Zoë's 2012 Challenge, Part 3

At 269 messages, it was past time for another thread. But I prefer to do it on the quarters, even though the last one was actually two quarters combined. Maybe I'll read more books this time ;)

Books Read in 2012

January
1. A Feast for Crows
2. Talent is Overrated

February
3. A Dance with Dragons
4. The Ahhiyawa Texts
5. Uncommon Criminals
6. Ancient Babylonian Medicine
7. King Hammurabi of Babylon

March
8. The Book Thief
9. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
10. Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics
11. Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia
12. Timeless

April
13. Fire
14. Julie of the Wolves
15. You Are an Ironman
16. Out of Sight, Out of Time
17. The Trojans and Their Neighbours

May
18. *Graceling
19. Bitterblue
20. Some Girls: My Life in a Harem
21. Running with the Kenyans
22. Marcelo in the Real World

June
23. NurtureShock
24. Eat and Run
25. The Drowned Cities
26. The Unseen Guest
27. First Marathons
28. The Snow Child

July
29. *His Majesty's Dragon
30. Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization
31. *Throne of Jade
32. The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty
33. *Black Powder War
34. *Empire of Ivory
35. *Victory of Eagles
36. Our Kind of People
37. *Tongues of Serpents
38. Crucible of Gold

August
39. *Into Thin Air
40. Brain Rules for Baby
41. Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam
42. The Lost City of Z
43. One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of Amazon.com

September
44. Warbreaker
45. Safekeeping
46. The Future of Us
47. Emerging Arab Voices
48. Follow Me! Creating a Personal Brand with Twitter

October
49. The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat
50. Seraphina
51. Cotillion
52. The Masqueraders
53. The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls

November
54. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter--and How to Make the Most of Them Now
55. Cannery Row
56. The Heart of Whiteness
57. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores

December
58. Coming of Age on Zoloft
59. The Spindlers
60. The Emperor's Soul
61. Blindspot

Acquisitions

Personal--Reading (27)

January
A Dance with Dragons
Starting Strength

March
The Voluntourist (ER)
Timeless
Crucible of Gold
No Coins, Please (already read, already owned)

May
Bitterblue
The Unseen Guest
Eat and Run (Vine)
Running with the Kenyans (Vine)

June
I Saw Ramallah (BookCrossing - Madeline)
Our Kind of People (Vine)

July
Tongues of Serpents (already owned, already read)

August
Lioness Rampant (already read, already owned)

September
Safekeeping (Vine)
Follow Me! Creating a Personal Brand with Twitter (Vine)
The Knockoff Economy (Vine)
The Shadow Scholar
The Thousand Nights and One Night (Calla Editions)
Goblin Proofing One's Chicken Coop

October
Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares (Vine)
Christmas at Eagle Pond (Vine)
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls (Vine)

November
The Heart of Whiteness
The Girl Who Married a Lion: and Other Tales from Africa
Cannery Row
The Hunting of the Last Dragon
Will Sparrow's Road (Vine)
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores
The Overachievers
Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People (Vine)
The Spindlers (Vine)

Personal--Reference (4)
Let's Go San Francisco
Lonely Planet Discover San Francisco
Lonely Planet Discover California (Vine)
Lonely Planet Pocket San Francisco (Vine)

School (19)

January
The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture
The New Oxford American Dictionary
Writing, Law, and Kingship in Old Babylonian Mesopotamia (gift)
Ancient Medicine
The Ahhiyawa Texts

February
Greece in the Making
King Hammurabi of Babylon
Mesopotamian Chronicles

March
A Survey of the Almagest (gift)
The Trojans and Their Neighbours
Geminos' Introduction to the Phenomena

April
The Uruk World System

May
Ancient Mesopotamia at the Dawn of Civilization

July
Ritual Texts for the Afterlife
Arabia and the Arabs
The Persians: An Introduction
Brotherhood of Kings
The Man Who Deciphered Linear B

September
The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy

Discards
27 on July 8
17 on December 21

Dreaming of autumn! I hope there will be some pretty leaves here.

reserved

48. Follow Me! Creating a Personal Brand with Twitter by Sarah-Jayne Gratton. This was another Vine book, and it dragged on a bit. It's always so tempting to request free books, but they can sometimes become a bit of a burden. I should read a random book of my choosing next.

My review:

This is essentially a marketing book, so it's easy to think that it might just be for people trying to promote a business, not for regular people trying to make the most of Twitter. Gratton is quick to correct this misconception at the beginning of the book: whether you're going through a regular job search or just generally looking for networking opportunities, there are benefits to promoting your "personal brand". Not all of the advice will apply to everyone, but I was able to find some useful tips here just reading as a regular person who'd like to get more out of my Twitter use.

Some of the advice seems obvious in retrospect, but it can still be worth stating explicitly. Make sure your tweets consist of a balanced mix of sharing information, engaging with others, and thanking people for their contributions. The emphasis on thanks is particularly important. Look at your last few tweets and make sure they provide a good representation of who you are, because that's what people will see first. Include relevant keywords in your profile to help people find you. Craft a brand statement that specifies what exactly you're trying to accomplish. A lot of it seems to come down to awareness. Think about what you're trying to do, how you're trying to do it, and how you can improve. I think that I'm getting more out of Twitter since reading this book.

That said, I would caution against following Gratton's advice indiscriminately. Make sure that everything you do is in line with your goals and your personal approach. A lot of the techniques that Gratton discusses are things that feel a bit sleazy to me: sending an automatic direct message when someone starts following you; scheduling your tweets to post automatically when you aren't actually there; using programs to figure out when someone has stopped following you so that you can unfollow them in return; using a program to send automated direct messages to followers asking them to submit a CAPTCHA to verify that they're real people (this last one, at least, is not recommended). These are all things that detract from the personal element of Twitter that Gratton stresses as so essential, and I would think twice when deciding whether they're necessary for you. In many cases, tools that may be extremely helpful for someone who's already achieved great success may create an appearance of arrogance when used by someone just starting out.

I wouldn't mind so much if Gratton included controversial advice along with discussions about the pros and cons of a given approach, but she tends to just tell us what we should do, occasionally with a minimal disclaimer like "this is often frowned upon, but...." I'm not sure that this provides people with the information they need to make a good decision about their own approach to Twitter. I did, however, appreciate the fact that Gratton includes profiles and tips from other successful Twitter users, and these people occasionally gave suggestions that contradicted Gratton's own. This at least offers a slightly more balanced viewpoint, though I'd still have preferred to see more thorough analysis. Still, I think that you can find a lot of useful suggestions here, as long as you think about what you're doing and don't just follow the advice blindly.

So I think this is a useful book for people trying to build their brand on Twitter, but I do have a couple of additional criticisms. First, the book seems like it was put together a bit hastily, especially in regards to editing. Although I received this book as a review copy, it was a finished version and not an ARC, so I'd expect reasonable standards of proofreading to apply. But the first sentence of the first chapter talks about a "decent into madness". There are missing periods and unexpected commas. It basically seems like a rush job. Maybe this is inevitable in a book about social media that wanted to be published while it was still timely, but I can't help wishing for higher standards. Similarly, I found that the writing became a bit grating at times, when it tried too hard to be cutesy and unique. I became really tired of hearing about tweeting described as a "personal brand show" and about the planning of tweets with a "Twittertorial calendar".

So, don't expect a work of literature here. It took me more than two weeks to get through this book even though it's very short. Still, there's valuable information here. Most significantly, you need to tweet with an awareness of what you're trying to accomplish. Think about how you appear to others and engage with them in a positive way. Everyone reading the book can probably find at least some advice that resonates with them. If you're serious about succeeding via Twitter, it's probably worth a read. Just don't treat it as a bible, and be willing to reject advice that doesn't feel right to you.

Lovely new thread, Zoe!

Thanks Roni!

So, I'm still very far behind. I should have read 56 books by now, and I'm only at 48. I seem to read only 5 books per month, instead of the 6.25 that I should be reading. But maybe in December I can find another series like Temeraire: good, short books in a long series ;)

Planned reads for October:

The Shadow Scholar
Finnikin of the Rock
The Human Genome
Yes You Can! Your Guide to Becoming an Activist
Seraphina
Cannery Row

8: instead of the 6.25 that I should be reading
It's not about the numbers? (Sigh. I have the numbers in my head too, and I'm keeping pace just barely with reading but falling woefully behind in reviewing, so I don't consider my count to be legit.) Last year you were slightly under 75 because you were too noble to read short books.

Seraphina's a fun one! I'll be interested to hear what you think of the dragons!

>10 qebo: I know, I know. And I really am happy that I started reading George R.R. Martin last November instead of pushing through to the numerical goal with shorter books. Still, I can't say that I like failing at goals, no matter how arbitrary they are. And if I just happen to read some shorter books that I wanted to read anyway, there's no harm in that ;). I really am overdue for a reread of the Little House books, for example.

>11 jbd1: I'll definitely let you know! I've heard lots of good things about it.

Yay, Zoe has a loadable thread again!

Short books are good for the soul. Plus they cure bad breath, achy joints, and syphilis. Honest, I read it somewhere. In a small book, perhaps.

HI, Zoe! Nice new thread here.

Salve, Zoe! I also can't wait to see what you think of Seraphina! That's book is one of my top books of the year, as it was a very clever take on dragons. I hope you like it. ^_^

Zoe, your school books look interesting. Can't wait to read your thoughts on them.

>13 Ape: I'm glad you found it, Stephen! I forgot to post a message in my previous thread.

>14 tymfos: Thanks, Terri!

>15 ErisofDiscord: Salve, amica! I'll be picking up Seraphina at the library today. I haven't heard a bad thing about that book yet :)

>16 JDHomrighausen: Thanks! I should warn you, though, that those books often take a long time to be read in their entirety.

Statistics time!

Books read: 48
Fiction: 25
Non-Fiction: 23

Books purchased: 29
For fun: 12
For school (in a broad sense): 17

Books acquired: 41
Vine: 8
ER: 1
Gift: 2
Other: 1

Books discarded: 27

So, I'm doing extremely well in terms of purchases and discards. Not so well when it comes to actually reading books. And somehow a bunch of free ones seem to be getting in even when I'm restricting my purchases. Oh well.

>18 _Zoe_: I'm doing extremely well in terms of purchases and discards
That makes one of us . . .

Hey, at least you're on track to complete the challenge!

I use the star feature now, so I'm afriad you're stuck with me now. ;)

I'm also looking forward to hearing your opinion of Seraphina -- I'm another who really liked it.

When I first read your stats in #18, I took "discards" to mean books you had started reading and then given up on. For a second I thought, "Wow, Zoë's had a really bad month for reading!" Then I realized what you actually meant, and good for you! I need to do some serious discarding of my own, but I always find something else to do instead.

>21 Ape: Good!

>22 foggidawn: I suspect that I'll like it as well, given all the high praise from people whose opinions I trust.

>23 rosalita: I discard in phases, basically during the holidays when I'm visiting my parents, since most of my books are still stored at their house. It's probably made easier by the fact that I don't have regular access to the books anyway.



49. The Shadow Scholar: How I Made a Living Helping College Kids Cheat by Dave Tomar.

I loved the original Shadow Scholar article when I read it a couple of years ago. It was well-written and fascinating. Here was a guy making a living writing papers for other people—to put it more bluntly, helping students cheat their way through school—and he offered an inside look at a world that many of us had never seen before. I wanted to read more about it, so I was thrilled when I found out that he had a full-length book coming out; it was probably my most highly-anticipated read of the year.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a let-down. The two works are completely different in tone, for starters. The article is hard-hitting and polished, while the book feels a lot rougher, both in its argumentation and in its language.

There are certainly lots of thought-provoking ideas here, but as the book progressed, it increasingly turned into a self-indulgent personal history that was only tangentially related to the central issue. We hear lots and lots--and lots more--about how Tomar was working unsustainably hard to produce so many papers and make a living. He reached the point of burnout and was fired from multiple essay-writing companies. This is all well and good, except that it eventually becomes clear that these problems were just a matter of his time management skills and didn’t necessarily result from the nature of the job. He took on too many assignments, he barely slept, and he used a lot of drugs to get through it all (and for fun on many other occasions). This might be partially understandable if he were working for minimum wage and honestly struggling to get by—but the few times when he mentions his pay and rate of production, he’s making $45-$60 per hour. The numbers just didn’t compute for me, even taking into account that the summer months were much slower. And if the point isn’t to understand the job itself, but only to understand Tomar’s personal issues, then the book suddenly becomes a whole lot less interesting.

By the end of it, I was just tired of hearing about Tomar’s life, because it was pretty boring. I wanted to read about the work that he was doing, his communications with his clients, and the problems facing the post-secondary education system more broadly. And all of those topics are present. They’re just diluted by largely irrelevant pages about Tomar’s love life, his social activities, and other similar details. I could forgive him for the fact that his position isn’t always carefully argued—for example, he asserts that professors hate Wikipedia because it eliminates their monopoly on information, with no reference at all to the fact that Wikipedia prioritizes common statements over accurate ones—because there’s still some value in raising controversial and thought-provoking points. The tedium, though, really detracted from the reading experience, especially towards the end of the book. It took me much longer than expected to get through it. I still think this is a worthwhile read, but I wouldn’t approach it with the highest of expectations.

> 3

Love the picture. I forwarded it to Jose (a concrete man!). :)

> 48

This was another Vine book, and it dragged on a bit. It's always so tempting to request free books, but they can sometimes become a bit of a burden. I should read a random book of my choosing next.

Heh!

>24 _Zoe_: Unfortunately, it turned out to be a bit of a let-down. The two works are completely different in tone, for starters. The article is hard-hitting and polished, while the book feels a lot rougher, both in its argumentation and in its language.

That seems to happen a lot when an article/colum/blog/whatever becomes a book. Really unfortunate.

24 > Zoe - I saw that book mentioned in either Inside Higher Education's blog or The Chronicle of Higher Education's blog. I wondered if it was really worth reading or if the blog post was enough. Based on your review, I think I'll settle for just knowing about the book. I don't remember if I added it to a TBR list or not, but I'm going to check and removing it if it is there.

Nice new thread, Zoe! :)

I noticed your read books number is higher than your books acquired and that is always a good thing. Good on you! I stopped keeping track of how many books I've bought this year since the number was getting rather scary. At least a lot of the books are second hand or from gift cards, or that's what I tell the husband when he gives me the look.

>25 SqueakyChu: I hope Jose liked the picture too!

>27 norabelle414: Yeah, I felt the same way when I read The Shallows, though I hadn't read the original article in that case. It really is unfortunate.

>28 thornton37814: I think that's probably a good decision. So much pointless description of his life.

>29 jolerie: Thanks! I do feel proud of my accomplishment in reading more than I've bought, even if some of those reads were from the library. My book collection is turning more and more into a set of books that I actually care about and want to have, instead of a random agglomeration :)



50. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I realized that it had been far too long since I'd read a good book; my last three were 3 stars or fewer. Fortunately Seraphina broke the streak. As I'd expected from all the positive comments, this one didn't let me down. It's an engaging story set in a fascinating and original world. I appreciated both the concepts--dragons who can transform into human form--and the descriptions; certain snowy scenes made me wish for winter. I'll definitely be reading the sequel when it comes out, hopefully next year.

I have Seraphina on my list to borrow from the library. Now I'm just tapping my foot wait for it. :)
I saw it at the bookstore and there was a deal where you buy 2 books for $25 and boy was I tempted, but I've committed to no longer buying YA books since I can get them from the library pretty easily.

Yup, I'm doing the same thing with YA books. They're easily available from the library, and I can easily read them in the allotted borrowing period, so I don't really need to buy them.

I make exceptions for certain authors, though. Sometimes I want to read a series continuation immediately, or I just want to support the author by buying the book.

> 30

Jose thought the picture of the concrete was cute. :)

#32 - I do the same thing, too. I rarely buy YA books, but I do if I really like the author and I want to support them. I am really fond of Maggie Stiefvater so I try to buy all the books I like of hers.

So happy you liked Seraphina! I was really impressed by how well Rachel Hartman built her world and developed her characters. Just a beautiful book. I also really like the cover, and I am so happy that they didn't use a model's face for it.

I loved the cover too. It really sets the right tone for the book, and I think it's far better than the other cover shown on the work page. I actually found myself hoping earlier today that they don't change the cover for the paperback version, because that seems to happen with covers I like.

A tiny book too short to count toward the 75:



Christmas at Eagle Pond by Donald Hall

I love historical winter settings, so I was prepared to love this short story. It’s a combination of fiction and memoir: Eagle Pond is a real place, where the author visited his grandparents as a child and lives now as a old man himself, but he never actually spent a childhood Christmas there. In this book, he invents the experience that he always wanted. He takes the train out to the farm a few days before Christmas, and experiences the church Christmas celebration and Christmas day dinner with family. The descriptions of the place are vivid and interesting, especially in the details of how modernity has affected the town and the farm. The story is set in the 1940s, and I appreciated hearing about how the town has all but vanished, how the elderly relatives were uncomfortable using a telephone, and similar details. The plot, though, leaves something to be desired. It’s really not much of a plot at all; there’s no major conflict or tension, no difficult decision, no character development or surprising event. The book is a simple reflection on a time and place. Depending on your preferences, this may or may not be what you’re looking for. It’s an extremely short book, and I have no regrets about the time I spent on it, but I personally would have liked just a little bit more.

>36 _Zoe_: Count it, count it!

Yes, count it!

#36: I loved Hall's Life Work, so I will definitely check that one out.

Oh yes, do count it!!

Count it as a .5! That's what I do with my comic books, since I'm not sure if I'd be cheating or not if I counted them as full books.

A book is a book is a book is an onion, uh, a book. I'd count it.

I'd count it too. If an 800 page book counts as 1 book then a smal book counts as 1 book, right? If you aren't going to count that one then you should go back and count 600-pagers as 2 books and 900-pagers as 3 books, yes? :)

Ape - You know something, I see your logic. *looks gleefully at all the graphic novels and comics that Eris counted as half books*

Zoe's thread, Zoe's rules. :)

Just because they are Zoe's rules don't mean I won't try to influence them. *Grins maliciously*

Hehe, I love this discussion. But I haven't changed my mind yet ;)

51. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. This is the first regency I've read. It was exactly what I needed: a fun read that made me happy after a stressful couple of weeks. I'll be reading more by this author.

So, if your library announced that it was having a fine amnesty in a couple of weeks, would you just not worry about returning books until then? That seems wrong, and yet it's tempting. Although I just returned two books this morning anyway.

I'll save my already-owed $0.50, at least :)

>48 _Zoe_: - Haha. Yeah, they ought to have made that a surprise, I think :-)

Haha, did they ever say the reason why they were doing that?

I think the idea is to draw back people who may have given up on the library entirely because they had accumulated too many fines? So regular users wouldn't be the intended beneficiaries at all. I didn't see this stated, though; it's just a guess.

Wish the amnesty type things were retroactive. I've got about $8 on my account and at $10, it starts to affect your privileges. *whines*

The local library here runs a food drive every couple of months, for which one with fines may bring in a couple of non-perishable items to donate and they'll forgive all fines. It's a neat idea, I think.

I used to accrue lots of fines at the university library, where there were short loan periods and I would take out huge piles of books at a time, then end up wanting to keep them a couple of extra days when I was using them to write a paper, or just not being able to drag them all back at once. Ten books for two days at $0.50/book/day wasn't pretty. Fortunately the universities I've been at since then have had much more extended loan periods.

>53 scaifea: I like that idea.

I have to say that one of the things I do miss about academia is that, as a faculty member, I was allowed to keep most books for *an entire year* at a time!

> 48

I'm currently accruing a huge fine at the university library for a book I turned in the day before its due date. They have marked the book as "claimed returned" and are looking for it. The book is called God Knows, perhaps in recognition of the fact that only God knows where it is.

>56 JDHomrighausen: Heh, talk about an appropriate title! :D

>56 JDHomrighausen: When I was in grad school I learned quickly from other grad students' misfortunes to insist on a receipt when I returned a book, and they came in handy a couple of time just for just a reason.

> 56-8

Update: they found it and erased my fines. Yay. We don't give receipts for returned books though.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the Heyer, Zoe! That's one of my favorite ones.

59 Glad that the library now knows where God Knows is!

I once had my grades held up because of a supposedly outstanding library book. I went in and found it on the shelf. At the time, I was royally upset; now that I work in a library, I see how those things can happen . . . especially when the library's computerized circulation system keeps crashing . . .

Pictures from today's meetup with Darryl and Fliss!





One day I'll also post about the last few books I've finished.

Roni, I think I remembered you saying that when I went to the library and was browsing the Heyer shelf. I picked up that one and Friday's Child, which I'm hoping to read soon. So, thank you for the good advice!

How many books did you buy at City Lights, Zoë?

Familiar people in an unfamiliar place. Hi Zoë! Hi Darryl!

Only one book! Still one more than intended, but I maintain that it was a souvenir since it was their own press :D

I'm still holding a grudge against my daughter who visited City Lights on her trip to San Francisco and never brought me back a souvenir book from there. She made up for it, though, when she brought me back a souvenir book from Israel. :D

It looks as if you're having great fun in SF (and not lacking for LT meet-ups, either!).

Yup, I love it how LT makes it possible to meet friends even thousands of miles from home. There are surprisingly many people I know from undergrad in the Bay Area as well. I'm still at least one album behind on general sightseeing pictures, too.

Today is the big LT meetup!

Yup, I love it how LT makes it possible to meet friends even thousands of miles from home

That is the lesson that I learned from my active, real life Bookcrossing membership many years ago. It was the reason that, right up front, I was pushing Tim to create a way for real life meet-ups for LT members to take place. He didn't seem to think that was important so I took it upon myself to try to do just mini meet-ups at the National Book Festival.

Now that the idea has caught on, I'm dropping back to see what happens. You yourself know how much fun they are and how they allow people from literally all over the world to feel that much closer. You can then travel and have real "friends" wherever you go. It's just that, until you get there, you haven't met them in real life yet.

Today is the big LT meetup!

Hurray!

At least Jeremy has been promoting meetups to a certain extent, and I think the LT Meetups group is a good thing, especially with the addition of the location wiki. We used that to find two of the participants for today's meetup! I don't mind that things are sort of low-key for now, because that means that the people who do come are generally people we know as active participants in Talk.

The point is that, now that meet-ups are rolling, they're here to stay!

*presses "like" button*

especially with the addition of the location wiki. We used that to find two of the participants for today's meetup

Nice!

Waiting to hear about the meet up!!

We had a great time at the meetup! Darryl and Fliss and I started with a delicious dim sum lunch in San Francisco (where my favourite dish was the honey walnut shrimp), then went to the nearby Alexander Book Company, which I had passed on my way there. I could easily have spent more time there than the 15 minutes that we had allotted, but we had lots of other places to visit too. Unfortunately Fliss then had to return to her conference, but Darryl and I continued on to Berkeley, where we met up with Jennifer (jjmcgaffey) and headed over to Black Oak Books. That's where I bought my one book for the day: The Girl Who Married a Lion, retellings of traditional stories from Zimbabwe and Botswana by Alexander McCall Smith. It's a nice hardcover that was only $6, but it's unfortunately managed to pick up some of that used-book smell that permeated the store very strongly--I think they probably could have done more to promote turnover of their oldest books. Hopefully the smell will fade. Anyway, it seemed like the sort of book that was worth having.

Then we drove into downtown Berkeley, and parked near our final destination, then walked about a mile to Moe's on Telegraph Avenue, where we met Shelley. Moe's has four floors of books, both new and used. Again, we were pressed for time, and I browsed mostly in the new book section. I kept eyeing the new paperback edition of The Snow Child, which came out just a few days ago and which I definitely want to add to my collection eventually. I have to wait until I'm back on the East Coast, though, because I already have way too much stuff here and don't know how I'll get it all back.

We could easily have spent more time on Telegraph Avenue--there's an Amoeba Records that Darryl had expressed interest in visiting, and a couple of bookstores hidden away underground somewhere, including the Berkeley Public Library bookstore, but we had an aggressive schedule to meet and had to rush along. We did fit in a 20-minute visit to University Press Books on Bancroft, which Darryl had especially wanted to see, and where he found a health book he had wanted in their Health Policy section. They have a lot of interesting sections there, especially in academic areas that you might not see elsewhere (e.g., history of science).

We were right on schedule when we arrived at Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen for dinner at 6:10, but it turned out there was a half-hour wait. We decided we would wait even though we had a play to see at 8:00. We took advantage of the extra time to finish a couple of errands, so it wasn't wasted: Shelley had already decided to move her car, and I went by the theatre to pick up the tickets that we had ordered in advance. The timing turned out to be perfect; I got back to the restaurant about 5 minutes before we were called in, and it was worth the wait. It had a really great atmosphere, friendly servers, and what Darryl assured us was authentic food. They even gave us a free dessert because we were going to Berkeley Rep! I'd definitely return to this restaurant again. And of course, the company was fabulous. I was particularly excited to hear from Shelley about the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, which immediately made my must-do list for my time in the Bay Area.

Dinner was fortunately quick, so we made it over to the theatre with just enough time to spare. Darryl, Shelley, and I were seeing An Iliad, and we left Jennifer at the Half-Price Books on the corner, where I think she had some successful book-shopping. The play was extremely well-done and faithful to the original, down to the catalogue of ships and description of Achilles' shield--and it was somehow all done in a way that was thoroughly modern as well, and not tedious at all. My only complaint is that I just prefer plays that have more "stuff": sets, and actors, and costumes. One guy talking on an almost empty stage never feels like quite enough to me, no matter how brilliant his performance. At least there was some music, though.

By the end of it, Darryl and I were exhausted and went our separate ways, leaving only Shelley to complete the night at the Half-Price Books, as per our original plan. I'd say it was a very successful meetup!

I've uploaded photos to my profile, and I'll post them here in the next message.

Sorry for the low quality of many of these photos; we were mostly inside in places where I didn't want to use a flash.










At Moe's: Darryl (kidzdoc), Shelley (staffordcastle), and Jennifer (jjmcgaffey)


At University Press Books

Love your pics, Zoe. Thanks for sharing them. It sounds (and looks) as if you all had a terrific Meet-up!

Great photos and meet up summary, Zoë! I wish that I had gotten photos of you as well.

Thanks for posting the lovely photos. Everyone looks so happy! I've lost track...Are you still living in NYC?
Seraphina is now on the tbr pile.

You're very welcome! I'll be back in NYC fairly soon, but I'm spending this semester at Berkeley (and hoping to extend my stay through to the end of February if possible).

I hope you enjoy Seraphina, and I think you will. It's such a creative take on dragons.

Thanks for posting the pics and giving the details on your wonderful day. I'm about to start Seraphina and am looking forward to it.

Great photos!

looks like a great time was had by all.

I have Seraphina and am ready to read it but now I can't find it! What shelf did I put that on? hmmm...

I'm glad you like the photos! Meetups are always so much fun.

It sounds like there could practically be a Seraphina group read going on. I hope you can find your copy soon, Chèli. I know how frustrating that is.

> 72

Looks like I missed the fun! I am about 50 miles south of SF and it would have been an easy train ride. Shucks.

Aw, we'll have to do another meetup! We had talked about the possibility anyway.

Have you seen the LibraryThing Gatherings and Meetups group? We had started a thread there, and it also has a wiki that we used to look up other people in the area.

Love the meet-up photos!

I'm a bit behind on books, as usual. Here's a quick update on some recent (and not-so-recent) reads:



52. The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer. My second Heyer, and still good fun, but not quite as satisfying as Cotillion. The basic premise was a bit too farfetched: a brother and sister are both disguised as the opposite gender, as part of their father's scheming. I generally love books where a girl has to disguise herself as a boy to do x thing that girls weren't allowed to do at that time, but the concept of a two-way switch seemed much less necessary and less believable. Still, I did enjoy the book, and will be reading more Heyer in the future.



53. The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire le Grand. I really wanted to love this book, like everyone else does. It's deliciously creepy (in the first couple of chapters, I even wondered whether it would be too creepy for me), with a protagonist who's somehow likeable and easy to relate to despite her obvious flaws, and a loveable best friend. The writing is great, smooth and polished with that matter-of-fact children's book style that I adore: "When Victoria Wright was twelve years old, she had precisely one friend. In fact, he was the only friend she had ever had." The basic premise is intriguing and thought-provoking, if a bit familiar: how far would someone go to make everyone in town perfect and the same, and what would be lost in the process? We have a mysterious orphanage, and people behaving strangely, and a vanished friend. The pages go by quickly and it's never dull. Basically, there are all the makings of a great book.

So what went wrong? For me, it was the supernatural elements, which didn't seem to form any sort of coherent system. There was no sense of what was possible and what was impossible. There was no sense of how the various parts fit together. There basically seemed to be no logic behind anything; it felt like a jumbled mess of whatever disturbing elements the author could come up with. I ultimately felt that this detracted from the atmosphere of the story; instead of thinking "oh, that's disturbing," I often just thought "oh, that's random." It might have been enough to have a super-perfectionist trying to make everyone perfect. It might have been enough to have a super-perfectionist trying to make everyone perfect, and controlling them via puppets. But did we really need (spoiler warning!) a super-perfectionist who was actually some sort of insect, and her sidekick who was also made up of insects, trying to make everyone perfect, and controlling them via puppets, except for the ones that she converted into weird monstrosities by cutting out parts of their bodies and one of their eyes, which she then fed to everyone else, and except for the ones that somehow turned into plants that became part of the house, while retaining a sort of sentience that they could use to rearrange the house? And did I mention that she also had the power to remotely fetch people to her from other parts of town, using the powers of her cockroach swarms? And did I mention that one part of the house is inhabited by evil birds? And so on. There was just too much noise and distraction, and it didn't fit together in an entirely satisfactory way even in the end. I would have liked to read a pared-down version that focused more on the innate creepiness of the concept, with the judicious inclusion of a few supernatural elements, rather than trying to fit in everything at once.

Still, this was an enjoyable enough read, and one that will be easy enough to appreciate if you just let yourself get caught up in the moment and don't think too hard about why any given thing is happening. Since I liked the characters and the writing, I'll keep an eye out for this new author's next work. I think she has a lot of potential; I just hope she'll eventually realize that there are in fact cases when less can actually be more.



54. The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay. This one was extremely good, and I'd recommend it to anyone who's in their twenties or generally interested in the topic. It's the perfect mix of advice, scientific studies, and individual anecdotes, all presented in a very readable style. There are just so many thought-provoking issues discussed here, and it manages to provide useful guidance in an optimistic way. For example, Jay talks about the issue of what people are supposed to be doing career-wise in their twenties: we constantly hear that life is starting later, so maybe our twenties don't matter, and we should just be exploring the world or working at an easy minimal-wage job while hanging out with our friends? Well, no. Everything we do right now is still building the foundation for our future lives, and even though the process takes longer, that doesn't mean we shouldn't get started. Everything we do contributes in some way to who we're going to become. Jay also talks about the particular time crunch facing women who hope to establish themselves in good careers and also have children: there's not necessarily time to do it all later, because fertility declines rapidly. On a similar note, she advises against cohabitation before engagement, because that leads to a sort of slipping into a permanent relationship, rather than making an active decision; the hindrances to leaving accumulate, and as you get older you figure you might as well get married, and that doesn't always lead to the best results. Again, what we do now matters, and we should be doing it consciously. It was refreshing to see someone actually address these issues and talk about the best way to proceed, as opposed to the general lamenting about twenty-somethings that I generally seem to read about. Again, highly recommended.

55. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. I felt I had to read this one before my recent trip to Monterey, where the story is set, but I kept putting it off. In the end, though, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. It's a powerful novel about the daily lives and interactions between people in a particular time and place, which isn't generally the sort of thing I like (not very much plot), but which somehow really worked for me this time. I think it helped that I was actually in Monterey for part of the reading experience; the part I had read beforehand contributed to my appreciation of the town, and having visited the town contributed to my appreciation of the rest of the book. I'll definitely be reading more Steinbeck eventually.

Incidentally, I recently set a goal to read more classics, and I hesitated a bit about whether this should count. I eventually decided that it does, based partially on the LT tags, but when did 1945 become old enough to be a classic? It still sounds so recent.

>54 _Zoe_: I think I'm going to have a panic attack just thinking about The Defining Decade . . .

But lovely reviews in general :-)

Nice review of The Defining Decade, Zoë. Looking back (waaayyy back) on my twenties, and thinking about successful (versus "unsuccessful") friends and colleagues, I would completely agree with the author. I suppose you could say that one's early twenties aren't as important as the mid to late twenties, but as you approach 30 I think you should be on well your way to achieving some of your future goals. I was a late bloomer, as I didn't receive my undergraduate degree until I was 28, but by the time I reached 30 I had taken the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) and had decided to apply to medical school. Several of my med school classmates were also older, nontraditional students, who didn't start medical school soon after receiving their undergraduate degrees, but all of us had achieved some success in another field before we matriculated at Pitt.

I'm not reading The Defining Decade. Nope. Not happening.

>87 norabelle414: But Nora, you're doing perfectly well in life! It shouldn't cause you any panic at all.

>88 kidzdoc: Darryl, I think you're right in some ways that the early 20s aren't "as" important, but at the same time, someone who spent those 5 years moving toward their goals will continue to be 5 years ahead of someone who did nothing in terms of when they're ready to buy a house, start a family, etc. I think the key point in your case is that you weren't doing nothing: you were becoming successful in another field, which still provides valuable experience and helps you progress in life. The author talked about how she worked at Outward Bound for several years, taking troubled teens on outdoor adventure tours, and when it came time for her interviews for becoming a psychologist, everyone she talked to was especially excited about that. I found this encouraging: as long as you're plugging along, you'll eventually get somewhere; every little thing that you do contributes to who you become, and it's better to seize an opportunity--any opportunity--than to hesitate and do nothing. Even if the opportunity doesn't obviously relate to what you're trying to do, it still provides you with a stepping-stone of experience and responsibility that will help later on. I was also encouraged when she said that if you don't occasionally feel overwhelmed at work, it means that you're doing something too easy; we need to take on challenges in order to grow, and it's natural to struggle at first, and so on.

>89 Ape: Stephen, I thought of you while reading this book. I'd recommend it to you more strongly than anyone. I think I even posted in your thread while reading it, about taking little steps to meet your goals: in order to work at a library, you first need to volunteer at a library; in order to volunteer at a library, you first need money for gas; in order to get money for gas, you can work at any random job you can find. So that's the first step, and then one thing builds on another until you achieve your dream. It seems very doable.

85, 87: I think I'm going to have a panic attack just thinking about The Defining Decade . . .
I think I don’t want to know what I _should_ have been doing 25-30 years ago...

>90 _Zoe_: By other people's standards, maybe, but not by my own. And those are the only standards that count.

>91 qebo: As long as it all turned out okay, it doesn't really matter. That's the nice thing about getting past this point.

>92 norabelle414: :(. What personal standards have you failed to meet? I wonder if I just have low standards. I'm still in grad school without a "real" job, but I feel optimistic. I've concluded that I may have to make a very expensive investment in freezing some eggs a few years down the line since I'm not progressing quite as fast as fertility demands, but at least we have the technology to do that now.

Anyway, I would recommend the book even *more* to people who aren't quite satisfied and looking for encouragement about how to improve. I honestly found it more encouraging than terrifying.

>93 _Zoe_: The problem I have with myself is that I have ZERO long term goals. I don't have the slightest idea what I want to do or even what I'm interested in. At all. Not even a little bit. I'm really good at setting baby-step goals, and following them through, but I can't set little goals if I don't have a direction to work in. I am SO LUCKY to have a job that pays well and looks good on a resume, but I have no motivation, nor is there any mobility within this job.

>94 norabelle414: I feel like the book has some advice to give about this situation, but I can't remember what it is. There was definitely an account about some guy who felt like he was drifting, though, and he eventually realized that what he really wanted was a dog, and then he started his own dog-training business, or something like that. Maybe pursue hobbies that you enjoy, and do volunteer work, and see where that leads you?

Also, do you know the site dayzeroproject.com? I found out about it from Morphy. It's basically devoted to goal-setting, but the most popular list is "101 things in 1001 days", which is a long enough time frame to be significant but still short enough that the goals can be more concrete and achievable. You can also get suggestions of goals there. It might help just to go through the process of thinking about what some goals might be. I had fun making a list, anyway, even though I included a lot of less serious goals. Basically I was just trying to think of things that would make me happy and satisfied.

>90 _Zoe_: Darryl, I think you're right in some ways that the early 20s aren't "as" important, but at the same time, someone who spent those 5 years moving toward their goals will continue to be 5 years ahead of someone who did nothing in terms of when they're ready to buy a house, start a family, etc.

I completely agree with you, Zoë. IMO the early twenties aren't critically important, but someone who uses those years wisely will be ahead of those who aren't productive or moving toward a particular career path.

I worked full time at two jobs and attended college at night (first Drexel, then Rutgers) after a failed first attempt at university (Tulane), starting at the age of 20. Even though neither of these positions were directly related to medicine (although they were jobs that required college courses in the physical sciences and engineering), they provided me with a stable work history and significant responsibilities, and were stepping stones to my first job after graduation. That job also was essential to my successful application to medical school (although I also had a GPA and an MCAT score that were above average for my entering class). So, despite a very rocky start that would have seemingly derailed any chance I had to become a physician, I was able to provide a 10 year work and school history that overcame my initial failure and immaturity.

As med students we could all participate in the interview of potential applicants, and one of the main emphases was the past history of the applicant, particularly for those who were older and had unexplainable gaps in their C.V. This is also the case for anyone who we hire to work with us. Applicants who had a spotty or incomplete work history after high school were far less appealing than those who worked or volunteered steadily, even if the activity was not directly related to medicine, and in a very competitive pool of applicants, that was often enough to sink those applicants' chances. I'm not certain, but I strongly suspect that this would hold true in most other careers.

I was also encouraged when she said that if you don't occasionally feel overwhelmed at work, it means that you're doing something too easy; we need to take on challenges in order to grow, and it's natural to struggle at first, and so on.

I agree 100%! If someone is bored in their job or feels underutilized, that person should see if there is some task that they can perform which will challenge them, and also show their value to their employer. Supervisors love it when their employees take the initiative and volunteer to do a task that will help the organization. I did that in each of my first two jobs, and both times it was recognized by both my immediate boss and upper level management, and I greatly benefitted as a result.

>95 _Zoe_: But how does he figure out that what he wants is a dog? That's the step where I am stuck.

>97 norabelle414: Yeah, that's what I can't remember--you'll have to read the book yourself ;). It was probably through hours of discussion with a psychologist. That's why I thought it might be easier just to think of 100 medium-term goals, and see if any of them lead anywhere.

Ack! I'm way behind. I missed the move to the new thread. But here I am to lurk and hopefully participate more often :) Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, Zoe!

Extremely behind, but I just wanted to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, Zoe! It looks like you had a wonderful meet-up, and it's nice to put faces to some of the people I see online. One day when I'm older I intend to do a ton of LT meet-ups. :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I'm sorry you missed the new thread, Melis. It's probably my fault for not posting more frequently; I'm sure the thread would be more noticeable if I posted about my books as I read them instead of doing just occasional catch-ups.

Eris, it's definitely great to meet all these familiar people in person. I actually set it as one of my 101 goals (because I need to keep pushing that site ;)) to meet 20 new LT-ers, and I'm already at 4 in the past month. I love meeting old friends in a new city.

TWENTY!?!? Well you certainly don't lack ambition. :o

Heh, I'd actually say that's one of the easier ones ;). 1001 days is a pretty long time, and I'm ahead of schedule so far :D. I'm also hoping to meet lilbrattyteen on Saturday.

>102 _Zoe_: You might meet 20 new LTers at the spring Philadelphia LT meet up!

>105 kidzdoc: True! I think that one's going to be great!

It's that time of the year again... time for more lists! (Okay, it's always that time for me.) At this point, it seems pretty clear that I'm not going to complete the 20 more books I need for this challenge, but I'd still like to try making a list of what those 20 books might be, because that's what I do. So, here goes:

1. The Happiness Equation (old ER)
2. The Heart of Whiteness
3. *Little House in the Big Woods
4. The Spindlers (Vine)
5. Will Sparrow's Road (Vine)
6. Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People (Vine)
7. Of Mice and Men
8. The Well of Ascension
9. The Hero of Ages
10. Legion
11. The Emperor's Soul
12. The Heavenly Writing
13. Terrier
14. Bloodhound
15. Mastiff
16. Yes You Can!
17. Transhumanist Dreams and Dystopian Nightmares (Vine)
18. Greek Thought, Arabic Culture
19. The Name of the Wind
20. The Wise Man's Fear

Happy Thanksgiving Zoe! Good luck with your goals.

Thanks for posting the pics of the meet-up, Zoe. Looks like you guys had a great time! I have yet to try a Heyer book but I did manage to pick up 2 of her books at the discount bin so maybe next year?
Your review of The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now was intriguing. I agree with the snippets you posted about the author's view on making use of your 20's. I'm all for exploring and finding oneself, but at some point, decisions have to be made. I know of a couple of friends who couldn't make up their minds in university about what they wanted to major in. Years later and majorly in student loan debt, without much to show for the years they spent in school, "not making up their minds", they realized it probably wasn't the wisest choice...

Have a great Thanksgiving! :)

The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear are fantastic books in my opinion. I hope you like them. I'm also hoping to read The Well of Ascension as well. I'll keep an eye out if you finish them before I do. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Good grief, Zoe, you've got some monsters in that list!!

>108 norabelle414: Thanks, Nora! Good luck with coming up with your goals :)

>109 jolerie: I hope you'll have time to try Heyer next year; I'm definitely going to be reading more. And a happy Thanksgiving to you as well! (Even though it's completely the wrong day.) I can happily say that three of the seven people at today's Thanksgiving dinner were Canadian, though :D.

>110 Kassilem: I've heard so many good things about those books that they're definitely on my shortlist. But as Roni says, the list is a bit crazy.... I should have almost a month off from school, though, even if it does bleed into January, so there's at least some hope of getting some of them read fairly close to this year....

Your number 18 on the list above looks interesting, Zoe. I hope to meet you too. This whole fair is a surprise for my mom, who studied Victorian literature (esp. Austen) in graduate school. Meeting some bookish literate folk should only add to the fun.

Being 22 I find the discussion on what I should be doing interesting. I'm a bit of a late-bloomer too. I spent five years in community college just enjoying studying different things and changing majors. I am on much the same track as you - pre-academic - and should finish my BA in 2015 (age 25). Thankfully fertility is not rushing me. I completely agree on feeling overwhelmed - it's why I intend to take lots of overloads and independent studies to better prepare for graduate school. (I read fast and learn easily if the subject interests me.)

Hope to see you Saturday!

I've never read a book by Heyer...I really should.

Well, this thread has been sadly neglected. Sorry everyone! From the end of November to mid-December I was frantically writing my dissertation proposal, which I then had to fly to New York to present to the whole faculty of my department. Fortunately that's done and I now have a bit of breathing room; I'm back in the Toronto area for the holidays.

But I'm somehow feeling stressed about reading now. I've accumulated way too many review books from ER and Vine, so I feel like my book choices are overly constrained. I'll also have a huge space crunch trying to bring everything back from California at the end of January, so I want to get through as many books as possible while I'm at my parents' house for the holidays, just in order to leave them here and not worry about transporting them. Not exactly the best motivation for reading. Sigh.

It's also clear that my total book number for the year will be in the 60s, so I won't even be close to finishing the challenge. That's not actually a big issue for me, though, since I've done a lot of other important things this year. In addition to the dissertation proposal, I passed my comprehensive exams earlier in the year, and I taught a university course, and I ran three half-marathons, and I moved temporarily to California and tried to do as much as possible while I was there. So it's been a good year overall, even if a bit light on reading.

>113 JDHomrighausen: Jonathan, I'm jealous of your reading speed! My life would be much better if I could read faster.

>114 The_Hibernator: Rachel, I'd definitely recommend giving Heyer a try. I'll be reading more of her books when I eventually make a bit more of a dent in my reviewing pile and have some more freedom to choose random library books.

Updates on my reading will follow soon-ish.

On the bright side, today I selected 17 books to discard.

115: I'd say you've accomplished quite enough for a year.

That sounds like a very productive year! You passed your comps and wrote (defended?) your dissertation in the same year? Wow.

>117 qebo: Yup. She should hibernate until January 1.

No, not the dissertation, just the proposal! I'm still in favour of hibernating, though.

Oh! That make SO much more sense! What's your dissertation about?

ETA: That is, what do you propose it will be about? (Which often doesn't translate into what it ends up to be about.)

It's about celestial omens in Mesopotamia and the Greco-Roman world, and the connections between the two traditions, and how they fit into the different cultural contexts. Should be fun :)

Some quick catch-up on books:



56. The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism, and White Privilege by Robert Jensen. I picked this up when I visited City Lights with Darryl and Fliss; it's not the sort of thing I usually read, but it caught my eye with its cover-out display. And then I ended up sitting and reading it for the rest of our time there, so I figured I had to buy it. It's also actually published by City Lights, so it makes a good souvenir.

The subtitle makes it pretty clear what this book is about: white privilege and how bad it is. I have to admit that I honestly hadn't thought much about this issue before, and wouldn't even have said that I was much of a believer in affirmative action. I think I had been misled by comparisons to feminism, which I don't much believe in despite being female myself: apparently I'm supposed to feel oppressed, and have limited options in life, and similar bad things just on the basis of my gender? But I've never really felt like it was an issue at all. And I think I had transferred that same sort of attitude to racial issues: maybe it wasn't as bad as everyone said. But there was a statistic near the beginning of this book that really struck me and made me realize how much of a limiting factor race can be: apparently, when two people with similar backgrounds and experience go in for a job interview, the person who is white and has a criminal record is more likely to get the job than the person who is black and does not have a criminal record. I found that completely shocking.

I appreciated Jensen's honestly in writing this book; he talks bluntly and in straightforward language about the problems he sees in the world and in himself. It wasn't always a page-turner (I got bogged down a little bit toward the end), but it's a quick and worthwhile read nonetheless.

57. Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores. This was another unplanned bookstore buy. In this case, I went to the bookstore with a group of friends and a couple of them spent most of the time reading passages of this book out loud to the rest. I felt like they had read practically the whole thing in the store, so it seemed like an obligatory buy--and some of the parts they had read were pretty funny, too.

It was interesting to see how much mood can affect my appreciation of a book--it somehow didn't seem nearly as funny when I was reading at home by myself as when I was with a group of laughing friends. The fact that they had been reading only the highlights probably played a role, too. I also became suspicious about this book when I read some comment about "Tequila Mockingbird" submitted by "anonymous"--that seemed too much like a deliberate joke rather than a real customer mistake, and I started wondering how much of it might be fake. So, there were some funny parts, but I didn't love it on the whole. It's entertaining enough, just not an essential read. I'd recommend getting this one from the library rather than buying it, though I'm still happy to have supported the bookstore with my purchase.

58. Coming of Age on Zoloft by Katherine Sharpe. I was drawn in by a factoid on the back cover: apparently 10 percent of Americans over the age of 6 use an antidepressant! But I was pretty ignorant about the issue of depression in general, so I felt like I had to learn more. The back cover seemed to play up a certain perspective a bit more than was fully honest, claiming that the author had been prescribed antidepressants just for "a bad case of homesickness", but the book still turned out to be extremely interesting and informative. It blends the author's personal story, interviews with other young people who took antidepressants, and a general history of antidepressant use in the United States.

There are so many issues here that I had never thought about, like the pharmaceutical companies' role in presenting depression as a chemical imbalance that should be treated with medication. This is a story that I've always just accepted without really thinking about it, and it was interesting to hear the author's perspective about how talk therapy had actually turned out to be far more important in her case. I also appreciated the general stories about how people who took antidepressants at a young age struggled to figure out who they really were versus how much their personalities were defined by the drugs they were taking. I did find that some of the later chapters dragged a bit, because I felt like I had grasped the basic argument and didn't need it to be presented in such great detail throughout, but I'd still strongly recommend this book on the whole. As someone who hasn't personally experienced depression, I found it very informative, and I'd imagine that people who have gone through it themselves might appreciate hearing from others with similar stories.

Okay, I'm not quite caught up, but I'm closer. Two more reviews to come tomorrow.

Welcome back to Ontario for the holidays! If I didn't think things would be too hectic this time of year, I might suggest a mini-meet up. One of these days we'll manage one...! :)

Congrats on all of the accomplishments! I have to say that the few months leading up to comp exams were the absolute worst of my life, so it's all downhill from here - writing the diss is a piece of cake after those exams! :)

>127 dk_phoenix: Thanks! And yes, we'll definitely have to have a mini-meetup one of these days. I should be back for a somewhat longer time in the summer, but if you do happen to find yourself in Toronto with some extra time in the next couple of weeks, let me know!

>128 scaifea: Thank you! I definitely think the exams were the most stressful part. At this point at least I'm no longer worried about being kicked out of the program (although my advisors assured me that that wasn't really a risk with the exams either); I figure the worst that can happen is that it takes a year or so longer than expected. So much less stressful.

Those are interesting comments on The Heart of Whiteness. I'll see if I can check it out for my Social Justice theme read...if not this February, maybe next year. :)

feminism, which I don't much believe in despite being female myself: apparently I'm supposed to feel oppressed, and have limited options in life, and similar bad things just on the basis of my gender?

Thank the people who came before you.

Not something I spend much time thinking about either, and as with any –ism it is prone to occasional extremes and absurdities and emotions seeking tangible problems, but it’s not merely about you or me personally. These things may be merely annoying in a society of relative privilege: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/2012/09/23/study-shows-... , http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/08/plight-girl-tech-blogger/55905... , http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/05/10/hillary-clinton-s-makeup-free-p..., but there is a big wide world out there: http://www.who.int/topics/female_genital_mutilation/en/, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/9755913/Gang-rape-of-Indian..., http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/26/world/asia/cnnheroes-afghan-schoolgirls/index.html, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/17/saudi-arabian-women-risk-arrest-ban-..., and some of it seeps in to America: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/10/female-circumcision-comes-to... , http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57409395-504083/honor-killing-under-growi... .

Oh, I certainly didn't mean for my comments to apply to other societies, where being female can actually have devastating consequences. But things like that scientist study where women are hired a bit less and make a bit less money don't strike me as so terrible--not ideal, of course, but not the end of the world. I can still lead a great life and do pretty much what I want. Racial discrimination seems to be much more problematic, though I suppose I should wait for the results of an actual study showing that male felons aren't more likely to be hired than female non-felons.

I'm a scientist and an engineer and I've never felt held back merely because I'm female. On the other hand, I DO feel held back because I value having a family more than I value my career, which means that in the end I'm probably going to end up with a less powerful, high-paying job. A lot of other women feel the same way. So the statistics are skewed by women who simply don't WANT the high paying jobs because they'd rather be mothers with a less time-consuming job.

qebo I agree that we should thank the people who came before us. But I still never approved of all the whining and moaning about sexism that I heard when I was younger. I always thought - maybe if they spent more time working and less time whining, then they'd have a more successful career. Whining takes up a lot of time and energy, and it's annoying to other people. :p

Oh dear, you said the "F" word. *Shudders* You know what effect this has on me.

Social prejudice is everywhere, of course. There are lots of negative stereotypes associated with women, especially in places of leadership, but there are plenty of negative stereotypes associated with every type of person imaginable.

I don't know if women are actively discriminated against, at least by our government. I think our pimary focus right now should be the rights of homosexuals, who are actively oppressed in our country based on nothing other than their sexual preference.

The strides we have made in sexism and racism have been greatly encouraging, and I think we owe a great debt to the courageous people who have helped us get to where we are. However I am one of those in the belief that Feminism has become relatively obsolete (in our country) and that we instead need to work on the LGBT community and afterward embracing EQUALITY as a whole for everybody, as opposed to a specific group.

I've said all this before, and I've typed ridiculously long posts about my opinions on equality vs. feminism, I don't need to do all that again do I? :P

134: Perhaps my generation is showing. :-) I agree with equality as the general ideal, and agree with the current LGBT focus because it is a matter of clear legal barriers. Within the general category of equality though, a variety of inequalities exist, and it is not unreasonable for different people to focus on different specifics.

132: But things like that scientist study where women are hired a bit less and make a bit less money don't strike me as so terrible--not ideal, of course, but not the end of the world.
Sure. As I noted. A first world problem.

132: Racial discrimination seems to be much more problematic,
In the US, I’d agree. I wasn’t ranking.

133: A lot of other women feel the same way. So the statistics are skewed by women who simply don't WANT the high paying jobs because they'd rather be mothers with a less time-consuming job.
Or the statistics are skewed by cultural assumptions / expectations that make the decision more either / or than many people would prefer, and the tendency is for men and women to choose different sides of it.

I think what is important is dividing stereotypes and discrimination. There is a difference between perceiving the sexes differently and prohibiting them from doing things based on nothing other than their gender. As a straight white man, I can say there are still plenty of social stereotypes being those things. For example, many people think men without jobs are 'bums' and are frowned upon if they 'sponge' off a working woman, even though this has always been a socially acceptable position for a woman.

Simply stating that I'm a straight white male in my 20's has probably inspired broad generalizations by those who don't know me. It's bad and horrible and I don't like people that do it, but it isn't discrimination unless it is prohibiting me from doing something I want to do. Like, for example, if I applied for a job at a daycare center, which I would almost certainly never be accepted to work at for being a male in my 20's.

There are a lot of inequalities across the board, but it seems to vary drastically from situation to situation. Women are discriminated in some places and men in others, women are perceived a certain way in certain situations and likewise with men. My argument is generally that inequality is something we all feel the bite of from time to time, and instead of focusing on making it better for 1 group (Feminist) we should come together and argue collectively for the equality of everyone.

To have a straight woman say "straight women should have more rights" and a black man say "Black men should have more rights" and a transsexual say "transsexual should have more rights" is something we have done, with limited success, for a very long time. I think it would be a lot more effective if you could get that black man to say "women should have more rights," that transsexual to say "black men should have more rights" and that woman to say "transsexuals should have more right."

Once we can stop selfishly fighting for ourselves and open our eyes to the inequalities of others, we'll begin to make progress in the social prejudices and stereotypes we are seeing in our country right now.

136: To have...
This is a fine ideal, but people tend to be more aware of the stereotypes and barriers that apply to themselves, than to other people. I’m not disagreeing with you in general principle. I’m saying that the world is too big for any one person to focus on all of it at once. We all pick our battles. Feminism has different connotations to me than it does to you, because I grew up in a different era, and because my mother was affected by attitudes toward women in the 1950s when she entered adulthood. It’s not an issue of particular interest to me, and I haven’t kept track of its changes over time. I’m suggesting merely that it not be cavalierly dismissed.

I’m saying that the world is too big for any one person to focus on all of it at once.

I do it fine. It's not difficult to look at everyone equally, treat everyone equally, and recognize when someone isn't being treated fairly. I think the more you look for maltreatment of a specific group the more likely you might see it when it isn't there, and not notice a more obvious act of discrimination against someone that doesn't fit in the chosen niche.

138: Ah, youth.

I would submit that it is useful to write a book about racial discrimination because a perfectly nice equality minded person might read it and learn something. Even though other problems exist in the world.

>136 Ape: It's bad and horrible and I don't like people that do it, but it isn't discrimination unless it is prohibiting me from doing something I want to do.

We ALL stereotype. We can't help it. It's the way our brains work. We file things into categories, then as we get more information we A) Reinforce category stereotype B) Reject category stereotype C) Sub-categorize. The best we can hope for is that people keep an open mind to options B and C (which is not always the case, and the people you dislike are those that aren't open) AND make sure we don't allow our categorizations to make us feel poorly about people.

You also hit on a stereotype that really galls me. Why is it that if a woman really loves (other people's) little kids, she seems motherly, but if a man really loves (other people's) little kids, people look at him askance and assume that he's a perv? I know men (including my dad) who love kids but have to kerb their kid loving tendencies because people give him dirty looks. It's not fair! But I suppose discrimination isn't ever fair, is it?

It's interesting to consider how attitudes have changed over time. I don't doubt that gender discrimination was a more serious issue in your mother's time. My only concern was that by continuing to press for progress in areas that aren't as problematic anymore, people can start to think that fighting against discrimination as a whole is less important. I don't really care about affirmative action policies that favour women, based on my personal experience of life, and so by analogy I didn't care much about affirmative action policies that favour blacks, without actually having much knowledge about the barriers faced by the latter group.

I'll never forget an experience in my high school English class, which I'm sure I've described multiple times before: we were looking at different kinds of literary criticism. We studied feminist criticism, and looked for ways that women were being oppressed and such in the various works that we read. And the teacher said, "There's also an approach called 'Queer Theory', but we don't teach that here because it's too controversial." And that really brought home to me how irrelevant the feminist theory had become today: once it was safe enough to teach in a high school, once it had passed beyond controversy into the mainstream, it meant that the critiques it was making weren't really at issue anymore. It had become more a matter of historical interest than a real matter for debate. Meanwhile, the hot issue of the day couldn't be discussed within those walls.

>135 qebo: Or the statistics are skewed by cultural assumptions / expectations that make the decision more either / or than many people would prefer, and the tendency is for men and women to choose different sides of it.

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying? Which cultural assumptions make the decision more either / or than people would prefer?

I assume that if I worked 80 hours a week (which is what would have been required of me had I continued on my chosen path last year) I would not be a good mother. But I see nothing wrong with that assumption given the amount of physical exhaustion I felt after working 80 hour weeks...there's no way I could continue on at that pace without a family, let alone with one. :) Is that the assumption you mean?

Or do you refer to the assumption that people have to work 80 hours a week in order to be successful in certain careers (this is an unfortunate aspect of our culture, but I feel that it's more of a sad fact at the moment than an assumption...)

>140 The_Hibernator: That reminds me, I'm reading a book now about hidden biases: Blindspot: The Hidden Biases of Good People (apparently no touchstones yet; I must have failed to enter it into LT).

There's a sentence I read last night that really stood out to me, on the topic of equal rights and fair treatment: "We explicitly shifted from ways of being that no doubt were more comfortable and natural to us and imposed on ourselves loftier standards of accountability."

It also made me think of some image that I saw on Facebook a couple of days, proclaiming that racism is taught, not born. It's a nice sentiment, that the ideal attitudes we want to foster in our society are the ones that come naturally, but I'm not at all convinced that it's true. And that's one of the things that made Jensen's book so refreshing: he openly admits when he has thoughts that he'd prefer not to think, and describes how he tries to be a better person, instead of just following the standard approach of pretending that he's completely unbiased to begin with.

141: It had become more a matter of historical interest than a real matter for debate. Meanwhile, the hot issue of the day couldn't be discussed within those walls.
This is a valid point. If an issue hits high school, it has ceased to be controversial. When I was in high school, we had recently arrived at the point where girls could wear slacks and take woodworking class, and there were teachers who expressed displeasure with these policies.

ETA: It may be that your attitude toward “feminism” is skewed by the non-controversial aspects that you encountered in high school. Battles won in the past become “of course” in the present, and people who continue to fight old battles appear ridiculous. We’d wonder about the skewed perspective of a person who declared himself an “abolitionist” these days, but residue from the era remains. Now that sexism and racism are considered Bad Things, the terms can be flung about far too casually. This does not mean such problems no longer exist; problems are problems in part because we are blind to them. For historical reasons, we have a one-sided term for gender inequality, but it’s increasingly recognized that the issue is multifaceted.

142: Or do you refer to the assumption that people have to work 80 hours a week in order to be successful in certain careers (this is an unfortunate aspect of our culture, but I feel that it's more of a sad fact at the moment than an assumption...)
This. Balancing work and family can be difficult, apparently more so in the US than in some other countries. Perhaps “attitude” would be a better word than “assumption”. Men more than women can expect to have both demanding careers and children. Not that women can’t, but that women tend to worry how, whereas men have tradition in their favor. This is not to diss men; many men would prefer to spend more time with their families. But when it comes to juggling who is responsible for what, there is still a tendency for men to choose the job side, and women to choose the family side, though the juggling could be done with two 1/2- or 3/4-time jobs if the work world cooperated. There are people, sometimes referred to as “feminists”, who address such issues. Maybe the label should be changed.

>143 _Zoe_: It also made me think of some image that I saw on Facebook a couple of days, proclaiming that racism is taught, not born. It's a nice sentiment, that the ideal attitudes we want to foster in our society are the ones that come naturally, but I'm not at all convinced that it's true.

I agree with you on that. But only partially. It is natural for humans to think of groups as "us" and "them." That's our biological tendency to want to promote the continuation of our own genetic material . We see "them" as competing for vital resources. Therefore, we naturally feel uncomfortable with "them." Any clear aspect that makes "them" different from "us," therefore, becomes an issue for discrimination. If "they" tend to have a different religion, different color of skin, etc., then we tend to dislike those qualities because people with those qualities aren't "us" and therefore compete with our genetic heritage. We've moved beyond consciously thinking about genetic heritage (and on to worrying about cultural heritage) but the inclination to make a "them" originates from competitive evolution.

HOWEVER, when societies are so large and races mix as much as they do nowadays, then other races are no longer "them" genetically speaking. At some level, we have to learn who is "them" and who is "us." It's not natural to think people with black skin, or people who worship Allah (for examples) are "them." That is learned.

Sorry. To shorten that: There is an unlearned biological urge to make an "us" and "them," but the stereotypes we use to categorize "them" are learned.

145: I'd begun to formulate thoughts along these lines, but you have articulated so nicely that I won't bother. :-)

I guess it depends where exactly each person is from. The author of the book was from North Dakota, I think, and said he had grown up in a very white community. One of my friends who grew up only 45 minutes north of my multicultural suburban/urban area was excited to meet Asians in university. We're certainly much closer to a society-wide elimination of racial differences, but I don't think we're there yet.

Such an interesting discussion. When I entered high school, there were no sports for females, they didn't take wood shop or auto mechanics, they were expected to take home ec (I didn't) and NO boys did, and there were only 2 girls in physics class (I was one). I never wore pants to school until I was in college. (When I was in grade school, if it was very, very cold we could wear pants UNDER our dresses, but since it wasn't usually that cold, I lived with permanent scabbed knees from 3rd through 6th grades.) By the time I left high school, thanks to some very talented and stubborn girls in the classes right behind me, the first three aspects had changed--reluctantly and to a small degree. These are not things I can take for granted, especially since there is still a significant portion of the population in this country who feel that the subordination of women to men is divinely ordained. I want to believe that such belief will never become dominant, but you only have to read authors such as Sheri Tepper, Suzette Haden Elgin or Margaret Atwood to see that it still haunts my generation's psyche. I hope that those of you have never experienced this or Jim Crow and take such progress for granted as the way things are will become such a super majority that we never regress, and have faith that such will be the case with gay rights as well.

>147 _Zoe_: We're certainly much closer to a society-wide elimination of racial differences
Until we make contact with extraterrestrial life, and then we'll get a whole new group of people to discriminate against.

Happy holidays and best wishes for 2013!

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I want to wish you a glorious celebration of that time of year when we all try to unite around a desire for Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward All. Merry Christmas, Zoe!

Happy Holidays, Zoe!


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Merry Christmas Zoe!

Happy Holidays to you and your family, Zoë! It was great to meet you in San Francisco & Berkeley last month, and I look forward to getting together with you again in Philadelphia and NYC next year.

Dear Zoe,

Hope your Hanukkah was a happy one and wishing you all the best for 2103! I'm very much looking forward to the Philly spring meet-up. It look as if it going to be HUGE!

Happy holidays, everyone!

I've decided that the differing views on feminism etc. are cause for extreme optimism. Basically, it seems that the younger generation sees gender discrimination as much less problematic, which is a sign that society has made a lot of progress in a short time. Hopefully the world will be even better 50 years from now.

I had a nice uneventful Christmas yesterday, going to watch Les Misérables with my family and then watching Miracle on 34th St. in the evening--two great movies, and more movie-watching than I've done in months.

But now I want to read the book of Les Mis. I suspect that I'll bring it with my to California even though I have an overwhelming amount of luggage already (if I don't start it sooner—it may even displace some other books that I was hoping to get through while I was here). What are the chances that I'll actually finish this book? I hardly ever read in French, and I hardly ever read classics, and I hardly ever read 1000-page books, and combining them all doesn't promise the greatest chances of success. But I love the story, at least in the musical version. Hmm.

And in case I wasn't crazy enough, I started getting tempted by the Anna Karenina group read as well. I don't even own a copy of that book. But at least I have no chance of reading Russian, and reading in translation would make things easier.

Does anyone else suddenly want to undertake ridiculously ambitious reading projects for the start of the new year?

Heh. I'm also inspired to reread Les Mis after watching the movie! In English, though, as I wouldn't get off the first page in French!

Basically, it seems that the younger generation sees gender discrimination as much less problematic

I agree completely, and it's very encouraging. I mean, I was born in 1988, and I didn't really become conscious of such issues until the late 90's and early 2000's. I've never thought, been taught, or seen women as inferior in any way. I was never taught that women were supposed to do one thing and men another, or that women aren't allowed to do certain things just because they are women. It's just not something I experienced, in my family or in my schools.

In fact, I grew up being told women were better/smarter/cleaner/sensible/better judges of character, and men were just dumb stupid shallow pigs. I think this is due in large part because my mother is a sexist, who frequently rants about how horrible men are and how women are better in every way immaginable.

I think I'm in the same boat as you, as far as ridiculously ambitious reading projects. It's not as bad, but I'm reading a 400-page nonfiction, and I generally like my nonfiction half that size unless it is about biology specificially.

>156 _Zoe_:: I still really, really need to get back to The Count of Monte Cristo... though I should mention, I actually found Anna Karenina a fairly quick read a few years ago, so it's less daunting than it looks, promise!

Here's to a great new year ahead, Zoe!

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm going to post a few leftover reviews from last year before moving on to my shiny new thread.



59. The Spindlers by Lauren Oliver.

I can see two potential audiences for this book: younger readers who are actually looking for a Middle Grade book, and older readers who have enjoyed Oliver’s other work. I fall into the latter category: I loved Before I Fall, so I wanted to see what else this author could do.

The Spindlers read to me like a fairly typical fantasy adventure story. Liza realizes that her brother’s soul has been stolen by Spindlers, so she sets out into the world Below to get it back. While there, she meets all sorts of odd and interesting creatures, including a giant rat named Mirabella.

These straightforward adventures didn’t appeal as much to me as an adult reader, though I do think that children would enjoy them. I was more interested in the character development that took place over the course of the story. At this point, I think a spoiler warning is in order; don’t read on if you don’t want to know what happens.

Minor Spoilers:
Liza sort of befriends the giant rat that I mentioned earlier, in that she asks the rat to take her to the Spindlers’ nest, which involves an extremely dangerous journey. She doesn’t seem very appreciative of the sacrifice and personal risk that are involved in this, and mostly thinks about how strange Mirabella looks, or how bad her fur/breath smells, and other similarly superficial things. It’s only when Mirabella saves her from drowning that she decides that they’re friends—although she still struggles with the declaration, and although Mirabella has already saved her on previous occasions.

Major Spoilers:
So it’s a big plot twist when Mirabella betrays her, and it turns out that the rat was working for the Spindlers all along. But this twist would have been a lot more shocking if Liza had actually treated the rat well throughout the course of their journey, and offered something in return for everything that Mirabella was giving her. Since Liza mostly just expected people to help her without showing them any respect, I almost felt like she deserved the betrayal. I’m not sure that this is what I was supposed to think.

Major Spoilers continue:
Of course, it all works out well in the end. At the time of the betrayal, Liza proclaims how shocked she is, how she thought the rat was her friend and would have given to the rat in friendship anything that the Spindlers had given to her as payment. And the rat regrets the betrayal, and comes back and saves everyone. That’s all good: we get the standard lessson about the importance and power of friendship. But I felt like it was tainted a bit by the way we arrived there. Friendship only begins when someone dramatically saves your life; just going out of your way to help someone at great risk to yourself isn’t enough to earn a friend; appearances are more important. I don’t think these are the messages that Oliver was intending to get across, but they’re the ones that the thoughts and behaviour of the protagonist reveal.

No Spoilers:
I loved the protagonist in other ways. For one thing, she’s fiercely determined to save her brother no matter what. But the portrayal of friendship and non-friendship in the book just rubbed me the wrong way, and diminished my appreciation of the whole. If you’re just looking for a straightforward adventure story, this may not be a problem; Liza does have plenty of interesting adventures. But if you’re looking for a story that’s deeply satisfying at all levels, you may want to look elsewhere.

60. The Emperor's Soul by Brandon Sanderson. This is an interesting novel, much shorter than Sanderson's usual fare. When an attempted assassination leaves the emperor essentially brain-dead, the Forger Shai is enlisted to create a realistic copy of his soul, so that the empire can continue to function as usual. Forging a human soul is pretty much unheard of, and may not be possible, especially in the short time that's available--but Shai has to try, because she's a prisoner on death row and this is her only chance. I enjoyed the story, but it didn't leave a very big impact; I read it only a couple of weeks ago, and it had already faded from my mind.

61. Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald.

This is exactly what a popular psychology book should be: both extremely informative and extremely readable.

At the core of this book is a fairly new method for measuring people's hidden biases, called an Implicit Association Test (IAT). It's worth explaining this test in some detail because it forms such a central part of the book's arguments.

We're introduced to the general concept via the sorting of playing cards, and strongly encouraged to physically carry out the procedure. Imagine taking a deck of cards and sorting it into two piles: clubs and hearts in one pile, and spades and diamonds in another pile. Then imagine sorting in a different way: clubs and spades in one pile, hearts and diamonds in the other. The second sorting method is much easier, because the two groups are united by a common feature: clubs and spades are black, while hearts and diamonds are red. Clubs and spades are similar in a way that clubs and hearts are not.

The same sort of idea can be applied to other concepts as well: we more easily associate insects with negative words and flowers with positive words. And it turns out that most of us also also find it easier to associate black people with negative words and white people with positive words. Similarly, it's easier to associate women with home words and men with career words. Even when we don't make these associations consciously, the ease or difficulty of making certain groupings reveals that the associations do exist somewhere in our minds. These are the blindspots that the title is talking about.

Given the subtitle, the conclusions weren't quite as surprising to me as the authors seemed to expect: we know going in that supposedly good people are going to turn out to have hidden biases. But the tests are unusually persuasive. We don't just learn that there are studies showing that people in general are biased; we learn that we ourselves are biased, in a way that's apparent in the test-taking process even before tabulating the results.

In addition to bringing home this lesson in a very powerful way, the authors present other related studies and discuss the consequences of hidden biases more broadly. And they do it all in a very readable way. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in issues of discrimination, or anyone who who just wants to gain some new insight into their own mind.

(I wrote the review above for Vine, so I'll add a separate note here: this was a great complement to The Heart of Whiteness and the ensuing discussion that we had here.)

Sounds interesting, Zoe--I'm forced to put it on my wishlist.