Snippet reviews

Once upon a time, when I was a teenager, I kept a list of books and movies I’d seen through the year and would tally it up at New Year. I long ago lost sight of that habit but have tried to revive it through the social networking sites Facebook and LinkedIn.

Sharing the short blips I’ve written there has a twofold purpose: As a librarian, I feel like part of my job is sharing the wealth when it comes to books. As a scattered 21st-century citizen, I am constantly trying to find a way to better keep my various lists and wondered if blogging them might help.

No matter what you do to track down good reads, I hope you find my lists useful and will recommend some of your recent favorites.

Happy reading,
R.D.

Tudor Women: Queens & Commoners
I read the 1979 edition, and I found it easy to follow and informative. The author logically goes through the Tudor women starting with Henry VIII’s grandmother, who helped bring his father out of exile while helping to unite the Lancasters and the Yorks. I have never fully followed the lineage of this era, so this book was helpful in that area. Now I know where Mary Queen of Scots fits, too. The conclusion to the book is a bit weak, but overall informative and helpful. 11-12-2009

Eat This, Not That!
Pictorial guide to the worst restaurant food and what to swap out when you’re there. Glory be, I can eat at Baja Fresh again! 3-2-2009

The Prestige
One of those books you can’t put down, even if it is a bit confusing! If you saw the movie first, try to forget it, as that muddies the reading experience. 11-23-2008

Jane Eyre
Just reread for about the dozenth (is that a word?) time. I have put all the Jane Eyre movies in the queue, so I can compare and contrast. I remember in high school how several people couldn’t believe that Jane wouldn’t become a kept woman, but I have always seen this aspect of the novel as intrinsic to her character. 11-08-2008

[Via http://blogtexas.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Preaching and Craddock Stories

Preaching, by Fred B. Craddock, Abingdon Press, 1985.

Craddock Stories, by Fred B. Craddock, edited by Mike Graves and Richard F. Ward, Chalice Press, 2001.

I decided I had not spent nearly enough time with preaching icon Fred Craddock. When I went to seminary in the late 1990’s, Craddock’s inductive, narrative preaching still reigned supreme, but he was no longer the lone voice for this conversational style. We read bits and pieces of his work scattered among others, but I had never read his classic textbook, Preaching. There are two reasons for taking it up now: 1) After a decade of preaching myself, I felt the need for a refresher course and new perspective on this weekly endeavor; and 2) I recently purchased the volume Craddock Stories, which is just what it sounds like—a collection of the preaching stories that make Fred Craddock such a legend.

In spite of being one of those people who only dives into one book at a time, I decided to read these two simultaneously. I would read some portion of the textbook, then spend time reading story after story drawing out the practices he described. When I didn’t have the energy to plow through the textbook, I just enjoyed the stories as they were. I highly recommend this strategy to anyone. If I had it to do over again, I would add a collection of Craddock’s full sermons to the mix. Each one enriched and completed the other, for an immersion in Craddockisms for awhile.

To be honest, I don’t think I could have ever read either volume in its entirety if I wasn’t already a practicing preacher. It is a perfect example of “just in time training” for me. As a seminarian, I craved a preaching textbook. I did not have the foggiest idea how  to write a sermon. I had heard quite a few, but I didn’t know how the preacher ever came up with something to say and how to say it. I wanted someone to give me step-by-step instructions. No one ever did.

There is something about preaching that requires you to dive right in, and pray for patience on the part of the congregations that must endure. Any preacher’s first attempts at sermonizing are halting, stilted and unformed. God bless those congregations that give preachers pulpit space for formation! Craddock offers a wonderful synopsis of a step-by-step process, but I would not have understood it if I was not already a working preacher. Sermon-writing process is something that cannot be taught. It may be encouraged and mentored, but it develops in its own way for each preacher.

What I loved most about Preaching was the attention to the experience of the congregation. At every turn, Craddock reminds the preacher that she is not building an idea, or a manuscript, or a concept–the preacher is an artist, creating an encounter and an experience with the biblical text. In reading Craddock Stories, I experienced that encounter and the emotions that accompany it. In reading Preaching, I contemplated how to create that encounter for others.

I read the entire volume of Craddock Stories, several hundred, and did not once think, “I can use that in my sermon on…” It would have been like lying, or plagiarism, even with proper citations. My voice is my own–immersing myself in Craddock’s voice only strengthened my desire to cultivate my unique style. I was also intrigued to notice that Craddock’s amazing tales were not as amazing as I always thought they were. I thought he was blessed to pull a wealth of stories from some exotic childhood and wild ministry experiences. When I read through the compendium, however, I realized that his stories were not so special after all. I have a lifetime full of stories just as good as his are. What makes his so powerful is that they are so authentic, and so intimately and thoughtfully connected to the Gospel he is preaching. I have all the experiences and stories I need from my own life to do just that. In reading Preaching, I believe he would be delighted for someone to realize his stories are not great because they are great stories–but because they are ordinary stories, which enables them to connect the Gospel to ordinary people like us.

Fred Craddock is still a preaching icon, and will remain so. I don’t know if I would recommend reading Preaching to any seminarians, but it is a treasure trove for a working preacher or a just-starting-out preacher, especially when accompanied by Craddock Stories and Craddock sermons.

[Via http://forthesomedaybook.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation

William C. Placher, ed., Callings:  Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005).

We’ve all asked it of ourselves, others, and (often) of God:  “What should I do with my life?  What do I want to be when I grow up?  How should I do God’s will and earn a living for myself (and, possibly, a family)?”  Sometimes others ask these questions of us.  Sometimes we don’t finish asking such questions in adolescence.  Sometimes we ask them again at other points in our lives–or we are still asking them at mid-life or even in retirement. (In the latter two cases, the question often becomes, “What should I do with the rest of my life?”) 

If we are Christians, the questions take a particular shape.  We don’t just ask what we’d enjoy doing, what brings us joy, what skills do we have or can obtain that are marketable and would be useful to society–although we may ask all those things too.  But as Christians, we know that we are disciples, followers of Jesus, and that “our religion”  isn’t just something to fit into our spare time. So, we want to be able to line up our lives and life work with God’s will, God’s purposes of grace, with the work of the Kingdom. (This may also be true for persons of other faiths, but, if so, I shall let them speak for themselves.)   So we ask about our calling or vocation  from God.  We seek to discern such a call and, while some find such to be blindingly obvious–a sense of purpose so overwhelming as to be like a very Voice from the Heavens or a blinding Vision to pursue–others find discernment of vocation more difficult.  In either case, we may seek advice from others, including the voice(s) of our faith tradition whether through the person of a pastor or spiritual director or mentor, of by searching the written records of  the thoughts of those who have gone before us.

William C. Placher has edited a collection of such written wisdom from the early church to contemporary Christian thinkers in Callings: Twenty Centuries of Christian Wisdom on Vocation.  After an introduction to the theme and a prologue reviewing some of the biblical passages most consulted about vocation/calling, Placher organizes the excerpts from Christian witnesses chronologically, in four sections. The divisions correspond to major shifts in context which led to large, basic, changes in the way the Church largely understood the very concept of vocation. 

Section I. Callings to a Christian Life: Vocations in the Early Church, 100-500 begins in the Second Century, when Christianity was still very much a minority religion, often illegal within the Roman Empire, and sometimes subject to persecution.  In such a context, the call was to become a Christian–a break from the world and life one knew.  This concept, that one’s vocation was to BE A CHRISTIAN (however one earned one’s daily bread) survived the legalization of Christianity under Constantine and continued on even to the point where Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the empire–for a time.  In this section, we hear about calling and vocation from Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, the anonymous author of The Martyrdom of Perpetua, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Palladius, the anonymously written Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and Augustine of Hippo whose Confessions invented the autobiography and the spiritual memoir.

Monasticism in Christianity had already begun in the early centuries after Constantine, whereby one might pursue a calling to a “religious life” apart from everyday “secular” life in the world–a “religious calling” that might be pursued alone as a hermit or in a community of other “vowed religious,” i.e., of monks or nuns.  In the second period/division vocation is almost entirely understood as a call to such a separate religious life.  Thus, section II. is titled, Called to Religious Life:  Vocations in the Middle Ages, 500-1500.  Those “in the world,” whether as married laypeople or as “secular clergy” not part of a monastery or convent, were generally not thought to have any calling or vocation all.  In this section, Placher lets us hear the voices of John Cassian, Sulpicius Severas, St. Benedict, Bernard of Clairveaux, John de Joinville (one of the most detailed chroniclers of the Crusades), St. Bonaventure, the great female mystical theologian Metchild of Magdeburg, St. Thomas Aquinas, Christine de Pisan, the anonymous author of The Mission of Joan of Arc, and Thomas á Kempis.  I would have liked to hear more Eastern voices in this section and some selections from reformers cast out as heretics (whether or not we today would still consider them heretical), such as Peter Waldo or Jan Hus.  Still, I am grateful Placher included several female witnesses in this section, often left out in our mental pictures of “Medieval Christianity.”  And the selections by de Joinville (his account of St. Louis’ supposed calling to lead a military crusade) and on Joan of Arc do show exceptions to the Medieval norm that vocation was automatically a monastic vocation.

The third section takes us from the Reformation to the edge of the 19th C.  The Reformation introduced or reintroduced (or, at the least, gave new emphasis to) the concept of all honest work as a calling from God.  Thus, section III. Every Work a Calling:  Vocations After the Reformation: 1500–1800.  As expected, we hear from Luther (5 selections!), Stadler, Calvin, St.  Ignatius of Loyala, St. Teresa of Avila, Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, William Perkins, George Herbert (2 selections), Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, George Fox, Gerrard Winstanley (a welcome surprise!), William Law, Jonathan Edwards, and John Wesley (3 selections).  The Luther’s outsized representation is easily explained:  No other representative of classic Christianity wrote as much about the nature of vocation as Martin Luther.

The final section, IV.  Christian Callings in a Post-Christian World, 1800-Present has no uniting concept, and the writings are the most varied yet.  We hear from Søren Kierkegaard, John Cardinal Henry Newman, Feodor Dostoyevsky, Horace Bushnell, Pope Leo XIII, Max Weber, Walter Rauschenbusch, Howard Thurman, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Simone Weil, Dorothy L. Sayers, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Karl Barth.  At least since 1800 (if not before) Christianity has become a truly global religion. Therefore, despite Placher’s undeniable achievement in this volume, it was genuinely disappointing to see no selections at all from Asia, Africa, or Latin America.  Are we to gather that there is no Christian wisdom on vocation and calling from these quarters?  This is quite the oversight–the more glaring because Placher has gone beyond the “usual suspects” in much of the book.

Nevertheless, this book is a treasure, both because of the witnesses contained and because of Placher’s own introductory comments.  This is theological reflection rooted in and connected to the practices of the church, in this case the practice of discerning one’s calling or vocation.  Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any suggestions for revision will be undertaken in a second edition since the editor, who taught at Wabash College in Indiana, unexpectedly passed away in late 2008.  That, in itself, is a tragic loss for the contemporary life of the church and we are blessed that this project was finished and published as a final gift of Placher’s own vocation as a theological educator.

[Via http://pilgrimpathways.wordpress.com]

Cutting For Stone - Abraham Verghese

‘The Key to your happiness is to own your slippers, own who you are, own how you look, own your family, own the talents you have, and own the ones you don’t. If you keep saying your slippers aren’t yours, then you’ll die searching, you’ll die bitter, always feeling you were promised more. Not only our actions, but also our omissions, become our destiny.’

Ghosh -  page 286

It might seem a bit over the top but I feel quite emotional after finishing this book. I feel like taking a breath, stepping back and digesting what I have read. This was a slower read for me. A book that spans continents and decades and coming to the end of it, I feel like I’ve come to the end of a journey of my own.

After an unsure start, I now know that a slow read can still be a great read.

The story takes place mostly in Ethiopia and the sights and smells and backdrop of civil unrest make for a fascinating setting and really brought the story alive.

In 1954, twin boys are born in a small hospital in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. The shock offspring of an Indian nun and English surgeon, Marion and Shiva are identical, very different and very close throughout their childhood. Growing up in Missing, the hospital of their birth, theirs is a life surrounded by doctors, medicine, unconventional yet special family amidst a combination of Ethiopian and Indian culture.

Abraham Verghese is a doctor, as are many of the characters in his novel. This is a story about the heart and soul of medicine, about a life of dedication to healing, and what it means and takes to do that properly. For a lot of people the surgical scenes may be a bit detailed. I thought so initially but they are such an essential part of the story – an illustration of precision and passion, and they balance out over the 500 + pages.

This is the first book I have read about Ethiopia. I didn’t know that much about it beforehand. I didn’t know about the Italian and Indian influences or that it was one of the oldest countries in the world. I knew it was a financially poor country but had never really considered the devastating effect of this lack of resources on the people living there. As well as being a great read, I appreciated the opportunity to learn a little more.

Visit Eva at A Striped Armchair for a lovely list of books about Ethiopia

Read for the Chunkster, Global and Support your local library challenges.

2009, 534 pages

[Via http://giraffeelizabeth.wordpress.com]

Inspirational Books - How to Get a Job You'll Love

How to Get a Job You’ll  Love by John Lees 

An inspirational read!

 

I was sent a copy of this book by my friend Jan at a time in my life when I was looking for a career change. This wasn’t the usual type of  ‘Self-Help’ book – it was an excellent read that really made me think about my current situation through the questions that the author John Lees asks.  His questions are really thought provoking and really get you to think about things that inspire and interest you and he really offers great advice and tips. 

It does require you to do a lot of soul searching but it is such a good morale booster. I know I felt totally positive about myself and my abilities by the time I had finished it. 

Thanks John after reading your book, I have found myself on a different path and feel positive about my future. 

Link to John’s website: 

http://www.johnleescareers.com/index.asp 

John can also be followed on twitter. 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Get-Youll-Love-2009/dp/0077121805

[Via http://havingalovelytimewriting.wordpress.com]

"The Moviegoer" - Book Review

Walker Percy is not a writer you’re probably familiar with.  The book The Moviegoer is his most celebrated work and it won the National Book Award in 1962.  Yet, even as an English major in college I had never heard of this author.  Not until my last semester in graduate school when I took a course from a professor who wrote Percy’s biography did I develop an interest in reading this book.  And finally, I have gotten to it.

The Moviegoer transports the reader to 1940’s New Orleans just prior to Mardi Gras.  Jack “Binx” Bolling is a bond salesmen who had a terrible experience in the Korean War and has a difficult time having normal conversations and building relationships.  He is a man searching something in his life even though he has no idea what he is searching for, and he escapes his world by going to the movies.  One of his biggest conflicts his dealing with his Aunt Emily, who is wealthy and played a large role in his upbringing, and her desire for him to attend medical school.  He also shows love for his mother, who is poor and lives on the gulf coast with a new husband and Binx’s six half siblings.

This book is not something to read lightly.  Percy is a southern writer cut from the same mold as a Flannery O’Conner and William Faulkner.  His sentences read like something you would expect from a 19th century British author.  His sentences are proper and lack any hint of American southern drawl, which I find disappointing.

At the beginning, I thought I was about to immerse myself in an existential masterpiece the likes of The Cather in the Rye.  Instead, what I discovered was a drawn out, uneventful look into the life of a 3o-year-old man struggling to deal with his complex family, his career, and nightmarish recollections of his near death experience in the Korean War.

I felt this novel lacked muster and anything really captivating.  I didn’t feel connected with New Orleans or Mardia Gras because I couldn’t hear the characters accents or visualize the colorful, musical event that I know it to be.  Percy easily captures the emptiness inside Binx, and his disconnection from society.

By the end, I felt this book fell flat and didn’t provide what I would call “a purpose” for it all.  I pitied Binx and his cousin Kate, who we learn is very unstable.  Percy gives us little excitement, with the only minutely exciting part coming when Kate and Binx go to Chicago.  What you would expect to be a sort of freeing time in both Kate and Binx’s young lives ends with having to answer difficult questions about decision-making and responsibility from Aunt Emily.  Percy enters us into this mundane world of an adult man with no idea what he is to do with his life.  It is an empty story, with no hope, or sadness or joy.  It merely exists.

But in a way I guess that’s the brilliance of the book.  For, as most us know, life is never like the movies.

[Via http://drcappello.wordpress.com]

“Black skin, white mask”

“Black skin, white mask”

            “Decolonization process affects the individual and fundamentally modifies him; it transforms crushed and unessential spectators to privilege actors.  Decolonization introduces a proper rhythm to the newly created man, to the new languages, and a newer humanity.  Man is liberated through the process and demands revisiting a set of questions in the integrality of the new situation: The damned spectators in the last rows want to edge to the first rows and then become full actors on the scene.

            The damned of the earth want to smash the tribal and clannish conditions that colonial powers maintained to divide and subjugate. This kind of violence is a de-intoxicating phase to getting rid of the inferiority complex.  This initial violence tends to unify the damned of the earth toward national unity regardless of tribal and sectarian roots. Thus, this violence has no pity to reactionary forces that struggle to maintain colonial statue-quo.

            The damned needs the post colonial violence to re-gaining self-esteem; he wants to believe that success was the work of all the damned, even if not a single shot was fired in many decolonization conditions.  The damned is elevated to the rank of leader and refuses to confirm any single person as the “liberator” simply because he wants to understand everything and then to decide on every issue.

            The conscience of the damned, illuminated by violence, then does rebel against any sort of pacification program. The decolonized damned of the earth intend to demand from the colonial powers to rehabilitate man, his dignity, and his human rights. (1961)”

            Frantz Fanon (1925-61) was born in French Martinique Island and died of cancer at the Bethesda hospital in Washington DC. He was buried, according to his will, in Algeria where he practiced as psychiatrist for four years (1954-57).  Algeria acquired its independence the following year to Fanon’s death.

            Fanon was engaged in the French Liberation Army in 1943 and received the war medal in 1945. He then studied psychiatry in Lyon; he adopted the vision of his mentor Francois Tosquelles (1912-94) that says that hospital should be the center of unifying the sick, nurses, and physicians for the sole objective of rehabilitating and re-inserting the sick to normal society.

            Frantz was incensed to witnessing Creole people (mixed blood) in French colonies trying to behave as class apart of blacks and be accepted as white to the heavy price of deep amputation in their heritage and culture. Thus, Fanon published in 1952 his “Black skin, white mask” which is a study of the alienation of black people whose identity is defined by the others (white prejudiced culture).

            “Race is a prison for black man; he is radically alienated into becoming an object.  Black man should refuse to shoulder the burden of past slavery and thrives to catch up as man among men. Nigger is not; White too is not!

            Mother, look at this nigger; I am scared: he wants to eat me live.  Every white child is scared when he sees me.  When a black man shivers of cold then the kid thinks that the black man is shivering of rage. I tended to get amused first but quickly this game turned impossible to suffer. It dawned on me that every apartheid attitude is fundamentally not based solely on color but on every culture that is different of the mainstream culture. (1952)” 

Note: Fifty years after acquiring independence, most African States have reverted to tribalism and religious antagonism.  The colonial and imperial powers have been at it indirectly: the enemy is not that obvious because black foremen and black intellectual are doing the maligning and the work hired by multinationals that are mostly directly backed by their respective powerful governments.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Sexual organ not so shamefully protruding

Sexual organ not so shamefully protruding

Back then, not that long ago at all, on mount Mitchu Pitchu,

A stocky small and rather whiter man, embarrassed with a dirty long beard,

Clad in stinky clownish garment;

(Water was anathema to this sugary  breed);

Mounted on a lovely horse, not known in the New World,

Said: “This is how I think”.

His black clad monk rejoined: “And that’s what his God said”

For over four centuries, the same kind of rather whiter man,

Backed up by the same missionary,

Landed around earth’s shores and ventured inland.

He said what he thought and what his God said.

A sort of a universal whiter civilization exploded and expanded.

This new culture didn’t even try to explain:

It claimed that conscious is unique;

That natural human moral is similar under all weather and clime;

That value system is one and superseding all archaic systems.

The rather whiter man said:

“Democracy, under all its minor variants (not so minor at all),

Is the ideal political structure to be governed in modern societies”

He resumed unabashedly: “Capitalism is the main economic mechanism to spread wealth;

That world market should be entirely opened to my products and services.”

Once atop the Galaxy (why go beyond our Milky Way?)

Weird specie with obviously a developed Neo Cortex,

Strong with more versatile and complex sensory organs,

Varied and sophisticated reaction limbs attached to a disfigured body,

Thumbs rotating all the way, a little finger (not that little at all)

Designed to catch saucers and balls of any shape;

A sexual organ not so shamefully protruding;

And not mating as we do:

Female lays eggs or ovaries;

Male sprays his sperms over ovaries;

Unlike us,

Us exercising for naught over walls and trees;

Nobody, male or female, feels to possess a mate

And dominate for servitude.

Once atop the Galaxy,

This newer breed said what he thinks and what his God say;

Mankind re-shaped his vision of the world:

His set of values coincided with the new Master’s vision.

A newly freed slave who vanquished his mental slavery

Was more attuned to this degrading, oh, so many times “deja vu” process;

He stood up to the new master and growled:

Fuck you!

Christ was crucified again.

The Church of Rome re-instituted its religion

Galactic scale: Confederate of the Universe.

This time around, a newly free-spirited freed slave

Thundered, a voice louder than Superman,

Reverberating for eternity:

Fuck you!

Before a new cycle of slavery system takes roots.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

In the Mail

Last week I mentioned that Wipf & Stock sent an email announcing the third printing of Paul N. Anderson’s The Christology of the Fourth Gospel: Its Unity and Disunity in the Light of John 6 (with a new introduction, outlines, and epilogue).  Well my review copy just arrived and I’m very much looking forward to diving into it.  There’s 11½ pages worth of very positive blurbs in the front!  I figure it’s gotta be at least decent if all of these guys liked it.

B”H

[Via http://rdtwot.wordpress.com]

Cyberpunk, postmodernism and Orientalism 1: outline

In my previous post I mentioned stumbling across an analysis of cyberpunk and orientalism, which interests me for a lot of reasons, and I’ve subsequently decided that since I’m living in the shadow of the zaibatsu without a job, maybe it’s time I embarked on a shady criminal information-hacking project, so I’m going to try and read through the thesis I found and draw together some kind of themes or conclusions from the tangled mess that is postmodern critique.

… So to start with I thought I’d do a survey of what is already available on the internet about cyberpunk and postmodernism. According to this (awesomely brief) description,

markers of postmodernism recurring in cyberpunk include: the commodification of culture, the invasive development of information technology, a decentering and fragmentation of the “individual”; and a blurring of the boundaries between “high” and “popular” culture.

which maybe helps to pin down why cyberpunk is considered to have such strong links to postmodernism, and also to nihilism – which, incidentally, I didn’t realise had a whole branch of academic theory devoted to it, primarily stemming from the work of Baudrillard. I don’t want to pursue the discussion of nihilism too far though because I find it seems to get incomprehensible very rapidly. Interestingly though, the intersection of cyberpunk, nihilism – which posits an absence of external morality – and postmodernism, with its reputed objection to “truth”[1], draws in a lot of young christians. For example, this blog describes some common misconceptions about postmodernism held by its christian critics, and maybe helps to show what postmodernism is not. Obviously, those whose religion is based on a single text are going to have some big issues with postmodernism, which is all about criticising the relationship between “the text”[2] and “truth”.

Modern feminism has also found an interest in cyberpunk, as a fictional representation of the liberating effect of technology for modern women. This is briefly discussed here, with again some reference to the Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway.  This could be interesting if it led me back to Haraway, whose work I struggled with many years ago with the help of a friend. I hope it doesn’t, though, because I’m largely not up to dealing with her language… But I don’t think I’ll be pursuing any further feminist involvement in cyberpunk in and of itself (though I may stumble across some in time), because I only have limited time and my main concern is the Orientalist part[4].

The thesis I have started reading states its perspective on the importance of cyberpunk for postmodernism in the introduction:

Cyberpunk’s postmodern scene, the flow of people, goods, information and power across international boundaries, is theorized in Fredric Jameson’s work on postmodernism as the cultural logic of late or third stage multinational capitalism, fully explicated in Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism(1991). Importantly, Jameson finds cyberpunk to be a significant manifestation of this, the “supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism, then of late capitalism itself”(419). … Moreover, this postmodern scene, a global array of disjunctive flows, specifically encompasses Japan: the multinationals, for example, are depicted as Japanese zaibatsu.

I’m inclined to agree with most of this position, though I’m going to skip over the supreme importance bit to see what our resident theorist has to say about Gibson’s view of Japan from the perspective of Orientalism, which he goes on to say will try to

“get beyond the reified polarities of East versus West” and in a “concrete way attempt to understand the heterogeneous and often odd developments” (Culture and Imperialism 41). By exploring a number of particular theoretical positions and terminologies, my intention is to work toward highlighting the dynamic of reflexivity inherent in postmodern orientalism.

(The quotes here are quotes of Said). This paragraph is easier understood in the context of the abstract, in which our resident theorist explains that his view of “postmodern orientalism” describes

uneven, paradoxical, interconnected and mutually implicated cultural transactions at the threshold of East-West relations. The thesis explores this by first examining cyberpunk’s unremarked relationship with countercultural formations (rock music), practices (drugs) and manifestations of Oriental otherness in popular culture.

This distinguishes the modern cyberpunk narrative of the orient from that of previous centuries, described by Said, in which the imaginative process is entirely one way – western writers and academics taking parts of the orient that appealed to them to form their own pastiche of cultural and aesthetic ideals of the orient which suit their own stereotypes; and then using these to bolster a definition of the West in opposition to an imagined Orient. In the cyberpunk world, characterised by postmodern orientalism, the Orient is actively engaging with, challenging or subverting the images which western writers and academics form of the East, and importing its own distorted images of the West, in a form of postmodern cultural exchange.

This cultural exchange is very interesting to me, and has been a topic of rumination for me on my other blog ever since I came to Japan. It’s clear that the West “dreams” the orient[5], not seeing much of what is really happening here; but at the same time the Orient has its own fantasies of the west, which have become increasingly influential in the west as the power of Japanese and Chinese media enables them to project their own images of the West back to it[6]. Both parts of the world also have their dreams of their own identity, and often these definitions are constructed at least partially in contrast to their dual opposite; but recently, with increased cultural exchange, it’s possible to see these identities becoming more diverse (at least in the Orient) as the “Other” hemisphere becomes less alien and the distinction between “Eastern” and “Western” blurs. I am interested to see if this phenomenon is sufficiently identifiable as to be described by a theory of postmodern orientalism, and that’s why I’m reading this thesis…

So, that’s the outline of what we’re aiming for. Strap yourselves in kids. We’ve taken the Blue pill…

—

[1] I think this is a misreading of postmodernist theory, which mainly seems to argue that the way we interpret truth is coloured by our cultural and linguistic assumptions. There’s an excellent example of this in the paper “The Egg and the Sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on sterotypical male-female roles”, Emily Martin, Signs(1991): 16(3), 485-501.

[2] “the text” is like a classic postmodern bullshit bingo cliche, but I actually think it’s a really useful word for catching the broad sense of what post-modernists[3] talk about when they do their critical analyses

[3] I’m really quite certain that I routinely confuse post-modernists and deconstructuralists, (deconstructionists?), but I don’t care because it’s their fault not mine. Nobody confuses a statistician and a mathematician, do they?

[4] Though actually I doubt one would have to google very far to find that Orientalism as a concept would have been significantly boosted by better consideration of gender relations…

[5] mostly, in the case of Japan, through a series of wet dreams or nightmares, but still…

[6] Consider, for example, the West as presented to the West by Miyazaki in Kiki’s Delivery Service, or in Full Metal Alchemist[7]

[7] I just want to point out here that if I was going to be a proper academic wanker like Said I would present these names in untranslated Japanese, on the assumption that you, dear reader, can just read everything, or that if you can’t you’re a worthless loser who doesn’t deserve to know what I’m talking about. Aren’t I nice?

[Via http://faustusnotes.wordpress.com]

Public figures said last two weeks

Public figures said last two weeks; (Feb. 18, 2010)

Actor Robert Duval said: “My often says that a good meal and a lovely tango suffice to be happy. She is right.”

Clare Short, Ex British Minister for international development on Blair PM decision for Iraq’s pre-emptive war: “The climate within the government sessions was like living in a psychiatric ward”

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin who walked on the moon is for canceling the project on moon exploration: “We have been there” (Let us move on and care for earth and people living on earth)

Neil Barofsky, general inspector of the US treasury, said: “The road is still ascending but this time around the car is faster” (This fast ascension should greatly worry us all since jobless rates and foreclosures are increasing)

The newspaper magnate of News Corp Rupert Murdoch said: “Platforms are proliferating but all these intelligent technologies are empty recipients.”

Avi Shapira, president of Israel comity for the preparation of earthquakes, said: “What happened in Haiti can happen in Israel”

Actor Johnny Depp denying news of his death: “I am not dead; I am in France”

President Barrack Obama: “I prefer being a good president for one term rather than a mediocre one for two terms”

President of Bolivia Evo Morales: “I am proud to announce that the period of humiliated and mendicant Bolivia is over.  People all over the world have decided to regain liberty and dignity”

Italy’s PM Silvio Berlusconi said: “Less immigrants less criminals”

Secretary General of Sweden Academy Peter Englund said: “I am taking paternity leave. This period will not hurt the Academy nor disturb the power structure between the sexes”

Tennis player Andy Murray after losing the game said: “I cry like Roger Federer but I don’t play as well as he does”

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Book Review: Theomatics by Jerry Lucas and Del Washburn

Instantly the mere observer would write this off as another book of Bible Codes and if you had an interest in such things then you might have given it a second glance. Many immediately label this as another book of Bible Codes but it is not. Bible Codes uses a letter skipping tecnique called Equidistant Letter Sequence. Theomatics is based upon two systems called Gematria and Isosephia unlike the Bible Codes techniques. Gematria is basically the assigning of numerical values to a word or a phrase and Isosephia comes from two words, iso meaning “equals,” and psephos meaning “pebbles,” which came from the system that Greeks used as they arranged pebbles in patterns to learn arithmetic and geometry. Interesting enough that the Latin word for “pebbles,” is “Calculi,” and it is from this Latin word we get our English word, “Calculate.”

That said this book takes us on an exploration through an avenue of thought very few have ever explored. If this concepts or the theories of Theomatics, which was nothing more than a word coined by Del Washburn to combine, “Theo-God,” and “Mathematics,” then the Word of God as we know it has much more of an appeal as a book divinely authored by God than we though imaginable!

There has been much debate over this subject and many will state that this is something that has been around for quite some time and the principle can be found in the fundamental ideas of the “Kabbalah,” which is nothing more than astrological mysticism based on the principles of the Torah. And so I will provide a brief explanation on this concept covered in this book. Nothing more and nothing less. I think it is an interesting read but I am still up in the air as to considering this a worthwhile study to invest time in. If nothing else it is much like other ideas of scripture such as the Gap theory, Nephilim and other things that are theoretical in nature but definitely get a good mind going!

Two typical matches that I will use as an example that are found by the system of Theomatics are numbers that appear in the Bible such as:

1- Jesus chose 12 disciples

2- His disciples caught 153 fish

3- The Israelites wept for 30 days after the death of Moses

4- Adam became a father at 800 years old

5- Noah’s ark was 300 cubits long

Each of these values are each matched up with the numerical values for words, groups of words, phrases or sentences that are located nearby in scripture. For example if we continue to look at the mention of the disciples catching the 153 fish in John 21:11 we will find that “Fishes,” has a Theomatic value of 1,224 which is equal to 153 X 8. Basically taking the Greek word “Fishes,” and how each Greek letter has a numeric value and then adding them up, which equals 1,224 which is a multiple of 153.

Also, the “net,” has a value of 1,224 which is also equal to 153 X 8; “Multitude of Fishes,” has a value of 2,448 which is equal to 153 X 16; “Fishers of Men,” has a value of 2,142 which ,can you guess, is equal to 153 X 14.

Names also have a numeric value such as the name, Jesus. In Greek it has the value of 888, which is 111 X 8. When searching scripture for text or phrases in the Greek that have a value of 111 or a multiple of 111 you come across:

Matthew 1:16 “And Jacob begat Joseph…called Christ.” Value= 7,326 which is 111X66

Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ….Holy Spirit.” Value = 5,439 which is 111X49

Matthew 1:23 “…and she will bear a son.” Value= 1,221 which is 111X11. 

And so just in this case Theomatic research asserts that matches appear, “only on references to do specifically with the birth of Jesus,” among some of the other assertions. It is because of these multiple findings in which phrases or words appear much for frequently than by chance that the system of Theomatics among many has become a very real and scientific proof that God was the author of the book we call the Bible.

[Via http://searchofkings.wordpress.com]

“A shadow swept me off”

“A shadow swept me off”; (Feb. 15, 2010)

            “I was an exuberant kid and first in my class in New England.  I gladly helped my classmates in their homework and we were good bodies regardless of the color of the skin in this ramshackle wood small school. One day, an idea made its way to distributing invitation cards; it cost 10 cents the packet of cards. Then, a tall blonde newcomer girl refused my invitation card and looked at me with a haughty contempt.  A shadow swept me off: I raised a veil between me and the white schoolmates: I since felt that I was looked at as different and separate.

            Since then, I never had the desire to tear down that veil or to surreptitiously slide across it. Everything behind that veil was despicable and opted to live in a mythical world of a sky more blue than theirs when I outdone my schoolmates in study and in running games.

            With years behind me, this veil was a shred of desires for the same opportunities enjoyed by whites.  I lived with double visions of this world, mostly though the world of how white folks wanted to view me.  I was living this double conscious of being American and a black, two souls, two systems of values, two irreconcilable struggle within a single body. I was fighting the good fight to remaining whole.” (The souls of black people, 1903)

            William Edward Du Bois (1868-1963) was the first US black to earn a PhD in Harvard. Du Bois was born in Massachusetts and died in Ghana; the same night that Martin Luther King was assassinated.  Du Bois was the architect behind “Encyclopedia Africana” and co-founder of NAACP in 1910.  “Whites lay down the norms as universal; blacks have to exist within the vision of what white people have of them” Du Bois wrote.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

“I was one year old; mother was made to separate from me”

“I was one year old; mother was made to separate from me”; (Feb. 15, 2010)

            “Mother died when I reached 7 of age, or around that.  I don’t know when I was born: date of birth of slaves was never recorded; slaves were told they were born during periods of sawing, reaping, gathering cherries, or extraordinary events.  Horses too had no birth certificates: it drove me mad because everyone knew my father was the white master of the plantation.  Masters had win-win situations: they sent black slave mothers to another remote plantation after caring for the child for a year; then, worn out female slaves would bring up the kids instead for mothers.

            Mother used to walk over 10 miles at night to see me occasionally.  When I wake up she was long gone: she is to be whipped if she shows up at the remote plantation late to work. I think that I saw mother 5 times in her short life; and only at night.” (Memories of a slave, 1846)

            Frederick Douglas (1818-1895) was born in Maryland (Talbot County, USA) and fled the plantation in 1838 to the northern states after forging a safe exit conduct.  He became a brilliant orator within the abolitionist movement and gave conferences in England.  Douglas was officially freed in 1846 and was close to President Abraham Lincoln. Douglas convinced Lincoln to enroll blacks in the Federal army during the civil war.  Douglas was appointed president of the Bank of Freed Slaves, then consul in Haiti.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

Charters of emancipations by black leaders

Charters of emancipations by black leaders; (Feb. 12, 2010)

            Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803) revolted against the French troops in the island of Haiti/Dominican and sent Napoleon a respectful letter in 1801 declaring a new Constitution to Haiti and the wish to stay part of French protectorate.  The constitution stated that first, “there cannot exist slaves on the territory of Haiti”; two, “slavery is abolished and all men, regardless of color of skin, are born, live, and die free men”; third, “Any man is admissible to all kinds of jobs and employment”; and fourth, “The constitution guarantees liberty and security to all citizens”.

            Napoleon responded to the letter by dispatching an expeditionary force.  Toussaint was made prisoner and died in France.  In 1802, a lieutenant to Toussaint, Jean-Jacque Dessalines defeated the French troops in “La Verriere” and was appointed Emperor to the Haiti Empire.  The new constitution of 1805 stated that first, “The people living in the island decided to live in a free State, sovereign, and independent of any foreign powers”; two, “Slavery is abolished and no white individual will be permitted to own properties as master”; and third, “Every citizen will be called Black regardless of the color of his skin and will enjoy the same equal citizenship rights”.  That was the first time that Negro or “negritude” was advanced as a culture.

            In 1801, local militants in Guadeloupe pressured the French General Lacross to return to France because he discriminated against colored officers in the army. Louis Delgres (1766-1802) led an insurrection in the island of Guadeloupe but refrained to go on the offensive to keep peace with France. The declaration of emancipation stated:

            “Citizens of Guadeloupe; we are revolting as one people regardless of color of our skin.  Resistance to oppression is a natural right. Even divinity cannot be offended that we are defending a rightful cause: justice and humanity to all.  We will refrain to soil our cause by crimes.  Our forces are to defend your life, properties, and children by all means.  And you, posterity! Accord us a tear to our miseries and we will die satisfied”

            Again, Napoleon sent an expeditionary force in 1802.  Delgres and his 300 militants opted to blow themselves in the town of Matouba rather than fighting a hopeless outnumbered army. Napoleon re-instituted slavery that the French Revolution had abolished.

            Nelson Mandela was sent to prison in 1955 for contributing to the “Freedom Chart” that stated in an abridged form:

            All national groups and races will enjoy equal rights in the State’s organs, courts, and in school.  Land will be distributed to who cultivates it regardless of race restrictions.  Laws will guarantee to all rights to speak, organize, publish, preach, pray, and educate children.  Workers will be free to create syndicates, elect their representatives, and negotiate salary with employers. All citizens will enjoy liberty to settle anywhere they choose to.  Vacant apartments will be at the disposition of the needy.  Man and woman will be granted equal rights to vote and be candidate to any function or post.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect

In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect 

by Ronald Kessler (363.28 Kessler New Book Section)

Go behind the scenes to the reality of what the Secret Service sees and does as you read the experiences and stories of 100 former and current Secret Service agents.

[Via http://friscolibrarian.wordpress.com]

Last Call for Nominations for the 2010 Delete Key Awards for Bad Writing in Books

Which recent books should appear a TV show called CSI: Grammar Cop? Or Law & Order: Psychobabble Unit? Finalists for the Fourth Annual Delete Key Awards for bad writing in books will be announced on Feb. 25, 2010, on One-Minute Book Reviews and on Jan Harayda’s Twitter page (@janiceharayda). The prizes recognize literary sins such as clichés, dumbing-down, bad grammar, pomposity and overall incoherence.

To nominate one or more lines from a book published in hardcover or paperback in 2009, please leave a comment by Feb. 17, or send an e-mail message to the address on the “Contact” page. You can learn more about the prizes from Questions and Answers about the Delete Key Awards. To read past winners, click on “Delete Key Awards” at the top of this post.

[Via http://oneminutebookreviews.wordpress.com]

The reading habits of those who have too much time on their hands...

Ugh… I’m not good at feeling under the weather. It’s my first cold for a few months, and while it isn’t the worst thing I have ever experienced (indeed, I have one friend who is really rather ill), I hate how tired it makes me feel. I can breathe, but all of my senses feel like they are working their way through the back of a fridge. As a result, I was able to sit next to an incredibly stinky man in the local library and not notice it at all.

I’ve been reading a lot recently, and figured I would pass on a few recommendations.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie-Muriel Spark

I had never considered to read Muriel Spark, until I saw a clip of Dame Maggie Smith in the title role of the film, and I’m awfully glad I picked up the novella not long afterwards. Miss Jean Brodie is a teacher on a mission to influence, rather than educate, her class of precocious, innocent girls. Told with a style that can a little getting used to (the endless repetition of the same scenes in the classroom and what happened to the Brodie Set after they left school feels aimless for the first third or so), it is an excellent and un-nerving tale. Miss Jean Brodie shows that, despite your thoughts to the contrary, your teachers have a far deeper influence than you think.

Brodie’s character, and psychological impact leads to ‘the Brodie Set’ living the life and scandal that Brodie herself will not consider doing. It makes for chilling reading, particularly as the girls realise that their  idol’s interests and their development are not the same thing.

***

Zeitoun-Dave Eggers

If there is one book that you can expect me to buy you for your birthday, Christmas or any time that a book is required, expect it to be this. Zeitoun was highly recommended by a friend of mine, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. It is the account if one family’s experience of Hurricane Katrina. While his family evacuates itself out of New Orleans, Zeitoun stays behind to hold the fort, and to eventually become involved in a localised effort to rescue his neighbours. However, when the authorities start to arrive, it does not bring the help that Zeitoun and others need.

Zeitoun is a well written, researched and moving tale about one family’s struggle in unbelievable circumstances. Alongside that, it is deeply personal, and discusses family, nationality and religion.

The phrases ‘I cannot recommend it highly enough’ and  ’if there is one book you should read about *insert subject here*’ is crass and overused by many people, but they describe my feelings for this book perfectly. Buy it, read it and prepared to get very angry over anyone who says that the Human Rights Act is something that people try to hide behind legally.

***

A Study in Scarlet-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I would be surprised if I ever met someone in the UK who hasn’t read a single Sherlock Holmes story. Personally being of the school of thought that wishes Holmes was a real person, I recently bought the entire set of Sherlock stories. I’ve read some of the short stories and the Hound of the Baskervilles, but wished to read chronologically. A Study in Scarlet is the ‘Lethal Weapon’ of the Sherlock Holmes world, in that it explains how he meets Watson (in, admittedly, rather plain circumstances). The mystery is diverting enough, but I think it is not a particularly strong story. You cannot help but think that the Mormons were added to pad the plot out, than being terribly necessary.

***

The Recruit- Robert Muchamore

I orginally picked up this book from a library junket about six months ago, liked the title and read the first few pages, but then put it back.  After all, who would not like a story about children who are trained to be spies? I did not really come across it again, until my driving instructor admitted that she had devoured them over the summer holiday. Her sons were raving about them, and were desperately waiting for the final book.

The Recruit is the first of (soon to be 11) books, that centre on the live of James Adams. After his dies, he is placed in foster care and, after proving himself to be a bit of a brain when it comes to hiding banknotes, is hired by Cherub. Cherubs are children and teenagers who take part in top secret missions around the world. It’s glamourous, full of action and, refreshingly, has characters who talk like real people, instead of what someone assumes children speak like. I’ve read the sequel to the Recruit and odds and ends of the other books, and can’t remember the last time (outside of Harry Potter) I read a book and badly wanted to know how the series ended.

***

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England- Ian Mortimer

My interest in Medieval History began with my decison to take the module for my final year. I never thought that a course where all of the men appeared to be called Edward, Henry, James or Richard would lead to such a personal interest after Graduation.

The TTGTME is a book that does not follow a chronology or even a particular event. Instead, it talks you through what you would have experienced if you could visit the differently done past. It works so well, and is able to describe life so well, that I’m surprised that more history books aren’t written in this style.

[Via http://graduatecalling.wordpress.com]

'In Tasmania' by Nicholas Shakespeare

2004, 396p.

It was fitting that I should read this book so soon after finishing Ann Curthoy and Ann McGrath’s book “How to Write History that People Want to Read“.  Nicholas Shakespeare certainly can write and his book did quite well as I recall. So, two out of the three.  But I ask myself- is it history?  I suspect not, despite the “History/Travel” designation on the back page- or at least, it’s history in the same way and to the same extent that the television program  “Who Do You Think You Are?” is.

In fact, the “Who Do You Think You Are” television series came to mind several times while reading this book: there’s the quest story for an ancestor; the findings; and some sort of meta-narrative that ties it together.  As with the television show, there’s an emotional and partisan sympathy for characters solely on the basis of their blood-relation to the narrator:  a large and all-encompassing historical tragedy only becomes real once it can be centred on an individual who happens to be related.  And as with the television show,  the voice and perspective of a professional historian who weighs in with an objective, distanced observation rescues you as reader/viewer from the fug and too-close identification with an ancestor.

Shakespeare himself is a recent immigrant to Tasmania, and part of his own sense of belonging in Tasmania is tied up in the identities of two ancestors, from different branches of his family tree, whose destinies- as one might expect in a small island community- run parallel with occasional points of connection.  Anthony Fenn Kemp, the army offer and merchant is a linch-pin figure whose ubiquity enables Shakespeare to bring in Alexander Pearce the cannibal, Tasmanian Tigers and other riffs on Tasmanian history.  The other ancestor, Petre Hordern was a failed alcoholic from a wealthy family, who submerged himself in the bush and dragged his family into poverty.  These two characters form the book-ends of his narrative, and Shakespeare meanders throughout history and his current-day genealogical quest.

Shakespeare speaks to historians, and reads the histories they have written, but he cites only conversations.  His intent springs from the personal, and he excavates the primary material he has unearthed,  literature and other writers, and family lore as his richest lode. His eye is always on the story as story.  Nonetheless, it is beautifully written, human and textured- but it’s not necessarily history.

[Via http://residentjudge.wordpress.com]

From Twilight to New Moon- Book Review

New Moon is the sequel of Stephenie Meyer’s remarkable Twilight. If you have read the first book in the series (Twilight) then you would love to read this second one. This novel will give you a better understanding of the story.

This book shows complexity and intrigue as the plot thickens and introduced new characters into the series. There comes Jacob Black- Bella’s childhood friend that turned into a wolf, a huge wolf I may add. More adventure and suspense can be seen as Bella’s life with her extraordinary friends continues.

When Edward left forks, Jacob and Bella started spending more time with each other, which later on turned into something deeper. I know fans of Edward and those who support the Edward-Bella team up will be disappointed by Edward’s diminished presence in the book. However, it is not for long because at the end of the series, Edward is back in the scene.

New Moon realistically depicts the intense emotions of teenagers. The thrill seeking, issues among relationships- friends and lovers, and the urge to follow what they think is best and what they want.

In some part of the story, I find it a bit boring. It is not as fast-paced especially the middle section. Unlike Twilight, every scene is good and mostly gives a happy romantic feeling. The sorrow and pain that Bella felt when Edward abandoned her is what this story is all about. Some aspects of the story maybe predictable but it still is a good book since it will work well even if it is a standalone novel.

[Via http://bookreviews01.wordpress.com]

Waking up to the gun

I wake up every morning to a gunshot.

It’s followed by an announcer-like voice say “Aaaaaaaannnnndddd… they’re off.”

I’m in the horse race of my life as soon as my feet hit the carpet. By the time I drop the kids off at school (less than two hours after I wake up), I feel like I should be close to the finish line. The truth is that I’m barely out of the gate in a race that likely will continue for 12 more hours.

I try not to complain about my busy schedule. I did it to myself. I understand that it’s not forever, and I feel pretty blessed over all. That being said (written), even a Superwoman gets tired! More than anything, I get tired of feeling rushed; like I never have enough time to do anything well.

Perhaps that is why I enjoyed Leo Babauta’s blog entry on How Not to Hurry. I especially enjoyed the “Tips for a Slower-Paced Life” at the bottom of the blog. All of the tips are good, although many of them are super difficult (unplugging!). Here are a few of my personal favorites and how I’m trying to do them:

• Do less. If you haven’t read Leo’s book, The Power of Less, it really will help you cut back. I read the book and try to work on this regularly. I can honestly say that I don’t feel as badly about saying no to things that impact what’s important to me, especially family time.
• Have fewer meetings. I’m usually not in charge of my meetings, as they are called by others. However, I try to avoid as many as possible by settling business when the meeting is called if it can be done quickly.
• Give yourself time to get ready and get there. I have started scheduling my drive time and family time. This helps me decide if I can schedule another item. It also helps me say no to things that interrupt my important time.
• Realize that if it doesn’t get done, that’s OK. There’s always tomorrow. I had a secretary who used to laugh at the amount of work I would take home each evening. One day she said “Can’t that wait until tomorrow?” Just asking the question made me put down the bag and have a stress-free evening. Now I regularly ask this question. If it can wait, I let it.
• Slowly eliminate commitments. I am learning (slowly) to be selfish with my time. More specifically, to be selfish with my family time. Because of this, I am forced to make my work time more productive so I can use my evenings for what matters most. This means cutting out things I was doing that really weren’t important to me.

[Via http://thekrg.wordpress.com]

Coraline

Neil Gaiman’s Coraline

The Graphic Novel Adaptation of the Magical National Bestseller

Adapted & Illustrated by P. Craig Russell

Grades 6 and Up

 Coraline and her family move into an old house. To relieve her boredom she goes exploring. Behind the door where there was once a brick wall is now a dark hallway that leads to another world.  What seems familiar is also somewhat odd and even different.

Then, Coraline meets her other mother and other father. Although her other mother resembles her real mother she has black button eyes, yellow teeth, and long sharp nails. At first Coraline thinks this world is so much more interesting than her real world. The food tastes delicious, she receives more attention from these parents, and in her room she can play with some wonderful toys. Her other mother wants Coraline to stay forever.

 However, Coraline does leave and learns her real parents have been kidnapped. Knowing who has taken them, Coraline returns to the other world to find her real parents. She and the other mother come up with some sort of hide-and-seek game. If Coraline can not find her parents and the children the other mother trapped long ago, then she will stay and become the dutiful daughter. But if she finds them, the other mother must let everyone go.

Even if Coraline succeeds, will the other mother play fair? With the help of a cat, a round stone with a hole, one brave girl never gives up. The strange tale of Coraline lends itself naturally to the graphic novel format.    Emotions are vividly drawn and come alive in a palette of striking colors. The plot never wanes and neither does the suspense. This is a perfect dose of creepy!

[Via http://friscolibrarian.wordpress.com]

Tilly's Tale by Harry Porter

Children and parents will enjoy Tilly’s Tale by Harry Porter, the heartwarming story of a rescued dog who finds love and a new purpose in life.

When Tilly’s owner becomes ill and is no longer able to care for her, the man’s son brings Tilly to his own house, where she is mistreated by his wife and ignored. Scared and uncertain, Tilly’s life takes an unexpected turn when she is dropped off at the sanctuary and adopted by a new family that includes two other rescued dogs.

Told in Tilly’s words, this is a story of hope restored and one dog’s journey to find love again.

In this well-written, inspiring tale, readers get a glimpse into animal abuse and neglect from a dog’s point of view. That scared me at first, as I was wondering how young people would handle it. I feel the author did an excellent job of showing the reader the emotional ride Tilly finds herself on after her beloved owner falls ill. I believe many of these emotions are ones that children will easily relate to.

Even though, at 8, my daughter is slightly younger than the target market for Tilly’s Tale, which is readers ages 9 to 12, she was able to not only understand what was happening, but also be touched by Tilly’s story.

Tilly’s Tale could also be read as a family, which could open discussions for the level of responsibilities involved in caring for a pet. Your family will cheer when Tilly is adopted by the author and his wife, and once again finds the love and appreciation such a special dog deserves.

Mandy Hedrick provided the illustrations for this book. I couldn’t get over how well she captured the essence of Tilly. If you go out to the author’s website, you’ll find pictures of Tilly, and the many other rescue dogs the author and his wife have brought home. Tilly’s Tale was just voted Best Children’s Book in the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll for 2009. The book also received the award for Best Artwork in the Preditors & Editors Reader’s Poll for 2009.

Porter and 4RV Publishing plan to release additional stories of rescued dogs as part of Harry Porter’s Dog Tales series. I look forward to seeing more of these books. 

Tilly’s Tale is one story that every member of your family will love!

Rating: 

Publisher: 4RV Publishing LLC

ISBN-10: 0981868592

ISBN-13: 978-0981868592

SRP:  $10.99

 

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[Via http://childrensandteensbookconnection.wordpress.com]

Wednesday Writing: New Books for February

If you’re looking for some good books to read, one of your best resources is the American Christian Fiction Writers group. I’ve been a member for about 4 years now and have been tremendously blessed through learning to be a better writer, connecting with other authors and would-be authors, and being privy to the encouragement and instruction of hundreds of other Christian writers. It still blows my mind to realize that some of my favorite authors — the ones whose books I go straight to in the bookstore, the ones whose blogs I read because I admire their perspectives and enjoy getting to ‘know’ them — are right in the middle of things, asking questions and opinions or offering advice to others.

Being part of ACFW has really opened my eyes to the ever-growing world of Christian fiction. We invite members to announce their newly releasing books to the group each month and then many members help spread the word. I’ve found some authors and books through ACFW that I might not have discovered otherwise, and I’m forever grateful for that gift.

With that in mind, I’m going to join the ranks of some of my fellow fiction lovers and post each month’s new releases. Here’s the latest list, with titles releasing in February. Some are already available and others will be in the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for them and enjoy!

1. Abigail: A Novel, The Wives of King David, Book 2, by Jill Eileen Smith from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Turmoil marks her life – what price will she pay for love?

2. A Valentine Wish, by Betsy St. Amant from Steeple Hill Love Inspired. Lori, chocolate-lover extraordinare, is unemployed, single, and out of brownie mix. But when a secret admirer pops up at her new job running a chocolate boutique, she might have the ingredients for a special Valentine’s after all!

3. Deliver Us From Evil, by Robin Caroll from B&H Publishing. When a female helicopter pilot rescues a US Marshal escorting a heart, they must race against time to uncover the largest child trafficking ring in history.

4. Hometown Promise; First in the Kellerville Series, by Merrillee Whren from Steeple Hill Love Insired. Kellerville: Finding family, community and love in one small town

5. Love’s Winding Path, by Lauralee Bliss from Heartsong Presents, Barbour Publishing. A prodigal’s life is never out of God’s reach and His love as two lonely adventurers are about to discover.

6. The Marriage Masquerade, by Erica Vetsch from Heartsong Presents, Barbour Publishing. Sometimes running away brings you right back where you started.

7. Meander Scar, by Lisa Lickel from Black Lyon. When Ann is ready to jump back into life with a new love, she discovers the devastating truth behind her husband’s disappearance.

8. My Deadly Valentine, by Lynette Eason and Valerie Hansen from Steeple Hill Love Inspired Suspense. Two suspense-filled stories about stalkers and the men determined to protect the women they love.

9. On Wings of Love, by Kim Watters from Steeple Hill Love Inspired. A dedicated nurse devotes her life helping others, only to discover the man who steals her heart doesn’t want her help..

10. The Pastor’s Wife, by Jennifer AlLee from Abingdon Press. A woman must face the husband – and the congregation – she ran from six years earlier.

11. Walking on Broken Glass, by Christa Allen from Abingdon Press. Leah Thornton stops numbing her pain with alcohol, but discovers the road to redemption might still be under construction.

I’m reading Abigail now and am absolutely loving it! Once I finish I’ll post a review so you can decide whether to check it out yourself.

[Via http://leighdelozier.wordpress.com]

The Stuff of Life: a Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA

Title: The Stuff of Life: a Graphic Guide to Genetics and DNA

Author and Illustrators: Mark Schultz, Zander Cannon, Kevin Cannon

Age: Teen

Rating:  4 out of 5!

This entertaining and highly informative graphic guide delves into the fascinating subjects of genetics, DNA, atomic structure, and microbiology. Using a framed narrative (including aliens!) the Stuff of Life progresses through a chronology of life on earth. This non-fiction graphic guide also highlights scientists and major persons in history who contributed to the advancement of understanding life as we know it today. Tongue and cheek humor ensues as the aliens discuss the benefits and drawbacks of cell structure and reproduction on our “strange” planet.

The panels juxtapose text and art to create an engaging narrative, ultimately leaving the reader entertained as well as enlightened. By personifying potentially difficult concepts and microscopic forms using comic art, this book makes science fun and engaging. Reading the Stuff of Life gives the reader the opportunity to understand the basic building blocks of life, and would complement any high school or junior college science class featuring these topics (i.e. genetics, heredity, etc.). It would also be a good read for anyone looking to enjoy a good comic book, and, you know, maybe learn something in the process.

[Via http://friscolibrarian.wordpress.com]

Put Your Dream to the Test

I just finished reading John C. Maxwell’s book “Put Your Dream to the Test – 10 Questions to Help You See It and Seize It”

If you want to get a feel for what this book is like – check out an adaptation from the book on his website. How Do You Know If Your Dream is Obtainable?

I’ve never read any of his books before and I just happened upon this one in the library while I was in the throws of navel gazing about my own future. These last 9 months (nine!! where does the time go?) of job searching and soul searching have been both good and bad. At first I really needed the time off but more recently I’ve determined that it is time for me to *DO* something productive. The question has been: “what?” Do I want to keep doing what I had been doing? Or do I want to try doing something completely different with a huge learning curve and a higher likelihood of failure? I’ve gone back and forth from one day to the next. I’ve been on interviews that seriously felt like my soul was being sucked out of my body… and then I’ve regretted not being more enthusiastic about the position! Well, maybe my gut was trying to tell me something. I think that it is time for a change. I am always happiest when I am learning something new. The bigger the learning curve and the more support I have while learning, the better off I am.

This book really helped me put my dreams about the future into better focus. I think that my favorite question is “The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?” Who hasn’t said that they want to do something because it’s what they are “supposed” to do? Clearly that’s not your dream. Or maybe you are doing something for someone else… that too, not yours. Sorry. How about you want to keep working on something because you’ve been doing it for all of your career but it isn’t fun anymore? hmmm. Sounds like that isn’t your dream anymore either.

I’m all for leveraging strengths and I know what mine are. I connect with people and I like to think that I bring out their best. I don’t lose sight of the big picture. I am extremely organized and I can be detailed oriented when necessary. I can run a complicated project like no ones business. I just need to apply all that to something a little different than what I have been doing.

I leave you with this final thought:

“Think of your comfort zone as a prison you live in – a largely self-created prison. It consists of a collection of cants, musts, must nots and other unfounded beliefs formed from all the negative thoughts and decisions you have accumulated and reinforced during your lifetime.” Jack Canfield

[Via http://lindabonanno.com]

Lady Chatterley: Ten years later

Lady Chatterley: Ten years later; (Feb. 3, 2010)

            I read the book over ten years ago.  I think that I focused on the exciting part and skimmed the rest.  A couple of days ago, I saw a sensible movie on Lady Chatterley on cables; it saw the last part of the movie as usual: that is the beauty of having limitless channels. I got the idea of the manuscript and felt the urge to examine the eventual pragmatic and convincing follow up of the story; thus, Lady Chatterley ten years later.

            There is this touching confidential discourse of the forest attendant or the lover of Constance (Connie).  The lover said what amounted to this “My mother believed that I had a feminine side in me. My nature loves to be alone and abhors mingling with people. I cannot live as normal people do.  I cannot fathom how people work in factories. I lived in my own prison until you came along and opened the door to my prison.  You showed me the world and set me free.”

            Obviously, Connie shed tears and replied “There is nothing wrong of having a female sensitive side in you: that is why I fell in love with you…”

            Now we have a structure based on three parties for their respective comfort and contentment in life.  The crippled lord or the husband of Constance needs his beautiful, elegant, and very sociable asset to his social class.  Otherwise, any other replacement would be potentially far worse for his regular and sheltered life.  Thus, the lord prefers to be generous and forgiving so that his wife feels happier, optimistic, and paying more attention to his emotional demands.

            The wife needs the financial backing of her husband and his social standing in order to resume the “emotional freedom emancipation” of her lover.  She has to secure an autonomous life on a farm for her lover.  Constance finds that she is pregnant and is totally convinced that her husband will adopt her child.  She is planning on visiting her lover on “his farm” paid fully by her husband money.

            Connie told her lover: “You may see other women as long as you don’t tell me”: Man has needs and is bound to fall in temptations as a fact of life.  We all know that Connie will be dropping by unannounced and very frequently on the farm: Constance will make sure that the “sensitivity” of her lover will not get altered by the new acquired freedom.  This lover of nature and aloofness might change his mind and decide to find a wife and then lead a more normal life for his decaying years.

            The structure is definitely a win-win situation for all concerned parties unless one party opts to overturn the table.  Now, let us consider that the child has grown up. Obviously, Connie would want the kid to be raised in an affluent environment and goes to the best recognized private school and the most prestigious university of the period.  Consequently, the lord acquires a dangerous leverage. Senility aiding, the pent up anger of the lord for baffled honor might put the squeeze on his wife.

            By this time, Constance’s lover has fast lost his shining youth and developed the belly of a contented man.  The hell with farm’s life and old lover! Connie would dislodge enough forest attendants in the neighborhood who need to be “freed emotionally” and be grateful to this fat lady: older man might prefer well rounded women with generous heart and purse.

            All is well that lives well in perfect harmony with mankind nature.

[Via http://adonis49.wordpress.com]

What I'm Reading #7: Susannah Morrow

Admittedly, I’m a little obsessed with some of the darker periods of history.  Spanish Inquisition, witch hunts, the Mormon Mountain Meadows massacre…

Okay, it’s morbid.

However, I feel that these are great fodder for writers of historical fiction.  Even if some have been beaten like a dead horse…

—————–

Susanna Morrow by Megan Chance

Warner Books, 2002

Courtesy of Amazon.com:

From Publishers Weekly

The infamous Salem witch trials are staged once again in thishistorically accurate yet oddly flat novel. Three characters narratethe tale: 15-year-old Charity Fowler; her father, Lucas; and hermaternal aunt, Susannah Morrow. The novel opens in 1691 as Charity,devastated and increasingly uncertain, struggles to cope with both theloss of her mother in childbirth and the abrupt departure of her firstlove. The easily led teenager seeks solace in a group of manipulativegirls, who insinuate that evil is lurking in their insular,superstitious little town. As Charity loses her grasp on reason,Lucas, a God-fearing man who has tended his family the best he can butis hobbled by his piety, takes the reins of the narrative. Tormentedby his sexual longings and uneasy about his stern treatment of hisdaughters, he commits grievous errors in judgment. The hysteria overthe alleged presence of witches in the village-as documented by thecrazed “fits” of young girls-has paralyzed the community whenSusannah’s voice takes over. Her London background and her strength,sensuality and courage inevitably make her a victim of the madness,but her lucid narration carries the reader through the horror ofescalating accusations and unmerited punishment. Chance’s clear-eyednarrative doesn’t slide into sensationalism, but with the exception ofthe intriguing and well-drawn title character, it adds little to thewell-known story.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

———————

First off, I’ll say I’m probably a little Salem-witch-trialed-out for a while.  How many different ways can you approach a subject so well documented?  Perhaps a little post-apocalyptic fiction next time.

Strengths: I will agree with part of the review from Publisher’s Weekly:  I do feel the title character, Susannah, was “intriguing and well-drawn.”  I find her free-spiritedness and voice of reason refreshing–so often the characters in these books may be noble, but are also natives of the region and largely born of the same religious hysteria that gave rise to the witch trials to begin with.  I loved the cover, which dares to show Susannah, however completely clad, as something sensual and alive (I did NOT like the mass-market paperback cover–it looks very dated, and I’d have never wanted to pick it up–go for the hardcover or the trade-size.)  I did like the multifaceted narrative, which includes a male perspective we don’t usually see in these sorts of books.  Chance is an established romance author (see http://www.amazon.com/Megan-Chance/e/B000AP9DIK/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1 ), which I normally feel bleeds through too much and comes at the price of historical accuracy; however, in the case of this book, I found the love story to be sweet, more mature–not your traditional over-the-top romantic fare.

Potential Flaws: I don’t necessarily see the story as “oddly flat.”  However, I absolutely LOATHED the character of Susannah’s niece and accuser, Charity.  And not in the good way in which I love to hate flawed characters.  I just couldn’t stand her–which is unfortunate, since her narrative takes up pretty much the first half of the book.  In that respect, Charity’s development was predictable, almost pedestrian.  Of course, what did I expect?  The story’s history is pretty much established.  I think I longed for Chance to in some way surprise me, to present one of the accusing girls as perhaps more human than what other authors portray.  It was not to be.  Further, I truly wanted Susannah’s portion of the narrative to become a greater part of the book; it was the shortest portion, told in the darkest time of the witch trials, during her time in jail–also predictable.  I felt that Chance in some respects cheated Susannah and didn’t give her the voice that really deserved to be heard.

My Rating:

I felt I really needed to give a split rating here:

For the first half, I was just underwhelmed.  Could NOT get past detesting Charity.

For the second half, and for Chance’s lovely characterization of Susannah.

[Via http://mezzowriter.wordpress.com]