William Sutcliffe
This is a story with a point of view, designed to expose the reader to the shocking political and personal tragedies of what is going on in Israeli occupied Palestine. But because it has a point of view, it feels to me like propaganda. I know that a book can't very easily express all sides of an issue, or even many sides. But Sutcliffe is developing an argument here, through story. If you know nothing of what it is like to live as an Israeli settler, or what it is like to live as a Palestinian in the vicinity of an Israeli settlement, then this is a good human interest fiction to give you one perspective. This story follows Joshua, a teen boy who has moved with his mother and stepfather to a settlement in the West Bank. The settlement is separated from the Palestinians by a wall, and the message is that all good happens here, and the other side of the wall is all evil and anger. Then Joshua discovers a tunnel under the wall and visits. He indeed finds evil and anger. But he also finds kindness and humanity. Only to discover that when he returns, he finds evil and anger on "his side" of the wall as well.
What I find a bit strange is that while I most likely agree with the political slant and personal opinions that I attribute to Sutcliffe through this novel, because it is so one sided, I still feel used. I guess I prefer to hear stories of solidarity, of people with extremist ideas moving a bit more to the center. Those stories are stories of hope, while here the extremism is stark. The emotions and the antagonism are so deep that hope for a personal or political change seems futile. In that regard, the novel is probably truly reflecting the reality for many.
Read
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
This is the first novel by Gaiman that I have read. It was a bit of false advertising (or at least false expectations). The jacket cover promises a "journey...across American landscape" and in the forward, Gaiman suggests that the descriptions of this American landscape will be so familiar that we will try to drive and find the places he writes about. I felt no such urge. Perhaps I have not spent enough time in the Midwest to be the target audience, but I found the locations to be generic and rather flat.
What is did love about this novel was the description (and implicit commentary) of the gods. Gaiman describes a mythological landscape that pits the "old world gods" of greek, norse, roman, african, asian origin against the "new world gods" of money, technology, tv, sex, etc. He describes how the old gods arrived in America based on the belief of the people coming. If someone believes in and/or worships a god, that god comes into existence in this new land. The story of this conflict is told with a character named Shadow as the protagonist. He is an ex-con who has been drawn into the god conflict, and follows along with all the crazy idea and thinking that is presented to him. In the end, we realize that not only is this a mythological exercise, it is also a mystery novel. Quite fun.
Read
This is the first novel by Gaiman that I have read. It was a bit of false advertising (or at least false expectations). The jacket cover promises a "journey...across American landscape" and in the forward, Gaiman suggests that the descriptions of this American landscape will be so familiar that we will try to drive and find the places he writes about. I felt no such urge. Perhaps I have not spent enough time in the Midwest to be the target audience, but I found the locations to be generic and rather flat.
What is did love about this novel was the description (and implicit commentary) of the gods. Gaiman describes a mythological landscape that pits the "old world gods" of greek, norse, roman, african, asian origin against the "new world gods" of money, technology, tv, sex, etc. He describes how the old gods arrived in America based on the belief of the people coming. If someone believes in and/or worships a god, that god comes into existence in this new land. The story of this conflict is told with a character named Shadow as the protagonist. He is an ex-con who has been drawn into the god conflict, and follows along with all the crazy idea and thinking that is presented to him. In the end, we realize that not only is this a mythological exercise, it is also a mystery novel. Quite fun.
Read
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The Republic of Nature
An Environmental History of the United States
Mark Fiege
I had been looking forward to this book for a year when I first heard about it (2 years ago) and when it was finally released last year, I immediately picked it up. And then struggled through it for the past year. Maybe it is me, that my scholarly reading chops aren't ready for prime time. But I am going to say it is a much Fiege's fault that I did not read this in one sitting. Here is the rundown:
Fiege presents nine significant events in American History and tells the story while paying attention to the influences and affects of the environment. This is simultaneously fascinating and obvious. For example, the chapter on the Salem witch trials raises the issues of land use, overpopulation, population density based diseases for humans and livestock as underlying factors that put constant pressure on the early settlers. These factors were overlooked or unknown, which left only the religious/supernatural explanations available. Wow, and duh! In the chapter on the transcontinental railroad, Fiege reminds us of the massive labor and resource issues that were both motivation for the railroad companies as well as hinderances to their success. These labor/resource issues affected broad swaths of land and people both during construction as well as for decades after. This is not just an industrial or economic achievement. Wow, and duh! The same sort of new lens is offered for Brown v. Board of Education, Cotton & Slavery, the Civil War and the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's. This is all fascinating.
So why did it take me a year to read? Fiege meanders. In nearly every chapter, I had to discover his point. Why are you writing this? What is the environmental connection? For the chapter on Lincoln, the best I could discern is that Lincoln chopped wood as a kid, and that changed his being as a human and the course of the United States. The Manhattan Project was somehow a reflection of knocking over pine trees to build housing at Los Alamos National Lab. The connections were not strong. Even when the environmental connections were strong and clear, Fiege still meanders, as if he is working to tell a story instead of write a scholarly historical text. But it was too obviously work for him and he ended up loosing focus nearly every stage of the way.
I think this material is fascinating and I would recommend reading individual chapters based on your interest or study of that subject. Much like a text, each chapter can be taken individually and does not hang on the prior. With that method, you will find this worth read, and more importantly, worth discussing with someone.
Read
Mark Fiege
I had been looking forward to this book for a year when I first heard about it (2 years ago) and when it was finally released last year, I immediately picked it up. And then struggled through it for the past year. Maybe it is me, that my scholarly reading chops aren't ready for prime time. But I am going to say it is a much Fiege's fault that I did not read this in one sitting. Here is the rundown:
Fiege presents nine significant events in American History and tells the story while paying attention to the influences and affects of the environment. This is simultaneously fascinating and obvious. For example, the chapter on the Salem witch trials raises the issues of land use, overpopulation, population density based diseases for humans and livestock as underlying factors that put constant pressure on the early settlers. These factors were overlooked or unknown, which left only the religious/supernatural explanations available. Wow, and duh! In the chapter on the transcontinental railroad, Fiege reminds us of the massive labor and resource issues that were both motivation for the railroad companies as well as hinderances to their success. These labor/resource issues affected broad swaths of land and people both during construction as well as for decades after. This is not just an industrial or economic achievement. Wow, and duh! The same sort of new lens is offered for Brown v. Board of Education, Cotton & Slavery, the Civil War and the OPEC oil embargo of the 1970's. This is all fascinating.
So why did it take me a year to read? Fiege meanders. In nearly every chapter, I had to discover his point. Why are you writing this? What is the environmental connection? For the chapter on Lincoln, the best I could discern is that Lincoln chopped wood as a kid, and that changed his being as a human and the course of the United States. The Manhattan Project was somehow a reflection of knocking over pine trees to build housing at Los Alamos National Lab. The connections were not strong. Even when the environmental connections were strong and clear, Fiege still meanders, as if he is working to tell a story instead of write a scholarly historical text. But it was too obviously work for him and he ended up loosing focus nearly every stage of the way.
I think this material is fascinating and I would recommend reading individual chapters based on your interest or study of that subject. Much like a text, each chapter can be taken individually and does not hang on the prior. With that method, you will find this worth read, and more importantly, worth discussing with someone.
Read
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Wheel of Time
Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson)
This fantasy series encompasses 14 books as follows:
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light
It is not worth giving an individual plot summary of each book. Suffice it to say that Jordan creates a fantasy world that is largely human based (no elves or dwarves) and set in a pre-industrial timeframe. In this world, good and evil are represented by the Creator and Dark One, with the Dark One beginning to influence the world increasingly as the seals on his prison weaken. Magic is wielded by Aes Sedai, women who are able to touch the True Source and channel it to affect the 5 elements of earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. Men can also channel, but because in ancient history men were involved in creating the prison for the Dark One, their access to the True Source is tainted and eventually leads to madness. The story begins by identifying our protagonists, 5 young people from a small remote village. Prophecies abound about "The Dragon Reborn", a man who will be able to channel and whose purpose is to go to the last battle to challenge and defeat the Dark One. So from introduction of our 5 characters (Rand - the Dragon Reborn, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve) to the completion of the last battle 11,000 some pages later, we are told by prophecy almost everything to expect. And as with prophecy, interpretation and expectation often lead us astray.
Jordan's world is intricately detailed. His ability to follow these 5 characters (who are rarely together) as their lives intertwine and affect each other is fascinating. This is an epic of political intrigue, spiritual purpose and personal growth, of duty, development of self and community, of love, learning, arrogance and humility. I am impressed at how well Jordan is able to pull everything together. All prophecies that are mentioned, resolve. The only loose piece that is left hanging is that the Tinkers do not find the Song, which it turns out is not that important. I love that a main character can not appear in an entire novel, and then be wrapped right back in later. I love that we follow a story line long enough to sink in to it and have a bit of resolution, before jumping to the next. This is not a series of cliff hangers, but a series of minor resolutions that leads to a major resolution. And in the end, the major resolution is largely satisfying. If you have the time, read this series. If you get through the first few, you will not be able to quit, so settle in for the long haul of all 14 volumes.
Read
This fantasy series encompasses 14 books as follows:
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight
Knife of Dreams
The Gathering Storm
Towers of Midnight
A Memory of Light
It is not worth giving an individual plot summary of each book. Suffice it to say that Jordan creates a fantasy world that is largely human based (no elves or dwarves) and set in a pre-industrial timeframe. In this world, good and evil are represented by the Creator and Dark One, with the Dark One beginning to influence the world increasingly as the seals on his prison weaken. Magic is wielded by Aes Sedai, women who are able to touch the True Source and channel it to affect the 5 elements of earth, air, water, fire, and spirit. Men can also channel, but because in ancient history men were involved in creating the prison for the Dark One, their access to the True Source is tainted and eventually leads to madness. The story begins by identifying our protagonists, 5 young people from a small remote village. Prophecies abound about "The Dragon Reborn", a man who will be able to channel and whose purpose is to go to the last battle to challenge and defeat the Dark One. So from introduction of our 5 characters (Rand - the Dragon Reborn, Mat, Perrin, Egwene and Nynaeve) to the completion of the last battle 11,000 some pages later, we are told by prophecy almost everything to expect. And as with prophecy, interpretation and expectation often lead us astray.
Jordan's world is intricately detailed. His ability to follow these 5 characters (who are rarely together) as their lives intertwine and affect each other is fascinating. This is an epic of political intrigue, spiritual purpose and personal growth, of duty, development of self and community, of love, learning, arrogance and humility. I am impressed at how well Jordan is able to pull everything together. All prophecies that are mentioned, resolve. The only loose piece that is left hanging is that the Tinkers do not find the Song, which it turns out is not that important. I love that a main character can not appear in an entire novel, and then be wrapped right back in later. I love that we follow a story line long enough to sink in to it and have a bit of resolution, before jumping to the next. This is not a series of cliff hangers, but a series of minor resolutions that leads to a major resolution. And in the end, the major resolution is largely satisfying. If you have the time, read this series. If you get through the first few, you will not be able to quit, so settle in for the long haul of all 14 volumes.
Read
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