kidzdoc: 75 from the shelves #7

Joan Miró, The Tilled Field, 1923-1924




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Currently reading:

The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio
Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castañeda

Completed books:

January:
1. Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams (review)
2. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (review)
3. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt (review)
4. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago (review)
5. The Tenant and the Motive by Javier Cercas (review)
6. Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa (review)
7. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie (review)
8. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (review)
9. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
10. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes (review)
11. Yalo by Elias Khoury

February:
12. Match Day: One Day and One Dramatic Year in the Lives of Three New Doctors by Brian Eule (review)
13. Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman (review)
14. Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak by Tarek Osman
15. Métaphysique des tubes (The Character of Rain) by Amélie Nothomb (review)
16. The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar (review)
17. The Secret History of Costaguana by Juan Gabriel Vasquéz (review)
18. Staying On by Paul Scott (review)
19. Hygiène de l'assassin (Hygiene and the Assassin) by Amélie Nothomb
20. Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.
21. Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston (review)
22. The Latino Challenge to Black America by Earl Ofari Hutchinson (review)
23. Fear and Trembling by Amélie Nothomb (review)

March:
24. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (review)
25.The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
26. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss (review)
27. The Book of Proper Names by Amélie Nothomb
28. A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond (A Novel) by Percival Everett & James Kincaid
29. I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey by Izzeldin Abuelaish (review)
30. Memory of Departure by Abdulrazak Gurnah (review)
31. Little Mountain by Elias Khoury (review)
32. Chinese Dreams (Kindle Single) by Anand Giridharadas (review)
33. Harlem Is Nowhere by Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts (review)
34. Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz (review)
35. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord (reviewed for Belletrista)
36. The Anatomy of a Moment by Javier Cercas (review)
37. Pakistan and the Mumbai Attacks (Kindle Single) by Sebastian Rotella
38. Chopin's Move by Jean Echenoz

April:
39. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne
40. Annabel by Kathleen Winter
41. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
42. Dubliners by James Joyce
43. A Murder of Crows by Larry D. Thomas
44. The Carpenter's Pencil by Manuel Rivas
45. Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer
46. On Elegance While Sleeping by Viscount Lascano Tegui
47. Being Abbas el Abd by Ahmed Alaidy
48. Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel (review)

May:
49. The Collaborator by Mirza Waheed (review)
50. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (review)
51. The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise by Georges Perec (review)
52. Amigoland by Oscar Casares (review)
53. The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach (review)
54. The Chalupa Rules: A Latino Guide to Gringolandia by Mario Bosquez (review)
55. Death to the Dictator! by Afsaneh Moqadam
56. Curfewed Night by Basharat Peer (review)
57. Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas
58. The Instigators (Kindle Single) by David Wolman (review)
59. The Shadow of What We Were by Luis Sepúlveda (review)
60. I Love a Broad Margin to My Life by Maxine Hong Kingston (review)
61. Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck
62. To Siberia by Per Petterson (review)
63. White Egrets by Derek Walcott
64. The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta by Mario Vargas Llosa
65. Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott
66. Americus, Book I by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
67. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan
68. All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen & Jory John
69. Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
70. The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Search for His Disabled Son by Ian Brown
71. Emerging Arab Voices: Nadwa I, edited by Peter Clark (review)
72. Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo (review)
73. The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson (review)

June:
74. The Bill From My Father: A Memoir by Bernard Cooper
75. Elegguas by Kamau Brathwaite
76. Partitions by Amit Majmudar (review)
77. A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire
78. Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
79. Go the F**k to Sleep by Adam Mansbach
80. Above All, Don't Look Back by Maïssa Bey (reviewed for Belletrista)
81. Fair Play by Tove Jansson
82. Naked (Asian Poetry in Translation) by Shuntarō Tanikawa
83. Open City by Teju Cole
84. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

July:
85. the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett (review)
86. Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D. (review)
87. The Outcast by Sadie Jones (review)
88. The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo (review)
89. The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson

My 11 in 11 challenge:

A. Read a book I already own by 11 different Nobel Prize laureates
1. The Gospel According to Jesus Christ by José Saramago
2. Who Killed Palomino Molero? by Mario Vargas Llosa
3. Morning and Evening Talk by Naguib Mahfouz
4. White Egrets by Derek Walcott

B. Read a New York Review Books book that I already own
1. An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie

C. Read a nonfiction book (that doesn't fit in category H, I or K) that I already own
1. The Latino Challenge to Black America by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
2. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne
3. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell
4. Send in the Idiots: Stories from the Other Side of Autism by Kamran Nazeer
5. Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
6. The Bill From My Father: A Memoir by Bernard Cooper
7. The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson

D. Read a Booker Prize winner that I already own
1. The Elected Member by Bernice Rubens (1970)
2. Staying On by Paul Scott (1977)
3. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje (1992)

E. Read a novel by an African-American author that I aleady own
1. Blind Man with a Pistol by Chester Himes
2. Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston
3. A History of the African-American People (Proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett & James Kincaid (A Novel) by Percival Everett & James Kincaid

F. Read a novel from the 2011 Booker Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)
1. The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut (2003 shortlist)
2. In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar (2006 shortlist)

G. Read a novel from the 2011 Orange Prize longlist (or from longlists of previous years)
1. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (2010 shortlist)
2. Annabel by Kathleen Winter (2011 longlist)
3. The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna (2011 shortlist)
4. The Outcast by Sadie Jones (2008 shortlist)

H. Read a medicine or science book that I already own
1. Angel of Death: The Story of Smallpox by Gareth Williams
2. Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure by Paul A. Offit, M.D.

I. Read a biography or autobiography that I already own
1. Monument Eternal: The Music of Alice Coltrane by Franya J. Berkman
2. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss
3. A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

J. Read a book published by Archipelago Books in 2009-2011
1. Yalo by Elias Khoury

K. Read a novel by a public intellectual that I already own
1. The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

How cool! That Miro is trippy as all get-out!

So, today is my fifth Thingaversary! I won't buy any books today, but I'll certainly buy at least 5 books from City Lights after I arrive in San Francisco later this month.

Today is the day that the Orange Prize will be awarded; I would imagine that it would be in the late evening London time, or late afternoon here on the East Coast of the US. The bookies have selected Room as the favorite to win (2/1 odds), followed by The Memory of Love (5/2):

Orange prize 2011 tipped to go to Room

I read a tweet from Rachael (FlossieT) this morning, which mentioned a promotion that the publisher Unbridled Books is sponsoring with independent bookstores in the US, "25 for 25". From June 9-11, the publisher will sell 25 of its titles as Google eBooks for 25 cents each. More info here:

Unbridled Offers 25 eBooks for 25 Cents

This PDF file gives a brief description of each eBook:

25 Unbridled eBooks for 25 cents

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy LT Day!

>2 richardderus: Thanks, Richard! Miró is one of my favorite artists; I often use one of his works as a background image for my computer, especially Nocturne:



BTW, for those of you unfamiliar with him, Joan Miró (1893-1983) was one of the leading Surrealist artists, along with his countrymen Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. Since he is Spanish Catalan, his name is pronounced "HOE-ahn Me-RO".

>4 richardderus:, 5 Thanks Richard and Jim!

Happy Thingaversary! Interesting, what you have there on the odds on the Orange Prize Winner!! My money is on Memory of Love. I was not so impressed by Room but I thought Grace Williams Says it Loud was very worthwhile and I enjoyed Annabel. Well, thanks for the tip !! Can't wait to see which book/ author wins!

DARRYL! Miro was NOT Spanish!! He was Catalan! Quick quick quick go change your post so the Catalunyans from the Catalan LT don't storm your thread and make you eat your words!

>7 vancouverdeb: Thanks, Deb! I'm also rooting for The Memory of Love, but I would be happy if Grace Williams Says it Loud won.

>8 richardderus: Ack! Too late, I've already received 15 threatening PMs from the Catalunyans. I've promised them that I would dedicate the rest of my life to reading books by Bernardo Atxaga to make up for my grevious error.

Oh wait, he's from the Basque Region. Now I'm really in trouble...

Darryl, Happy Thingaversary! At five years, you're one of the "oldest" LTers I know. ;-)

Thanks for posting the Joan Miro paintings. I knew how to pronounce his last name but not his first.

Happy Thingaversary Darryl ! You're older than me in real life and on LT, LOL !! (my 5th T-versary is in October)

Happy Thingaversary Darryl!! Hope you buy 5 great books. I was thinking that 5 years was ages, then realised that'll be me too in 4 months.

Breaking News: The winner of this year's Orange Prize for Fiction is The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht.

Happy Thingaversary!

Happy Thingaversary Darryl! And OMG I never would have guessed The Tiger's Wife mostly because I've read it and it's definitely flawed, as most first novels are.

More info about the Orange Prize announcement:

Téa Obreht wins 2011 Orange Prize for Fiction

I think my BlackBerry is going to catch fire, as it has received dozens if not hundreds of tweets from @OrangePrize in the past hour!

I haven't read The Tiger's Wife, but I'll read it either this month or next month, for Orange July.

>10 phebj: Thanks, Pat! I didn't realize that it had been 5 years since I had joined LT, as I've only been active for about 2-1/2 years. Thanks again to akeela and deebee for encouraging me to join the 75 Books group, and to avaland for inviting me to participate in Club Read and Belletrista!

>11 lauralkeet: Hmph. Youngins just don't respect their elders nowadays. (Thanks, Laura!)

>12 cushlareads: Thanks, Cushla! It probably won't take more than 10 minutes to find five must buy books at City Lights; I'll be in SF in less than two weeks.

>14 Eat_Read_Knit: Thanks, Caty!

>15 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie! From reading the Orange Prize tweets and other info about the prize I don't remember anyone mentioning the The Tiger's Wife as a serious contender; most people thought that it would go to Room or The Memory of Love. I'm sure there will be a lot said about the surprise winner in the next few days.

Congratulations, Ms Obreht!

LT's Jeremy Dibbell recently interviewed Téa Obreht:

Téa Obreht: LibraryThing Author Interview

Oh, blech. I thought The Tiger's Wife was over-rated. The writing was excellent, but the plots were "look at what I can do!!" and I found the characterizations unconvincing.

More later; I've just been assaulted by a cat. I think the feline in question may have been bribed by either Obreht or is acting in feline solidarity with the Tiger of the title...

Happy Thingaversary, Darryl!

>18 Chatterbox: Uh oh; was it one of your own felines that cat-tacked you? I think it's time to break out Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine and start this week over.



Well, I did buy five eBooks for my five year Thingaversary after all. Open Letter Books, the publisher of international literature from the University of Rochester, is having a special offer on its new line of eBooks; the first nine books are on sale for $4.99 through June 30. I bought four of the titles:

The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda
Death in Spring by Mercè Rodoreda
Gasoline by Quim Monzó
Guadalajara by Quim Monzó

I also bought The Explosion of the Radiator Hose by Jean Rolin, after reading a description of it on the City Lights Bookstore's web site.

Here's the link for the Open Letter eBooks sale:

Open Letter Books Launches New Ebook Series, Announces Special Pricing

>19 ronincats: Thanks, Roni!

Ooh! I love Mr. Peabody and I had forgotten about the Wayback Machine.

Nice Thingaversary gifts!

But wait, would that mean that I'd have to have this cold all over again?? If so, no thanks... I admit that the attack was Jasper's version of love bombing. I was immobile in a chair, my lap was empty and thus obviously available for a cat to be in, etc. etc. He's a sweet cat, but just a little dim sometimes.

I'm still kind of startled by prize news. I enjoyed Room, thought it was excellent in its way; have heard great stuff about Forna's novel. Add to that my general suspicion of 'anointing' young first novelists. The book itself wasn't what I think of as great -- by which I mean one I could immerse myself in, and come to consciousness only reluctantly when it's finished, and continue to think back on even when I have finished it. In fact, I really haven't thought about it much at all since I finished it (which, if I can recall correctly, required some effort on my part.) Oh well....

That was a short-lived resolution re Thingaversary rewards! Still, looks like fun. I have to figure out how to get the Unbridled books, and whether I can get them into Adobe Digital Editor & thus onto my Kindle.

ETA: Happy Thingaversary!!!!

I wondered how long that resolution would last. You crack me up, Darryl !

Am amazed it lasted more than 24 hours. Whoops, am seated in front of PC again, and Jasper is preparing to jump... *running*

>21 phebj: Thanks, Pat; I just finished downloading all five books to my Kindle.

>22 Chatterbox: The purpose of the Wayback Machine would be to start the week over, free of viruses and kamikaze cats. It seems as though there was another late 1950s or early 1960s cartoon where the character would repeatedly get himself into deep trouble, only to be rescued at the last second by his buddy's time machine.

>23 lauralkeet: I think I did well; I lasted a good 8 hours before I broke down.

Do the Phillies need a new pitching coach, Laura? It seems as though the starting pitchers have to throw a nearly perfect game, and/or supply some offensive power, for the Phillies to eke out a win. We're in good shape so far in tonight's game: 2-0 Phillies over the Dodgers in the bottom of the 7th. If Ryan Howard is out for any length of time with an injury, we are in deep trouble.

>24 Chatterbox: Where's Mr. Peabody???

The Tiger's Wife was my 3rd favourite of those I've read, but I really liked it - just The Memory of Love and Room were even better.

#250 I read Amit Majmudar's Partitions last night and was impressed. I found it a quick and emotionally difficult read. Interesting narrator, heart-tugging characters, and poetic language. Perhaps a bit heavy on the moral, but overall very good for a first novel, I thought. Have you gotten into it yet?

>26 elkiedee: I'm glad to hear that you liked it, Luci. Are you planning to read any of the short- or longlisted books?

>27 labfs39: I started Partitions yesterday, and I'm about 1/3 of the way through. I like the story and its characters so far, but the writing is a bit clunky, so I'm not as engaged as I normally would be. I'll look for your review of it now.

Congratulations on your Thingaversary and on the quick breakdown of your resolve! I haven't read (and haven't been particularly interested in) The Tiger's Wife so I can't complain, but I was rooting for Great House.

ETA You are bad for my wallet, Darryl. I'm on the verge of ordering an Open Books subscription!

I really must read Great House; I got an ARC at LAST year's BookExpo and it remains unread. I am feeling ashamed.

Memo to self: get Partitions from library; do not spend real $$.

River of Smoke, the second book in Amitav Ghosh's Ibis Trilogy after Sea of Poppies, has been released in the UK today. Unfortunately, it won't be released in the US until late September. I tried ordering it from The Book Depository, but it is "currently unavailable". I searched around, and AbeBooks does have it available for purchase—from The Book Depository. The cost ($28.67, including free shipping, equal to £17.45) is less than the list price for the UK hardback (£20.00), so I went ahead and ordered it, as I want to read it ASAP.

>29 rebeccanyc: I have no resolve.

I was thinking about ordering an Open Books subscription, too, but I think I would be more likely to buy the other four Open Books e-Books that I haven't read (I did read The Mighty Angel by Jerzy Pilch, which was fairly good; I reviewed it here two years ago).

>30 Chatterbox: I'm enjoying Partitions more than I was initially. I probably misspoke when I described the writing as clunky; the sentences are shorter than I would like, and the narrative doesn't flow as smoothly as I would ideally prefer, but the story is very good, and the characters are quite interesting. I should finish it by this afternoon.

Yikes...is it really going to hit the upper 90s in the Northeast today? It's only supposed to reach 93 degrees in Atlanta today, our 12th consecutive day that we'll hit 90 degrees or better.

#31 our 12th consecutive day that we'll hit 90 degrees or better.

Shouldn't that be 90 degrees or worse? ;)

Do *any* of use have much resolve when it comes to intentions not to buy books? I did think you'd last longer than that, though. *disappointed frown*

The Explosion of the Radiator Hose is an interesting title: do any radiator hoses actually explode in it?

>32 Eat_Read_Knit: Shouldn't that be 90 degrees or worse? ;)

I agree!

Stasia is the only LTer I can think of who has demonstrated amazing restraint, with Linda (Whisper) coming a close second.

The Explosion of the Radiator Hose begins with...an explosion of the car's radiator hose. This is a description of the book from the Dalkey Archive web site:

In this nominally true story of an epic, transcontinental road trip, Jean Rolin travels to Africa from darkest France, accompanying a battered Audi to its new life as a taxi to be operated by the family of a Congolese security guard. The ghost of Joseph Conrad haunts Rolin's journey, as do memories of his expatriate youth in Kinshasa in the early 1960s—but no less present are W. G. Sebald and Marcel Proust, who are the guiding lights for Rolin's sensual and digressive attack upon history: his own as well as the world's. By turns comic, lyrical, gruesome, and humane, The Explosion of the Radiator Hose is a one-of-a-kind travelogue, and no less an exploration of what it means to be human in a life of perpetual exile and migration.

And this is an excerpt from the first chapter:

When the radiator hose burst, the car had done exactly ninety-nine thousand four hundred meters, since its odometer was reset to zero. It was doing over one hundred kilometers per hour, with the needle on the temperature gauge stuck firmly in the red. Earlier, Patrice had stopped on two separate occasions to lift the hood and examine the engine, concluding from his observations that he would be able to carry on driving at the same speed.

A mistaken diagnosis, as easily demonstrated by the car's current condition, immobile on the side of the road, its windscreen splattered with boiling water, and twisters of steam rising from beneath the still-closed hood. With the hood up, the steam-twisters formed a dense cloud, and the radiator’s remaining water gushed out as soon as the cap was unscrewed. For a few moments we stood—the three of us: Patrice, Nsele, and me—contemplating the disaster: the water gushing up in spurts like an intermittent hot geyser, and the thick rubber pipe, split along its entire length like a sizzling sausage bursting out of its skin. Then Nsele, a small, rather chubby man with a closely shaved head, began waving his arms up and down at the side of the road, sending distress signals to the passing traffic, as if it was perfectly normal in the Congo—or anywhere else, for that matter—to pull over out of the kindness of one’s heart and help a motorist in distress. No doubt he would have had better luck waving a wad of money, but in the heat of the moment—and unusually for him—he hadn’t thought to ask me for any, as yet.

I may read this today, after I finish Partitions.

Having read The Memory of Love so recently and loved it so much, it is hard for me to imagine that The Tiger's Wife is better. I loved Room and have Great House out from the library.

No matter my eventual feeling about The Tiger's Wife, I'm so grateful to the Orange Prize for the excellent books I've read because of it. I know there are many I would never have found without the award.

#31 I read The Mighty Angel too -- I mostly enjoyed it but found it a little puzzling. As for the subscription, since I'm way behind on reading my Archipelago subscription books, it probably isn't prudent for me to add another one . . . On the other hand, there's a certain thrill to getting books in the mail that I didn't just order, and they look like interesting books . . .

#33 Not only an explosion, but a very dramatic explosion! Sounds like an interesting book.

Darryl you are often the provider of a good news/bad news scenario. The Orange Prize Has been awarded!!! The Tiger's Wife won. River of Smoke, the second book in Amitav Ghosh's Ibis Trilogy after Sea of Poppies, has been released in the UK today.It won't be released in the US until late September. **sigh** That's one I've been anxiously awaiting since reading (and loving) The Sea of Poppies.

>25 kidzdoc:: Darryl, the Phillies have been so plagued with injuries this year it's a wonder they have won any games at all!

#31 Partitions grew on me. I started off a bit ambivalent to the writing too. Maybe they will rework the beginning before publication? P.S. Don't look for a review too soon--sadly I'm five books behind...

>34 nancyewhite: I agree, Nancy; from what I've read from others who have read The Tiger's Wife, it's hard for me to believe that it's better than The Memory of Love, Grace Williams Says it Loud, or Room. However, I completely agree with you; I may not agree with the book selected for a literary award, but the more important role of these prizes is to bring attention to excellent books and their authors.

I was impressed by the excitement and attention that led up to yesterday's Orange Prize ceremony, from the selection of the longlist and shortlist, and the discussions of who would win the award. I couldn't help but smile and feel happy for Téa Obreht when I watched the clip of the award announcement (available here); she was clearly surprised and overcome with joy when she was selected as the winner.

It's a shame that none of the major literary awards in the US attain anywhere near the buzz that accompanies the Orange and Booker Prizes in the UK.

>35 rebeccanyc: As for the subscription, since I'm way behind on reading my Archipelago subscription books, it probably isn't prudent for me to add another one . . . On the other hand, there's a certain thrill to getting books in the mail that I didn't just order, and they look like interesting books . . .

My feelings exactly. And, I haven't done well in decreasing my pile of unread Archipelago books so far this year (or for the unread books I had planned to read this year). I'll have to re-dedicate myself to doing that in the second half of the month.

>36 Eat_Read_Knit: The description I read of The Explosion of the Radiator Hose on the City Lights web site made me want to get it right away. I feel a little guilty for buying the Kindle version of it, though, as I certainly would have bought it from the bookstore if I saw it on the shelves. However, I have bought hundreds of books from City Lights on past trips to SF, and I'm sure I'll buy 15-20+ books there later this month.

>37 brenzi: I'm with you, Bonnie; I have been impatiently waiting for River of Smoke after I loved Sea of Poppies, and I'm not willing to wait until September, or even until my almost certain trip to London in August, to read it. If it comes in time I'll bring it with me to SF.

>38 lauralkeet: True; the Phillies do still own the best record in baseball, and with a few more runs in certain games they would be well ahead of everyone else. I'm especially impressed with the way Cole Hamels is pitching this year, along with Roy Halladay, and Roy Oswalt and Cliff Lee are pitching much better than their records would indicate. I think the Phillies won't have any serious problem making the playoffs; I just worry about the hitting when they end up playing a team with good pitching, like the Giants.

I'm really liking Partitions, my May LT Early Reviewer book which is set in 1947, just after The Partition that led to the near simultaneous independence of India and Pakistan, that resulted in the murders of hundreds of thousands of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, and the displacement of over 10 million former residents of British India. I have a little less than 50 pages to go, so I'll finish it early this afternoon. Unless it falls off of the track at the end it will earn 4 stars from me.

The Tiger's Wife ??? oy!

>41 mckait: I just re-read your review of The Tiger's Wife, Kath, and looked at several others. There is certainly a wide variety of opinion about this book, maybe more so than Room.

ETA: The difference in opinions about books such as The Finkler Question, Room and The Tiger's Wife is one of the things that I love most about this group. I think it makes me a better reader, and it makes for interesting conversation!

Still have time to read Sea of Poppies before the next appears, then! Phew...

What a hoot re exploding radiator hose! I love the deadpan tone. Remind me to look for that at City Lights.

Horrors. I have to go out of doors. The heat will break over the weekend, but today will hit the "feels like 99 F with humidity" level. But - I am out of kitty litter. Force majeure. I'm glad I'm not in Philly or DC which will be seeing temps above 100. Next week it'll be back to the 70s -- schizo weather.

Thanks for the link to that clip of Tea Obreht accepting the Oranze Prize, Darryl. It brought a smile to my face too!

I'll be looking forward to your review of The Partitions. It sounds like something I'd like to read.

Agreed, I enjoy the different opinions.. and the ability to discuss them reasonably.

>43 Chatterbox: Will do, Suz. City Lights will have The Explosion of the Radiator Hose, unless it is temporarily out of stock.

It's become overcast here, and the radar shows a lot of pop up T-storms all around the area, so I'll probably stay inside until I leave for work in the morning.

>44 phebj: You're welcome, Pat. She seems like a sweet person, and watching that clip made me happy that she won the award.

I finished Partitions in the past hour, and it was good, definitely a 4 star read, and an impressive debut effort. I'll review it later today, or over the weekend.

>45 mckait: I agree completely!

I found one more enticing book sale: you can purchase 10 books of your choice published before March 2011 from Dalkey Archive, for $65 (with free shipping):

SUMMER SALE: up to 60% off and FREE shipping

Yes, I got that e-mail too, but since I haven't read ANY of the 10 Dalkey Archive books I bought last year when they had this sale, I passed it up!

Darryl, Joan Miro has fun pictures. I don't understand them, but I like them.

Explosion of the Radiator Hose sounds interesting ... off to Amazon to see if I can find a copy. I've been sent a copy of Partitions so I can't wait to read your review of this.

Sorry I missed your Thingaversary, Darryl!

Yikes--I went to the Dalkey Archive site and I think I can buy at least 2 $65 units!

>48 rebeccanyc: I've purchased several Dalkey Archive books over the past couple of years, but haven't read most of them. I'll ignore this sale for now, but I'll probably succumb to it at some point in the next year or two.

>49 cameling: I don't pretend to be an art connoisseur, and I don't try to undertand what Miró is doing; I just like what he does, and that's good enough for me.

>50 alcottacre: Thanks, Stasia! Belated wishes are always welcomed.

>51 arubabookwoman: The Dalkey Archive site is dangerous, which is why I'm avoiding it.

Found you, 2 days and 52 posts late.

Congrats on the Thingaversary, Darryl, and I hope you enjoy the 5 e-books you bought to celebrate!

47: I'm now short $65. It's both a bad thing (I'm out some moola) and a good thing (10 books from new-to-me authors with great-sounding books)! Thanks Darryl. I probably should have avoided it, but when I checked it out, there were 5 books that I felt like I needed, so I might as well spend about the same amount of $ and get 5 more.

This place sure is dangerous!

>53 tymfos: I understand that sort of rationalizing.. as I have done it myself !

Darryl...if I *promise* you that several of these stories are four-hankies-and-a-pistol-worthy, will you check out The Brick Murder: A Tragedy and Other Stories? Pleeeeeeze?

I'm working this weekend (and the next one), so I haven't been on LT much. I did manage to finish one book yesterday, Breath, Eyes, Memory by the Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat, for my TIOLI challenge (read a book by an author of Caribbean descent). I have to work until at least 8 pm tonight, but it's been pretty quiet, and I hope to finish Fair Play, a novella by Tove Jansson before I turn in for the night.

>53 tymfos: Thanks, Terri! I'm looking forward to those Open Letter e-books.

>54 LauraBrook: Thanks, Laura; I'm curious to learn which books you bought.

>55 mckait: Rationalization is good.

>56 richardderus: Absolutely not. I know you, and I'm sure that this book is filled with happy stories about puppies, smiling children, and adorable grandparents. I wouldn't touch it with a 20 foot pole.

(secretly adds book to wish list)

>57 kidzdoc: No, honest! A woman gets beat up by her husband! A great guy is laughed at behind his back by people he thinks are his friends! God turns over The Creation to Taiwanese merch factories! See? See?! Depressing!

Darryl, he pitched it to me by calling me the "apple fritter of his eyes". He's obviously desperate here. :-D D'you think he's collecting a share of the royalties??

>58 richardderus: Hopefully the guy who gets laughed at is the one who beat up his wife. And the Creation is Made in Taiwan??? Okay, I must look into this book.

>59 Chatterbox: He would be really desperate if he called you the "Nutella and banana crepe" or the "Junior's cheesecake" of his eyes. I smell a conspiracy, or at least a conflict of interest.

Great opening print!

I know little of this artist and now I'm inspired to gain more information.

Thanks.

Thanks, Linda! I would highly recommend looking at more of his work; unfortunately I don't have any sources that I can recommend.

Aw man, I was wondering why there wasn't more activity on your last thread, as somehow missed seeing the mention of a new link altogether. Don't think I can catch up at this point, though I would like to wish you a belated happy Thingaversary. I read on another thread that you're supposed to buy 1 book for every year +1.

Very nice Miro by the way.

I'm probably one of the few people who is happy for Téa Obreht and The Tiger's Wife, which I absolutely loved, flaws and all. Hope you at least like it a little bit when you get to it.

*waving* at Darryl - don't work too hard!

>63 Smiler69: Thanks, Ilana. I did buy three heavily discounted books from Borders on Saturday, The Tin Drum by Günter Grass, Home by Marilynne Robinson, and Old Filth by Jane Gardam; all three have been on my wish list for a year or more.

Thanks for the compliment on the Miró.

I think I'll like The Tiger's Wife, as I've run across very few duds from the Orange Prize longlisted books I've read in the past few years.

>64 alcottacre: Hi Stasia! I won't work at all from now until Saturday morning, although I will be busy writing three reviews for the upcoming issue of Belletrista, a far more pleasant task than dealing with the ER doctors and unpleasant parents and guardians (we've had more of the latter than normal over the past few weeks).

I'm really enjoying the trend of thread paintings around here. Maybe I should switch to works of art instead of asylums?

Sorry to hear that you're dealing with unpleasant guardians - I certainly don't envy you that.

The Tin Drum has been on my shelves seemingly for ages now. I look forward to reading it eventually, but since I've joined this group, reading books off the shelf is proving trickier than I would ever have imagined!

One of the things I do not miss about my job is knowing how some people parent.
I have not quite managed to put those kids out of my mind, but I manage to think of them
rarely. I can't fix it. I can no longer think about it.

MORE BOOKS??? *grin*

#65: a far more pleasant task than dealing with the ER doctors and unpleasant parents and guardians

I would think just about anything would be better than that. I hope you enjoy your days off, Darryl!

>66 London_StJ: I like your asylum photos, Luxx! And the pictures of the monsters are just adorable.

The vast majority of the families I work with couldn't be any nicer or more appreciative. So, when I encounter an obnoxious parent or guardian it comes as a real shock. Yesterday I saw an infant with pneumonia, whose mother had left her with a neighbor while she went on a cruise with her new BF, despite knowing that the baby was pretty sick (she is not getting my vote for the Mother of the Year award). This neighbor was annoyed at me, because I came in to examine her while she was being fed (the baby, on the other hand, smiled at me and was not the least bit upset by my presence or the one minute disruption of her meal). I started to tell the neighbor about the result of the chest X-ray that had just been done, and she replied, "I know that already", and when I told her something else, she said "The nurse told me that." So, after that lovely exchange, I gave her the minimal amount of information that was necessary, as she looked at me as if I was covered in dog poo. She asked me if I would be around later(!); fortunately, the filter that keeps my mouth from spouting what my brain wants it to was in the "on" position, and I told her that I would be available in the afternoon if needed. As I left the room, I heard her say behind my back, "Hunh, interrupting that baby's meal" or something like that. I bit my tongue, and quietly closed the door behind me without turning around or letting her know that I had heard that comment.

>67 Smiler69: I have no idea when I'll read The Tin Drum and Home, but I do want to read them in the near future. Both titles were on sale for $4.99 (new hardcover editions), so I lapped them up, and I paid just over half of the list price for Old Filth with my Borders coupon and membership discount.

>68 mckait: One of the things I do not miss about my job is knowing how some people parent.

YES! And that is easily one of the top two things I least enjoy about my job. Parents who abuse their kids, are incarcerated (I've taken care of three such kids this month, two mothers who were already in jail for drug abuse, and a father who was arrested in our ER for smacking around his baby boy because he was crying; the little guy was smiling and very playful, despite extensive bruises on his face, arms and torso), mothers who have multiple kids by multiple men, unstable mothers with a history of mental illness and substance abuse, and confrontational parents make my days unpleasant, even if only one family out of a dozen is like this.

Apologies...rant over.

>69 Chatterbox: Are you the least bit surprised? ;-)

I went to Borders to look for two books by Patrick Leigh Fermor, which were supposedly in stock; however, another customer bought all of Fermor's books a couple of hours before I got there, and my local Borders only had one copy of each book (although there were a dozen or more copies of the latest books by Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Richard Patterson).

>70 alcottacre: I'll definitely enjoy these days off. I'm meeting an old friend from residency for dinner tonight, at a restaurant that I've been wanting to try for a long time, and I don't have any hospital committee meetings or other administrative responsibilities this week.

57: Here's my final list of the titles that I ordered from Dalkey Archive Press. I had to make 3 substitutions (for The Golden Age, Balcony of Europe, and News from the Empire) since the titles were out of stock - a bummer, since I was really looking forward to those three books!

Op Oloop by Juan Filloy
The Distant Sound by Gert Jonke
My Paris by Gail Scott
La Batarde by Violette Leduc
Van Gogh's Room at Arles by Stanley Elkin
The Mirror in the Well by Micheline Aharonian Marcom
Savage by Jacque Jouet
Camera by Jean-Philippe Toussaint
Diary of a Blood Donor by Mati Unt
Things in the Night by Mati Unt

As it is, I'm really looking forward to these books - they've all got an unusual plots, interesting characters, and new-to-me authors. This could be my new favorite publisher! Thanks again for the link, I was really running out of books on my TBR shelves. ;) So glad to hear that you have a few days off to relax, I hope you can get some good reading squeezed in to all of your fun time!

Balcony of Europe?! Aidan Higgins's book?! I was sure that went OP when Calder left the US! I should go over to Dalkey Archive and see what others of the old Riverrun list made it there.

Except I can't or I'll spend money....

At least the kiddos seem to be able to tell when you're trying to help!

I have no patience for downright bad parenting.

> 71 all of those things and sadly, so much more.

Your Borders is still operational, Darryl? I thought they had finally closed all the stores in the country.

There should be a test all adults go through before they're allowed to even try to have kids. Those who fail get sterilized.

>72 LauraBrook: Nice list, Laura! I'm particularly interested in Op Oloop, but all of those titles sound interesting. (I'm very tempted to visit the Dalkey Archive sale page; must resist.)

>73 richardderus: What's Balcony of Europe about? More puppies?

>74 London_StJ: The baby I mentioned had more sense and grey matter than the neighbor (who was an older adult, probably in her 50s, which made it more unacceptable than if it came from an immature twentysomething) and her adult daughter combined.

I'll reemphasize that I enjoy at least 80-90% of the parents I see, who come from a wide variety of socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The hospital I work at is located in a wealthy suburb of Atlanta (Sandy Springs, GA), but we get patients from all over the metropolitan Atlanta area, and not infrequently kids that live several hours away who don't have access to pediatric subspecialists.

>75 mckait: I'm sure that we could spend hours, if not days, talking about the parents from hell that we've encountered.

>76 cameling: Yes, but the Borders closest to me is the only one that remains open in the city. From what I read, there are just over 400 Borders stores that are still in business, but the company is still in deep financial trouble. I'll continue to support my local store and buy 2-3+ books a month there. And, with the coupons and my membership discount, their prices have become competitive with Amazon. Unfortunately I don't think this is a good thing, as I doubt that it can remain solvent if it sells books at 30-40% discount, although you can only buy one book with a discount coupon.

I almost forgot to mention that Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann was announced as the winner of this year's IMPAC Dublin Literary Award yesterday:

http://www.impacdublinaward.ie/2011/winner.htm

Loved McCann's book! Glad that it won.

>79 torontoc: Same here; there were several excellent books on the shortlist, including Let the Great World Spin.

McCann is a lovely person (don't know him personally, but have had the pleasure of meeting him on campus), so I'm glad he won. I have that one on my shelf...

I loved Let the Great World Spin too -- one of my favorite books the year I read it.

Add me to the list of people who loved Let the Great World Spin and people who have had it with parents who can't parent. I will miss my students terribly after I retire in two more weeks but I will not miss too many of the parents. They systematically have made my life a living hell. The few who know how to raise a child in a rational way, are just that...few.

I'm so glad McCann won because I loved Let the Great World Spin. I saw someone in the bookstore yesterday evening picking up that book, reading the jacket and then putting it down again and was compelled to walk over and suggest she bring it home with her because it was a great read. Now I hope if she hates it, she never comes to that bookstore again since it's the one I go to all the time.

Whew! Caught up on this thread at least. Love the Miro!

>81 London_StJ: I had the impression that he is a really nice guy, so I'm pleased, but not surprised, that he was pleasant towards you, Luxx.

>82 rebeccanyc: I knew that you would be happy to learn that he had won, Rebecca, based on your glowing comments about his book.

>83 brenzi: I wonder why so many parents are perceived (correctly or not) to be so bad. Has there been a significant change compared to previous generations of parents? If so, does the fact that so many parents live far apart from their parents play a role in poor parenting? Do other factors play a role in substandard parenting (e.g., single or divorced parents, parents who both work outside of the home, different views about discipline)?

>84 cameling: I would have loved to have seen that exchange! Did the woman buy the book after you recommended it so highly (it sounds as though she did)?

>85 markon: Hi, Ardene!

86 re: 83: I think there has always been bad parenting. Now we talk about it. Now there are more things that are considered bad parenting.

Add me to those glad to hear about Let the Great World Spin. Thanks for sharing the news, Darryl.

>87 jmaloney17: I think you're right.

>88 alcottacre: You're welcome, Stasia!

I do think that we're more opinionated about bad parenting and what makes someone a bad parent.

That said, I do also believe that kids today have been spoiled rotten -- not always in a material sense, but in the context of how they are raised to see themselves at the center of the universe. I realize I'm sounding like my own grandmother, but the behavior I see of many teens today appalls me. They demand "respect", not realizing that respect is something that is earned and not awarded automatically. That attitude can come from too little parenting or parenting by that kind of parent who challenges every grade that isn't an A and gets into fistfights with the Little League coach or ballet teacher. Happily, my niece and nephews (for now, at least) are being raised to behave well and to understand limits. Some parents, I think interpret limits as something one should never set as they curb the "growth" of their child. I was walking in SoHo (NY) a few weeks ago, and passed one father with a pre-teen, who was saying to her, "Can't we go anywhere without you demanding that you buy me this and that?" I was actually behind them at that point, and a few minutes later, she pulled to a stop in front of a sidewalk vendor with flashy earrings and asked her father to buy her some. As I pulled ahead of them, he was almost in tears. Scary.

I just want to throw in a probably controversial thought on "bad parenting". On the one hand, all these comments/complaints on practices we think are bad parenting. Yet, sometimes the same people, on the same threads, comment in other contexts that people have no right to question other people's lifestyle choices (e.g. gay lifestyles, whether or not to have children, religious beliefs). So why do we feel we can complain about people who, for example, give their kids "too many" treats, or argue with their teachers to get grades improved (which will, after all, help their kids get into better colleges, or whatever), or encourage their children to be more "in your face" than we would like? Do we really know what pressures they live under, and what tradeoffs they are making in their lives? Can we really say their priorities are "wrong"? Is it really the case that all our precious children and grandchildren who loved books from the age of 5 minutes and are reading their way through the classics at 6 are "better" people? Not saying I disagree, just saying I feel some inconsistency and hypocrisy here, and wonder what others think? Please don't all hate me......

but in the context of how they are raised to see themselves at the center of the universe.
I agree Suz. Parents fight for grades their kids have not earned. They give in to their children's every whim. I have seen similar things Suz and with younger kids..

Sorry Janet.. but kids need to earn what they get.. they need to learn to earn what they get. Someday they are going to be grown ups who see themselves at the center of the universe. There is plenty of this already, and it is not a good thing.

I believe it is going to be the continuing ruin of our society. When my son has a student complain about
about a grade he "gave" them, he explains that it is the grade they "earned", since he doesn't "give" grades. Kids in this country learn less, because they are pushed through school with better grades than they deserve, because if they get what they earn, parents go ape on the school. Teachers are not allowed
to reprimand a kid, much less assign a punishment .. or be NOT FAIR to the child. Many parents don't take the time to teach kids... anything. Appropriate behavior for one thing. Some places are not appropriate for kids but, Baby sitters are a thing of the past. Fine dining restaurants are not for kids, especially after 9 pm. No small child belongs in a restaurant after 9 pm. .. or imo EVER in a pub, or bar. And if I hear one more parent of a toddler say "S/he won't
go to bed, take a bath, do as I say whatever.. I might scream. If you do not control your kids and teach them that you are in charge from the beginning.. you are NOT doing that kid any favors.. and you WILL pay the price in some way, I promise you .

If a child has not caught up with classwork, they should not be pushed into the next grade. If the parents are worried about them being held back, they should spend time working with them at home. Pushing them through.. well for instance, I know a woman who has two sons who graduated . and are both functionally illiterate. They can't hold down decent jobs.. and have trouble supporting their families.. and both have anger issues for those reasons. I can't help but think those young men would have had better lives if mom had even NOTICED that her kids couldn't read, sometime in those 13 years of school. She didn't. She was not alone in this. If someone does not have the energy or interest in parenting properly, don't have kids. They are hard hard work for 18 years and lots of worry for a lifetime. Be prepared. One of the easiest things a parent can do is to be a good example, yet....

deep breath and stop.

Bad parenting means raising children that should be dipped in the Mcdonald's fryers they'll be operating until retirement. Bad behavior (oh he needs to express himself or he'll be damaged), hooliganism (she doesn't realize that others have feelings yet, it will take time), and the unshakeable certainty that "I'm FIRST!" are all grounds for any rational adult to judge the parents.

Yes, I was one. No, my daughter isn't at all like this, nor was she more than the usual adolescent an intolerant, intolerable solipsist. So my opinion about bad parenting is informed by experience. Whatever they're doing to promote this character development in their children isn't good. I suspect it is different for every child.

Please be explicit in how this is hypocritical, Janet.

Kath, let me be clear - I do agree completely on teaching your kids to behave properly, and to be sure they learn properly, etc. It's things like the "no kids in fine dining restaurants" I'm less sure about. I hate it. But.....if it's a change in society, maybe we are the minority. And....we may say "I believe it is going to be the continuing ruin of society" about some of these things, but what about those who think homosexuality ruins society, or godlessness, or alcohol? Just questioning what the difference is? (and just doing it for the sake of the argument, since as I say, I more or less do agree with you.)

>94 JanetinLondon:: And....we may say "I believe it is going to be the continuing ruin of society" about some of these things, but what about those who think homosexuality ruins society, or godlessness, or alcohol? Just questioning what the difference is?
I'm with you on that point, Janet, as well as your earlier comment: Do we really know what pressures they live under, and what tradeoffs they are making in their lives? Can we really say their priorities are "wrong"?

I think it's very hard to see when we are judging another unfairly either because we don't see how we are exhibiting the very behavior we abhor in others, or because we are applying our own experience to another person when in fact their reality is quite different from our own.

To each his own opinion. Kids are not adults. They need to be taught. They do not belong in bars, and other adult places.. because they are KIDS. Adults get to do things kids do not, and should not have to endure the whining and running of another,s children when they do. I am VERY judgmental about parenting because for one thing. I did it, it was hard, I survived. I have seen it from a classroom perspective. NO one wants to do the hard part any more. And because I have tried to eat a meal that I am paying over 100$ for while kids ran circles around my table at 10 pm. When people try to skip the hard part, they do no one any favors. When these kids are running the country, it will be even worse imo than it is now.

I do not think bad behavior, or entitlement behavior has anything to do with homosexuality or atheism, but perhaps I am missing something ? Nor do I think it is unfair to call bad behavior what it is. just my opinion.

oh and pls note I said no kids in find dining places after 9 pm... not never. Although I believe that unless the child is well behaved, they do not belong at all. By well behaved, I mean capable of staying seated and not screaming or throwing food.

91 - Can we really say their priorities are "wrong"?

I would argue that when a child's basic needs are not being met, then yes. For example, I would say that some of the examples that Dr. D has shared - leaving an infant who is sick enough to go to a hospital with an elderly neighbor, or beating a child for speaking too loudly - are wrong. But in terms of general parenting choices? I may disagree, and I may do things very differently, but I feel those choices are up to the parents.

But all parents (myself included) need to recognize that the choices we make for our children, and the ways we decide to raise our children, come with consequences, and those consequences should be shouldered by the family and not those who have not made those choices (for example, parents who refuse to address aggressive behavior in their homes, and then complain when school teachers are unable to manage their aggressive students). THIS is where I see problems.

I once had a parent cancel future playdates with my first born after I gave her daughter tap water (not aggressively, she and her children just kind of dropped off the radar...). On a personal level I think it's silly, but it's her right and her choice to make, and I'm comfortable with that. I won't take my sons to play at houses where the TV is never turned off - a parental choice that I know some friends and family find likewise silly.

And I can't help but mention something else you brought up - ...or argue with their teachers to get grades improved (which will, after all, help their kids get into better colleges, or whatever).

This is one parental "practice" that I think is complete bull. No one is entitled to good grades; academic success is something that should be - and must be - earned. Once again, I think it comes down to understanding consequences.

Consequences...someday, I expect that word to simply fall out of common usage.

I too, have seen a child's needs not being met. Five months without heart meds being given to a toddler, for instance. ( of course her parents were known drug addicts who started their home, which had no heat in Pa winters, on fire when the toddler was a baby. Fortunately the hospitalization that followed ended up with her cancer being found in time. This in addition to her original Rubinstein-Taybi Dx) Same child and other kids not bathed or fed..and more. Large bruises and burns.. Much more. Today's society and sadly, the school where I worked most often shrugs it off. "They are doing the best they can" doesn't work when the consequences might be illness or death. It was one of the reasons I quit. I couldn't watch that any more. It was getting all too common.

Sorry Darryl. I will stop hijacking yr thread :P

I'm not a parent, but I do feel that a sizable minority of older children and teenagers in the US are coddled, self-centered, and morally adrift. Their behaviors, dress and attitudes towards others are often appalling and vulgar, and their level of maturity and ability to make good decisions on a daily basis is nearly nonexistent. I think that modern society has a lot to do with the values and beliefs of these wayward children, but ultimately the responsibility rests with their parents, who seem to replace good parenting with material objects. Kids look to parents and others as models of adult behavior, but we collectively fail them on a repeated basis, in the way we resolve disagreements, treat our fellow men and women, and our desire to acquire the biggest house, flashiest car, or most physically attractive mate.

On the other hand, our kids, especially girls, are under tremendous pressure within and outside of the home, which most of us middle-aged adults never had to experience. My group is taking care of an increasing number of teens and preteens that are hospitalized due to eating disorders (anorexia and bulimia), medication overdoses due to severe depression, and conversion disorder brought about by stress. Many other kids suffer from anxiety disorders, and are stressed to near the breaking point. Unfortunately, coverage for mental health conditions for children is often poor, even for those families who have good insurance, and there is a shortage of qualified mental health providers and inpatient and outpatient facilities designed for the pediatric population in this country. It's not uncommon for us to admit a kid with a severe eating disorder, or one who is suicidal or psychotic, because there isn't a bed available for them in a psychiatric facility, or because the child is uninsured, or because the insurance company won't cover inpatient mental health care adequately.

I think the erosion of the family dinner hour has played a big role in lots of what's going on with our children today. I know people are busy and everybody works but our children lose a lot without being able to experience that family time and just through my own experience here at our school I know that family dinner time is fast disappearing. Think about all that a child learns at that time that is now not taking place: taking turns (waiting to speak), good manners, what Mom and Dad's profession is all about, how to carry on a conversation with others, just basic things that we all take for granted and that are now being lost. And maybe that dinner time could be carried on without anyone being able to text or check their Blackberry for messages!

Being a good and responsible parent is very hard work and some folks today are just not up to it.

"The Hurston/Wright Legacy Award honors exemplary works of literature before the national community of Black writers. By honoring these nominees, we're recognizing the profound significance, necessity, and genius of Black writers and the stories they tell. A panel of published authors in each genre reviewed submissions and selected nominees from categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry.

"Winners will receive a cash award and the coveted statute of Djhuiti (je-hu-ty), the ancient Egyptian symbol of the patron saint of writing, speech, and divine intellectual pursuit. Finalists will receive an engraved plaque. The annual Legacy Award ceremony will be held November 10th at the historic Oxon Hill Mansion in Oxon Hill, Maryland near Washington, DC."

The nominees for this year's awards for Fiction, Poetry and Nonfiction have been announced:

Fiction:
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
Glorious by Bernice McFadden
How to Read the Air by Dinaw Mengestu
Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans by Rosalyn Story
How to Escape from a Leper Colony by Tiphanie Yanique

Poetry:
Crave Radiance by Elizabeth Alexander
Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems by Thomas Sayers Ellis
Lighthead by Terrance Hayes

Nonfiction:
Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth by Ben Shapiro
John Oliver Killens: A Life of Black Literary Activism by Keith Gilyard
The Indignant Generation: A Narrative History of African American Writers and Critics, 1934-1960 by Lawrence P. Jackson
Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation by Rawn James Jr.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
Losing My Cool: How a Father's Love and 15,000 Books Beat Hip-hop Culture by Thomas Chatterton Williams

From this list I've only read How to Read the Air, but I own Wading Home: A Novel of New Orleans, Lighthead, and The Warmth of Other Suns. I'll be on the lookout for the other books on this list in the next few weeks.

More info: http://t.co/lQshJ6P

Being a good and responsible parent is very hard work and some folks today are just not up to it.

I think that's a strong, and fair, observation, but I think the same can be said throughout history. Kids aren't easy but, as the cliche goes, few things worth doing or having ever are.

At the risk of reopening the can of worms, Janet, I think the analogy you draw doesn't really hold up. For instance, I don't think the comparison is to homosexual lifestyles (whatever people mean when they say that critically) or religious belief, etc., etc. There is a question of believe and individual rights. And then there is a point when that has consequences for others. So, as in the discussion that we've had elsewhere in this group, I may not have any religious convictions, but I have to respect people who do. Personally, I think it's a bit obnoxious for anyone who knows that their opinions and beliefs are going to deeply, viscerally offend someone else to make a point of getting in their face. For instance, being a naturist (nudist) is great. But not everybody is going to find it acceptable for you to strip down and parade down the main street in the buff. If alcohol is your thing, well, the only way it's the ruin of society is if you and a group of your buddies decide its ok to go off and run over crowds of people while driving drunk. Godlessness? It's a matter of belief -- but you don't go blowing up churches, synagogues, mosques, or assaulting clerics on the street.

OK, now bad parenting isn't as extreme as that. But it kicks in at the same point -- when one person's personal values intersect with society's interests. Parenting is a tricky one, because parents are raising social beings -- the next generation of people with whom we ALL need to interact. There are basic social values that I think any parent needs to have and transmit -- basic courtesy, an understanding that no one gets their way or what they want 100% of the time, etc. And to be perfectly clear, I think that is what the vast majority of parents are doing, or trying to do. I do think a minority, and perhaps a slightly larger minority than in the days of yore, set their children so much at the center of the world that they lose focus on where to draw that line. They'll harass teachers (a friend of mine actually had her life threatened directly), assault coaches. An example: a small child, 7, was outside my house, while his mother loaded groceries into their car and talking on her cell phone. The kid was ringing my doorbell non-stop, to point where it got jammed, ringing. I came out, fixed it. He went to ring it again. I told him to stop, very calmly -- "please don't do that." She went completely nuts. "Don't you dare TALK to my child", followed by a string of insults, etc. etc. "You've got a really problem, lady, if you're beating up on a 7 year old." Now, I was on one side of an 8-foot high fence; locked; the child was on the other (sticking his tongue out at me). I hadn't raised my voice loudly enough to be heard more than a foot away -- she hollered so loudly that the crossing guard 25 feet away came running. THAT is the kind of parenting I'm talking about. What example does that set? It tells the kid that whatever he does is OK. Now, had his mother hauled him off and walloped him, that would have been equally appalling, at the other extreme.

I see a lot of kids in my neighborhood, and their behavior to people and to each other. I work from home, I live 1/2 block from a high school, a middle school and 1 block from an elementary school. I've seen fights broken up by cops, an average about once a month. I've heard and seen things that would cause your hair to stand on end; things that I would never have imagined in my life. This week, a teenage girl calmly took off her shirt and bra and let some guys admire her breasts, right outside my front gate; then walked off topless. The school cop tried to get her to dress, and she delivered a stream of invective. Now, maybe her parents wanted to raise her to feel free and unashamed of her body. Fine, but that has consequences, and she has to live in a world where that isn't going to be understood. (I'm giving her the benefit of a LOT of doubt here!)

OK, climbing down off the podium now...

*looks at Suzanne with awe* *agree*

eta

anyone ever tell you that you are pretty darn good with words Suz?

Okay, I give in/up. All I meant to do was raise what I think is an interesting question of what we do and don't get to be disapproving of and why. I didn't mean to make anyone think that bad parenting (all the examples everyone mentions) is okay, or an acceptable choice. I didn't mean to accidentally insult anyone by my choice of language. I didn't mean to make anyone think I thought bad parenting and atheism were similar things. And clearly I didn't explain myself very well. Still, it seems like no one is interested in the question I WAS trying to pose, so, never mind......

Janet, I haven't wanted to enter what is clearly a hot topic, but you sounded so forlorn in your last post, I decided to say one thing and then leave the conversation for my books. I think part of it is that everyone knows a handful of juicy stories of kids acting up, so it is hard to keep to the larger question.

I think I heard you saying that it is interesting which topics people are allowed/encouraged to criticize publicly and which topics are taboo to criticize even if you feel as strongly about both. I'm not going to comment on the other topics you list as examples, but as far as parenting goes, I do think that critizing other people's parenting has become (always been?) a national sport. I'm not talking about abuse, which we all agree is abhorent, but about the sorts of whispered "Did you see what they allowed their son/daughter to do?" kind of thing.

I was guilty of saying all sorts of crazy things about people who allowed their child to have a tantrum, yell back, run amok, etc. before having kids. Having become a parent (and I hope a good one), I know that my child has done all of these things at one point or another. Why? Sometimes it was because of the developmental age of the child. Being egocentric is a developmental issue to a certain degree. A three year old cannot put herself in the place of another and feel bad for them, no matter how many times you tell them to say they are sorry. Has my child yelled back? Yes, testing boundaries is a normal part of growing up. If all you see is the yelling, and do not see the conversation between parent and child that happens later (after the emotion has drained away), and perhaps the consequence (no screen time, extra yard work, etc.) then you may be left with the impression that the parent is letting the child talk back. Or perhaps the child is on the autism spectrum and what you think is horrible behavior is actually an impulse that the parents are aware of but unable to control at the time. I think that is what Janet meant by judging without knowing the circumstances.

Again, barring the outliers of abuse and crazily protective parents, I bet we've all rolled our eyes and complained about a child/parent when, if we had known all the facts, we might have been more sympathetic. As Darryl mentioned, our kids are under enormous pressures, and so are parents. As a parent I am inundated with advice and research about how I should be raising my child: from Baby Einstein to whether I let her play Angry Birds or climb trees without safety gear. I would like to make a plea for a bit of patience with parents. Most of us are doing the best we can, and I think most of our kids are pretty good kids. I don't have a teenager yet, but I remember doing some pretty crazy things, most of which my parents never knew about. Does that make them bad parents? I don't think so. I think I turned out okay. :-)

Just catching up. I'm a parent, have previously worked as a primary (elementary?) school teacher, and now work at a legal advice agency.

I have definitely witnessed atrocious parenting but believe that most parents do love their children and are doing the best they can. Problems often occur because the best isn't always all that good and many other issues come into play. At one extreme there are parents who have been abused themselves, are with an abusive partner, have mental health issues, self-esteem issues and/or drug issues. Probably at the other end of the social scale, there are parents pursuing affluent lifestyles who try to buy and compete for, happiness and success for their children. These parents have probably been sucked in by a culture which says everything is for sale.

It is possible that the young woman who took her top off, mentioned in post 104, had low self-esteem and had learnt that one way to get attention was through her body. It is not always the quiet and mousy young women who lack confidence. It is often the loud, bolshie ones who swear and exhibit that sort of behaviour who are really suffering.

Janet: The way I read your post, you weren't disagreeing that the outrageous behaviour described by some is anything but outrageous but warning against being judgemental and posing a question about why it is acceptable to blame different groups for the demise of society at different times.

Edited to add: I also think that the media (in the UK anyway) actively encourages Bad Parent stories and perhaps it is considered safer to blame the parents for society's problems than examine the social and political context of the stories.

>107 labfs39::
I think that is what Janet meant by judging without knowing the circumstances.
That was my interpretation also.

I bet we've all rolled our eyes and complained about a child/parent when, if we had known all the facts, we might have been more sympathetic. Yes, sure have. And of course there are also situations where you learn all the facts the eye-rolling is completely justified!

Hey Darryl!

What are you reading at the moment?!!!

>110 Soupdragon: Sorry, I've been neglectful of my thread and the parenting conversation the past few days. I'm in the midst of writing three reviews for the upcoming issue of Belletrista, working this weekend (where I am now), and preparing for my trip to San Francisco on Monday.

It's been relatively quiet at work, so I was able to finish Fair Play by Tove Jansson, a collection of ordinary encounters involving two older women who live on an island near the Estonian coast. It's beautifully written, and definitely a good read. I'll give it four stars, and hopefully I'll be able to review it by Monday.

On Thursday I finished Above All, Don't Look Back by Maïssa Bey, and I wrote my review for Belletrista yesterday. I'm re-reading Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, and I'll skim over The Memory of Love by Aminatta Forna, and write Belletrista reviews this weekend.

I'll probably bring two books with me to SF on Monday, along with my bloated Kindle; one will likely be A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz, and the other will either be River of Smoke, the new book by Amitav Ghosh, if it comes in the mail today, or The Prospector by J. M. G. Le Clézio.

No need to apologise. I just thought I'd try to steer your thread back in the direction of you!

I'll be looking out for the Belletrista reviews and will be interested to hear what you think of the new Amitav Ghosh.

> 102

I *so* hope that Danielle Evans wins for her book of short stories, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. That was an Early Reviewer book I won here on LT. I liked this book so much (and the author is local to me!) that I emailed her telling her how much I liked her book (actually, I think I tweeted her), and she replied with thanks.

I *almost* bought Wench last weekend, but another book won out. Oh, well. Next time...

I still haven't read the bad parenting conversations closely, but I was deeply offended by one comment (tongue firmly in cheek):

Me: The baby I mentioned had more sense and grey matter than the neighbor (who was an older adult, probably in her 50s...

Luxx: I would argue that when a child's basic needs are not being met, then yes. For example, I would say that some of the examples that Dr. D has shared - leaving an infant who is sick enough to go to a hospital with an elderly neighbor, or beating a child for speaking too loudly - are wrong.

Now just wait one cotton picking minute, my dearest Luxx; since when are people in their 50s elderly??? Are none of you other elderly fiftysomethings distressed by this comment? I have cancelled my flight to SF today, and will instead fly to deepest darkest Maryland, wooden spoon at the ready, to teach this young whippersnapper a lesson.

Of course, I'll probably see Max & Brooks first, become overwhelmed by their terminal cuteness, and forget all about Luxx's comment. Sigh...we elderly people are such softies.

>112 Soupdragon: River of Smoke didn't come on Saturday, so I'll have to put it off until next month. I'll read it for the 3rd quarter Reading Globally theme read, on The Seas.

>113 SqueakyChu: I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Madeline. I'll probably buy it next month; I would assume that my local Borders will have it.

Given its title, Wench may be one for the Kindle...

Three items of comment...

1. I have cancelled my flight to SF today, and will instead fly to deepest darkest Maryland, wooden spoon at the ready, to teach this young whippersnapper a lesson.

*marches in line behind Darryl*
*has no wooden spoon*
*thinks up ways to advocate for the elderly*
*looks for Max and Brooks*
*enjoys the RL meet-up of Luxx, Darryl and me*

By the way, Darryl, ever since I've been in my sixties ('m now 63), my husband (late 50's) and I have been astounded as to how young writers describe the "elderly" in their novels. It's almost as if, once a character reaches their sixty-something age (or even mid-50's), that character already has one foot in the grave.

I'm almost at the point of collecting quotes about this. Some of them are truly absurd. In a novel, though, I guess a writer is free to describe a decripit 60-year-old. My thoughts about this, though, is that they are describing an elderly character from what they believe is elderly. My thoughts about elderly sure are different now than they were when I was 20!

2. Have a wonderful trip to San Francisco!

3. I couldn't help it. I tweeted my congrats to author Danielle Evans, my being so proud of a local author being a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee. Can you tell that I hope she wins? :)

ETA: Evans' short story writing reminded me so much of that of ZZ Packer in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, a book I know that you enjoyed as much as I did.

ETA2: This from the ER review I wrote back in November, 2010...

I predict a great writing future for this talented debut author. I hope that this book’s success will translate into even more written work that the author shares with the public. Whether or not a novel is forthcoming, it is nevertheless clear that this is an author to watch.

I love that the LT ER program allows us to make such discoveries ahead of other more well known book critics. :)

*dodders into war zone*

*peers about through trifocals, none of whose magnifications help him comprehend this thread*

Is this the Early Bird Special room? My grandson said it was here. I got my AARP card and everything.

*climbs back into big old Buick and putters away at 25mph on I-95*

I got my AARP card and everything.

LOL! Even *I* don't have one of those yet, Richard.

In line with Madeline and Darryl @ 58 I don't consider myself elderly..

#115 Skimming through the above comments and was jogged at the comments about "elderly"... then later a reference to the ER program. Did a quick mental flip to interpreting it as "elderly reveiwers" program.

I'm an Early Reviewer myself....however, maybe an "elders reviewer" program wouldn't be so bad.

I too am 58 and don't consider myself elderly.

Occasionally, I'll wake up and feel like I'm 108!

since when are people in their 50s elderly??? Are none of you other elderly fiftysomethings distressed by this comment?

Oh, put your Depends back on. :-p

The implication of your post was what I was picking up on; calendar years mean nothing, it's all how you behave!

Of course, if this is going to cause a Maryland-invasion I may have to keep it up...

My 71-year-old grandfather runs everyday, participates in a volleyball league, and works as a handyman/contractor. I sure as hell hope I'm "elderly" like he is!

And have fun in SF!

Tue Jun 21
Depart Pittsburgh(PIT) at 12:35 PM
Arrive in Baltimore/Washington(BWI) at 01:35 PM

I am so entertained!!! First by the parenting fulminations now the insults of elderhood.

Some good reading about what childhood is historically and how our concept of what it is has evolved over time: Childhood in the Middle Ages and Centuries of Childhood.

I'm 57 but I have a 15 year old daughter...... I can't afford to be elderly!

No, wait, I'm still 56 until July 31. Uh oh!

San Francisco is one of my favourite places in the world. Hope you have a great time!

I can't afford to be elderly!

Now that's a true statement if ever I heard one!

Another 58er who doesn't feel elderly at all! Although I was quite pleased last week when the service advisor at my car repair place said to the body shop guy, "You need to take a look at this young lady's car"!

Thought I'd let you know Darryl that I took out L'art et la manière d'aborder son chef de service aka The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise by Georges Perec from the library today as preparation for our August G.R. of Life: A User's Manual. I got through about half of the former and while at first I was scratching my head and wondering why on earth I was bothering to read a flow chart, the build-up is quite delicious and very funny! (I think I just wrote my review!)

I made it to San Francisco early this evening after an uneventful (but cramped) flight. I checked in at the hotel, and then went to North Beach to my all time favorite cafe, Caffe Greco on Columbus Avenue, for dinner and coffee. One of the guys that works nights there saw me and said, "Hey! Welcome back!" I already felt "at home" after I arrived here, but that greeting is another reminder of why I love this city so much.

>115 SqueakyChu: Excellent, Madeline. We seem to be forming a powerful coalition against Luxx. We'll all converge on her house; unfortunately, we'll probably end up splitting babysitter duties before and after the third Luxxette is born.

As I mentioned last year, the concepts of "middle age" and "elderly" are strongly dependent on one's age, IMO. Despite hitting 50 this year I'm not ready to call myself middle aged, and my mid-70s parents are a few years away from being elderly (I'll concede this when they hit 80, God willing).

You're right, I did enjoy Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, so I'll definitely read Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self (which sounds like something my maternal grandmother would have said to us kids), probably this summer.

I haven't seen anything published by ZZ Packer since Drinking Coffee Elsewhere; hopefully she'll come out with something soon.

>116 richardderus: ROTFL! I have progressive lenses for my glasses, which are basically trifocals without the lines, and I received my AARP card within a day or so of hitting 50. I showed it to my friend that I went out to dinner with last week, and she shrieked so loudly that it startled the two couples sitting on either side of us.

I assume that you're driving in the left hand lane of I-95...

>117 SqueakyChu: You're not a member of AARP, Madeline?

>118 mckait: Nope, 58 is definitely not elderly!

>119 tangledthread: LOL!

>120 cameling: Same here.

>121 London_StJ: Depends??? Ooh, those are definitely fighting words, Ms Luxx! Unfortunately, I've been informed by Tim that I'm not permitted to make threats against pregnant women on LT.

>122 London_StJ: Thanks; it should be a great week here.

>123 mckait: Have a safe and uneventful flight tomorrow, Kath! Your flight is 5 times shorter than mine was today. Give Luxx a couple of good whacks on the shins for us (not) elderly folks.

Darryl, realistically...Luxx 9mos preggers can outrun any one of us over-50s after a good nights' sleep and a mug of coffee. She's what, 16? 17? Too blasted young, anyway, so just *bustin'* with animal spirits.

Don'cha just hate that?

I'm not permitted to make threats against pregnant women on LT.

Oh, I am so riding that one for all it's worth, then!

130 - Oh, not you too! (My babyboard friends liked to call me 13 when we were all expecting our January '08 babies). Add a decade and you got me. I can be pretty feisty, though. ;)

Have fun! Glad I don't have a five hour flight, but I would love to see San Fran someday.
I have my AARP card and my sneakers with insoles.. who says I can't run?

> 129

>117 SqueakyChu: You're not a member of AARP, Madeline?

Nope. Should I be? Why?

Sorry, I fell asleep while I was typing my previous message. It's only 6:40 am here, so I might go back to sleep for an hour or two before I head back to Caffe Greco for breakfast.

I did read a little over 100 pages of A Tale of Love and Darkness, the memoir by Israeli author Amos Oz, which is quite good so far, and I re-read Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, so that I can write a review for Belletrista today.

>124 sibylline: I can't help but think of childhood before modern times (pre-vaccination era) as one filled with disease and death for the majority of children. I'll have to look into these books to counteract that view.

>125 Smiler69: Thanks, Ilana! I'm sure most everyone is aware that SF is my favorite city, although I haven't been out here as often as I have been in years past, when I would visit 3-4 times per year. It definitely feels like a second home, and I think I know this city better than anyplace else I've lived, including Atlanta (although there's still a lot I don't know about SF).

>126 London_StJ: I don't think I can afford to be elderly yet either, especially if I want to fulfill my wish and retire in SF.

>127 rebeccanyc: That comment is worthy of an extra large tip!

>128 Smiler69: I chuckled on numerous occasions while reading The Art of Asking Your Boss for a Raise on a flight from Philadelphia to Atlanta earlier this year, so I'm glad that you also enjoyed it, Ilana. I need to post a thread for the upcoming group read of Life A User's Manual, which I plan to start on August 1; thanks for the reminder!

>130 richardderus: Sigh...you're probably right, Luxx probably could outrun all of us fiftysomethings even in the last days of pregnancy, especially since she has to spend good portions of her days chasing around her boys. And, I wouldn't be surprised if she still is a mean lean fighting machine when she hits 50.

>131 London_StJ: Part of me wouldn't mind being in my mid 20s again, especially if I could bring the wisdom I've picked up along the way. Too soon old, too late smart.

>132 mckait: The only bad thing about the five hour flight was that the distance between my seat and the one in front of me seemed smaller than usual. I'm usually able to get a emergency exit or first class seat, which makes a huge difference, but I bought my tickets too late for that (although I did just grab the one remaining emergency exit seat on Sunday's flight back to ATL). Despite that, I was comfortable enough, and I read over 200 pages of A Tale of Love and Darkness and Redemption in Indigo in the five hours I was on the plane.

>133 SqueakyChu: I'm probably the last person to ask about AARP membership benefits, but I've heard many people mention the discounts that AARP provides, especially for frequent travelers and shoppers.

I should mention a fantastic web site, SeatGuru.com, which allows you to view the seating charts for planes operated by different carriers, and see which seats are especially good or bad, with detailed information about them. Unless I know the type of aircraft well I always check out SeatGuru before making my online seat reservation.

especially if I could bring the wisdom I've picked up along the way

It would be really nice if a future me could write me a letter and pass on some ideas...

Wow sixty is the new elderly?? I don't think so. As a matter of fact, as I gear up for retirement, I expect to act more like a teenager than my remembrances of my 90 year old grandmother. I do remember though, when I was a teenager, thinking anyone over thirty was ancient. But that all changed once I turned thirty ;-)

Sixty is the new forty. Eighty is the new sixty. I, myownself, am likin' *this* New Math. A Lot.

A student figured out how old I am today ... because he hangs out with a kid I grew up with.

I really need to move out of this town.

My mom is 82 and she buzzes around all day with just a short 20 min nap in the afternoon. She wakes at 5am every morning to clean the house ....which annoyed the heck out of us when we were kids .. and even now when I go visit her .. since it means we get woken up too. She refuses to get anyone in to help her because she'll only clean after they leave anyway because she never thinks they do a thorough enough job. She still volunteers at church, and cooks the afternoon and evening meals for the other church staff during the week.

So I think we are as old as we feel, and as old as we want to be. We can use our age as an excuse to do or not do certain things, or we can just embrace our health and live life to the fullest regardless of the number attached to our biological clock.

Hello! I've been absent from LT for a few days, as I'm still in San Francisco. It's been a great trip, and today is my last full day here. I haven't finished any books all week, but I'll probably complete Open City by Teju Cole, A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz, and Naked, a poetry collection about childhood by Shuntarō Tanikawa by tomorrow.

I've bought 35 books on this trip, all but one from City Lights. I'll post my mega-hauls later today or tomorrow.

I was wondering if you were in SF. I can't wait to hear what those 35 books are. Have a good trip home.

35 books, YAY! That probably means my wishlist is about to take another battering. :-)

Glad I stopped by your thread today, Darryl. Although always an interesting visit I particularly liked this one for the seatguru.com website. I've made it a favorite and will refer to it in the future. Thanks.

BTW: I just turned 50 and there is no way in he** I'm going to join AARP. I can only imagine the mailers that will be sent my way, hovarounds and senior sunglasses, uh, uh, no way!

Darryl

I'm spending time this morning catching up on some threads, yours, as always, is downright incredible. I'm enjoying the conversations regarding child rearing, books, age, traveling....

When all is said and done, I have zero tolerance for neglectful parents. I agree with your definition of what constitutes a neglectful parent.

As you know, I work in academia. The students who are polite, sincere and caring shine way above the selfish, self obsessed brats. I've been at Lehigh University 27 years and, at the risk of sound old, I'm experiencing less of the former and more of the later. And, also at the risk of sound aged, I am deeply concern for our society and the future.

I know there is a middle ground between the parent who slaps a child in public and the parent who over indulges the brats, but it seems the extremes are more prevalent.

Regarding age, with health issues this year, I've had an awakening regarding perception of age. I'm 58 and now called "honey", "dear", "sweetheart" by doctors, nurses and technicians. Oh my!

If a doctor called me any of the above, I might throw something at them...My name is on the chart.. kathy is pretty easy to say.. so is Linda, for that matter...

Darryl.. I am in love with Southwest. I had two terrific experiences on this trip.

I think from now on I will only fly to where they can take me :)

So I think we are as old as we feel, and as old as we want to be.

That's pretty much how I feel, and the excuse I'll use to buy ridiculous shoes for the next fifty years.

I'm finally back in Atlanta, after an interesting journey. We landed over an hour late, after we had to do two loops over NW Georgia due to severe thunderstorms. The subway trip from the airport was more exciting than usual, as the train came late, and there was some sort of incident on a station platform that led to at least one arrest (I didn't see it, but there was a lot of screaming and shrieking). As a result, I got home two hours later than I should have.

Tomorrow's high temperature in San Francisco: 65 degrees. Tomorrow's high in Atlanta: 96 degrees. I'm so glad to be back! :-(

I did finish two books today, Naked (Asian Poetry in Translation by Shuntarō Tanikawa (4 stars), and Open City by Teju Cole (4-1/2 stars), and I'm nearly finished with A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz, which I probably won't finish until tomorrow. I'll post reviews and my book hauls in the next day or two.

Welcome home! Glad you're safe and sound, and they haven't figured out what charges to arrest you on yet.

Glad you're back Darryl. Try to stay cool.

I too would take 96 to 65 degrees any day! Glad you had a good trip.

too hot... ugh!

Darryl, I feel your pain. Yesterday, I left sunny, beautiful, 63-degree Monterey, CA for hot and dry, 100-degree Dallas, TX.

Hi, Darryl! Glad you're (finally) home safely after your interesting return trip.

Wow, lots of controversy since I was here last . . .

I've just finished A Tale of Love and Darkness, a memoir by Israeli author Amos Oz, which was both superb and very educational. I'll give it 4-1/2 stars for now. I'll be quite busy and won't be on LT much until Friday, but I'll have a six day break starting on Saturday, so I'll review it (and several other books) then.

Yesterday was a moderately busy day at work, but today was absolutely hideous, with 10 new hospital admissions during the day. As one of my partners said, after the night doc wondered why I was still at work at 8:30 pm when I should have left by 4 pm, "Darryl got destroyed today."

Catching up on posts...

>150 richardderus: I'm not sure what crime I would be arrested for, unless it involved buying too many books. (Sorry, I'm too tired to come up with a wittier response to your comment, sir.)

>151 phebj: It continues to be hotter than normal in Atlanta, and we've only had one day in the past month that it hasn't reached at least 90 degrees here. It will stay in the low 90s until the weekend, when it will hit the upper 90s. I'll probably stay inside most of the six days that I'm off, and I'll probably get a lot of reading done.

>152 Carmenere: Lynda, are you saying that you prefer 96 degrees to 65 degrees??? That is definitely not what I meant!

>153 mckait: Waaayyy too hot...

>154 katiekrug: Ugh. It's depressing to think that summer is only one week old.

>155 tymfos: Thanks, Terri!

Ugh ugh ugh, sounds like a horrid day.

And at least book buying, even on the excessive scale on which you practice it, has yet to be declared a crime. I have to confess that I fell off the wagon today and added two books to my Kindle. Sigh. I was displaying such tremendous willpower, too.

I'm off to buy duct tape tomorrow so that I can Tigger-proof the downstairs office A/C unit. That is the only way that I will survive the summer. Although I'm trying to keep usage of A/C to the bare minimum.

Linda, any health practitioner, store clerk or other individual who calls me "honey" or "sweetheart" will soon learn that I am neither...

This is my first mega-haul from City Lights Bookstore last Tuesday:

To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War by John Gibler: A new publication by City Lights Books (which publishes a few dozen books every year), based on the author's reportage in the US and Mexico over the past few years.

Brodie's Report by Jorge Luis Borges: A collection of short stories written by the author in his later years; recommended by Kerry.

Hopes and Impediments by Chinua Achebe: A collection of essays which I gave to Suz, after I realized that I already owned a copy of it.

The Box Man by Kobo Abe: Recommended by lilisin, this novel is an "eerie and evocative masterpiece" in which the protagonist exchanges his normal life to live in "a large cardboard box {that} he wears over his head." Who hasn't felt like doing this at one time or another?

Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abe: This is Abe's last novel, a "surreal vision of Japanese society" in which the narrator begins to grow radish sprouts on his legs, "an ailment that repulses his doctor but provides the patient with the unusual ability to snack on himself." This was too weird to pass up!

Lightning: A Novel by Jean Echenoz: A short novel inspired by the life of the famous inventor Nikola Tesla, which is about a young engineer who travels from Eastern Europe to America, works with Thomas Edison, and creates a number of fascinating and useful inventions. I was especially interested to read this, after I read The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt last year, which is also based on Tesla's life.

12 Angry Men: True Stories of Being a Black Man in America Today: A collection of stories by twelve African American male writers about their personal experiences with racial profiling.

The Sixty-Five Years of Washington by Juan José Saer: A novel published by Open Letter Books, set in a seaside Argentinian city in 1960, which is a "brilliant comedy about memory, narrative, time, and death, and a moving narrative about the lost generations of an Argentina that was perpetually on the verge of collapse."

Montecore by Jonas Hassen Khemiri: A novel about the experience of the immigrant community in Sweden, told by a Tunisian man who shares the same name as the author (I lent this to Suz, so look for a review from her in the near future).

The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud: The winner of the 2010 Giller Prize, a novel based on the relationship between a Viet Nam war veteran and his daughter, who seeks to uncover his life and rescue him from his demons.

Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America by Jonathan Gill: I wanted to read a book about the history of Harlem from its beginning, after I read Harlem Is Nowhere earlier this year. I hadn't heard of this book, but it seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D.: A book published by Harvard University Press written by a highly regarded African American surgeon (department chief of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School) about racial bias in American health care; I'll probably read this next month.

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century by Dorothy Roberts: An intriguing and provocative look at the interplay between race, science and politics, written by a law professor at Northwestern.

Mañana Forever?: Mexico and the Mexicans by Jorge Castañeda: A new book that was reviewed in this week's New York Times Sunday Book Review, which "sheds much light on the puzzling paradoxes" of the author's native country, and its future possiblities, particularly in its relationship with its not always friendly neighbor to the north.

Yawn...I'll post info about the other 20+ books I bought in SF later this week.

That lot plus another 20+? Did they need their own seat on the plane?

>159 Eat_Read_Knit: Yep; I bought 15 more books on my second trip to City Lights, a measly 5 books on Saturday morning, and a book on the music of Bali from the Asian Art Museum gift shop. All of these books, except for the books I put in my carry on bag, fit into my book bag, which easily fit in the overhead compartment. I made sure of this on Saturday morning, before my last trip to City Lights.

>158 kidzdoc: *gapes*

Great haul (so far!), Darryl.

If you're interested in the drug war in Mexico, I cannot recommend Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields by Charles Bowden highly enough. I read it last year after hearing the author interviewed on NPR and, chilling as it was, it was one of my favorite books of the year. I've seen it out in paperback recently.

I saw Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History at the library and wondered how it would be. Let us know, would ya?

All I can say is that he's lucky I took two of 'em off his hands before he tried boarding. Otherwise Delta would have tsk-tsked and charged him for overweight carry-on luggage.

Amazing selection of books, Darryl. I don't think I've ever heard of any them unfortunately so I'll be looking forward to your (and Suzanne's) future comments about them.

All those books must have been pretty heavy to carry and I'm impressed you were able to put them up in the overhead compartment.

All new titles to me too, though I'm curious about the books pertaining to Tesla. He played an important role in another historical/fantasy novel called The Prestige which I read recently.

eta: you description of The Invention of Everything Else makes me want to read it too, so onto the WL it goes, even though you didn't give it a very high rating.

Who hasn't felt like doing this at one time or another?

Ummm.... me? I have gotten myself wrapped up in a cocoon of my own creation though. A very cozy place, and nothing like a cardboard box, so no real reason to leave either.

Wow Darryl you sure know how to make the rest of us drool. I picked up The Sentimentalists the other day myself and the Oz book has been glaring at me from my shelf for awhile now.

ditto > 161

These are the books I bought on my second trip to City Lights last week:

When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer: A new release from City Lights Pocket Poets Series, which is a "spiritual assessment of the meaning of a lifetime spent writing poetry", by a reknowned Beat poet.

Snow Plain by Duo Duo: A collection of stories by the famed Chinese poet, who was selected as the winner of the 2010 Neustadt Prize for International Literature.

The Comedians by Graham Greene: A novel set in Haiti during the reign of terror of "Papa Doc" Duvalier, recommended by baswood and others.

Fatale by Jean-Patrick Manchette: A crime novella recently re-published by New York Review Books Classics about a nihilistic female professional killer, which was read recently by Rebecca and highly recommended by Scott from City Lights.

Count D'Orgel's Ball by Raymond Radiguet: Another recent NYRB Classics release, which was in the Surrealism section, which is an "intricate and seductive dance of deception and self-deception" involving a count, his wife, and a handsome and mysterious man the couple meet at a circus in early 20th century Paris.

Swallow by Sefi Atta: A "heartbreaking" novel set in contemporary Nigeria about two young women who struggle to make an honest living in Lagos. I'll probably review this for an upcoming issue of Belletrista.

The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo: Highly recommended by lilisin, this 1958 novel is "the first Japanese book to confront the problem of individual responsibility in wartime, painting a searing picture of the human race's capacity for inhumanity."

Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna: The first novel by Forna, whose latest novel The Memory of Love remains my favorite book of the first half of the year, which is about a woman who leaves England to return to her West African home to visit her family after the country's civil war, where she attempts to gather the family, reclaim its plantation, and come to grips with the country's history.

The Lost Steps by Alejandro Carpentier: An adventure novel originally written in 1953, wich concerns a composer who leads an empty life in NYC, and decides to travel with his mistress to an undiscovered village along a "great South American river".

The Emigrants by George Lamming: A classic novel about the first wave of immigrants from the Caribbean to the UK in the 1950s. I've been looking for this book for a while, after I read and loved The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

Taller When Prone by Les Murray: A new collection of poems by the famed Australian writer, who is frequently mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Translating Mo'um by Cathy Park Hong: The first poetry collection by this Korean-American author, whose work is featured in the summer issue of The Paris Review.

Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke: This book about an outbreak of AIDS in an interior Chinese village and the local government's attempt to cover up the blood-selling scandal that led to it was high on my wish list, after I read and enjoyed his earlier satirical novel Serve the People!.

Underdog by Katrina Roberts: A poetry collection that I admittedly bought because of the cover photo, after seeing the book prominently displayed in the Poetry Room at City Lights:



Millenium People by J.G. Ballard: A novel that was originally written in 2003 but was just published in the US, which is a thriller about a bombing at Heathrow Airport originally attributed to foreign terrorists, but later found to be due to the actions of a group of middle class Britons led by a "charismatic pediatrician turned cult leader". How could I pass this book up?

Planning to turn cult leader in your spare time??

On my last trip to City Lights on Saturday I came away with these five books:

Naked (Asian Poetry in Translation) by Shuntaro Tanikawa: An excellent collection of poems told in the voice of several children, which I read earlier this week (4 stars).

the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett: A collection of poems by a writer who is new to me. I saw this in the Poetry Room, chuckled and hmph'ed after reading the first few poems, and added it to the pile.

Dump This Book While You Still Can! by Marcel Benabou: I discovered this book in the European Literature section after reading its intriguing title, which is a playful novel about a narrator who picks up a book that has mysteriously appeared on his desk which urges him to discard it immediately.

The Chameleon Couch by Yusef Komunyakaa: The latest collection of poems by this highly regarded artist, which "returns to the idea of poem-as-hymn, ethereal and haunting, as Komunyakaa reveals glimpses of memory, myth and violence."

The Land at the End of the World by António Lobo Antunes: An early novel by Antunes that has just been published in English translation in the US, and positively reviewed in today's New York Times here, which is about a "psychologically traumatized and emotionally marooned" Portuguese medic who has completed a hellish tour of duty during the Angolan civil war.

I also bought one book at the Asian Art Museum gift shop, after Suz and I saw the superb Bali exhibit there: A House in Bali by Colin McPhee, a book originally written in 1947 about the author's stay in Bali after he became entranced by gamelan music after he accidentally listened to recordings of it.

Wow, another interesting selection and I love the book cover.

I saw The Land at the End of the World on display at my library this morning and had a quick look. It meets Suzanne's TIOLI typographic cover art challenge criteria.

"Dump This Book While You Still Can" - love that title! Congrats on all the lovely book purchases. :)

>161 richardderus:, 168 Now you can gape.

>162 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. I remember that you "enjoyed" Murder City, so I'll have to keep a closer eye for that book, although it's already high on my wish list. I haven't seen it at City Lights or Book Culture yet.

>163 drneutron: Will do, Jim.

>164 Chatterbox: I was nowhere near close to my weight limit, believe it or not! Most of these books, especially the poetry collections and NYRB Classics titles, are on the smaller size.

>165 phebj: My book bag was moderately heavy, but it probably weighed less than 20 lb and the bag isn't bulky, so it wasn't as hard to carry it as you might think. It's a Travelpro Tote Bag, the brand (supposedly) preferred by pilots, flight attendants and frequent travelers, which is both lightweight and well built.

>166 Smiler69: I've definitely become a fan of Echenoz, so it was easy to buy this book after I saw it amongst the new nonfiction titles at City Lights. I'm still looking for his novel I'm Gone, which is supposedly his best one.

>167 brenzi: I finished A Tale of Love and Darkness yesterday; it was excellent, and an easy choice for one of the best books I've read this quarter (4.6 stars).

>170 Chatterbox: My parents wouldn't let me become a youth leader for Elijah Muhammad's Nation of Islam, a decision which has severely scarred me for life, so I must fulfill my destiny by becoming a cult leader.

>172 avatiakh: Thanks, Kerry. The little dog made me think of Sartre in the midst of a severe existential crisis, and I laughed out loud when I saw the book's cover.

>173 avatiakh: That's right; I think I'll add it to Suz's challenge. Thanks again!

>174 BookAngel_a: Thanks, Monica! I love going to City Lights, as I always find enticing books that I wouldn't have found out about anywhere else, such as Dump This Book While You Still Can!.

I won a copy of Pao by Kerry Young from this month's LT Early Reviewer titles, and hopefully it will come in time for me to read it next month.

I'm extremely happy to see this work week come to an end, as it's been far busier than normal, and because I've been dealing with the worst allergy symptoms I've had in years, which were so bad that I initially thought I had a really bad URI (upper respiratory infection). I'll be off for six days starting Saturday, and I can't wait to catch up on sleep, and read some of these new books!

Ugh, bad news that the allergies followed you back from San Francisco -- yuck. Still, at least you will have more than enough books to keep you company while you battle them off!!

I scored a copy of the pseudo-biography by William Boyd, which I'm VERY excited about getting. I've also managed to win a whole host of freebies via GR and Twitter in recent days, not to mention all the e-galleys I'm getting, so I'm literally awash in books. Without having to spend much money to get 'em...

Echenoz is FAB. Can say more with five words than other authors with 50.

ETA: I'm getting that Ding Village book from the library...

Sorry to hear about the allergies, but as Suz says, you have plenty of goodies to keep your mind on other things for a while.

I love the book cover too. I can't say I'm a poetry reader, but I would have purchased that one too. Very funny. Hope it's as good as it looks!

Great haul!

Glad to see you got The Lost Steps; it's one of my favorite books so far this year, and I'm itching to read more Carpentier. I had mixed feelings about Fatale, so I'll be interested in what you think. I've also read Count d'Orgel's Ball and remember finding it a little odd, but I don't remember a lot more about it. Lots of other intriguing titles too. Enjoy your reading time when you get it!

So, do you ship these home, or are you just moving to San Fran to be with your books?

Hi Darryll.
We'll see if the old dictum "can't judge a book by its cover" fails to hold true in the case of The Underdog. But I agree with you, the cover is very intriguing and funny; probably will result in more sales of the book.
I assume you've read Carpentier before, I'm looking forward to your comments. I have not read anything of his since my college days (in the 60s), and I can't really recall what I read then.

Oh, by the way, i forgot to mention about your passing the Basque writer as Catalan. Oh, well, both are somewhere in Spain. But, just in case, you may want to wear a disguise if you travel through either region.

Woo! The work week is officially over. I would do a Snoopy happy dance, but I'm having another asthma attack, along with a moderately bad URI (upper respiratory infection), which I mistook as an environmental allergy yesterday. I'm pretty gassed, after coughing all night last night and all day at work, so I'll probably crash shortly.

I've acquired two more books: Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman (e-book), and River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (from AbeBooks via The Book Depository). I'll start River of Smoke, the sequel to Sea of Poppies, this weekend, after I finish The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio.

Oof, very sleepy now...back later, or tomorrow.

If anyone deserves some rest, it's you. See you when you're slept out.

Remember, Snoopy was also spotted asleep atop his dog house, ears draped over the roof. The happy dance can wait...

Just finished The Prospector and will be interested in your reaction. Hope you feel better soon

Sleep well and feel better, sir.

Hi Darryl, finally caught up on your thread. I recently got the iPad 2 and neglected my reading as well as LT. But I also discovered that reading on the iPad was on iBook app was simply amazing.

Nice books from ur San Francesco trip. Awaiting ur reviews.

> 156

I'm really glad that you got to read the Amos Oz biography and enjoyed it . Having lived in Jerusalem before (I loved that city so much*!), I found it interesting to read about the author's having grown up there (until he decided to leave the city for kibbutz life). I also thought thought it was mighty interesting to read about how Oz developed his political leanings.

In case you ever travel to Jerusalem, I remembers visiting a great used book store that I could reach by bus. I used to buy tons (well, may be not "tons") of books in English published by Penguin.

*Oddly, I ended up living in Jerusalem precisely because, at the time I ended up going to Israel, I could not find a nursing job in San Francisco (my second favorite city).

> 158

Oooh! The Box Man!! So weird!!!

I really liked that bizarre story and hope that you do too, Darryl. I second lilisin's recommendation of that book.

Thanks for your kind wishes, everyone. I'm feeling much better this morning, after I restarted my asthma medications. I only took them for 3 days in San Francisco, but I'll stay on albuterol and prednisone (rescue medications) for at least 5 days, and take Symbicort (a daily preventive medicine for asthma) for at least 1-2 months, especially if the air quality here continues to be poor (which is highly likely).

I went to my local supermarket (Publix, which is easily the best supermarket chain I've ever been to, with friendly employees and an excellent selection of competitively priced products) at 7 am when the store opened, to beat the holiday crowds, and had breakfast at Einstein Bros. (egg wrap and coffee). It felt reasonably comfortable when I left home, but it was already steamy by the time I returned home an hour later (76 degrees, heat index 85 degrees, forecast high temperature 96 degrees with a heat index of 105 degrees and another Code Orange Air Quality Alert day for people with respiratory conditions, such as asthma), and I started coughing again during the drive back. I'm still coughing, but at least I'm breathing easily today. So, I'll stay inside for most of the next 3 days, except for early morning and late evening trips.

>177 Chatterbox: Yep, I have more than enough books (although that was true before I went to SF...). Congratulations on your recent and upcoming acquisitions!

Agreed; Echenoz is a superb writer. I was disappointed that City Lights didn't have I'm Gone, so I'll have to look for that in NYC or London.

I look forward to your comments about Dream of Ding Village, as I suspect that you'll read it before I will.

>178 Smiler69: I should have said that I did read a couple of poems in Underdog before I decided to buy it, but I did select it from the other 100+ prominently displayed poetry collections solely on the basis of the cover photo. There's a good chance that I'll read it this coming week.

>179 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca! I'm off for the next 6 days, and other than a couple of tasks I'll be free to read until Friday. I remember that you were a bit lukewarm about Fatale, but Scott, one of the guys that works at City Lights who I've become friendly with, loved it, so I decided to get it. I didn't realize, or had forgotten, that you had read Count d'Orgel's Ball; the description of the book was compelling, and seeing that it was a NYRB Classics combined with its small size tipped me toward buying it. I'm much more willing to try an unknown short novel that seems moderately interesting rather than a tome, but I'll buy a unknown book that sounds really interesting without considering its size, unless it's a doorstopper (>700 pages or so).

>180 mckait: I did think of shipping these books home, but I do have an excellent tote bag from Travelpro that serves as my "book bag". I'll often buy 30-35 books on my SF and London trips, so this wasn't an unusual haul for me, and I always check one day in advance to be sure that I have enough room in my luggage to bring back all of my purchases.

>181 xieouyang: I haven't read anything by Carpentier, although The Lost Steps has been on my wish for awhile. I'll probably read it sooner rather than later.

>182 xieouyang: I need to learn more about the regions of Spain, especially since I'd like to go there in the next couple of years. I'm in the process of planning a trip to London and Paris starting in late August, as I'll probably be off from work from then until the last week of September, and there's a slight chance I might take a quick trip to Barcelona in mid to late September.

>184 richardderus: Thank you, sir. I need to catch up on your threads, and the others I've neglected over the past couple of weeks.

>185 Chatterbox: Yes, there will be no happy dancing until I can stop coughing! I assume that I'll be back to near normal in the next 2-3 days.

>186 rebeccanyc: Thanks, Rebecca. I'll resume reading The Prospector this morning; I only read two pages of it yesterday.

>187 London_StJ: Thanks, Luxx!

>188 mausergem: I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying your iPad2, Gautam. I'm still very tempted by it, but I think I'll hold off buying it for now, especially after I bought my first Kindle earlier this year (which I love).

>189 SqueakyChu: I'll definitely review A Tale of Love and Darkness this week, Madeline. It was interesting and very educational to read about the experiences and hardships of the Jewish population of Israel after the country was granted independence, as everything else I had read pertained to the Palestinians who were displaced from their homes in 1948. I'll definitely read more by him in the near future; I've read How to Cure a Fanatic and Rhyming Life and Death, and I own Black Box and The Same Sea. Oh; I just saw that My Michael, his first and supposedly best novel, is available on the Kindle. *click*

>190 SqueakyChu: I loved The Woman in the Dunes by Abe, and lilisin's review of The Box Man pushed it (and The Sea and Poison) to the top of my wish list.

I just took the Taste in Art test that others have also taken:

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Extroverted, Progressive, and Intelligent

18 Cubist, -8 Islamic, -2 Ukiyo-e, -14 Impressionist, 1 Abstract and -21 Renaissance!

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. It revolutionized European art and inspired changes in music and literature. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism. It was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1908 and 1911 mainly in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, (using synthetic materials in the art) the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919.

People that chose Cubist paintings as their favorite art form tend to be very individualized people. They are more extroverted and less afraid of speaking their opinions then other people. They tend to be progressive and are very forward thinking. As the cubist painting is like looking into a shattered mirror where you can see different angles of the images, the people that prefer these paintings like looking at all angles of a problem. These people are intelligent and they are the transformers of our generation. They look beyond what is seen into what things could become. They are ready to leave the ideas of the past behind and look at what the future has to offer.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

I am "Traditional, Vibrant, and Tasteful." Neat quiz!

I enjoyed this quiz, which I first saw on Jane's (janepriceestrada's) thread last week. I agree with some of the analysis, but I'm a situational extrovert at best, and I know many people who are far more intelligent than me. I do like to view problems from different angles, and I try to look at all sides of an argument instead of aligning myself with one position.

I don't think I've mentioned that the University of Chicago Press offers a free e-book from its stock at the beginning of every month, which can be downloaded as an Adobe Digital Edition e-pub file and converted to other formats. This month's selection is The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery by Robert van Gulik, which is available here:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

My planned July TIOLI (Take It Or Leave It) reads for the month are:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (challenge #1)
Dump This Book While You Still Can! by Marcel Bénabou (challenge #1)
Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D. (challenge #1)
the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett (challenge #1)
The Prospector by J.M.G. Le Clézio (challenge #2)
Granta 113: The Best of Young Spanish Novelists (challenge #5)
Hearts and Minds by Amanda Craig (challenge #5)
Ghostwritten by David Mitchell (challenge #8)
On Beauty by Zadie Smith (challenge #8)
The Outcast by Sadie Jones (challenge #8)
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu (challenge #9)
River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh (challenge #15)
The London Train by Tessa Hadley (challenge #16)
The Swimmer by Roma Tearne (challenge #16)
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht (challenge #16)

I'm not sure that I'll read all of these books this month, and there are several other books that I'd like to read, including The Chukchi Bible by Yuri Rytkheu and some of the other books I bought at City Lights last week.

Oh, I like the description -- situational extrovert!!

What I wasn't liking about that thread was that too many of the works were iconic -- for instance, I tend to really like a lot of early Renaissance art and Ukiyoe, but not the ones on offer. I've seen that Memling portrait that I can never see it with fresh eyes. And in some cases, the works I liked were just ones that I liked "better" than the other two options, rather than in absolute terms. And I'm not really sure that I'm all that "Balanced, Secure and Realistic"!

But here are my results:

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.
21 Impressionist, 21 Islamic, -1 Ukiyo-e, -8 Cubist, -15 Abstract and -9 Renaissance!

People that like Impressionist paintings may not alway be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aestically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impresssionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

I do think it's very true about seeing life in shades of grey and that I may not be "what is deemed socially acceptable"! I'll leave Richard & Darryl to comment on that...

>197 Chatterbox: That description is a bit harsh, I think; not "socially acceptable", "do not appreciate the ideas of others", "not very open to new experiences"? Nope, this doesn't describe you, IMO.

Ha, I read that as they do not like people that are rude AND PEOPLE THAT do not appreciate the ideas of others. There are little awkwardnesses in some of these that made me wonder whether English may not be the author's first language...

>199 Chatterbox: Ah, you're right; I read the paragraph too quickly. However, I still think that the description doesn't fit you.

Book #85: the immigrant suite: hey xenophobe! who you calling a foreigner? by Hattie Gossett



My rating:

Hattie Gossett is an African-American poet and spoken word artist who lives in upper Manhattan, "where the Dominican Republic meets the Republic of Harlem". Her neighborhood is filled with past and recent immigrants of color, and she puts their voices and experiences on paper in this hard hitting collection of poems about the immigrant experience in the United States.

The voices in these poems speak of the dreams of those who seek a better life in the United States, such as the narrator in this excerpt from the opening poem, in america i will...#1:

i am moving to america because in america i will...
wear shoes every day & speak my mind freely
get my own web site & platinum amex with fries on the side
take the baby to a real doctor & have my own place
see the statue of liberty & drink the best beer

for me america means...
washing my clothes in a machine not in a bucket
sleeping in a real bed
seeing mickey mouse
taking a bath whenever i want to
never forgetting my ancestors
getting paid
sending money home to my family

These hopes are soon dashed by the realities of life in America for poor immigrants, as they face mistrust and discrimination from those who came before them, even from those who look like them, as in this excerpt from send them back!

send them back where they came from
theyre taking jobs away from americans
damn stinking foreigners
sneaking in over & under the borders in the dead of nite & in broad daylite
overstaying their visas
laying around making babies & getting welfare & working for nothing & not paying taxes
cant even talk english right
sure can count that money though
who let them open up so many vegetable markets & fast food spots
(gimme 4 wings fries & a soda yo)
yeah
who let them buy up all that real estate & all those treasury notes?
its a conspiracy
sure is
uh huh

And, in this excerpt from have we got a job for you!, the immigrant realizes that his job title and social standing in his home country are meaningless here:

hot jobs dreams come true bulletin #109
doctor at home scrubs the hospital floor over here
supermarket chain owner at home picks tomatoes over here
judge at home shines shoes in the courthouse lobby over here

calling all those who lived the good life
calling all those who were in charge
all who were the obedient instruments of power
all who had a big house & servants
all whose foot never touched the ground
whose hand never got dirty
who issued orders
who happily carried out orders
have we got a job for you!
here fill out these forms
report to room d for document review

The most powerful poem in this collection, thats what he told us, is narrated by a young girl brought to the US with the promise of a better life as a nanny, who is forced into the sex trade industry.

This was an interesting and eye opening collection of poems about the immigrant experience in America, whose lives and stories are often untold and ignored by the larger population. Gossett's book also contains a prologue and epilogue, which link these immigrants' current struggles to the past ones of Native Americans and African Americans.

The Wimbledon men's final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is outstanding so far. Djokovic just won the first set 6-4 after breaking serve in the 10th game, and he is playing brilliantly.

Hey Darryl ... I'm glued to the Men's Final too. Great match so far, and I'm glad that Nadal's taken the 3rd ... it wouldn't do for the final to be easy. ;-)

Book #76: Partitions by Amit Majmudar



My rating:

This novel is set during The Great Partition in 1948, when India gained its independence from Great Britain and the new state of Pakistan was created on the same day. The months after the announcement of the India Independence Act of 1947 were fraught with increasing rancor between the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh populations within British India, led initially by politicians seeking greater control and power, who exhorted their supporters to take to the streets, which led to increasing acts of random and brutal mob violence against members of the other communities. Relationships between these three populations deteriorated to the point where it became impossible or extremely dangerous for Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs to live alongside each other, as they had done for hundreds of years. As a result, approximately 25 million people relocated to new homelands in the days and weeks leading up to Independence Day in India and Pakistan, taking perilous journeys where food and water were scarce, and kidnapping and murder were constant threats.

Partitions is narrated by the late physician father of twin Hindu boys Keshav and Shankar, who have become separated from their mother during their attempted flight from Pakistan to India by train. The boys make a fortunate decision to jump off of the train, but the frail Shankar is injured when he hits the ground. At the same time, Ibrahim Masud, a Muslim pediatrician who cares for all children equally, is forced to flee India after his clinic is destroyed by fanatical Hindus, and Simran, a teenage Sikh girl, finds herself alone after her family is slaughtered by a Muslim mob.

The four all head in the same direction via different paths, toward an uncertain future, and each faces extreme danger throughout the journey.

Partitions is a beautifully written and gripping debut novel, which brings the tragedy and devastations of The Great Partition to life in the stories of these four characters, who are developed and portrayed very well by the author, a radiologist and award winning poet. Highly recommended! (4.2 stars)

>203 cameling: Congratulations to Novak Djokovic, the 2011 men's Wimbledon champion! I thought that Nadal would take the match after his rally in the third set, but Djokovic showed great toughness and resolve to break Nadal twice in the fourth set. Nadal played well, but Djokovic was clearly the better player on this day.

The longlist for this year's Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books has been announced; these are the books and comments by the judges:

Alex's Adventures in Numberland by Alex Bellos (US title: Here's Looking at Euclid)
“A playful book that joyously takes us all by the hand on a grown-up trip through the world of mathematics.”

Here on Earth: A New Beginning by Tim Flannery
“Depicting the Earth as a superorganism of which we are just a part, the author uses his optimistic, experienced voice to unravel the natural history of our world and ourselves.”

Massive: The Hunt for the God Particle by Ian Sample
“An exciting adventure through the world of the biggest subject in physics: the Higgs boson.”

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach
“This sharp and witty exploration of spaceflight is a rare combination - a science book with a sense of humour.”

Spider Silk by Leslie Brunetta and Catherine L. Craig
“This book uses an unlikely subject to draw out many of the major principles of biology, drawing the reader into the surprisingly fascinating world of the spider.”

The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
“A charming book that brings the elements of the periodic table to life.”

The Fever: How Malaria Has Ruled Mankind for 500,000 Years by Sonia Shah
“This book looks at an immense political and scientific challenge, malaria, and illuminates the heroic role science has played in the battle against it.”

The Price of Altruism by Oren Harman: The Bodley Head
“This book has a wonderfully engaging biographical curve, interwoven with the scientific theories of altruism postulated by its hero.”

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves by Matt Ridley
“Reading this book made us all feel more cheerful and provided a welcome counter-balance to some of the distortions of science by the media.”

The Rough Guide to the Future by Jon Turney
“We really enjoyed the unusual format of this book, whose many summaries, boxes, graphs and illustrations made the huge range of issues covered really accessible.“

The Wavewatcher's Companion by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
“A lovely, eccentric book filled with fascinating science that takes apart all elements of waves.”

Through the Language Glass: How words colour your world by Guy Deutscher
“A quirky book about the science of language, brought to life with history and anecdote.”

What Technology Wants by Kevin Kelly
“The concept at the centre of this book, that technology is evolving somehow and ‘going somewhere’, felt immensely relevant and intrigued us all.”

The shortlist will be annouced on 27 September 2011, and the winner will be annouced on 17 November 2011.

More info: http://royalsociety.org/awards/science-books/longlist/

What a great review of Partitions, Darryl. Definitely one I'm adding to my obese wish list. If you're interested in the history leading to the partition of India and Pakistan, I think you'll enjoy Indian Summer : The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann.

>207 cameling: Thanks, Caroline. I do own Indian Summer, and I'll probably get to it later this year. I also enjoyed The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan, which I read earlier this year.

I ordered Partitions from Amazon last week, Darryl. Glad you thought so highly of it!

Hopefully you're not working today, Darryl, and get to celebrate the day?

Happy 4th to you too, Caroline! I'm off today and the next 3 days, and I'm participating in Suz's 24 hour holiday Read-a-Thon that ends at 4 pm today. I've already finished two books, Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D. (5 stars!), and The Outcast by Sadie Jones (4 stars), and I'll almost certainly finish The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo by the time it ends. I'll also read The Passport in America: The History of a Document by Craig Robertson today, a book about American history for the 4th.

I'm still dealing with the worst asthma attack I've had in the past 2-3 years, so I'll stay inside except for an emergency coffee run later today.

What are your plans?

Darryl, have you caught up with this bit of news?
Amazon Acquires UK-Based Online Book Retailer The Book Depository For International Expansion. A quote: "It’s unclear from the release if The Book Depository will become an Amazon-owned but independent site or if will be folded into the Amazon platform."

Sigh.

>212 lauralkeet: No, I didn't hear about this, but I'm not surprised, as Amazon and AbeBooks, the Canadian company that Amazon owns, both sell books via The Book Depository. Thanks for letting us know, Laura!

glitter-graphics.com

Sorry to hear you've had a bad asthma attack, Darryl. What brought it on?

We're having friends over for the late afternoon and then heading into Cambridge to watch the fireworks along the banks of the Charles River tonight. It's hot and muggy, but I hope it'll cool down a little this evening.

>215 cameling: It started in San Francisco, with a mild URI and a minor flare up, which only lasted a day or two, but it flared up with a vengeance after I returned to Atlanta, when I acquired a much more significant URI, presumably from a patient, and a bad asthma attack that began Thursday night. It didn't help that I worked all day Friday and didn't take anything for nearly 24 hours, and that the air quality in Atlanta has been bad for the past week. Fortunately I had already loaded up on rescue and preventive asthma medications just before I flew to SF, so I have everything I need here.

Fortunately it looks as if it's about to rain here (I can hear thunder in the distance), so this will help cleanse the air.

It's hot and muggy here, and we've already hit the 90 degree mark.

Hope you'll be breathing easier soon, Darryl!

>217 tymfos: Thanks, Terri!

Sorry about the lungs... but at least you have coffee supplies! and three more days to go before the next work bout.

*waves*

>219 Chatterbox: (knock on wood) Today is the first day that I'm feeling nearly back to normal. The nights are still the worst times for people with asthma, but I wasn't coughing as much last night and early this morning as I had been on the past three nights. I'm very grateful that I don't have to work until Friday, as it will give me that much more time to recover as fully as possible.

I still don't have coffee, although I have plenty of tea, and my Peet's Coffee shipment will come tomorrow. I had meant to buy a pound or two of Peet's Coffee in SF, but completely forgot about it.

I must remember to set up a thread for the August group read of Life A User's Manual by Georges Perec! I'll do this either today or, more likely, tomorrow.

keristars has created a thread about Amazon's acquisition of The Book Depository:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/120016

Can commiserate w/you on the asthma front. Thanks too for the science shorts -- I'm going to have to look at a few of them. The only one I have already is the Roach -- do any of them particularly intrigue you? Hmmmm I can guess that the Malaria one might. I'm wondering if the first book might not be interesting, and Spider Silk.

Am awed by your ability to go coffee-less, and pleased your asthma may be clearing. Yes, do set up that group! I will join (assuming I can find where I stashed the book) and Glenn/chexmix was interested also. Am reading a fascinating book that might interest you -- Unnatural Selection by Mara Hvistendahl. If you were doing your job in some parts of China, your practice might be confined only to little boys!

As I previously mentioned, the nights are the worst time for those of us with asthma. I woke up coughing my head off at ~3:30 am, and I'm still at it. I'm very happy that I don't have to go to work tomorrow, as I'd hate to go in only having had 3 hours of sleep.

I finished The Passport in America: A History of a Document by Craig Robertson just before midnight, which was a very dry and academic book about a topic I was very interested about. I'll review it, and the three books I read during the Read-a-Thon, later today.

>221 sibylline: Lucy: All of these books sound moderately interesting, the Shah above the others for obvious reasons (and I majored in Microbiology as an undergraduate), but none of them grab me yet. I'll look at these titles when I go to London next month, and I'll probably read the Shah and whichever title wins. I have several Royal Society for Science Book Prize longlisted books, and both winning titles, from the past two years, so I really should read those first before I buy any new ones.

>222 Chatterbox: I'll set up the group read thread for Life A User's Manual later today. I'll look for your review of Unnatural Selection, which sounds interesting.

Hi Darryl - sorry your asthma is really bad. I hope the drugs have started working now - I am very slack at forgetting my preventer till it's a bit late!

I'm in the middle of nowhere and would have missed the news about the Book Depository for another few days if you hadn't mentioned it, so thanks. Am going to read the thread now, with trepidation. I bet they start charging to send to New Zealand...

I have one of the books on that science prize list - Alex's Adventures in Numberland. Haven't started it yet, but it was an impulse buy a few months back and looks interesting, and the author sounded funny and smart on the Guardian books podcast.

The Passport in America does sound like an interesting topic. One of my ancestors had one of those Georgia passports to pass through Indian lands. It sounds as though this book discusses those types of passports too.

drive-by hug

I just can't shake my mini-bug either. It's now been a month since I caught the "real" cold, and I'm still waking up in the mornings with a sore throat from post nasal drip. Takes me until noon to feel human. Add to that weird/bizarre dreams that are partly due to taking 1/3 of a Unisom to get to sleep: last night in my dreams I was apparently giving a hedge fund manager tips on PR, lecturing him earnestly on things like the wealth gap. NO, that's NOT wish fulfillment, at any level. Sigh.

Woo! My regular order of Peet's coffee came today, and I'm enjoying my first cup of java in a day and a half, which is probably a record for me. It came just in time, as the DTs were setting in.

Prompted by a 48 hour hotel sale on hotels.com, I've made hotel and flight reservations to go to London next month. As it stands now, I'll arrive there on 26 August, and leave on 18 September. I'll stay in the capital for the bulk of my trip, and probably go to Paris via Eurostar for a few days in the middle. Hopefully I can get together with some of you I've already met, and see some new faces, too.

>224 cushlareads: Which preventive medicine do you take, Cushla? Until this month I used Advair (fluticasone/salmeterol), but I just switched to Symbicort (budesonide/formoterol), on the recommendation of one of our pulmonologists and a partner of mine, whose asthma is far worse than mine. I initially used the Symbicort inhaler without a spacer (see below), and it didn't seem as though the medicine was getting into my lungs. I tried it with my Aerochamber early this morning, and it seems to have made a big difference. I always use my Aerochamber with my albuterol MDI, as the spacer allows the smaller aerosolized particles to travel into the bronchi, relatively unimpeded by the larger particles.



I probably should have started Symbicort while I was in SF, but that asthma flare up was so mild and short lasting that I didn't think it was necessary. My asthma is usually intermittent, and I can go a year or more without a significant flare up (and it's probably been at least 8 months since my last one), so I only take a preventive after a moderate attack, or when I notice that I'm coughing or short of breath due to my usual triggers (URIs, environmental allergens such as cat dander or pollen, weather changes, etc.).

I'm taking albuterol every 4-6 hours, and I started to taper my prednisone dose today after a 5 day burst (60 mg x 5 days, then 40 mg x 2 days, then 20 mg x 2 days, then 10 mg x 2 days). I'll stay on Symbicort for at least one month.

Any thanks about Amazon's acquisition of The Book Depository should be sent to Laura, as she let me know about it (message 212). There is an article in today's Guardian about it, but it's also lacking in details:

Booksellers fear 'stranglehold' as Amazon snaps up British rival The Book Depository

I would normally place orders with The Book Depository once the Booker Prize longlist comes out (on 26 July this year), but I'll buy the ones that are unavailable in the US that I don't already own after I arrive in London next month.

I look forward to your comments about Alex's Adventures in Numberland; Karen (kiwidoc) just posted a message on the thread for this award in the Prizes group (here) that she will read it next. I've fallen way behind on my planned medicine and science reads, so I'll read Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution by Nick Lane, last year's winner, to my list of books to read this month, and read The Age of Wonder, the 2009 winner, next month.

>225 thornton37814: The topic of passports is very interesting to me, now that I've started to travel abroad, and I snapped up The Passport in America as soon as I heard about the book. Unfortunately it was pretty lifeless and overly academic, and I skimmed through the last half of the book after struggling with it most of yesterday. Others may like it more than I did, though.

>226 richardderus: Thank you, sir; I needed that!

>227 Chatterbox: My SF cold was history by the time I left, and the new one I acquired in ATL is nearly gone, although I'm still having some postnasal drip which could be a remnant of this URI or, most likely, due to allergy symptoms. I'm now taking Zyrtec for allergic rhinitis, which is working pretty well.

I'm off to write some reviews...

Song of the day: "Quem mandou (Pé na estrada)" by Gilberto Gil and Jorge Ben, from the 1992 album Gil & Jorge, which features the two Brasilian artists singing and playing guitar, accompanied only by a small percussion section:

YouTube: Quem mandou (Pé na estrada)- Jorge Ben & Gilberto Gil

ETA: This album is actually from 1975, not 1992.

Book #86: Seeing Patients: Unconscious Bias in Health Care by Augustus A. White III, M.D.



My rating:

Dr. Augustus A. White III, the son of a physician in segregated Memphis, graduate of Brown (undergraduate degree in psychology), Stanford (medical school) and Yale (residency), Vietnam War combat surgeon, renowned orthopaedic surgeon and researcher, first African American to chair a department at Harvard Medical School, and former master of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Society at Harvard, has a most impressive résumé and interesting life story. Fortunately he shares his life with the reader in the first half of this outstanding book, and he is a surprisingly gifted story teller, with a style that I found completely captivating. He encounters racial prejudice along the way to the top, but handles these obstacles with grace and aplomb, in keeping with his upbringing in the African American middle class community of Memphis who nurtured and praised him while stressing him to be humble and grateful for the gifts and opportunities he had been given. He was also taught to be a role model for others, and as he became a respected professor at Yale and Harvard and a fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons he used his position to advocate for greater representation of racial minorities in medical schools and orthopaedic residency programs, and to address the inequalities in health care and medical outcomes that minorities, the women, elderly and other populations continue to experience in the United States.

In the second half of the book, Dr. White describes some of the findings outlined in the landmark book Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, published in 2001 by the Institute of Medicine, which was influenced by several studies that demonstrated that stark disparities in health care outcomes based on race, ethnicity, gender and age exist for different health conditions, even when factors such as health insurance and socioeconomic status were controlled for. Hispanics and African Americans received adequate pain control far less often than their white counterparts; women with heart attacks characterized by severe blockage of blood flow were nearly twice as likely as men to die afterward, and women with heart disease are far less likely to be accurately diagnosed by their doctors (as their symptoms are more likely to be attributed to stress) and receive standard of care treatment such as angioplasty, bypass surgery, and cholesterol lowering drugs; and elderly people, particularly women, are far less likely to be offered kidney transplants for renal failure, even those who are in good health.

In his work with the Oliver Wendell Holmes Society and his colleagues at Harvard, Dr. White and others advocated for the teaching of culturally competent care to medical students, in an effort to encourage physicians to evaluate and understand their own biases, so that they could provide each patient with the highest standard of care possible. He recognizes that most physicians genuinely care for their patients and want to give their best effort toward them, but cultural biases and personal factors that affect the patient-doctor relationship can impede the task. He injects personal vignettes and stories of others, which made me think about the families that I've taken care of who I haven't liked or communicated well with in the past, and understand that often I did not give them the same level of care that I did to families and children that I closely bonded with, regardless of their race or ethnic background.

The book closes with a section of practical suggestions for patients and physicians to use to better communicate with each other, and a list of national standards to ensure that every patient receives culturally competent health care.

Seeing Patients is a superb biography about an amazing man, a call to arms to ensure that all patients are treated fairly and equally, and a guide to aid health care providers and patients communicative effectively and respectfully to each other. I intend to encourage all of my colleagues, and the residents, medical students and physician assistant students who rotate on our service to buy and read this book, which jumps to the top of my short list of books that every health care provider should read. In addition, I think the lay reader would also enjoy and benefit from this book, as all of us have to encounter a health care provider who may or may not be respectful toward us at some point. Unfortunately, none of you will be able to pry my copy away from me anytime soon!

Sounds like a fascinating read!

And I'm PEA GREEN with envy re London. You should try and catch the last night of the proms, if not in the Royal Albert Hall, then in Hyde Park. *sniffle sniffle* I miss London...

Book #87: The Outcast by Sadie Jones



My rating:

Shortlist, 2008 Orange Prize for Fiction

This debut novel opens in 1957 London, as Lewis Aldridge, a 19 year old from the northern suburb of Waterford, is released from prison after serving a two year sentence. No one comes to greet him, and with no practical skills and nowhere to go, he chooses to return to the small town that has been distrustful of him since his mother's disappearance a decade earlier. Secrets abound in Waterford, where social appearances are far more important than genuine love and respect, and Lewis' reputation as a pariah and his continued troubles at home and in the community cause him to become progressively unrattled.

Lewis is befriended by Kit Carmichael, a younger girl who has always admired him. However, her father is Lewis' father's employer, a respected but abusive man who despises Lewis and threatens Kit and his older daughter, Tamsin, to avoid the wayward boy. As tensions build, Kit becomes the only person who can communicate with Lewis, whose own father adds to his increasingly unstable behavior.

The Outcast was a brilliant page turner for the first 2/3 of the book, with its realistic though disturbing portrayal of the lives and secrets in a small town community in postwar England, and the characters of Lewis, Kit and others were compelling. Unfortunately, the last 1/3 of the novel doesn't meet the same standard of excellence. However, this was still a very good novel, and one that I would strongly recommend.

Wow, Darryl. I'll be getting Seeing Patients ASAP.

Sorry you're still suffering from you asthma Darryl.

I did the art test and got the same result as Suz, and completely agree with her comment, re: the fact that I sometimes chose the one that was most 'ok' to me out of three choices that didn't necessarily appeal all that much. But reading the results, I felt they did pretty well describe me.

As you know, I intend to join the Life: A User's Manual group read in August.

Lots of interesting books here, as always. I might be tempted to give Packing for Mars a spin, especially as I just saw it on sale at Audible, which is having a "Paperback Prices" theme on a selection of titles and it priced as $5.95 right now. Depends on whether the narrator works for me or not, since that can make or break the experience, so I'm off to check that out now.

Book #88: The Sea and Poison by Shusaku Endo



My rating:

This stunning, disturbing and deeply moving novel about the actions of Japanese doctors in a hospital during World War II opens in postwar Japan, in a small town that has been battered and demoralized after the country's defeat. A ordinary man infected with pulmonary tuberculosis who has recently moved to town seeks out the local physician for care, and he meets Dr Suguro, a withdrawn and defeated man who provides him with the treatment he needs, but nothing more. The narrator later meets another physician who trained at the same hospital in Fukuoka as Suguro did, and learns that Suguro was imprisoned for taking part in an experimental operation on a lightly injured American airman.

The first person narration then shifts to third person accounts of Suguro, a medical intern at the time of the airman's vivisection, along with those of Toda, another intern who is more urbane and comes from a wealthy family, but lacks the moral scruples of his colleague, and a nurse who formerly worked at the hospital but has returned in disgrace after her husband has left her for another woman. The three, along with the power hungry and uncaring supervising physicians, care for patients afflicted with TB who are treated worse than animals, particularly those who are welfare cases and cannot afford to pay for their care. The doctors view these patients' lives as hopeless and unworthy, whose only value is to serve to advance medical science, even if it means they must die premature and pain filled deaths.

After an unfortunate accident, Suguro and Toda are "invited" to participate in the operation on the downed airman. Toda readily agrees, knowing that his participation will advance his career. Suguro initially agrees, but experiences deep moral conflict once he learns of the nature and brutality of the operation. The nurse does not attend the surgery, but becomes aware of the nature of the operation and the effort by the doctors and head nurse to cover up both the operation on the soldier and the earlier accident.

The Sea and Poison, the winner of the 1958 Akutagawa Prize which was later made into an award winning movie, is a powerful tale of man's inhumanity to man, and the role that societal and peer pressure play in causing decent human beings to commit immoral acts toward those in their care or under their power. Based on a real story, it served as one of the first novels that openly criticized acts committed by Japan in wartime against its citizens, enemies and prisoners of war, and brought to light some of the atrocities that the world would learn about in later years.

>231 Chatterbox: I do want to go to the Last Night of the Proms this year, after I watched it live on BBC One during my first trip to the capital in 2007. And, there are several BBC Proms performances I want to attend, including two with the PSO (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) just before Last Night.

I'll shut up now, to avoid the flurry of darts, boots and other WMDs that will come my way if I say anything else.

>233 nancyewhite: Seeing Patients has replaced The Memory of Love as my favorite book of the year. I'm surprised that I hadn't heard of this book before, and I'm thrilled and grateful that City Lights had it on display.

>234 Smiler69: Thanks for the reminder about Life A User's Manual, Ilana; I temporarily forgot about it. I'll create a thread tonight or tomorrow, after I finish The Prospector. I think I'll save my review of The Passport in America until tomorrow as well, as it took me longer to write these three reviews than I thought it would.

Yes puhleez. The darts and other miscellaneous flying objects are all lined up, ready for launch.

Oh, how I miss London, including the Proms. I was listening to a YouTube recording of "Land of Hope & Glory" a few nights ago!

It looks like I'll be picking up "Seeing Patients" sometime soon. The same biases occur in veterinary medicine. It's too easy to get swayed by the studies that reveal how different groups (gender, religion, race, economics, location, etc) typically bond with their pets. "The Sea and Poison" looks like a good one too. Thanks for the recommendations!

Up-gethumbed them all!

>239 richardderus: Thank you, sir!

WOW Darryl!! Seeing Patients AND The Sea and Poison are both Home Page Hot Reviews now!

>238 alsvidur: You're welcome, Emilie. As I mentioned on my Club Read thread, I think that this book has applicability beyond medicine and race, ethnicity, gender or age.

>241 richardderus: *bows respectfully*

Hi Darryl- Excellent review of The Sea and Poison. You earned a big Thumb! As usual, you are always reading something interesting.

good info and reviews...!

hard to keep up here :P

Going to London are you, Darryl? Hitting Last Night of the Proms are you?

Caro...you forgot the flamethrower!

I didn't want to appear envious, richard.

>243 msf59: Thanks, Mark! Actually, the proper person to thank is lilisin from Club Read, who reviewed this book last month; I hadn't heard of it before then, and I was fortunate to find it at City Lights a couple of weeks ago.

>244 mckait: Thanks, Kath! Your thread is a hard one to keep up with, too. :-)

>245 cameling: Look who's talking! The woman who nearly caused an international incident in Rio last week? Besides, there is a 95% chance that you'll be in some cool locale while I'm in London (and I wouldn't be surprised to see you in the capital!). I'm fulfilling my promise from last year to try a bacon butty sandwich (the place you recommended was in a market close to the Tower Bridge, right?), in addition to my pledged duty to discover the best fish & chips takeaways, new and used bookstores, and the best UK books with all of you. Maybe I can become the LibraryThing ambassador to the UK, and report back to Tim with quarterly reports.

I think I'm safe from the bomb throwing monkey, as it looks like he's about to get hit by the dart. The archer looks to be trouble, though. (Rats, I can't make any Yankee jokes, as the Bronx Bombers and my Phillies are playing well tonight.)

>246 richardderus: *retreating back to the air-raid shelter*

>247 cameling: Should I buy you a ticket for the Last Night of the Proms?

You can't buy tix to the Last Night, Darryl, unless you are very very very lucky. They are drawn by lot from subscribers. Occasionally, a few become available and twice I've been lucky enough to scoop them up at full price on the same day, by hanging around by the box office and looking pitiful. But I think last time was 2006 or 2007.

>249 Chatterbox: Thanks, Suz; you're absolutely right. According to the BBC Proms web site there will be a limited number of tickets available for general purchase on 9 July, but I don't have a prayer of getting one of those seats. I'll go to Hyde Park to see Last Night, then.

New thread here!

Congratulations on TWO hot reviews! I hope you are feeling better Darryl.

A trip to London just might be what you need...

>251 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda! I'm slowly getting better, thanks for asking.

I also thank you for supporting my trip to London, since no one else is.

Darryl

As you well know asthma is wicked. Will suffers from this and summers are particularly bad. I know that after the attack, the residual recovery is difficult.

I hope you can relax and take it easy.

>253 Whisper1: I'm off today and tomorrow, work from Friday through Tuesday, and I'm off again for another 7 days, which I'll spend with my parents. I'll get together with a friend from Atlanta who has recently moved to NYC and wants to see Philadelphia, but I might not do much other than that, depending on how the next few days go. (And I certainly don't need to go to NYC to buy any books!)

(And I certainly don't need to go to NYC to buy any books!)

Need? What does need have to do with it?

"since no one else is..."

heavens... we're all just jealous and irritable and think you should charter a plane and fly us all over for the meetup with you, that's all! LOL....

>255 rebeccanyc: LOL!

>256 Chatterbox: Charter a plane? Maybe if I was a rich orthopaedic surgeon!

post pics?

Will do!

Congrats on your London trip, can't wait to live vicariously through you. Of course, I am a bit jealous, and will only think slightly evil thoughts once you're there, but mostly I'm happy and excited. Plus, think of all the book shopping!!!!

Wonderful reviews of Seeing Patients and The Sea and Poison, Darryl! Those both sound very interesting to me.

I checked access through inter-library loan, and it looks like there are several different translations of The Sea and Poison.. Who was the translator on the edition you read, Darryl? I gather it was done well.

>261 tymfos: My edition of The Sea and Poison was translated by Michael Gallagher and published by New Directions. I bought it at City Lights last month.

Thanks, Darryl. It looks like that edition will be available to me through Inter-Library Loan.

Hi Darryl, love the reviews. I will definitely read The sea and Poison. Being a Chest Physician I thing that you are tapering your oral steroids fast. You should at least take a 15 day course.

*boring asthma meds comment a week late follows!*

Darryl I'm on Seretide, so's our son, and my father's on Symbicort and has found it great (asthma's right through the family.) In NZ you have to jump through numerous hoops to get either of them prescribed - Flixotide (which I think is Advair, or similar to it) or anything less is available from your doctor but the stronger ones need approval from Pharmac, the government's central drug purchaser and proof that you're bad enough.

Am off to catch up on your new thread.