richardderus's 2010 threads, #5

I know I bang on about the 250-post cutoff, so I took my own advice and started a new thread before being reminded.

I'm in the Books Off the Shelf group, too, so I will review 25 books that've sat on my shelves since who-whipped-the-cat and also 75 new books...published no earlier than 2008...this year.

Reviews 1,2,3: first thread
Reviews 4-7: second thread
Reviews 8-12: : third thread
Reviews 13-20: ... fourth thread

I now have a Homeless Reviews thread in Club Read 2010. I've set a completely arbitrary goal of 50 books to review that I don't own, and were published before 2008, so they don't fit anywhere else.

FOR THOSE JUST TUNING IN: I don't know the readers of my reviews personally, for the most part, so I don't have any way to gauge whether you'll agree or disagree with me. It's always perfectly fine with me either way, and I invite comments from all.










Books are reviewed in post number:

30. Sea of Poppies...... #176

29. A Guide to the Birds of East Africa... #150

28. Reporting at Wit's End... #132

27. An American Type... #109

26. Lucifer at the Starlite... #107

25. After the Fire, a Still Small Voice... #86

24. Hellosunshine... #55

23. The Headmistress... #40

22. Easy: Poems... #31

21. The Palace of Illusions... #20

You cannot escape from me that easily!

Curses! Foiled again! Muttley shall pay for this, said Snidely Whiplash.

If I had one of those villanous mustaches, I would be stroking it right about now.

There's an image for ya....

I knew you would think that!

What, are you saying I'm predictable or something? Huh? Well, are ya?

Anybody who can go from reading Sprig Muslin to Leviathan is definitely not predictable.

>8 karenmarie: LOL

You make a point, Karen. And the next one up the TBR Tower is a collection of pieces written for the New Yorker during its glory days...Reporting At Wit's End, from Bloomsbury, via the ER program that I love so much.

AAANNND Norton sent me my ER copy of An American Type by Henry Roth, which I plan to review this month. Mercifully it's short, though I know Roth's prose will make me stroke my chin and murmur "hmmm" every third sentence.

I'm here again.

Reporting at Wit's End sounds interesting; I fervently await your review.

Back somewhere on your 4th thread you mentioned how the book Leviathan had a beautiful cover and maps that you loved. I'd just like to say that I love when maps are included at the front of a book, adding so much to the story when you can see exactly where things are happening. That's all.

#9 Mmmm...I'm supposed to be getting An American Type too. Maybe it'll be there when I get home. I'm ready to start something new...

Here I thought I was only 18 posts behind, and find out I'm 31 posts back instead! *huffs a bit* Oh, hi, Richard! Looking forward to getting Leviathan after your review!

Leviathan looks interesting, I'll put a reservation in at the library.

Henry Roth??? I read Call It Sleep when i was way too young to appreciate anything but the words themselves.....

*STAR*

I'm baa-aack. On your thread, that is.

Hey Richard- I have yet to break into "Steampunk", although it has been very tempting, these past past few weeks. Maybe, I'll start with LEVIATHAN. I remember you guys raving about Anubis Gates also!
You were mentioning current TV on your last thread and I recall you being a fan of "Breaking Bad". Have you been watching the latest season? It has been excellent! The total corruption of Walter White!

Review: 21 of seventy-five

Title: THE PALACE OF ILLUSIONS

Author: CHITRA BANERJEE DIVAKARUNI

Rating: ***** of 5

I started the "Read an Indian Writer" challenge within April's TIOLI just so I could give this book its due. It was urged on me, and gifted to me, by the incomparably fabulous cameling, to whom I must now light candles and burn incense as the Goddess of My Idolatry.

I'd give it six stars if I could.

Peak reading experiences come all too seldom in life. I think one knows it's a peak when it's almost too painful to endure that the book is ending, but almost too painful to endure to put it down and turn out the light. Then the book comes to you in your dreams, the characters and the situations work their magical way into your receptive dream-mind, and make not only waking hours painfully happy with the reading or anticipation of reading but the sleeping hours more vivid and more real and more alive than ever.

That's what happened to me as I read The Palace of Illusions. I've dreamed of its characters, I've lived vicariously its plot and its many eventful twists for a month of nights, and I truly can't express to you how much pleasure it's given me to do so. I wish for everyone that experience, if not with this book then with another, and soon. It makes a whole new level of appreciation come, or come back, to you when you come across one of these books.

I have had the life-changing experience twice before, and I still treasure those memories. I will treasure this one equally. I suppose the idea of the book, retelling a classic Indian foundational myth called Mahabharat from the point-of-view of a female character, is in keeping with today's popular trend of reimagining myths from all angles and stances. I certainly am aware that telling any Indian myth from a female point of view is a departure from the cultural norms of that society, and to be applauded for that reason alone; but what Divakaruni wrought in doing this is nothing short of creating a new foundation myth on the stones of the old one.

I think a woman who has five husbands wished on her as she comes into this world from a fiery column is worth hearing more about; so did Divakaruni; and thus the tale told here. The myth merely mentions her in passing, which is a curious piece of patriarchal doublethink that never ceases to amaze me when I encounter it. A little like Eve's untold story in Christian myth, and the odd absence of Hera stories as separate from Zeus and his philandering. Extraordinary men need extraordinary women, and simply not telling me-the-reader about them doesn't make them not exist; it merely hides them in deep and scary shadows until a woman with the right eyes comes along, sees the real story, and sets about telling it.

We are all of us readers the richer for Divakaruni's gift of this book to us. I do not, however, recommend it to all readers; I don't think its power is in its broad appeal but in its complete appeal. I suspect that some whose reading preferences are more aimed at comfort and at the satisfactions of reinforcement and reassurance would find this an unpleasant book to read. But I truly wish for each of you that you give it a try, let it at least make a start on working its beautiful enchantment on you. I hope it will be able to speak its way into your dreams the way it did mine.

OK - I'll have to read this straightaway if you are giving it 6 out of 5. Love your review of Leviathan, and I'm bringing it to the top of my tbr pile.

Twenty posts on a thread and I don't even know where I am on the last thread. I'm no good at keeping up when classes are in session. But I'm thinking of you! And I'm glad you had such a satisfying read.

Thumb from me and I promise to track down a copy;-)

Not to beat a dead horse, but I must comment on the conversation from the previous thread.

Homosexual, heterosexual, metrosexual--it makes me no never mind. They're just lovely to look at. If I can reel 'em in, so much the better. If I can't, then I'll just keep looking.
O_O

Ditto. I've thumbed this fabulous review, and will look for a copy of The Palace of Illusions this weekend.

I think we're back on the dancing-boy conversation, are we not? Heavens, I hope so, cause otherwise I am so lost it would take a posse of Sherpas a year of tryin' just to find a track. Anyway, if that's the lascivious port we're calling at, amen I say unto thee. Loves me some male nudity, gym-bunny style.

They often tend to be conversationally limited, but I wasn't lookin' to talk anyway....

Richard, your last comment cracks me up. Your last review however inspires. Great job.

Thumb Richard. I'll look to see if this is already on my pile which it may well be if Caroline recommended it to you. If it's not there it will be added post haste.

I have The Palace of Illusions on the shelf..
good review... I will have to nudge it up a bit :)

Great review of The Palace of Illusions.. Another thumbs up from me!



Oh, how I loved Dudley Do Right cartoons!

Review: 22 of seventy-five

Title: EASY: POEMS Ponsot

Author: MARIE PONSOT

Rating: **** of 5

This is an April TIOLI Challenge "Read a Living Poet" as begun by the illustrious Darryl/kidzdoc.

COMETING

I like to drink my language in
straight up, no ice no twist no spin
----no fruity phrases, just unspun
words trued right toward a nice
idea, for chaser. True's a risk.
Take it I say. Do true for fun.

We say water is taught by thirst
earth by ocean diving
birds by the lift of the heart

oh that lift
----curative, isn't it----
a surge a sursum as
words become us
we come alive lightly
saying Oh

*
at the wordstream of sentences
transparent in their consequence
cometing before our eyes
trailing crystalline
across our other sky
and we drink from it
for the jolt of language
for its lucid hit
of bliss, the surprise.

Mrs. Ponsot is a friend of The Divine Miss's, and a lady of quite noble vintage (90 quite soon); as you see from the above, pp60-61 in the book, she's lost not one step in her grande-dame-hood. I loved the clear, refreshing dip I took into the 52 poems in "Easy: Poems".

I am always delighted by poets whose impulse is to communicate not obfuscate; I love Wallace Stevens and WH Auden and Sharon Olds, and of course Mrs. Ponsot, for their sharp eyes and their stiletto-thin pencils. These lines are so well crafted that you can cut yourself on them:

"...
From its baseboard stares
the head of a boar made
by someone who had seen a boar.

Cornered, caved, tarnishing
regardless in the dark at the back
edge of a royal burial, it sucked
the dust of three skulls
of three young women
whose heads it crushed
as it was planted there.
...
two singers and a lutanist, untarnished,
breakable, intentional, faithful
servants and instruments of song.
..."
--from "What Speaks Out", pp44-45

May I, and all I love, be able to create such wonderful, bright, unsparing beauty as we close in on our centenaries. This is how to do Getting Old. Brava, Marie Ponsot, and many many thanks for paying forward your dark-adapted eye.

#20: I put the book on hold at the local library. I hope it is better than the one of hers I just read, One Amazing Thing, which frankly was not.

>32 alcottacre: I predict with confidence that it is.

#33: Good! I look forward to getting my hands on it.

How lovely that you know Mme. Ponsot. It must add a nice dimension to your enjoyment.

>20 richardderus:: oh good! That has been on the wishlist for a while now...it might even be on order. And here's to "the jolt of language". Long may we drink.

>35 suslyn: Suse, she was on the Prison Writing Committee of PEN American Center the first time I was a judge. She's a little frail, but you see from the poetry that she's not going gentle into that "good" night. I am inspired afresh by her 'tude every poem I read.

>36 tiffin: Tui, *clink* to the jolt! And I am really eager to hear what you end up thinking about The Palace of Illusions.

Palace of Illusions is already on THE LIST....I have read Mistress of Spices..years ago...which had me waxing rhapsodic as well. Sister of My Heart ain't bad, either. One Amazing Thing is languishing in the wings...maybe 'cause the word AMAZING is in the title....

Ms Ponsot's poetics are lovely, indeed...and remind me not a little of Sharon Olds (one of my favorites as well)...or should that be the other way around???

"Nother great review, Sweetie!.....and Another!!!

;-}

'Mistress of Spices' -- what a great title!

Review: 23 of seventy-five

Title: THE HEADMISTRESS

Author: ANGELA THIRKELL

Rating: ***1/2 of 5

Anthony Trollope originated Barsetshire, the fictional uber-English county, in a series of novels that include The Warden and Barchester Towers (two of my favorites in that series). He created a constellation of memorable characters, whose essential reality came from the *shudder* Dickensian ink-pot of broad strokes and deft shadows. The series is still read today by significant numbers of fans. It's only 160 years later...pretty good going for a hack writer!

Angela Thirkell began writing books set in this Barsetshire alternate reality when she was but a lass of nineteen. She continued to mine the mother lode until her death at seventy-one-ish. Her characters, from families either alluded to in the original or simply made up, are as true and real as Trollope's own. Her observations are clear and pointed, her language is limpidly simple and direct, and all in all her books are a great pleasure to read...if you like this sort of thing.

I do.

This entry into her series presents a wartime Barsetshire that, like all of England, is undergoing a massive reorientation of its social compass. It's like the pole shift that the Earth throws itself every so often...north isn't north anymore, it's east then west then south-by-southwest, and nowhere is there a fixed point to steer by. Thirkell's eponymous headmistress, Miss Sparling, sees the confusion around her, and steers by her own strong internal compass. It makes her a delightful character to follow, and within the novel itself, makes her a welcome addition to the closed world of county society in Harefield.

Why should modern readers, sixty-five years on, read a book like this, by a nearly forgotten second-rank commercial writer of a bygone style? Because, dear readers, this era like that one is a time of great social change and we can all take comfort in the efforts our forebears made to resist, accommodate, and understand (often all three at once) the titanic reorientations going on around us. I suspect that the reason change makes humans so miserable is that we refuse to acknowledge the storehouse of help our ancestors piled up for us in the form of myths, stories, and legends. All storytelling involves change, resistance to it, and consequences.

So I recommend to those disoriented by the gradual/sudden shifting of the culture that they read this, and the other, Barsetshire novels, and view them as self-help books in aid of managing their own responses to a changing world.

Besides, they're delightful to read!

>39 suslyn:

Mistress of Spices is a pretty good book, too...Love, Sensuality, Spices, Food....on and on....

;-}

#40: Thirkell has been on my radar for a while now. I definitely need to pick up some of her books. Thanks for the reminder, Richard.

I am going to have check these out... I love the Barsetshire novels.

One side note -- apparently Barchester Towers was one of the novels that young officers had with them in the trenches in WW1, to remind them of their home. I wonder what the contemporary equivalent would be for those in Iraq and Afghanistan? Certainly nothing like Trollope, sadly...

>38 jdthloue: Jude, I predict you'll enjoy the book when it reaches the top of the heap. It's got the kind of characters I've noticed you like: Strong, independent, possessed of a dark side, and liable to get themselves into big trouble.

>39 suslyn: Suse, I love that title too! I'm looking forward to reading it.

>42 alcottacre: Stasia! What are you saying?! *You* have never read Thirkell?!? OMG OMG OMG go directly to your liberry and get Wild Strawberries!! *sigh* To be discovering Thirkell at such an advanced age as yours...how sad and yet such pleasures await.

>43 Chatterbox: I suspect, Suzanne, that Tom Wolfe and Bret Easton Ellis would be in their backpacks. *shiver*

#44: OK, I will look for Wild Strawberries, Richard.

I read the Chronicles of Barsetshire last year and loved them. I will definately keep a lookout for the Thirkell.

I read an ANGELA THIRKELL title back in the 80s....it must have impressed me greatly because I can't recall the freaking title. So, I was on Paperback Swap earlier today, with good intentions to scope out THIRKELL. But my brain-gears shifted and I ended up on DAWN POWELL (an Ohio gal born in Mt Gilead)...she, of the Dorothy Parker/F Scott Fitzgerald school of Classy Satire....anywho, i spent my credits on several of her books...Poor ANGELA will have to wait, I guess.

;-}

My mother's favorite book was The Locusts Have No King, probably Dawn Powell's best known work these days. I thought that was a good book, but it will never make my Top Ten of All Time list.

*waves*

tgif

I'm so glad you liked The Palace of Illusions ... I was afraid you'd find my recommendation a dud and creatively denounce me to all and sundry.

umm... I've never read Thirkell either.

Sorry Richard, I didn't notice the link to the new thread. And now I'm 50 posts behind!

>51 Ape: You're forgiven, of course. What fun would my threads be without you?

52: I dont't know about that, but I imagine it would definitely lack that distinct zoo/gorilla exhibit smell without me!

Bother! I thought you'd been abnormally quiet, but it turns out I failed to notice the new thead. Pah. Hang on a minute and I'll just catch up...

Wonderful review of The Palace of Illusions - and I remember seeing this on cameling's thread now, so I'm not sure why it's not already on my Wishlist, but shall certainly be added now!

Review: 24 of seventy-five

Title: HELLO SUNSHINE

"Author": RYAN ADAMS

Rating: * of 5

*reeetch*ptui*reeetch*

Someone bring me some Dickens, quick! I need to get the filthy vile horrid disgusting poisonous taste of this "work" out of my mind!

So Richard. How far did you get before invoking the Pearl rule?

>56 karenmarie: I will have you to know that I read the entire thing. One bad poem, okay...two, hmmm a trend...but ninety-plus, a train wreck.

A rock star who writes his own songs should not be **this** incompetent, poetically I mean.

LOL it's bad if Dickens would make it taste better for you!

So Richard ... tell us how you REALLY feel about this book. ;-) Sorry to hear it was a horrid one for you. Hope your next read is a better one for you.

..........and some singer/songwriters work doesn't "scan" on the page at all.

I am a fan of Mr Adams' work..when he is Good. when he's Bad he sucks to high heaven...HEARTBREAKER (the CD) is a good 'un....before he got excessively Famous and all....LOVE IS HELL ain't bad ...especially the title.

;-}

>59 cameling: It was! On my Homeless Reviews thread...A Candle for St. Jude.

Well, so you found someone you like less than Bohjalian then?

>62 mckait: Juuust barely less, but less.

well there ya go!

#55:

#57 But Richard,dear, WHY did you read the whole thing? Was it less than 50 pages? Or did you keep hoping to find the bit of silver amongst the dross?

>65 alcottacre: THAT GIF's a keeper!!

>66 karenmarie: Because...because...you know how something just *feels* wrong but you're just too curious not to do it? Like in horror movies, the stupid stupid girl always goes outside in the unrunnable high heels, at midnight, after hearing what is either a badly maintained backhoe start up or a monster summon its pack, and quavers, "Is anybody out there?"

Same thing, literary version.

pssst, KarenMarie, don't buy it. He just wanted to bump up his book count and new he could scan this, enjoy making a rip-em-up review, and generate some discussion.

What, suslyn, our dear Richard with malice aforethought? Nope, can't buy that.

I think Richard was being a masochist and trying to drum up sympathy for having had to slog through such a crapfest.

I'm sympathetic - I just read a huge piece of drek called Midnight Fires: A Mystery with Mary Wollstonecraft by Nancy Means Wright. I almost gnashed my teeth and tore at my hair while attempting to get through it. Almost. Instead, I abandoned it after about 100 pages or so. Not quite as much a masochist as Richard. I won't be so tedious as to post my review here in Richard's thread, but you might want to check it out. I had fun writing it.

Darn it. I have Midnight Fires on my wishlist. Why would someone take such a potentially fun mystery concept and ruin it with bad writing. GRRR.

nancyewhite - I'm in a minority on this one, according to the reviews.

#67: I am glad you liked that one, Richard.

>72 alcottacre: Me too!

>69 karenmarie: Gadzooks! And Godzilla! What a crapulous waste of a tree. Thumbs-upped you. Thanks for the sherpa-ing, it's saved me from feeling like Nancy.

Who published this marvy?

>69 karenmarie:, Darn it, I have a copy sitting here unread. Well, I will give it a try and if it's dreck, I'm sure someone on PBS will take it off my hands...

Thumbed your review of Candle for St Jude ... and thanks for the recommendation. Off to the wish list it goes ... and I might even share it with my god daughter when she's older because she's a ballet nut.

Not surprisingly, I was your 28th thumb for your very clever review of Ryan Adams.

#73 Perseverence Press, whoever they are. A google search provided this blurb: "Literary mystery novels with an emphasis on excellent writing, suspenseful plots, and meaningful characters and situations."

The excellent writing bit is a lie, at least for this book.

#74 Like I said above, I'm in a minority. A happy minority, but a minority. LTer MuseofIre wrote a more pithy review along the same lines.

edited to fix 'meaningful'.

>55 richardderus: - Richard,

Hello Sunshine
thank you,
Oh you
make me
laugh.
lol...

>78 Copperskye:
The curmudgeon
twirls...
drags his
feat-
her boa across verbs
and tickled
we
laugh

>78 Copperskye:, 79 You guys! Y'all crack me up! Who knew we had so many good bad poets 'round these parts?

>77 karenmarie: Perseverance Press? Nevah hoyd of 'em. Based on the book you're describing, I say it's spinach and I say to hell with it. (Ancient New Yorker cartoon: kid sitting at dinner table with anxious parents and mulish look, says that.)

I remember that cartoon...I love it. Deserves to be seen, so here it is:

It's one of my favorites, too, Linda3rd! It applies to so much of the hyped stuff of modern life, don't you think?

Hype? In our lives?? Where??? *whirls around in amazement*

LOL! Thanks for posting it!

Hype...I know, go figure...this is such a values-based society, right? *snort*

Review: 25 of seventy-five

Title: AFTER THE FIRE, A STILL SMALL VOICE

Author: EVIE WYLD

Rating: *** of 5

How awful it must be to be heterosexual...to know, with the full force of society's blasting, trumpeting inculcation of knowledge that your Object of Desire will not, can not, indeed may not, ever make sense to you.

Evie Wyld presents the stories of three generations of miserable men and the women they screw up in this, her debut novel. Lady's got guts, let's hand her her just props...she writes of the horrors of war as experienced by these men with the assurance of a far more mature (in experiential terms) writer. She fails signally to give these three generations of men any distinguishing characteristics. She tells the tale through the eyes of two of the three men, in (for no apparent aesthetic or organizational reason) alternating chapters.

She writes well when we're considering lines (plenty of examples, just open the book anywhere and you'll hit a good 'un); but why did Evie Wyld tell this particular story? I don't know. And that, ladies and gents, is a problem.

So am I supposed to think she's brave, for writing about men, or am I supposed to think she's sensitive, for understanding them? I don't think she's brave because she's created one man, a miserable loser with no delusions as to his own adequacy still less superiority; a character who, no matter which name-label she slaps on him, doesn't grow, change, or even demonstrate more than lizard-brain function. I don't think she's sensitive because each and every man she limns is a shit of the first water, abusive of or vampiring off the women in the book.

I'm really, really sick of women portraying men in this light, and then having other women yodel their praises for doing this eternal, socially acceptable hatchet job on men. This book, for reasons I can't understand, is a longlister for the Orange Prize. She's got promise, I grant you, and she's got some native *thing* that makes her place evocations arm-hair-pricklingly good. But this isn't a book I will ever read again, and I don't recommend it.

#86: Skipping that one. Does not sound like my cup of tea at all. I have no luck with prize winners or nominees any way, so no great loss that I can see.

Wise, Stasia, since it will prevent days of hoarseness from screeching your irritation with this woman's incomprehensible artistic choices.

#88: I do not screech at books - I throw them at walls, lol. Saves on my voice.

Stasia, LOL! A friend of mine has a category that she refers to as "wallbangers", for just that reason...

I do think that the reason for writing this kind of book about male/female relations goes back to women's roles pre-late 1960s. Read Marilyn French's The Women's Room, which is kind of archetype of this, although from the sound of it, much better written. If you grow up being told you're a second class citizen and that men around you are better at anything they do because of their anatomy, well... I encountered this as a grad student in Japan, where my work was deemed bad by professors, who said a woman's voice shouldn't be heard often (in a grad school seminar!) and a woman's brain wasn't good enough to cope with the material. Oddly, the visiting prof we had one semester from Princeton gave me As... A Japanese woman at my college had received the highest grades one year on the foreign service exam of all the applicants -- but didn't get a job offer. She ended up marrying a fellow student who DID get into the foreign service, and promptly left for grad school in the US, telling her she couldn't leave the village unless it was to visit HIS parents. Experiences like that can shape writers' attitudes. That's not to say that those writers all produce good novels, of course -- and it sounds like this story is indifferently executed -- but it does address the "why". (The specifics of the "why" would be different in each case, natch -- in mine, it would be my father deciding he didn't want to be married any more to my mother, meaning she had to leave the family home AND the city and country they were living in, since her visa was that of a diplomatic wife. To this day, 20 plus years later, he still owes her three of the five years' worth of court-ordered alimony payments... Another typical 50s-era marriage; by the time of the divorce, it was too late for her to acquire skills that would translate into a high-paying job.)

My soapbox is getting entirely too much use this month!! :-)

#89 I do the same: yet another reason NOT to switch to ebooks.

#91: LOL!

Yikes! Adding book to avoid at all costs list.

>90 Chatterbox: Suzanne, my family was similar. My mother left my father, her third husband, after she'd bankrolled his start-up business and lost her investment. They didn't like each other, and so when the money was gone, the marriage ended...acrimoniously.

She spent the rest of her life carefully NOT running him down, though she was prone to other kinds of abuse. Her reasoning? "Took two to get there, only one had the guts to get out."

I don't care about the why. I mean that literally...I am not interested, I do not want to know, it is uninteresting to me, why a woman feels ill used. (Men too, but that's not the subject here.) If a writer feels it necessary to rehearse her grievances in fiction, she needs to get a better grasp on mental health. (Again, this goes equally for men, but that's not what we're talking about.) Working through the grievances, that I can read with pleasure! Change, growth, new views of old things! Mrs Dalloway wasn't written by a woman who thought marriage was a good bargain, it was written by a woman who had *no choice* but to marry in her social milieu; it's not about how awful Mr Dalloway is, how he wrecked Clarissa's life; it's about Clarissa in relationship to her whole world, seeking the guideposts that she walked between to get where she is now.

I don't like whining. This book was whiny from start to finish. Yuck.

I'm really, really sick of women portraying men in this light, and then having other women yodel their praises for doing this eternal, socially acceptable hatchet job on men.

Agreed! And unfortunately, it does seem to happen often in what are deemed "prize-winning" novels... come to think of it, there are "women's films" like this too... how is it fair that women can portray men like this and we give them awards, but when men portray women like this, they get called misogynists and are publicly maligned?

>95 dk_phoenix: I suspect the PC concept of "redress of past wrongs" is at work.

There are still lots of discrepancies with sexism, at least in the United States. Women can go on national television and bash men like crazy and people will applaud. Yet a man does something similar and it's an atrocity. I saw on The Colbert Report a few months ago, he mentioned that the United States government hired women over men by 90 percent, and the crowd went wild with cheers. But if a business hired men over women by 90 percent, watch out for pitchforks and torches!

It works both ways though. If I'm not mistaken, women tend to get paid less for working the same job as a man. (although I remember hearing that overall women now tend to make more money than men because they tend to get more scholarships and have better education than men...though a man is still expected to pay for dates and "provide" for the woman even if he makes less.) There, sadly, is still a lot of discrimination in the workplace against women as well. And I'm sure there are plenty more examples that I don't know about (not being a woman myself...)

I think we're close to complete equality than ever before. One of the things that makes me proud about my generation is how absent racism and sexism is compared to other generations. People might view us as fat, lazy, dim-witted internet-porn-addicted violent-video-game-playing monsters who are almost entirely socially inadequate due to our dependency on chat/forums/texting, but at least we are making great strides in equality! .....

ETA: Although I should mention we are still FAR away from perfection. Especially with homosexuality amongst men. There was 1 openly gay boy in my high school and I remember him being ridiculed everywhere he went during (and likely after) school hours. It'll never be perfect, I guess. =/

OOO OOO internet porn! Yes!!

Thanks for the dispatch from the front, Stephen, and no indeed, things will never, ever be perfect no matter what standards are applied.

Quite a lot depends on where you're from re: gayness. My daughter and her cohorts are unfazed, nay uninterested, in with whom their friends sleep, except as a matter of gossip..."what's SHE doing with her?" and "he needs a taste transplant if he thinks that guy is sexy." They were raised in liberal Austin. People from 30mi away raised in the Bile...oops, meant Bible of course!...Belt are hatemongers. Firebreathingly homophobic. Idiots.

Anyway, the world being made up of humans, I don't expect anything other than process rather than destination.

OK, Richard, I would like to point out that not everyone who lives in the Bible Belt is a hatemongering, homophobic, idiotic person. Of course, I am . . .

>99 alcottacre: Very true, Stasia, and proof that Christians are the worst enemies that Followers of Christ's Teachings can have. I would *never* stigmatize you with the other Bile Belt Mouth-Breathers, because you've got room in your head for faith *and* thought. Fortunately, many are your compatriots, and many of them are here on LT.

It's not, "Oh her? She's a GOOD one." It's, "Oh her? She's a *real* one."

That's a nice accolade.

looking in on himself......

aha! I see *smiles*

I know for a fact that I was paid less than male colleagues for the better part of a decade -- because when I asked someone to look into my salary, they were stunned and I got a 30% raise. But I had to make a stink about it, which then got me labeled as "emotional". So I won the battle and lost the war. And then there were the five years, when I worked every Xmas day in a row, so that my (jewish) male colleague (there were two of us in the bureau) could spend time off with his wife and family. *shrugs* I've become accustomed to the double standard in my world -- where a guy who is assertive is forceful and dynamic and a woman is a you-know-what and not to be trusted. So yeah, the kind of silliness you describe on Colbert is bizarre, but again, I see where it comes from. I can't imagine any woman over the age of 40 who has not encountered at some point in there life being told their gender made them different and not as good at what it was they wanted to do -- law, neurosurgery, etc. etc. When you've lived it, you're visceral reaction is going to be just like the guys who go to the stripper bars and cheer on the women and think it's cool to make jokes about abusive behavior & rape. It's stereotyping, which is not cool, but there's a reason for it. Which is not to say that it makes for great fiction.

Be thankful, Suz, that we don't live in South Korea where the inequality between men and women are even more blatant, not just in salary levels but also in glass ceilings for women. When I travel there on business, there are no women at all in my meetings unless they're there merely as the translator from marketing.

Oh god, yes, or Japan -- where women still want to work for foreign companies bec. it's the only way to have a career vs. a job. Even then, it's a tradeoff, as you risk making yourself unmarriageable. Do you find the situation difft in China? I got that impression, but didn't seen enough to get a sense that it was just appearances. And don't get me wrong; I am daily relieved and grateful that I was born when and where I was. I wasn't my mother's generation, where the only acceptable professions were librarian, secretary, teacher or nurse, and then only until a certain age. Or in most other parts of the world. My relief/gratitude greatly outweighs any anger at remaining discrimination, but it's hard not to be conscious of this. I have two women friends who are on-air at CNBC and it's really disconcerting how about 2/3 of their e-mail from viewers relates to their appearance. The one who is my age -- and looks ten times better than I do -- gets rather vicious/obnoxious comments about how she looks like an old **** (expletive deleted). Ho hum. C'est la vie. Susan Faludi wrote a rather good book about women in society back in the early 90s, Backlash. And, interestingly, a companion volume about how being gender role "trapped" affects men -- Stiffed. It would be interesting to re-read those back to back.

I am never going to be away from LT for more than a couple of days again. I'm like the fat kid doing cross country (or, in fact, myself doing cross country) - so far behind all I can do is wave and call out pitifully, knowing full well I'll never catch up! ;-)

Review: 26 of Seventy-five

Title: LUCIFER AT THE STARLITE

Author: Kim Addonizio

Rating: ***1/2 of 5

I read this as part of Darryl' "Read a Living Poet" TIOLI challenge.

Two out of three ain't bad. I checked three living poets' work out for this challenge, enjoyed the first, abominated the second, and liked the third, this title by Addonizio.

The title poem, "Lucifer at the Starlite," will give you a flavor of her work:

Here's my bright idea for life on earth:
better management. The CEO
has lost touch with the details. I'm worth
as much, but I care; I come down here, I show
my face, I'm a real regular. A toast:
To our boys and girls in the war, grinding
through sand, to everybody here, our host
who's mostly mist, like methane rising
from retreating ice shelves. Put me in command.
For every town, we'll have a marching band.
For each thoroughbred, a comfortable stable;
for each worker, a place beneath the table.
For every forward step a stumbling,
A shadow over every starlit thing.

This is as good as her poetry gets, so if you don't like that, give the collection a miss. I liked it, as you can tell. I thought there was a freshness about her very serious point, the expression was light and informal and that's (I'm pretty sure) what she was going for; but The Divine Miss, in her inimitable way, upon hearing me read several poems aloud, commented: "Nice! She's Auden for the ADD generation."

Well, when you can't top a line, get off the stage. Recommended.

LOL

Review: 27 of seventy-five

Title: AN AMERICAN TYPE

Author: HENRY ROTH

Rating: ***1/2 of 5

Posthumous books don't often turn out well (eg, Dream of Fair to Middling Women oh dear oh dear). Books excavated from immense piles of prose don't often turn out well (eg, Of Time and the River, echhh) either. And this book is both. Did it turn out well? Compared to Call It Sleep, no. Compared to much of the publishing world's present output, yeah.

I found Ira, the author's alter ego, to be a bit tedious in all Roth's books. I don't love Rabbit Angstrom (John Updike's most famous character) either. But editor Willing Davidson (what a great name!) found some less irritatingly self-absorbed things to focus this novel on than, say, the entire book A Star Shines Over Mt. Morris Park, which I found nigh on unreadably whiny. Ira's love for his wife M is a huge point in his favor, and though she is never brought to life in the text but is instead shorthanded in as "aureate" or "golden" or smilingly bathed in the sort of light that the Virgin Mary is usually portrayed lit by, she remains the believeable focus of Ira's striving and working and expending effort on. It's curious how that happened; I usually have a hard time with characters that are sketched in when they occupy a central place in a narrative. I felt M, represented by a simple single letter, was appropriately left as an Object of Veneration; it was *right* somehow that she was a collection of qualities with no recognizable voice of her own.

Edith, God love her, is as much a cipher as ever, and luckily little missed in this book.

I compare this mining job to the pseudo-weighty Jonathan Littell and Andrea Levy stuff lighting things up in Literatureland; An American Type is refreshingly honest and clear and taut compared to those book, among others I've read that have received unstinting praise. It deserves a place on every Roth lover's shelves. I won't recommend it wholeheartedly because it's a bit dull compared to his brilliant first book, and fourth book (A Diving Rock on the Hudson). But give it a chance...there is magic at the very end, worth working for, worth making the effort to see...much like Roth felt life was, I think.

Returning yesterday's lurk -- I had lost your latest thread and so read THIS WHOLE THING just now. But Illusions on my wish list, enjoyed the poems, and the discussions. I agree about the WHOLE POINT in fiction not being to rant, bully pulpit etc but to GO BEYOND..... bravo all for bravely plunging in for a good discussion!

Swinging by to say hi. Bone weary from the end of semester details. It is registration for fall classes. Naturally, students wait until the last hour of the last day to meet with me. I try to remember they pay my salary...but it is difficult at times.

I hope auntie isn't driving you nuts these days. I like your image of a freshly painted house.

Re: Lucifer at the Starlite. Kim is an old friend of mine. We went to grad school together. I haven't read this latest collection yet (shame on me), but if you like her work, Richard, I highly recommend her collection, Tell Me, (there doesn't seem to be a touchstone option, but the book is here: http://www.librarything.com/work/4047526/book/26952921) which was nominated for the New York Book Award for Poetry the year it came out.

When is your break Linda??

Technically, I work during the summer. But, I have very generous vacation time and lots of comp. time. Summer is slower and is a catch up time for me. Few students are on campus and I can generally get a lot accomplished.

Do you have off during the summers Kath?

>109 richardderus: Interested to read your thoughts on An American Type, Richard. I received it from the ER program, and am about to start reading it. It will be my first Roth (Henry, that is). In one of those curious coinkidinks, I found three of his four Mercy of a Rude Stream novels at our recent library book sale, and copped a first edition of the other one for a pittance from Amazon. So I really hope I find him worth reading.

>116 laytonwoman3rd: Linda3rd, I think you'll enjoy the trip. It's no exaggeration to say that the Roth cult was built on one book, Call It Sleep, and that all else has been of secondary importance and influence. I am not sorry I read his stuff. That's pretty high praise....

I have 8 ish weeks off... from may 20 -june 20 ish then I work 4 weeks and then off again for 4ish weeks...

older kids have 2 months off but they also have extended school year ( nightmare)
and there are other "camps" that occur on campus...

so I am very fortunate..

wow...i forgot what a long summer felt like! but i do like my month-long breaks every nine weeks!

Richard, Thanks for recommending Beasts of No Nation. I finished it this evening and it took my breath away!

I could live with that .... one month every nine weeks?

lovely :)

absolutely gorgeous

yoo hooo...... rd, where are you?

Hmm.....you got alot more out of An American Type than I did, richard ... I couldn't finish it. Found it a whole lot of irritating and very little else.

Are you hiding from us?

No, not hiding, just busy! Today was the last of the house-fixing days for two weeks. Painting of trim done; rewiring outside lights, garage door opener done; initial architect contact for expansion done. (I have some specific things I *really* want, so I snuck it in while The Divine Miss is away. I'm a baaad, baaad boy.)

Then Turkish Delight *finally* made it back from his visit to mom...he's so sad, he really misses being close to his family (something we DON'T share), and is very seriously thinking of moving back soon. He needed to talk it through, and I listened without freaking out the way his wife did. Seems to me a person should be happy if at all possible, so I encouraged him to do it; that led to some wounded feelings, since he's sure I'll be devastated but just don't want to let on. Silly boy!

And now to bed. I can barely keep my eyes open.

Sounds like you had a busy day, RD! I hope you get some rest.

I take it the GTs were helping you on your road to recovery today? ;-)

Is there *any* time that cannot be made better by the judicious application of gin? I think not.

You are wise my rdear.

Gin? yes. Tequila? no ;->

Richard- Just swinging through to say hey! Hope you are doing well, sir!

Review: 28 of seventy-five

Title: REPORTING AT WIT'S END: TALES FROM THE NEW YORKER

Author: St. Clair McKelway

Rating: ****1/2 of 5

Once upon a time, and a very good time it was, there was a magazine called The New Yorker that published superb writing and made money doing it. That day, I fear, has passed; the magazine probably doesn't make money and I think its *superb* writing is thinner on the ground than once was the case. I am deeply grateful that it still exists and does all the very, very good publishing that it does.

But oh me, ph my, for the times when A.J. Liebling, Joseph Mitchell, and St. Clair McKelway were simply among the talent pool, and not standouts!

This collection of McKelway's best pieces of character-driven, crime-reporting pieces from the 30s to the 60s illuminates one of the old New Yorker's best gifts to us, its future: Clear, lucid, beautiful prose about moments in time, people in medias res, events not worthy of Historical Record but too...too...cool? weird? off-kilter? INTERESTING...to miss out on knowing, however briefly. It's a piece of Americana that the magazine doesn't do so much of anymore, though it's by no means a vanished idea in those not-so-hallowed pages anymore. It's just amazing to me how good The New Yorker remains, in this wildly different landscape from that of its heyday.

When I got my copy of this elephantine tome, I quailed at the sheer bulk of it. I self-impose a duty to read books that I review twice. Anything that a writer has spent time, sweat, and possibly money on creating, I can't justify responding to in writing with a glancing blow, a negligible investment of one trip through, that will no doubt leave many incomplete and unsatisfied crannies unexplored.

THIS book, I thought, *has* to be the exception! 1,240 pages, if read twice?! AAARGH!

I loved it all. I can't tell you to read it twice, I don't think most people would listen, but I can tell you that Adam Gopnik, the present-day New Yorker writer who edited the collection, chose very wisely and you will not find your attention flagging. I myownself love the piece "Firebug-Catcher" the best of them all for its bygone Brooklyn setting. I feel very, very sure that any LT member who procures this book will find a lot of joy in reading it because of its literary merits, because it's a glimpse into a past as dead as ancient Rome and just as full of fascinating characters, and most of all because it's just great value for money spent. Member rocketjk uses door-stoppers like this as "between" books, ones he reads a piece out of between other, shorter books, and that is just about the perfect way to read Reporting at Wit's End.

An aside: Bloomsbury USA, the publishers of this book, are celebrating their tenth anniversary. Buy their books. They're a wonderful, wonderful publisher of terrific books: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, The Art of Losing, Diet for a Hot Planet, on and on. Show 'em some love with your dollars, and enable them to keep bringing us the good books they do.

Richard...What great comments!

Great review, Richard! Reporting at Wit's End is now at the top of my "Must Buy" list. I plan to resume reading Just Enough Liebling soon, hopefully this summer; have you read it?

I loved your review Richard. I have an arc of Reporting at Wit's End but have only so far read the first entry, "Firebug-Catcher", which I also loved.

Thumbs up from me, sir.

>133 Whisper1: Thanks, Linda!

>134 kidzdoc: I have indeed read Just Enough Liebling, though not twice and not in depth...but DAMN he was good, and he owed his career at The New Yorker to St. Clair McKelway. Up in the Old Hotel is another piece of brlliance you could check out, Darryl, if it's something you've not yet read.

>135 Copperskye: It is one helluva treat, Joanne, but pace yourself....

>136 London_StJ: Thanxx, Luxx!

I haven't read Up in the Old Hotel, but I'll add it to my "Must Buy" list. Thanks!

I just finished Good Evening, Mrs. Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes a few days ago and since she wrote for The New Yorker for a long while, it seems a natural for me to add Reporting at Wit's End to the BlackHole.

Regarding your comment about Bloomsbury, I have bought several books from them in the past year - A Kid for Two Farthings and Henrietta's War among them. I really like their editions.

Reporting at Wit's End Sounds great!

And I much admire your work ethic regarding reviews, Richard! I'm sure that's part of the reason why your reviews are so thought-provoking and helpful.

I must say, I don't emulate your "twice through" in my own reviewing. Knowing my temperament, I think I would get too "picky" if I felt I had to read things twice. The average reader reads a book through once, so that's how I approach it. (Though I often go back over sections where I had questions or qualms about what I read.)

Of course, I ONLY post reviews on LT, and I post at least a short review of just about everything I read these days; so if I read them all twice, this would turn into the 150 challenge for me and I'd have to quit my job to concentrate on reading! ;)

As an long-time New Yorker fan I love the sound of Wit's End.... I admit that 1240 pages is a bit intimidating at the moment..... especially as my present-day NYers are piled up ten deep..... I don't read twice, but I do read things 'over' as I go and then I go back and as I pull out all the stickies and I read at least those pages carefully again, but I admire you all the same! It is the best way.

love to see what's going on here, and glad your last read was a winner.

Wish I could thumb a whole thread

Hey Richard, Are you aware that you can purchase the entire New Yorker catalogue, the contents of every single New Yorker Magazine up through one or two years ago, on CD?

And I just got an email from the NYer Store this week - it's on sale and seemed very reasonable.

>138 kidzdoc: Hey Darryl, whatever I can do to redress the imbalance of my wishlisting your recommendations vs your getting mine, I feel is well done, don't you? ;-)

>139 alcottacre: You won't be sorry, Stasia. It's such a great read!

>140 tymfos: Terri, I fail to see a problem with quitting your job to read more...am I being obtuse? Why *wouldn't* you do that? *batbat*

#146: I have duly ordered a copy for my very own :)

>141 sibylline: Lucy, the present-day magazines won't vanish because you read this book...they'll just multiply...and isn't that a *good* thing?

>142 suslyn: Suse! xoxo

>143 mckait: You just did, sweetness, and I appreciate it!

>144 rocketjk: Jerry, my daughter gave me the complete New Yorker for Christmas 2007...it's one of the items I lost in the moving scam. I still miss it! Those rotters.

>145 Copperskye: Joanne...oh no...ON SALE?!? *rushes off to see*

#146 I understand we can't but how excellent would it be to quit your job just to read... sigh...

Review: 29 of seventy-five

Title: A GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF EAST AFRICA

Author: NICHOLAS DRAYSON

Rating: **** of 5

Actuarially, I am past middle age. In fact, more than 90% of the world's population is younger than I am. And that shows in the things I care about, read, and buy. Advertisers, take note: Old folks in America are *not lying down to die*! Pay attention to us!

Like the author of this book did. Mr. Malik, a widower and Mrs. Mbikwa, a widow, both of a certain vintage, are the focus of the love story in this book. Each has lost a well-loved spouse, each is living a full, interesting life and each is aware of a...space, an unfilled spot, in life. So what do they do? They go watch birds.

God, doesn't that sound dull? It's not. It's just the starting point for a deft, elegantly made meditation on what love means and how love is transmitted, received, and propagated in ever-larger and more complete circles. Drayson creates Rose Mbikwa, nee Macdonald, as that hardest to portray character: the lively, sad, solitary widow of a charismatic man. Her loss and her life are completely, and concisely, and elegantly drawn in less time than lesser prose stylists take to make minor characters. Mr. Malik, a complex and private man, isn't so much drawn as peeled, layer by later, until the things we think we know about him become...well...iceberg-tips of the cold, sad, lonely sea inside him.

But...and this is the biggest but I can imagine...he's *never* whiny, self-pitying, self-obsessed, nothing like that oh nay nay! He's a force in his own life and he's working on making it, and as much of the world as he touches, a better place.

The spirals Drayson spins as Mr. Malik and Mrs. Mbikwa orbit each other are always tightening and yet never constricting or confining our perceptions...this is good stuff, ladies and gentlemen! Good, good craftsmanship and an excellent storytelling eye.

I'd say do yourself a favor and read this book. It's short, only about 200pp, and it's fun, and it's got great substance. Most highly recommended.

Thumbs up for your review, Richard!

#150 That sounds delightful. Onto the wishlist it goes. (I like "vintage", having aged like a fine wine myself.)

Terri, I fail to see a problem with quitting your job to read more...am I being obtuse? Why *wouldn't* you do that?

Actually, even when I typed my comment, that thought occurred to me . . . except I gotta eat! (And pay the mortgage, and buy books . . .) Plus, I work in a LIBRARY . . . kind of like working in paradise . . . why would I want to quit???

>sounds fascinating, and I love the title!

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa sounds charming, Richard, (plus, I love the cover and title) and I'm confident it won't be overly sweet since you recommended it. Thanks! A smiley face just for you! :-)

Library...ahhh. I always wanted to work in a library :)
Now that I have created one to work in.. I face funding issues too. Books come in
(many from me) but I can't get the school to give me any shelves. Or bookends.
Or bricks for that matter. I have to scrounge and beg.

Yesterday the school librarian found some old bookends to give me... SCORE! I now have two empty shelves :) I also have a big bag of books to enter and shelve. AND~ I came up with a way to not have to deal with as many ( I hope) mis-shelved books. I am going to put a basket net to one of the shelves for book returns. :)

It is like playing library vs working in one, I know but...most people at ork call it kathy's library.. lol

NO, Terry, I wouldn't quit either !

Kath

I love the fact (and am not surprised) that you are spreading cheer via your own library! What a joy you are!

The world needs more of you!

Okay, so I gave your review a delicate little thumb....and though you think the book will make me "urp" I am a game girl. if I can scope out a copy (and not have to pay for it) I might give it a whirl 'cross the dance floor....what could happen? I let go too soon and it flies into a gazillion pieces???

J

Once again Richard, adding to the teetering tower. **sigh**

I loved Birds of East Africa, and I loved your review!

i haven't read any of these books but they sound interesting.

Birds of East Africa sounds like a good one! I may have to add it too...

eta.. LOL Linda! you just see the good, I am as grumpy as himself, here and
a curmudgeon in my own right :P Fuddy duddy too! LOL

Books all have to be somewhere.. I jsut gave them a spot.. and I catalog them, and blah blah. Playing library .. lol

Well, thank you Mr. Richard for opening my eyes to Birds of East Africa a book I most certainly would have past up in a bookstore. Not that I don't care for birds I just don't have any immediate plans to travel to East Africa except when playing Risk. ramble, ramble

Thanks Richard my library has A Guide to the Birds of East Africa and based on your generous review I shall peruse it !

Hi everybody! I hope y'all all enjoy the book...it's not at all sweet or cloying, it's tender and amusing and just plain very good. The author, Bryan, is a naturalized Aussie, in New South Wales. He's internalized the Australian aversion to cutesy.

My library only has an audio version - and I hate being read to, so I'll just have to keep my eyes open for a copy elsewhere... *sigh*

Hello, just found and read through this thread, since I keep seeing your posts elsewhere.

Very interested to read your review (#40) of Angela Thirkill The Headmistress as I had never heard of her - and as a lover of Trollope's Barchester Chronicles that is very remiss of me. I will certainly be looking out for her in future.

I've already added the Birds of East Africa to my wishlist, and I can see that your thread will not help me keep that list from burgeoning to unmanageable proportions!

Lovely review of A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, Richard. I've added it to my wish list, and given you the 15th thumbs up. Well done!

Hey Richard, Did you get that Addonizio interview I sent you?

>167 calm: calm, what about The Book Depository?

>168 gennyt: Hi Genny! Glad to see you 'round here, drop in any time.

>169 kidzdoc: Thanks, Darryl! I got FIFTEEN thumbs-ups? W00T! I really think the book will charm you, since it's a quiet, carefully written book with quite a bit more going on than is seen on the surface.

>170 rocketjk: Jerry...I haven't seen the Addonizio interview. I'll pop over and give you some alternate email addys.

The Headmistress sounds good too.. ouch my swelling wishlist!
Woe is me....

Hello dearie.. how are you feeling rdear?

Angry, ill-used and hurting. But hey, why should today be different?

oh no !.. can I help?

{{{{{{{{{{{rdear}}}}}}}}}

:)

Review: 30 of seventy-five

Title: SEA OF POPPIES

Author: AMITAV GHOSH

Rating: **** of 5

No surprise here...I loved the experience of reading this book. It's dense, it's fabulously complexly textured, it's got at least three levels one can read it on; it's just wonderful, in the original sense of being full of wonders.

I think the most encouraging thing I've heard lately is how well this book's sold. It's not an easy book by most people's standards. It's got furrin words, it's got dialect writing, it's not set in a safe, familiar world like California or England. Ghosh unfurls his sails in India and ports us across wind-driven seas to Mauritius (even if you've heard of it, I'll wager you never knew it was a British penal colony a la Australia--I know I didn't) and China and lawsy law is this craft yar! (Go watch The Philadelphia Story if you've never heard that word before.)

The characters are, of necessity, drawn in quick strokes. The book feels like it's lit by lightning, so you see only angles and pieces of the story at any given time. It's worth investing some time in getting on to the pace the story wants you to keep, though, as Mr. Ghosh wrote the book in this way for a reason. It's not a sit-down-and-burn-through book. Too much texture gets left behind.

And this is, more than anything else, a book about the lushness and sensual delight of the texture of life. No matter that "good" things or "bad" things happen, the enfolding smooth glorious heaviness of Sea of Poppies will make the right readers shiver with pleasure, strain and beg for more...and the wrong readers wish for their money back, and look around for the Cosmic Complaints Desk.

Recommended---oh my yes---recommended.

>174 mckait: Hiring out as a contract killer?

How's about we plan to speak tomorrow late afternoon?

>176 richardderus: Ahhhhh couldn't have said it better myself. Excellent!

I look forward to it ~

My my ... I disappear for a few days and you post fabulous reviews and have me adding yet more books to my obese wish list. 'tis a dangerous thread you run, here rdear!

#176 Saw a copy of Sea of Poppies with one of my colleagues a few months back, guess its time to ask her for a coffee.

#176: Glad you liked that one, RD. So did I.

I hope things improve for you on the health and home fronts!

~ thinking of you~

caro... it is dangerous, isn't it?

>182 alcottacre:

Richard, are you sick again/still? I have been which I am going to claim as my excuse for not knowing. Hoping your 100% soon.

>184 suslyn: Suse, it's an attack of sciatica that's been nasty...but now is on the wane, say halleluja!

hallelujah!

Another hallelujah! Glad to hear that you're feeling better.

Kath, I've always wanted to work in a library too! So I dd exactly what you did and built one at school. I've been very lucky with it, though. A bookshop that went out of business donated a huge shelf, and the librarian at my school gave me all her magnetic bookends when she upgraded. (She often lets me "play librarian" when she needs to pump or do something with her kid...I love it!)

We have a little under 1,000 books, students rotate checking out books and maintaining the shelves, and it's known all over the school, that "if the Media Center doesn't have it, try the ESL library!" Heaven in middle school!

#185: Adding my 'Hallelujah' to the rest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU

I'm glad you're getting better. When I was around 48 I had a vicious sciatica attack. The doc was young - barely 30 and new to the practice - when I asked her how long it might be, she said CHEERFULLY "Oh, maybe the rest of your life!" Her bedside manner has improved over the years, but she still says things like that. Now I just think she's a riot. At the time, I was undone.

>190 sibylline: Hysterical and yet terrifying for anyone who has ever suffered from sciatica.

Hi guys...my aunt had a fall last night, is in the hospitla now having CAT scan and other diagnostic work done' she had some bleeding in her brain, not unusual after a fall but in a 91-yr-old not great.

I'm distracted, to say the least. I'll be dipping in and out.

Oh, Richard...How sad....How tramatic...How stressful.

BIG hugs to all! Is there a dark cloud following you these days?

Hang in there, Richard. Big rib-crushing hugs to you and gentle delicate hugs to your auntie!

#192: Richard, I am sorry to hear about your aunt. My prayers are with you both.

oh dear, I hope for the best and that you both get home soon. The worst is being stuck in the hospital.

I'm praying for her.

I'm sorry about your aunt, Richard. I hope she is okay.
Janet (a frequent lurker but infrequent contributor on your thread)

Did you check that youtube posting Stasia added?! What a scream.

Glad your sciatica is better and hate to hear the news on your aunt!!! Hope things look much better for her soon.

Praying

ye gods..... keep us posted..
take care ...
hugs

Wishing your aunt a speedy recovery.

#192 Oh no - I'm so sorry about your aunt - fingers and thoughts crossed for a speedy and uncomplicated recovery.

#150 Aha! A Guide to the Birds of East Africa, I remember Tad recommending that a while back, so it's already on the Wishlist. Clearly it needs bumping up - I enjoyed your review.

#156 Me too (the working in a library thing)!

#185 Glad you're feeling better - I hope the sciatica is completely gone now...

Just piggybacking on everybody's hopes that your aunt has a speedy recovery.

Wishing your aunt a quick recovery and hoping that you stay pain free. Take care of yourself.

Richard- Sending you my best wishes! I hope your aunt rebounds quickly! Keep us posted!

Richard-- Hope your sciatica behaves and sending best wishes to your Aunt.

#156 and #202. I, too, have been working on the library thing at my daughter's school. Now that we have cataloged all the books I have had "Technology in the Classroom" added to my plate. Our fundraiser is in two weeks and I have to present all the things we would like. A lot of it is for emergent readers: Dragonspeak (where you can verbally input your thoughts for papers, etc.), print to voice technology (which lets you take a picture of text and then produces an audio version -- I have been working with Intel on this one), and then of course there is the need for more computers, a desk cam for the science lab. Who knew there was so much fun educational tech stuff?!

Richard,

Wishing the best for your aunt's recovery.

Hope that your aunt is able to return safely to the comfort of her own home soon...
hang in there...

Richard, I'm so sorry to hear about your aunts fall. I hope she's doing better. Sending hugs and energy your way...>>>>>>>>>>

Richard, sorry to hear about your aunt!

Glad to hear that your sciatica is improving.

A little concerned for you my friend.....

Thanks for the messages of support! Auntie is doing well, there was no concussion after her fall thank goodness, but there was a small bleed into her cerebrospinal fluid. This gave us pause, and results in a steadt stream of CAT scans; but each one shows no deterioration, so no big deal, the body will absorb the blood naturally over time.

Now comes the hard bit: She needs to go for physical therapy so this won't happen again and the Medicare folks do not want to pay for it...thousands a week, no surprise there...but what it really means is a long, long string of phone calls to bureaucrats presenting facts, being told no, going to the next bureaucrat, lather rinse repeat until desired tenderness is reached.

The Divine Miss looks like she has an ulcer already, poor lamb. Calls that go nowhere are Kafkaesque in their frustration factor.

Nothing short of a mind-set revolution will change this reality. Health care reform that still keeps private profits in the picture will fail and produce more mazes of misery just like this one...when I had a group health plan, I did these same things and got nowhere fast, just as The Divine Miss is now. People need to reorient their thinking towards maintaining health, like we've been doing with Auntie's diet (almost 40lb lost in 9mos!), bringing her sugars and blood pressure into control BEFORE this happened...and when disaster strikes, as it has with us, families shouldn't have to argue with desk jockeys whose job is to say no.

Since there isn't a fat profit to be made saying "yes," however, there will be no changes and people who don't have tenacious, smart family members are screwed. This is what conservatism's idiot terror of "someone cheating" (ie, taking *their* money) gifts to us...the money's still took, fools, it's just took by the investors in the corporations making the profits.

Well, at least the basic news is good -- but how frustrating that it will be so quickly negated by the health insurance rigamarole. So glad I have a "call option" on Canadian healthcare...

>213 Chatterbox: Treasure it!

Thanks for the update. Hoping for a change which will help her soonest!

I hate to be political, but can any of you honestly doubt that the US needs public healthcare, available free to all at point of use? Here in London, I have spent the last 18 months having continuous treatment for a serious illness, and have around 6 months to go. This has cost me precisely zero, and I have had choice of doctor, choice of hospital, latest technology and treatment options, etc., throughout. This is what taxes are for. End of soapbox.

My sister who emigrated to Canada is EXTREMELY conservative and she wouldn't give up her health care for anything. She thinks we are all quite mad.

#217 -- only "thinks"? I've long been in the realm of "completely convinced"!

(((rd)))

I am so glad to hear your aunt is doing better, Richard!

216-18: I want public health care. I remember being 25 and horribly ill with no health insurance and no hope of being able to go to a doctor. I do not wish that upon anyone. I will gladly pay my share for public health care.

Really glad she's going to be okay Richard. Fingers crossed you get to relax soon.

Pulling for both you and Auntie to be restored to health and comfort very soon, Richard.

Hugs coming your way!

If you think government run, non-"private profit" healthcare is necessarily going to be better, take a look at the VA. My uncle was sent to an out-of-state VA hospital for a special type of radiation treatment which was supposed to be offered there for his cancer. The machine to give that treatment was broken the whole time he was there, and after months hospitalized many hours from his home and famiy without ever getting the appropriate treatment (and the hardship of his family traveling back and forth to see him), he was sent back to his local VA hospital to die.

I can tell you many more horror stories I've heard regarding the VA, conditions in their hospitals, and their unwillingness to approve care when clearly needed. As far as I know, there were no private profits involved at all, just a mandate to spend as few taxpayer dollars as possible. It doesn't inspire my confidence in government-run healthcare at all.

ETA to add emphasis to important points, since I'm so wordy it's hard to find them!

Richard,

I’m so sorry to learn of your aunt’s health issues but glad to read that it wasn’t even more serious. Any problem is scary at that age. I wish her a speedy recovery and wish you luck in keeping your sanity. Sending a hug your way.

It’s fear and greed that has us stuck in our current system.

I'm really sorry about the trouble you're having getting appropriate therapy for your aunt, Richard. I really hope that you all can jump through the hoops and get her what she needs for a full recovery.

opening a can of worms -- then quickly putting the lid back on....

I'm not so sure that the federal government should be running health care...what a mess there is with everything they touch....

We have a federal government who cannot run a post office, social security is a mess, medicare is filled with fraud. I have a PA state government that doesn't know how to run a state store, a bunch of politicians whose priority is not the people they represent but the woman they can sleep with....

I worked for a government sponsored agency. I saw waste and corruption every day. My tax dollars were not well taken care of.

Ok, I'm now closing the lid and waiting for the tomatoes to hit me as I leave the stage.

Yes I agree governments don't always run things well. For me, it's about what a society thinks is a civilized minimum level of treatment for its sick people, and a fair way of ensuring at least minimum access. Governments don't have to run it themselves, just ensure it happens. I leave the mechanism to smarter people. All I know is, no doctor here has had to ask any politician or insurance company or anyone else before they decided what treatment I should have.

I agree with you that our present system does not work. I have a wonderful neurologist and incredible primary care doctor. I've developed great friendships with both of these smart, savvy ladies. They tell me horror stories of what they have to do simply to get an mri authorized. They both expressed the fear that it will be worse with more intervention...not better.

Alas, my district's choice for the House of Representatives actually owns an insurance agency. Guess which side his wallet ... erm, I mean, his "platform" supports? (Somehow his experience in the insurance racket has also made him an expert on global warming and his constuents' moral well-being, but that's another story.)

So I'm afraid the most help I can offer is my best to throw da bum out at the earliest opportunity, and in the meantime send thoughts of support and hopes for recovery.

Terri, I am so sorry for your unce's experiences...they match my father's with the VA.

I'll keep this brief...I needed surgery to save my foot. It was an emergency. I got the surgery, my private heath insurance "relied on internal criteria" (ie, decided based on whims) not to pay for it. Upshot...I have my foot, I lost my house to the for-profit entities that sued, won judgements, and even (though my employed would never be able to admit this) cost me my job because of the rise in premiums I occasioned by being in their risk pool.

I state clearly: I don't want government-RUN healthcare, but taxpayer-PAID healthcare for all.

No, it won't be perfect. Nothing is. I will match you horror story for horror story, though, about the profit-making entities's greed causing death, economic chaos, and unfairness of access to treatment. It isn't hard to find awful stories to support both sides of any argument because the rotten sleazy bastards who rise like pond scum to the top of any organization are unchecked by any real consequences for their decisions.

I think our Congressional delegations should have, by Federal law, the same level of care and delivered in the precise same manner in the same hospitals as their least-covered Medicaid constituents.

It isn't hard to find awful stories to support both sides of any argument Ain't that the truth? And that's what makes it so hard to have an intelligent, unemotional, discussion of such issues. Fear and mistrust underly every exchange.

#232 - Perfectly said, Richard. Could not agree with you more. (Glad the Auntie's doing better.)
As for the VA hospitals - when my father was in the rehab hospital after surgery on his spine and after 6 months dear, dear mummy was fishing around trying to get help salting him away in a VA hospital (for her own extremely selfish reasons), her nefarious plan acted on my father like a miraculous cure and he swore to himself that he would get better and come home, come hell or high water. And he did. So you see, the VA hospitals aren't all bad!

...her nefarious plan...

Sounds like a Ludlum book. Glad to hear he thwarted said plan.

Wow, don't know where to start. What we've got now isn't working very well and what we've got lined up to be implemented over the next few years scares the hell out of me. What can we do?

Now, after it's been signed into law, it comes out that oh, yeah, what we said about it reducing the deficit, that's not actually going to happen. (Not that I ever bought that anyway.) This new health care is going to cost everyone billions trillions of dollars. Oh and we don't really know where the primary doctors are going to come from for the 33 million new insurees because there's already a shortage of primary care physicians.

Exactly right that everything the government touches is in trouble. I'm not smart enough to come up with the answer but neither are politicians and tell me, do you trust a politician to do anything good?

I just want to say that my father has good experiences at his VA hospital. He is a severe diabetic and has hemochromotosis (too much iron in his blood), so he goes there twice a month to have blood taken to cut down on the iron. He goes to the ward where they give chemotherepy. It usually takes a couple of hours, but he would not be able to get it done otherwise.

They also give him all his diabetic supplies and he has no problems with that. He would be skimping if not. Now that he is unemployed and no longer has private health insurance and has to go to the VA, he is in better health than he has been in years. He has had one emergency room visit in the last year as opposed to one a month under private health insurance.

I am grateful that he has the VA to rely on. Otherwise he would have no help at all.

I know so many people without insurance now. My heart goes out to them. My life was horrible when I did not have any. I was constantly worrying about breaking a leg or getting bronchitis. It made me afraid to live. And then I got to a point that I was so sick I could not work. What did I do? I gave up my career where I made very little money, had no health insurance, but was happy with the work I did; and started working in the bond market as an assistant, so I could get health insurance. I was so sick the first year that I nearly got fired anyway. And on top of it I was miserable because bond traders like to yell at people when they are stressed out.

People can have their private health insurance, but I want the option of public heath care for anyone who needs it. A society cannot survive when their people are ill. A person cannot better themself or a family if they are ill. Our country has too much to refuse health care to those who cannot afford it.

#228 No tomatoes coming from me today, Linda!

#232 Richard, the story of your foot and the loss of your house is heartbreaking. How could they legally deny care needed to save a foot???? It defies all logic. But, then, nothing surprises me these days.

It isn't hard to find awful stories to support both sides of any argument because the rotten sleazy bastards who rise like pond scum to the top of any organization are unchecked by any real consequences for their decisions.

Isn't that the truth!

Somehow, in our society, the idea of "commonwealth," the common good, has been lost (if it was ever there to begin with). We see this in the hearings about the bankers who felt free to do whatever they could get away with under the regulations (or lack thereof) regardless of the cost to their clients -- all for their own profit.

I don't know how you fix it. Every law that's made, someone finds a way around it to make a profit at someone's expense. The more money that is at stake, the harder the pond scum will scramble to find the loophole that gets them rich -- and healthcare is a multi-multi-billion dollar pond.

#237 I'm glad you father has had good treatment from the VA. Just like every system has its horror stories, most systems have their success stories, too. I'm glad your father has been one!

an erased message because this is not my thread and not about books and what was I thinking!

Are private corporations more efficient than government run agencies? Perhaps. Unfortunately, what they're more efficient at is keeping an eye on their own bottom lines and the welfare of the shareholders, rather than their customers/clients. I think we will all be better off in the U.S. when the profit motive is removed from the health care system, or at least when we have the safety valve of a public option set up to compete against the private interests to keep them "honest," price and services-wise.

In my experience, the Post Office works fine.

Richard...I wouldn't touch this thread with a thousand foot pole

rd/ 232 sad story, but a common one.. and I agree with you...

I think perhaps some folks who are so against this health care program never had to try to manage with no health insurance. Or, never got the call from private insurance saying ~ cancer treatment.. oh dear, thing is you have reached your lifetime limit.. ta ta now dearie.. ~~~~~

VA imperfect..Current system? Very imperfect .

Corporations have a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. Period. They do what is consistent with that objective.

Government operations can be mismanaged (although I suspect that they can also be well managed -- I have seen both) but at least the objective is clear -- to provide healthcare.

I've lived and paid taxes in and experienced healthcare in both systems. I don't think it's possible to graft a Canadian-style model onto the horrific mishmash that has been allowed to evolve in the US, but I know that it feels to be more effective and compassionate. I say that having a mother with an acute cardiac condition, a brother who required elective back surgery and a sis in law who is a physician in Canada.

Another point of view over the debate:

The basic point of contention is that for some reason, health care is highly overpriced in US. Back here in India, people can survive without insurance because healthcare is essentially cheap!

Even accounting for the purchasing power parity and adding a premium for supposedly better quality healthcare doesn't explain the difference between the prices.

I personally know of people who found it cheaper to fly across to India to get a dental surgery done over a weekend than pay for an uncovered surgery.

I'm not nearly smart enough to come up with "the right answer," but I can certainly offer a look into the "poor man's" perspective. I've lived below the poverty line all my life, and I've never seen a doctor for anything that wasn't an emergency. Growing up, I didn't know what a "family doctor" was. I'd get asked at school and had no idea what they meant, as the only doctors I'd ever seen were in the emergency room (and I didn't know their names! ...) I've also never seen a dentist.

The only times I've ever sought medical treatment were for 2 broken bones and a severe ear infection when I was a child (and had I been an adult, I probably would have suffered through the ear infection.) I've never had any kind of physical exam and haven't a clue how healthy or unhealthy I am. It's just too expensive.

But I also can't afford to be forced into health insurance. I can't afford to be forced to pay the government through taxes for insurance. Health insurance doesn't do me any good if I'm broke and homeless.

I would also have a hard time accepting free health care if I know it's being paid by those better off (financially) than me against their will. Some people have worked hard all their lives to get where they are, and to think that they have to pay for my health isn't something that sits well with me. I already feel like a burden on society sometimes, and this only adds to that feeling.

So I don't know what the best answer is. I know it can't get much worse though, from my perspective, considering health care is essentially nonexistent for me except for in extreme circumstances.

Well, this is an interesting debate...all parts of the question covered...but I am moved, nay forced to say:

>244 PiyushC: Piyush...the reason healthcare is more expensive in the USA is that it's for profit and, since profits have to come from somewhere, the consumers of the product ("better" health) are taxed indirectly by the market mechanism. Yes, it's a tax. Just exactly like the tax Americans pay to watch "free" television...all those ads cost money, and where does one imagine all that money comes from if not the artificially high prices of the goods advertised?...but because the American mentality of greed is impervious to logic, this goes unacknowledged, unaddressed for its regressive social nature, and unchecked.

>245 Ape: Stephen, please...every time you visit the ER you cost the taxpayers more than if you received taxpayer-subsidized HEALTH care, as in dental exams, wellness support, etc etc. I ***WANT*** you to use my tax dollars to stay well, not to prevent death or disability by an expensive hair's breadth.

Where will all the necessary doctors come from? Oh dear! We neglected to get the profit motive out of medical malpractice suits, attracting doctors to basic practice in slightly greater numbers (obstetricians particularly need help in this area); oh shit oh dear, we neglected to make medical school affordable! Tsk! How *careless* of us!

It's broken, all right, this system; but the looming catastrophe is truly, truly terrifying. Any Canadian gay guys want a smart, funny, *ahem* undisappointing silver panther? Send up a flare! I'm watching the skies!

Heh, every time I hear something about recent politics I push my partner to abandon ship. Really, Canada sounds lovely.

Living in a border city I can tell you that there is a steady stream of Canadians coming to the US for medical proceedures and surgery due to the unbelievable "wait times" for even life saving proceedures. And most Canadians carry private insurance because their national insurance doesn't pay for drugs or illness if they get sick outside of their borders.

@Silver Panther

We neglected to get the profit motive out of medical malpractice suits, attracting doctors to basic practice in slightly greater numbers (obstetricians particularly need help in this area); oh shit oh dear, we neglected to make medical school affordable! Tsk! How *careless* of us!

You really touched the core of the problem there. Having said all I did about the medical practice in India, I do see us going the same way! Medical education already has become the most expensive stream of education.

I did my MBA from the topmost b-school in India at a very affordable cost for the following reasons:-

1. Alternate sources of revenues which includes grants from alums, something which even I will do, so basically, I am paying for my own education at a point in my life when I can afford to pay for it!

2. Inexpensive loans without any guarantors or collateral. This may sound crazy, but this system works and people do pay up their loans!

We don't have a history of medical malpractice suits in India except in the very obvious cases and even in that case, it is not so much financially taxing (something which can be argued from both sides on).

>245 Ape: - Did you go to grade and high school? Ever driven on a highway? Taken a book out of a library? We here all love books, but are free books more important than free dental checkups for children? Really? Ever had your house stopped from burning down? Been made safer by criminals being put in jail by the police? Used a public toilet? Other people paid for that, too. I also agree with Richard's comment. You could even argue that you are being selfish by NOT getting treated for things. So, if you wander around with the flu, or don't get vaccinated against something, because it's too expensive, you put other people at risk. And how come it's too expensive for the richest country in the world when plenty of much poorer countries have figured it out?

250: You are exactly right. In fact, I think you may have proved a point that you didn't mean to. I view health care as a luxury, not a neseccity, and I wonder if more people feel the same way without realizing it.

And if you had a catastrophic disease, would it still be a luxury? Or a necessity?

eta and btw, I do not see anything that would make me see your point ??

What fascinating conversations! I love the fact that all opinions are welcome and no one is chastised for their thoughts/feelings!

#248, Just to point out that everything Canadians get (except for drugs, private rooms, ambulance rides sometimes) is still covered by the government. You don't pay out of pocket for anything medically needed in Canada, other than drugs. Supplemental insurance is like the kind of health insurance you buy to travel in the US. (When I had insurance, I would do the same thing when I left the US to travel, since my company-paid insurance stopped at the border.) Mostly, the Canadian version is bought by "snowbirds" who live in the southern US or Mexico four or five months a year. Also, while insurance doesn't cover drugs, those drugs are dramatically cheaper there. The brand version of my migraine meds that costs me $523 a month here would cost me $85 there. Identical pills. The generic version (which has side effects that make me a little dysfunctional) here is $145. I've certainly heard of people waiting for elective surgery, but it tends to be very marginal, and yes, hospitals in the US deliberately cater to folks who don't want to wait to get their varicose veins dealt with or other stuff. My brother waited 3 months for back surgery. My mother has had multiple cardiac crises and has never waited an hour for major surgeries or care. One cousin did have a SARS-related hiccup in getting chemo, but another had no problem getting MRIs and everything done for what was eventually diagnosed as ALS (sadly); happily, she never had to worry about the cost of all the treatment or even the supplies that were needed to make the final months of her life livable.

It scares me that people might view health care as a luxury. I'm glad Ape has had the luxury to see it as a luxury, but too many people don't; imagine being in that position with a child with asthma?? I agree that I personally don't want to be forced to pay for health insurance at the market rates (right now, there is only one policy available to buy directly in the individual NYC market, and that would set me back $1,800 a month and would NOT cover the aforesaid meds). So my view of this reform plan is very jaundiced. I look at it not as something that will benefit me (it won't), but as something that is socially necessary so that if Ape and other members of this society that I inhabit get ill, I won't feel their bad health is on my conscience. If we can pay for highways and schools and the military, etc., well, I don't see health care as anything different. It's a social "good", in that a society that is healthy can be more productive and its members can move forward with less anxiety. Each of us has something that is subsidized by our tax dollars that we don't like or actively deplore, but that doesn't mean, nor should it mean, that we get to opt in or out.

Discussion and debate may run on here unchecked, it's a fascinating topic and an exciting diversity of opinion, but reviews et alii are moving to thread the sixth.

Proposed healthcare reform in the US doesn't seem to me like it's going to tackle the problem - by not going nearly far enough it's just going to seem worse to too many people who have some power to voice their opinion. But on this issue, I've heard so many stories which make me feel glad of the NHS. Especially as my own mum is at 65 in just the kind of situation which could be financially ruinous if she was in the US (treatment for bowel cancer).

>256 elkiedee: EXACTLY the problem. It's the half-a-loaf-is-better-than-none syndrome. Nuh uh. The half loaf will cause agitation for no loaf for him, a whole loaf for me to return.

Boo hiss, say I. But I say it often enough that the effect is lost, I fear.