kidzdoc: 75 and Beyond, Take 14

Take 1
Take 2
Take 3
Take 4
Take 5
Take 6
Take 7
Take 8
Take 9
Take 10
Take 11
Take 12
Take 13

Books Read in 2010:



Books Purchased in 2010:



Currently reading:
Wonder by Hugo Claus
The Flood: Poems by Chiwan Choi
Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt

Completed books:

August:
102. Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter
101. The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell
100. Wild Grass by Lu Xun
99. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
98. The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar
97. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers
96. Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
95. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
94. Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene
93. A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee
92. Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman
91. Touch by Adania Shibli
90. Chef by Jaspreet Singh
89. Change by Mo Yan
88. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
87. Street Smarts: Poems by Devorah Major
86. Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey
85. Bilingual: Life and Reality by François Grosjean
84. The Literary Conference by César Aira
83. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

July:
82. My Two Oxfords by Willie Morris
81. The Little Peul by Mariama Barry
80. The Water Cure by Percival Everett
79. Island by Penelope Todd
78. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
77. The Vagrants by Yiyun Li
76. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini
75. Landscape with Dog and Other Stories by Ersi Sotiropoulos
74. Even the Dogs by Jon McGregor
73. The Murderess by Alexandros Papadiamantis

June:
72. To Mervas by Elisabeth Rynell
71. Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki
70. Troubles by J.G. Farrell
69. Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourouma
68. Philosophy in the Present by Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek
67. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French
66. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
65. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
64. Selected Crônicas by Clarice Lispector
63. Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri

May:
62. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
61. News from Home by Sefi Atta
60. My House by Nikki Giovanni
59. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
58. The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez
57. Fear by Stefan Zweig
56. A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger
55. Five Modern Japanese Novelists by Donald Keene
54. Tranquility by Attila Bartis
53. The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes
52. The Pen and the Sword: Conversations with Edward Said by David Barsamian
51. Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi
50. Letters from London by C.L.R. James
49. Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki
48. Everything In This Country Must by Colum McCann
47. Piano by Jean Echenoz
46. White Masks by Elias Khoury

April:
45. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
44. Spain in Our Hearts by Pablo Neruda
43. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
42. Dread: Poems by Ai
41. Twilight & Moonbeam Alley by Stefan Zweig
40. Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
39. Three Novellas by Joseph Roth
38. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
37. The Plague by Albert Camus
36. Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
35. Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez
34. The Women and the Men by Nikki Giovanni
33. An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah
32. Re: Creation by Nikki Giovanni

March:
31. Street of Lost Footsteps by Lyonel Trouillot
30. Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd
29. School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau
28. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa
27. Close to Jedenew by Kevin Vennemann
26. Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi
25. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
24. Selected Stories by Stefan Zweig
23. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
22. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
21. Nadirs by Herta Müller

February:
20. Listen! Early Poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky
19. A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
18. Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni
17. Things Seen by Annie Ernaux
16. Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss
15. Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum
14. Black Feeling Black Talk by Nikki Giovanni
13. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
12. The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer
11. Wondrak and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig (Austria)

January:
10. Moscardino by Enrico Pea (Italy)
9. Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
8. Small Island by Andrea Levy (UK)
7. Amok and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig (Austria)
6. The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard
5. The Word Book by Kanai Mieko (Japan)
4. Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon
3. Matigari by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
2. Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño (Chile)
1. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley

Categories and completed books in my 1010 challenge:

A. 2009-10 Archipelago Books
1. Moscardino by Enrico Pea (Italy)
2. Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer by Ernst Weiss
3. White Masks by Elias Khoury
4. Tranquility by Attila Bartis
5. To Mervas by Elisabeth Rynell

B. 2010 Booker Prize longlist and previous winners
1. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell (1973)
2. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle (1993)
3. Troubles by J.G. Farrell (Lost Man Booker Prize)
4. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (2010 longlist)
5. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut (2010 longlist)
6. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (2010 longlist)
7. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas (2010 longlist)

C. 2010 Orange Prize longlist and previous winners
1. Small Island by Andrea Levy
2. The Long Song by Andrea Levy
3. The White Woman on the Green Bicycle by Monique Roffey
4. Black Mamba Boy by Nadifa Mohamed
5. The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini
6. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

D. Medicine, public health and science
1. Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon
2. The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria by Randall M. Packard
3. The Good Doctors: The Medical Committee for Human Rights and the Struggle for Social Justice in Health Care by John Dittmer
4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
5. A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor by John Berger
6. Medicine in Translation: Journeys with My Patients by Danielle Ofri
7. Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter

E. African-American/African poetry & literature
1. Matigari by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (Kenya)
2. Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste (Ethiopia)
3. Black Feeling Black Talk by Nikki Giovanni (US)
4. Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni
5. Re: Creation by Nikki Giovanni
6. An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah (Zimbabwe)
7. The Women and the Men by Nikki Giovanni
8. Morning Haiku by Sonia Sanchez
9. Bicycles: Love Poems by Nikki Giovanni
10. Dread: Poems by Ai
11. My House by Nikki Giovanni
12. News from Home by Sefi Atta
13. Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote by Ahmadou Kourouma
14. The Water Cure by Percival Everett
15. The Little Peul by Mariama Barry
16. Bellocq's Ophelia: Poems by Natasha Trethewey
17. Street Smarts: Poems by Devorah Major

F. 2010 Author Theme Reads
1. Amok and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig
2. Wondrak and Other Stories by Stefan Zweig
3. Selected Stories by Stefan Zweig
4. Three Novellas by Joseph Roth
5. Twilight & Moonbeam Alley by Stefan Zweig
6. Naomi by Junichiro Tanizaki
7. Fear by Stefan Zweig
8. Some Prefer Nettles by Junichiro Tanizaki

G. Southern US literature (William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, etc.)
1. A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories by Flannery O'Connor
2. The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
3. Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers
4. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers

H. Asian/Asian-American literature
1. The Word Book by Kanai Mieko (Japan)
2. A Life Apart by Neel Mukherjee
3. The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee (South Korea)
4. Earth and Ashes by Atiq Rahimi (Afghanistan)
5. The Vagrants by Yiyun Li (China)
6. Chef by Jaspreet Singh (India)
7. Touch by Adania Shibli (Palestine)
8. Wild Grass by Lu Xun (Japan)

I. Biographies and Memoirs
1. Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley
2. The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuściński
3. Albert Camus: A Life by Olivier Todd
4. Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
5. The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French
6. Change by Mo Yan
7. A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee
8. Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene

J. Latin-American & Caribbean literature
1. Monsieur Pain by Roberto Bolaño (Chile)
2. Ashes of the Amazon by Milton Hatoum (Brazil)
3. Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
4. School Days by Patrick Chamoiseau (Martinique)
5. Street of Lost Footsteps by Lyonel Trouillot (Haiti)
6. Season of Ash by Jorge Volpi (Mexico)
7. The Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes (Mexico)
8. The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vásquez (Colombia)
9. The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (Brasil)
10. The Literary Conference by César Aira (Mexico)
11. The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell (Haiti)

Re. the previous thread: Darryl, I'm sorry to hear yesterday was so rough for you, and glad that today was so much better. I hope tomorrow is also positive but less exhausting for you.

And that is indeed a wonderful compliment.

Love the compliment too, Darryl!

Me too. It's wonderful to think that you are among those who are considered wonderful doctors. You are to be commended for your hard work and compassionate nature.

Hi Darryl, I was just thinking that it is nice to fall into a good book when life beats you up -- but it's even better to be affirmed in your calling! I hope the successes in your patients far outweigh the sadnesses that were dumped on you yesterday.

Darryl, just saying hi because I haven't posted in a while. Isn't it amazing how when life seems miserable, the universe affirms that we are in the right place? Congrats on the compliment. :)

Message from the Thread Police: We'll let it go.

This time.

Uh oh, Darryl. Richard is on to you :)

Hallo 14-thread-Darryl!

So glad yesterday turned out better than the day before. I suppose you can't have the highs without the lows... Fantastic news about the little baby.

Thanks for your kind comments, everyone! I'll finish my current work stretch tomorrow afternoon, and then catch up on LT posts (and reviews of the books I've read in the past couple of weeks).

Message #264 from the previous thread:

The downside of the job, I suppose, is that inevitably you'll be dealing with very ill children, some of whom won't make it. I wouldn't begin to know how to juggle that with the need to get on with a 'real life'. Although I would imagine that reading helps??

Right. A sizable minority of the patients on our service have chronic illnesses, and a good percentage of these kids won't live to adulthood.

I'm taking care of a little Guatemalan baby this week who has a significant genetic disorder, and we have been struggling for three months to correct her electrolyte abnormalities and get her to gain weight. Over the past several days she has become more jaundiced, and her labs indicated that bile was building up in her liver and/or gall bladder, which is potentially very serious. We did a special radiologic test on her yesterday and today, which showed that neither her liver nor her gall bladder is excreting bile, which would eventually kill her if this isn't corrected. She'll need a liver biopsy and another surgical procedure tomorrow; if her liver isn't releasing bile then she may need a major operation to allow bile (which is essential for digesting fats) to pass from the liver into the small intestine. Overall, though, she is still a very sick little girl, and I fear and strongly suspect that we won't be able to fix or alleviate her multiple serious problems.

Hospitalists, pediatric ICU docs, and pedfiatric oncologists have high burnout and turnover rates, which is why I prefer to work less than full time, and why we need breaks off from work to stay fresh and sharp. Reading definitely helps, and most of us feel that reading literature helps nurses, doctors and others become better and more sensitive clinicians.

Off to bed...g'night all.

(Profuse apologies to the thread police for inadvertently prolonging Darryl's other thread. Really, it was an accident...)

Great win for the Fightin' Phils tonight! I hope you get to see the highlights, Darryl.

#13: I didn't realize the Phillies played yesterday, and I didn't watch any TV yesterday, so thanks for letting me know, Stasia. One of our EMR (electronic medical records) trouble shooters that patrols the wards is from Philadelphia and is a diehard Phillies fan, so I'll have to find out what happened from him.

I should finish 'Chef' by Jaspreet Singh today. It's been an okay read so far, not bad, but not particularly memorable.

TGIF!

The Phillies came back from being down 9-2 going into the bottom of the 8th to win 10-9 on a Carlos Ruiz single in the bottom of the 9th.

>15 alcottacre:: Holy cow, I missed the game last night. This morning I heard on the radio they won 10-9 thanks to Ruiz, but didn't realize they came back from a 7-run deficit. Yay Phillies !! It's nice to see their fighting spirit back again.

#16: Too bad you did not get to see the last 2 innings, Laura. They were good for the Phils!

I'm going to be counting on you folks to keep me Phillie-informed as I have NO TV here in moose paradise. Glad things are better -- and I love what you said about reading helping you all. That is just so sensible and self-aware.

Hi! I've got you starred...again...:)
It's comforting to know that kind, caring doctors do exist...and I'm especially glad that you are working with children. I bet some of your patients want to be doctors when they grow up!

#15-18: I hadn't heard about that comeback either, and my fellow Phillies fan wasn't at work today. It's even better that the Phils beat the Dodgers, and that they moved within two games of the Braves.

#18: I'd be happy to provide regular Phillies update, at least on the days I'm not working. Tonight they start a series in New York against the Mets, and Cole Hamels will pitch for the Fightin' Phils.

#19: Some of the kids do want to become doctors, nurses or midlevel providers (physician assistants or nurse practitioners) when they grow up, especially those who have had significant illnesses or contacts with health professionals in childhood. One medical student that was on our service last year (who plans to become a pediatrician) had severe scoliosis in childhood and needed multiple surgeries at our hospital.

Some of the stuff that kids say is absolutely hilarious. The 6 year old son of the mother that gave me that compliment earlier this week was admitted due to chest pain; he said that it felt like there were "rats and possums" in his chest. I admitted another 6 year old boy to the hospital last night, who probably has cat scratch fever; he was telling me about his exploits, including the time he climbed a 20-foot tree and planned to spend the night there, except that his parents refused to bring him dinner (tacos and pizza) in the far reaches of the tree. He also pulled the same stunt that I did when I was his age, ride a bicycle down a set of stairs, which naturally resulted in a painful fall. However, unlike me (who had a concussion), once he recovered from the pain he proceeded to do it again that same day. He wants to be (and probably will be) a stunt driver when he grows up.

The top of a tree is at least a normal (if alarming) place for children to explore - but rather a strange place to want to camp. However - riding a bike down the stairs?! Ye gods and little fishes, the things small boys get up to! (Says the girl who at the age of 5 ended up on the living room floor with a gash in her head requiring six stitches, approximately five seconds after the words "I've told you: DON'T run about in here!" left her mother's mouth. At least that incident was on level ground.)

I should think you got off lightly with a concussion, Darryl, and if your patient did it twice then he plainly does have the makings of a stunt man!

I just watched the game my husband recorded yesterday...GO PHILLIES!! :)
The crowd was amazing. Even when the Phils were down by 7, the crowd was still into it. When they started to close the gap, there was electricity in the air. A little boy was behind the dugout trying to put a spell on the Dodgers pitcher. They tracked him down and he was interviewed on the news today. :)

I accidentally rode a bike down a flight of stairs in Tokyo, thus escaping from having to climb Mt. Fuji that weekend. In my own defense, I was riding around a corner and the sidewalk (which one often cycled on in Tokyo) unexpectedly turned into a flight of stairs...

When I was a four-year-old daredevil, I rode my four-wheeled go-kart down our hill from the orphanage at the top to the orange-and-white dead-end barricade at the bottom...and under the lowest rung...and into the orchard behind that.

My parents ambled down the hill to find me under the overturned kart, complaining it was too heavy to lift, and lifted it off me. I got no help getting up, and no help walking home, and was scrubbed, scanned, and pronounced good just in time for dinner.

No wonder I twitch and stammer.

I finished Chef by Jaspreet Singh, which I found to be a very disappointing effort. I'll give it 2-1/2 stars, and review it tomorrow.

I received seven books in the mail this week, from a variety of sources:

The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson (2010 Booker Prize longlist; from The Book Depository)
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore (2010 Booker Prize longlist; from The Book Depository)
Trespass by Rose Tremain (2010 Booker Prize longlist; from Amazon UK)
The Siege by Helen Dunmore (recommended by Rebecca; I'll read this before I read The Betrayal; from Amazon US)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (from Amazon US; recommended by Linda (Whisper) et al.; from Amazon US)
A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee (on my wish list forever; from Amazon US)
The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu (LT Early Reviewer Book)

Tomorrow's Guardian has an enticing review of The Finkler Question, so I'll start this tonight.

#21-24: How did we ever survive childhood?

Phillies update: The Phillies wasted another brilliant effort by Cole Hamels, as they lost to the New York Mets 1-0. The Mets pitcher threw a complete game one-hitter; the only hit was by Hamels.

Eagles update: The Eagles won their first preseason game, defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-27.

#25: I read The Siege earlier in the year and just finished The Betrayal in the week hours this morning. I think you will find them both worth the read, Darryl. I thought they were terrific.

#27: Thanks, Stasia; I'll probably read both books next month.

#21-24, 26 - Why do people tend to think that children who like to read books are not adventurous and/or active?

>25 kidzdoc:: glad you received your copy of The Betrayal, Darryl! After my little battle with The Book Depository, I just received word that it's back in stock and I've ordered it again. They had previously agreed to honor the price and coupon used on my original order. I'll get The Siege from my library.

I don't know what's up with Tremain's Trespass -- it's still out of stock!

Thank you so much Darryl! This is wonderful -- you have no idea, I am hanging on your every word!

Daredevil stuff on the PH Art Museum steps is something I will not miss -- I've seen it all, skateboards, rollerblades (I am not kidding), bikes -- last winter in the blizzards there was a lot of sledding there, but that was less harrowing to watch.

I loved your descriptions of your patients! Collect that stuff, it's priceless.

Book #90: Chef by Jaspreet Singh



My rating:

Kirpal "Kip" Singh is a former army officer and assistant chef to a high ranking military general in the Indian Army, who has been summoned by his former commander to prepare a wedding meal for his beloved daughter. Kip was unceremoniously dismissed from the military 14 years previously, and has just learned that he has an incurable brain tumor. His return is a bittersweet one, as he returns to the beauty and tragedy of the disputed region of Kashmir, where his father had a celebrated career in the Army and where he learned the craft of cooking from Chef Kishen, Kip's mentor and closest friend.

Kip recalls his time in the army, most notably his relationships with Chef Kishen, General Kumar and his daughter Rubiya, the bride of the upcoming wedding. However, his most meaningful relationship is with the captured Pakistani who he is ordered to interrogate, as his repeated interviews of the prisoner permit him to understand the futility and meaninglessness of the Kashmir conflict, which cost the lives of thousands of Indian and Pakistani civilians and soldiers, and only served to advance the careers of high ranking military officers and politicians.

Unfortunately, despite the interesting topic, Chef was a disappointing novel, as the major characters were thinly developed and portrayed, and I quickly lost interest in them and the story. It is a quick read, and the descriptions of the beauty of Kashmir and the effects of the war there were well done, but it would have been a great novel had it been written by a more talented and insightful writer.

#29: I, perhaps unfairly, blame Hollywood movies and television programs for many prejudices and misconceptions that Americans, at least, hold about others who they haven't met or are not like themselves or people they know. I knew quite a few kids who, like me, enjoyed reading but also liked to play games and sports.

#30: I'm glad to learn that The Betrayal is available once again; I hope that you don't have any more problems with The Book Depository! I decided to order Trespass from Amazon UK; it lists for £17.99, and I was charged £16.16 for this order (£9.18 for the book, plus £6.98 shipping), so I thought that it was worth it.

#31: I've seen kids skateboarding, sledding and running down the steps of the Philadelphia Art Museum, and I'm sure that there have been hundreds, and probably thousands, of visits to the ERs at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) and Hahnemann Hospital by kids who have injured themselves there.

I have thought about writing about my patients and their stories. I think I'll start collecting some of them, writing some things, and trying them out on you guys (although I have very limited talent and experience as a writer).

>33 kidzdoc:: I saw a guy run up the steps of the Art Museum once.

Oh, wait, that was a movie. Yo Adrian!

:)

#34: ♫ Da da da, da da duh, flying high now...♫



(That's a statue of Rocky, in front of the Philadelphia Art Museum. I took this picture just before I went to the Picasso exhibit at the museum.)

#32: I have seen very mixed reviews of Chef. I think I am passing that one by (not that my local library has it anyway!)

I just received this poem via e-mail; it's the Poem of the Day, from the Academy of American Poets:

Spring Day (Bath)
by Amy Lowell

The day is fresh-washed and fair, and there is a smell of tulips and narcissus in the air.

The sunshine pours in at the bath-room window and bores through the water in the bath-tub in lathes and planes of greenish-white. It cleaves the water into flaws like a jewel, and cracks it to bright light.

Little spots of sunshine lie on the surface of the water and dance, dance, and their reflections wobble deliciously over the ceiling; a stir of my finger sets them whirring, reeling. I move a foot and the planes of light in the water jar. I lie back and laugh, and let the green-white water, the sun-flawed beryl water, flow over me. The day is almost too bright to bear, the green water covers me from the too bright day. I will lie here awhile and play with the water and the sun spots. The sky is blue and high. A crow flaps by the window, and there is a whiff of tulips and narcissus in the air.

This is from her book Men, Women, and Ghosts.

Wow.

Don't you love the juxtaposition of Rocky and the Museum!

#37 Hi Darryl. Thanks for posting that poem by Amy Lowell. I've never read anything of hers but liked the poem. I'll have to track down the book.

Glad to see I'm not alone in my ambivalent response to Chef. There was just way too much that was unconvincing or thin, from plot to characters. I did think the writing was good, but you can't build a narrative on style alone. Even by the end, I had no sense of who Kip was, other than a person to whom stuff happened.

I'd like to read the new Tremain book, but not quite enough to pay UK shipping costs. It will be out here in October, and I may wait until then. I do have The Betrayal but want to read The Siege first.

#38: Yes; I had noticed that when I walked up Ben Franklin Parkway toward the museum, and wanted to get that shot (although I hate the barriers and tape that surround the statue).

#39: You're welcome, Pat. I hadn't heard of her before, but I liked this poem; I'll look for this book at City Lights next month.

#40: Several of us were ambivalent or disappointed in Chef. If it had been written by someone like Amitav Ghosh it probably would have been an award winning book (Booker, Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, etc.).

I didn't mind paying the shipping cost for The Betrayal, as the overall cost was less than the list price for the book. I'll read The Siege first, per Rebecca's recommendation.

I picked up and started reading Touch, a novella by Adania Shibli that Akeela reviewed in Belletrista earlier this year. I'll finish it this afternoon, and then resume reading Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman, which I may also finish today.

You rceived a nice pile of books Darryl. I'll pass on Chef. I hope to get to The Siege in September since it's been sitting on my shelf for months and then I'll look for The Betrayal.

>35 kidzdoc:: love it Darryl! I also like your clever use of musical notation.

Having ordered The Betrayal this morning, and seized by a rare moment of reading-related spontaneity, I requested The Siege from my library and will probably be starting it in about a week.

Also, I had temporarily forgotten this, but I am feeling magnanimous so I feel obliged to make you all aware that Tremain's Trespass is an ER selection this month. I can hear the stampede now ...

Thanks for the ER heads up! I have already requested the books by Sigrid Nunez and Bo Caldwell; have now added this to the list!

#43: Thanks, Bonnie. I'll also read The Siege in September, followed by The Betrayal.

#44: Thanks for that reminder, Laura. I had selected The Betrayal, but I've removed my request for it. (Hmm, I could still request it, and then sell it on eBay for twice its value, heh heh.)

#45: I requested Dinaw Mengestu's new book, which I would buy anyway, since I loved Children of the Revolution (US title: The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears), and the book about the American Football League. I still have four LT ER books that I've received this year to review; I'll try to read them all by the end of next month.

I finished Touch, a novella by Adania Shibli about the life of a young Palestinian girl, which was very good. I'll review it tomorrow.

Re Rocky: The barriers are temporary I hope but people had just trampled all the grass to dirt (and mud) around the sculpture. Probably a hopeless endeavor, keeping that grass green!

#47: I wondered why the barriers were there, as there is a concrete walkway from the sidewalk in front of the museum to the statue. Common sense would dictate that you shouldn't walk on the grass; however, as my father's best friend says, common sense isn't very common anymore.

I finished Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman, one of the leading translators of Spanish literature and poetry into English, including the recent translation of Don Quixote. It was an excellent read, very well written, and most educational. I'll review it tomorrow, and give it at least 4-1/2 stars.

I just finished my last book of the night, A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee, which I'll review later today (4 stars).

My next nonfiction read will be Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene, who is arguably the leading English speaking scholar of Japanese literature.

#49: I have a couple of McPhee's books set aside to read this month. I will be interested in your review of A Sense of Where You Are.

Glad to hear both that Mengestu has another book coming out and that Why Translation Matters is good -- I'll have to move it up on the TBR. I read a lot of McPhee, mostly his geological stuff, years ago.

Mengestu's new novel, How to Read the Air, will be released in the US on October 14th. I found an early review of it in Ethiopian Review:

How to Read the Air – A New book by Dinaw Mengistu

I'll submit reviews of the Shibli, Grossman and McPhee books I read yesterday shortly, along with the Yan memoir that I read last week.

I read the first 20 pages of The Finkler Question early this morning, and I can't think of very many books that I've enjoyed this much so far. It received glowing reviews in the UK press (Telegraph, The Guardian, and The Observer) this weekend, as well. I'll probably finish it later today, as I'm completely hooked by it.

You're a VERY busy reader...

You're right Kath, especially the past two days. Granted, these were short books, but I'm sure I read at least 400 pages yesterday, probably my best reading day of the year. Some days I struggle to read 25 pages, other times I get into a zone where I can't stop reading.

I hope that today is a better reading day for you, and that tomorrow, and the rest of the school year, is better than last year for you and the kids.

29, 33 - It seems that solitary hobbies run into conflict with antiquated American gender norms. Men are supposed to be Robust, Loud, and run in Packs. If they are well-educated they run the risk of being dubbed as slightly effeminate. In our own culture this has spread to a distrust of the solitary, so that anyone that enjoys activities like reading (or hell, playing video games) are criticized for being "wrong." Readers and gamers are weedy, geeky, quiet types who obviously don't know the first thing about interaction, let alone physical activities.

Bah!

I'll be looking forward to your thoughts on the Keene memoir, Darryl; I read a bunch of his stuff while I was living there in the 80s and didn't know he had a memoir-ish book out. Is it a Tuttle release? After all these decades, I still rely on them for much of my Japanese lit in translation! (A pity; Archipelago strikes me as very Euro-centric.)

#55: Agreed. It was interesting to think about these comments while I was reading the book about Bill Bradley; he was an All-American basketball player at Princeton, an excellent student (as he was a Rhodes Scholar after his senior year), and an active participant in campus and off-campus student life. Sigh...I'm still upset that Al Gore defeated him in the Democratic presidential primary in 2000; I think he would have defeated George W. Bush, and would have been one of the best presidents in U.S. history. (Bill? Are you listening? You can still run in 2012 or 2016!).

Which reminds me; I have a couple of Bradley's books; I should read at least one of them soon.

#56: The Keene memoir was published by Columbia University Press; no surprise there, as he has been (and still is, I think) a professor there for over 50 years. I was sure that Book Culture would have this book (since it is so closely affiliated with and near to Columbia), but I didn't see it on my last trip there.

Oh! I just remembered that I had intended to pick up his latest book, So Lovely A Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers, which was published earlier this year and was also displayed at City Lights, but I didn't buy it, for some reason. I'll have to remember to buy it when I go back to SF next month, if I don't see it before then.

Which books of his have you read, Suzanne? I've read The Pleasures of Japanese Literature and Five Modern Japanese Novelists, but I know that he's written many more books.

#57: was also displayed at City Lights, but I didn't buy it, for some reason

Probably because you were busy buying everything else in the store!

Book 93: A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee



My rating:

(Warning: Unfettered hero worship below.)

Bill Bradley was born in a small Missouri town, the son of the town's banker, who taught him discipline, hard work, and a love of learning, and his wife, a fiercely competitive but loving former athlete. Their son was one of the most celebrated schoolboy athletes in Missouri history, and was offered scholarships to over 70 colleges to play basketball. However, he chose to attend Princeton University, which did not provide athletic scholarships and was not known for its basketball team, as he had higher aspirations beyond sports.

He began to play with the varsity team as a sophomore, as freshmen were not allowed to participate in varsity athletics at that time, and immediately became the star player of the team. Princeton quickly became an Eastern basketball powerhouse, culminated by the 1964-65 team in Bradley's senior year, which reached the NCAA Final Four before losing in the national semifinal to Michigan. Bradley's last collegiate game was against Wichita State in the third place game, and Bradley, normally a pass first, shoot second player despite his immense talent, was given free rein by his coach to shoot and score at will. He finished the game with 58 points, which is still the record for the most points scored by an individual player in a Final Four game.

After his collegiate career he attended Oxford on a Rhodes scholarship, and then became an NBA star with the New York Knicks, helping them win two championships, in 1970 and 1973. After his retirement he entered politics, and served as the junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey for three terms. He retired from the Senate in 1997, and ran an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. presidency in 2000, losing to Al Gore. After that defeat he left politics, but he maintains an active public life, as he has written six nonfiction books and hosts a weekly radio program.

John McPhee grew up in Princeton, as his father served as the physician for the university's athletic department. He attended Princeton, and while working as a writer in New York his father called him to come see a kid on the freshman basketball team, who his father described as possibly the best basketball player, bar none. McPhee attended a game with his father, followed Bradley over his career at Princeton, and wrote his first book about him, in 1965.

A Sense of Where You Are describes Bradley's upbringing in Missouri, and his basketball career at Princeton, including his work ethic and approach to the game, which was far beyond even the best players at his level and allowed him to surpass his modest physical abilities. McPhee also portrays Bradley as a well rounded student athlete who participated fully in campus life and maintained a sense of modesty and humbleness that seems archaic, yet refreshing. The latest edition of the book contains numerous photos of Bradley in action, along with addenda written in 1978 and 1999.

I would highly recommend A Sense of Where You Are for any sports fan, but this would be of interest for anyone who appreciates good journalism or wants to learn about an inspiring and influential man, who has been one of my heroes since I was a child.

#59: Thud. Into the BlackHole it goes.

I am always excited to hear about smart athletes and intelligent musicians.

>59 kidzdoc: Who is this "Bill Bradley" of whom you speak? Never heard of him.

*heeheehee*

I think it's fair to say that Bill Bradley is the person I most admire. I first learned about him as a kid, as my father & I were New York Knicks fans and went to several games at Madison Square Garden. Other players, such as Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, Dave DeBusschere and Willis Reed, had more physical talent, but Bradley was the heart and soul of the powerhouse Knick teams of the early 1970s. He spoke forcefully and convincingly about social and racial equality before and during his years in the Senate, and, as I said above, I was elated when he decided to run for the U.S. presidency, and devastated and depressed when he was defeated by Al Gore.

#62: What???

*Smacks Richard about the head with a wooden spoon.*

#61: One of my favorite intelligent musicians is jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, and was accepted to Harvard Law before he decided to pursue a very successful career as a musician. Hopefully he will perform at the San Francisco Jazz Festival this year; he's originally from Berkeley and usually participates in the festival. I saw him in SF a couple of years ago, when he participated (along with pianist Brad Mehldau, another intelligent musician who I like) in a 50th anniversary recreation of the 1957 Carnegie Hall concert that featured Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, but I haven't seen him perform live since then.

Book #92: Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman



My rating:

Edith Grossman is an award winning translator of Spanish language novelists and poets such as Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, Jaime Manrique and Nicanor Parra, who is best known and respected for her recent translation of Don Quixote (which I read several years ago and highly recommend). This book was based on a series of lectures that she recently gave at Yale, as part of the university's "Why X Matters" series.

The book is divided into four sections: an introduction, in which Grossman convincingly makes the case for the importance of translation for authors, readers, and modern societies; an insightful discussion of the life of a translator, including interactions with writers, readers and publishing companies; a description of the joys and difficulties she faced in translating Don Quixote; and the challenges of translating modern and Renaissance poetry. According to Grossman, a good translator must not simply transcribe the text word by word from one language to the other; she must understand the prose or poem as fully as possible, and rewrite the work in the second language, while maintaining its rhythm and the intent of the writer.

The book includes quotes from influential writers and translators about the importance of this underappreciated craft, and ends with a list of translated books recommended by Grossman.

I found Why Translation Matters to be very well written and most insightful, which gave me a much better understanding and appreciation of the art of translation, in a conversational style that was easy to digest. She skewers publishers and reviewers in the UK and US for their narrow minded attitudes and ignorance about translated literature and the process of translation, which at times seemed overly personal, but this is a minor critique of an otherwise brilliant and highly recommended work.

Another good review, Darryl. You've made me want to read Why Translation Matters so onto the wishlist it goes.

Blast and damn! Another book on the Wishlist! I **hate** when that happens!

Book #91: Touch by Adania Shibli



My rating:

Adania Shibli is a Palestinian author who was recently recognized at the Hay Beirut39 Literature Festival, which featured 39 Arab authors under 39 years of age. An accomplished novelist and writer of short stories and essays, she has recently completed a PhD at the University of East London.

Touch, which was recently reviewed by Akeela in Belletrista, is a novella about a young Palestinian girl, which consists of five themed sections of prose poetry: colors, silence, movement, language, and the wall. Although tragedy, sadness and isolation are present throughout the narrative, there are only a couple of fleeting references to the Palestinian struggle, which seemingly have little if any impact on the life of the girl. The writing is beautiful and evocative, and this slim book is best read slowly, attentively and repeatedly for fuller enjoyment and appreciation.

This is a typical excerpt from one of the sections:

The mother sat on a rocking chair that rocked back and forth until its movement faded away and she would start it again. The little girl was standing in front of her on the edge of the veranda, holding onto its iron frame, while her eyes were fixed to the sky, holding onto the edge of a cloud. Thus her journey would start through the space over the veranda, with the mother behind her, until the cloud disappeared beyond the horizon. The girl would turn her head, then look straight up again and wait for the next cloud.

She suddenly got dizzy, so she sat on the edge of the veranda and pushed her head between the railings, but they did not allow it to pass through. Her head stopped just before the ears, and so did the spinning inside it. But everywhere else in the world, in the fields stretched out before her, the spinning continued. Millions of blades of grass were moving in the same direction as the clouds. The softness of the hair of that green sea was similar to the softness of the sun's rays the moment they spilled through the clouds.

Recommended.

I, too, love Bill Bradley, and, being old enough and from New Jersey, can remember voting for him, too. I think I will try A Sense of Where You Are.

# 49 - Oh, I was confused here for a split second. As a young girl, I read a series about Billy Bradley by Janet D. Wheeler. It would have surprised me immensely if you had read this :-)

I had no idea that John McPhee had written a book about Bill Bradley. Bradley is one of my husband's heroes and we have both read a few of McPhee's books (The Pine Barrens is my personal favorite). I think it'll make a nice little Christmas present - thanks!

> 69 Great review, Darryl! So pleased you enjoyed it as much as you clearly did! Oh, and thanks for the mention ;-)

Re Donald Keene, I have lurking his book about Noh and Bunraku. Also his translations of Basho and Essays in Idleness (the latter of which I just loved). Also Appreciations of Japanese Culture. Although I admit I have also found him a bit of a latter-day Lafcadio Hearn; one of those "gaijin" who strive sometimes to be more Japanese than the Japanese.

As I was reading the Sunday New York Times I was shocked and deeply saddened to see an obituary for Abbey Lincoln, the legendary jazz singer, writer, actress, and civil rights activist, who died in New York yesterday at the age of 80:

Abbey Lincoln, Jazz Singer and Writer, Dies at 80

She was one of my favorite singers, especially when she performed with her first husband, the drummer Max Roach, particularly on the landmark civil rights albums "We Insist! Freedom Now Suite" and "Percussion Bitter Sweet".

Here's a video of Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach performing a live version of "Freedom Day" from "We Insist!" on a Belgian(?) television station in 1964, that I posted last year:

Max Roach - Abbey Lincoln

I imagine that WKCR, Columbia University's radio station, will or soon will pay a comprehensive tribute to Abbey Lincoln, as it does whenever a jazz giant dies.

I missed several chances to see her perform live, in NYC and San Francisco. Rest in peace, Abbey.

Just wandering through. Some great reviews there, Darryl.

Ditto from me. And the forthcoming Mengistu sounds wonderful.

And currently three of them are hot reviews on the home page. Darryl, that is excessive and ridiculous. Stop it at once. ;)

(Congratulations!)

#78: Oop. I plead innocence; I only write the reviews, I can't give them thumbs up (unless I create several dummy accounts; hmm...). In any case, I'm certain that I'll never come close to Richard's hotness (didn't he have seven or eight hot reviews at one time earlier this year or last year?).

#77: Thanks, Lucy. I'm really looking forward to reading How to Read the Air.

#76: Thanks, Caty!

#74: The name of Lafcidio Hearn is very vaguely familiar, but I have no idea from where. I'll definitely read Keene's book this week, probably in the next day or two.

#73: You're welcome, Akeela! I should also mention that Lois (avaland) also read it and loved it. I happened to see it at City Lights earlier this month, but it wasn't until I got back to my hotel that I realized that you had reviewed it in Belletrista.

#72: I assume that The Pine Barrens is set in New Jersey; if so, I'm adding that to my wish list, along with his latest book (which I saw but didn't buy earlier this month). Which other books by McPhee are you especially fond of?

As I thought, there is an interview of John McPhee (The Art of Nonfiction) in a recent issue of The Paris Review, this year's Spring issue. An excerpt from the interview is here; unfortunately, the full text is not available online. I have this issue handy, and I'll read it and comment on it later this week.

#71: Nope, never heard of Billy (with a "y") Bradley, or Janet D. Wheeler.

#70: Although I'm originally from New Jersey I've never lived there when I was old enough to vote, so I've never had the pleasure of being able to vote for him there, although I did vote for him in the 2000 Democratic presidential primary here in Atlanta.

#68, 67: I think you'll both like Why Translation Matters; it's a quick yet informative and interesting read.

*smacks Richard again for making fun of #1 hero, then goes off to stick more pins in Al Gore voodoo doll*

Book #89: Change by Mo Yan



My rating:

Mo Yan (1955-) is an accomplished and prolific novelist, who was described as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirated of all Chinese writers" in a recent TIME Magazine article. "Change" was written as part of the series "What Was Communism?", edited by Tariq Ali and published by Seagull Books, which explores the practice, successes and failures of 20th century communism.

"Change" is a memoir that reads like a novella, which describes Mo Yan's experiences as a child in Shangdong province and young adult during the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath. Although he liked school he was an indifferent student, and was soon kicked out of school, wrongly accused of being a troublemaker. He eventually joined the People's Liberation Army, a difficult accomplishment that brought pride and elevated status to his family. There he realized that he most wanted to become a writer, and used his time off duty to hone his writing skills, which he continued after his return to civilian life.

"Change" is most effective when it describes life in a small village during the Cultural Revolution, and the stultifying effects that communism had on the lives of civilians. I found it to be a slight and mildly interesting book, but there are far better books about communist China during this period, so I'll only guardedly recommend it.

Wow you are on a tear writing reviews Darryl. And they're all wonderful. And they're all almost all HOT. And they're all ending up on my teetering tower. Geesh.

Good ole Lafcadio famously went native in the late 19th century, taking out Japanese citizenship and a Japanese name. I've visited one of his homes, now a museum, in Matsue (which is one of the coolest small cities in Japan, much overlooked.) He compiled/translated a lot of Japanese folk tales -- I think there is a compendium of them published by Tuttle or Kodansha.

Gee, lost your thread for a day .......just a little day and I'm come back to an avalanche of posts and reviews. So much for a quick visit ... I love your reviews, even if I don't end up adding them all to my obese wish list. I'm definitely adding A Sense of Where You Are and Touch though ..... *hmm..touchstones for Touch doesn't seem to work.

Darryl

I'm home from an exhausting, but very productive few days in Kansas City, MO, checking your thread I see 83 messages.

The sincere compliment you received is a wonderful testimony of what many of us here believe as well.

You have a calling. You are wonderful at what you do and it is a ministry/calling. I love my grandchildren. I would certainly trust them in your care!

OK, you can just leave off reading such good books that I have to add all of them to the BlackHole. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Yesterday was not a good reading day, I was groggy all day and fell asleep quite early.

#81, 85: You're welcome. I think. ;-)

#82: That reminds me; I never made it to the Japanese bookstore in SF that I wanted to visit. I'll check it out next month.

#83: Hi, Caroline! I hope that you're feeling better. I'm glad that you're enjoying my reviews; I have several more to catch up on, along with reviews of the books I plan to read this week. You're right; I couldn't get the touchstone for "Touch" to work, so I used the URL to create a link (thanks again to Tad's excellent HTML tutorial):

http://www.librarything.com/work/9788859/63078384

#84: Hi, Linda! I'm glad that you're back safely, and I hope that you get a chance to rest a bit before your upcoming procedure.

Although I greatly appreciate your flattering compliments, I also realize that I am far — very far — from excellence. It's interesting, enlightening, and humbling to work with other doctors, within and outside of my group, as I'm constantly reminded (by myself, as we don't critique each other out loud) that there are areas that I'm above average, and areas where several others are superior to me. I don't ever want to think too much of myself and my limited abilities, and there are several areas that I need to improve on.

I hope to finish The Finkler Question today; it continues to be very good.

Just some additional info about Lafcadio Hearn - He was born in Greece (mother was Greek and father was Irish), lived in Ireland for a few years before he came to the US, in poverty. Worked as a newpaperman in Ohio, then in New Orleans. Had written several books about New Orleans, Creole life, cooking, etc. before going to Japan where he lived the rest of his life.

Taught in the public schools, first in Matsue, and then elsewhere in Japan. Wrote books about Japan culture and society (Japan:An Attempt at an Interpretation as well as the myth and ghost stories (Kwaidan and Kokoro that he is most known for. (He has been compared to Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm). He married a Japanese woman from an old samurai family, and took that family's name. He died in Japan and is buried in Tokyo.

Also Matsue is a wonderful little town on the west coast of Japan and has one of the last remaining original (not concrete replica) castles in Japan and nearby is a fabulous gardens (Adachi). Those and Hearn's former home make the long trip from Tokyo or Kyoto worthwhile.

For anyone pondering a trip to Japan, Matsue is only a short hop on the train to Hagi, which is still full of traditional samurai homes, a real "old style" Japanese town uncluttered by tourists. Both are along the "San In" coast on the northern part of Honshu, which offers some spectacular seaside views. Really off the beaten track (for 'gaijin'/foreigners). Get on the train in Kyoto and go to Shimonoseki, where you can go on to Kyushu, or hop back on the bullet train to Tokyo.

And before you do, pick up a language CD and learn some basic Japanese because English is pretty much non-existent way out there.

Still? I admit, this was the one neck of the woods where I ended up in a seaside town so remote they claimed not to have seen any foreigners since the occupation. But that was 25 years ago!

I just finished Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene, which was very well done. I'll review it tomorrow.

I have to work on Wednesday night, so I'm adjusting to staying awake at night. So, instead of preparing for bed, I'll resume reading The Finkler Question, and hopefully finish it sometime tomorrow.

I can't take trains in Asia. I'm too tall. Rent-a-car terror: Get distracted, end up on the proper side of the road, hit a local head-on because they insist on driving on the wrong side of the road.

Darryl: Please phone me in a prescription for something lethal. This beri-beri/bilharzia/Ebola/H1N1/Kreuzfeld-Jakov siege *has got to stop*. Cyanide? Whatever, I just don't care.

#93: I'm with Richard. I don't think I'll ever rent a car in the UK, as the chance of a head-on collision is way too high.

Sorry, bro; the Georgia Composite Board of Medical Examiners suspended my state medical license after I wrote that prescription for Caroline. I'm currently filling out an application to be a Wal-Mart greeter.

*waaah* I can't even die *waaah*

The interesting thing about driving on the other side of the road is how your brain automatically adjusts, and flips everything for you. Everything inside the car is flipped too. It's not as difficult as you'd expect.

#96: Can old mushy brains make this adjustment, too?

>96 lauralkeet:: Driving in Ireland there were really only two situations where my brain didn't compensate:

1) On circles my eyes instinctively went left to check for traffic. Fortunately, it was a caution point anyway so I was checking both ways.

2) Turning from an undivided road to a divided road. This was really the killer. I kept wanting to go on the wrong side of the center island, and did enter a parking lot through the exit once.

Other than those, I was surprised at how easily my brain just adapted (and I'm older than you are, Darryl).

#98: Right. I think my biggest concerns would be navigating busy roundabouts, and making turns from one two way street onto another one, especially right hand turns (which, of course, would mean crossing in front of oncoming traffic).

Hmm...I was expecting a comment about the McPhee book on Bill Bradley from our resident Princetonian.

Took me about half a day to adjust to driving in Scotland. My only difficult adjustment was remembering to look the other way on the one-way streets in Glasgow. Fortunately, the wife was there to help me!

I did find it much more difficult to switch in St Thomas. Even though it's a US Virgin Island, they drive on the left. But they use US style cars with the controls on the left. That combination was hard to adjust to...We survived, though.

Roundabouts are nightmarish. My father, despite years of living in and driving in the UK, still loathes them vehemently. He has only a slightly lower degree of antipathy for "priorite a droit" (sorry, accents not working today) in Belgium -- a driver on your right hand side has the right to merge with your flow of traffic, and you must yield to them. Blech.

# 101 - Oh, now I know why I get angry looks when I drive outside Belgium :-)

#94 : Darryl : Don't stand too close to the door when you begin greeting visitors to Wal-Mart. Remember the greeter at Wal-Mart in NY last Thanksgiving? Died in the stampede when he opened the door to the waiting hoard.

I've gotten used to driving on both sides of the road ... so I'm dangerous in any country that I decide to drive in. ;-)

>99 kidzdoc:: I hadn't gotten to that post. There are a few threads where I'm a 100 or more posts behind due to being away...yours is one of them...and, other than a quick hit to see what the "current" topic is, I'm having to digest them little by little. No idea what I'll do about Stasia's, where I'm 200 behind.

McPhee/Bradley...hmmm, let's see. I've read the book. It was almost de rigeur to read that one and John Phillips' Mushroom during those years. (I loved the first, could easily have done without the second.) Bradley is an interesting person for me. On one hand, he's got an enormous helping of what I admire in people: a work ethic, humility, a sense of humor, among many other things. On the other, every time I've heard him speak, I fail to fall under any spell of charisma. I always wondered if others had the same reaction and, if so, how much that contributed to his failed bid for President.

As for McPhee, I met the him once—not because he teaches at the the university but because his daughter was a year behind me in school and we both hung around the photography lab a bit and he was around one day. I admit all self-possession abandoned me and I could manage nothing more than, "I'm pleased to meet you." I'm an idiot.

>66 kidzdoc:: Why Translation Matters sounds like something I would enjoy.

Reading your review, I'm reminded of Poulin's Translation is a Love Affair, which touched...albeit briefly...on these issues.

#100: Took me about half a day to adjust to driving in Scotland. My only difficult adjustment was remembering to look the other way on the one-way streets in Glasgow.

I'm grateful for the "Look This Way" indicators on busy London intersections; it takes me awhile to get used to looking the correct way for traffic and Underground trains (which also travel in the "wrong" direction).

Another adjustment I had to make was driving properly when I returned to Atlanta from my first trip to London; I started out driving on the "wrong" side of a two way street when I got back. Fortunately it was late evening, and I had time to adjust before I encountered traffic.

Driving in the US Virgin Islands sounds like a challenge!

#101, 102: in Belgium -- a driver on your right hand side has the right to merge with your flow of traffic, and you must yield to them.

That's the opposite from the US, right? Here the drivers in the circle have the right of way, so drivers must yield to cars on the left. The Belgian method sounds like a recipe for circle congestion (I presume that they drive on the right side).

#103: Don't stand too close to the door when you begin greeting visitors to Wal-Mart. Remember the greeter at Wal-Mart in NY last Thanksgiving?

Oh, I remember that. Fortunately, Southerners are far more polite and gracious than New Yorkers, so I think I'll be okay, as long as I stay out of the Wal-Mart near me and the ones in the northern suburbs; these areas are heavily populated with Northeasterners (NY, NJ, PA).

I've gotten used to driving on both sides of the road ... so I'm dangerous in any country that I decide to drive in.

Given your propensity for personal injury I think "dangerous" is the right word.

#104: No idea what I'll do about Stasia's, where I'm 200 behind.

That's only about a week behind, right? Not too bad.

Bradley is an interesting person for me. On one hand, he's got an enormous helping of what I admire in people: a work ethic, humility, a sense of humor, among many other things. On the other, every time I've heard him speak, I fail to fall under any spell of charisma. I always wondered if others had the same reaction and, if so, how much that contributed to his failed bid for President.

I think you're right. He lacks charisma and fire, which definitely played a big role in his loss to Gore. He seems familiar to Adlai Stevenson in that regard, a brilliant thinker who didn't connect with the average man.

105: Reading your review, I'm reminded of Poulin's Translation is a Love Affair, which touched...albeit briefly...on these issues.

Right. I read Translation is a Love Affair too, and there wasn't much discussion about the process, as you mentioned. The Donald Keene book I finished yesterday did mention the author's experiences with translation and the reluctance of American publishers to accept translated works of Japanese literature by Mishima and others.

I'm almost finished with The Finkler Question (~50 pages to go). It continues to be very good, and I'm curious to see how it will end.

Darryl, the priority on the right doesn't just apply at roundabouts, but at any intersection... So you can imagine the potential for chaos!!!

Famed jazz photographer Herman Leonard also passed away this weekend. There was very little mention in the US (I haven't seen an obituary in the NYT yet), but BBC has a nice audiovisual tribute to him on its web site. The link is below; 100 bonus points will be awarded to the person who correctly guesses all of these artists. I haven't yet figured out the last singer(?) and the last saxophone player.

Herman Leonard, 1923-2010

Wait...I know who that last "singer" is; he's not a singer, but is one of the most famous big band leaders.

I'm still stumped on the last sax player, though.

Warning: No cheating by looking at the "Show Captions" link! I just saw that now; I was wrong about the "big band leader"; he is a singer, and a very famous one (I thought it was the big band leader Stan Kenton). I'll be amazed if anyone gets the last sax player, though.

Darryl, did you see this article in today's New York Times about the discovery of a "trove of performances by jazz greats"?

Wow. Great article! Sounds like there's some fantastic stuff there.

#111, 112: Yes, I saw the article in today's NYT, although I haven't read it yet, and dukedom_enough's mention of it on the Jazz thread on Club Read this morning.

I've finished The Finkler Question, and it's definitely one of my best reads of the year, at least 4-1/2 stars and awfully close to Jacob de Zoet in my Booker longlist ranking. I'll have to think about this a bit more over the next few days, but I wouldn't be surprised if I ranked it higher than the Mitchell on my list and gave it 5 stars. I'll probably review this over the weekend.

I'm in the mood for something a bit lighter at the moment. I'll flip through some recent purchases before I decide what novel to read next.

Look forward to your review of The Finkler Question, Darryl.

Book #94: Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene



My rating:

Chronicles of My Life is a short autobiography and memoir written by Donald Keene, who is arguably the leading American scholar of Japanese literature, poetry and theater. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Japanese Literature at Columbia University, where he has taught for over 50 years, and he has written several dozen books about Japanese history, culture and literature, including Modern Japanese Literature, Twenty Plays of the No Theatre, and Five Modern Japanese Novelists. His latest book, So Lovely A Country Will Never Perish: Wartime Diaries of Japanese Writers, was published by Columbia University Press earlier this year.

Keene was born in New York City and initially attended Columbia on a scholarship, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1942. He enlisted in the Navy, where he was trained to be a Japanese translator during World War II. He made his initial trips to China and Japan during the war years, serving both as an interviewer of Japanese prisoners and civilians and a translator of sensitive documents and diaries. Upon his discharge from the Navy he attended Cambridge, then spent several years living in Japan, where he continued his study of Japanese literature while befriending many leading Japanese novelists, including Yukio Mishima, Nobelists Yasunari Kawabata and Kenzaburo Oe, and Kobo Abe. He returned to Cambridge to teach, while spending summers in Japan, and then returned to Columbia, where he received his PhD and taught Japanese literature and culture.

Keene describes his fascinating life and experiences in New York, Cambridge and London, and Tokyo and Kyoto in this compelling and personal account, with great sensitivity and candor. His life is both enriching and most rewarding, but he also portrays himself as a sensitive, often lonely and sometimes depressed man, which endeared this reader to the man and his story. He also describes, in lesser detail, the personal lives of several tragic figures, including Mishima, who committed seppuru in 1970 after being passed over for the 1968 Nobel Prize, and Kawabata, who may have also taken his life in part due to Mishima's death.

Keene also aptly describes his experiences as a foreigner in Japan, a translator of Japanese literature and the difficulties he faced in getting American publishers to accept Japanese literature despite its popularity in the mid-20th century, and the rewards and frustrations of teaching at Columbia and Cambridge.

Chronicles of My Life is a wonderfully written and sensitive memoir, and is highly recommended.

#115: I will have to look for that one. Thanks for the review and recommendation, Darryl.

#115 Great review, Darryl. I'll have to see if my library has it.

#113 I'm in the mood for something a bit lighter at the moment.

As another reader of grim books, I can sympathize with this. I just finished the delightful The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson, a rollicking tale of Viking adventure that might not be your cup of tea but that certainly served the "bit lighter" purpose for me. (It does include fighting, killing, plunder, etc., but all in good fun.)

#116, 117: You're both welcome; I hope that you're able to find it.

#118: I just read (and thumbed) your irresistible review, Rebecca; I'll definitely pick this up in the near future.

I decided to start Carson McCullers's second novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye, last night, and I've just finished it. It was nowhere near as good as The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, but it was a good read, and I'll give it 3-1/2 stars. I'll probably review it this evening, if I have a quiet night on call, and then review The Finkler Question on Thursday or Friday.

ETA: Today I'll start The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar, a novel about the violent response by the Parisian police to a peaceful demonstration against the Algerian War, which resulted in the deaths of between 50 and 200 Algerians. I'll review this for the next issue of Belletrista.

Oh, what the heck...

Book #95: The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson



My rating: (4.8/5.0)

Julian Treslove is a 49 year old Gentile living in present day London whose life has been a series of disappointments: he has movie star good looks but can't seem to sustain a relationship with a woman for more than a few months; he was let go from his production job at the BBC for his overly morbid programs on Radio 3, a station known for its solemnity; and he has fathered two boys, who ridicule and despise him. Even worse, he compares poorly to his friend, rival, and former school classmate Sam Finkler, a pop philosopher, radio and television personality, and author of best selling books such as The Existentialist in the Kitchen and John Duns Scotus and Self Esteem: A Manual for the Menstruating, which have made him wealthy and respected, with a beautiful wife and three successful children.

However, the one thing that Julian desires most of all is to become Jewish, like Sam and their mutual friend and former teacher Libor Sevcik, a Czech whose tell all biographies of Hollywood starlets such as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich have earned him fortune and notoriety. Julian refers to Jews as Finklers, after his friend, and frequently wonders how they think, why they are smarter and more successful than him, and how he can understand and be more like them. The three men engage in frequent discussion about Israel, Palestine, and Jewish life in London; understandably, Julian is always an outsider, despite his desire to become one with his friends.

Libor and Sam are contrasts in character. Libor is pro-Israel yet reasonable in his beliefs, whereas Sam is fervently anti-Zionist, and openly supports the Palestinian cause.

At the beginning of the novel, the three men meet for dinner at Sevcik's lavish apartment in Regent's Park. Their discussion is more somber than usual, as Libor and Sam have recently become widowed, and Julian acts as a honorary third widower. Julian refuses Sam's offer of a ride in his limousine, and decides to walk home. While gazing at violins in a store window he is suddenly attacked and robbed, and he convinces himself that his assailant has mistaken him for a Jew. Other than a broken nose and a loss of pride he isn't badly injured, but the crime and its aftermath lead him to examine who he is (is he Jewish after all?), and his relationships with his friends, women he has dated, and his two sons.

As the crisis in the Middle East worsens, acts of violence against Jews and their establishments in London become more common. Sam is invited to join a group, which he co-opts and renames ASHamed Jews, which engages in verbal warfare against supporters of the state of Israel. Through his close friendships with Libor, Sam and other Jews of various backgrounds and beliefs that he meets, Julian becomes more exposed to their lives, in his fervent attempt to answer "The Finkler Question": what does it mean to be Jewish in the 21st century?

The Finkler Question touches on a number of other vital and compelling topics: men and their relationships to each other; male competition; the insecurity of middle aged men and women; infidelity; and multiculturalism in the modern society. Jacobson deftly weaves these topics throughout this brilliant novel, which is filled with humor and pathos. This is definitely one of my favorite novels of the year, and it replaces The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet as my favorite of the current list of Booker Prize finalists.

115: If Donald Keene died in 2000, he presumably is no longer an Emeritus Professor? Even if not, if he was born in 1922 that would make him 88.

119: When the Seine Was Red sounds interesting if not very light - I think my mum's husband might have done some research into this recently (he was studying for a French degree), because there was some conversation about it.

Book #96: Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers



My rating: (3.6/5.0)

Reflections in a Golden Eye is McCullers's follow up to her wildly successful and brilliant debut novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Her sophomore effort was written in 1939, and was based on a story about a peeping tom at an Army base that her husband told her. It originally appeared in Harper's Bazaar at the end of 1940, and was published in book form the following year.

The novel takes place at an Army base in a small Southern town in peacetime, and McCullers tells us in the first paragraph that a murder will take place. The main characters are a major and his wife, who are friends with a captain and his wife who live nearby; the Filipino manservant of the major's wife; a private; and the spirited horse that belongs to the captain's wife.

The characters are all dislikable and odd, in keeping with McCullers's Gothic style. However, unlike those in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, I could not feel any sympathy toward any of them, even those that suffered or met tragic ends. The story is well written and McCullers kept me guessing and curious as to what would happen, which saved the novel for me. I would guardedly recommend it, but only for those interested in Southern Gothic literature or McCullers's work.

#121: Dan (dchaikin) on Club Read made me aware of this bizarre error, which I've corrected in my review of Keene's book. Despite my best efforts to get rid of him, Keene is fortunately still alive, and actively teaching and writing!

The Seine Was Red was a book I found in the Literature in Translation section at City Lights, which looked interesting. I'm interested in the Algerian War, and one of these days I'll start A Savage War of Peace, Alistair Horne's account of the war.

I've been meaning to read The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. I added it to the tbr pile and hope to read this before the end of December.

As always, thanks for your great reviews! I'll pass on Reflections In a Golden Eye.

Thanks, Linda! I look forward to your comments on The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

If I haven't said so already, I should mention that The Finkler Question was published in the UK earlier this year, and is not available in the US. I purchased my copy from (where else?) The Book Depository. It was published by Bloomsbury; I checked the Bloomsbury USA web site and Amazon, and there is no information on when (or if) it will be published in the US.

I really liked Jacobson's Kalooki Nights, and his earlier Roots, Schmoots.

I'm back from seeing Auntie's doctor's NP, and unless she's very much mistaken all my symptoms are from stress, which she seems to think I am under. Wonder why.

Lab results will rule out bacterial issues, dunno about viral ones. But I think she's probably right.

Thanks for those Jacobson's recommendations; I'll certainly be on the lookout for more of his works.

I think the NP may be right. Fever for three weeks is unlikely to represent a typical bacterial or viral infection. A stress induced gout flare up could certainly cause inflammation and low grade fever; however, if your fevers were routinely >101 Chatterbox: degrees, then I'd be less willing to entertain that possibility. Labs are a good idea, especially a WBC (white blood cell) count, blood culture, and two markers of inflammation, a CRP (C-reactive protein) and ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate; erythrocytes are red blood cells).

Keep us posted, bro. I hope that you're feeling better soon.

Darryl, two more great reviews. I may have to finally try ordering something from The Book Depository. The Finkler Question sounds fantastic.

Thanks, Pat. I was hesitant to review The Finkler Question, as I doubted that I could give the book the justice it deserved, but this morning I decided to just go ahead and write about it the best that I could. Hopefully it will get published in the US soon.

Thanks for the preview and great review of The Finkler Question. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for its publication in the US.

>120 kidzdoc: This is definitely one of my favorite novels of the year, and it replaces The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet as my favorite of the current list of Booker Prize finalists.

Gah, is this one of those years with a lot of good choices?? I'll add this to the pile too but at least the Mitchell book is available here.

I'll be looking for The Finkler Question too, but as I do live in London I can probably find it now! Thanks for the review. I have read several other books by Jacobson - Kalooki Nights and The Mighty Walzer - and I think he's pretty good. I did also once go to an "author's evening/reading" where he spoke, but I'm ashamed to say I don't remember anything of what he said.

#129 Well, you did an outstanding review of The Finkler Question, Darryl. If you didn't think you did it justice, it must be even better than I think it is after reading your comments.

Hi Darryl - I've just picked up a copy of The Finkler Question from the library after your comments yesterday. Now you've written a great review, so I'll have to make sure I do read it.

Add me to the list of people planning on buying The Finkler Question when it hits the States. Thanks for another great recommendation, Darryl!

I hadn't thought of reading The Finkler Question, but you've convinced me to give it a try. Off to check the price at the Book Depository.

ETA Out of stock at BD.

woo. I'm finished with my night call, which was hideous; 13 new hospital admissions in 12 hours, 12 of them coming in the first 7 hours, plus numerous calls from the floor nurses and outside ERs. I was literally running from one kid to the next straight from 8:05 pm until about 7:15 am. It's my own fault, though; I brought 5 days' worth of unread newspapers and a couple of books, as I figured that it would be a quiet night call, as it was for my partners all of last week (they averaged 2-3 admissions per night). Fortunately it's all over, and I'm off until Monday. I'll probably crash shortly, but hopefully not before I finish this message (which will hopefully be coherent).

#136: I'm not surprised that The Book Depository is out of stock of several of the Booker Prize finalists; I'm pretty sure that has happened the past two year. Its stock is far smaller than Amazon's is, but last year when I was in London several of last year's finalists sold out of Foyles, The London Review Bookshop, and other stores I'm sure within a couple of the days of the longlist announcement. I'm sure that the books' publishers are hurriedly getting more copies into print, and that these books will be readily available again within a month.

Amazon UK is currently selling the hardback edition of The Finkler Question for £11.37 (the list price of my copy is £18.99). However, the shipping charge to the US will be £6.98 (the price I paid to receive Trespass earlier this month), which will still be cheaper than list price, but far more expensive that what I was charged by The Book Depository for it ($23.55 USD).

#130, 135: You're both welcome! I'll post information about its US release if I come across anything.

#134: I'll look for your comments about The Finkler Question when you read it, Kerry. I posted my review on Amazon UK, and it was the first review there, as well.

#133: If I've encouraged others to read this book, then I've done an adequate job, so I'm pleased about that. I love sharing things I like with friends and family, especially if they also like it.

#132: I will definitely look for more of Jacobson's novels when I return to SF next month. Richard also liked Kalooki Nights, so I'll definitely get that one, at least. Jacobson is no stranger to the Booker Prize longlist; Who's Sorry Now? was longlisted in 2002, and Kalooki Nights was a finalist in 2006. Maybe the third time will be a charm for him.

#131: Gah, is this one of those years with a lot of good choices??

Oh, I hope so! That's the whole point for me, not reading prize listed novels to be an erudite reader, but reading excellent current novels, especially by authors who are new to me, like Jacobson, Mitchell and Galgut. I'd love to see the major US literary awards adopt a similar format.

I received The Elephant's Journey from The Book Depository yesterday, which was just published in the UK. I was carrying it in my hand as I was leaving work, and one of my partners noticed Saramago's name. She read Blindness recently and loved it, so she ordered me to read The Elephant's Journey soon, so that she could borrow it from me. So, I'll read it this week, so that I stay on Kristin's good side. :)

Sounds like a very busy night. Hope you get a good rest and have a good weekend.

The Elephant's Journey is now available from Amazon, even though the publication date isn't until September. (It's listed as being in stock.)

I succumbed to The Finkler Question via Amazon, and included two cheap paperbacks (also not out in the US yet), which brought the shipping cost down to about 4 pounds per book. That's the trick, I've discovered....

I wasn't planning to read The Finkler Question, but I think I have been persuaded to give it a go.

#139: Thanks for posting that, Suzanne. Amazon US is selling the hardcover edition for $16.32; however, I paid $9.74 for the UK paperback edition from The Book Depository.

BD sent me a message that it is back in stock but it is the hardcover for $23.98 so I am still waiting for the paperback to get back in stock . . .

#142: Is that The Elephant's Journey or The Finkler Question that you're referring to, Rebecca?

TBD's pricing scheme is beyond my comprehension. I've had the most success when I pre-order from them (as I did with The Elephant's Journey) or when I order Booker Prize longlisted books just after the announcement has been made.

I glanced at TBD's web site, and I saw that Room by Emma Donoghue, one of the longlisted books that I don't have, is now available ($15.74 for the hardback edition). I've just ordered it, along with The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood ($9.99 for the paperback edition).

Sorry, Darryl, I meant The Finkler Question. I am holding out for the paperback.

What surprises me about TBD's pricing is that often US-published books (generally not recent ones) will be less expensive at TBD than at Amazon. And yet sometimes not. That's why I check both.

The winners of the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes, the oldest literary awards in the UK, were announced earlier today at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The Prize for Fiction was awarded to A.S. Byatt for her novel The Children's Book, and John Carey won the Prize for Biography for William Golding: The Man Who Wrote "Lord Of The Flies".

AS Byatt and John Carey win oldest book prizes

James Tait Black Prize winners announced

Thanks for the tip, Darryl .. I managed to get a paperback copy of The Elephant's Journey through the Book Depository as well.

#146: I hope that you get your copy, Caroline. I just looked at TBD, and the paperback edition is no longer in stock. And, the selling price for this unavailable book is now $16.52! I don't get it.

I finished The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers earlier today, and it was superb (4-1/2 stars). I'll review it later today or tonight, after I finish The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961.

Darryl...what a shift! I hope you can get some rest this weekend.

I'm adding The Ballad of the Sad Cafe to the tbr pile. 4.5 stars is high praise!

Thanks, Linda. That was a bad shift for the dead of winter, when we're at our busiest; that was easily the worst summer call I've had since I joined the group 10 years ago. I'll have all weekend to catch up on sleep, and I only work three days next week. Plus, a third year pediatric resident from Emory will be working with me, so it will be an especially easy week.

The Ballad of the Sad Café was much better than Reflections in a Golden Eye. I have two more novels to read in my Library of America collection of McCullers's novels, The Member of the Wedding and Clock Without Hands; I'll read both before the end of the year.

I just finished The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961, a novel based on a real event during the Algerian War, when hundreds of unarmed Algerians peacefully protesting a curfew imposed by the Paris chief of police were murdered by the police. Many of the bodies were dumped into the Seine River, which explains the title of the book. I'll review this book for an upcoming issue of Belletrista, but it was a powerful and very good read, which makes me want to learn more about Algeria during the war and what has happened in the country since the end of the war in 1962. So, I'll definitely read A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962 by Alistair Horne next month, and look for other fiction and nonfiction works about the country and its people.

#145: Thanks for mentioning the Tait Prize winners, Darryl. I am on the hunt for the Carey book.

which makes me want to learn more about Algeria during the war and what has happened in the country since the end of the war in 1962. You might find Tahar Djaout's book The Last Summer of Reason interesting to read if you want to know what happened to Algeria.

Darryl, I've had A Savage War of Peace on the TBR for years; maybe I will read it too. I assume you've seen the movie, "The Battle of Algiers" -- remarkable.

#150: You're welcome, Stasia. I read The Children's Book last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I probably won't read Carey's book, though.

Byatt made some interesting comments about women who write intellectually challenging fiction at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday (hmm, I wonder if Fliss attended her talk?). An article in The Guardian yesterday discussed her comments, and the reactions of other writers to them:

AS Byatt says women who write intellectual books seen as unnatural

I agree with the other writers, and not with Byatt.

#151: Thanks for that recommendation, Monica. Akeela and avaland have also recommended that book, and I'll look for it next month (I'm pretty sure that it's already on my wish list). I also have two highly recommended books by Assia Djebar that I'll read soon, Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War and The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry.

#152: Same here, Rebecca; I've had A Savage War of Peace for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it. Let me know when you plan to read it; I'll probably read it next month, but I'll definitely read it before the end of the year if I don't.

I haven't seen "The Battle of Algiers", but I have read My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir by Ted Morgan, which discusses Yacef Saadi, the producer and star of the movie. I've added the movie to my Amazon wish list; it's selling price is $29.99, so I'll look for it elsewhere.

I'm almost halfway through The Slap, and I'll definitely finish it by this afternoon.

#159, I probably won't read it next month, Darryl, because when I go on vacation at the end of next week I'm going to start Hitler and Stalin by Alan Bullock and, even with the headstart of vacation, I'm sure I'll be reading it through all of September and maybe even into October, since I'm sure I'll be mixing it up with lighter reads.

Don't you do Netflix? You can get "Battle of Algiers" from them.

#154: I might be hard pressed to finish A Savage War of Peace next month, too. October or November would probably be better months for me. I finalized my plans for my mega-trip to San Francisco yesterday (Sep 27-Oct 15), and I'll have plenty of time to read then; however, I only want to take a couple of books with me, and one will be A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and Experimental Music by George E. Lewis, which is a history of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, the organization that included Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Anthony Braxton, among others. I bought a ticket for the Henry Threadgill concert during the San Francisco Jazz Festival in October, and I want to read more about him, Braxton and Abrams before the concert. My friend that works at City Lights will also be going, and he recommended this massive book to me, as he is fond of experimental jazz and knows more about it than I do. I definitely want to talk about the book and these artists with Scott while I'm there, and get some of their recordings.

Don't you do Netflix?

A better question would be "Don't you do movies?" The answer to both questions is no. I can't tell you when the last time I rented a movie was. Cripes...I don't think I've rented a movie since I left Pittsburgh for Atlanta in 1997! I think I've only gone to movie theaters twice since then; I saw the last movie directed by Akira Kurosawa during my first (1998) or second (2000) trip to San Francisco, and I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 with my parents in 2004. The only movies I've "seen" the past 4-5 years were ones that my friends in Madison watched, with or without the kids, and I wasn't paying full attention to any of the movies (as I was reading a book or reading a medical journal article while the DVD was playing).

My brother is the complete opposite of me; he watches more movies (from Netflix or elsewhere) in a week than I do in a year, and I read more books in a week than he does in a year.

I'm not a big movie watcher either, but Neflix has its uses. We used to have some wonderful video rental places near us, and even then I didn't rent much; now Netflix is making a lot of money from me because I may keep a movie for a month before I watch it. And the only times I've been in a movie theater in the past several years have been when an older friend of mine wanted somebody to go to chick flicks with her -- I do put my foot down, though, and have stuck to ones with some redeeming value, e.g., "Julia and Julia" (Meryl Streep) and "The Devil Wears Prada" (ditto).

I have to say I think I'm probably missing a lot, but I guess if it's a choice of movies or books, I'll stick to books. Interestingly, unlike books, where my taste runs to the grim, with movies I like to be entertained, period.

I don't like most current Hollywood movies, which seem as if they were written by imbeciles. I like foreign films, documentaries, and older films much better. I may actually start going to movies more often, as Atlanta's main Arts Center is a short walk from where I live, and foreign films are frequently shown there. I'll have to also check out SFFS, the San Francisco Film Society, which is supposed to have excellent foreign and small budget movies and documentaries. I bought a ticket to see the documentary about Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the Beat Poet who co-founded City Lights, last year, but I fell asleep and missed the showing.

I love going to plays, though, and I definitely see more plays than movies every year. I'll see one performance at Berkeley Rep, Compulsion, which stars Mandy Patinkin and is about a man obsessed with Anne Frank's diary. There are several other theatre companies in the Bay Area, especially in SF and Berkeley, and I'll probably go to several theatre and modern dance performances while I'm there.

I may keep a movie for a month before I watch it.
Same here, although I get my money's worth by watching the instant films.

I like foreign films, documentaries, and older films much better.
And that's just why *I* like Netflix! I've found a number of worthwhile documentaries (such as "Born Into Brothels," which I really enjoyed) that I never knew existed.

But if it's a choice between the two? Stick to reading.

I'm a bit Netflix fan. My movie-watching is like my reading -- very eclectic, and ranging from foreign films to silly stuff. I rarely go to the cinema any more, although I do plan to go see The Girl Who Played with Fire this weekend. And on Tuesday, a friend has free passes for a preview of a chick flick with Drew Barrymore, which is just the right thing for the end of summer. And yes, like Luxx, Netflix is a blessing because it's the only way to get great classics and other stuff easily and reliably.

I rarely watch TV -- that's something else that is changing dramatically. That said, I did download the just-released Dexter series on my iTunes and I stayed up late last night to watch Katherine Hepburn, first in the wonderful "The Philadelphia Story" and then in David Lean's "Summertime". I laughed, I cried (sometimes with laughter.)

I think I agree to some extent with Byatt's point, at least in its broad strokes. (Not on the Orange Prize's utility, but on her broader issue.) I can't speak to it from the standpoint of fiction, but any woman who is too "intense" should be prepared for a degree of dispargement. I do think it's actually the quip that Byatt mentions -- amusement and a little bit of scorn. It still takes a slightly thicker skin to venture into a world dominated by men, whether in fiction or anything else. Talk to any senior woman on Wall Street, any female CEO or most women in financial journalism (a part of the journalism world where the editors are still largely men, with rare exceptions like Maria Bartiromo on air or Alix Freedman behind the scenes.) In the 1990s, I was actually told by someone senior at my financial paper that there probably wouldn't be a female managing editor for another 50 to 75 years, so there was no point angling for that job. (I wasn't, as that kind of job doesn't interest me, but that's beside the point!) So I'm quite prepared to believe that literary fiction -- which can be just as nasty and feud-filled as any other world (see the hostility against Martin Amis) -- can have similar traits. Especially since a great number of women authors do end up in ghettos like romance, chick lit or even mystery.

Thoughtful stuff -- want to acknowledge yr. comments above. Somewhat brain dead at the moment, so I can't add anything. But I read it with great interest, and you should know that!

Netflix is a wonder. We don't use television and we have depended on it for 'family' fare to watch together - Star Trek and 3rd Rock and such. And to catch up on movies we've missed. And Mystery! I'm fascinated by story telling in any form. Fly to sticky paper, I'm afraid.

Message 154....Hitler and Stalin is now on the tbr list.

#161 It's been on my TBR for about 15 years or so, but I decided I was going to make this a summer (and fall) of the evils of the 20th century, having first read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (which had been on the TBR for about 30 years). After H&S, with a good break in between, I will probably read Gulag by Anne Applebaum, which was mentioned elsewhere in this group (I think) recently

#158: Hmm...maybe I should check out Netflix, if it has good documentaries (and I want to see the Ferlinghetti documentary). But, as you said, a good book will always outweigh a good movie.

#159: I can't do silly movies, although I do like good, well written comedies and children's movies, such as Ice Age, the one movie I saw with my friends in Madison that I paid full attention to and thoroughly enjoyed.

It still takes a slightly thicker skin to venture into a world dominated by men, whether in fiction or anything else.

I completely agree with you, and I appreciate your comments about Byatt's remarks. My female partners definitely have a harder time of it than I do, even in a profession that has a high percentage of women. They get more pushback from the specialists than I do (and this is my observation of things; they almost never comment or complain). Some parents will treat them as nurses, especially some of the religious conservative males, who seem to think that women physicians aren't as capable as their male counterparts (I've had a few of them express pleasure that a "guy" would be taking over the care of their child if one of my female partners went off service).

#160: I don't watch sitcoms, but I did like what little I saw of 3rd Rock from the Sun.

Woo! I finished The Slap, after almost giving up on it about a third of the way through (BTW, Rachel (rachbxl) and Joyce (Nickelini) are currently discussing the book on Rachel's thread, and I'm about to add my two cents). I'm grateful to Suzanne and Rachel for their positive reviews of it last week, as it permitted me to keep an open mind about it. I did like it, despite the language (which I became numb to after awhile) and the characters' actions and decisions. I'll review it later tonight or tomorrow, but I'll give it a 4 star rating (4.2/5.0), and rank it behind The Finkler Question and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, but ahead of In a Strange Room and The Long Song.

Next up: The Paper Door and Other Stories, a collection of short stories by the Japanese writer Shiga Naoya.

Hi Darryl. I actually just rejoined Netflix today in order to see the movie version of 84 Charing Cross Road which at least 5 LTers recommended.

I just checked to see what they had on Lawrence Ferlinghetti and they had four or five different things including a documentary made in 2008 called (if I remember correctly): Lawrence Ferlinghetti-A City Light. It looked good so I put it in my queue. You can join for as little as $4.99 a month (which gets you 2 DVDs a month).

I'm looking forward to what you thought of The Slap.

I don't like most current Hollywood movies, which seem as if they were written by imbeciles. I like foreign films, documentaries, and older films much better I'm with you on this, Darryl. I'm finding fewer and fewer Hollywood released movies enjoyable.... which saves me quite a bit of $$ since I'm spending less at the movie theaters. But Netflix is my savior. They do have quite a nice inventory of foreign and off-mainstream movies. I'll still watch some movies at the theaters but only if I think they're going to entertain me. Some movies such as 'Piranha 3' you couldn't even pay me to watch.

But I do like watching movies and we generally Netflix about 2 - 3 movies a week.

And now, we're actually heading out to watch a movie at an old fashioned local cinema this evening.

#164: I liked The Slap, Pat. However, as several other LTers have said, I don't think it should or will win the Booker Prize. I'll review it tomorrow; it seems as if my thoughts on a book are more coherent once I've let my brain process it overnight.

I'm pretty sure that Ferlinghetti: A City Light was the name of the documentary that I had a ticket to see last year. Okay, you guys have piqued my interest about Netflix (and I'm having an IM conversation with my brother at the moment, so I'll have to ask him about it, too).

Have a good time at the movies, Caroline! And please tell us what movie(s) that you saw.

Just got back from seeing the film version of The Girl Who Played With Fire. In a real movie theater!! There's a lot more violence in this film, enough to make it disturbing and unfocused compared to the book, where motivation was more clearly spelled out.

My brother is registering me for a free one month membership to Netflix now, so I'll definitely order the Ferlinghetti documentary. Thanks for mentioning that, Pat!

I haven't read any of Larsson's books; I might try one, but I doubt that it will be anytime soon.

Hello Darryl. So I'm finally getting around to your thread, after 14 iterations of it! Ummm, I'll just jump in here... :)

Hm, movies...I'm not a big fan.

#153 Thank you for sharing the AS Byatt piece. Although I didn't necessarily agree with Byatt, I did agree with this:

The spotlight was fixed firmly on the subject this year when Daisy Goodwin, TV producer, writer and chairman of this year's Orange prize for women's literature, complained of the depressing number of stories of victimisation and grief that had been submitted.

In her diatribe against "misery lit" she said she found very little wit and no jokes. "If I read another sensitive account of a woman coming to terms with bereavement, I was going to slit my wrists," she said.

I am prejudiced against Oprah picks because to me they seem exactly these, "misery lit".

ETA italics

Although I don't do Netflix (yet!) we do have Tivo which allows me to record those Sundance/foreign/old movies that only seem to play in the middle of the night.

#169: Welcome, Stephen! I'm not much of a film fan, but there are a few dozen films that I do want to see: "Twelve Angry Men", "The Battle of Algiers", "La Dolce Vita", "8½", "Breathless", "Woman in the Dunes", and the Ferlinghetti documentary are several that come to mind straight away.

#170: Right. I can only handle so much misery, or 'unremitting despair' (the term I used to characterize one of Herta Müller's books that I tried to read earlier this year). Like Rebecca, I prefer serious or 'grim' reads, but I don't want to be punched in the gut repeatedly by a book.

#171: It does seem like the best TV programs come on in the middle of the night. When I was a kid I loved staying up to watch old movies on "The Late Show" on WCBS in the 1960s and early 1970s whenever my parents let me (this was way before Letterman!).

#153, re the Oprah book club -- yes, a lot of titles def. fall into that category. But she has also picked books like The Poisonwood Bible, Fall on Your Knees, Cry, the Beloved Country, East of Eden, One Hundred Years of Solitude and Anna Karenina. Which just reminds me of the risks of generalizing -- these books certainly couldn't be dismissed out of hand as "misery lit".

Whether Byatt or Daisy Goodwin, the real danger is literary snobs who like to prescribe what the rest of us should value as "literature"! Particularly when it comes to contemporary writing. I think I saw someone mention reading an old Booker winner and being wary of the caliber of the writing; I have the same concern today. We know what we like and respond to but we don't/can't know what will stand the test of time and become classics with a life that lasts much longer than our own, to be read by our great-great-grandchildren.

Just watched the first Wallender with Kenneth Branagh, quite excellent, and all thanks to Netflix.

But what I really want to say is that this morning I get in the car and there is a piece on NPR about FINISHING THE LAST STRETCH OF 95 -- that piece just north of Philadelphia -- there was a guy who has been working on the project since 1984 HIS WHOLE WORKING LIFE! And, he is all excited because they have finally got the final plan and some money and they are going to start....... but wait..... don't get too thrilled....... it will be another SEVEN years. Anyway, Darryl I know that you probably are familiar with this piece of non-road....

#174: Yes, I saw that NPR article about I-95 in PA and NJ. And, you're right, I'm very familiar with that stretch of road, as I've been on it hundreds of times, especially when I drove between Langhorne, PA (my parents' home) and New Brunswick, NJ (where the main campus of Rutgers is located). According to the article, there will finally be a direct connection of I-95 in Bucks County, PA and the PA Turnpike, which runs above I-95. This crossing is about 2-3 miles south of where my parents live, and it's on the way to Center City Philadelphia and Philadelphia International Airport. So, it will likely directly affect me, especially when my father picks me up from the airport. I may have to resort to my own Plan B, and take SEPTA from the airport to the Langhorne train station (Airport Line to 30th Street Station, and the R3 West Trenton line to Langhorne). Or, I could fly into Newark Airport, and take a NJ Transit train from the airport station to Trenton.

Knowing how construction is on I-95 in PA, this promises to be a long and painful nightmare; fortunately that section of the interstate is much less heavily traveled than it is within the city limits.

Speaking of nightmares, do you remember when the portion of I-95 between Center City and the airport was disconnected? To get to the airport from the north you had to get off at ?Columbus Avenue, take that to Pattison Avenue (past the Spectrum and the Vet), hop onto ?Island Avenue, and then hop on I-95 for a fraction of a mile to the airport exit. Or something like that. That was painful.

#173 It's true that generalizations are always wrong, simply because inevitably there are exceptions. It's interesting how strongly people feel about Oprah picks, one way or another. I had a long conversation with a friend who reads lots of Oprah picks. Our conversation was about those books that are new and that by being chosen by Oprah become instant bestsellers. She wields so much power in determining what a lot of people read. Our conversation dealt with whether there are responsibilities that come with that sort of power. Is that a silly question when talking about books? Anyway, I wonder if there is a difference between the "new" books she chooses, and the "classics", like those you mention by Tolstoy, Steinbeck, Garcia Marquez.

As regards literary snobs, I, like the Queen in The Uncommon Reader which I finished yesterday, do believe literary appreciation does require practice and cultivation. However, I also believe that one person's treasure is another person's trash. I can not stand Melville's sentence structure and grammar, and I think Diana Gabaldon is great. Although one cannot predict which books will stand the test of time, I personally hope our generation leaves behind for posterity more than misery lit.

Btw, I like your analogy of "ghetto" genres: Especially since a great number of women authors do end up in ghettos like romance, chick lit or even mystery.

... I wonder why we still often refer to "women" authors, "female" literature, etc. Over half the world is female and there are plenty of female authors and yet, women are still referred to as the odd ones out. Maybe we should be consistent and talk of "male" authors and "male" literature as well instead of talking of literature and authors as naturally male. I think it's small adjectives like this that - consciously or subconsciously - emphasize inequality in the mind (and often consequently in actions).
E.g. " Yesterday I finished De werkplaats van de duivel (Chilly land) by the male author Jáchym Topol". How weird does that sound...
But I agree that far too many women end up in ghetto genres, not only with writing but even with reading.

I suspect that at least part of it is what you grow up reading. If you grow up reading cozy mysteries or romance novels, and you want to write, maybe you gravitate more to those genres? It's also a heck of a lot easier to be published in that arena than to duke it out in the trenches of literary fiction. How many women who juggle jobs, along with being a wife and mother, can afford the time to go off and get MFAs? I met Mary Higgins Clark a few times (her second husband is a big futures trader; one of her daughters worked at the New York Mercantile Exchange) and she got into writing the kinds of romancey/suspense novels she produces for the reasons I cited at the top here -- and out of financial need. (Her first husband had died, leaving her with several young children.)

That said, there are male occupants of ghettos, too. James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, Tom Clancy, Lee Child, Dean Koontz, etc. etc.

Personally, I don't think of author as a gender-subdivideable (is that a word???) category. Someone is either an author or not. I'd never think of referring to Byatt or Margaret Drabble as female authors. And while I think that women-only health clubs are just fine, I'm not convinced about women-only literary prizes. Would we have literary awards for which only Jewish or African-American authors qualify? If not, then why have one for women? Yes, it does bring to light more new novels than might otherwise get press, but so would a different kind of award.

#158: I am with Luxx. I love being able to watch the documentaries that no one else in my household is interested in and they can take the movies.

>174 sibylline:: so glad you enjoyed Wallander, Lucy. I love that series.
>174 sibylline:, 175: re I-95. I moved to the Philadelphia area in 1984 when there was that mess around the airport. I was shocked -- such a big city, with such a fragmented interstate system. Glad to see they are finally finishing I-95.

Now, when do you think they will actually construct a proper connection between I-95N and I-76 (The Schuykill) so we don't have to take that weird segment (Penrose Ave?) to get to Penn or the Art Museum?

#174, 175, 180 As a New Yorker who has driven past that stretch of road, what I remember is that as you come north (i.e., from Baltimore or DC), there is a point where you have to choose between the New Jersey Turnpike (which technically IS I-95) or something labeled I-95. We know to take the Turnpike, but I've often wondered how many unsuspecting drivers choose I-95 at that point, and where it takes them. Does this have something to do with that?

I also remember once trying to leave Philadelphia and get on the New Jersey Turnpike and driving round and round the back streets of Philadelphia because the signs were so confusing.

#180: Now, when do you think they will actually construct a proper connection between I-95N and I-76

That should be the next priority, as I would imagine that a lot of drivers approaching Philadelphia from the south use the Sure-Kill Schuylkill Expressway to get to University City, or to connect with the westbound PA Turnpike. When will it happen? Uh...I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

#181: It's very weird, and I had to look this up on Wikipedia (Interstate 95 in New Jersey) to figure it out. It's really a New Jersey problem, but it affects both NJ and PA. Heading northbound from Delaware, if you take the Delaware Memorial Bridge across the Delaware River to the NJ Turnpike, you have exited I-95 (and you approach exit 1 of the NJ Turnpike). The southernmost section of I-95 in NJ begins at exit 6 of the NJ Turnpike, the junction of the NJ Turnpike and the NJ extension of the PA Turnpike.

If you continue northbound on I-95 past the NJ Turnpike exit south of Philadelphia the road will continue as I-95 North, which goes into Delaware County (wave hi to Laura), passes through the city of Philadelphia (don't wave to Lucy, she doesn't live there anymore), goes through Bucks County to the north (wave hi to my parents), and crosses the Delaware River into NJ, as I-95 North, just above Trenton. It continues into central NJ (wave hi to Tad, I think) until it intersects with US Route 1, where it ends ingloriously, becoming I-295 which heads southbound.

Clear as mud? There'll be a pop quiz later this week.

I don't know the best way to get to the NJ Turnpike from Philadelphia; I would imagine that the Walt Whitman Bridge (which crosses the Delaware River in Center City Philadelphia) would be the most sensible way to go, but I have no idea how to get to the NJ Turnpike from there.

#176, 177, 178: I'm enjoying this discussion!

I would suspect and hope that a good portion of the close followers of Oprah's Book Club don't limit themselves to the books she recommends, and seek out similar books on their own. On her web site or TV show, does she have information on authors or books that her followers would like if they liked a particular book (e.g., those that liked The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter might like to read Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor)?

African American authors are also stereotyped into certain genres, especially urban fiction (hip-hop or gangsta culture) and AfrAm chick lit. I understand that publishers prefer these genres, as books in these categories will sell much better than higher quality literature by lesser known but respected authors that aren't well known to non-AfrAm readers, such as Percival Everett and Isaiah Reed. Worse yet, AfrAm books are often segregated in bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble, so random browsers are unlikely to stumble upon books by these authors unless they specifically look in the AfrAm section or are seeking a particular book by an AfrAm author.

I think I'm all for women only prizes such as the Orange Prize, especially if they highlight books that would otherwise receive little or no recognition. I (and many others, I suspect) probably wouldn't have read The White Woman on the Green Bicycle, Black Mamba Boy, The Boy Next Door or The Lacuna this year if it had not been for the Orange Prize.

#182, Thanks for the intensive research! The main thing is that I know to take the Turnpike if I want to get home!

#183, I have very mixed feelings about women-only prizes, because in a way it's saying women can't compete in the big leagues. At the same time, if it is mainly men who are deciding what to give awards to, maybe it is good to have women-only prizes so some authors, at least, receive recognition.

I agree with you completely about the segregation of African-American authors in a separate section. It's almost like saying that the booksellers think they won't be of interest to non-African-American readers so they won't include them with general fiction, along with works by authors from all over the world. This is insulting to everyone! The booksellers must think it increases sales, but it's hard to see why.

>182 kidzdoc:: When I lived down in that area, I can't tell you how many times I had to explain to people, "No, 95 North is 295 South and 95 South is 295 North."

Sounds like something out of a Pratchett novel.

Btw, the gap is caused because of a cancelled portion of freeway that, apparently, every resident of Montgomery opposes and every driver in state wants (if you are a driver living in Montgomery, you've probably become schizophrenic). That missing stretch causes major time delays for anyone trying to head north or south in NJ if you're west of the Turnpike.

Since I have commuted for decades along that path, I watched the debate with an increasing sense of futility...resigning myself to the mercies of Rt. 202 and Rt. 206 when they finally said "nix" to the whole thing.

There are definitely gender stereotypes as regards genre fiction. Probably less so in crime and mystery, although I think there's some expectation (unwarranted, I think) that women writers will produce cosier books than men.

There's definitely an expectation that military/thrillers are by men, and romance is absolutely a female ghetto, although there's no reason why it should be. There are men who write romance, although not many, and at least one prolific husband-and-wife team, but you'd never know it because most write under female pseudonyms.

Literary fiction is harder to asses, I think. I've definitely come across people who assume that women write and indeed read fluff while male authors and readers deal with more serious subjects, but they are far from ubiquitous. I think Byatt has a point, but is possibly overstating it. And there are plenty of depressing books about victimisation and grief written by men.

Book #99: The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas



My rating:

Hector and Aisha are a successful fortysomething married couple with two children living in suburban Melbourne, who are hosting a weekend barbecue for friends, colleagues and family. They are typical, yet unique; Hector is a successful manager born to Greek immigrants to Australia, and Aisha is a veterinarian of Indian descent . Both are stunningly attractive, and are quite proud and aware of their physical appearance. On the surface, Hector and Aisha appear to be a model and staid middle class couple.

Friends and family come over; all are middle class, and represent the diversity of cultures that populate this international city. The adults talk amiably and the kids play nicely — at first. The men and women begin to bicker, and so do the kids. One of the boys, a three year old who is still breast fed by his dippy Aussie mother and allowed to express himself without fear of punishment, begins to fight with the other kids and destroy the toys that they are playing with. His behavior spirals out of control, and one of the adults, who is not related to him, slaps him in a pique of anger. The boy isn't seriously hurt, but his parents are incensed, and threaten to sue the "assailant". The party abruptly ends, as the inebriated adults bicker and take sides with each other.

The novel explores the reactions of several of the adults and one teenager who attended the party to the slap. Each chapter is told from the viewpoint of one of the characters, and we learn about their dissatisfied lives, motivations, and secret desires. Each is selfish, unfaithful and untrustworthy, terribly flawed and dislikable, but 'human, all too human'.

It is all too easy for the reader to reject and dismiss these characters, with their foul language, use of drugs and alcohol, and the abysmal way in which they raise their children. We're not like that, and we would never associate with people like this. However, these are real people, and their desires are not that much different from the rest of us, except that they act on them whereas we might — might — restrain ourselves. Like us, they bemoan the selfishness and boorish behavior of the current generation of children and teenagers, while ignoring the reality that our own self-absorbed attitudes are the main cause of this.

The Slap is an unblinking look into the lives of real people, which will make the average reader squirm with discomfort and disbelief. However, Tsiolkas effectively removes the veneer of middle class life, and his indictment of the failings of our consumer driven, me first Western societies is a worthwhile contribution that should be widely read and heeded.

#187: Great review, Darryl! Between you and Suz, I have no choice but to read it - eventually. I am sure the local library will get it some time.

#184 I also have mixed feelings about women-only prizes, mostly along the lines you said. On the whole, though, I tend to think that if men-only prizes would be unacceptable (which I think they would be and ought to be) then women-only prizes should be equally unacceptable. I don't think that, if there is bias against women in the industry, it is sufficient to justify treating women as a separate case and a special group that need to be encouraged. Writing is one of the fields where women have been prominent and been allowed to be prominent for generations.

The segregation of African-American authors is ridiculous and wrong. Why would booksellers assume that we all only want to read about people in whatever sub-group of society they deem to match our own, whether we're deemed the majority or the minority? The separation out of separate sections for GLBT books is a similar example, I suppose: everything and everyone must be labelled and categorised and pigeonholed, and writers must all write about people like themselves, for people like themselves. Outrageous.

The Slap didn't appeal to me at all to begin with, but that's the latest of several very positive reviews I've read, and I'm now quite tempted by it.

I watched Inception last night and I'm sorry to say that despite all the rave reviews, I didn't enjoy the movie much .... I actually fell asleep halfway.

Weighing in on the debate on gender biased prizes, I don't think there should be any women-only or men-only prizes. I don't think gender and/or race should be a factor when evaluating an author's talent as a writer. All authors should be viewed as unisexual green aliens with giant heads and big black orb eyes when their works are reviewed.

Book #100: Wild Grass by Lu Xun



My rating:

Lu Xun (1881-1936) was one of the most important writers of 20th century Chinese literature, and considered to be the 'founder of modern Chinese literature.' He wrote in a variety of genres, and was widely respected by Mao and other leaders of the original communist movement in China. Much of his work has been translated into English, although I had never heard of him before stumbling upon this book.

Wild Grass (1927) is a collection of prose poems that date from 1924-1926, which was translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. In the Foreword to this collection, Lu describes wild grass at that which grows from the abandoned clay of life, that which follows from the unhappiness of his past life. This grass is fragile and lacks beauty, yet it is full of vitality during its brief existence.

These prose poems cover a variety of topics: nature, friendship, personal struggle and loss, and betrayal and redemption.

A representative poem is this excerpt from "Hope":

My heart is extraordinarily lonely.
But my heart is very tranquil, void of love and hate, joy and sadness, colour and sound.
I am probably growing old. Is it not a fact that my hair is turning white? Is it not a fact that my hands are trembling? Then the hands of my spirit must also be trembling. The hair of my spirit must also be turning white.
But this has been the case for many years.
Before that my heart once overflowed with sanguinary songs, blood and iron, fire and poison, resurgence and revenge. Then suddenly my heart became empty, except when I sometimes deliberately filled it with vain, self-deluding hope. Hope, hope — I took this shield of hope to withstand the invasion of the dark night in the emptiness, although behind this shield there was still dark night and emptiness. But even so I slowly wasted my youth.

These poems are gentle and deceptively simple, which likely won't affect the reader on a initial examination, but will have greater impact on subsequent readings.

I've read Lu Xun's translated works and I've found his poems to be poignant. I've seen some Chinese calligraphy scrolls in China with his poems and they look as beautiful as they sound.

#193: I failed to mention that this book is in Chinese-English bilingual form; the original poem is in Chinese on the left sided pages, and the English translation are on the pages to the right. That, as much as anything, attracted me to the book.

>192 kidzdoc: *hating Darryl inexpressibly for adding another book to the over 2000 on various wishlists*

I like books like that. I've read some bilingual Chinese-English books like that too, The Water Margin by Luo Guanzhong and all volumes of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Lo Kuan Chung being among them.

I agree with the general sentiment that there shouldn't be literary prizes that are segregated by gender, sexual orientation or ethnicity, and I'm certainly opposed to and offended by the segregation of African American books in bookstores. However, I'm not ready to discard or ignore prizes like the Orange Prize that expose me and other readers to worthwhile authors and books that otherwise would escape my attention (sorry if I'm being repetitive here). There are way too many books that are being published (most of which I have little or no interest in), and any device (literary award, review on LT, a trusted newspaper or magazine, etc.) that exposes me to books that I might like is a good thing.

Speaking of literary prizes: the list of winners of the American Book Awards for 2010 was partially announced; the awards are given for literary works that cover "the entire spectrum of America's diverse literary community." Winners included Dave Eggers, for Zeitoun, Amiri Baraka, for Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music, Sesshu Foster, for World Ball Notebook, and Victor Lavelle, for Big Machine. From what I can tell, the awards will be given at a ceremony in San Francisco next month, and the rest of the winners should be announced at that time.

I'm also rather suspicious of gender- or race-based literary prizes, although they do seem to sometimes result into promoting books that would be less known otherwise. And prizes have to be defined anyway. But I wonder what would happen if books were judged by people who were unaware of the gender or race of the author. Would it make a difference if a black male or a white female wrote a book, either for the judges or for the public? And doesn't the choice of the prize-winning book say more about the judges and about the time we're living in?
Btw, isn't there a prize for male authors? It's discrimination if there isn't :-)

Before I veer off onto I-95 -- what a good review -- I will have to look for The Slap.

I started to write this whole thing about how crazy it used to be to try to get to the airport and then decided it was waaayyyyy to esoteric for those from other places -- so glad it got mentioned. and, it is the penultimate piece of I-95 uncompleted, so PA has the distinction of holding up everything the longest.

I remember reading a novel by Mark Helprin where he talks about how some cities will let you in easily but not out, and other cities you have to fight your way into, but are easy to leave -- Philadelphia might have the distinction of being hard to get in or out of, and not so easy to cross either. East West is a little easier but North or South is almost impossible...... you have to do crazy things or just bite the bullet and take Broad St. Of course, I love Broad St, North and South, but it is like stepping back into another century to travel that way. Anyhow, I knew you would love it Darryl.

So what does it all signify about Philadelphia? Metaphorically speaking, I mean.

I love the schizoid Montgomerites!

#199: It's not too bad getting into Center City from the northern suburbs, via I-95 or the Schuylkill Expressway (via Roosevelt Boulevard from NE Philadelphia, Bucks County or eastern Montgomery County). I attended Drexel at night for a couple of years before I transferred to Rutgers, and would commute from Southampton or Warminster (in Bucks County) to Drexel's University City campus.

It also helps that there is an extensive commuter rail system (SEPTA Regional Rail) that serves the city and its suburbs. I never drive to Center City whenever I visit my parents, as it's so easy to drive two miles to the nearest station and get on the train. Atlanta sorely needs a system like this, to decrease the heavily congested roads within and outside of the city.

Book #101: The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti by Marilene Phipps-Kettlewell



My rating:

(Reviewed for the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)

This collection of short stories about the lives of contemporary Haitians was awarded the 2010 Iowa Short Fiction Award. Several of the stories are good, especially "Dogs", in which an elderly woman keeps an unruly group of wild dogs who she favors over humans, and "Marie-Ange's Ginnen", an account of a woman who is tricked, along with several of her neighbors, into taking a boat that will supposedly take them to Miami but runs out of fuel soon after it leaves the coast. The writing in these stories is lyrical; however, I found it difficult to engage with the characters and their stories, and I became increasingly uninterested in the book after its promising beginning.

Hi Darryl, excellent review of The Slap which is on its way to me from B&N. I ordered it after reading Suzanne's review last week.

As far as Oprah's book selections go, although she picks a lot of dark novels, I think she's picked some excellent ones that I probably wouldn't have read w/o her nudge (this is going back to her early selections). But her power to create a bestseller is a little troubling. But her particular brand of power is a liitle unbelievable in all respects.

I couldn't tell you much about Oprah's Book Club selections, except for the flap over The Corrections several years ago. I just looked at her magazine's web page, to see what books I would find there, and checked out the "4 Books to Watch for in September 2010" page. I have to admit that three of these books look very interesting: Room by Emma Donoghue, which I just ordered from the Book Depository, as it is on this year's Booker Prize longlist; The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson; and Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love and Language by Deborah Fallows.

Darryl- I seem to have lost you again for awhile! I better start paying attention!
Great review of The Slap! I have never heard of it before and it sounds terrific!

Hi, Darryl. Three more good reviews. The Slap looks like something I'd like as well as the book of prose poetry, Wild Grass. Sorry your ER book didn't turn out better.

Hi, Mark! The Slap has certainly been the cause of much discussion recently, on LT and elsewhere. I forgot to mention that there was another review of it, in today's Observer:

The Slap, a novel that is bringing out the worst in the middle class

The Slap is available in the US, BTW.

I had also meant to post my ranking of the Booker Prize longlisted books I've read so far:

1. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
2. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
3. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
4. In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
5. The Long Song by Andrea Levy

Five down, eight to go. I'll plan to read two more books next week, probably Trespass by Rose Tremain and February by Lisa Moore.

#205: Thanks, Pat. I'll be interested to see what you and others think of The Slap; I don't think it's possible to lack an opinion about this book.

My ER books have been hit or miss; I liked four of them, and was unimpressed by the other four that I've read. I have five more to review, and I'd like to get caught up by the end of October.

Great review of The Slap, but I don't think it's something I want to read at this point in my life. I'm sorry The Company of Heaven wasn't better, as I would definitely be interested in reading authors from Haiti, and a book of short stories would seem like a good way to dip my toes in.

Just waving as I make my way through the threads. Have a great week, Darryl!

#208: Thanks, Marcia. There are two contemporary Haitian authors I would recommend, Edwidge Danticat and Lyonel Trouillot. Krik? Krak! and The Dew Breaker are two excellent collections of short stories by Danticat, and her memoir Brother, I'm Dying about her father and his brother is fantastic. I've read two books by Trouillot, Children of Heroes and Street of Lost Footsteps, which were both very good.

#209: I hope that you have a good week as well, Stasia!

ETA: An additional comment on The Company of Heaven: Stories from Haiti. I understand that the author is a poet, and her sentences throughout this collection are well structured. However, I thought the characters were bloodless and thin, like the cardboard cutouts of famous people that make you think it's the real thing until you come closer to it.

#208 I would echo Darryl's recommendation of Edwidge Danticat. The Farming of Bones was *good* too, if good is the right word for a book about the persecution of Haitian laborers in the Dominican Republic. It won the American Book Award in 1999.

I've been wanting to read Brother, I'm Dying for a while, as one of my professors who I loved absolutely raved about it. I will have to keep my eye out for it next time I am the library. Thanks for the other recs as well!

I'm loving all this talk about I-95. I grew up just off Exit 11 of the NJT (which IS I-95), and spent many an hour on it. It's been a while, though. But I have to say I'm very sorry to see how happy you all seem to be about building lots more roads to make it easier to get to airports and between major towns - what about lots more trains?? Refer back to zillions of comments earlier this summer about hot summer/global warming. There's a link. okay, end of soapbox.

Boston's one of those cities that make it quite easy for you to get in, and then it closes its trap around you and you can't leave. There are no logical signs that take you out of the city, there are never-ending road works that result in multiple detours to the circuitous routes taking you further and further into the lint-filled belly-button of the city. Getting out is a matter of chance and you're usually bug-eyed with frustration and a bursting bladder when you do.

>213 JanetinLondon:: hey, I was just at exit 11 a week ago! And guess what, I drove there to catch a TRAIN! NJT/I-95 exit 11 --> Garden State Pkwy N --> next exit Metropark, then NJTransit into NY Penn Station.

I agree better railway service would be a huge plus.

#213: I agree with you, in general; more trains and less highways are better, particularly if you're going from a suburb to a central city. However, a lot of the traffic in the suburbs is from one small town to another (e.g., travel from New Brunswick to Woodbridge or Somerville), and not from a town to a large city (e.g., from New Brunswick to Newark or NYC). How do you get people from one small town to another quickly and efficiently?

#214: Yep. Even more reason to not drive in Boston, especially for a Beantown naive person like me (I've only been there once, believe it or not, in 2007 or 2008). I'll fly or take Amtrak, thank you very much.

#215: Hmm...there's way too much NJ Turnpike nostalgia here. It's a necessary thing, like getting a colonoscopy or regular teeth cleaning; however, like these procedures, I don't look forward to driving on the NJT.

>216 kidzdoc:: I thought it only fair to balance the I-95 nostalgia ...

I much prefer the train too, especially for the whole northeast corridor, but there have been a few occasions over the years when we've had to drive to Philly, Baltimore, or DC. For Boston, the train takes a much more scenic route, since it parallels Long Island Sound for a long way, than the best driving route, which cuts endlessly and diagonally across Connecticut.

#217: LOL! I can't say that I'm nostalgic about I-95, or most highways, for that matter. I do want to drive along the Pacific Coast Highway and the Blue Ridge Parkway someday, though.

>219 kidzdoc: Have driven the Pacific Coast Highway and what a thoroughly lovely and breathtaking drive; can't really think of another highway I'd go out of my way for.

Just stopped by to say hello.

I can't possibly fully catch up the almost 200 posts that I'm behind, but I did pause to enjoy the discussion of Philadelphia-area highways. Well, enjoy probably isn't exactly the word . . . commiserate, maybe. (I enjoy driving in/through/around Philly about as much as I enjoy a root canal, though both are occasionally necessary.) For much of my time living there, I didn't even own a car -- and when I did, I still used mass transit whenever possible.

Rebecca, yes, I love the train, too, especially the stretch from N. Connecticut and into Rhode Island. I pick a seat on the east side of the train and glue my nose to the window. On the train to DC, it's the same thing - only with the Chesapeake Bay.

Chiming in as an enthusiastic driver: I've driven both PCH and the Blue Ridge, and they are a *blast* to drive in the proper car (smaller, open-topped, and alone). But the first time should be as a passenger in both cases, because the scenery is *awe* inspiring and that does bad things to the concentration needed not to fling oneself off the various precipices that make the roads in question so appealing.

Richard, I don't drive, so it's moot -- though one of the reasons I don't drive is precisely the issue of concentration! (Well, that and the prospect of having to drive with a migraine, or else leaving my car stuck somewhere while I take v. expensive cab ride home.)

On days like today when my car is in the shop, I wish I didn't own a car!

Hi Darryl, I'm slowly catching up on threads after my recent Rocky Mountain High!

>203 kidzdoc:: Dreaming in Chinese was my ER "win" from last month. I'm still waiting for it to arrive. I had to wait 4 months for my last Early Reviewer book!

>206 kidzdoc:: I'm about to begin The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet. I'm really looking forward to this one. Black Swan Green is the only other Mitchell book I've read.

Have you completely given up on Parrot and Olivier in America? I ended up liking - not loving - it. I can't in good conscience wholeheartedly recommend a book that takes over 100 pages to engage the reader!

Some doctor needs to explain to me why the fill-in for my doc (who it appears is awol until sept. 9) won't refill my migraine medication, because it contains codeine... (My prescription ran out of refills; and I'm down to three capsules, with a migraine still raging.) Something is wrong with this picture!

grrrr....

Separately, I want to read Dreaming in Chinese.

Darryl, You were lost, but now are found!
I am glad you liked The Slap. I really liked it too. It was a very uncomfortable book. But I thought it was genius in some senses. I liked that Tsiolkas conveyed to me that everyone thinks they are not racist or classist, but a lot of people really are. Everyone wants what they don't have. So many of the characters in the book are cruel and hateful, that when you read about Ritchie it is extremely refreshing. He is the hope for the future or something like that.

There are apparently 2 Dreaming in Chinese books by the same author. There's one Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, And Language and Dreaming in Chinese : And Discovering What Makes A Billion People Tick. The latter was published before the former. Odd that she'd use such a similar title for her second book. Or are they both the same?

I suspect they are the same book, published in different regions of the world.

Darryl, knowing you are a Philliles fan, I thought of you today. Did you hear about Roy Halladay's recent gesture to commemorate his perfect game?
Phillies Extra: A Perfect Gift

That guy is a class act.

#226: I look forward to your comments about Dreaming in Chinese and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. I'm eager to read Cloud Atlas, but I probably won't get to it until October, at the earliest.

I haven't given up on Parrot and Olivier in America; I'll probably still read it, and I'll definitely read it if it makes the Booker Prize shortlist, which will be announced on September 7th. I'm still planning to read all 13 of the Booker Prize longlisted books, although I'll probably pass on reading The Stars in the Bright Sky unless it makes the shortlist.

#227: I hope that you're feeling better today, Suzanne.

#228: I'm with you on your opinion of The Slap, Jennifer. I think the chances of it winning the Booker Prize, or even making the shortlist, are slim, but it was one of the more thought-provoking and stimulating reads of the year for me.

#231: I didn't hear about this, Laura; that is a nice gesture by Halladay. He may want to take back those watches after last night's game, though.

I'm off for the next four days, and I'd like to get at least four books read in that time. I'll pop in and (mostly) out of LT, so that I can read these books and run some errands.

I hope you enjoy your days off, Darryl!

>232 kidzdoc:: ha ha, yeah they are in another slump aren't they?

I finished Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in Medicine by Roy Porter tonight; I'll review it in the next day or two.

#235: I read and enjoyed Porter's Blood and Guts last year, so I will be interested in seeing what you think of that one, Darryl.

Book #102: Quacks: Fakers and Charlatans in English Medicine by Roy Porter



My rating:

This was an entertaining history of the men and women who were labeled as quacks in Britain during the 17th to the early 19th centuries. The term "quack" was applied to men and women who were accused of practicing medicine (Physic) in bad faith, those who traveled from town to town and gave public performances and demonstrations, sold nostrums that proclaimed to cure numerous unrelated diseases from 'Rheumatick Defluctions' to 'Wind Cholick' to 'Ptisick or shortnesse of breath', advertised widely in newspapers, or made outrageous claims about their clientele (many claimed to be the personal physician to kings and queens throughout Europe), their cure rates and the efficacy of their medicines.

However, Porter shows us that several practitioners who were labeled as quacks received medical degrees from Oxford, Cambridge or other renowned schools, and nearly all subscribed to the same medical theories and treatments used by the regular physicians. Many of the standard medical providers also used the same techniques as the quacks, such as advertising, frequent use of nostrums to purge the body of toxins that were the cause of illness, and frequent self promotion. The success of quackery was also aided by the lack of regulation, as neither the courts nor town officials sought to enforce standards on practitioners until the early 19th century, and by the state of medical knowledge in the 17th and 18th centuries, which was dominated by theories beliefs rather than proven fact.

Quackery slowly fell out of fashion in the early and mid 19th century in England, as alternative medical movements such as homeopathy, naturopathy and medical botany took hold, and as allopathic (standard) medical practice became more regulated and restricted.

"Quacks" contains several detailed accounts of notable practitioners, along with detailed etchings and engravings of quacks as they beguile and entertain potential customers. The book was overly repetitive at times, especially in the sections about advertising and nostrums, but overall it was a well written and balanced look at quackery in Britain.

#237: Well, rats. The local library does not have that one.

Darryl, have you read Charlatan by Pope Brock? You might be interested in that one.

#238: It looks as though "Quacks" was never published in the US (but I could be wrong). I bought my copy in London in 2007, I think. Amazon US is selling used copies of the books for as low as $6.12, though.

I haven't read Charlatan, but I had heard about it and wanted to read it. Thanks for the reminder; I've added it to my wish list. Another similar book that I wanted to read soon is Madhouse: A Tragic Tale of Megalomania and Modern Medicine by Andrew Scull.

There have been several posts about Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins on different threads. I probably won't read it, but I did notice that Borders has a 50% off coupon for this book, which is good until August 30th:

http://www.bordersmedia.com/coup/20100824mockingjay50.html

There is an interesting and amusing article in the Books & Arts section of The New Republic this week, in which Ruth Franklin explores a new online dating site that tries to connect single people with similar tastes in books:

SWF, Loves Sebald, Seeks Same in Man: Is it important to date someone with a similar bookshelf to yours?

Hello Darryl

What a well-deserved popular person you are. I haven't checked your thread in a few days and there are many message for me to read.

I'm simply stopping by to say that you are such a joy and that I appreciate you. You have expanded my reading selection because of so many books I never would have heard of if not for you.

You are always willing to provide information and guidance to those of us who have quirky medical questions. You diligently follow the threads of 75 challenge group members, leaving thoughtful comments.

Basically, my dear, the word needs more people like you!

Hi Darryl, just stopping by to wish you a good weekend. Happy Reading!

*Blushes* Thanks, Linda! Your kind words are always appreciated.

Hi, Pat! I hope that you have a great weekend as well.

I'm off to run some errands and have lunch with one of my arrogant and idiotic doctor friends. ;o}

Darryl

I have tremendous respect for you, and those in your profession. Since a birth defect was detected 15 years ago, I've obtained the opinion of many professionals, had surgeries by outstanding neurosurgeons, been in the care of knowledgeable neuro-opthomalogists and developed a keen sense of how difficult it is to be in your profession.

Of course, having a partner who is also in the medical field reinforced the joys and the trials that you all go through.

I have an incredible neurologist, a wonderful, kind primary care doctor, and now, since developing severe neck pain have seen a neurosurgeon, a pain management doctor and an additional neurologist. All have worked with me to find a solution to the pain.

I've treated them with respect and in return, have received great care and communication.

Kudos to you and your "arrogant/idiotic doctor friend" who, I'm sure is not arrogant or idiotic if he is your friend.

Hugs

Quacks sounds interesting, and I've enjoyed some of Roy Porter's other work in the past, so that one is going on the wishlist.

Darryl, on your last thread you asked me to tell you if I was planning to read Let The Northern Lights Erase Your Name: I'm planning to read next month for the September TIOLI.

Quacks looks like a hoot, wishlisted with thanks!

Great review of Quacks Darryl. It's amazing how you unearth these obscure titles that always sound so interesting:)

Roy Porter wrote some other great books, focusing in particular on the 18th century and the Enlightenment. Great historian with an eye for a good story.

Thanks, everyone.

New thread here.