read full post >

Another collection of essays, this one loosely grouped by the idea of telling and seeking the truth. The first section of essays focuses on those who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of truth, the second section on thinkers who engage with important questions but don't necessarily always arrive at truth, and the last section considers the idea of "computer control." This book doesn't have any of the personal essays which I found so amusing and moving in Jacob's A Visit to Vanity Fair, and sometimes the connection with truthtelling seemed a little more tenuous than others, but the essays are always interesting and thought-provoking.

Among of the exemplars of the first section, I was most impressed with Jacob's portrayal of Auden, who rejected one of his earlier, and very popular, poems as "a resonant lie," and determines instead to seek truth in his writing. Jacobs has convinced me (yet again) that I need to read more Auden. Also interesting are the portrayals of Camus (more distinct from the other existentialists than I expected) and Solzhenitsyn, who saw himself called upon to bear witness to the terrible things he, for some reason, survived (what sacrifices should be made or demanded from others for the sake of great art?).

Among the "explorations," or those who fall short of truth telling and seeking, are Rousseau (who considered himself the "only honest man" and used this as an excuse for all kinds of incivility), Iris Murdoch (who writes of religious matters, but substitutes the Good for God), Wole Soyinka (whose brilliant writing has been forced by the political situation in his homeland into more polemical and less literary modes), and the fantasy author Philip Pullman of the His Dark Materials series.

I found Jacob's comparison of Rousseau with Voltaire quite enlightening-- particularly when he elaborates on why Rousseau's vision of humanity is the one that won out-- because it is so much more appealing. Rather than requiring hard work and discipline to fight corruption and return to innocence, one need only follow one's own heart to know what is right-- and any of failures are someone else's fault, because they have corrupted that original innocence.

The last section, on "computer control," is quite different from the essays-- and perhaps more interesting to me (although I was surprised at how engaged I was with the essays throughout) because of my own interests in technology. Jacobs chronicles his own engagement with computers, including his attempt to install and use the operating system Linux on his own. His attempts are quite interesting and sometimes comical, but he makes the somewhat surprising (and the very interesting) argument that the more smoothly a computer user's experience goes, the less they are in control-- because, if things go smoothly, it is the computer (or the logic embedded in the software by programmers) that is in control. Jacobs makes the counter-intuitive claim that resistance-- which a user encounters when the computer doesn't exactly do what they want-- is important, and even a virtue. One other detail I found interesting was the idea that the overriding metaphors we use for our computer interfaces (that of a desk, with files and folders) is not the only, and perhaps not the best, metaphor-- because (like any metaphor), it has limitations.

Title:	Shaming the Devil: Essays in Truthtelling
Author:	Alan Jacobs
Date published:	2004
Genre:	Essays
Number of pages:	231

Read more...

read full post >

This one's been on my 'to read' list for a couple of years now, and I'm glad to have finally read it. And enjoyed it. This is a story of hope, and of life in the midst of struggle and challenge and need. Francie Nolan lives with her parents and brother in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn. Francie observes everyone and everything around her, noticing deep truths in places few would look. The story follows Francie and her family from the time she is eleven until she has become a grown up. The topics cover a bit of everything (as with real life) -- politics, fear, family relations, religion, education, dreams, death, humor, longing -- with some unusual ways of thinking and asking questions that make the read well worth the time.

One central character is Johnny Nolan, the father. He is a handsome man who always looks just right, but also is a drunk. Francie and her brother, Neely, love him as a father, and aren't ashamed of him the way their neighbors are. He isn't perfect but he's aware of that fact and sometimes tries to make it up to them by taking them for a special day trip, or bringing home something they will love, or just sitting on the roof and watching the stars with them. Having a dad who loves you and is able to show it sometimes seems invaluable. Having a dad who loves you and acts that way most of the time is rather a miracle, in this day and age. And being unashamed of those we love is something to remember. Despite the awkward stage of being embarassed by everything (especially parents!) many teens go through, how sweet to return to a confidence that is not based on what others think. That we can love someone no matter how others perceive them. Even if they do get drunk. Or if they smell bad. Or if they aren't as 'smart' as most people. Or if they're poor. A good challenge.

Francie loves english in school. She loves to write and her teachers encourage her to do so. But when Francie tries to write about life as she experiences it, her english teacher gives her bad grades and becomes disappointed in her. For one, the idea of good writing is to escape into beauty and ignore pain and the messiness of life. For the other, writing can be a way to express the messiness of life and find beauty within it. Very different ways of thinking and going about life. Before this, one teacher had discovered Francie lying and this is what she said about lies and truth and stories.

"You know, Francie, a lot of people would think that these stories that you're making up all the time were terrible lies because they are not the truth as people see the truth. In the future, when something comes up, you tell exactly how it happened but write down for yourself the way you think it should have happened. Tell the truth and write the story. Then you won't get mixed up."

How indistinct the line can become between truth and story. And sometimes we can only see the truth when it is in a story.

Title:	A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Author:	Betty Smith
Date published:	1943
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	493
Notes:	recommended by jewell

Read more...

read full post >

The concept and main idea of this book is worth reading about -- but the writing isn't so much. Richardson includes many stories from all over the world about people groups who were prepared to receive the Gospel long ago. That in some specific way, truth found in the Bible was written into the innerworkings of their beliefs and traditions. Many people groups (these particular examples came largely from Ssia) had lost 'The Book' and were waiting for an 'older brother' or 'white man' to come and restore this book and more instructions to them. Another common belief includes a supreme God -- who for some reason had been angered by their people and left them alone. For those who believe this, they often sacrificed to other spirits to keep them from being angry - instead of blind worship. This idea -- that humans are made to worship and know God is exciting and true. Not just as individuals, but as cultures and societies God's truth is written in our very being.

One chapter was devoted to other strange practices, telling a few stories of people groups who were prepared in other ways. These stories (and some others) made the book well worth reading. One fairly well known example is that of the Chinese writing system, which uses characters. Some words are portrayed visibly (drawn or written) as combinations of others. For example, the word righteousness is formed by writing the character for 'lamb' over the character for 'I' -- which shows the truth that to be declared righteous by God, we must be under the Lamb of God. In a very different vein of preparation, a couple cultures created cities of refuge, where murder and violence were not allowed (strangely parallel to God's instructions in Numbers to the Israelites). Lastly, Native Americans are often raised to understand and remember things in fours. They often pay attention better when there are four points to a lesson and resonate with places throughout the Bible where four is a valuable number. Hebrews also enjoyed numbers and found them very symbolic, so pieces of the Bible and God's truth easily make sense culturally to Native Americans. It's good to be reminded that God is all places long before we were, that He is the one who prepares hearts, minds, societies, cultures.

But -- I don't plan to read this book again. Richardson's tone was very discouraging to me. Some individuals have a way of speaking (and/or writing) which conveys their opinion is the only right opinion. Which also conveys that anyone who disagrees is wrong (and also stupid..). Richardson also goes back to look at Christ and the apostles in the Gospels and Acts, and creates lots of fiction. He gives emotions and reasons to various characters -- which could be true, but are not actually found in the narratives. Unless the Bible specifically states an individual's reason for a certain action -- we cannot know and should not assume. At least not to prove a point as if it were Biblical. Humility is a vital characteristic of a Christ follower, and sadly, Richardson does little to evidence that he has chosen to live humbly.

Title:	Eternity in their Hearts
Author:	Don Richardson
Date published:	1981
Genre:	Religious
Series:
Number of pages:	213
Notes:

Read more...

read full post >

Another fast paced Grisham novel. Not too much thinking required, but with a reasonable plot and some distinct characters. 3 ex-judges are in the same low-security prison in florida. And they decide to run a scam to make money while they're inside. Put out ads in homosexual magazines and find the rich men -- get to know some of their personal stuff, find out who they really are, and then threaten to expose their dirty secret. Working pretty well, except one man who answered the ad is in line to become the next president. And his secret can't come out, so extreme measures must be taken.

Teddy is the man in charge of the CIA. He's brilliant and in pain and in a wheelchair, but he knows more than any man should have to know and makes decisions that are truly life and death. He (and the CIA and who knows who else) decide that Russia is a big enough threat that the military needs to get beefed up. So they decide to throw a presidential election. It would mean lots more money and business for certain companies, so they willingly throw in their money and votes. Favors are called in and huge ad campaigns are run. The idea of being able to throw an election is very interesting to me. That money can buy more than we think it can. Don't usually care that much about politics, but this concept raised my eyebrows and I wonder who else has thought this and who has actually done it.

The whole idea behind the prison scam is that some secrets are worth paying big money to hide. That image is valuable enough to warrant bribery. Which has happened for years and generations and probably in most if not every culture. I want to be the sort of person who doesn't have anything to hide. To make wise decisions - but also to admit that I am a sinner and that I have made, make, and will continue to make mistakes and choose poorly. But no matter what God will not forsake me. To live in the freedom of knowing we are loved and saved no matter what -- that's the gospel of Christ!

Title:	The Brethren
Author:	John Grisham
Date published:	2000
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	440
Notes:	brought by sue

Read more...

read full post >

A strange, quirky, whimsical little novel, written very simply. It is about Miss Brodie, a woman “unmistakably in her prime.” As a teacher in Edinburgh, she gathers about her six girls from her class who become, in a way, her disciples. However, what she proposes to teach them is less clear – anything that is slightly subversive and which doesn’t appear in their conventional textbooks. Her world revolves around her peculiar interests – Fascism, art, and romantic affairs, among others – and political battles against the school headmistress bent on getting her fired. This makes a light afternoon read.

Title:	The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Author:	Muriel Spark
Date published:	1961
Genre:	Fiction
Number of pages:	187
Notes:	Recommended by L.H.

Read more...

read full post >

This book is a departure from most of McKillip's novels in a couple of ways: it is set in the present-day, and is a kind of sequel to the haunting Winter Rose, although it happens several generations later. Sylvia Lynn is summoned home by her grandmother for her grandfather's funeral. She has purposely avoided home and lived in the city to avoid her home and the peculiar power of the forest near Lynn Hall because of her own connection to the Otherness of the wood.

Lynn Hall and its wood are a place of passageways, full of points of connection with the Otherworld of the wood-folk, the fairies. Sylvia knows that she herself is half fay (her mother never married and never said who the father was), but has never admitted it-- particularly to her grandmother. After the funeral, Sylvia learns that her Gram Iris leads the Fiber Guild - a group of women who get together to sew, but also to close and protect the passageways between worlds, binding things with their sewing needles and crochet hooks. (The Fiber Guild reminded me of McKillip's short story, "The Witches of Junket," which features another forceful grandmother and a group of unlikely modern witches who defeat an ancient evil with a fishing rod and crochet hooks.)

Some of Iris' bindings have come apart-- enough to open up a few passageways and allow for some connection with the world of the fairies (even though the two worlds are already more connected than she realizes, as with Sylvia). Events and people start to tangle and unravel-- Sylvia and her younger cousin Tyler both cross over into the other world (one by force, the other by choice), and eventually Iris and Sylvia come face to face with the Queen of the Wood, who asks the chance to "give them a different tale"-- to change the story they have been told about the wood folk. Iris and her forbears had been taught that the fairies were heartless, evil creatures who were dangerous and incapable of love, and must discover that, like humans, not all fairies are heartless and cruel. At the end, Iris comes to the wonderful recognition that her husband Liam loved the wood because he was not afraid of it-- while, because she was so busy trying to protecting them from it and keep it contained, she could never enjoy its splendor and beauty.

The book is told from many different perspectives, always in first person, shifting from chapter to chapter. This is an interesting device; sometimes I felt like the different characters' voices weren't distinct enough (they all have that overtone of McKillip's beautiful, lyrical language), and sometimes it felt a bit jarring when I had to wait for one part of the story to go follow a different character. But this also allows for some wonderful moments; one chapter is told from the perspective of a changeling pretending to be human, and his thoughts as he learns and experiences human language are delightful. At another point, when Tyler has been taken to the Otherworld he is caught up in memories of his dead father and thinks of his new step-father as a changeling (this image rang so true-- it was perfect within the context of the character and the whole world of the book).

Title:	Solstice Wood
Author:	Patricia A. McKillip
Date published:	2006
Genre:	Fantasy
Number of pages:	278

Read more...

read full post >

Angle of Repose is such a fruitful book that I have had to mull it over for several days after finishing the story. Being drawn into the life and mind of Susan Burling Ward gives me much to contemplate about human frailty, personal attraction, and the uniqueness of the American West in the 19th century. Stegner is a subtle and intelligent writer; what’s more, he treats his subjects with the dignity due to well-intentioned but flawed human beings.

Lyman Ward is a 58-year-old history professor (a favorite persona in Stegner’s novels) who’s retired to the family cottage to pour over his grandmother Susan’s papers and reconstruct her life - at least the most important part of her life, the 14 first years of her life with Oliver Ward. Susan was educated in genteel New York fashion in the 1860s and began a very successful lifelong career as an artist and writer in the 1870s. Oliver Ward was a mining engineer whose dedication and bad luck led him all over the West, following job after job. They were perhaps a bit mismatched, but their marriage thrived on mutual goodwill. Slowly, misfortune and their natural imperfections interfere. It is a fascinating study, admirably written.

Optimism carries the couple along jauntily for several years (and a few hundred pages). It is a pleasure to see their youthful inventiveness in inhospitable mining towns; their loving encouragement of the other’s vocation. However, towards the middle of the book, I found myself wondering, “is this ever going to end?” Susan and Oliver became mired in what I called the Boise Stagnation. They were waiting and waiting for a break in their luck, which came after 8 long years (and then only briefly). As their hope and patience wore thin, the pages seemed to drag on and on, and I was amazed that the author was so effective in conveying his characters’ torpor that even I, the reader, felt it.

There are plenty of things to think about here, and one thing I began to wonder about was avoiding adultery. No one wrongfully sleeps with anyone else in this story. However, Susan’s mind seemed to drift away from Oliver toward the possibility of Frank. It wasn’t that Frank was a superior man, but being exhausted in hope, she yearned for something new and fresh, unsullied yet by real circumstances. It seems that “possibilities” are hopes unfulfilled and inherently seductive. “Who hopes for what he already has?” The first step in adultery may be awakening to some lack in the current relationship and imagining something better with another, lesser known, person. The mere fact that the other person is little known and the outcome nebulous makes the extramarital relationship more interesting, more attractive, fuller of hope and positive possibility. Possibly this realization can help people to recognize when they are in danger of wandering away from their love.

Title:	Angle of Repose
Author:	Wallace Stegner
Date published:	1971
Genre:	Historical fiction
Number of pages:	557

Read more...

read full post >

I really enjoyed the musical and own the cd, so thought I would read the book too. But .. I didn't like Maguire's other book which I read last year. And didn't really like this one either. Long and felt windy without reason. (Both windy like a road and windy like too many words!) The concept is fun, to retell a well known story from the opposite side -- but not particularly well done. This is a case where the musical is much better than the book. Too political and too psychological (sort of ) to hold my attention. Got to a point where I kept reading simply to finish. And was still disappointed by the end which had little closure or explanation for the need for this book to be so long.

Elphaba is the woman who eventually becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. Maguire shows this to be not by choice, but because of a large number of circumstances and events which were largely beyond her control. Being born green, parents who didn't know how to love her, always standing out, not having a friend until college, living in a land which was politically divided. With all these factors, how could she help but fight back in the ways available to her? The story is somewhat interesting, but Maguire takes sizable chunks of the book to relate his own views about politics and where the dangers come from and who should have rights. (Not saying they are his own, but they certianly come through in the commentary that is shared about Oz.)

One idea which was particularly interesting was that of a soul. Elphaba keeps insisting that she does not have a soul. (The reader isn't even given clear reasons as to why..) But this comes into play in some of her actions. she mentions it -- 'If I had a soul...' or 'I'm glad I don't have a soul..' because many people who do have souls are not respectable for her. They are weak and choose poorly and have favorites -- which are always somebody besides her. Are some people born without a soul? Some people certainly have little ability to tell what is right or wrong -- but is that all a soul is good for? Those with views that differ greatly from society are not necessarily evil (although history can easily portray them that way ..) but I did enjoy wondering about what exactly a soul is. And what it might look like to 'prove' that someone was soul-full or soul-less..

Title:	Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
Author:	Gregory Maguire
Date published:	1995
Genre:	fairy tale retelling
Number of pages:	406
Notes:	from marion

Read more...

read full post >

Written in turns by young Roddy (short for Arianrhod) and a teenaged Nick Mallory, this book is a magical romp through the Isle of Blest (a parallel world version of the British Isles with both magic and technology, where the King and his court continually travel around the country, and where the chief magician holds the office of Merlin) along with a variety of other parallel universes, as these young people attempt to fight a magical coup that has nearly all the adults taken in or bespelled. At the same time, Nick & Roddy are (of course) discovering more about themselves and their magical abilities. The story is set in the same multiverse of Jones' novel Deep Secret, and features a few of the same characters (most notably Nick).

The book is clearly written from the point of view of Nick & Roddy, and towards the end the reader discovers that they were actually assigned the task, as a kind of homework, to help them make sense of the extraordinary events they lived through. Their stories intersect more and more as the book goes along, and they trade off telling parts of the story more and more rapidly towards the end, which is really quite fun.

Roddy and her friend Grundo are learning to be magicians in the King's court (of which their parents are members), so they travel everywhere with the King's progress. Almost by accident, they escape drinking ensorceled water and overhear a plot-- but nearly no one will believe them. Along their adventures, they end up traveling with various members of Roddy's family, who are quite interesting relatives in a variety of ways (one grandfather is a Magid, the other is the King of the Dead, and one grandmother is the head of a female-only three-witch household).

Nick, in turn, is really the son of an emperor from another parallel world who chose to give up any claims to the throne and is growing up on our earth, although his deepest desire is to be a Magid and travel the many different worlds. He is accidentally sent traveling through other worlds (for quite a while, he thinks it is a dream because he often daydreams about going to other worlds), and begins to learn some more magic and make some interesting acquaintances. He eventually connects with Roddy and her Magid grandfather, and becomes part of the group that attempts to avert complete disaster as all the magic in the world of Blest (and the many worlds closest to it) is about to come unraveled.

The Merlin Conspiracy is full of interesting lands with wonderful details that bring them to life and make them feel very different from each other and from our own world. The magic and history of Blest is also interestingly brought out-- from such creatures as the little folk, and nearly-invisible magic-enhancing and emotion-loving day creatures all the up to a huge white dragon slumbering under the hillside and an ancient King of Blest who is roughly equivalent to King Arthur in our world. Very enjoyable and plenty to interest, although the story tends to ramble a bit and does not always jump directly to the action that is most interesting at the moment (although this furthers the illusion that the book is written by two teenagers).

Title:	The Merlin Conspiracy
Author:	Diana Wynne Jones
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Young Adult Fantasy
Series:	Magid multiverse of parallel worlds
Number of pages:	468

Read more...