05.25.09

Today’s experiment: categorically unnecessary advice

Posted in Books tagged , at 6:00 am by lilaenne

Free-Range Kids
by Lenore Skenazy

The best thing about working in a library is getting to skim the first 10 pages of every new nonfiction book that comes in. As reference is part of my job, I do try to look at every book, so that I have some basic concepts about the subject matter when trying to help people find info. In a given day, I’ll peruse political science, criminal justice, home carpentry and fad diets.

Except for the books on my own favorite subjects, those 10 pages are more than enough. Occasionally, however, the material and writing style grab my attention enough that I’ll bring a title along on lunch break for another chapter or two.

Or, in this case, every lunch break for a week so I could finish it.
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05.18.09

Light and Shadow

Posted in Books tagged at 6:31 am by lilaenne

Darkborn
by Allison Sinclair

I know I usually have some little anecdote here about how or why a book grabbed my attention, but I got nothin’ today. This may partly explain how I got myself into the middle of such an overwhelming number of books; I just got a little greedy when it came to dragging things home from the library, when I should have been waiting for something to really stand out from the crowd.

Not that I regret reading this one.

The premise here is one of a divided world – due to an ancient curse, half the people can exist only in darkness, the other half in continual light. The story is set in a rather unusual city, where through cooperative effort and well maintained walls, the two groups live practically side by side. Our main character, Balthazar, is a Darkborn physician and a member of the council that negotiates the peace between the two groups. He even maintains a friendship with a Lightborn, an assassin named Floria, whose house adjoins Bal’s childhood home via a sound-permeable paper wall.
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05.11.09

One Down…

Posted in Books at 9:34 pm by lilaenne

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Another in the series of post-Freakonomics books where economists explain new concepts and applications for a popular non-fiction audience. This one’s on the subject of “Choice Architecture” – basically, being aware of the ways in which the presentation of options influences the outcome of a decision, and building said presentation to maximize certain choices.

This was an interesting and sometimes frustrating read for me, because I found some of the assumptions about how the world operates (standard assumptions among economists, as far as I can tell) to be the total opposite of mine. The twin ideas that the magic of the market will generally improve people’s lives, and that government intervention is always suspect, are often underlying their statements in an “everybody knows that” sort of way. Yet many of their suggestions require some sort of government intervention, usually buried inside of such neutral language as “credit card companies should be required to”. (See the chapter on the privatization of the Swedish social security system: the government chose a default fund that really is in the best interest of the citizens; the private companies that advertised their own portfolios just had pics of celebrities saying “buy our stuff!” and weren’t generally as good for the citizen as the default plan. Yet throughout the book the “market good, government bad” truism still holds. Curious.) The notion that a business’ goal of maximizing profits may be antithetical to the general public’s goal of, I dunno, not getting bled dry by the hidden costs of buying a house or a college education, is only mentioned within 20 pages of the end.

The first few sections of the book are worth reading for anybody: if nothing else, to understand how choice architecture influences your decisions (cost aversion versus reward seeking when setting goals, for instance) and to recognize times when your choices are being pushed in certain directions.

05.04.09

The Source of the Problem

Posted in Books, Housekeeping and info at 6:55 pm by lilaenne

Here are the books I’m currently in the middle of reading:

  • Postern of Fate, Agatha Christie
  • Bass Cathedral, Nathaniel Mackey
  • Darkborn, Alison Sinclair
  • Nudge : improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness, Richard Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
  • Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Judith Martin (3rd time through)
  • We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson (4th or 5th time through)
  • Confessions of an Eco-Sinner, Fred Pearce
  • Nine Greek Dramas, Harvard Classics Series (specifically, The Bacchae by Euripides)
  • Second Treatise of Civil Government, John Locke

Clearly, I’ve gone insane.

I want to read all most of them through to the end, but the difficult ones get set aside in favor of the mental equivalent of instant pudding. Or, in the case of the two re-reads, mental chicken corn chowder — reasonably nutritious, and so familiar and comforting.

Any advice on a plan of attack would be most helpful.

04.16.09

First quarter wrap-up: Mystery

Posted in Books at 8:29 pm by lilaenne

I swear I am still reading serious books, but some days just call for something a little more… pedestrian. Tastycakes for the brain, so to speak.

(EDIT: just noticed that I’d already given this one a full review when I first read it. I have no idea where my brain is.)
Seven Dials Mystery
Agatha Christie

This is part of a huge haul of mystery paperbacks from the 60s and 70s that I picked up from the library used book sale — and I’m glad it was only 20 cents. This one doesn’t feature any of the big name characters, and instead centers around youngish upper-class twits with insufferable knicknames like “Bundle” and “Socks”.  While there’s still the usual murder and mayhem, espionage – rather than the usual motivations of sex, money, and power – drives the story. Not really my thing, I guess.

It was gratifying to find out that the reviews when it was first published were less than enthusiastic though.

Death on the Nile
Agatha Christie

I’d seen the David Suchet film version of this one, and really loved it. I was surprised to find the changes moved in the opposite direction from usual: the book actually has more soppy romantic elements, which were taken out for the film.* Entertaining reading, in spite of the lovey-dovey mush.

Dead Man’s Folly
Agatha Christie

Noticing a pattern here? ^_^ I hadn’t been familiar with this one until I started in on the aging paperback – it’s a Poirot with a little Ariadne Oliver – mercifully little. I suppose if I were a mystery writer, the in-joke aspect of this character would be really amuse me. But I love Poirot and Marple because they’re sharp, and Ms. Oliver most certainly is not. However, outside of the moments when this dear old authorial stand-in wanders vaguely through the scene, this one was pretty solid. Clever set-up, unusual but competent pacing, well-sketched characters, and a convincing red herring. Worth the time to read.

Ten Second Staircase
Christopher Fowler

How’s thatfor unexpected? A whole different author! And while this one isn’t from The List, it’s not exactly mental junk food either. The most recent in the Peculiar Crimes Unit series, this one features an unusual series of crimes and a highly colorful cast – including a living, breathing London, full of current lives and collected memories. The storytelling of a really great history professor, mixed with the atmospherics of Neil Gaiman. The author has very visual style, which only occasionally slipped into the “I’m writing this with a future TV series (and major $$$) in mind” area. A great mystery of regular fiction readers, and suitable for upper-level YA readers as well.

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*Death on the Nile SPOILER: can you imagine if this had been Marple instead of Poirot, what the film version from the Geraldine McEwan era would have looked like? Linnet and Simon’s characters would have been switched, so that they could throw in a Linnet/Jacqueline/Rosalie lesbian orgy. Of course, if Rachel Stirling were playing Jacqueline, I’d have watched it anyway. ;)

03.24.09

Non-Fiction Wrap Up – Winter 09

Posted in Books tagged , , , , at 6:15 am by lilaenne

I’m realizing that non-fic doesn’t respond to the whole “review mixed with amateur literary analysis” thing that I like to do, because that’s just not how most of it is meant to be read. So, rather than drag myself through the attempt, I’m going to approach non-fiction commentary a little differently:

The Invisible Sex: Uncovering the True Roles of Women in Prehistory by J.M. Adovasio, Olga Soffer, and Jake Page : Yet another example of the most important phrase when re-learning history as an adult – “It’s a lot more complicated than that.” The book opens with examples of narratives and scenes we’ve all been exposed to on the idea of prehistoric human life, and then goes on the show how current research indicates they’re all completely and totally wrong. I particularly liked the fact that when the authors had a point on which they could not come to an agreement, they set aside an entire chapter explaining the evidence each found compelling, without resorting to nastiness or name calling – proving that sensible scientists, not just shrieking loonies, can write popular level texts.

True Witness: Cops, Courts, Science, and the Battle Against Misidentification by James M. Doyle : This has every element of a good social issue book for general audiences: clear writing style, a history of the problem, the major concepts in play, and concrete steps for improvement, all bookended with a human interest element. Said human interest is the story of Jennifer Thompson and Ronald Cotton, who recently published their own book on the case, so libraries can offer this title some renewed popularity as a tie-in.

Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution by Ruth Scurr : I feel a certain obligation to read the history of France (as the home of my beloved second language), but I probably shouldn’t have begun with such a complex period. The text is by turns blood-soaked and austere, and the shifting alliances among the enormous cast of characters were difficult to follow. I get the impression that the author has written the most accessible work possible without making it inaccurate (“It’s a lot more complicated than that” strikes again), but even then this one was a pretty steep road to climb.

Guyland: the Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel : This one is part of “naming the problem” genre of non-fic: gathering vague impression into a cohsive social issue and coining a term for it. While there aren’t terribly many solutions offered, the sense of “thank goodness I’m not the only one noticing this weird trend” is worth the read. Compare and contrast with Female Chauvanist Pigs by Ariel Levy for the naming of a similar and overlapping problem.

02.13.09

Dangerous Laughter

Posted in Books tagged , at 6:49 am by lilaenne

I’m waaaaay behind the times when it comes to movies. I often let months (usually years) go by between a film’s release and actually seeing it. Even if I expect to really enjoy it, committing that many hours to staring passively at a screen just bothers me.

In typical fashion, I just got around to watching The Illusionist only a week or two ago. As I’m rather smitten with Edward Norton and a complete and utter costuming junkie, I loved every minute of it – and found something naggingly familiar about the language and style. Then I saw my favorite phrase in the credits:

“Adapted from the short story (or novel)…”

After some digging in the card (electron, nowadays) catalog at work, I finally connect the author, Steven Millhauser, with several stories I already read and enjoyed, as well as a book I had marked for future reading off the NYT Notables for ‘08: the collection Dangerous Laughter. This seemed like an excellent starting point for my non-junk reading goal this year.

I’m having trouble writing about this book without gushing like a teenager over a crappy pop star. There are moments of soaring magic, uncomfortable truths pulled into the light, worlds that could have been and might yet be. “In the Reign of Harad IV”, about a royal miniatures maker, captures the sometimes maddening drive to perfect one’s own craft. “The Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” shows how the bonds between people may atrophy, with startling results.

While I do have some standout favorites, the entire collection was enjoyable to read and to reflect on. The presentation is simple and reserved, allowing the reader’s own thoughts on the meaning of each story to blossom in their own way, rather than being bashed about the head with what the author thinks you should think.

I simply can’t do this one justice.

RA notes for librarians: medium to long stories; adults who dislike cartoons, violence, or philosophy won’t get past the first story. Voracious readers who have exhausted your fantasy collections might be transitioned into regular fic with this one. Readling level is maybe upper YA to adult; includes somewhat subversive concepts but lacks any language or explicit depictions that would freak out parents.

02.06.09

Seven Dials Mystery

Posted in Books tagged , at 6:36 am by lilaenne

So as a library employee, there’s a set of concepts floating around my brain at all times that are specific to libraries, but that I frequently end up applying to outside life. One of them is the book talk: a very short, all-positive review of a book, and should at least sound like a genuine personal recommendation. (Booktalking something you haven’t read usually involves a mixture of intense enthusiasm and careful omission of certain truths.)

The point of a booktalk is to convince the audience that they must read this book right this very second, and thus take the library’s copy out today, instead of waiting and considering and (horror or horrors) maybe just buying it at the bookstore later. Thus, there are two approaches to booktalking items you didn’t quite love: 1) avoid them in favor of books about which you can genuinly gush, or 2) lie through your teeth. Since life is just to short for crappy books, I usually go with option 1.

Which brings me to the point of this entire writing: The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie. I got the paperback to about 10 cents, in light of my plan to read all of Christie’s works eventually. (The plan may need to be revised.)

Several of the characters here are reprised from a previous novel I haven’t read, The Secret of Chimneys, and the setting is much the same as well. The story here begins with the murder of a young man named Gerry Wade, concurrent with (but unrelated to?) a prank played on him by several friends. They secretly fill the late sleeper Gerry’s room with alarm clocks, but thanks to an overdose of sleeping medicine, even that won’t be enough to wake him.

This was my least favorite Christie novel so far. I suspect it has something to do with the choice of main characters: they’re all young, and most of them very wealthy. There are girls with ridiculous knicknames like Bundle and Socks (does anyone know if these sort of things were normal in 1920s Britian?), and on the whole everyone acts quite silly and spoilt.

I was also less than impressed with the plot. There are numerous complications, but nothing that feels like a real twist, and the solution to the mystery comes rather out of left field. I had initially blamed my own inability to see the solution, but according to the (actually cited!) quote on Wikipedia from a newspaper review, I wasn’t the only one who thought the story didn’t lead sensibly to the solution.

The same article quotes Christie’s autobiography on this title. She says this sort of “light hearted” books doesn’t require much plotting or planning. I would disagree; while this book may not have been given such careful consideration in writing, a good mystery does in fact require it.

Life is too short for bad books! Unless you have a drive to complete the author’s oeuvre, or have already read Chimneys (and actually liked Bundle and Bill? okay…), I’d recommend passing on this one.

07.10.08

Two-for-one Special on Non-Fiction

Posted in Books tagged , , at 9:01 am by lilaenne

Both of these books are rather short and badly overdue, so rather than attempt any real analysis, I’m caving to the big internet stereotype and going the “zero attention span” route. Two books in about 200 words apiece, go!

Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America: a food memoir
by Lind Furiya

The Devil in Dover: An Insider’s Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-town America
by Lauri Lebo

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06.27.08

Book-a-month Challenge: June

Posted in Books tagged , , at 8:29 pm by lilaenne

Leave Myself Behind
by Bart Yates

When your job includes both ordering new books and weeding old ones, and you’re paying any attention at all, you learn something not everybody realizes: you can’t force your tastes on your patrons. Or use fiction selection to foist your political or social views on them. We had a long-ago manager who just refused to believe this, and felt you could change people by force of will.

Which leaves me, now, at a library with about 50% minority patrons, and maybe 40% religious patrons, weeding books about gay white men by the truckload.* And while the purchasing seems to have been indiscriminate (short story collections full of poorly written “erotica” abound, along with bubble-headed chick lit in drag) I’ve tried to sort out real literature from the crap.

Which is where Leave Myself Behind comes in.

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