The Rook

I don't know if it was the writer or the reader, but this one clicked!  Unpredictable, maybe even random but always with a purpose; a beginning that ensnared me from page one; a middle that moved; an ending that seemed to drag on but when it was done, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

The reader--Susan Duerden --was so good she could have dispensed with 90% of the "Ingrid said" or "said the large guard" remarks. You knew who was talking without them.  And how could anyone switch so effortlessly between the quiet, hesitant tones of little Rook Miffany Thomas, scared of her own shadow, to the rasping, arrogant voice of a skinless Belgian guy with a pronounced accent and a serious anger management problem...?  It's beyond me.  But I loved hearing it.

The only bad thing about this book is that the sequels not out until June.



Note: the reader pronounced the name Myfawny as "Miffanny".  I would have tried for something idiotic like My-fawn-ie, not at all in keeping with her character.  It's Welsh, which gives it excuse for idiotic spelling.

Journey to Japan, in thought

Confucius Lives Next Door
What Living in the East Teaches Us About Living in the West
by T. R. Reid

The parts where he made it personal--supreme.  The strictly informative parts--good.  The theories--dry.  Dry-ish.

When his daughters were enrolled in a Japanese school and the headmistress said, "no taibatsu.(corporal punishment)  No ijamme. (teasing/bullying) None at all.  I won't allow it."   You had to cheer!  Here was a father who had done--and was doing--his homework. He'd learned about Japanese schools and was prepared to try the experiment, but not at the expense of his daughters' well-being.  He asked the right questions.

His next-door neighbor Matsuda-san gave him a delightful, first hand insight into manners, mores, beliefs and behavior.  I could have listened to his Confucius-next-door all day.

Among many other ideas the book proposes, most intriguing is this--do Americans take personal liberty too far, at the expense of public security?  You can tell he thinks so.  And...after reading this book...maybe I do, too.  Along with the rights of citizenship come the responsibilities of citizenship.  Voting.  Participating in your school boards.  Reporting crimes and maybe even carrying out a citizen's arrest or two.  Supporting our police--and keeping them honest.

Example from today's news: why is Texas considering vouchers for parents to enroll their kids in private schools or religious schools?  How is that going to make our public schools better?  Bah!

He adds an afterword that points out the flaws in his own arguments--in keeping with the Japanese tradition of atodaki.  Why can't every writer do that?  One of the glaring questions regards corruption.  With all the respect for authority built into the eastern philosophy, how do explain the widespread corruption in government officials?  Is it all the result of respect for family, expressed as nepotism?  When you appoint your nephew's cousin to a position in government, is that corruption or family honor...and how does it play out with the public interest?

Does any book that starts with "Eat" get auto-advanced in to-read lists?

Eats, Shoots and Leaves
by Lynne Truss





Yeah, it was funny.  Not as funny as I expected but with a title like that, I was over-hyped.

Now, I know where, to use, my commas.  Not comma's--that would get you shot in this book.  And yes, my first sentence was a blatant illustration of where not to use your commas.  I know better now.

And I do so much want to get a dark red sharpie and carry it everywhere in my hip pocket, whipping it out and applying it fearlessly whenever an apostrophe is abused!  Or missing!  (Although I may have to carry the book in my other pocket and check it from time to time.  It's hard to see what's not there.) 

Correct?  the teacher's chair--yes. Correct?  The children's chair--better check!  Children is already a plural so maybe it doesn't need an apostrophe.

Ow.  I guess I better read it over again.

Para-blah

Paranormalcy
by Kiersten White

At first, I thought this book was so good!  But toward the end...I dunno...it got weak, like I was getting bored or she was forgetting her worldbuilding.  People came and went but you never really got to know them.  But that's typical for a teen book--I'm not sure if it was me or the book.  Read it for yourself and see--it's short and eaily finished.

And if you've got a good imagination, read it for sure.  The fairie was hot!  and the guy of the changing exteriors, double-hot. And the bad guy--uh, whatever--almost had a personality.  It could inspire a lot of fan fiction.

Funny, okay? Get over yourselves.

Get Your Tongue out of my Mouth, I'm Kissing You Good-bye!
by Cynthia Heimel

So before I made a special trip to the Allen library to get this book, I re-checked the reviews.  They ranged from, "It was hilarious!" to, "Not funny at all."   Or more like, not-funny-by-reason-of-ideology.  People didn't laugh at this book because they didn't agree with it.  Agree with it?!?   It's humor!  Since when do you agree with humor?  Take my wife--please.  Is that a sexist remark?

I don't think readers treated this in the same way they would a book by a male writer.  I think they took it way too seriously.  I wonder if they got offended when she wrote about how she wished she were a lesbian so she wouldn't be such a wimpy, praise-seeking pushover.  They thought she was serious?  Did they miss the final sentence?

As for me, I thought it was pretty funny.  Nothing to recommend especially, but not a waste of time.

Lot of reading but worth it

The Change: Women, Aging and the Menopause
  by Germaine Greer

Hard to review.  Toward the end , she got so "right on!" that I wanted to cheer.  I wanted to pull out quotes and send them to friends.  To cherish the book forever for reading and re-reading.

But then again, maybe I should just get on with my life.

Anyway, her initial chapters dealing with the history of menopause, or the climeractic as she prefers to call it, are as sad as you would expect.  The tendency of male doctors and philosophers to view the female body as a frail, diseased version of a man's; to treat childbearing as the whole purpose of a woman's existence; to expect all women's ultimate desire to be pleasing a husband...well, we know our history, don't we?  It sucked. And the glory age of HTR (hormone replacement therapy) fitted neatly into a world that wanted a pill to pop for every disorder.  Ceasing to have periods was a disorder, wasn't it?  When women complained of the pre-menopausal symptoms, doctors "fixed the problem."  That's what doctors do.

I enjoyed that part of the book and very seldom had to put it aside and pace around the room swearing.  But the last two chapters--The Old Witch and Serenity And Power--are outstanding. Maybe she over-glorified the historical contrast between wizards and witches--wizards are all about spells and transformations, evil eye and dark arts; witches about love spells, healing and herbs.  But the idea of witchery as an escape from the dead and lonely lingering of a useless old woman was a new idea, and it delighted me.

Serenity and Power is a rallying cry for the modern-day elderly woman.  Childbearing and mothering behind; freed from the nuisance of a monthly curse, she can let herself be alive to create the strong old woman she was always meant to be. Yeah.

Little Housing

The Little House Guideook
by William Anderson
photographs by Leslie A. Kelly


Three stars is a little harsh for a travel guide that I've read through twice already and keep handy by my table in case I need to plan my trip tomorrow.

Sorry! It has lots of stuff to do and see, good pictures, directions to get everywhere and even some restaurant tips.  I won't know how good those directions and tips are until I go, but I'll definitely give them a shot.

My only criticism is that the book could have been twice as long, with more museums and exhibits that maybe weren't Little House centric but still told the stories of the times.  But then--if it had them--other people would have complained that he got off topic.

I'll switch back to four stars.

Still way behind on reading goal, so what.

Anne Frank: A Hidden Life
      by Mirjam Pressler


Compared to Marcia Muller's Anne Frank: The Biography, this book is a lightweight.  But it had some insights and I enjoyed it a little.  No new facts, but a different way of looking at Anne's writings and revisions.  And some especially good speculations about her companions in hiding.

I find the Strawberry Font particularily challenging