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Thursday, August 30, 2007

 

book report: Glasshouse

Glasshouse
by Charles Stross

Very clever sci-fi book that deals with issues of information, privacy, and gender. In the 27th century, people live primarily as information and can modify their bodies in nearly limitless ways (e.g. the character who chooses to live as a fluffy pony). Backups of one's consciousness can be made, as well, effectively creating multiple identities for any given person.

The main character is Robin, a man who wakes up in a memory erasure clinic with very little memory of his previous life. He volunteers to live in an experimental community, the "Glasshouse", based on 1950's-era Earth. He is placed into the Glasshouse as a woman, and struggles with the experience of living as a suburban housewife. As the story unfolds, Robin wonders if his/her enemies have created the Glasshouse as a prison or a distraction, or worse.

This novel kept me guessing the entire time, and also made me laugh with its dry humor, especially regarding "meaningless ancient customs" like wearing pantyhose. Hee.

By the way, I didn't realize when I read this book that it was a sequel to a book called Accelerando. I definitely plan to read that one next, although I wonder if I might have been less confused if I'd read Accelerando first.

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book report: Black Swan Green

Black Swan Green
by David Mitchell

I originally got this book from the library because I had enjoyed Mitchell's other books (Number9Dream, Ghostwritten, etc) so much. I spent the first half of this book being disappointed that it was so much smaller in scope and so much less extravagant in structure than his other books. But despite myself, I got caught up in the story.

Jason Taylor is a 13-year-old boy in a small town in England in 1982. He is not having a good year. He has a stutter which he battles daily, he broke his grandfather's watch in a stupid accident, and his parents' marriage is breaking down. He also has to deal with school bullies and continually fails to live up to his older sister's perfection.

This is one of those "coming of age" stories, and it's gorgeously written. I still like Mitchell's more creative works better, though.

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book report: Seeing Voices

Seeing Voices
by Oliver Sacks

This book really didn't do much for me. I've read several of Sacks' other books and found them fascinating, but in "Seeing Voices" Sacks seemed so enamored with ASL (American Sign Language) that other facets of Deafness as culture, experience, or disability were virtually ignored. The one aspect of the book I did find scientifically interesting was Sacks' observation that many of the Deaf people he studied who use ASL, a language that has a spatial dimension that spoken language cannot, have a much better sense of spatial relations than their English-speaking counterparts. This appeared to signify that the ASL-speakers' brains had changed to accomdate a spatial sense that spoken-word-users brains may not use or possess.

Other than that, I thought this book was kind of repetitive and not that interesting, and also cut out the validity of the experience of Deaf people who choose to read lips, speak, use Signed Exact English, or use hearing aids or cochlear implants. Sure, ASL is neat, but it's not the only choice the deaf have for communicating.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

 

book reports: Witches Abroad

Witches Abroad
by Terry Pratchett

This wasn't the best Discworld novel I've read. It was fine, but Pratchett didnt' seem to have a very specific target for his usually laser-focused satire. If you like the concept of twisted fairy tales, like "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" and so forth, you'll probably like this book. There are fairy godmothers and everything!

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flurry

Why am I posting this flurry of book reports? I just realized that I've been posting book reviews at Shelfari but not here on my blog. And some of my best reading suggestions come from people saying, "You liked XYZ book? Then you might like ABC book, too!"

So, please feel free to add comments about other books you think I might like! And also, check out Shelfari if you're the type of person who thinks about books to much, like me. :)

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book reports: A Suitable Boy

A Suitable Boy
by Vikram Seth

I love this book. I've read it three times in the past 12 years, I believe. It is such a powerful portrait of Indian culture and a glimpse into the myriad cracks and divides in Indian society.

The two main plotlines revolve around a young woman from a Hindu family who is in love with a Muslim man, and a man from a Hindu family who is in love with a Muslim courtesan. The "suitable boy" of the title is the man that the young woman's family is trying to find for her to marry, so she will not ruin her life and disgrace her family by marrying her Muslim boyfriend.

The book is very long and touches on a lot of tiny facets of Indian culture that most Americans would not encounter... from the veggie cutlets that the girl's mother eats because she's a vegetarian, to the low status of leatherworkers, to the type of songs that the courtsan sings. Really fascinating and moving.

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book report: Olympos

Olympos
by Dan Simmons

This was a tough book for me to get through. I did read the previous book, Ilium, but I didn't remember it very clearly by the time I got around to reading Olympos. I did think the concepts Simmons explored were pretty interesting, especially the idea that human thought and creativity can actually create alternate universes. And as a former lit major, I did appreciate the literary references, and there were a lot of them.

But I got tired of the constant switching between the multiple plot lines, and the quantum physics stuff didn't ring true to my (admittedly nonexpert) ear. I would have liked more about Harman and Ada's plotline and less about the Trojan War that went awry.

Still, if you like science fiction and you happen to be a literary nerd too, you'd probably like this book. Read "Ilium" first so you have a clue what is going on.

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book report: Apex Hides the Hurt

Apex Hides the Hurt
by Colson Whitehead

This was a quick, clever little read. It's about a nomenclature consultant - a guy who names products for a living - who has recently undergone a "misfortune" and stopped working for some time. He is easing back into work by taking a contract with the town of Winthrop, which is in the process of deciding whether or not to change its name to reflect its changing demographics (a successful software company is headquartered there). While this is a story that expresses both affection and disdain for marketing, it is also a story about race. Our main character is black, and many of the townspeople are white, although Winthrop was originally founded by ex-slaves who named it Freedom. I enjoyed the book and I loved the naming stuff, but I thought it was too short. Not that the story left anything out - I just would have enjoyed staying with the characters a bit longer.

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book report: Intuition

Intuition
by Allegra Goodman

I thought I was going to love this book for the first couple of chapters. It's set in the mid-1980s in a research laboratory and the descriptions of the lab, the lives of the grad students and postdocs, the monotony and sense of humor that develop simultaneously around scientific research... all of these struck chords with me based on my experience haunting various labs with my dad. Even the descriptions of the smells were pleasingly right. The main conflict of the story is between Cliff, a possibly corner-cutting postdoc who appears to have discovered a possible cure for cancer, and Robyn, a postdoc who has been in the lab longer than Cliff but whose experiments have been going nowhere. They have a romantic releationship but it ends badly, and then Robyn begins to believe that Cliff might be faking or manipulating his data. Both sides of the conflict pick up various supporters, until it mushrooms into an investigation that includes testimony before Congress. You would think that a massive conflict would create a pretty compelling story, but it really didn't do much for me. Most of the conflict is expressed via different characters' inner monologues about their ethics and beliefs and feelings. It just wasn't a very interesting way to examine the ethics of research. Also, it made me really glad that I did not choose to go into science in an academic setting.

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stalled out

I've been having trouble coming up with anything to post here lately. Nothing has changed... we're still waiting for the house to sell, I'm still worrying about money because that's what I do when I'm stressed, I'm still working (although thankfully my schedule has been completely manageable), and I'm still waiting for school to start back up.

The one interesting thing that has happened recently is that my college roommate Silke and her boyfriend Michael visited us from Germany. They spent about 4 days in Seattle as part of a trip all over the US, and we had SUCH a good time. Silke and I were very close when we were roommates 10 years ago at K-State, and although we've kept in touch by letters and email and occasional phone calls, we haven't seen each other in person since I graduated and moved to Seattle. We spent the first evening hugging each other about every 10 minutes and then for the next three days we talked nonstop about everything, just like we used to. Also, it was a pleasant surprise to all of us that Michael and Rik found lots to talk about as well. It was an excellent visit and I hope we can meet up with them when we go to Europe next year.

Monday, August 27, 2007

 

book report: The Book Thief

The Book Thief
by Markus Zusak

This is a very creatively-written book aimed at a young adult audience. It's a little edgy for young adults, I think - there is a lot of death and profanity for a YA book. Okay, so most of the profanity is in German.

The book is set in a small German town in the days leading up to the Holocaust, and is narrated by Death. The main character is a little girl who steals books. When I first started reading it I thought it was gimmicky, but I got sucked in and really liked it by the time I got to the end. Well done.

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book report: As Nature Made Him

As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
by John Colapinto


This book was super interesting. I'd seen the TV story on the boy in question, but this book went into way more detail.

The gist of the story is that at 8 months old, baby boy Bruce was getting circumsized to treat an excessively tight foreskin, but there was an accident with the electrocautery machine and his penis was horribly burned and could not be saved. The baby's parents sought medical advice and ended up consulting with Dr. John Money at Johns Hopkins, who counseled the parents to have the baby's testicles removed and raise him as a girl. So they did. Money followed the case for years and cited it as proof that gender identity is mutable in early childhood, and that babies with damaged or ambiguous genitalia can be assigned to one sex or the other without difficulty.

Unfortunately, Money was full of baloney. Baby Bruce, renamed Brenda, never took to being a girl. "She" liked to play with boy toys, got in fights with boys, preferred masculine clothing, and always felt she didn't fit in with the girls. She even preferred to urinate standing up even though she had no penis. Brenda was treated by a parade of psychologists, and over time, they began to believe that Brenda needed to be told of the circumstances of her injury and reassignment. Her parents informed her at age 14, and she immediately declared her intention to live as a boy. She began her transformation as a teenager and took the name David, as in David and Goliath, because he had such a large obstacle to overcome.

This story was amazing to read, and really made me think about gender identity. Most significantly, it made me believe that intersexed babies should not be surgically reassigned until they are old enough to decide for themselves if they are a boy or a girl.

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book report: The Alienist

The Alienist
by Caleb Carr

This is the first Caleb Carr book I've read and I enjoyed it very much! It's a murder mystery set in New York City in the 1890s. The "alienist" of the title refers to the then-budding field of psychology. Scientists were just starting to grasp the fact that a person's childhood experiences have a huge effect on their adult behavior. The group of main characters in the novel is like a proto-CSI unit... they use a variety of techniques such as behavioral analysis, profiling, fingerprinting, and many other concepts that were not yet widely accepted.

As a bonus, Carr is a terrific writer and really made me feel like I was experiencing New York 100 years ago. Even the dialect stuff that he threw in, which often drives me up a wall, seemed natural and enhanced the characters. It was an exciting book to read!

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book report: Mountains Beyond Mountains

Mountains Beyond Mountains
by Tracy Kidder

This book was so inspirational. Dr. Paul Farmer is a physician and activist who has devoted his life to improving care for some of the world's poorest people. The main problem he tackles during the course of this portrait is multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis among the poor in Haiti, but other diseases and other nations catch his attention as well. I was astonished by the descriptions of how hard Dr. Farmer has been working for so many years, and was gratified to hear that his organization received a big grant from the Gates Foundation. I know this sounds like a really dry, sad subject to read about, but it's actually kind of uplifting. Kidder has a droll way of writing and really brings Dr. Farmer off the page - I feel like I would recognize him in an airport. Highly recommended.

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book report: The Accidental

The Accidental
by Ali Smith

This book was odd. It was creatively structured with a brief intro, sections called "the beginning", "the middle", and "the end" with some other odd bits stuck in. One chapter is written entirely in verse. Another is a summary of the history of cinema in a few pages.

So what is the point? The Smart family (author mother Eve, professor stepfather Michael, teenage son Magnus, adolescent daughter Astrid) are in a boring small town on their summer vacation. A mysterious woman named Amber (maybe) shows up at their vacation house and both Eve and Michael assume she is the other's guest. Amber fascinates Astrid, and deflowers Magnus. Michael desires her and Eve is both enthralled and disgusted by her. When the Smarts return from their vacation, they find their home completely empty and assume it was Amber who robbed them.

It's an interesting book. I don't know if I liked it, exactly, but it was an interesting read.

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book report: Grave Secrets

Grave Secrets
by Kathy Reichs

I think I may be losing my taste for these Temperance Brennan books. It's not that they're bad, and I am still intrigued by the science stuff (this one had a bunch of information about measuring fetal bones and what you can learn from them! fascinating!) but the plots are so melodramatic. If I got into as many dangerous situations and nefarious plots as Brennan, I would retire. I'll probably keep reading, though - might as well see what happens next.

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book report: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling

I thought this was a great way to wrap up the series. Rowling did a good job of wrapping up the loose ends, of bringing the conflict between Harry and Voldemort to a final resolution, and of explaining their strange connection. I was also pleased that many of the minor characters (Luna, Draco, Neville) also got to develop and change. Finally, even though it was cheesy, I loved the epilogue. That will be an extremely cute scene in the movie when they get to that point in the films.

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book report: To Say Nothing of the Dog

To Say Nothing of the Dog
by Connie Willis

I loved this book! It is a tasty package of time-travel, science fiction, British history, and silly Victorian romance. Perhaps not everyone would appreciate such a mish-mash of genres, but with my range of interests, I thought it was fantastic. I have enjoyed everything I've read by Connie Willis - and this was one of my favorites.

Ned Henry is sent back to Victorian England to find out what happened to the bishop's bird stump from the Coventry cathedral that was destroyed by Nazi bombers in 1940. In the future, where time travel has become a valid scientific pursuit, a Lady Schrapnell has found the diaries of her many-times great-grandmother whose life was forever changed by a visit to Coventry's cathedral in the 1880s. Lady Schrapnell takes it upon herself to recreate the destroyed cathedral and wants every detail to be perfect.

It's a charming, funny, and satisfying book. The loose ends get mostly wrapped up and there's all kinds of literary in-jokes for those who are so inclined. Loved it.

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

 

unpacked

I finished unpacking the last of the boxes yesterday. We are quite crammed into this apartment, but we are making it work. I have 5 plastic totes under the bed that are making it all possible. Without a linen closet, all the blankets/sheets/towels/bedspreads/etc. are under the bed. Also my sweaters, hats & gloves, and so forth.

Now that the kitchen is all cleaned up, it is pretty inviting. I actually have more counter space here than I did at the house. And there is plenty of cabinet space for everything I brought here instead of putting in storage. I am not in love with the old crappy electric stove, but oh well. And I am really not in love with the apartment size fridge, especially after having the privilege of picking out my own fridge at the house, which was a thing of beauty and efficiency.

But we're here, and our stuff all fits, and our Kismet cat seems happy, and it's all going to be fine.

Now we just need the darn house to sell so we can commence with the rolling around on piles of money, er, I mean the responsible paying off of debts and banking of profit for a future down payment.

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