to see the red light district in Amsterdam and I lasted about two minutes. It was very painful to see the women in the windows. AND maybe that is a better way to do it - if people saw what really happens in the sex industry maybe we would not be such eager consumers. Transparency as porn policy? I used to have a fantasy that I would one day get the courage to stand up in church some Sunday and ask just how many people in the bldg had been abused. Thank God that is out there now. more than before anyway.

165 -
And here I am being super excited that this semester is almost over and I get to get RID of my students. Good thing there are teachers like you out there! I used to enjoy the teaching but now I'm glad this gig is just temporary.

169 - well lilisin - I've been retired four years and have NEVER missed all of the work and pay that averaged out to $8 an hour. Also, I only taught for 10 years so think I didn't have a chance to get burned out.

AND - in one of my sexuality classes there was a Muslim man in constant discussion with one who practiced sado-masochism. They had some amazing conversations and treated each other with respect. What's not to love about THAT experience?!! Right?

BOOK 32 - Is It Utopia Yet? by Kat Kinkade

Oh boy did I enjoy this book! For about the last year or so I've just wanted to see some better solutions offered in the world of finance, ecology, government, violence, criminal justice, etc. (I don't want much.) There has been plenty in the news, as usual, about problems. I've been learning more about anarchy and wanted to know some of those solutions also. I found some good books at The Left Bank (anarchist) bookstore in Seattle last summer, Yes magazine, and other sources that focus on solutions, and been reading about many people who just go out and live the way they think we should rather than so much fighting against what is. The first thing I've learned is that I'll never make an anarchist because that requires self-sufficiency and I am WAY too lazy for that. Nevertheless, I do enjoy my fantasy life.

Kat Kinkade is one of the founders of the Twin Oaks commune in Virginia in 1967 and this book was written for their 25th yr anniversary. They are still going strong and you can take a peek at www.twinoaks.org.

This is a very thorough look at a broad range of issues this community had to address in order to establish their home. There are very specific descriptions of how they functioned in many areas such as labor, finances, ownership, child care, art, music, recreation, etc. etc. In other words, all of the issues we face in daily life and then some, but all with a fairly new model. Well, new to me anyway. They developed a labor pool bookkeeping system as well as receiving an allowance for personal use above the ordinary cost of daily living. The community raises a lot of their food and also has a business onsite for income. They developed a system of government that seems to support their egalitarian values. They have even figured out how to allow for personal differences such as low energy vs. high energy people. They have been able to respond to theft and violence without outside interference. For me the beauty of this system, and what amazes me, is that it is a community of fairly strong diversity in beliefs and values. Although initially based on the old Walden Two ideas, there are some differences in political perspectives and religion or the lack thereof and they all work together.

Kinkade addresses her bias while simultaneously addressing failures and weaknesses within the community (and herself). That is probably while they are still in existence. She herself left the community for a few years and returned, as have others. It takes tough skin and a deep commitment to this idea. It seems as if their system of government has found a balance between process and action. All of these ideas are presented with examples illustrating how the community came to their current configuration. Lots of trial and error of course.

For me with my interests, this was a five star read. Recommended for those with an interest in different ways of living.

By the way - although each member of the community has a private room, by the end of the book I wanted to go become a hermit. For awhile anyway.

You could always go back to Gerard's book The Hermit in the Garden. :)

Excellent review ofIs it Utopia Yet by Kat Kinklade. If only I had the energy to live like that! Amazing to think they have been going since 1967.

Nana you are brilliant! and I did put that on my wish list when he reviewed it. It just sounds like such a fun book.

173 - I know! BTW one of the things they were working on in dealing with an aging population is how some people whose bodies are weaker can still contribute like they want to. I think that actually had them looking at other businesses that didn't take as much physical strength, but they do give labor credits for all kinds of different tasks.

BOOK 33 - How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less by Sarah Glidden

Yep! It's a graphic memoir and I thoroughly enjoyed it. When Sarah Glidden is granted a free trip to Israel by Birthright Israel, she spends a couple of months studying the country and the conflict attempting to develop a balanced perspective.

The trip for her is part educational tour by Birthright, and part personal tour as she makes arrangements to visit Israel on her own, as well as the Gaza Strip, as she moves from under the influence of Birthright. Glidden discovers differences between beliefs and perspectives in Birthright's tour guides as well as other people. Just when she thinks she has things figured out she receives new information that changes things. Her conclusion seems to be that this conflict is extremely complicated and she is unable to take a side. THAT of course, is part of her coming of age story.

For me, the main part of the memoir is Glidden's emotional struggle. That is often where graphic books shine for me - facial expressions, etc. Additionally, the beauty of Israel is very well painted in watercolor. I am new to graphic books; this is about the 6th one I have read. Recommended for those interested in Israel/Palestine conflict, perhaps as a beginning.

Also, it was interesting to learn a little more about the kibbutz way of life, after my previous read.

ETA: Thanks to torontoc for the review.

Interesting since so many communities that start off with utopian ideals end so badly!

BOOK 34 - The Opportune Moment, 1855: A Novel by Patrik Ourednik

I read little literature so take this review with a grain of salt. The topic of anarchy was impossible for me to resist. I also have previously read nothing by a Czech author and am wanting to expand my horizons, so this seemed perfect.

As it turns out, I had no idea what I was getting into. I must say however, that the timing was perfect, following upon my reading of Is It Utopia Yet? and How to Understand Israel in 60 Days, both of which address community living and forming new governments. The writing style was new to me. The first part was a letter to a former lover, not a new style but the not knowing who or what he was talking to or about was interesting. The second part of the book was a diary or journal of the experience of the character's journey on a ship to Brazil where he wanted to set up a new free community. I would call it more stream of consciousness writing. The journey itself is where the divergent groups onboard had discussions and meetings about how they would proceed when they arrived in Brazil. They were joined together in the idea of a new and free community, and separated by their ideas about how to accomplish that. So, this is a journey of examining theory and making decisions about application of those theories. It made my head hurt. I wanted them to stop talking. I could relate too closely to their struggle. I'm one of those types who would speculate forever and discuss forever, until someone decisive moves in and makes you vote, thus the headache.

There are multiple endings presented, none of which I personally found satisfactory, especially after reading Utopia with the story of the successful Twin Oaks community.

Now here is how I perceive the writing. It is a brilliant piece of writing that uses the stream of consciousness style because that is what illustrates how these characters were thinking. Ourednik writes a piece of fiction that specifically addresses most of the issues that arise in this type of situation where people are thinking about these issues and trying to act. He interweaves scenarios that would naturally occur when people attempt to do this kind of analysis and action and work together.

And now I will stop this confused writing because my head is hurting.

It's Rebecca's fault that I read this book and you had to get through this pitiful attempt to talk about it. See her review to find out what really happened.

Ah Merrikay, you see where other people's threads can lead you. It still sounds an intriguing book.

It was - I'm so glad I read it. I think I'm learning a lot about styles and "stuff" but I still don't have the vocabulary for reviewing. Thus the word stuff and the overused "good read". Just had a discussion with a tech writer about putting styles together e.g. 3 people writing one user manual.

MKboylan -- I find that interesting, that you don't feel you have the vocabulary for reviewing. While I admire those people who can write an articulate formal review, it's not a standard I hold for myself, or, indeed, necessarily the best way to find out about a book. In many ways, I prefer that someone just tell me how they reacted to the book. I want to know about that reader's individual relationship with the book. If you can describe why you like a particular food or a particular shirt or a particular couch in your living room, you can describe why you like a particular book (or don't like it, or feel indifferent to it, etc.)

I don't want to stir any ants' nests, but has there, in the past or currently, been some sort of enforced "standard" for reviews in some areas of this site? I've seen more than one person claim that they can't write a review, or otherwise intimate that what they have to say about a book isn't quite "good enough" and I'm curious about this. Perhaps it's just the sample of people whose comments I've read that gives me that impression.

>180 Murphy-Jacobs: I don't presume to speak for anyone else, but I've never heard about any "enforced 'standard' for reviews" on the site. Since I've been part of Club Read, I've never heard anyone say that a review has to be written in a certain format, or has to be of a certain quality. People seem to review the books (or sometimes music or movies) they want to review in any way they choose, and power to them. The place would become very tedious very fast if someone tried to enforce standards around here. Personally, I like writing formal reviews, but that's just because I like putting my thoughts in as articulate a way as possible. I have no preference for how the other ClubReaders write their reviews.

I agree that Merrikay shouldn't feel she doesn't have the vocabulary for reviewing, but then again, neither should she feel any pressure to review books. If reviewing a certain book feels too difficult, I just let it simmer for a while, and then try again later. Sometimes, when I really cannot find the words, I skip reviewing certain books.

>181 dmsteyn: I agree -- you write what you want to write when you want to write it. My own review history certainly reflects that. Being a newbie, I've heard various bits and pieces, even a rumor or two, about reviews and how someone says they should be or shouldn't be. I've not experienced any feedback on my own reviews as yet.

Sometimes I do write formal reviews, but not often. Usually I have an anecdote about how I came to the book or what reading it was like for me.

I just want to encourage others to feel quite free to write whatever occurs to them about a book without feeling like the expectations of others has a bearing on it. After all, your reviews (and your journal threads), I have been repeatedly assured, belong to the person who creates them and can have anything at all in them. Half the joy (for me) in sharing a love of books is hearing about what a book means to another, or what reading it was like, or what they thought before, after, or during the reading. I have come upon some brand new thoughts that way.

Merrikay, Your reviews always spark discussion. I always find them interesting, and I think that is what people are looking for. I don't write reviews, only my thoughts and comments.

>182 Murphy-Jacobs: I have never seen anything to indicate that anyone is asking for a specific structure. Everyone has been welcoming, and there are many different styles on this thread. They vary from professional style reviews to a few sentences with impressions as to likes or dislikes. Just as it should be. :)

There are some very good writers here, especially on Club Read, whose insights into the books they read are impressive. I can see reading a few of those and then attempting to write one's own review and feeling inadequate. But no one has any expectations for the reviews of others, although I dislike the very short reviews that simply give away the big reveal at the end. You know, the "I loved this book and was very surprised when her husband turned out to be the murderer and her long-lost brother" kind of reviews.

I enjoy reading all kinds of review here on Club Read and on LT generally, especially when I get a feeling for why the reader liked or didn't like a book. That's what gives me insight into whether I might enjoy the book, and accounts for my tremendously growing TBR. Different people like to write in different ways, and it would be boring if everybody wrote the same way.

> 160

I missed the explosion of posts on male sexuality! As a member of that age group you've spent so much time with - college students - I wonder how the hookup culture is effecting male sexuality. At my school there is data on what kind of relationships students get into, and I think about 23% have had random, casual sexual encounters since starting college. And I go to a Catholic school! I really suspect that separating emotional intimacy from physical intimacy would only beef up one's performance anxiety and need to impress the other partner.

Hey everyone!

I've never seen anyone on LT critiize others' reviews and no one has made me uncomfortable about my reviews. That is my own frustration I was talking about. Just especially those last few reviews, I did not feel as if I were communicating the impact the books had on me or my emotional experience while reading them. And I SO wanted to!

In Why Men Fake It - I really FELT that book. I was able to get good info into the review, and I think important info, but what really got me was the personal stories of the men. That is what I don't feel I got across. It just kills me to see men held to this crazy physically impossible sex standard to the point that many of them unnecessarily take Viagra. It feels real similar to me to the issue of women trying to live up to the standards of underweight eating disordered celebraties. The men in this book wanted desperately to please their wives and lovers and could't believe they were enough without enhancement. That makes me angry and I don't want my son and grandsons exposed to that crap anymore than I want my daughters and granddaughters conditioned to all the sexist crap. What illustrates this best for me, and pics I used as power points when teaching, are the two satirical adjusters.org Calvin Klein Obsession ads. Obsession for women shows a horrible boney woman hanging over a toilet vomiting, while the one for men shows a man in his underwear pulling his underwear out and gazing into his pants to see if he is big enough. I don't think adbusters exaggerates this and I think this book I read can help counteract this thinking. So THAT is what I should have written and there it is! Yahoo!

ETA:
160 - and I think you are SO on target re emotional intimacy vs. physical. I have gotten to see Dr. Drew at our school a couple of times and I am crazy about him. He is amazing with students and skilled at getting them to talk. My favorite thing I heard from him: a female student asked him a question that I don't even remember, but somehow involved alcohol. He answered her initial question, then said to the audience, "By the way, what would it take to get you to have sex without the alcohol?" No one even had any sense at all of what he was saying. He asked again - what would you need from your partner to be comfortable enough and want to have sex with them without drinking? Then they started to get it (the women) and saying they needed someone to listen to them, someone to talk with, some emotional intimacy, altho they didn't use that word, but Dr. Drew did label it for them. It was SO great!

Then, the next three books were about community living specifically, or in the case of the Israel book, in a small way. I was frustrated trying to express my feelings while reading a graphic novel. I have been surprised at the impact the drawings have on me, that I can look at the picture and feel it in my body, which doesn't happen as easily with a regular text book.

THEN, when I wanted to talk about The Opportune Moment I was frustrated because I quite literally don't have that lit crit vocab (actually I just wanted to say lit crit because it sounds cool). Meaning terms like protagonist, allegory, moving the plot forward, stuff like that. I do know satire and irony because #1 I am a smart ass, and #2 Ethan Hawke defined irony very specifically in Reality Bites, one of my favorite movies that I have watched a zillion times.

ALSO, because I have been reading better writing, I am not as easily satisfied with poor to mediocre writing, right? and there are many amazing writers and reviewers on LT. They are clearly professional and I don't feel bad about not keeping up with them! It's just not my area.

My current read by the way is Third Culture Kids which I am enjoying very much.

thanks for all of your responses.

mkBoylan -- you just wrote some kick ass reviews there :)

grin! Thanks M-J!

#189 agreeing. Lately I'm drifting farther and farther behind in CR lately, but this was a such a great thread to catch up on. Lots of good conversations and thoughtful stuff. And I'm happy you picked up How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less. It was a favorite of mine from last year and one I constantly think about.

#188 and then some - I can so relate to your frustration with writing reviews and that's how I understood you initial post (#179). It also expresses that these books and your response to them are important to you.

ETA some skipped words - a "behind" and a couple "to"s

Oh my too many sick people in my family this week - nothing too bad, just enough to stop the world for a couple of days which puts me on a light reading mode:

A Clean Kill in Tokyo and another mystery, Moonlight Downs

191 Good to hear from you Dan. Thanks.

By the way, belated congrats to you Aussies for winning the Masters! That was so fun to see!

Sometimes stopping the world is a good thing. Hope everybody there is on the mend.

BOOK 35 - A Clean Kill in Tokyo by Barry Eisler

"All the things I'd done made sense in war, they were justified by war, I could't live with them outside of war. So I needed to stay at war." This is one of my favorite quotes from this thriller, as the protagonist tries to describe his difficulty making peace with his past. He is half Japanese and half American and fully accepted by neither group. The author makes you feel that you are in Tokyo with his descriptions of scenery and cultural behavior. It's a good story about political intrigue and interaction between government agencies within countries as well as with agencies of other countries. I could have done without so much description of judo moves personally, but if that's your thing, you'll get plenty of it. I plan to read more of this series.

I love that this author, after regaining control of his work, went back and changed the names of all of his books! He hated the old titles chosen by the publisher.

BOOK 36 Moonlight Downs by Adrian Hyland

is a mystery that takes place in Australia. The main character is "half Aborigine and half white". She has lived in both cultures and traveled a large part of the world, and chosen to return to live in the Bush. This story takes place during her re-entry to that world and her people and the adjustments that come with that choice. The perspectives of both worlds enter the mystery and it is great fun - well, fun for me because I get to visit a new place. Not so much for the people who are murdered.

I think of nature as alive and am especially attached to trees, which I think is pretty common. Hyland has written about the landscape from an Aboriginal perspective that makes even the rocks and boulders come alive. When he describes the landscape, it is like reading the history of a place by looking deeply at your surroundings. It has increased my understanding of the value of land to native populations and the importance of spiritual and holy sites. I have moved around too much to develop that type of attachment and appreciate that fully. I learned about both of these cultures about which I know nothing, and want to learn more. I'll read another of Hyland's mysteries, as well as delving into Australian history.

It was especially fun to be reading this while seeing Australia win The Masters for the first time!

Thanks to Avaland for her Club Read 2013 thread review of this book.

Merrikay, sounds like this was a good book for your need of light reading.

I have already added this to my wish list based upon Avaland's review. If I hadn't, I would be adding it again.

Edited to add comment.

So true Nana and Avid - thanks - things are great! If you know anyone with norovirus let me warn you one of the symptoms reported is - you want to die and my poor daughter sure did. Very painful but she is on the mend as is my other sick daughter, and my mom is all tucked in and being treated for her infection. Things are looking good here! The worst remaining effect is my dry hands from so much washing and washing! Next week we'll get biopsy results for third daughter which I expect to be good and then we will party on!

BOOK 37 - At Day's Close by Roger Ekirch

I was determined to finish this book but it wasn't easy! I kept getting bored, but I wanted the information. Some parts were so interesting, then pages of BORING, but that may just be my preference for the particular subject matter. This is a social history of nighttime or darkness and sleep. It's something I had pretty set opinions about e.g. people are made to get up with the sun and go to bed and sleep when the sun goes down. Sleep longer in winter, less in summer. Well turns out there's a lot more to it than that. I had read about the concept of segmented sleeping and really wanted to know more. I was wondering if I would ever get to THAT part of the book, but here are some of these things I found interesting on my way:

When people could not see while traveling at night, their other senses could guide them. They could smell the hops from their village, animals, piles of dung, and they could hear different animals e.g. village dogs. Now I keep wanting to go for smell walks. I think I'm already pretty attuned to sounds. I just moved awhile back and that was something I noticed a LOT. I missed the sounds of particular birds, until I adjusted to the different birds in my new home.

Clothing of course was also effected- in obvious ways regarding cool air at night calling for heavier clothing, but also they could wear their poorer clothes at night because they would not be so visible, and save their better clothing for daytime. Some women put pots of hot embers hanging on their petticoats to keep them warm. Made me laugh, remembering when I actually stuffed some of those thin first aid ice packs in strategic places in my clothing when I was attending an outdoor wedding and it was 105 degrees F.

And perhaps the best part of night and darkness was more privacy - but then you remember that from high school right? Climbing out the windows and sneaking out? Freedom from the constraints of daylight!

And yes, finally, the section on segmented sleep, also called first sleep and second sleep. It appears that at certain times in history some populations habitually slept a few hours, arose after midnight for a couple of hours, and slept again until daylight. That awake period might be a time for reflection, meditation, sex, going for a walk outside, visiting with neighbors even. The number one complaint about sex in the U.S. in our time, is that people are too tired to have sex. Something wrong with a culture where people are too freakin tired to have sex! But that is addressed here historically also. People were often too tired, then awakened refreshed after a couple of hours for a pleasurable interlude of both emotional and physical intimacy. Sounds very intriguing to me and certainly goes against my ideas about 8 hours a night! in a row!

I do think this is an important piece of research and history that needs to be recorded and the author has done a wonderful job of that. I just might have done a little skimming!

Thanks to Rebecca for putting me onto this book, on Amanda's thread in response to Amanda's review of an article about sleep. AND Rebecca's warning that it might be a slog!

Good review of At Days Close I might be interested if it wasn't so boring. My sleep patterns are usually out of synch with many people I have been associated with and so reading about others sleep patterns might be interesting.

You almost inspired me to figure out where I put it and try it again . . . but not quite.

Sleep, I need sleep..... maybe the book would do the job. Your review, however, was very good.

Well, Merrikay, I'm glad someone read that book on sleep. Very interesting review...although I suddenly feel all the sleep I missed this week.

Colleen, I think it would do the trick!

200-204 - I've been asleep a few days.

BOOK 38 - Third Culture Kids by David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken

This book is invaluable for anyone who is or cares about a third culture kid (TCK): one who has "spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents' cultures". This experience is common to children of missionaries, parents who work for international corporations, foreign service, aid organizations, educators, media representatives, military service, or whatever takes them out of their home country for an extended period of time. This TCK experience can also happen actually to children who remain in their home country but live in a different culture within it, e.g. those whose parents work on an Indian reservation in the U.S. while not being born to that culture.

Many of the differences the reader would probably be aware of, such as differences in eye contact, handshaking, pointing and other mannerisms. I remember walking out of a training about Native American communication where we talked about the fact that direct eye contact can be a sign of disrespect to elders in that culture, and having a conversation with a young man who made no eye contact with me. My whole body strongly said
"he's lying or hiding something" - not to be trusted. I could THINK all day long about those differences, but had to be sure to pay attention to the responses my body was having and not react based on my ignorance. The authors of this book go more deeply into the effect these differences have on relationships, self-esteem, isolation, etc.

Other issues addressed are, e.g. how does one form deep attachments with those around them when they know they are always separated eventually. There is no payoff and lots of pain in forming attachments.

Another example of an unforeseen difficulty certainly is education. One Finnish young man grew up in Taiwan, and chose to complete his post-secondary education and med school in Chicago. English was spoken in all of his schooling and he would have had to compete with Finnish students who had been educated in Finnish to get into med school in his home country, and didn't think he would qualify. He has realized it would be very difficult for him to EVER return to Finland to practice medicine. He does not have a medical vocabulary in Finnish and would be looked down upon by his colleagues for having trained elsewhere.

Restlessness is not a small factor in the lives of TCKs as adults, regarding relationships, careers, and just living arrangements. The norm is to migrate and they would need to look very carefully to determine if it was really time to leave or rather a need to work on the relationship or job and NOT leave. The problem seems to manifest in either the extreme of needing change often, or not ever wanting change again. One woman married a man with about 8 jillion stamps on his passport, thinking they would enjoy a lifetime of travel, only to discover that he never wanted to leave the country again.

This book does talk about the advantages of being a TCK also, altho some of those things are probably more well known. Obviously an increased knowledge and experience base is an advantage, along with some social skills developed from the need to meet new people. What comes up for me is that that is the person I want in a staff meeting, able to bring different perspectives. Also, a TCK often has a worldwide network of friends. TCKs of course have their own culture with other TCKs when they get together, which can be very helpful for them.

The authors look at both weaknesses and strengths that develop for many TCKs and offers some helpful ideas for dealing with some of the grief and loss issues. I personally found this book to be very interesting reading whether or not the reader has a personal interest in the issue. 5 out of 5 stars.

BOOK 39 - The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

Schwalbe and his mother use an informal book club of the two of them to help them through the time between her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer and her death. Not one of my favorite books, although it has certainly received high ratings from other readers. Maybe I just wasn't in the mood. The books they chose weren't particularly interesting to me personally. There was a little bit of interesting celebrity gossip as both of them were in the publishing business and Ms. Schwalbe is a well known humanitarian who was instrumental in getting a library established in Afghanistan. It was a pleasant, light read, altho how that is possible considering the topic, I just don't know! It has a few pieces of nice advice for dealing with illness, and the week I finished it that was handy as I was in the emergency room for the second week in a row. Previously with my mom, then with my adult daughter. I'm tired and not impressed enough to actually write a review.

BOOK 40 - Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck

Plenty has been written about this book so I will only say that I was disappointed. I read Steinbeck for the first time recently (Cannery Row} and loved it so much I wanted to read this "sequel" right away. Just as with The End of Your Life Book Club that I recently was unimpressed with, maybe I'm just in a bad mood. Sweet Thursday just seemed silly. I will still definitely read more Steinbeck tho - want to get to Grapes of Wrath.

Excellent review of Third Culture Kids I suppose everything must have a label but I had not heard of this term before. It is an interesting phenomenon and made me think of "third culture" people who have returned to their roots and how they behave differently and that makes them seem odd and as you say Merrikay, odd can seem untrustworthy. Something else to be aware of when we meet new people.

I too hadn't heard of this term before, and it was interesting to think about the issues you describe. Not looking people in the eye is such a telling example of differences.

That was an interesting review Merrikay, and as always, your reviews prompt interesting discussion.

>206 mkboylan: One trip each week to the ER? That's AWFUL!!!! Hope all is well and emergency-free from here on out!

Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors and Cannery Row is one of my all-time faves. Sweet Thursday too. I can see why you were disappointed in ST though, especially if you were expecting more "Cannery Row-ness"; Sweet Thursday reads more like a television sitcom to me (and is what the movie is primarily based on, even though they call it "Cannery Row") than a poetic novel like Cannery Row.

Your review of The End of Your Life Bookclub where you found it a pleasant read reminded me of Gilda Radner's autobio. of her struggle with cancer called It's Always Something. I remember laughing out loud at certain points in that book .... and then feeling a little guilty about it. :(

I have my copy of Third Culture Kids and I'm going to read it before we leave for Germany. I've found Pollock to have serious insights into the subject and listening to a series of lectures he gave on the subject of how to leave a country and how to begin again in a new country tremendously useful back when we were moving around a lot. Time to revisit all that material!

From my own experience, I found that I ended up forming friendships with other people who had the experience of living in a culture different from the one they'd been raised in. And while living in a non-English speaking country, I could tell who had also lived in a country where their language was not the dominant one by how they spoke to non-native speakers. I also grew up moving around, which means I've left the "hometown" designation on my facebook page blank. It doesn't allow me to list several.

I've only read three books by JS , The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men all of which I love. I think I could read East of Eden over and over. Too bad about Sweet Thursday. I'll have to add Cannery Row to the list.

208 - Thanks. I'm somewhat ambiguous about labels. They can be limiting OR expanding. They may limit your thinking, or offer relief when you can name something and thus deal with it. and THAT of course allows you to reframe it, so....

209 - Yes all that body language stuff, right? When I lived in Panama for a year everyone kept telling me I'd never get served in a restaurant if I didn't snap my fingers for a server. Still I couldn't do it! It's just so rude in the U.S. I also thought I'd never catch a bus in Mexico because I was waiting to "politely".

Thanks NanaCC. Interesting is good! Maybe my favorite thing!

Thanks Avid - it was not a fun couple of weeks. Fortunately I have an amazing capacity for the good old psychological defense of denial so was ok until everyone was through their crises and doing well. My mom has Parkinsons so we spend lots of time in ER with that. My daughter (age 37) had emergency surgery for twisted up intestines and is lucky to have gotten through it. Denial was effective for about a week, when I literally woke up one night and noticed the feelings returning to my body as I was finally flooded with emotion. We were very lucky and she is recovering well and there will not even be any aftereffects (other than weakness and scar tissue that goes with surgery). As I sat in the hospital I thought about quite a few books. Obviously The End of Your Life Book Club. I was also very grateful for good insurance and an excellent surgeon, and thought about those who don't have that, as talked about in The Moral Underground where it is posited that if you have a very ill patient who does not have insurance, it is ok to write his scipt for a sibling who does, just as you would morally be required to lie to Nazi to protect someone' s life. I have also been reading Economix which has coverage of policies and roles of government regarding health care, education, etc.

212 "I could tell who had also lived in a country where their language........." that i fascinating!

Hi yolana! I am definitely going to read Grapes and East of Eden!

BOOK 41 - Vignettes of Ystov by William Goldsmith

Not my fav but I'm going to reread. It's a graphic novel in watercolors, which sounded gorgeous, but is just two or three DRAB DRAB colors per page. It's in an unnamed eastern European country. I don't like the drawings themselves either. They look ugly also like those ugly cartoons instead of Smurfs. Know what I mean? I grew up with "cute" cartoons and Pokemon is ugly to me.

I'm deliberately stating this reaction which sounds rude and isn't meant to be, because I'm curious about how people react so differently to things. There were some great reviews and I wanted to understand what others saw, so I read others' reviews and reread it and will do so again. Reading the reviews helped me to focus and take perhaps a deeper look. Then I found a couple of characters I liked. I was very taken with the IDEA of the book, of the vignettes of separate lives united in this town just by environment. Its several vignettes take place in the fictional town of Ystov and are complete in themselves, yet enriched by the others.

I also think in my dislike of the artwork, there was something about my unfamiliarity with the style, so the more I looked, the more I saw (of course, only more so). It was like when I listen to some music from a different culture and my brain doesn't get the pattern and is uneasy with not knowing where the music is going next. Weird that I'm going to read it a third time, but I think I will.

Thanks to ljbwell for writing about this book on her thread.

Sorry to see you didn't like it as much as you maybe expected! I fully agree that it takes more than one reading. The dulled, monochrome tones of each and the drawing style worked for me given the East European setting. I also like that the book leaves a lot to each reader's imagination; it doesn't try to squeeze a novel into a shorter, illustrated format. I found myself creating backstories and such for some of the characters, especially with the two who set out to disprove coincidences and with the janitor and his museum.

You've probably already found this Guardian article about the making of the book, but just in case.

Still and all, this is one of the beauties of LT - to see the different reactions to and impressions of the things we read.

BOOK 42 - Dirt Work An Education in the Woods by Christine Byl

I'm seeing a pattern in gender relationships reported by women working in genuine life settings. I first noticed it in reading Women & Guerrilla Movements. When asked about gender issues in their groups, one woman replied that there just wasn't time for those kinds of things to come up. They were too busy working together to survive to think much about those differences. I see it here again as Byl talks about the trail work crews, "The knife edge of work flayed off the silly posturing.....there's no energy left for 'Isn't a girl with a chainsaw sexy?'", or does my butt look big in these? which doesn't mean there aren't mating rituals.

Of course plenty of other women have talked about sexism in similar circumstances, and American military women are being raped and harassed in large numbers in both war zones and stateside military bases.

So what IS this phenomena? I said "genuine life settings" but that doesn't make sense. I just don't know what to call the circumstances described. Hard intense work? Survival work? Mental work can be as hard so it must be the subject of the work? i.e. deciding what color of shoes versus which way to route the trail? No it seems more like it is physical exhaustion. Someone help me out here.

Aside from that point, I was disappointed in this book. It just didn't flow for me and I'm not sure why. I had really been looking forward to it.

216 - Still, I'm glad I read Vignettes. The characters I liked were the kids trying to break up couples. That tickled me for some reason. Also, I think I learned about the process of looking deeper into book and thinking about other readers reactions and thoughts about it. Developed more appreciation for literary criticism.