Books for January, 2003
Feb. 1st, 2003 12:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pegkerrGuns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond. It took me quite awhile to plow through this one, and I almost gave up 1/3 of the way through, but then it began holding my interest more firmly. I was quite engrossed in it by the end. I would recommend this to any sf writer doing world building; it examines the relationships between the types of plants and animals available to a people, and how that determines the course of cultures, esp. agriculture, ability to wage war, development of diseases, etc. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the Phi Beta Kappa Award in Science, etc. Here's an excerpt from the Los Angeles Times review which give you a good capsule synopsis:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kijjohnson has raved to me about P.G. Wodehouse for years, but this was the first time I picked one up (finally!) She's right, of course, the comedy was wonderful. What was particularly interesting to me (aside from the author's brilliant use of language of course--and the casual racism, very common for the time it was written) was watching the technical job the writer was doing, to use a narrator who is really intellectually dim, but the reader still sees what Bertie Wooster is totally missing about the events he is relating. Reminds me of the similar use of Charlie Gordon (a retarded man) as a first person narrator in the various incarnations of Flowers for Algernon.
The Private World of Georgette Heyer, a biography by Joan Aiken Hodge. (I've read several of Hodge's novels.) Intriguing to see how a biographer handles a subject who felt so strongly about her privacy that she never granted a single interview. I've enjoyed Heyer's work very much, so was interested to see the sort of person she was. It sounds as though she could be a prickly person. It doesn't sound as though she had much respect for many of her fans, although that may be in part a reflection of how frustrated she was by how little respect the critics, in turn, had of her work since she was writing romances. Interestingly, as Hodge points out (and I hadn't really considered this before), actually, she wasn't a very romantic person at all. She had formidable research skills, and that was the part of the biography I really enjoyed, the excerpts from her research notebooks on the Regency period. She was quite a good artist as well, which was news to me--there are pages and pages of meticulous renderings of fashions, carriages, etc., of the period in which she was writing.
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. I paid more attention to the story, which was absorbing, than the writing, which probably is a good sign. It is certainly an interesting enough story, about a Polish Jewish woman who immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. She married a black man, making her even more isolated, and she ended up raising twelve children in the face of really daunting poverty. Her son, the author, writes of how his mother's complicated history affected his search for his own racial identity.
The Reluctant Widow, by Georgette Heyer. Re-read. I picked this one up again because I had mentioned in my LiveJournal that it was one of the few Georgette Heyers I've read that I really don't like, and I was curious to find out whether I still had as much antipathy to the heroine as I remembered. Yep, I do. What a shrew. I can't see why the hero wanted to marry her in the end.
And that's it for the month. I note that only one this month is a re-read, which is good. A shorter list than usual, but I had two longer books that usual, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and right now am in the middle of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, which I picked up for the first time after seeing the movie (which I certainly recommend). I am finding it to be an absolute orgy of joy. I will report on it at length at the end of next month.
Cheers,
Peg
Jared Diamond...is broadly erudite, writes in a style that pleasantly expresses scientific concepts in vernacular American English and deals almost exclusively in questions that should interest everyone concerned about how humanity developed. . . .Guns, Germs, and Steel is his answer to a question proffered by his New Guinean friend, Yali: "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo [steel axes, umbrellas, matches, soft drinks, etc.- the material stuff of civilization], but we black people had little cargo of our own?" It is an obvious and important question, and one to which professional historians, including myself, tend to react as if we'd discovered a coral snake in the shower...we shy away from Yali's question because the easiest answer is one that many bray and bray about and others would rather die than utter. Race...Thank You, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse.
Jared Diamond had done us all a great favor by supplying a rock-solid alternative to the racist answer...
kijjohnson has raved to me about P.G. Wodehouse for years, but this was the first time I picked one up (finally!) She's right, of course, the comedy was wonderful. What was particularly interesting to me (aside from the author's brilliant use of language of course--and the casual racism, very common for the time it was written) was watching the technical job the writer was doing, to use a narrator who is really intellectually dim, but the reader still sees what Bertie Wooster is totally missing about the events he is relating. Reminds me of the similar use of Charlie Gordon (a retarded man) as a first person narrator in the various incarnations of Flowers for Algernon.The Private World of Georgette Heyer, a biography by Joan Aiken Hodge. (I've read several of Hodge's novels.) Intriguing to see how a biographer handles a subject who felt so strongly about her privacy that she never granted a single interview. I've enjoyed Heyer's work very much, so was interested to see the sort of person she was. It sounds as though she could be a prickly person. It doesn't sound as though she had much respect for many of her fans, although that may be in part a reflection of how frustrated she was by how little respect the critics, in turn, had of her work since she was writing romances. Interestingly, as Hodge points out (and I hadn't really considered this before), actually, she wasn't a very romantic person at all. She had formidable research skills, and that was the part of the biography I really enjoyed, the excerpts from her research notebooks on the Regency period. She was quite a good artist as well, which was news to me--there are pages and pages of meticulous renderings of fashions, carriages, etc., of the period in which she was writing.
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride. I paid more attention to the story, which was absorbing, than the writing, which probably is a good sign. It is certainly an interesting enough story, about a Polish Jewish woman who immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to New York City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. She married a black man, making her even more isolated, and she ended up raising twelve children in the face of really daunting poverty. Her son, the author, writes of how his mother's complicated history affected his search for his own racial identity.
The Reluctant Widow, by Georgette Heyer. Re-read. I picked this one up again because I had mentioned in my LiveJournal that it was one of the few Georgette Heyers I've read that I really don't like, and I was curious to find out whether I still had as much antipathy to the heroine as I remembered. Yep, I do. What a shrew. I can't see why the hero wanted to marry her in the end.
And that's it for the month. I note that only one this month is a re-read, which is good. A shorter list than usual, but I had two longer books that usual, Guns, Germs, and Steel, and right now am in the middle of Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, which I picked up for the first time after seeing the movie (which I certainly recommend). I am finding it to be an absolute orgy of joy. I will report on it at length at the end of next month.
Cheers,
Peg
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-01 04:56 am (UTC)February books
Date: 2003-02-02 08:54 am (UTC)Our book group all enjoyed The Color of Water book, but thought it would be better written by the mother herself.
If those winter doldrums return (& you know they will - it's Minnesota!), you MUST read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. Short stories. Read any three pages & you will be unable to restrain laughing out loud, no matter how dark your mood. This is absolutely guaranteed.
My kids were horrified by the Delia/needle in the foot story. Georgia went to bed crying for her. Even Jackson was silenced in horror (finally, "Did she need surgery? Uncle Rob did WHAT!")
It's the coldest winter in many a year in NY, but since we have not hit negative numbers, I will shut my mouth.
All is well. Georgia has decided she does not like report cards ("There could be something bad in there").
Did you see The Hours? Did you LOVE IT? I went with a couple of book group gals, since we read the book. It was very decadent - we went DURING THE DAY!
I am taking a few Japanese cooking classes from a couple of entrepreneurial Japanese women in our town. Highly organized, very informative. Best of all, they do all the cooking - you & friends watch & eat!
Love your writing desk. What little shows of the room it is in looks NEAT! Have matters improved or is shot too tight to reveal otherwise?
heather
Re: February books
Date: 2003-02-02 10:52 am (UTC)You're right; it's not my office, but my office is looking much better. I spent yesterday cleaning it. And I do have the lap desk in the stand right by a comfy chair. The only difference between what it looks like in my office and the picture is that my aerobic step is tucked in there, too, leaning across the bookcase--when it's not in use.
The cooking class sounds like great fun. We do have a couple of good Japanese restaurants here in town, but I've never tried cooking it myself.
I'll keep Me Talk Pretty One Day in mind, thanks, and maybe I'll pick up a copy if I see it. If you're interested in more book ideas, take a look at the LiveJournal community
Wasn't sure: do you get an e-mail back when I comment on your comment, since you're posting as an anonymous user? (And when are you going to start a LiveJournal yourself, if only for commenting? If you want one, I'll send you the code.)
Cheers,
Peg
(no subject)
Date: 2003-02-02 08:59 am (UTC)Just realized that is NOT your livingroom! I am a boob.
h